Embers in the Sea

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  David reached out and gripped the grassen’s leg, but Edgar instantly sank with the additional weight. So much for a simple solution.

  The last bit of hope drained from David’s eyes. But there had to be a chance. There had to be some way to work through this.

  His gaze drifted to me. The fear and sadness faded into a peaceful serenity. Acceptance.

  He looked up toward Edgar. “Ruby, Silver, did they make it?”

  Edgar warbled, tilting toward us as his legs tapped the crests of the waves.

  “I have no idea if that’s good or bad.” Water splashed in David’s mouth as he spoke. He spit and coughed.

  “He seems happy, doesn’t he?” I asked.

  Something cold tapped on my hair. I submersed myself to scare it off. Who knew what it might be on an alien planet?

  I popped back up. “Is there anything flying around me?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” David said, sputtering. His face barely held above the surface.

  I swam to him. “Lean on me.”

  “No.”

  Stinking, stupid, stubborn alien! “Lean on me, dammit!”

  “You’re a strong swimmer. You might be able to make it to land.”

  I slipped my arm under his shoulders, dragging him in a random direction. “Then we’ll both make it to land.”

  He pushed me away. “You won’t make it carrying me, Jess.”

  His words cut through me like a jagged edged sword. “Yes, we will.”

  Something splashed beside him, but his intensity centered on me. I tensed, barely able to keep myself afloat. Something changed in his eyes—a certainty of conviction that I’d never seen before.

  “You’re mine,” he whispered. “My responsibility. There’s one last thing I need to give you.”

  He grasped my face, stared into my eyes, and kissed me. A stream of energy surged between us, sizzling across my nerves and shooting through my veins; entering, strengthening, and worshiping every hidden part of my body until cascading back in a rolling ball that exploded in my chest.

  Something slapped against my head again, but I couldn’t care. Whatever he was doing, it didn’t have the warm, sensual effect his touch usually did. This was wrong. Very wrong. But I couldn’t stop. I tried to let him go, but my hands clenched, pulling him closer.

  I screamed inside our kiss. His grip only strengthened.

  My mind swirled, blocking my protests. I drank him in, devoured him. The energy coursed through me, sickening me and strengthening me at the same time. The power swelled, intoxicating, brilliant, but I had to get rid of it. I had to stop myself from drinking in more.

  The energy, this strength inside me—it wasn’t mine. Deep dread built in my stomach as the tingle shimmied in and strengthened me in ways I’d never dreamed or even wanted.

  I was vaguely aware of small splashes around us. I denied my longing to draw more of this unending strength I’d tapped in to. I concentrated on separating every speck of energy that wasn’t mine, and rolled it into a ball. I imagined the glowing mass in my hands, and I flung it back to David, but he fought me, and as usual, his mental strength backed me down.

  Beaten, I relaxed and let the sweet decadence of the energy sweep over me. Delicious and wonderful in its wrong-ness. I felt dirty. Sleazy. Disgusting.

  He’d given more than he should. He’d given all he had left. One final gift—a gift I never wanted.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks as David broke the kiss.

  “You can’t die,” I told him. “I won’t let you.” I struggled to keep us afloat, clutching him to me. “Come on, swim! You can do this!”

  Edgar chittered beside us, somersaulting over and over atop the sea. The sky had darkened to nearly purple. Little circles appeared in the water on either side of David’s face. He stared, agape, before his gaze slowly lifted to the sky. Clear droplets splashed across the rolling sea.

  The sky boomed, and I gasped as an abrupt deluge rushed from above. The roar of the sudden storm drummed along the surface of the ocean, echoing off the sea like a thundering train.

  “It’s raining!” David pulled me into a hug. “It’s really raining!”

  “You did it!” I wrapped my arms around him, blinking away the deluge. You did it, I repeated, injecting the thought with all my strength and love into his mind.

  He smiled. “It worked. It actually worked.”

  The rain hammered the sea, raising a wake in its ferocity.

  Maybe a little too ferocious. The slaps on my head seemed to get larger by the minute, thumping against my skull like being whacked with a pencil. “Why is it coming down so hard?”

  David moved his hands frantically to keep from sinking. “The rift dwellers must all be directly below us. The energy is centralized in a single location and the atmosphere doesn’t know what to do about it! We need to … ” He slipped under.

  I dove, grabbing him, shoving him up. Clear dribbles trailed along his cheeks as he broke into the air, leaving a bluish tinge to his skin. His irises darkened to nearly black.

  “Something’s wrong with your eyes.”

  “No, it’s normal.” He ran his hand along my cheek. “The strength I had left, I gave to you.”

  Oh, God—that weird, horrible energy thing he hid in the kiss! “Take it back.” I pressed my lips to his, forcing my psyche to return what wasn’t mine. “Come on, take it back!”

  He held me away. “I can’t.”

  Those eyes: so dark, so vacant. I brushed my forehead against his. “There has to be a way. You can’t just give up. You made it rain. It’s working.” The storm’s droplets trailed between us, fostering our separation.

  “That doesn’t change that you are a better swimmer than me. You’re working too hard to keep me afloat, and you’re getting tired.”

  “Screw tired. Don’t do this to me!”

  He kissed my cheek, the corner of my lips. “Tell your father thank you for believing in me.”

  My throat constricted. The pain building, burning. “Tell him yourself. Tell him yourself, dammit!”

  “Goodbye, Jess.”

  He pushed away and sank beneath the waves. The sea swallowed him, as if he’d never been there.

  33

  That scene from the movie Titanic bashed into my mind like a sledgehammer—Rose, stranded out in the middle of the ocean, clinging to Jack’s frozen corpse. Tears streamed from her lashes. “I won’t let go, Jack. I won’t let go.” And then she did. She freaking let go! She let the guy she loved sink into oblivion.

  A heated splash jolted me back to reality. Three black eyes glared at me as Edgar hissed in my face. My gaze drew back to where David had been.

  Holy shit. I let go.

  “Screw this.”

  I dove beneath the swells. The storm above darkened the sea so that I couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction. I let him go. He was gone, and it was my fault!

  Three white beams shot past me, illuminating the depths. Edgar’s spindle-like legs twirled like propellers at his sides. I swam back up, took a breath, and dove back down, following the illumination from the grassen’s eyes. Come on, Edgar. Find him, buddy!

  The weight of the ocean pressed in on me. Either Nematali had succeeded in the ionic particle stabilization, or we were still inside the ship’s pressurized moleculization funnel. I tried to dive again, but the artificial mass that kept the water more dense for the rift dwellers strangled me below five feet. Shit!

  My lungs ached from the pressure, forcing me back to the surface. But I couldn’t stay up here. How many times had David saved me when I told him to leave me behind? I couldn’t let him go. I wouldn’t.

  I took in a deep breath, then another and dove, kicking my feet and tensing my chest muscles against the ocean’s weight. I used the weight of my backpack to speed my descent.

  In the depths below, the dark sea shimmered yellow, blue, and green as the rift dwellers spiraled together, caus
ing the storm above. I pumped my arms twice and angled toward their glow.

  Maybe they could help?

  Three more beats. My head pounded. My ears ached. David! Where are you. Please!

  A red glow blasted from the depths, heading straight for me like a missile. Ruby?

  Three white beams of light from Edgar’s eyes joined the vivid crimson, speeding the rift dweller’s ascent.

  Their glow blinded me for a moment before they rose, dragging a precious burden between them.

  David! Thank God!

  I fumbled until a large, unilluminated round mass pushed David into my arms. Silver twitched as I took David’s weight from him.

  Pressing my lips together, I fought back a sob. Thank you. Thank you so much.

  The glow around Ruby brightened. No. Thank you, land dweller. A red tendril slid across my cheek. Now go. We both have promises to keep.

  Yes, we did, and I fully intended to keep mine.

  Ruby wrapped herself around Silver, and they sank toward the others.

  Feeling dizzy, I accepted Edgar’s help and kicked toward the sky. I gasped as I reached the surface, puffing as I held David’s face out of the sea. Every molecule inside me screamed as the clear water trailed the edges of his pale, lifeless face.

  I had to save him. I would save him, but how was I supposed to do CPR in the ocean? How could I give him back the strength he forced me to take from him?

  Edgar spun up out of the ocean and hovered before landing on David’s back and plunging us both under. I spluttered, kicking furiously to bring David back up. Edgar pummeled him again, and David coughed.

  Yes! I gripped David’s shoulders and shook him. “David!”

  He opened his eyes, but I almost wished he hadn’t. Lifeless demon orbs stared back at me. Completely black with no irises.

  “Just let me go,” he whispered.

  “I think we’ve had this discussion before. Nothing’s changed. We’re in this together no matter what.”

  A wind kicked up, and the rain stopped. We both looked up to the dark clouds. The rain continued to thrash the sea, but the deluge no longer ravaged us.

  I clung to David and searched the clouds. What now?

  The sky shimmered; liquefied as if someone held a giant piece of plastic wrap in the air and let the wind wave the clear sheet in the breeze. A full radiant rainbow arced over our heads, holding back the storm like a massive, glistening umbrella.

  The figure rounded and took shape. I gulped as another liquidic ship, like the one we’d just crashed, materialized above.

  Checkmate.

  There wasn’t a darn thing I could do other than pump my legs to keep David above the water. I’d never felt so helpless.

  Game over. I surrender. I’m done.

  The ship swiveled and flexed, reflecting sparkling prisms across its liquescent hull. The cylindrical elevator in the base of the ship began to form, and a wave of relief settled over me. We still might not make it through the day, but at least we wouldn’t drown.

  The access tube hung just over the ocean and a yellow line formed down its center as the entryway opened. The blinding interior light stung my eyes as a sleek violescent alien crouched toward us.

  “Give me your hand,” a woman’s voice said in familiar, perfect English.

  I swam David toward the craft.

  He grabbed her hand. “How did you find us?”

  The alien smiled. “I just needed to follow the rain.”

  She hoisted David into the cylinder and turned to me. “Come, little one.”

  Little one?

  “Nematali?” My brain couldn’t compute her alien form, instead remembering the long blond curls of the human disguise I knew so well.

  I snickered at the irony. With all she’d done for us, she was beginning to make a habit out of saving our hides.

  I grasped her palm. Startled by the heat of her touch, I fell back into the water, submerged, and popped back out. It had been so long, I’d forgotten how hot their skin was when they weren’t wearing a human coating.

  She placed her hand out again. “We have no time.”

  No time. Got it. No problem—just hold on to the hundred-and-twenty-degree alien and try not to lose any skin. I inhaled and shoved my hand toward her. She hauled me up as easily as plucking a doll out of a bathtub.

  Panting, I dropped to the floor beside David. Edgar scurried past me and jumped into a wall. Where did the little guy get all that energy?

  I leaned up and gasped as my hand sunk into the floor by about a quarter of an inch. The chill of the liquescent metal stole the burn from my palm before my hand rose back to the surface.

  Nematali tapped a panel on the wall. “That should have repaired any damage to your skin.”

  I flexed my fingers as the redness smoothed away. “Yeah. Thanks.” I slid closer to David and brushed the dripping hair from his forehead.

  Our tether twisted.

  My mind drifted to my mother’s funeral—me kneeling beside the casket, sobbing. Dad staring straight ahead, his expression stark and emotionless.

  I couldn’t lose someone I loved again. I wasn’t strong enough.

  The floor rumbled as the elevator tube retracted into the ship. We stilled, and the walls sunk, leaving us in a chamber slightly larger than the entrance to the craft David had arrived in. The surrounding partitions glistened like melted vanilla bean ice cream.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Nematali knelt beside us.

  He’s dying! What do you think? I choked back a sob. “His eyes,” was all I could muster.

  She tilted his face up. David’s lashes opened, but the ghostly smoked-glass orbs still held his beautiful eyes hostage. He didn’t move. He didn’t blink. There was no sense he was still with us. “Did he say anything to you?”

  “Yeah, he said the strength he had, he gave to me or something like that.”

  “Idiot,” she whispered.

  “It’s like he just gave up.”

  “He didn’t give up. He gave the right to survive to you. A ridiculous tradition among our people that has left many families fatherless.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You need to force the energy back into him.”

  “I already tried that. It didn’t work.”

  “You must try again.”

  I flinched as her searing hands gripped mine.

  She placed my fingers on his temples. “Search for the strength inside you that is not your own, and gather the tendrils together.”

  I closed my eyes and looked inside myself. But how could I separate energy?

  I cleared my thoughts. David. Come to me.

  The brighter, hotter energy swept to a focused point and swirled. A deep seeded love reverberated around the flexing light, effusing sacrifice and adoration. For a moment, I was hesitant to give it up.

  Nematali’s fingers wove through the back of my hair. Her hand heated, tingled, and the sense of her alien conscious seeped into me.

  My will shrieked at her invasion. I drew on the billowing mass of perfection I’d gathered, and used David’s strength to drive her out. My body baulked.

  “I’m only helping,” she said. “Let me in.”

  But her very essence inside me seemed wrong: an unwelcome intruder, the third wheel where there was only room for two. David’s energy swelled, ready to toss her out.

  But was that what David needed, or what he wanted? Had he readied his energy for such an attack, making sure I wouldn’t be able to return his gift?

  Nematali had never given us a reason to not trust her. And now I needed that trust more than ever. I inhaled and relaxed, opening myself up to her harsh, prickly soul. She swept in like a B52 bomber, smashing into David’s energy, struggling, brawling, and finally wrestling him into a tight, shimmering ball. The foreign luminescence exploded, tearing through and out of me, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. I fell to the tiled floor, gasping.


  I trembled, soaking in the sense of being alone again. Had I thrown too much of David out? Did I break our bond?

  My stomach quivered before a luxurious calm enveloped me. A sweet, perfect sense of … David! The connection between us reformed. Thicker. Stronger.

  Beside me, David took two deep breaths. His eyes fluttered open and a warm smile crossed his face.

  Nematali stood. “This is not the Breaking of Time. That type of chivalry is outdated by two thousand years.”

  David coughed. “I guess I’m old-fashioned.”

  She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him across the room.

  “You completed the bond,” she said in Erescopian. The sense of the words, rather than the actual words skidded through our link. “Are you out of your mind? I warned you.”

  “I love her,” David whispered.

  “We are not susceptible to human emotions.”

  “Guess what,” he laughed. “They were wrong.”

  She released him, shoving him against the wall. “You will not be laughing when your father finds out.”

  He pushed from the swirling partition before stumbling back and bracing himself against it. “He renounced me of my name. Now I hold hers.” He pointed at me.

  Nematali sneered in my direction. She probably had no idea I could understand them.

  She stepped closer to him. “That will not stop him from hunting her down and killing her out of spite. Your father has no love of the humans.”

  David raised his eyes. “He’d have to get through me first. I’m not a child anymore.”

  “Neither are you a warrior, Tirran Coud.”

  “Tirran Jessica Martinez,” He corrected.

  My heart twisted, but not in a good way. That almost sounded like we were…

  “Do not use a human-bonded name in front of any of our people. If you have to hold it, keep it to yourself.” She slammed him against the wall again, sneered, and walked to the front of the ship.

  Hol-ee-shit.

  David released a breath and slumped to the floor. His exhaustion skidded through our bond, but we could share strength now. He needed me. I crawled to his side and dragged him into my arms.

  Screw Nematali and all the rest of them. I never expected anyone to understand. What had happened between us transcended race. It transcended everything, but what David had done in the ocean—some kind of alien harakiri. Not cool. So not cool.