“Keeley,” I whispered, flying over to her.
“Where are they?” she asked me, not taking her frantic eyes off the water.
“We’ll find them.” I dove in, swimming down until I hit the dark, sandy bottom. The gate had to be somewhere. I would rip it open with my bare hands if I had to. I dug so fast my fingertips burned. I unsheathed my selkie claws and kept plowing.
Treygan appeared at my side. He tried stopping me from digging, so I swatted him away and threw a few frustrated punches at him. He caught one of my hands in his, wincing at my claws cutting his flesh, but he held tight. The sun set, he said. The gate is closed. It won’t open for another eighteen months.
Tears poured out of me, disappearing into the godforsaken ocean, just like Nixie and Jenna. I hated Harte. I hated the Devil’s Triangle. I failed them.
Treygan held me and let me sob as we slowly floated upward.
The boat’s engine vibrated the water around us. Its humming grew closer until it purred directly above us. Together, we surfaced.
“Where are they?” Keeley flitted back and forth so fast the water rippled under her toes.
My voice cracked with defeat. “I’m so sorry, Keeley.”
“No!” She flew at my face, shaking her finger. “You get them out of there! My sisters will not be eternally trapped in hell.”
“Keeley,” I uttered. “I can’t—”
“Don’t tell me you can’t! You find a way, Miss Almighty Powerful Sea Monster. You find a way. Right now!” For such a small thing, she was intimidating. “What do you feel? You feel that she’s still alive, don’t you? She felt everything you felt while you were in there. She was so sick and in so much pain. I know you can feel her too. How can you just leave her in Harte if she’s still alive?” She balled her fists at her sides and screamed at me so loud my hair blew backward. “Don’t you give up on them!”
She was right. I could still feel my connection with Nixie. She was in a lot of pain, but she wasn’t dead. Sage coiled on my shoulder as I turned to stare at the area where the opening had been. Eerily calm waves had replaced the giant whirlpool that had churned and sucked us into the dangerous depths of Harte. I had seen the ocean floor and dug through the sand with my own hands. The gate had closed without a trace.
Keeley practically stood on my nose. “Don’t give up on them! They didn’t give up on you.”
I lifted my arm out of the water, but the words I had burned into my skin were gone. I looked at Treygan and mumbled, more to myself than to him, “Never give up.”
“What?” Treygan asked, drifting closer to me.
“The tide will turn,” I whispered.
Keeley threw her arms above her head as she stomped the air. “Don’t just float there. Do something!”
A scene played out in my mind like pictures in a book. “The tide will turn.” I smacked the water with my hands, excited by my epiphany. Koraline’s quote might have given me the answer to saving them. “The tide will turn!”
Everyone on the boat exchanged confused glances. Treygan stared at me with questioning eyes.
“Delmar, Kimber, Merrick, Pango.” I pointed where the gate had been. “Part the water.”
Pango and Merrick just stared at me. Delmar glanced at Kimber. “What?”
“At my welcoming ceremony, I watched all of you lift a castle out of the water. You parted the water. Do that again.”
Pango leaned on the railing of the boat. “Yara, it took teams of merfolk to lift that castle. Lifting from above and below.”
“I’m not asking you to lift anything. Just make a damn opening in the ocean!”
“Wait,” Treygan touched my arm. “If you’re about to do what I think, you aren’t considering a major problem with your plan.”
Treygan had a knack for reading my mind, and thank goodness for that, because I was too frantic. If he hadn’t stopped me when he did, I probably would have lost everyone.
~
We worked out a plan within minutes, but with every second that passed it felt like Nixie and Jenna were slipping further away.
Treygan tugged on the anchor chain. “Pango, what’s our anchor situation?”
“Three total. The main, backup, and dredge. Strongest ever made.”
“You’ll have to serve as a fourth,” Treygan said. “With your strength, it should be enough to hold.”
Pango nodded. “Got it.”
“Rownan and Vienna are secured down below?” Treygan asked Indrea.
“Yes. Tethered with safety lines, just in case.”
I didn’t know how safe Rownan and Vienna would be in the sleeping quarters of the boat, but it was all we could do. Selkies couldn’t offer the kind of help we required, and Vienna wasn’t strong enough to do anything but recover.
“Everyone, in the water,” Treygan ordered.
All of our trusting merfolk family dove or jumped into the water around us. Treygan, Pango, and I reached the ocean floor. Pango’s tail morphed into legs and he planted his feet in the sand. Treygan went to work. Shaky breaths rattled through me as I watched Treygan put his insane plan into action. He formed thick stone around each anchor for extra security. Then he swam back to me and Pango.
He created a slab of rock on the ocean floor. He slowed down, but not much, as he encased Pango’s legs and torso in stone.
You’re our anchor, Treygan said.
Pango grinned. Haven’t I always been?
Treygan squeezed Pango’s shoulder then faced me. You’ll have to help me if we’re going to do this quickly.
He had much more faith in my stone-making skills than I did.
What if I crush them? What if I can’t control it like you can?
You won’t crush anyone, Treygan assured me, forming a huge slab of bedrock below us. You’ll do great. Use that as your base and build upward until you can connect someone. Start with Delmar.
I did what Treygan taught me in our days of training, imagining stone forming like a giant puzzle building upon itself. When I reached Delmar’s fins, I froze. What if I hurt him? Worse, what if I killed him?
I glanced up, looking for Treygan to help me do it correctly, but he was an indigo blur in the water, erecting pillars of stone.
Slowly, I formed a foot or so of stone around Delmar’s fins and tail. I couldn’t do it as fast as Treygan. I was too worried about crushing Delmar. Treygan was beside me in an instant and Delmar was encased up to his waist before I could thank Treygan for helping me.
I swam to the surface, needing to make sure everyone was okay.
“Holy Poseidon.” Delmar tucked his long hair behind his ears. “I can’t move my lower body—at all.”
“I think it just might work,” Caspian said.
“Is anyone hurt?” I asked.
No one was. Not one complaint of pain or discomfort.
Treygan surfaced beside me. “Okay, Yara. Your turn. Anchor me.”
“I can’t.”
“I can’t encase myself, so you have to or I’ll be swept away.”
“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
“Do it,” Treygan said. “Now. For Nixie and Jenna.”
That was the only reminder I needed. I dove down, concentrating on my gorgon ability and feeling its power simmering inside me. I started at the bedrock base and kept expanding the stone. I built upward until I reached Treygan’s tail, sculpting all around him, up to his abs, but it didn’t seem safe enough. I added more, encasing him up to his chest, and then I surfaced.
He smirked. “Went a bit overboard, didn’t you?”
“Better safe than sorry.”
“You did an amazing job. Now, go. Nixie and Jenna need you.”
Keeley hovered above our heads with one of my packs. “I found the one you wanted.”
“Good. You stay with me.” I flew into the sunless sky, gazing down at Treygan, Caspian, Indrea, Delmar, Kimber, and Merrick, and deeper to where Pango anchored the boat that Rownan and Vienna were stowed away in. I was
putting all of them at risk. I grumbled to myself, “What am I doing?”
“You’re saving my sisters,” Keeley reminded me.
I took the empty bag from her and punctured a few air holes in the leather with my talons. “Get in and do not come out no matter what.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She flew inside, but darted back out and kissed me on the chin. “You can do it. I believe in you.”
That makes one of us.
She flew into the pouch and I tightened the strings then double-knotted them. I strapped on the pack and took a deep breath. I stared at the pale moon now visible in the darkening sky. Please help me pull this off, Medusa.
We had already taken too much time. I had to work fast. I scanned the horizon and connected with the wind. My instinct was to create a hurricane, but I pushed away the desire and focused on my purpose.
“Open it!” I yelled to the merfolk below me.
They all sang together and lifted their arms. The water slowly spread apart.
I said another prayer and closed my eyes, visualizing the funnel, making the air gather and swirl in a powerful whirlwind. My tornado began brewing.
“You’re doing it, Yara!” Treygan shouted.
I flew higher, stretching the waterspout taller. Digging deep, I summoned every bit of my siren strength. I raised my hands, struggling against its increasing power. My muscles trembled. Keeley’s pack slapped my chest over and over. My hair whipped against my face and eyes, almost blinding me. I couldn’t hear or see everyone below me. I felt alone, but I knew I wasn’t.
I conjured power from every species that existed in me: siren, mer, selkie, and gorgon. The tornado whistled and screamed so loud my ears rang. My bones threatened to snap like twigs and my muscles fought to keep from being ripped to shreds. I resisted the suction that tried to pull me into the tornado. I’m stronger than you, I silently told it. I control you.
I pictured Nixie’s fiery but fiercely loyal eyes, and Jenna’s big, contagious grin.
Uncle Lloyd’s voice echoed in my memory. “Love is when you care about someone so much you would risk everything to keep them safe.”
My skin tingled with love for them. I didn’t care if the tornado broke me into pieces. I would give my life if I had to. Anything to get Nixie and Jenna out of Harte.
I chanted Koraline’s words in my head. Never give up. The tide will turn.
I groaned and thrashed as surges of strength rippled through me. Sage stretched tall and proud, somehow remaining upright against the wind. The tide will turn.
With one final yank, I flipped the tornado upside down. The force of it threw me backward. My wings snapped back on themselves. I momentarily toppled through the air and was almost sucked into the funnel. But I fought back and pried my wings open, kicking, flapping, and pumping my way out of the pull toward the ocean.
I steadied myself and hovered there, in awe of the monstrous churning force of nature in front of me. Then I raised my arms and threw them back down with all my might, driving the upside-down funnel deep into the hole the merfolk held open.
It worked. The brunt of the tornado’s power was in the water, but I wasn’t sure how long I could hold it. The force of the tornado was even stronger than I anticipated. It was a living, breathing thing that existed because of me. It was part of me.
I felt when it stopped at the ocean floor, spinning the sand, weakening when it had nowhere else to go. My muscles were rigid, but I dug deeper, searching for more strength. I am a sea monster. The ocean will not beat me.
I clenched my fists and dug my heels into the ocean foam bubbling around me. My teeth rattled from the tremors. I roared uncontrollably.
Then, finally, I broke through. Plumes of smoke shot through the middle of the funnel like a geyser. The gate was open.
Nixie! I mentally shouted. We’re still here. We didn’t leave you. Get out of there!
I should have been exhausted, but adrenaline made me stronger. I could see everyone below me. I drifted down closer to them.
“I don’t know how much longer we can hold it!” Delmar yelled.
“I can feel her!” I told them. “She’s panicking and weak, but she’s fighting. Keep it open!”
Come on, Nixie, I urged. Come, on!
It felt like eternity stretched out in front of me. My merfolk grunted and groaned below. Their muscles strained and rippled as they struggled to hold the ocean open against the raging storm. Their hallmarks swirled through their skin and changed colors like a fireworks display in the water.
Indrea let out one last painful shout and collapsed face-first into the ocean, but the stone around her body kept her in place. Caspian reached for her, but he couldn’t move anything but his upper torso. The hole in the ocean closed significantly without their help.
Nixie! I mentally shouted. Hurry! It’s closing!
I felt her hope disappear. It was replaced by worry and dread.
No! You fight, Nixie. You get back here! I tried emanating my own determination so she would feel it. I need you, I mentally whispered. I won’t be me anymore without you.
The hole closed even more.
I hovered above Treygan and harnessed my ability to control water. I pulled with everything I had, grunting and straining with the rest of my mer family while still keeping the tornado spinning.
A huge wave of water rushed toward me. I bowed my head as it crashed against me, but I kept fighting. The hole widened.
I could feel Nixie’s pain intensifying. Her hope was almost non-existent.
Now, Nixie! I screamed at her. As your assigned gorgon, I command you to push through your pain and fly through the gate right now!
I took two more shaky breaths. Praying between each one. The wind howled. Water churned so fast I couldn’t tell where the ocean ended and the sky began. Something black shot up in front of me. Hints of red shimmered high above the tornado. Nixie.
She was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. She was covered in black slime, but traces of her bright red hair and wings shined through. She hung in place momentarily, like a black and red feather lifted by an updraft. I let the funnel of water collapse, and then gravity yanked her down.
I rushed forward, catching her in mid-air. She smelled as bad as the breath of a soul sucker, but happy tears spilled from my eyes. She made it. She was out of Harte.
The others had let the hole snap shut beneath us. Treygan busted free of his stone encasing and started freeing the others.
I carried Nixie’s body to the boat and gently set her down. Keeley kicked and punched against my chest from inside her pouch. I sliced open the string with a flick of one talon and she flitted out, landing on Nixie’s shoulder.
“Nixie,” Keeley whispered, pushing and pulling her long, wet hair from her face. “Nixie, please wake up.”
Nixie didn’t budge.
“She’s not dead,” I said. “I feel it. She’s alive.”
“Where is Jenna?” Keeley asked me.
“She …” I searched the sky and glanced out over the ocean. “I don’t know.”
Keeley’s eyes welled with tears. “She had to make it out. She’s so tough. She probably flew out and you didn’t see her. I’ll find her.” Keeley flew off, searching for a tiny yellow body I was sure I hadn’t seen.
The others climbed aboard one after the other. Delmar rushed below to check on Rownan and Vienna. I sighed with relief when Pango’s huge body rocked the boat as he climbed inside. Everyone was accounted for—except for sweet, brave Jenna.
“Is she all right?” Treygan asked, kneeling beside us. Nixie’s crimson eyelashes fluttered as she groaned.
“Nixie, you made it. We’re all here.” I patted her cheek until her eyes opened.
“My wings,” she whispered.
“Your wings are intact,” I assured her. Her arms looked like shredded meat. “The Violets will heal your injuries.”
Keeley landed on my shoulder. She was sniffling and wiping her eyes. “Jenna went back in to h
elp you, Nixie. Did you see her?”
“My wings,” Nixie murmured again.
Keeley’s head snapped up. “Her wings!”
She dashed behind Nixie and pushed her onto her side. Treygan helped, holding an exhausted Nixie against him. Nixie’s wings were tattered, closed tight against her back and covered in black slime like the rest of her. Keeley pulled at one, but it was rigid.
“Keeley, stop,” I said. “You might hurt her.”
Keeley scowled at me. “You don’t understand!”
She tugged harder, freeing Nixie’s right wing and fanning it open as far as she could. Treygan glanced at me apprehensively, and I shrugged. Maybe it was some water sprite way of healing that we didn’t understand.
Keeley grunted, tugging on Nixie’s left wing. “Relax your grip, Nixie! I can’t open it.”
Nixie grumbled something I couldn’t understand. Then her wing loosened and Keeley fanned it open. I gasped.
There, whimpering and nestled tightly in Nixie’s down feathers, was an unconscious and slime-covered Jenna.
Keeley squealed and flew forward. “Oh, Jenna!”
She covered her sister’s face with kisses, not minding the putrid-smelling slime at all.
“You did it, Nix.” I said into her ear. “You saved all of us. Even Jenna.”
Nixie could barely hold up her head. I felt the stinging of her wounded arms and the burning of her legs as if they were my own. Her red eyes darted aimlessly, confirming the dizzy sensation I’d been feeling was hers. “Jenna’s okay?”
“She’s going to be fine,” I told her. “You’re a hero.”
Jenna stirred awake. She wiped the tar-like slime from her buttercup face and let out the biggest yawn I had ever seen. “Can we go home? I’d very much like to take a long nap.”
Treygan and I smiled at each other. Caspian and Indrea kneeled beside Nixie and went to work. Merrick steered the boat as we bounced across the ocean, all souls accounted for, and headed back to the gateway to Rathe.
I went below to check on Rownan and Vienna. Meeting Vienna for the first time in Harte hadn’t felt real. It was like we met in a nightmare and now I needed to see her in the waking world to make sure she was real.
Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) Page 28
