Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs)

by Karen Amanda Hooper

  Rownan searched the nothingness above us. “Where in the hell is Vienna?”

  “Where in hell, indeed,” Treygan said.

  “Really?” Rownan scowled at him. “Already with the hell puns?”

  Treygan shrugged. “Sorry.”

  Rownan closed his eyes and swayed slightly. I almost asked if he was feeling all right, but then I realized he was trying to shadow Vienna. I nodded at Treygan, encouraging him to try too. He held up a finger, telling me to wait. We both watched Rownan; his head kept moving and his eyelids flickered.

  After a tense and long waiting period, Rownan opened his eyes. I already knew the outcome based on his frustrated frown. “Nothing.”

  “I’ll give it a try,” Treygan offered.

  Rownan huffed. “If I can’t find her, there’s no way you can.” He watched the ship and plane float farther away, then he turned his back to us and stared over the edge again. “She’s down there somewhere. I can feel it.”

  “Maybe,” I started, “but we don’t know for—”

  He dove off the ledge.

  I screamed as Treygan and I both rushed to where Rownan had jumped. Rownan’s figure got smaller as he fell away from us. My heart was racing. I thought about flying after him and catching him in midair, but I was so scared I couldn’t make my wings open.

  Treygan’s eyes were wide, watching his brother fall from sight and into who-knows-what. “I knew this would happen.” He stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “He never listens.”

  “Why did he jump? I could have flown him down there!”

  Treygan shook his head. “I don’t know, but we have to follow him.”

  I grabbed Treygan’s hand and rolled my shoulders, forcing my wings to loosen. Treygan always declined letting me fly him around unless it was absolutely necessary, but this felt necessary. “We are flying. Safely. Not jumping like idiots.”

  “No arguments here. Diving into the murky depths of a damned realm is not my preferred choice.” He kissed my forehead then turned his back to me and lifted his arms at his sides.

  After some more shoulder rolling, neck cracking, and a few quick breaths, my wings were functioning. I spread them wide, hooked my hands under Treygan’s arms, and soared off the edge. I dove down, but caught a glimpse of something peculiar in my peripheral vision, so I flew back up.

  “What’s wrong?” Treygan asked.

  I circled the island, blinking my eyes. “I know it sounds weird, but when we first jumped, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw you and Rownan, lying on the ground.”

  “Everything about this place is weird,” Treygan said. “But I’m right here and I’m not leaving you.”

  Treygan was in my arms, solid and real as ever, but still, I had to make sure for my own peace of mind. Sage rubbed along my neck, urging me to find Rownan, so I flew down into the dangerous depths of Harte.

  Somehow, instinctively, I knew jumping would be safe, which is why I took the plunge.

  I had no directional control while falling, but I was able to slow down and control my landing—almost like I was manipulating gravity. I landed gently on my feet and stared up at the sky, or whatever I had just traveled through.

  I jumped in place, half-hoping I could fly, but nope. Gravity was at work in this realm too. I examined the black substance oozing between my toes. It felt similar to wet sand but without the grainy texture. It wasn’t hot or cold, so no need to wear the boots Yara made us pack—yet. Who knew what other kind of terrain we might encounter.

  All my gear was still intact and attached to me. I tightened a couple of loose straps and rubbed my aching shoulder. Yara and Treygan would catch up, I had no doubt of that, so while I waited for them, I closed my eyes and tried shadowing Vienna again.

  Shadowing was like looking through a long, dark tunnel. I had to keep crawling through it, around corners, up and down hills, searching for any trace of light. My mind crawled, dipped, clawed at the darkness, but all I found was more darkness. What if she really was dead?

  No. My eyes snapped open.

  Yara and Treygan stood in front of me. I didn’t know how long they had been there, but Yara stepped forward and hugged me. “We’re so glad you’re okay.” She pulled back then shoved me so hard I toppled backward and landed on my butt. “And if you act that reckless and stupid again we will leave you here to fend for yourself!”

  I stood up and brushed myself off. “Sorry. I followed my instincts.”

  “Your instincts have always been questionable,” Treygan said. “The only rule is not to separate, and you broke that rule minutes after we arrive. Doesn’t exactly bode well.”

  “Seriously, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. That creepy floating island spooked me. I wanted to get away from it as fast as possible.”

  Yara crossed her arms over her chest. “Next time, tell us and we’ll agree on a plan of action.”

  “I will.” I raised my hand. “I swear.”

  “Well, it’s about time.” Out of an orange and silver haze that I hadn’t noticed before, a woman I recognized from Lloyd’s photographs and wall panels appeared. The sight of Treygan’s mother, Liora, froze him in place. Beside her was Cleo, Yara’s mother. I glanced around, hoping to see my mom appear too.

  “Mom?” Treygan gawked.

  Liora smiled as she approached Treygan. She stopped in front of him and caressed his face. “We’re here to help you.”

  Treygan hugged her, holding her like he never wanted to let go.

  Cleo strutted over to Yara and brushed her fingers against her cheek, but Yara’s arms stayed stiff at her sides. After an awkward moment of silence, Yara pulled away from her and grabbed Treygan’s arm, separating him and Liora.

  The mothers glanced back and forth at each other and then at Yara and Treygan.

  Cleo folded her hands in front of her. “We thought you could use a bit of guidance through this place.”

  Yara backed up a step. “You crossed over. I saw you fly into the Eternal Falls.”

  “Oh, darling.” Cleo tilted her head and reached for Yara, but Yara leaned away as Sage rose beside her head. “I’m your mother. I will always watch over you.”

  Liora walked past them toward me. “Vienna is this way, Rownan.”

  My heart slammed into my throat. Vienna. They knew where she was. We’d find her and get out of here so much faster than we expected. Hope gushed through every part of me.

  “Rownan, wait,” Yara said. “Something is off.”

  Treygan hadn’t said a word. He kept glancing between Yara and his mom.

  “Of course something is off,” I huffed. “We’re in Harte. This place is awful.”

  Sage hissed and Yara absentmindedly touched the snake’s head. “No, something about them. Our mothers are dead. They might appear to us in spirit form, but not solid like they are now. I don’t understand how they could be here.”

  Cleo folded her hands in front of her again. “Our souls are still intact. The nature of this place allows us to exist in physical form.”

  All this chitchat was wasting too much precious time. I threw my hands up in the air. “Do you want to stand around having ghost discussions or do you want to help save my wife?”

  “How far are you taking us?” Treygan asked his mother.

  “Just around the bend,” Liora told him.

  “It’s not far,” Treygan said to Yara. “And it’s not like we have an alternate route mapped out. What if they do know where she is?”

  Sage lay on Yara’s hunched shoulder. “Fine. But if I say we turn around, I don’t want any arguments.”

  About time she came to her senses.

  “Lead the way,” I told Liora.

  The three of us followed them. The scenery ahead of us shifted with each step. At first, tall mountains loomed in the distance, but then I glanced down at the black mud we were hiking through, and when I looked up again strangely-shaped trees and a stream of black water flowed past us.

  “Ar
e you two seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked Yara and Treygan.

  “Yes,” Treygan answered. “It’s fascinating, but at the same time scary.”

  Yara nodded, but kept her focus locked on the backs of Liora and Cleo as they led the way.

  We stopped at an opening where two massive, bare trees bowed together. Their dried and peeling branches created an archway into what looked like ancient ruins. Liora turned to me and motioned with her hand. “Go in. You’ll find her waiting for you.”

  I stepped forward, but Yara grabbed my arm. “No. We all go in together.” She flashed Liora and Cleo looks that were the opposite of grateful. “And you two are going in first.”

  The mothers bowed slightly then walked in ahead of us.

  I smoothed down my hair and glanced at my chest and arms. Had I changed a lot since we last saw each other? Would Vienna still be attracted to me? Would she think I looked different? Would she look different? It didn’t matter. I would love her no matter what she looked like. And I knew she felt the same way about me.

  We approached the remains of some sort of temple compound. Liora and Cleo glided through the overgrown vegetation effortlessly, while I trampled over plants and pushed through tall weeds. We rounded a corner and there, sitting in a nest of giant twisted tree roots, perfectly framed between two crumbling pillars, was Vienna.

  I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. She lifted her head, and we just stared at each other. Eighteen years had passed since we had seen each other. I had imagined our reunion a million times over the years. I had rehearsed all the things I would say. How I wouldn’t wait one second to kiss her again. But here we were, just staring at each other, unmoving and silent, with an audience watching us.

  I slowly stepped forward, unblinking, afraid to break eye contact with her in case she disappeared. I stopped at the pile of tree roots. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Her smile wasn’t a fraction of how bright it used to be, but it was her. My Vienna.

  Her black fur coat concealed her body, except for her hands and dirty feet propped up on a root. Her flawless face looked the same—almost. She was thinner, and she didn’t have her usual glow, but sixteen years in a hellhole would make anyone lose their glow.

  Did she know who I was? Did she know who she was? What had this place done to her mind and soul?

  “V, I missed you so much.” I choked on the words. Our reunion wasn’t going anything like I had planned.

  She stood. Her long black hair fell to her feet. “I missed you too.”

  “You know who I am?”

  “Of course.”

  I stepped closer, lifting my foot over a thick section of root. “I was terrified this place would have destroyed you or that you’d be ….”

  “Dead?” she asked. Her smile stretched across her pale face. Pale was normal for her, but her eyes weren’t the right shade of brown. They were darker. Her inner light was gone.

  I swallowed hard. “I couldn’t even think it. I knew I’d find you. My heart knew you were still alive.”

  “I knew you were alive too.” She maneuvered over a few coils of root, using her hands to crawl over the largest section. She stopped in front of me. I held my breath as she reached up and touched my cheek. I flinched.

  “Your hand is warm.” A selkie’s skin was supposed to be cold. Her touch had always been so invigorating.

  “It’s this place. All the fire makes me too warm.” She ran her fingers over my lips. “Kiss me.”

  I had been waiting for the chance to kiss her again for almost two decades. I leaned down, but like an intrusive dickhead, Treygan coughed and interrupted the moment.

  “Rownan, we need to get out of here.”

  Vienna hadn’t budged. She was still looking up at me, lips pouting, waiting for me to kiss her.

  “Let’s find some place private,” I whispered.

  She flashed me another hollow smile. “Yes, some place private. Come with me.”

  “No,” Yara practically shouted. “We need to stay together. You swore, Rownan. Now that we’ve found Vienna, we need to go home—fast.”

  “Just a few minutes,” I argued. “I haven’t seen her in eighteen years!”

  “Yara’s right,” Treygan said. “The longer we’re here, the harder it will be to find our way out. You two can make up for lost time once we get back to Rathe.”

  “Let the poor dears spend a few minutes alone,” Liora said. “It’s only fair considering what they’ve been through.”

  Cleo sat on a stone wall. “I agree. A few minutes won’t kill anyone.”

  Yara and Treygan exchanged glances, but then Yara nodded at me. “Five minutes at the most. I’m serious, Rownan. Every minute spent here is too long.”

  Blood rushed through every part of me. I ached to share myself with Vienna again. Even one drink would satisfy me until we got home. We hadn’t shared our souls with each other in so long. “Thanks. We’ll be back soon.”

  “Five minutes!” Treygan repeated. “Not a minute longer.”

  I grabbed Vienna’s hand and headed for a nearby archway framed by more tree roots.

  “Not that way.” Vienna tugged me and pointed to a temple farther away. “That one.”

  “We don’t have much time.”

  “Trust me.” She ran her long fingernails across the top of her breasts. “The ambiance is better in there.”

  My entire body ached with longing. Five minutes wouldn’t allow me to do a fraction of the things I wanted to do to her, but at least it would give us time for a quick reunion. A tiny release to last us until we returned home. Then, time would stop altogether. I planned to ravish every part of her.

  I shouted over my shoulder to Yara and Treygan. “Five minutes doesn’t start until we’re inside.”

  It was too easy.

  Even without Sage whispering warnings to me, I would have been suspicious of how perfectly this had played out. I turned my cheek, hoping our “mothers” were far enough away not to overhear me whisper to Treygan.

  “This went a little too perfectly, don’t you think?”

  He glanced at me and pursed his lips. “Maybe Medusa is helping us.”

  My eyes flickered to the inky, starless, moonless sky. “Highly unlikely.”

  Treygan may have wanted to believe Medusa was helping us, and that our spirit guides were the real deal, but I knew better. First off, Medusa didn’t reign over this world. Second, if Treygan truly believed that Liora—dressed in a spotless white gown, in hell—was his mother, he would be gushing over her, asking a million questions, and offering her unnecessary apologies for killing her during his birth.

  Instead, we stood divided, two and two, mothers apart from their children, waiting for Rownan and Vienna to do gods-knew-what in a decaying temple while Treygan and I twiddled our thumbs and tried to keep our souls intact.

  I leaned against the rock wall and studied my supposed mom.

  “How are you, darling?” she asked.

  “Why do you keep calling me darling? You never called me that when you were alive.” She didn’t reply. Just shrugged and smiled, but her smile sent a chill up my spine. “You seem different than the last time I saw you.”

  Her cold eyes darted up then back down to her feet. “You were a child back then, of course you remember me differently.”

  My back went rigid. I had seen her only a week ago in the Inbetween. Sage curled around the back of my neck, hissing softly. Treygan shifted closer to me. Liora kept her penetrating stare locked on me.

  I had talked with Liora’s spirit right before the Triple Eighteen. I offered another test to confirm what I had suspected all along. “You too, Liora. It’s been a long time.”

  Treygan watched them with as much venom as I felt. I didn’t need to tell him. He had figured it out too.

  “Yara, don’t be silly,” Liora said, proving she wasn’t who or what she claimed. “We’ve never met.”

  Treygan and I reached for our weapons, but the mom lookalikes were faster
than us. They both leaped through the air, knocking us flat on our backs.

  My mother’s imposter screamed like some kind of rabid animal. Her mouth stretched wide, revealing a toothless black hole. She leaned close to my face like she wanted to swallow me. I kicked and fought to push her away, but she had my arms pinned at my sides.

  Sage shot forward and bit her cheek, sending my fake mom leaping backward. I scrambled toward Treygan. Evil Liora held him down while screaming the same way Cleo had. Sage extended longer than I had ever seen her stretch and sank her fangs into Liora’s neck. Liora shrieked and rolled to her side.

  Treygan jumped to his feet, whipping out a dagger. I reached for my thigh holster, but my hands shook so badly that I fumbled my dagger and it fell to the ground.

  Both mothers flew at me again. My claws instinctively shout out. I caught Evil Cleo by the throat, but Liora sailed over my head.

  Treygan shouted my name as fire ripped across my back. I fell to my knees. The pain was overwhelming. Sage bobbed behind me, tugging at my scalp, but commanding me to stay down. The searing pain in my back kept me anchored in place.

  My fingers, still lodged in Evil Cleo’s neck, changed from selkie claws to siren talons then back again. A wheezing sound gushed out of the puncture wounds, along with black smoke. Beneath my hand, Cleo’s body dissolved into a pile of black sand.

  Sage no longer whipped through my hair. I was dizzy. I couldn’t feel my legs. I toppled forward, face-planting into Evil Cleo’s remains.

  “Yara?” Treygan’s voice was delicate and cautious. He kneeled beside me, pulling me into his arms. He gently brushed the sand off my face. His eyes were wider than I had ever seen.

  “What happened?” I managed. The fire in my back was fading, but an intense aching took its place. Sage purred against my cheek. I could sense her sadness.

  “I’m so sorry. I should’ve been faster.” Treygan nostril’s flared and his eyes were glassy. “How bad does it hurt?”

  I had only seen his face etched with such concern and sadness one other time, on the Triple Eighteen when I was turning to stone and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Something was very wrong with me. I managed to turn my head enough to see the statue of Liora. Treygan had turned her to stone. She was frozen in motion.