by Porter, Jack
Megan didn’t have as much preparation to do, and water was far from Yua’s element, so it was all she could do to watch from afar.
So it didn’t take long before we were good to go.
I waved a hand in front of me, gesturing toward the murky depths before us.
“Shall we?”
Megan beamed. “Absolutely. It’s a bit of a swim from here, but it shouldn’t take us more than an hour or so to get there.”
“Great.”
Together, my mermaid goddess and I dove deep. I resurrected the air bubble and whirlpool straw that filtered clean air into it. Megan led while our crystals lit our path, and I did my best to keep my eyes open for predators.
To be fair, I should have known it would take longer than an hour. Megan couldn’t stop getting distracted by one thing after another on the seafloor.
Coral reefs. Dark trenches begging to be explored. Even schools of fish came up to Megan as if she were one of their own, winding through her floating red hair and brushing up against her tail like cats around their owner’s legs.
Those same sea creatures darted away from me when I tried to brush a finger over their pretty scales. I laughed.
“Alright then, I give up.”
A grin touched Megan’s lips. “Really? I thought you had them on the ropes?” Her voice was slightly muted by the water, but still clear enough for me to understand her easily.
“Hilarious,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Just as well, we’re about where I first saw the city.” She was staring wide-eyed at a dark canyon.
I had to admit, at this depth, the waters were getting murky even to my enhanced vision. But Megan didn’t seem to have any problem.
“There,” she murmured. The expression in her eyes was suddenly serious as a grave.
Moments later, I found out why.
A grave it was. It was as she’d described it. A massive glass dome, shattered in a few places on the ocean bed. Water and fish flowed freely in to the ancient city beneath.
The dome must have been the last defense against certain doom. But the glass didn’t seem to have been proof against the pressure of the water and the constant bombardment of time, marine life, and swift ocean currents.
“This could be a bit of a problem for me,” I told Megan, pointing to my whirlpool air solution. “I can’t breathe without a connection to the surface, and I’m not sure I can bend the line around the cracks.”
“Do you need me to go in alone?” she swished her tail in a nervous gesture.
Smiling, I shook my head. “Too dangerous. Zavier could have set a trap, and there are other dangers down here. Besides, you can’t carry all six girls by yourself if we find them, goddess strength or not.”
“So, I’ll carry three and you’ll carry three,” she agreed. “If you can’t take your air supply in with you, this will need to be a quick in and out mission. No exploring. No last-minute breaks for the surface.”
“You’re right, my little mermaid. Let’s look for other points of entry or exit if need be. And you swim much faster than I do, even with my magic propelling me. We should split up and go around the dome for a perimeter check. Keep an eye out for the girls inside. If you spot them through the glass, try to find more broken entrances like this with a straighter line to get to them.”
“Understood.”
The mermaid goddess squared her shoulders and turned away. Her tail splashed bubbles into my air capsule, piercing it as she began her swim around one side of the dome.
Cold water rushed in and I hastily reset my barrier.
It wasn’t the first time an outside force had rendered my barrier useless. It seemed that, like a normal bubble, it was fragile.
Zavier take it, I swore to myself.
I needed to figure out a way to reinforce my air supply. If my control over the ocean could crumble with just a few bubbles, things could get dicey when it came time to carry the girls out.
I thought about my problem while taking off in the opposite direction as Megan. The glass was so dirty with green algae I had a hard time seeing anything through it except for the shadows of the large buildings.
But there were plenty more cracks along my path.
About a quarter of the way around the dome, I noticed something slightly brighter than the rest of the city. I paused, then kicked my way closer to the dome until my nose was pressed to the dirty glass.
My eyebrows knitted together as I thought about how to clear the glass. Wiping it away with my arms would take forever. And I wasn’t so sure a small blast of magic would clear it either. If anything, the dome might be so fragile at this point that anything harder than a feather duster could send the whole thing breaking apart. And that might not go so well for the goddesses beneath it.
But maybe I had something lighter than feathers.
Maybe my golden mist could do the job.
I carefully sent my mists through my bubble barrier—which thankfully didn’t break—and onto a section of glass. In a circular motion, I twisted my mists into action, letting its power scrub away the impurities from the glass.
It wasn’t perfect, but I got a much clearer view of what I’d seen before.
“Got them,” I hissed.
Six female shapes stood frozen in a circle facing one another. Their skin glimmered with some sort of crystal magic, and a waxy shell similar to that which Zavier had once placed on Hannah protected their delicate bodies from the ocean’s onslaught.
I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of excitement at how close we were to completing the rescue. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. The pace of my breathing picked up, and I called my mists back to me.
Now I just need to find Megan and—
“Dexter, oh god,” the mermaid goddess’s voice pierced through my thought, almost as if reading my mind. “Quick, they’re going to eat me! I don’t want to be sushi! Please!”
It was the second time she’d called out for help. Last time, the kraken had got her.
This time…
Alarmed at the panicked tone in her voice, I turned, yanking my sword free in the same motion. She was swimming like mad, roughly a quarter mile in front of me, her tail thrashing behind her.
And behind that thrashing tail were two familiar shadows with rows and rows of teeth.
Thirty
Megan’s eyes were wide and streaked with hysteria and indecision as she zagged and dodged the shark’s attacks.
Instantly, I launched myself toward her, preparing myself as best as I could for the frontal attack.
“Bring them straight to me. I’ll take care of it!”
She did a zigzag motion one more time and then tore a line straight for me. The sharks adjusted, sensing she was wearing down. Hell, I could sense it as well. She was losing steam quickly, eyes drooping with exhaustion, and I realized the problem.
“Draw some magic from my crystal. It will give you a boost!”
“I don’t know how. I—”
A frightened sob cut her words off when one shark darted forward and nipped the most delicate part of her fin. She sped back up again, a burst of adrenaline working just as well as the crystal.
From the way the sharks responded with added enthusiasm for the chase, I knew the one that had nicked her had drawn blood.
This wasn’t good. I couldn’t get them both when they were separated like that. And they were coming too fast. This had the potential impact of a car accident if I didn’t time it right. I’d have to blast one with magic and while I plunged my sword into the other.
Megan was less than twenty feet away. I knew that she’d always been nervous about her fighting ability, and maybe that bled through in this mermaid form. Here, she was running on instinct, like the other goddesses in their element. Except the other girls were predators. Megan might not have been strictly prey, but she wasn’t the apex hunter of the seas.
This revelation made my blood run hot in my body. Anger rolled through me. I wanted kill those
bloodthirsty beasts.
Sure, I knew that they too were just running on instincts. But they could just as easily gorge themselves on a dead kraken, assuming there was anything of that monster left.
I wouldn’t let them get my wife.
Switching my awareness to my crystal magic, I let it seep in deep enough to ensure a good chunk of magic would be at my fingertips when I needed it.
“On my signal, dive,” I commanded.
All at once, the fear on her face faded, replaced by a confidence that I knew what I was doing. I allowed the magic to flow out of my chest and pool into one condensed spot in the palm of my hand.
“Please let this work,” I whispered under my breath. Then louder, I yelled, “Dive, now!”
She did, and everything happened in a blur. I sent the magic in my left-hand hurtling into one great white shark. It hit square in the nose, and the monster went limp.
At almost the same time, I turned my body to the left and shoved my sword arm directly at the twenty-one-foot-long hunk of teeth.
Whose jaws, I realized at the last second, were wide open.
Fuck!
My sword went down the shark’s gullet, along with most of my forearm as the beast hit me and broke my air bubble.
I should have known this would happen. Trying to stop an attacking two-thousand-pound fish traveling at truly ungodly speeds was like trying to stop a landslide with your bare hands. Only it was even worse than that, because I didn’t have the advantage of solid ground beneath me.
The shark and I rolled head over feet as my blade worked its way further into the sensitive organs. I acted quickly, twisting the sword to do as much damage as possible. But my adversary seemed to have the same idea, clamping its razor-sharp teeth down on my arm, and from the feel of it, nearly tearing it off.
I screamed. Thank god I remembered not to breathe in first. But now all my air was gone, and the shark was still alive.
I sent a desperate burst of magic directly into the shark, and it finally released its hold. I used my good arm to push its nose off of me, yanking my mangled arm free with my sword barely hanging off my limp fingers.
Damn it. I was gushing blood.
At least it didn’t rip my arm off completely, I thought. I doubted crystal magic could regrow my limbs for me.
I gritted my teeth, trying to figure out what to do next through a haze of pain and blood loss.
First things first, secure your sword.
Acting mostly on instinct, I reached down to finagle the sword out of my worryingly numb fingers.
Next, air supply.
My ability to manipulate the ocean was becoming easier and faster each time. My whirlpool straw and air shield seemed to materialize at the same time with barely a thought. I took a few gulping breaths and glanced down at the damage.
Well, I’ve been through worse, I told myself. Silently, I sent a few chunks of golden mist to begin repairing the damage, reconnecting muscle, cartilage, and skin back together.
I was still a little lightheaded, but it wasn’t too long before there was more blood staying inside of me than flowing out. So that was a win.
Glancing around, I found Megan was already beside me, not close enough to touch me even though I could tell she wanted to. This shocked me because I hadn’t seen her draw closer. Had I blacked out for a moment?
But I was still breathing clean air. Had my magic just kept doing its thing to ensure my survival?
Damn impressive, I said to myself.
“The other shark?” I asked, my voice was raspy and weak.
“It swam off.”
“Shit, I didn’t kill it?”
She grimaced. “Only stunned, but it was enough. Come on, we should get you back to the surface.”
Irritation flashed through me. “Not without the other goddesses. I won’t leave them to rot in that cold dead city for another day.”
Megan tensed, wanting to argue with me, but I was already using my magic to propel me toward the dome. I knew Megan had only been trying to look after me, and that maybe my reaction had been a little abrupt.
I decided I would make it up to her later. Just as soon as we were safe on dry land.
That worked out, I pointed to the section of the dome I’d used my mists to clean as we moved closer. “They are just there. We need to find a way in.”
I didn’t want to risk just breaking more of the dome. The glass was too thick, and could do serious damage if it landed in the wrong place.
We found one point of entry, but the break in the glass was only big enough for Megan’s slim form to squeeze through. We were both built to the scale of god and goddess now, but I was still broader and considerably more massive.
“I spotted another opening a little ways back,” I told her, leaving out the fact that it was the first opening we’d seen. “You go in, but don’t touch the goddesses yet. Zavier might have a booby trap up his sleeve. So, wait for me to check it out first. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” I figured she was safer from predators inside the dome than she was outside, but didn’t mention this out loud.
She nodded and swam inside, not sparing me a second glance. She trusted me to know what I was doing.
I wasn’t sure I had that much faith in myself. The opening I had in mind was a considerable distance away, and my arm was still worryingly numb. I watched Megan swim closer to the six goddesses before hurrying back to the first opening we’d found.
There was no point psyching myself out. Either I would make it, or I wouldn’t. So, I took a deep breath, and let my bubble burst as I wiggled through the glass.
Once inside, I tested a theory. If I could just continuously reset my bubble every time I needed a breath, would that get me through this?
Maybe.
Probably, even. Sure, it might drain my energy, but it was worth a shot if it helped me to breathe.
I reset my bubble, which would buy me maybe a breath or two of air. Then, I used my magic to push me toward the base of the underwater city.
To my surprise, Megan met me halfway there. Her face was splotchy red with anger. “You should have just told me. I could have looked for traps and then brought the girls out one at a time.”
I blinked, slowing down a little. It wasn’t a bad idea, but I’d never use Megan as bait for Zavier’s traps. I didn’t waste breath telling her this, but it seemed I didn’t have to.
Megan seemed to understand my position from just the look on my face. She rolled her eyes and huffed.
“Such a man, thinking you can do everything by yourself,” she muttered. But her voice was playful and the angry crimson spots on her cheeks were quickly cooling. “Come on, I can help you get to the goddesses. It will be faster,” she added.
Nodding, I let her place her hands on my back, breaking the bubble and allowing the cold ocean water to wash over my skin once more. It was worth it though, to enjoy the feeling of her warm breasts pressing on my back as she wrapped her slender arms around my chest.
It hadn’t crossed my mind to brace myself for her speed. If I had thought the Kraken had been fast, Megan proved me so very wrong.
It was like I’d been put on an out-of-control roller coaster. With her ability to stop and turn in mid-stroke, we dodged the buildings and debris as she wound us through the floating city.
And yet, the sharks had still managed to catch up with her. It would have been amazing if it weren’t so terrifying to consider.
When the ride finally ended, it took a few seconds to get my bearings. My vision was still swimming, and my skull thrummed with a headache.
The little breath I had left nearly escaped me as Megan and I swam up to the ring of girls, and I hastily replaced my bubble.
Glancing down, I fought the urge to free them quickly and give them as much privacy as I could. They were human-sized, which surprised me a little. And each of them was wearing nothing but their crystals in the form of a bracelet around each of their wrists.
Their clothes probably d
isintegrated over the years...
They were breathtaking. As horrible as the situation was, the complexity of magic crafted by Zavier to keep their bodies preserved was impressive, although I couldn’t imagine why he would do so.
And each of them would become my goddess.
But I couldn’t focus on that right now.
How about we free them from their prison before thinking about seducing them, eh soldier? I thought wryly to myself.
I shook my head and swam to the first girl, my hand outstretched to take hers. However, I stopped just before grasping it.
Kain save me, I knew it. A trap.
The girls were in a very delicate position. Knives sat poised at each of their throats, held there by an invisible force.
The knives looked to be a matching set. Each was inscribed with a name and unique colored gemstones set in the middle of silver handles, but aside from that, the blades were uniform, and all their years in the ocean had not dulled them in the slightest.
Giving Megan a warning glance, I swam in close, trying to find a weak point in the magic. There was none. Nothing I could sense, anyway.
So, taking the plunge, I stuck my hand out and gripped the knife with all my strength.
Nothing happened.
I pressed my lips together. What was Zavier playing at?
Being careful not to touch any, uh, intimate parts of the woman whose knife held the name Velma, I tucked my arm around her waist and pulled.
The instant I did, a knife in front of another girl moved closer to her throat.
Ah, so that’s his game, I thought. Trying to force me to play god with these girls’ lives. Ensuring that I’d only walk away with some of the group. Sick bastard.
I experimented with the other girls, and found that the spell bound them in pairs. Which was better than if they were linked randomly.
Lucky for me, he didn’t anticipate that I would have help. Now, more than ever, I was glad Megan had become just the goddess I needed to rescue these girls.
