by Raymond Cain
By the time Flynn reached the mouth of the stony labyrinth, the whale shark and the four ships were already deep inside. His familiarity with the area served him well, and he flew through the maze much quicker than the other ships did. He banked and rolled between rock formations with ease, his wings passing close enough to the walls to scatter dust and dislodge algae.
Flynn caught glimpses of blue lights up ahead and before long, he caught up to the five glowing ships. The whale shark was in front, goaded toward a narrow opening by the other vessels. Titus’ ship was above and behind the bleeding creature, in position to deliver another painful stab into the whale shark’s tail.
Flynn increased his speed to full. He flew by the other three boys and collided with Titus’ craft an instant before the spear reached its mark. The collision diverted the Marlin II into a stone pillar and Flynn’s ship glanced off in the opposite direction. Titus’ spear took the brunt of the impact, and the dark-haired pilot jerked forward when the ship came to a sudden stop. The dark-haired boy’s lips twisted into a snarl and his face turned red.
Flynn continued deeper into the Giant’s Fingers and, as he’d hoped, the others followed him. The blue lights of five ships shone behind him, and each one was faster and more maneuverable than the one he piloted. Titus and his cronies had all the advantages, except for one.
After all the sailing Flynn had done in his short lifetime, he was the best pilot in Seahaven.
Even as a toddler, Flynn’s dad let him sit on his lap and steer during mining runs. When other boys his age were playing with toy ships, Flynn was piloting real ones and doing solo trips along the ocean floor. For him, the craft was an extension of himself, like an arm or a leg, and dodging obstacles was as natural for him as walking.
Outcroppings of stone jutted out at every angle and Flynn slipped between them with inches to spare. He banked and weaved through the rocky maze and when his pursuers fell behind, he slowed down to let them catch up. It would not do to make them give up and turn back toward the whale shark for easier sport.
Once Flynn was confident the shark had plenty of time to get away, he sped away from his pursuers and lost them in the maze. He exited the Giant’s Fingers, skimmed low over the iridescent landscape, and resumed his journey toward the family mine. Feeling quite pleased with himself, his shoulders slumped when he saw the whale shark in the distance. It was leaving the Safe Zone.
The golems turned their watery heads toward the whale shark but they made no attempt to stop it from leaving. Some of them lifted their icy spears and moved aside, letting the whale shark through. Flynn wondered if the shark realized what it was swimming into. After the terrible treatment it received in the Safe Zone, perhaps it didn’t care.
With a spin of the steering globe, Flynn turned his ship around and headed for the whale shark. By the time he reached the boundary, the mammal was already on the other side and swimming in dangerous waters. The water golems had no reason to stop the shark but two of them turned their watery heads toward Flynn and pointed icy spears at him as he approached.
A wisp of blood trailed from the whale shark as it left the Safe Zone. Three hammerhead sharks, each one fifteen feet long and emitting a soft green glow, emerged from behind a nearby reef. Flynn gasped when he saw the predators head toward the wounded mammal; the gentle creature wouldn’t stand a chance.
There was only one way for Flynn to help the whale shark and that involved leaving the Safe Zone. He fished his mother’s necklace out of his tunic and thought back to the time she gave it to him. She told him it would bring him luck and she made him promise to avoid danger. Staying true to the promise was important to him but his mother also taught him the importance of helping others. The whale shark was not a person, but he thought of it as a friend in danger. What would be the point of saving it from Titus, only to watch it get killed shortly afterward? Flynn could not accept that, and he didn’t think his mother would have been able to either.
Flynn gave the pendant a kiss and tucked the necklace back under his tunic. Dirt and debris sprayed behind him as he pushed the propellers into top speed and charged for the hidden tunnel. The doors opened wide as he approached and they slid closed behind him after he entered. He followed the tunnel down and continued dodging stalactites as it angled back up to the surface on the other side of the Safe Zone boundary.
The boundary lights and the wall of golems floating above them were behind him. For the first time in his life, he was outside of the Safe Zone.
Chapter Five
The three hammerhead sharks hunted down the injured whale shark and latched onto its belly. The whale shark squealed, a spine-rattling shriek that traveled for miles in the dense water. It tried to remove its attackers with its mouth but it was not flexible enough to reach them. The hammerheads thrashed their flat heads, trying to rip meat free from the mammal.
Flynn sped toward them at full speed. In much the same manner he flew earlier, he flipped his ship upside-down and skimmed along the whale shark’s belly. The nose of the craft slammed into the sharks, dislodging them from their victim. The collision pulled Flynn forward but the kelp belts prevented him from smashing his head against the window. Finally free of its attackers, the whale shark spun around and bit down on one of the sharks to deeply that only its tail remained. The tail thrashed back and forth until the whale shark gnashed the creature in two and let the two halves fall to the ocean floor.
Flynn and the whale shark floated side-by-side, confronting the remaining two predators. The hammerheads hesitated for a moment, as though considering whether to attack further, but they turned and fled. Their green glow faded in the distance as they swam toward a nearby valley, and Flynn let out a deep breath.
The whale shark spun around and faced Flynn. For a moment, he thought he might be under attack, but the shark nudged his vessel affectionately. He popped open the hatch to return the gesture. The ship’s enchantments prevented water from entering the ship, enabling him to reach out and brush his fingers along the whale shark’s side without flooding the craft. Flynn cringed as he touched the wound edges. The bite marks were jagged, but shallow, and he expected the mammal would live.
Flynn was about to head back for the tunnel and head home until he remembered the peculiar ship and dragon that he saw the day before. Curiosity gnawed at him but investigating them would require going deeper into dangerous waters. His promise to his mother returned to his thoughts but he did not think she would mind if he ventured a little deeper into unpatrolled territory. The dragon and the ship’s crew were no longer a threat and he was already outside the Safe Zone. Traveling a little further should make little difference.
Before he examined the strange objects, Flynn had to protect his forty-ton friend. He circled around and flew toward the whale shark, urging it back to the Safe Zone. Once it crossed the boundary, he spun around toward the ship and dragon. He soared over a valley covered in writhing, deadly plants that reddened the water with their fiery glow. A school of viperfish split into two groups that passed above and below his hull. A shiver went down his spine as their shining eyes locked on him; their needle-like teeth were so long they could not close their mouths. He increased his speed, cresting a hill and leaving the deadly fish behind in his wake.
The ship and the dragon lay in the soil at the base of the hill. Flynn banked the craft to the side, slowing his speed, and dropped down between them. After ensuring there were no predators in the immediate vicinity, he popped open the hatch and exited the vessel. The crystals sewn into his swimming boots glowed as he entered the water, their magic protecting him from the cool, dense ocean.
As Flynn’s feet sank into the soil, he held his breath and reached inside the ship for a breathing helm. The open-faced helm was a single piece of solid crystal that covered the top and back of his head. When he donned it, it created a pocket of air that covered his face, enabling him to breathe and see clearly underwater. After taking a deep breath, he plunged his hand into the sand, picki
ng up a handful of grainy basalt that poured out from each side of his fist like twin waterfalls.
To Flynn’s horror, the two surviving hammerheads returned. They swam between the ship’s sails and headed straight for him. It felt as though blood froze in his veins and he remained still, too paralyzed to move.
A giant squid soared over him, its tentacles probing the wooden hull, and the hammerheads veered away from the much larger predator. The squid seemed to have no interest in him and Flynn let out a deep breath, releasing a cloud of bubbles that disappeared in the mantle of his unlikely savior.
Now regretting his decision to expose himself in dangerous waters, Flynn hastened his investigation. He ran up to the dragon’s body first, and each footstep created explosions of sand and tiny aquatic organisms that drifted back down into the soil. The creature was bewildering to him. It had no gills, no webbed feet, and its dorsal fins were much larger than what would be practical for swimming. Its scales were thicker than any other marine creature he had seen, and its body seemed poorly suited for swimming. It was unlike any dragon he had ever heard of.
The ship was even more peculiar. It had two masts that served no function that Flynn could identify. They held canvas sails that would have created enormous drag in the water. He swam up to the main deck of the frigate. The wooden hull was an unusual choice for underwater travel and he could not imagine what function the mast and sails served. He walked around one of the masts and could not believe what he saw staring at him from the other side.
A mermaid!
And not just any mermaid, but the same one he saw the day before. He remembered her eyes, her lips, and each curve of her body. Her hair once again hung in precisely the right spots to preserve what little modesty the provocative creature had. He was angry—and relieved—to find the colossal squid did not devour her after all.
“You!” Flynn said through clenched teeth.
The mermaid caressed Flynn’s cheek with fingers as smooth as deepworm silk. Her touch sent his heart aflutter and a distant memory of his mother plagued him. Malya once cautioned him that mermaids could make men fall in love with them by touching them. He chuckled at the thought—there was no way he could fall for a half-woman, half-fish. And yet, he felt an irresistible attraction to the creature that he could not explain. He was confident he was too strong-willed to fall prey to such magic but, for some reason, he ached for her.
For a brief moment, Flynn considered that she may have been trying to lure him to his doom in the cave earlier, but he swept the thought away. Nothing as lovely and innocent as the luscious creature before him could have done such a thing. There had to be a reasonable explanation why she led him to a colossal squid. Perhaps she didn’t know the squid was there or she was leading him away from a different threat.
The mermaid’s eyes were large with innocence and curiosity. Her shapely hips narrowed into a scaly fin that Flynn found strangely appealing. She was more captivating than any human female ever could be and he stared at her with slack-jawed fascination. His mouth fell open so wide that a baby hagfish swam inside it. He coughed and spat out the foul-tasting creature. His cough frightened the mermaid and with a sweep of her tail, she bolted away from the shipwreck.
“Come back!”
Flynn knew he could not swim fast enough to catch her and he headed back to his ship instead. After climbing inside and closing the hatch, he was soon speeding through the ocean toward the mystical creature. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he caught her but he had to try. She captivated him, and he needed to feel her touch one more time.
The chase was on and the mermaid led him back toward the wooden frigate. She darted through the rigging and Flynn’s ship snagged on some ropes as he followed her. By the time he got free, the mermaid was far from the main deck and heading for a nearby ridge covered in seaweed. The gorgeous creature dove into the vegetation and disappeared.
The seaweed concealed a cave too small for his ship to fit into. He parked the craft by the opening, opened the hatch, and dove after her. Each kick of the magical boots drove him forward with the force of a shark’s tail, but the goddess-like beauty stayed ahead of him.
The cave branched into a maze of subterranean tunnels, lit by magical plants and organisms. The graceful creature glanced over her shoulder and offered him a mischievous grin, and Flynn’s smile broadened. Something about her grin made her appear less innocent than she did moments ago, and he had the strangest feeling he was the prey, not the pursuer.
As Flynn continued through the network of tunnels, he lost track of how to go back the way he came. He shrugged the notion away because it didn’t matter. All he cared about was catching the elusive mermaid that kept offering playful glances at him over her shoulder. He knew she was playing hard to get but that would make it all the sweeter once he finally caught her.
The tunnel ended in a glowing chamber and the mermaid floated in the middle of it, waiting for him. Gems of every color decorated the walls but Flynn could not tear his eyes away from the stunning creature floating before him. She swept her hair back, revealing a pair of breasts too perfect for any human woman to bear. Entranced, Flynn stared at them. It was impossible not to; they were incredible.
SMACK!
The mermaid slapped him, far harder than Flynn thought possible while underwater. He obediently lifted his gaze to look her straight in the eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, struggling to maintain eye contact. Despite his best efforts, he found his eyes descending toward her…
SMACK!
Flynn rubbed his reddening cheek. “Okay, I might have deserved that one.”
The mermaid smiled and cupped his chin in her hand. She lifted his chin until his gaze met her own. All innocence in her large blue eyes disappeared and she stared at him hungrily. A moment later he understood why.
The mermaid grabbed him by the back of the head and crushed his lips against hers. Her other hand grabbed him by the back of the waist, pulling him into her. Her kiss stole all strength from his limbs and he tried to wrap his arms around her, but he was powerless in her grip. His arms hung limp at his sides and he was lost in ecstasy.
The mermaid’s fingers worked their way under his crystal helm and all he could think about was the love he felt and his eagerness to do anything for her.
He did not—and could not—resist as her fingers removed his breathing helm and tossed it aside, exposing him to the airless depths.
Chapter Six
As the breathing helm drifted behind him, Flynn was dimly aware he should be suffocating. He silently scolded himself for the thought; of course his new love would not endanger him so. The kiss of a mermaid granted men the ability to breathe underwater for a short period. He had no idea how long the magic would last but he wasn’t worried. He smiled at the thought of the magnificent creature kissing him repeatedly for the rest of his life to keep him breathing.
The mermaid broke off the embrace and removed a jewelled dagger from a shelf on the wall. She pointed it at Flynn’s throat but he didn’t flinch. He trusted his new love completely. He gazed longingly at her face; each feature on her blue skin was smooth and flawless. Her looks would make a goddess green with envy. She was perfect.
It hit him like a tidal wave when her facial expression twisted into a look of hate. Her seductive smile twisted into a snarl and she darted toward him with the dagger. Too stunned to react, all he could do was watch as she lunged for his throat.
A trident came out of nowhere and caught the mermaid’s wrist between two of its prongs. A heavily-muscled merman wielded the weapon and he diverted the dagger away from Flynn’s throat. The merman twisted his weapon, overextending the mermaid’s wrist and forcing her to drop the dagger. She yelped in pain and a part of Flynn, the part of him still entranced by her sorcery, wanted to comfort the lovely creature.
The merman was every bit as impressive as the mermaid. His upper body was a rippling mass of muscle that gave way to a silver-blue tail. He scowled at the mermaid and she
shrunk back under his gaze. The blue-skinned male released the mermaid’s wrist and pressed the tip of his trident against the crossed-tridents logo on Flynn’s tunic. The mermaid’s mouth dropped open in surprise. It seemed she hadn’t noticed the logo until that moment and it held deep significance to her.
The merman pressed the center prong of his trident against Flynn’s throat. The weapon was thick blue steel and taller than a man, but it moved through the water so quickly that it was as if it were moving through air. Flynn reasoned the magical nature of merfolk allowed them to move their weapons through water without resistance.
The blade pressed deep enough into Flynn’s neck to spill a drop of blood that dispersed into a tiny red cloud in the water. The merman moved the tip of the trident under Flynn’s collar and hooked it under his necklace. With a flick of a wrist, the necklace was lifted out from under the tunic. Both merfolk widened their eyes at the blade-and-fins pendant. The merman glared at the mermaid and she held up her hands apologetically.
The magic of the mermaid’s kiss wore off and Flynn was starved for air. Trying not to panic, he covered his mouth and looked for his breathing helm. In one quick motion, the merman hooked the center prong of his trident around the lip of the crystal helm on the floor and brought it up to Flynn’s face. Flynn pulled the helm onto his head and collapsed to his knees, gulping in mouthfuls of air. The merman scowled at the mermaid and she shrunk further under his gaze.
Flynn got back up to his feet and eyed the merman warily. “You knew my parents, didn’t you?”
The merman stared back at him with glowing, icy eyes. He nodded.
“Was one of your kind responsible for their deaths?”
The merman snorted, releasing bubbles that rose to the ceiling, and he grabbed Flynn by the collar. With a swish of his tail, he yanked Flynn out of the cave and carried him up toward the tunnel entrance. The merman swam so fast, Flynn wondered if his tunic would tear in half.
