“Yes, let’s have a breath and then go back down.” Her eyes twinkled. “Race you to Shannah.” She swam away as fast as she could.
I chased after her, anxious to break through the surface above us and take our first breath together. I didn’t know how, but she knew where Shannah was.
That’s when I understood. No matter what it took, we’d find my son.
I was sure of it.
Nothing in any world could stop a Mer and a whale shifter.
40
Rescue
Mara
I knew.
I knew where Shannah was, and the knowledge thrilled me beyond anything else. I could save my sister. She would be freed within the hour. I did a double loop in the water, flipping my tail fin one way and then the other.
I gave the white whale beside me a sly glance, and I couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break my face in two.
None would be able to stand in our way.
The memory hold broke at Bitteen’s death. When all the holes in my thoughts filled in, I remembered why Shannah’s cave seemed familiar. I remembered where it was. She had been trapped in the burial catacombs beneath Raishana.
Even though we never lived in Raishana, we had explored them so many times throughout our life, visiting from the Mer city. Shannah still went there to think. It had probably been where Shannah had been captured.
Where are you going? Lev’s voice sounded in my head.
To save my sister. I pushed the words at him.
He paused in the water, an expression of confusion on his whalish face.
I laughed and swam faster, trying to outrun him.
Raishana appeared in the murk, a partially-submerged city beneath an upside-down bowl. Cephalopods scurried this way and that. The water-fog cleared with each fin flap.
As a teen, it had been thrilling to swim all the way to Raishana and explore beneath the city. My sister would be there. I was sure of it.
I angled downward, past the clothes shops situated at every airlock, past the houses built beneath water level, past the nurseries.
We moved from the ever-twilight to the inky depths beyond where light—natural or artificial—could go.
Tiny creatures dotted the corral foundation of the city, luminescing like a field of starlight. I slowed, watching for a gap in the light pattern.
There. I sent the thought to Lev and pointed to a dark, almost circle shape, and Lev lifted his head up and down.
I’ll go first.
He swam in front of me, holding up a fin, shaking his head back and forth.
I laid my hand on his face, near the eye that was almost as big as my head. The eye that marked him Lev. You’re too big as you are.
What if something happens to you?
But it could also be empty.
He didn’t answer but drew backwards and out of my way.
I darted into the circle, running my hand along the rough sides of the cave. Instead of up, the cave went down for a hundred feet and ended.
No Shannah.
I swam back out, shaking my head as soon as I saw Lev. The next two caves connected to the catacombs, but they were empty.
At the entrance to the fourth, Lev froze and lifted his nose. The vibrations are different here, faster. Like thrashing.
My heart dropped, and I rushed in, not caring to be careful. If Shannah was in some kind of trouble…
I hurried as fast as I could go. Upward and into the catacombs.
But I wasn’t alone. Lev had shifted to his human form and swam along right beside me, his face twisted in a grimace. His eyes bulged from the pressure.
Foolish, foolish man. If he heard me, he didn’t react.
I grabbed him to me and pushed him ahead, using my tail to propel him like a torpedo through the water. He wouldn’t drown on my account. I refused to lose him, not when we were so close to being free of Bitteen’s labyrinth.
We burst into a pocket of the air, a dull light came from an unidentified source. We had to be closer to the city than the other tunnels had been.
I tossed Lev, coughing and retching, onto a rock ledge and hoped the cavern was empty of Bitteen’s henchmen. No alarms. No attacks.
I climbed up beside him, summoning and glorying in the shift. Once changed, I punched Lev’s heaving side. “Don’t you ever do something so foolish again.”
“I didn’t have a choice.” He grasped my hand, his eyeballs bloodshot. “I couldn’t lose you. Not now.”
His ardent fervor banked my ire, and I sat up to scan the room.
Beaks and cuttlebones stacked along the walls like stonework façade, each one etched with dates and times, but no Shannah.
“There’s nothing here.” My voice broke.
Lev climbed to his feet and pulled me to mine. His studied the cave. A moment later, he lifted a brow. “Listen.”
I gasped. Far away, a grunt followed a whimper, and I took off toward the sound, racing down the corridor, the brittle rock breaking and shifting beneath my feet.
“Mara,” Lev roared.
But I didn’t stop. I had to see her. I had to know. I had to find my sister.
Fifteen strides later, the corridor narrowed until the sharp rocks gouged my skin. I pushed forward, moving toward the sound that grew steadily louder.
Pain screamed through me, a dozen scrapes burned over my skin.
“Shannah,” I panted. “Are you there?”
The whimpers intensified in tone and number, and I squirmed between the razor-rocked surfaces.
“Shannah?” It hurt. Every part of me.
More grunts and groans. A long wail and then a splash.
“I can’t follow. It’s too narrow,” Lev bellowed behind me, his voice breaking in whale song. “Wait for me, Mara.”
But I wouldn’t—couldn’t. Shannah was there, just beyond my reach.
I let my eyes drift closed, reaching for the magic that had been mine since birth. I summoned the shift, my bottom half growing larger, stronger. Then I thrashed my tail, pounding my fin against the brittle stone.
Battered and bloody, I broke through to see Shannah slip beneath the surface, tied to a chair, the whites of her eyes screamed her horror. I scrambled across the ground and slipped into the water after her.
Grasping the leg of the chair, I drew her back up and threw her back from whence she’d come. The chair splintered into a thousand pieces, throwing wooden shrapnel across the cavern as Lev broke through.
I considered my damaged arms and shook my head. His bloody skin matched mine. We were two of a kind.
Shannah rolled out of the wreckage, her chest heaving.
She had been tied to a chair, her two legs in cuffs that matched the one that I had worn. My breath caught. She would have drowned if I hadn’t forced my way in
Still gagged, her eyes widened at the sight of us, and a blush kissed her cheeks.
Why is she— Lev pushed the thought toward me.
You’re naked, Lev.
His eyes widened, and he twisted away. I had forgotten about the intricacies of shifting.
I moved to my sister and untied the gag.
Shannah threw her arms around my fin, sobbing.
I turned back to legs and crouched beside her, pushing her wet hair back from her face. “Are you alright?”
She hiccupped. “She said I would drown before anyone found me.”
“Where is she?” Lev asked.
“She left ages ago. I’ve been here alone.” The last word set off another barrage of sobbing.
“We’re here.” I wrapped my arms around my sister. “Your family is here now.”
41
Rescue
Lev
The sisters embraced, their sobs echoing up and down the caverns.
Then tears flooded my eyes, and my vision clouded. They’d found each other again. An ache overwhelmed me, and I turned away from the emotional glare. It was too bright to watch… like staring at the sun too long.
My h
eart wanted to burst with happiness for Mara. Yet envy tinted my joy. I couldn’t’ help it. Family reunions always impacted me in a way nothing else did.
I had a family, and it continued to grow larger with each passing year.
But… I longed for my son. The ache made my arms weak with emptiness.
Mara helped steady Shannah on her feet. “Can you break those?”
I crouched before Shannah and summoned my whale strength. Shattering the shifter cuffs, I tossed the pieces aside and into the depths of the Hurricane Sea.
Mara laid her hand on my shoulder but spoke to Shannah. “What do you do now? Come with us? I could take you to explore Unseen Street. We’ve always talked about visiting.”
Shannah smiled. “No, sister. You know what I must do. My mate has been worried about me since I disappeared.”
Mara scowled. “How has he not come searching for you?”
“They left him a forged note that I had gone on a pilgrimage.”
“That worked?”
Shannah shrugged. “We had been discussing it. I wanted to request space in the nursery grasses.” She turned to me and extended her hand. “I am honored to meet Mara’s chosen mate.”
My eyes widened, and my head swiveled between the sisters. “Mara’s what?”
Mara elbowed Shannah, hissing words that I couldn’t quite make out.
Shannah didn’t look like she believed what Mara said. “Ah, well. Perhaps that is a discussion for another day.”
Mara nodded. “I should think so.”
Shannah went on, “Thank you for saving me, Leviathan. I hope to meet you again soon.” She clapped her hands and began to dance on her toes. “I have missed my child most, and I must go.”
Mara stepped forward. “Are you well enough to swim?”
“The shift will heal what ails me,” she said, stepping toward the water that broke over the jagged rocks. “Be well, sister.”
They embraced once more, and then Shannah disappeared beneath the waves.
In the space of a simple goodbye, life had been made right again.
I chuckled. “What do we do now?”
Mara’s gaze dropped below my waist. “We find you some clothes in Raishana, dear whale. I don’t think they’ll let you on the train like that, and Woe is probably waiting for us.” She pursed her lips. “Even though I told her not to.”
My face fell. I hadn’t thought of traveling naked. Mara would be right about the train. The only way we could get some clothes would be to go through the city. Our luggage was already on the arrival platform, and that didn’t leave many options beyond the long walk up through the catacombs, through an airlock, and then through Raishana.
I grimaced. Knowing Woe, she waited for us. I didn’t want to make her wait longer than she had to, but it had been a long time since I had been able to sail through the water. I wasn’t ready to give up that joy.
I sighed and took a step upward on the path that led through the corridor. “Let’s go then.”
Mara caught my arm. When I glanced back, she arched an eyebrow, her mouth set at a teasing angle. “Not what you wanted, whale shifter?”
I chuckled. Already, she knew me well. “I was hoping for another swim with a beautiful mermaid. Do you happen to know one that might take an old whale shifter like me?”
She threw back her head to laugh, the sound freer than any other she had uttered since she arrived at our door. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Then she dashed away to disappear over the edge, the way her sister had gone.
Laughing, I went running after.
42
All Aboard
Lev
Eight hours later, I pulled three tickets from my pocket as I approached the train. The transport authority had apologized for the delay in our return and provided a complimentary sleeper car at my request. Thankfully, I hadn’t had to give up my right arm after all.
Jason would be relieved to hear that we’d beaten Bitteen, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that we’d seen that last of her. Without a corpse to bring back, I struggled to accept that Bitteen was dead, and the Boss was still out there.
Even as I sought to rid all our lives of the evil that had plagued us, I couldn’t bring myself to dismember her. She had ruined so many lives and killed so many in her quest for power, but brutality wasn’t in my nature, and I’d released her lifeless form to the depths. Doing so, I’d nearly assured myself a lifetime of looking over my shoulder. Yet, it was a weight I would gladly bear alone as long as I could.
For now, for today, we were alive. That’s what mattered. I wanted to live the rest of my life in that moment of truth, but if Bitteen dared to show up again, we’d be ready for her.
On the busy platform with Woe and Mara close behind, I stopped in front of the conductor. “Tickets,” he barked.
I handed them over. “Car one, first seat. Good choice,” he read off the top slip. He punched the slip of cardboard and handed it back to me. I handed it to Woe.
At the second, he gurgled, “Two for the honeymoon caboose.” He glanced at the third, punched both, and handed them back to me.
“Thank you,” I said, and turned to Woe. With a wink, I asked, “Will you be all right on your own?”
A blush colored her cheeks. “Please, go ahead, and enjoy. Uh. Each other,” she stammered. “I’ll probably nap the whole trip anyway. I didn’t get sleep a wink the whole time we were on Raishana.”
The ebony-winged woman wasn’t naive, but her discomfort wasn’t going to stop what I had planned. I scooped Mara into my arms. We’d lost our luggage in the melee. Even if we hadn’t, she was all I cared to take with me. She laid her head on my chest.
Woe headed to the front of the train, and I carried Mara to the small car at the end. The exterior resembled a caboose. The entrance was at the ready, the door propped open. I turned sideways to climb three steps, careful to keep from bumping Mara into anything. When I stepped inside the car, she gasped.
The car had been carved out of mother-of-pearl and decorated in monochromatic décor. Divided in two parts, we stood in a small living area, a small table sat beneath a window on one side, and a small couch rested beneath the window on the other. Beyond, French doors had been thrown open to reveal an ornate bed, covered in white satin pillows with ivory comforters and silken sheets. The honeymoon car did not disappoint.
“It’s lovely, Lev,” she breathed. “Set me down.” She tapped my chest. “I want to try it.”
As soon as I obliged, she darted into the bedroom and leapt onto the bed, sinking down several inches into the downy cover. “Join me?” she asked, her voice muffled by the surrounding pillows.
I unbuttoned my shirt as I walked, tossing it aside before I climbed in beside Mara. She rolled toward me and propped her head on her hand. Staring into her eyes, I studied them. The icy blue flecks had been replaced by a copper shade. I didn’t see Anne in them anymore, only Mara.
“It’s been a difficult few days,” I said, trying to ease into the conversation we needed to have. “I betrayed you.”
“And I betrayed you,” Mara said, her expression solemn.
Straight to it. I admired her bravery in that. “What should we do now?” I knew what I wanted to do, but she needed an opportunity to change her mind.
“Oh, probably the opposite of what we’re going to do,” she said. A small twitch at the corner of her mouth was the only hint of her mirth.
I chuckled at her, and the smile blossomed on her face. Confident, assured, she seized my heart now as much as she had before. It was as though all the hand-wringing self-doubt had fallen away from her when she’d been released from her link with Bitteen.
The train lurched and started the trek upward, and the engines sent a hum throughout the car. “I won’t let you out of this, Lev.” She scooted closer.
My eyes drifted closed as she drew her fingers down my cheek. “Are you sure?”
“Never more certain,” she whispered. Her mouth trac
ed the same path as her fingers.
I wrapped my arm around her and pressed my face into her neck, inhaling her scent. “I’m glad we’re here. Glad we survived. We have so much to learn about each other.” I whispered the words in her ear and pressed a kiss to her earlobe. “I will learn every secret you keep, Mara.”
“What an inappropriate thing to say to a respectable woman, Mr. Lev,” she answered, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me to her. “Is intrigue worth nothing to you?”
“I’d rather know you inside and out, love, for the rest of forever.”
“Is that the sort of thing you have in mind? Forever?” She lifted her shirt over her head, and I followed the fabric with my mouth as her breathing turned ragged.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, fumbling for the right words to say. I stood at the threshold of the honeymoon caboose with my hat in my hands. Nervousness jolted through me, and I spit out the first thing I came up with. “Your reputation…”
She laughed, the sound bubbled up from her middle and spilled over. “You won’t be my first, Lev. I’ve been here before.”
“But—”
“It’s fine. Take me to bed.” Her words beckoned me, but the tone was confusing.
“Are you certain?”
She nodded but turned away slightly.
I moved toward her slowly, carefully, afraid she would change her mind or disappear like a mirage. With every step, I expected her to bolt.
But she didn’t. She waited for me to close the gap between us. I shook from head-to-toe, overcome with desire. “It’s been some time,” I said, hesitantly reaching for her.
“It’s been a long time for me, too,” she whispered, watching my fingers come near.
And then my hand was on her skin. Her eyelids slipped closed, and her breath left her in a shuddering sigh. I traced the line from her shoulder to the dip in her collarbone, then up the curve of her neck until I splayed my fingers on her cheek.
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