Whale Song - Page 18
“Why?” I sputtered. “I meant why would you do something like that?”
“Because the sacrifice you were going to use wasn't yours to make,” Diana said in a chastising tone. “You want a sacrifice? You're going to have to use me now.”
“Do you think this is a fairy tale, princess?” I asked as far beyond exasperated as I have ever felt in my entire life. “Because unless you manage to choke it to death by getting caught in its throat, your 'noble gesture' is not going to help anyone!"
"It's not so easy when you're not sacrificing 'faceless' strangers, now is it?” she asked, I presumed, rhetorically.
“Still not helping!” I retorted. “Don't you get it? It's either going to eat you like an appetizer, or tuck you beside your sister for later, then head back for the main course, and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it!”
I heard Diana's soft, sad laughter waft toward me from across me the darkness. “Honestly? I was kind of hoping that by now that you'd be motivated to find a way to stop that from happening. You might say I bet my life on it.”
“Motivation is not my problem here!” I shouted at her. “It's the complete and utter lack of anything I can think to do about what I'm 'motivated' to do!” A truly massive bolt of lighting picked that moment to dazzle my eyes, and instantly followed up with a teeth-rattling peal of thunder. “And this infernal storm is not helping me think any more than you are!” I screamed.
Then an idea hit me with ten times the force that thunderbolt would have.
“The storm!” I shouted less than eloquently. “You!” I shouted even louder, pointing at Diana, then I commanded her to “Take off your clothes!” as I summoned up a light so I could see what I needed to see.
No, it wasn't that, but I can hardly blame Diana for having the same thought. In retrospect, it's a wonder she didn't just run off screaming into the night since I know I must have looked and sounded like a madman to her right then. If there hadn't been something worse than me out there, she probably would have.
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