Up until that moment, I wasn’t sure if I truly believed Vienna could still be alive. I must have believed it somewhat because I agreed to come to Harte to help find her. But now that we were here and I had experienced firsthand how dangerous and hurtful Harte was, I wasn’t sure if anyone could endure it, much less survive it for sixteen years. “Treygan, do you really believe Vienna could have lasted so long?”
“I’m forcing myself to have faith for Rownan’s sake.” He unbuttoned his pants. “Let’s dive into this friendly and peaceful water and swim to the happy couple.”
“Why are you taking off your suit?”
Looking down, he paused. “I assumed we’d use our tails to swim.”
“And what happens if the water turns boiling hot or freezing cold?”
“You aren’t supposed to think negatively.”
Was he kidding me with this crap? Did he want us to leave our gear and weapons behind too? Were we continuing our mission armed with nothing but positive thoughts?
I kicked sand at him. “I’m being realistic! Yes, it would be wonderful if I mentally manifested a herd of winged rainbow unicorns rising out of the sea so we could all ride off into the sunset while holding hands and singing merry songs, but until that happens we need to be prepared for fire-breathing unicorns who can melt our skin and stab us to death with their poison-filled devil horns.”
Treygan stared at me, his lips parted. Then he burst out laughing.
At first I was upset, but then my hissy fit replayed through my head and I laughed too.
Treygan pulled himself together. “Yara, we have to make it back to Rathe, because it will be tragic if I never get to tell anyone about your unicorn rant.”
I chuckled one last time then pulled myself together too. “I’m glad I amuse you.”
“You do.” He wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me close to him, kissing the top of my head. “And I’m grateful for it because things were way too tense.”
I nodded. “But we’re keeping the suits on, right? Because if a demonic unicorn does stab me to death, I’d like my tombstone to read, ‘Here lies Yara Jones. She was stupid enough to go to Harte and get killed, but at least she kept on her temperature-controlled, super durable, fire- and ice-repellent suit.”
“We’ll wear the suits.” He grinned down at me. “How could I ever dismiss such a solid argument?”
I pointed at our boots sitting in the sand. “But we can’t swim with those on.”
“I agree. We’ll have to take our chances and hope the unicorns don’t have a foot fetish.”
And so we waded in. As much as I wanted the ocean to be safe, I still kept an eye out for fire-breathing unicorns.
~
Treygan might have been on to something with his positive thinking theory because we swam for a long time without incident. Eventually, I grew tired and surfaced. So did Treygan.
“Why am I so exhausted?” I asked him, rolling onto my back to float for a few minutes and regain some energy.
“We can’t be sure how long we’ve been here. We haven’t had food or water since before we arrived. Exhaustion is to be expected.”
“Do you think we’ve been here longer than one day?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Definitely not three, though, right? No way could we have been here for three days already.”
“No, I figure we have at least another day to get out of here.”
That helped me relax. Not much, but a little. My focus drifted to the dark sky above us and I went completely still. My heart pounded so hard the water was vibrating.
Treygan noticed. “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t want to speak. I worried I would draw attention to us. I very slowly pointed up. Treygan looked at the sky, and then he went rigid too.
High above us, but not high enough, was a terrifying new addition to Harte. Enormous eel-like creatures lined the sky, forming what looked like slithering bars of a cage. The creatures were scarier than anything I had ever seen.
Slowly, Treygan took hold of me and pulled both of us beneath the water. It was dark, but I could still see Treygan’s eyes.
What are those things? I asked.
Soul suckers. Lloyd warned me and Rownan about them. He said they looked like giant lamprey.
Why didn’t anyone tell me about them?
We didn’t want to scare you.
As if I wasn’t scared of Harte for countless other reasons. You should have told me!
This isn’t the time to argue, Yara. Let’s keep swimming so we can get away from them.
What if they see us? What if they swoop down and snatch us out of the water? I was panicking. Not good. Not good at all.
Don’t think like that.
We kept glancing upward as we swam. I shivered thinking about what might happen if the creatures saw us, or sensed us swimming below them. Maybe they already knew and were just waiting for the right time to devour us.
How much longer until we reach Rownan? I asked.
I’m not sure. I don’t know this world. I can see him, and I’m following his trail, but I have no idea how far away he is.
I averted my eyes so Treygan wouldn’t hear my thoughts. This mission was taking too long. We were separated from Rownan and running out of time. We’re never getting out of here, I thought to myself.
Sage brushed across my chin. You will, she assured me.
For the first time since she had become part of me, I didn’t believe her.
I kept my distance. Vienna and I exchanged silent glances and occasionally she told me to go away, but I just sat there, trying to figure out what to do.
Eventually, she drifted back to sleep, so I quietly crawled closer. If I could move the driftwood away from her and get rid of it, then I could take its place. Maybe she would believe I had come back to life. As slowly as possible, I attempted to roll her off of the log, but she woke up swinging her fists.
“Don’t touch us!”
“Okay, okay.” I backed up with my hands in front of me, showing I had no intentions of hurting her. “I won’t touch you.”
The fire in her eyes calmed and she hugged the driftwood tighter. What did she see when she looked at that moldy log? Did she really see me? Did a hunk of old wood really feel like me?
I settled into the sand a few feet away from her. “Your mother and brother miss you.”
“Don’t speak of them,” she snapped.
“How about us? Can I tell you stories about us?”
“There is no us. You’re not my Rownan.”
“Okay then, how about your childhood?”
She looked at me skeptically. If I could prove I knew everything about her, then maybe she’d believe I was truly me. She didn’t say no, so I proceeded.
“When we were seven years old, your mother was really into gardening. She had these beautiful frost-rose bushes that she cherished. She warned us never to play near them.” I smiled at the memory of Vienna so young. “You weren’t good at following directions, though. We were building a fort and you climbed one of the trellises and slipped on the ice. You ended up falling into a rose bush.”
Vienna’s eyes were locked on me. Her expression was impossible to read, so I continued. “You cried like someone had cut off your limbs. I helped pull you out, but you were covered in thorns. I wanted to take you to Indrea and Caspian so they could heal you, but you wouldn’t let me. You thought you’d get in trouble, so we ran from the house and hid in Seal Cove while I carefully pulled every thorn from your skin.”
She blinked then looked away.
“Do you remember that, V?”
“I remember,” she said quietly.
“How would I know that if I wasn’t really me?”
She picked up a clump of muddy sand and rubbed it around in her hand, staring at it oozing between her fingers. “I don’t want any of this to be real. I want to go home. I just want to go home.”
“I can take you there.” I leaned forw
ard, hesitant to move any closer because I didn’t want to spook her. “Please, Vienna. Come home with me.”
She threw her head back and rubbed her lips together. After a few moments of staring at the sky, she asked, “Why do you love me?”
My heart fluttered with a surge of hope. Why hadn’t I thought to ask her that? No, it wouldn’t have worked. She had to ask me first so I could give the right answer. The only answer I had ever given her. I crawled up on my knees, reaching out to touch her, but she cowered back so I dropped my hand. “Because you are my everything.”
Her head snapped to attention. Her eyes were wide.
“It’s me, Vienna. I swear it’s me. Please believe me.”
“I want to. I want to so badly, but—” she twisted a strand of black hair around her pale finger while staring at the log beside her. “If you’re Rownan, then who did I spend two years with? Who is he?”
“I don’t know who that was, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the past. I am me.” I placed my hands on my chest. “Me. Right here. With you. Right now. Ask me anything, V. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I’m not an imposter or a wicked trick of your mind.”
Her eyes lit up. “I almost forgot.” She reached into her coat and pulled out half of a broken shell and held it in front of her so I could see it. “What is this?”
“A shell.”
Her hand lowered. The light in her eyes dimmed. “Just a shell?”
I was confused. Obviously, I was supposed to know something more about the shell. My gut told me it was important, that it had deep meaning, but I searched my memory and found nothing. “It’s a very pretty shell.”
She snatched it back and stuck it in her coat pocket. “You’re not him! If you were him, you would’ve known.”
“Known what? I am him! I mean, I’m me! I can’t remember everything. Tell me a little about it and maybe it will tug a memory loose.”
“Tell you a little about it? You’re a phony! You’re the best imitation yet, but I can’t be fooled. Go torment someone else!” She turned her back to me. “You will not get my soul. You’ll never make me believe you’re Rownan.”
I hung my head. I had failed her. I had failed us both. Again.
~
I couldn’t keep track of time, but what felt like hours passed with us sitting several feet apart in silence. I sat with my back resting against a rock. My head hung heavy in my hands.
Vienna stood. I lifted my head and watched her gather all her hair, twisting it into a heap on top of her head. She used bones from a carcass to pin it in place. She walked closer to the water, picked up a dead fish, then hurled it as far out to sea as she could throw. She picked up another and did the same thing, grumbling, “Filthy, stinking place.”
I stood and walked to the water, but stayed a safe distance from her. I picked up a dead fish and threw it hard, taking out as much of my frustration as possible. It felt good, so I threw another one, and another.
“What are you doing?” Vienna asked.
“Helping you, I guess, I don’t know.”
She squinted then turned away from me, ridding the beach of more dead fish, one at a time. I kept helping.
After hurling dozens more fish into the ocean, I took a break, resting my hands on my knees and catching my breath. Why was I so exhausted? “Reminds me of that time we swam up to Maine and found those seal poachers partying on the beach.” A bittersweet grin tugged at my lips. “You and Dina talked the guys into taking off all their clothes, and then you threw everything into the ocean, including their boots. You told them to walk home naked.”
Vienna smiled hesitantly. “They were so mad they chased us into the water.”
“Which is exactly what you planned.” I chuckled. “Not only did they have no clothes, they were soaking wet, and it was freezing.”
“They deserved it.”
“They deserved a lot worse.”
Her smile turned to a confused frown. “Dina wanted to drown them, but you said we couldn’t kill them or we’d be just as awful as they were.”
I nodded.
Vienna wrapped her arms around herself. “I know you’re not him. You can’t be, or you’d have known that shell as well as your own coat. But whoever you are, thank you for making me smile. For helping me remember why I love him so much.”
I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I don’t remember the shell. But I’m glad I could make you smile again. Knowing you aren’t here alone is enough for me.”
A long comfortable moment of silence passed. I took a chance and held out my hand to her. “Will you dance with me?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t dance.”
“Yes, you do. You love to dance. We won countless contests together.”
She bounced on the balls of her feet, biting her nails. “You should go.”
“You just thanked me for making you smile.”
“That was wrong of me. Please go away.”
“I left you once. I won’t leave you again. I can’t.”
She dropped her hands at her side. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want you here. I don’t want to look at you, or talk to you, or anything. You’re not my Rownan. You’re an infectious disease that makes me weak.”
I inhaled sharply. “Wow, harsh words, Vienna. I’d accuse you of ripping out my heart, but I already gave it to you, willingly and completely, a long time ago. Now you’re just clawing at the empty hole inside me.”
“Leave me alone!”
I stepped forward and looked her straight in the eyes, mocking her earlier words. “Over my dead body.”
I see Rownan and Vienna, Treygan said. They’re standing on a beach, talking.
Do you really think it’s them?
I’m sure of it.
We reached a forest of seaweed and both of us slowed to a stop. I eyed the eerie scene ahead. I don’t think we should swim through there.
A loud screech pierced the sky. A shadow from one of the creatures passed over us, briefly darkening Treygan’s face. We’re out in the open. At least in there we’d be harder to spot from above. Plus, Rownan is this way. I sense him.
Swaying black seaweed stretched wider and deeper than I could see. Who knew where the dark underwater jungle ended? But Treygan was right—we would have to swim through it. Turning back wouldn’t get us closer to Rownan and Vienna.
Treygan reached out to me and I took his hand. We swam forward and I cringed as slimy seaweed brushed against me. We swam slower as the seaweed grew thicker.
My foot caught on something and I jerked to a halt.
Treygan floated forward until our linked hands pulled him to a stop too. What’s wrong?
I’m stuck on something.
I’ll take a look. He dipped toward my feet and a rope of seaweed followed him. At first I thought it was just caught in the drag of the water, but then it curled around his leg and yanked him away from me.
“Treygan!” I shouted, swallowing a mouthful of water.
More vines wrapped around my arms. I punched and fought against them, but they wound tighter. Treygan was pulled farther away from me, flailing and thrashing against his own ropes. He was shouting my name and I yelled for him again, but seaweed tightened around my neck, choking me into silence.
Oh, gods, this is it. This is how we die. Strangulation by seaweed.
But no, that would have been too easy. The seaweed didn’t keep choking me like I expected. It launched me upward, lifting me above the surface of the water. My arms were bound at my sides. I couldn’t move my head or legs. I lay there, helplessly staring up at the screeching black creatures in the sky.
One of their long bodies split into three sections, a head forming on each segment. Three pairs of glowing eyes raced toward me, slithering like snakes.
Sage! Sage, help me, I mentally begged her. She stretched forward, hissing and snapping her fangs. Then I regretted ever asking her to help.
The three creatures opened their mass
ive mouths, and they had something much worse than fangs. Their round mouths were filled with circular rows of razor-sharp teeth. Treygan was right. They were mutant, larger-than-life lamprey.
I couldn’t turn my head, but from the corner of my eye I saw another creature split into three and dive toward the water. They were heading for Treygan. My chest ached and my body was convulsing with fear. We would be eaten alive.
One beast stopped inches from my face. A huge, pointy tongue darted out of the center of its circle of teeth. The stench of death made me gag, but because I couldn’t swallow it burned my throat. I closed my eyes, too terrified to watch the hundreds of teeth tear through me.
Sage swayed and snapped. She tugged at my head as her body lashed out over and over.
Stop, Sage. Don’t make it worse.
The beast’s hot breath blew so hard against my face that my skin rippled and tightened. I waited, dreading the moment its teeth would clench down on me, but it didn’t happen. I felt one hard yank at my scalp before a deeper pain took over. That instant, I knew the beast had Sage.
Emptiness spread throughout my entire being, something not physical. I had never felt anything like it. Through my tears, I watched the beast pull back, moving up and away from me. Impaled by the beast’s teeth hung a severed Sage.
I tried to scream, to break free and reach for her, but I couldn’t move. Tears dripped down the side of my face and behind my ears. I closed my eyes again, knowing I couldn’t handle seeing Treygan snared in the beast’s teeth too.
My left hand snapped free and dropped behind me. I opened my eyes and saw the other trio of beastly heads pulling back, but two of the three were dripping a black substance and the other was making a god-awful screaming sound.
My neck was suddenly freed too. I turned and saw Treygan below me, slicing the seaweed with a dagger. I breathed a sigh, a mixture of relief and despair.
The seaweed holding me up collapsed, and I splashed into the water. Treygan clutched me to him. I pawed at my head, desperately pleading for it to be an illusion, wanting so badly to feel Sage’s scaly skin. But she was gone.
The thought of her lifeless body in their huge teeth sent more tears spilling down my cheeks. How could I have been so careless? Why didn’t I protect her?
Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) Page 20
