She nodded, and their forms wavered before slipping to the floor as if they sank right through the carpet. I covered my eyes. “This is pretty major.”
David trailed his fingers down the center of my back. “I’ve never seen anything like it. They compromised their own species for so long, but nature kept giving them what they really needed: more males. And they just kept throwing them away.”
Heat soaked through my cheek as I cuddled against his chest. I could have held him like that forever. I sniffed and rubbed a tear from my eye.
“What’s wrong?”
I eased away from him. “It’s stupid. I kinda felt like she and I had something in common, but we don’t. She fell in love with someone from her own race, even though neither of them realized it. It’s nothing like what we’re going through.”
He traced his fingers beneath my chin. “You know I don’t care about that, right? I’ve made my sacrifice, and I have no regrets.”
Where the hell did that come from? Sacrifice? Seriously? Is that how he really felt?
I pushed him away, but he drew me back. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
A painful ball formed in my throat. “Then why do you always leave me?”
“We both need to make concessions to make this work. I want to be with you, but my people need me.” He released my arm and combed his fingers through his bangs. “Don’t you think I’d rather be with you, holding you, soaking you in?” The colors in his eyes separated again. “I was one hundred and eighty million miles away, and I could still feel your pain. I tried to send you comfort, but I suppose that’s just another failure to add to my excruciatingly long list.”
“You knew it bothered me last time when you didn’t call. I can’t believe you went another two years and didn’t contact me again.”
Defeat melted the expression from his face. “If I sent a transmission, it would have been monitored. What we’ve done, this connection we have … ” He shook his head. “My father is capable of many things, and not all of them are honorable.” His gaze scanned my face. Remorse pinched his features. “Don’t you know how badly I wanted to come back and hold you, let you know everything was all right?”
“Then why didn’t you? You couldn’t take a day off? Sightsee on Earth or something? That’s what spaceships are for, right?”
“It takes nearly a week to get here in a civilian transport. Even if I could find passage on a military ship, the journey would have been at least two days.”
“And the little Earth girl wasn’t worth the effort.” I waved my palms in the air. “I think I understand, now.”
He grabbed my shoulders. Blue fire burned through our tether. “Excuse me for trying to build a new planet. By myself. Don’t you understand? By. My. Self.” I cringed, trembling under his grip. “None of my people have the knowledge needed to do this. They need me. I can’t be so selfish to go and do what I want when my entire race is counting on me!”
He folded his arms and turned away, shaking beneath his tight cotton tee-shirt. Confliction coursed through our bond—the deep desire to be with me, but the need to help his people.
Here I was concerned about the pressure Ruby was under, not even recognizing what David was battling every day. What was wrong with me? He wasn’t the one being selfish. I was. How could I still have all these egocentric feelings after all he’d done to save my planet? What kind of idiot was I?
“You’re not an idiot,” he whispered.
“And you’re not supposed to be listening to my thoughts.”
He hunched, still staring at the wall. “I’m sorry, but I just yelled at you. I don’t like yelling at you. I was afraid you’d be mad again.”
I moved behind him, placing my hand on his back. “There’s really no one else who can do this?”
“I was the only eco-biologist to survive the experiments that created the mustard powder.”
I cringed. The mustard powder—the nasty stuff that I found on his ship two years ago. What had he called it? A biological weapon. One that David had accidently invented. And Earth nearly paid dearly for his mistake.
“I’m trying to teach as many new minds as I can, but they’re just not knowledgeable enough yet.” He finally turned. “As much as it hurts to leave you, I need to go back.”
“But all your work, and they’re still coming to take Earth.”
“Not while I’m still breathing. We have a perfect chance now with these two beings.”
“Can we just take them to Mars, though? Isn’t that kidnapping?”
“I know it’s bad to say this, but I don’t really care. If they can live in the seas I’ve created, and Ruby can have as many babies as Silver thinks she can, she can populate Mars with hundreds of little rain-makers. Her offspring can sustain Mars forever.”
“But what about her family here? They’re going to freak.”
His features hardened. “Not my problem. There are billions of human and Erescopian lives at stake. I can’t worry about our people and the rift dwellers too.”
Whoa. I stepped back.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve faced failure way too many times, and now your planet is more at risk than ever.” He grabbed my arms. “Don’t you understand? I won’t have to build anything or make anything grow. She can make it rain right away. Maybe not on the entire planet, but at least in a large enough area that I can prove it will work. We might not have to lose any of Earth.”
I yanked out of his grip. “Wait, what? What do you mean? I thought you were trying to stop the attack on Earth completely.”
A little part of me died when he didn’t immediately answer.
He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. “There was never any chance to completely stop them, Jess. I thought you understood that. That’s why I wanted to get you and your father safely to that island.” He lowered his eyes. “My people were preparing for the return to Earth when I left, and we’ve been gone for too long. The scourge may have already started, and I still need to get these beings to Mars.”
A leaden weight formed in my chest. “B-but, my dad. Maggie. Matt.”
“I have no idea what’s happening on the surface.” He brushed his cheek to mine. “I’m sorry.”
15
The walls blanched, fading to a translucent sheen. Our new friends hovered in the sea outside, basking in the red glow emanating from Ruby’s soft, floating tendrils.
The liquid curtain pinched, and Ruby and Silver walked right out of the simulated partition before it became my window again. Ruby pawed for my hands, but they splashed across my skin. Omigosh! They actually were made of water! Well, at least their fake-selves were.
“We need to go,” Silver said.
A miniature wave rolled over the carpet, washing my shoes away from the bed. “What’s going on?”
“They’ve decided they have no more use for you.”
The flood bubbled up from recesses behind the floorboards and soaked my knees. David splashed toward me, his eyes wide.
“Can you swim?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Before I filled the oceans on Mars I’d never seen more than a few hundred gallons of water in one place.” The sea level reached his hands. “At least it’s not cold, but … ”
“The volcanic fissures keep our environment warm,” Ruby said, like the reason for the warmth mattered when a gazillion gallons of ocean were rushing in on us.
She and Silver shifted lackadaisically as if standing at the beach watching the waves come in. Probably because they weren’t really there. Unlike David and me, who were stuck with nowhere to go.
David waded through the surge and pounded against the walls.
“Don’t,” Ruby said. “These caves are in balance, even when flooded. If you damage the outer layers of compression facing, the weight of the ocean will crush you.” She pointed at the window, which started to flicker as if the image was shorting out. “They have released this
wall completely. I am holding the barrier in place to keep the room from imploding, but I can’t do so for long.”
He backed away from the window. His brow arched, probably discerning the feasibility of naturally-occurring pressure-free caves so deep in the ocean.
Our warm, comforting surroundings fizzled from existence. My ceiling fan faded into a huge, white, glowing stalagmite above, illuminating the solid, foreboding, brown stone walls that had replaced my bedroom.
The wall with my window shimmered back into the water-curtain holding out the sea. The real Ruby and Silver zigged and zagged on the other side, not gentle and floating like before, but anxious and frantic. Silver skidded upward and out of sight. Ruby twitched. Was she just going to float there and watch? See how long it took us to drown? And this far beneath the sea, we probably would, and quickly. When she lost her grip on that last barrier, we were in deep—
“We’re going to die.” David shuddered, staring at the curtain. “We came so close … so close.”
“We are not going to die.”
His gaze remained fixed on the curtain, and the swaying bright red fluttering beacon on the other side. “I can’t swim, Jess. Even if I could breathe … ”
“Look at me.” His attention darted to me before whipping back to the liquid wall. “Look at me!”
He froze. His gaze trailed to mine. His lower lip quivered, and his irises lightened to a silvery blue. My stomach twisted. I’d seen David scared before, but nothing like this. “You might not be able to swim, but I can. I’ll get you through this.”
His shoulders stiffened. “How?”
The apparitions of Ruby and Silver melted away to nothing. I was on my own on this one. “I haven’t figured that out yet.”
The deluge breached our shoulders. I kicked off from the floor. There was a hole in the rocky ceiling. Small, but it was there. No leaks or drips clung to the edges, which meant there must be air above it. At least I hoped that was what it meant.
I pulled David up as the water bettered his chin. “Kick your feet!”
His shoulders twisted in my grip, so I could tell he was trying, but it didn’t help him much as the sea drew him down.
“Keep air in your lungs! It will help you float.”
“I can’t!”
“You can, dammit!” I moved to his back and slipped my arm around his chest—just like the lifeguards always do in the movies. I kicked furiously to keep him afloat.
The sea surged, propelling us upward. Had the curtain given way?
I sucked in what I could of the last bubble of air. David, once the sea is over your head, don’t breathe. No matter how bad your body screams for oxygen, don’t do it. That’s how you drown!
Terror gnashed at our bond. I wished I could shut him out. I needed to focus. Not so easy to do when the person you’re connected to is convinced he’s about to die.
What illumination still lit the chamber winked out. A merciless pressure trounced me from all sides. The wall must have given away!
David slipped from my grip before the pressure suddenly ceased. I splashed frantically, searching for him, until the ocean flashed in a dazzling red fury. Soft, slimy tendrils slicked through the sea, pushing David into my arms and driving us up toward the hole in the ceiling.
Ruby!
The salinity burned my eyes, but I couldn’t close them. Grabbing David’s wrist I kicked with all my might, centering my thoughts on the shimmer coming from the hole. There was air up there. There had to be. We weren’t going to die. Not here. No way. I got this. I totally got this.
My lungs burned. I tightened my jaw as my mouth tried to open. Air. I needed air.
I became dizzy.
Just open your mouth, a voice within whispered. Inhale. It will all be okay.
Bubbles trickled from my lips before I could clamp them shut again.
No!
I kicked harder, tangling in Ruby’s tendrils. Twisting to free myself, I only got tangled worse. She was dragging me down! Was she doing it on purpose? Maybe it wasn’t even her!
David went slack beside me. His mouth opened and four bubbles rolled from his face. My pulse throbbed within my temples as his dark locks waved through the water around his peaceful, closed eyes. His head lolled to the side, shifting in the current.
No! This can’t be happening!
A last, smaller bubble escaped his lips. I bit back the scream simmering in my chest. My eyes widened, increasing the burn. Pressure built in the back of my throat, elevating and spreading into my temples.
No! No! No! No! No! No!
His frame’s weight tugged me down. I kicked, clutching his tee-shirt and hoisted. My shoulders burned, my legs ached. If I didn’t get oxygen I was going to—
My face broke the surface and I sucked in sweet, wonderful air.
David’s arm started to slip through his shirt. I shoved one wrist under his shoulder and lifted. How long could he stay submerged? Was I already too late?
His skull slammed against the rock when the current hit us. We couldn’t both fit through the hole at the same time!
A fountain shot past us, splashing on a bed of slimy, black goo before taking Silver’s form.
“Let go,” he shouted. “Climb out!”
“I can’t. He’ll sink.”
Silver leaned forward. “I am beneath you. I will hold him up.”
Oh, God.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God!
“You need to trust me,” Silver said.
How was I supposed to trust him? How could I trust anyone down here?
David’s weight lessened. I paused, barely breathing. He wasn’t sinking anymore.
“I have him.” Silver crouched beside the opening, his arms folded across his chest. “Now climb out.”
My mind struggled with the idea of talking to Silver up here, while his body was below David, holding him up. But what if he let David go?
Out of options, I gulped down my fear. I had to trust him. I whispered a speed prayer and released my grip. David didn’t go under.
I scrambled out of the hole, spun, and sunk my arms back into the warm sea. “Can you boost him up?” I asked.
“I’ll do my best.”
David’s face broke the surface. Water ran from his soaked tresses and sheened the side of his face. I slipped my hands beneath his shoulders and heaved. He barely moved. “I can’t lift him. He weighs too much.”
Silver held the sides of his shiny, bare skull. “I’m too small. I can’t carry him any further.”
The purple hue of David’s real skin tainted a circle around his lips. But was that good, or bad? I’d seen his natural color flash before, but on dry land, when he was breathing. I needed to get him out of that hole so I could do CPR or something.
I heaved again. David rose, but my grip slipped, and he slid back to Silver, hovering like a dark blob just below the surface.
How many times had David saved my life? I couldn’t let him down. Not now.
Dammit! Why couldn’t I be stronger!
Silver turned toward the water. “Wait. She’s coming.”
The opening lit up with fiery red brilliance. Three or four glowing crimson octopus legs flapped near David’s face. What if Ruby pulled him under, just like she nearly did to me?
I tightened my grip. There was no way I was letting go.
David’s body bolted up through my arms and over my head. He landed on the slippery black goo, and Ruby’s mammoth red form splatted beside him.
Silver jumped back. “She’s on dry rocks!”
“I see that!”
Red gook oozed across the chamber floor. The five or so legs still in the water swayed manically, maybe the only part of her that could move. The rest of Ruby flattened across the stone floor as if she’d melted.
Oh, Crap.
16
Silver’s pupil-less eyes widened. His mouth gaped. “Help her! Please, help her!”
He sprinted to Ruby and his apparition disappeared, splashing water across the larger creature’s prone frame. His plump figure bobbed just below the surface. Ruby’s tendrils grasped for him, but his rounded body gave her nothing to hold on to.
I tried to grab one of Ruby’s arms, but my fingers sunk into her flesh. Her entire gelatinous bulk quaked.
Silver appeared again. “You’re hurting her!”
I drew my hands away. “I don’t know what to do! She’s like a big jellyfish!”
David lay several feet away, his chest motionless. My psyche screamed to split myself in two, one to help Ruby, and one to help David.
Lord, please help me!
Silver deconstructed himself again, splashing over Ruby. At least that would keep her wet.
I scrambled to David, rolled him onto his back, and settled my ear to his chest. No heartbeat.
He had a heartbeat, right? I mentally slapped myself. Of course he had a heartbeat! How many times had I fallen asleep on his chest, lulled by its gentle rhythm?
He wasn’t breathing, either.
No. He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Not on my watch.
I took a deep breath. Focus, Jess. Keep yourself together. David needs you.
Silver splashed his liquid form across the floor behind me, soaking my bare ankles as well as Ruby’s drying skin.
Okay—CPR. How the heck do you do CPR?
I placed one hand over the other and pressed the heel of my palm against David’s chest.
Push. Push. Push.
I pinched David’s nose, tilted his head back, and puffed air into his mouth.
Twenty more presses to his chest. Breathe.
Another splash from Silver wet my ankles.
We couldn’t keep doing this forever, but I knew neither of us would stop. Too much was at stake. I wouldn’t give up on David. Ever.
Push. Push. Push … Come on, David. Come back to me. I placed my lips over his mouth. His skin—so cold. I choked back a sob and blew more air into his lungs.
Splash. Silver continued his dance behind me, but was it a fruitless effort? Were either of us doing anything?
Embers in the Sea Page 13
