Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs)

by Karen Amanda Hooper

  The wind whipped so hard I thought Vienna and I would be ripped apart. I held her hand so tight I couldn’t tell the difference between her fingers and mine.

  Vienna tried pulling her hand free. “That’s not the gateway. Let go of me!”

  “It is the gate.” My pulse throbbed between our palms as I fought to keep our hands linked. “Stop struggling!”

  She kicked and thrashed, trying to break free as she screamed and cursed me. We bobbed and flailed through the air. Keeley struggled beneath me, her small hands kneading my chest, trying to rebalance my weight above her.

  “Liar!” Vienna yelled. “I won’t be tricked!”

  The realization hit me harder than the wind. Vienna had entered Harte through Rathe’s gateway. We used the Devil’s Triangle. Of course they didn’t look the same. Harte’s demons had been trying to lure her into a deeper level of hell for years. She thought this was another trick. “V, it’s not what you think!”

  She was fighting so hard to free herself from Jenna. She would fall into a sea of soul suckers. I hadn’t come this far only to lose her again. “Keeley, get me closer to her!”

  We collided, and I threw my arms around Vienna, pinning her against me and clinging to her so tightly that the devil himself wouldn’t be able to take her from me.

  ~

  We shot out of the turbulence and into a tunnel of swirling water. The spray felt like bullets hitting me. I tried looking at Vienna, but I couldn’t turn my head or open my eyes. The pull from the spinning was too strong.

  Then the pelting spray stopped. We sailed upward through an orange and pink sky. My head drooped from exhaustion. Below us was the ocean. Earth’s ocean.

  The sprites had saved us.

  “Keeley!” I shouted weakly. “You did it!”

  A boat filled with familiar faces staring up at us came into view. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. I had never been so happy to see Delmar, Kimber, Pango, and the rest of the crew. We didn’t so much land as crash onto the deck of the boat. I rolled to my side, knowing Keeley was crushed beneath me. Vienna crashed just as hard beside me. I immediately pulled her off Jenna.

  Both tiny, angelic sprites lay face down on the deck boards. Their backs rose and fell rapidly. Their wings were motionless.

  I gently rolled both of them over.

  Keeley’s eyes opened. “Are we dead?”

  I smiled. All the merfolk had gathered around us. Kimber was cradling Vienna in her arms. I lowered my face so Keeley and I were almost nose to nose. “No, you’re alive. And so are we, thanks to you. You and Jenna are heroes.”

  “Heroes,” Jenna sighed, eyes still closed, wearing an exhausted grin. “I always wanted to be a hero.”

  Indrea kneeled besides us, snapping into action. “Who is hurt the worst?”

  “Vienna,” I said.

  Delmar was holding Vienna’s wrist. “Her pulse is almost non-existent.”

  Indrea rushed over to Vienna and I grabbed Indrea’s arm. I took a breath, my lungs aching at the gravity of my words. “Her soul was out of her body the whole time. Until a few minutes ago.”

  “Holy Hades,” Pango gasped. “It’s a miracle she’s still alive.”

  Indrea patted my hand. “Love kept her alive.”

  I closed my eyes. The adrenaline, the realization that we were out of Harte, and having Vienna by my side again was overloading my system.

  Indrea’s voice was calming as always. “Just lay beside her while I work on her. Being with you is the best medicine for her right now.”

  Kimber delicately handed Vienna to me. I placed one hand behind Vienna’s head, letting my arm be her pillow. I lay on my side, my other arm wrapped tight around her. “I’m here,” I whispered into her ear. “Soon we’ll be home.”

  She let her head fall against my neck while Indrea worked on her.

  “Where are the others?” Caspian asked.

  “They were right behind us,” I said. “Nixie was carrying Yara and Treygan.”

  “Why Yara?” Delmar asked. “She can fly.”

  “She got knocked out. Nixie had to carry both of them.”

  “Good grief,” Pango sighed. “Could the odds be any worse?”

  Keeping Vienna’s head tucked under my chin, I watched glimpses of color from the setting sun peek through the fog. I silently prayed to Medusa and Poseidon, begging to see Nixie’s red wings above us with Yara and Treygan in her arms.

  But minutes passed with no sign of them.

  Jenna sat up. “I’m going back in!”

  Keeley sat up beside her. “Me too.”

  “No,” Delmar said. “You can’t. There’s not enough time.”

  “We can’t leave them in there,” Keeley argued.

  “They’ll make it out,” I offered. “I know they will.” But even as I said it, my doubt grew stronger.

  “And what if they don’t?” Jenna asked.

  “You’re exhausted,” Indrea reasoned calmly with her. “No good could come from you going back in. What if the gate closed before you came out again?” Jenna crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry, girls,” Indrea told them. “We can’t allow you to go back in at this point. It’s too dangerous.”

  The boat kept rocking. Vienna cooed softly, asleep in my arms. Delmar offered hope that they would make it out. Pango kneeled at the bow of the boat, his chin resting on his praying hands. I almost didn’t hear Jenna’s quiet voice behind me.

  “They will make it out. I’ll make sure of it.” Jenna flew from the boat.

  Caspian caught Keeley by the wings. “Oh, no you don’t.”

  “She can’t go alone!” Keeley yelled, kicking the air furiously.

  Jenna’s shimmering yellow wings left a trail of light through the fog. I hoped beyond hope it wouldn’t be the last time we saw her.

  I flew against the wind as fast as I could. Six minutes left—or was it four? I lost count. I had no idea where the gate was.

  I was a siren who could control fire, but I had never known true heat until I was caught in the vacuum breath of a soul sucker. We were pulled backward toward its inferno of a mouth. I kicked and flapped my wings harder than ever, but we were sucked in.

  With my elbows, I blocked the beast’s jaw from closing all the way. I screamed when teeth tore through my flesh. Yara was still draped over my shoulder, only an inch above the teeth, but Treygan was below me, deeper in the huge, tubular mouth of the soul sucker.

  My skin burned so intensely from the heat that I assumed my flesh was melting. Treygan swung and struggled below me, but I kept my grip on his hand. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, but then he roared and the beast screeched so loudly my ears rang. Black smoke rushed up around me and the circular mouth of teeth opened and fell away, allowing me to soar up into the dark sky again.

  I glanced down and saw Treygan hanging like a charred rope from my singed, black arm. A dagger glistened in his hand. I couldn’t see the full extent of damage the beast had done to my arms, but I could feel it. Yara still lay unconscious over my other shoulder. I kept flying higher, desperately searching for the gateway again, but I found nothing except empty sky and my own despair.

  Treygan was becoming unbearably heavy. My arm was numb in the places that didn’t pulse with crippling pain. As much as I didn’t want to accept it, I had to let go of him if I had any hope of saving Yara. But actually doing it—letting go of Treygan’s hand, knowing what that meant—seemed impossible.

  I gazed down at where our hands joined. I wanted to say goodbye. I needed to apologize for being so weak. All I could see was his hair and a hint of his forehead and nose. It was better that way. If I had seen his face, his selfless and caring eyes, they would have haunted me eternally.

  I closed my eyes, fighting back tears. “Please forgive me, Yara.” I whispered into the wind, “I’m so sorry, Treygan.”

  The heavy weight of him fell away.

  My injured arm no longer felt like it would rip into pieces from the strain.
>
  But I hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

  “Got him!” Jenna yelled. She lifted him over her head, smiling at me as she rose to my eye level. “I’m here! I’ve got him!”

  “Jenna!” I squealed, releasing my death-grip on Treygan’s fingers and using both hands to secure Yara in my arms.

  “Jenna’s got you,” I told Treygan. I said it again, assuring myself because it almost seemed too good to be true. My eyes were teary, a mixture of shame, joy, and intense physical pain. “She’s got you.”

  My arm wouldn’t have lasted another second if she hadn’t come along. Jenna had saved me from having to release Treygan to certain death in a sea of soul suckers.

  Treygan noticed my shredded arms. “Nixie, you’re injured.”

  “I’ll be fine.” A second wave of adrenaline and hope rushed through me. I dipped my head to check on Jenna. “You sure you can handle it?”

  Her arms were locked above her head, Treygan draped over her like a living cape. “I can handle it.”

  I cradled Yara against my torso and yelled. “Let’s go home!”

  Jenna enthusiastically nodded.

  Jenna led the way, directly to the gate. I stayed behind her in case she needed help. The moon was so close I felt like I could reach out and touch it, but the hot breath of a soul sucker engulfed my legs again. The soul sucker’s body broke off into three heads.

  “Get to the gate!” I shouted. “We can outrun them!”

  Jenna peeked back at me, and her eyes flew wide open at the sight of the beast. Her wings flapped harder as she and Treygan surged upward. Treygan still had the dagger clutched in his hand.

  “Faster, Jenna!”

  Treygan was looking back, shouting something I couldn’t hear. The heat and the pull of one beast sucking us in intensified.

  “Left!” I yelled, swerving out of the path of the beast. By the time I realized Jenna hadn’t heard me, it was too late.

  She and Treygan were sucked past me. I reached out, trying to grab Treygan’s hand, but he rushed by me too fast.

  I doubled back, chasing after them. Jenna hung on to Treygan’s hair, her body stretched out behind her as they were sucked closer to the beast’s mouth. I managed to grab Treygan’s foot. I squeezed hard, struggling to keep hold of Yara while trying to pull Treygan and Jenna out of the powerful vacuum.

  I was no match for it. I was going to lose everyone, including myself. We had come so far, but this was the point of no return. The soul suckers and Harte had won.

  Treygan shouted, “Save Yara! Let go, Nixie!”

  Jenna was terrified, crying, screaming, still clutching Treygan’s hair.

  “I can’t,” I grunted, fighting against the pull, but my arms felt so weak and useless. I hugged Yara tighter to my body with one hand while squeezing Treygan’s foot with the other. If I let go, I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. I would have to live mourning Jenna and Treygan forever, knowing it was me who killed them. I would have to tell Yara that I failed her and let Treygan be eaten alive by a soul sucker.

  No. We were a sinking ship, but we would go down together.

  The heat scorched my hands and face. The beast’s teeth looked close enough to snap shut around Jenna.

  Treygan’s eyes met mine. I couldn’t hear him over the roaring breath of the beast, but I could read his lips. “Let go!”

  I shook my head as he tried kicking free. Sweat dripped from every pore on my body. His foot was slippery, but I held on. Treygan’s head fell back in the same hopeless defeat I felt.

  “We die together,” I said, even though no one could hear me.

  Sage whipped forward, snapping into consciousness. She bit Yara’s cheek and Yara jolted awake. Yara flew out of my arms so fast I barely had time to blink. She looked around frantically then flipped over, grabbing Treygan’s other foot. Her wings flapped furiously. “Nixie, get Jenna!”

  I sprang into action, swooping past Treygan. Jenna was flapping her wings so hard they were a blur of yellow. I snatched her up in my hands and surged backward, but I wasn’t powerful enough to pull us out of the beast’s vacuum. Treygan’s arms were free, so he hooked his hands inside my elbows, fighting to keep me away from the beast’s teeth. I lifted my legs toward my chest as one tooth grazed the heels of my boots.

  I don’t know how Yara did it, but she spun us like a chain. I was whipped upward, away from the beast’s deadly teeth. Now Yara was closest to the beast’s head.

  She kept one hand locked on Treygan’s ankle as she pulled a giant tooth from a holster on her thigh. Just before they were sucked into the beast’s mouth, Yara drew her arm back. Using the giant tooth like a knife, she stabbed the top of the beast’s head.

  The soul sucker let out an ear-piercing screech followed by a gasping noise. The pull of the vacuum decreased significantly. I flew higher out of its path. Yara kicked the tooth in deeper, clogging what I realized was a singular nostril on the soul sucker’s head. The vacuum suction stopped entirely as the beast shook from side to side trying to dislodge the obstruction.

  Jenna flew from my hands and stood on my shoulder, grabbing hold of my hair. “Nixie, your arms. You’re badly wounded.”

  She was right. My muscles and tendons felt like they had been shredded. I cradled my bloody arms against my chest. “I’ll be fine.”

  Yara turned to face us and yelled, “Go!”

  She didn’t need to tell me twice. We flew side by side, racing toward the moon. She had Treygan, I had Jenna. We could do it. We were going to make it. We were free and clear. The soul suckers were far below us.

  Until two more splintered out of the moon.

  “Where the hell did they come from?” Yara shouted.

  I slowed, not knowing what to do. Jenna grabbed my hair tighter.

  Treygan called my name. He fumbled with a pack on his side. “Here!” He tossed me another tooth. I tried to catch it, but my hand was numb. The tooth grazed my useless fingers and fell away.

  Treygan waved his dagger as Yara banked left. One soul sucker followed them. The other was coming directly at us, so I darted to the right. We passed under it, inches from its slimy chin.

  We entered the gray fog. A violent wind pushed against us.

  “Hang on tight!” I screamed to Jenna.

  “I am!”

  I wanted to cry when the heat hit my legs and scorched my wings. The soul sucker was too close. My hair felt like it might rip from my head as Jenna hung on for dear life. The vacuum was even more powerful than before. Then the tugging at my scalp stopped.

  I quit breathing.

  Jenna had let go. She tumbled through the sky, straight into the beast’s mouth as if caught in a tractor beam.

  “Nooooooo!” I screamed.

  Jenna never looked back. Even the beast’s tongue was covered with teeth. Like a tiny leaf being sucked into a whirlwind, Jenna was swallowed by the soul sucker.

  I doubled back. Shaking. Still not breathing. I didn’t know what to do. I was in denial. I couldn’t accept what I had just seen. She couldn’t be gone.

  “Jenna!” I shouted as loud and long as I could.

  More soul suckers slithered to life below. Glowing eyes opened on their eel-like heads. I saw no sign of Yara and Treygan. Maybe they had escaped. I hoped it more than anything.

  I waited for the soul sucker that had swallowed Jenna to open its giant mouth again, which only took a few seconds. I flew in, zipping down his dark gullet before his teeth snapped shut.

  The smell alone should have killed me.

  Getting in was easy compared to getting out.

  The wind and water mercilessly whipped against us. I felt like I was frozen in a block of ice, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t budge. But through it all, I made sure of one thing: I did not lose Treygan. Like a limb that I refused to part with, I kept Treygan attached to my side.

  I vaguely recalled breaking through the surface. I was so woozy I might as well have been sleepwalking. My mer senses led us t
o the boat. I crashed into it, eyes closed, past the point of exhaustion. I wanted to gasp for deep breaths, but I didn’t have enough energy.

  Rownan’s voice was a relief. “You made it. I knew you would.”

  Treygan peeled himself out of my grip. He caressed my cheek with his quivering hand. “You did it.”

  “We did it,” I murmured.

  He collapsed, his head on my chest. I silently thanked all the gods and goddesses everywhere a million times over.

  “Praise Poseidon, it’s a miracle,” Pango said. “With only seconds left.”

  Seconds left. My eyes snapped open. The winds were calm. The sky and ocean weren’t angry, and it was getting dark. The sun had set. “Where’s Nixie?”

  Delmar knelt beside me, holding my hand. “She didn’t make it out.”

  “No!” I tried to sit up. Treygan lifted his weight off me.

  Delmar put a hand under my shoulder to support me. “There’s nothing you can do. Time is up.”

  “No!” I tried scrambling to my feet and getting my wings to flap, but my body failed me.

  Treygan clutched my hand. “I’m sorry, Yamabuki. I’m so sorry.”

  “Not Nixie.” A choked yelp stuck in my throat. My eyes filled with tears. “And Jenna. They were right beside us. They can’t be …” Treygan held me as I cried for my siren, my sister, my savior, my friend. And the tiny angel who had saved our lives.

  Indrea knelt beside me and placed her hands over my chest. Caspian pressed his hand to my forehead. They worked as a team, giving me all the calming and healing power they could. But no matter how powerful they were, there was no way they could fix my imploding heart.

  Some of my strength returned after only a minute or so. I stood up. “I’m going back in.”

  Treygan grabbed my hand. “You can’t.”

  “Let go of me! I’m not leaving them in there.” I broke free from his grip. “They saved us. We can’t just leave them!” My wings spread wide. “I’ll be back—with both of them.”

  They all stared at me like I had lost my mind. I flew out of the boat, zipping through the sky. There was no fog. No wind. No funnel churning in the ocean. I hovered above the spot where I was sure the gateway had been. A glint of electric blue caught my attention.