He tilted his head to the side, a questioning expression on his face. No doubt he could sense her worry. Not wanting to alarm him, she gave him a thumbs-up and swam into the dark waters beneath them. With her heart pounding, she paused fifty or so feet down, reaching out with all her senses. The silence here was worse than on the surface. It was as deep and encompassing as the water itself. But there was something there. Something in the deepest reaches below her. And all her instincts told her to flee.
The silken currents of the mer song swept over her then, flooding over her as it filled the seas. Looking up sharply toward the small orb of blue from the spotlight that glowed so far above her head, she saw something swim across it, its form silhouetted against the light. The mermaids had arrived.
Swimming up as if a shark was on her tail, she jetted past the mermaids that now circled the boat. She saw Stumps clinging to the shark cage, keeping watch over River. Although he was no doubt enjoying the view. The mermaids who swam in circles around the boat were some of the most beautiful she had ever seen, with long flowing hair in all colors, smooth skin, full bosoms and faces as human as hers. They had come, no doubt, from all parts of the North Atlantic. She wasn’t surprised that word of three man Lovelies had been carried far and wide on the ocean currents.
She watched as they pressed themselves against the cage, holding out their hands, offering River strings of pearls and corroded gold coins. He kept his fists closed tightly around the bars of the cage, and his eyes were watchful, his posture wary. Stumps was receiving plenty of attention himself as the mermaids swam around him, being sure to brush against him, trailing their fingers over his arms and torso. Narissa suspected that the knot of mermaids below had Brody in their center, but she couldn’t get a glimpse of him through the tangle of fins.
Grasping the bars of the shark cage, she pulled herself on top of it. “Uncle Jesse, I think something’s wrong.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. But something is down there.”
He didn’t question her further or doubt her. He moved over to the instruments in the cabin and turned them on. He was silent for a time as he worked, and Narissa, looked down in the water, keeping a careful watch over River. Occasionally, a fin broke the water and splashed her or the cage shook when a mermaid pushed against it, but otherwise, all seemed normal.
After a few minutes, she saw a fight below and jumped in for a better look. The first wave of mermaids was being chased away by another group, this one much larger, and from the looks of things, more determined. These did not have as much hair and their faces and bodies showed the ravages of strange mutations. Seeing them in the light alongside the others would be shocking for the men, she knew. But for the moment, they were safe. River had retreated to the back of the cage, Stumps once again clung to it for support, and Brody was kicking and clawing his way to the surface.
Narissa pulled herself up again, “Things are getting crazy down here, Uncle Jesse. How much longer till the song ends?”
“Thirty minutes or so. And you were right. Something is down there. Something very large. And it’s working its way to the surface.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It only took once glance at Narissa’s face for River to know something was wrong. When he’d watched her swim down into the darkness, he’d watched until she’d been lost from sight, then kept his eyes trained on that spot, his heart beating at a frantic pace, until she appeared again out of the gloom. By then, the mer song had drifted over him, embracing him in its dangerous snare.
The mermaids who had come first had been beautiful, so much so that he understood why lonely sailors would be lured into their embrace. Because of Narissa, however, he had no difficulty resisting their charms. When they were chased away by their more lurid counterparts, he’d been intrigued by their physical mutations. He saw different shapes and types of fins, torsos that had gills instead of breasts, arms covered in scales and ending in webbed hands. The variety was astounding. His scientific mind couldn’t make sense of the biological differences exhibited here, though there were only a few dozen specimens. He vowed that after his change was complete, he would study this strange phenomenon across the whole race.
His cage rattled, surprising him. It was almost as if the boat had been rocked by a huge wave, but surely not. The surface had been calm when he’d first come down and there had been no sign of any approaching storms on the radar. He swallowed, however, when he remembered that they were in a different world. The weather could be very different here, he was sure.
He looked up and saw that Narissa was still perched on top of the shark cage. He swam up and gripped her hand where it held onto one of the bars to hold herself steady. She shifted immediately and peered down at him. He motioned for her to move so she slipped off the top of the cage. When he opened the hatch and pulled his face above water, he asked, “Where did this storm come from?”
“I don’t know, but I’m afraid it’s one of Triton’s servants. They’re armed with tridents that can call up storms. And that’s not all they can call up.”
“Tell me the worst, Narissa. Why are you so pale?”
“They can call his creatures too.”
“Creatures? Like, small, harmless creatures that make cute pets?”
“Not this one.”
“This one?”
Jesse turned from the screen of the fish finder. “The one ascending from the ocean floor. It’s bigger than any whale I’ve ever seen.”
River’s stomach clenched. “Then why aren’t we getting out of here?”
“We’ve only just figured this out,” Jesse yelled. “If you think you can keep yourself from diving back in, get up here on deck and secure that cage while I hoist anchor. Narissa, get those other two out of the water.”
As Jesse started the boat’s motor, River immediately pulled himself up out of the cage. He did have to battle the compulsion to get back in the water, but his fear of what lay beneath them was stronger. As he raised the cage, he cursed the slowness of the winch and watched the water anxiously for Narissa to return with Brody and Stumps. It was hard to make anything out in the now choppy water and the flurry of fins. But then, the mermaids disappeared, like tiger sharks fleeing from the presence of a great white. This was bad. Very, very bad.
At last, the cage was secured. Just as he chained it down and was about to jump in to find the others, he made out three dim silhouettes coming up. The first was Stumps, who he pulled onto the deck. Unable to give the disabled man any further help, he turned back to the water just as Narissa and Brody emerged. He held his hand down to Narissa, but she shook her head. “Get Brody on deck. He’s in more danger than me.”
He hated her logic, but gave in. Just as he grasped Brody’s hand, however, the boat lurched and tipped, throwing him forward into the sea. Disoriented, it took him a moment to get his bearings and push for the surface again.
When he broke the surface, he spun around, desperate to get out of the water—but the boat was thirty yards away. The water was so choppy now that it had carried him away from the boat the short time he’d been underwater. With paralyzing dread that something was going to attack him from the fathoms of dark water beneath him, he kicked forward as hard as he could. After several punishing minutes swimming against the waves, he managed to make it back.
Brody clung to a hand hold on the diving platform at the stern of the ship. River watched him struggle to pull himself up in the rough water. Catching hold of a metal rail, River pushed on Brody to give him the extra momentum he needed to get on board.
He was about to begin his own fight to get back on the boat when Narissa popped up next to him. His relief was short-lived, however.
She shoved at him frantically. “Get up there!”
Exerting all his strength, he pulled himself up on the diving platform, secured a new hand-hold up top and reached to help Narissa up, but she was gone. “Where’d she go?” he yelled, not sure who he expected to answer him.
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“To get help, I hope,” Jesse said.
River growled when the boat moved forward. He couldn’t believe Jesse was leaving her out there. He watched behind them, scanning the water for any sign of her following them. Fifty yards behind the boat, the water exploded like a geyser and a dark shape the size of a battleship emerged from the waves. It was too dark to make out any features, but when it dove again, it’s silver body glinted in a curving arch for much too long.
“There is no way I just saw that,” Brody said beside him.
“We aren’t having the same nightmare,” River retorted. “How big did that thing look to you?”
“Too big,” Stumps said. “Though I’d say it has more length than girth.”
“What the heck does that matter?” Brody asked.
“Well, if we’re trying to figure out what it is…”
But before he could continue, Jesse yelled out over the noise of the engine and crashing waves. “It’s a colossus sea serpent. And it can swallow this boat whole.”
River’s hands clenched tighter. “And Narissa is out there with it.”
“And you’d better be glad she is, boy. She’s our only hope.”
Mad as fire, River jerked the spotlight around and turned it on, desperately trying to see what was happening in the water behind them. For a time, he could see nothing because the spotlight actually kept him from seeing anything more than fifty yards behind the boat. But then, on the furthest reaches of the light, a long scaly body curved above the waves. It was almost on them now.
“You’d better go faster,” He screamed back to Jesse.
“I can’t. I’ve got her opened up all the way.”
A splash to the port side caught River’s attention. Her turned the light towards it and saw Narissa burst out of the water then arc back down again in a dive. The sea serpent’s massive head broke the water, its open mouth wider than the deck he stood on. The spotlight glinted off its massive fangs in the split second before it dove back into the water after Narissa. He realized then that she was leading the creature away from the boat. He watched in horror as time and time again, Narissa broke through the waves and dove again into the foam and tumult with the sea serpent right on her tail. He’d seen this play out before with seals and great whites, but the sea serpent was much more maneuverable than a great white.
He felt powerless to do anything to help her. Diving in to help would no doubt end in disaster as he couldn’t possibly swim so quickly, so powerfully, without a tail. And most likely he would distract Narissa, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn’t know how she could go on like this, however. They were too far from land to hope for an escape.
The mer song continued to echo in his mind, the lilting, haunting melody so at odds with the life and death struggle taking place that it drove him mad. He wished he could rip it out of his head somehow. Where were all these singing mers? Reclining at their ease? What about all the mermaids who had been slavering over him and Brody and Stumps?
But then, River began to see more plumes of white spray breaking out across the water. As they got closer, he could see that it was a small army of merman, and they all carried spears. As they began to attack the sea serpent, he watched anxiously for Narissa. Had they come too late to save her?
The sea serpent reared up from the water, towering over the boat, with mermen clinging to its body, their spears embedded in its scaly flesh. It arched its head down, diving toward the boat. River acted on instinct. He jumped behind the shark cage and tilted it up, holding it as a shield as much as the chains securing it would let him. When the sea serpent hit it, the impact jolted River like he’d been hit by a train, but somehow, he managed to hold on to the cage. One of the serpent’s teeth threaded through the bars of the cage, landing inches away from River’s arm.
The creature shrieked in pain, shaking his massive head so hard that the boat was flung from side to side. When the creature broke free, the force of it nearly capsized the boat. It might have gone over but for the half-dozen mermen who braced themselves against the tipping side and pushed it back up, breaking the momentum. When the boat was righted again, the mermen turned and rejoined the attack on the sea serpent. They swarmed it now, and the battle had turned the ocean into a white torrent of stormy water and dark, writhing figures.
“Where’s Narissa?” Stumps called.
“I don’t know,” River yelled.
“I’m here,” she called. “Help me.”
The sound of her voice was the sweetest sound River had ever heard. He spun around as relief surged through him, and saw her, clinging to the diving platform and being battered by the waves. He secured his footing, not wanting a repeat of the last time he’d tried to pull her into the boat, and grabbed her forearm. He pulled hard since the wake of the boat pulled her backward, but then the boat was tipped by a wave, and this time it propelled her towards him. They fell together onto the deck.
Narissa’s arms locked around him, and her chest pushed against his as her lungs desperately drew in gulps of air. Her wet hair fell like a soggy curtain around his face, and the impact of their fall with her on top made it difficult for him to catch his own breath. But he didn’t care. She was safe in the boat and in his arms.
She’d fought with the courage of a lion and out-swum a giant sea serpent. It was staggering how incredible she was. Now, he needed to make sure she stayed safe.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Narissa clung to River, willing her heart to slow so she could catch her breath. Never had she swum so hard or faced such a deadly battle of life and death. She still couldn’t believe that she was safe on the boat.
River shifted, turning so that she lay against the deck, and kissed her cheek. “Will you stay here close to Brody and Stumps? I need to check on things.”
She sat up and pushed her heavy hair out of her face. “Yes. I’ll be fine. Go.”
River nodded and untangled his legs from the curl of her long tail. Narissa watched as he strode across the deck and switched off the spotlight. Behind them, the surface of the sea was calm again. It should have been a relief, but not to Narissa. It was one more sign that someone wielding one of Triton’s tridents had been behind the attack this evening.
And though they were all safe, there were more consequences than anyone else knew. Narissa wanted to cry at the thought of it. Anger and despair welled up inside her so thickly it choked her, but she bit her lip and refused to cry. Now was not the time to tell them that she’d been forced to accept her mother’s powers to save them.
She had tried so hard to lead the serpent away from them, that she hadn’t considered how impossible it would be to escape from it herself. And if it had killed her, it would have gone straight for the boat again. She’d been in desperate need of help and the only way to get it had been to summon the royal guard. They had come to her aid, recognizing the call of the royal heir, but now her hopes for a future on land with River were gone forever.
“How long till we make it to land?” River asked Jesse, yelling over the wind and roar of the engine.
“Thirty minutes.”
Narissa kept her eyes glued to his form, committing every part of him to memory—the way his wet hair was plastered in clumps over his forehead, the roll and pull of his tense muscles as he worked to help Uncle Jesse, and the way his eyes turned constantly to check on her. Sacrifice was a cruel mistress.
Brody covered her with a blanket and gave her a wet handful of fabric that turned out to be her swim bottoms. She was cold and shaken, so the last thing she wanted to do was put them on, but there was nothing for it. She changed her tail to legs and moved carefully to keep the blanket in place over her lap as she put her swim bottoms on. The cold against her warmer skin made her skin break out in chill bumps. She reached forward and brushed away a few scales that still clung to her legs and wrapped the blanket more securely around her. Miserable in body and spirit, she clenched her teeth and prepared herself to endure the trip back home
.
She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew was rousing herself as River and Brody moved around the boat, tying it up at the dock. The boat tipped under their weight and her head swam at the movement. She kept her eyes closed against the lights in the harbor and didn’t bother to try making out what anyone was saying until River spoke directly above her.
“Time to go home, Rissa. Let me help you.”
She wanted to be strong, to walk off the boat and follow the others to the car, but when River’s arms came around her, she was too relieved to have the support to refuse it. He guided her, held her, and, she thought, carried her to her room once they’d arrived back at the restaurant.
“Narissa, you have to wake up and change into something dry.”
His words made sense, but it took a moment to make her body move. She just wanted sleep.
A t-shirt was pulled over her head. “Take off your swimsuit.”
Apparently, River had taken matters into his own hands.
With her arms inside the t-shirt, she untied the strings of her top and pulled it off. She dropped it on the floor and put her arms through arms of the t-shirt. It was a big shirt, she realized, since it fell almost half way down her thighs, and it smelled like River.
“Finish changing,” River said. “I’ve got to go change too.”
She heard the door click behind him and pushed her swim bottoms off. They fell with a wet thud, and she kicked them across the room. She went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of panties, which felt like the greatest luxury in the world as she slid them on. That was all she had the energy for, so she walked to her bed and wiggled under the covers.
The Lovely Deep (The Mer Song Trilogy Book 1) Page 17
