by Skye Malone
He caught sight of me.
“Hey there,” he said, his annoyance disappearing.
Niall glanced over. “Morning.”
“Hi,” I said, blushing with embarrassment. “Sorry I slept so late.”
Zeke shook his head. “You didn’t.”
I smiled, grateful for the way he kept trying to make things okay. “Are we going soon?”
“Yeah.” He glanced to Niall. “We were just talking about how maybe you could stay with us for a while, once we get back to Nyciena.”
I paused. “That’d be nice. If there’s room, I mean. I don’t want to impose.”
Niall chuckled. “Oh, there’ll be room.”
Zeke gave his brother a brief glare, and then turned a reassuring look on me. “It’ll be fine.”
“Thank you.”
He smiled.
One of the dehaians came over and said something to Niall.
“Okay,” he replied. He glanced to us. “Ready to head out?”
Zeke nodded and kicked up from the sand easily, and after a bit of floundering, I managed to leave the ground as well. The veil around the campsite fell away, disappearing back into the seafloor as though it’d never been, while the fire did the same.
And in only a moment, nothing remained to show we’d been there.
“Cool, huh?” Niall commented when he noticed me watching the space where the fire had burned. “Wait till you see Nyciena.”
I smiled, though the comment sent a flutter of trepidation through me. Everything here had me gawking enough.
Nyciena would probably be overwhelming.
The guards set off and I followed with Zeke and Niall joining me on either side. It was easier to keep up with them today, and as the hours continued on, I didn’t have to slow down once. Past underwater valleys and hills we swam, weaving our way along a path the guards seemed to know without question.
And gradually, a realization spread over me.
I was aware of the hills and valleys before I saw them.
My brow furrowed. The gloom beyond us looked impenetrable, and yet, if I focused, I knew there was a valley inside it. Likewise, an array of hills lay to our right, with a smattering of caves midway up on this side, though their other side was a mystery.
I knew it all. I just couldn’t see any of it.
“You okay?” Zeke asked.
I blinked and turned to him. “I, um… is there a valley ahead of us? I mean… can you, like, feel that it’s there?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
I stared at him.
Sympathy touched his face. “It’s just how we are, Chloe. It’s fine. You probably just didn’t notice yesterday because you’re still adjusting to all this.”
“But how is that even possible?”
He shrugged. “Combination of hearing, sight, smell… your skin is pretty sensitive too. That’s part of why air burns if you’re above water and you don’t change it a bit. But yeah, all of that. Our sight’s really good, but it’s not the only way we navigate.”
I looked down as the valley I’d felt emerged from the gloom.
“It’ll get easier,” Zeke assured me. “Just give it time.”
I nodded, hoping he was right.
We swam onward, the miles passing below us in the form of small plains, rolling hills, and little valleys. Invisible in the water far overhead, a pod of whales drifted by, their cries barely reaching my ears.
A sense of blackness and cold prickled my skin. I looked down as the plains gave way to a canyon so deep, I couldn’t feel its end.
I shivered, suddenly feeling so tiny as we continued over the trench.
“Nyciena ahead,” Niall commented.
I pulled my gaze from the valley, my eyes searching the featureless water and seeing nothing.
And then I blinked. I could feel it, past the gloom, rising up from the depths of the canyon.
It felt like a mountain.
One of the guards slowed and lifted his hand, wordlessly signaling the rest. My brow furrowed as Zeke and Niall pulled up.
“Someone’s coming,” Zeke explained quietly.
I swallowed.
Six dehaians swam toward us from the murk, and all of them were armed with objects that looked remarkably like guns.
“What the hell?” Zeke protested at the sight.
“Nice to see you too, Zeke,” one commented as he came closer.
I looked between them. With the same black hair and gunmetal scales as Zeke, the man could easily have been related to him and Niall, although in Zeke’s case the guy seemed at least ten years older. Unlike the two brothers, however, his face was stern, with a jaw that appeared made of granite and blue eyes that had probably never seen anything they deemed worthy of a laugh. His bearing was likewise firm, as if everything his gaze touched belonged to him – with the expectation that it had dare not present a problem. As his eyes scanned over me, I tensed, suddenly uncomfortable at being in what he obviously considered his ocean.
“What’s with the welcoming party, Ren?” Niall asked, his tone lighter, though it sounded forced. “There a problem?”
The man ignored him. “Is this her?”
“Is this who?” Niall asked. “We’re just–”
“Is this her?” the man repeated, his tone hardening.
Zeke hesitated. “Chloe,” he said to me, his head turning my way though his eyes never left the other man. “Meet my brother, Ren.”
Annoyance twitched Ren’s face. “You should have cleared bringing her here with me,” he said, tucking his weapon into a slot on his belt.
“There wasn’t time,” Zeke replied. “She needs medical attention.”
Ren looked me over again. “Medical attention?”
“Yes. The Sylphaen gave her a drug. We need the doctors to look at her.”
“She seems fine.”
Zeke stared at him. “They gave her a drug. As in, they injected her with it? She needs help, Ren. Trust me.”
I tried not to shift position in the water, hating the way Ren kept eyeing me like he wasn’t sure if I was a person or an insect.
“And did you see these Sylphaen?” Ren asked.
Zeke looked incredulous. “I told you I did when I called from the relay station.”
“Did you see them give her this drug?”
“I – no, but I saw what it did to her.”
Ren’s mouth tightened.
“These guys are real, Ren,” Niall said.
“You saw them?”
Niall faltered. “Well, no, but I–”
“So we have nothing but her word that there is anything in her system requiring attention. And nothing but yours, Zeke, that the people in question were not simply pretending to be members of a cult that has been dead for a hundred years.” He looked at his brother tiredly. “I told you to come back to Nyciena and let us handle things. Matters like this are infinitely more complicated now, given the current situation.”
“Current situation?” Zeke repeated. “What are you–”
“Since you’ve been gone, we’ve had a dozen raids on the Prijoran border, outcasts have been spotted hiding near the capital, and our scouts have received whispers that the Vetorian mercenaries are joining forces, with an eye toward expanding their territory into our own. And now she shows up as a damsel in distress – with an unverifiable story, no less – desperately in need of help from arguably one of the least… disciplined… among us. Help which involves bringing her straight past our defenses. How convenient.”
Zeke’s jaw worked angrily. “She’s not a spy. I’ve seen what they did to–”
“Take her to the northwest border outpost,” Ren interrupted, glancing to the men behind him. “And put her under guard. We’ll send a doctor there.”
Zeke drew in front of them. “No, the Sylphaen are still after her. She won’t be safe there.”
“Oh, of course not. I’m sure she c
laims she must be taken directly here.”
“No, I’m the one who’s taking her here. If you’d get out of our way, that is.”
Ren’s condescension deepened. “I’m not endangering the city so you can impress your latest piece of ass with affectations of chivalry, brother.”
My brow climbed.
Zeke’s face flushed red, and I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or outrage. “Fuck off, Ren,” he growled. “I’m bringing her to see Dad.”
“No, you–”
Niall swam between them quickly as Zeke started forward. “Hey! Hey now. Zeke, calm down.” He held up his hands. “Look, Ren. We’ve got her under guard. You want her blindfolded too? We can do that. But just in case this is true, you don’t want the trouble of her dying while we wait for a doctor to get all the way out to the northwest border, right?”
Ren gave him an exasperated look. Niall’s eyebrow rose questioningly.
“Really, Ren,” he pressed. “Spy or not, you think Dad wants to deal with that?”
The man studied him for a moment, and then his cold gaze slid over to me. My skin crawled at the derision in his eyes.
“Blindfolded, then,” Ren agreed. “And tied. Armed guards as well, and you two keep away from her.”
Alarmed, I looked between them all, my heart pounding.
“No!” Zeke snapped. “Ren, you don’t have to–”
“Or I send her to the outpost. Which do you prefer?”
“I’ll stay with her,” Niall interjected before Zeke could answer. “Okay? In case Zeke’s not wrong. We don’t want to cause problems, right? Let’s just bring her to see Dad and let him decide what to do.”
Ren regarded his brother, and then jerked his chin at the guards. They swam forward, four of them taking aim at me with the weapons in their hands while the fifth pulled a black hood and a pair of long, metal manacles from the bag on his shoulder.
Adrenaline surged through me at the sight, bringing back a rush of panic like I’d felt when the Sylphaen had trapped me in an ambulance the day before. Eyes wide, I retreated, my skin stinging as spikes pushed from my arms.
“Ren, she’s not a criminal!” Zeke protested, attempting to get between me and the guards. They grabbed him, keeping him from moving farther, and Zeke shoved at them. “You can’t–”
“Hey!” Niall cut in, kicking briefly and then pulling up near me in the water. “Zeke, Chloe, everybody. Calm down.”
He reached out and touched my arm.
I flinched, the spikes growing longer.
“Hey,” he repeated. “We’ll be right here, okay? No one’s going to shoot. You’re safe. Ren, for pity’s sake, she’s a girl, not a monster. Have them put the weapons down.”
“No.”
Niall made an aggravated noise. “Fine then. Zeke? One of you help me here.”
Blocked by three guards between us, Zeke gave a quick look to Niall, and then followed the deliberate twitch of his brother’s gaze toward me.
He caught sight of my arms.
“Chloe, listen to me.” Zeke drew a breath, obviously working to calm down. “Just keep the spikes in. Don’t let them out so the manacles won’t hurt you, okay? And stay with Niall.”
The guards swam closer.
“Breathe,” Niall said, putting a hand to my upper arm. “Both of you. It’s only for a few minutes. It’ll be fine.”
Holding the manacles, the guard pulled up near me. I stared at him.
“Let the spikes retract, Chloe,” Niall urged, his other hand moving to my shoulder. “We’re right here. They won’t shoot you. Ren’s just being a jerk, okay? He’s good at that. But no one’s shooting anyone today. You’re fine.”
I looked to Niall. He nodded reassuringly, letting me go. I took a breath and slowly, the spikes crept into my skin.
The guard snapped the manacles on my forearms the moment they disappeared. I gasped, tensing all over again. The spikes tried to return, and ran into the metal instead.
A jolt of electricity shot through me at the contact and I cried out in pain.
Zeke darted toward me, only to be stopped by the guards.
“No, no, no,” Niall interjected, his grip returning to my shoulder. “Spikes back, okay? It’s just going to hurt more if you don’t stop them. Right, Zeke?”
Seeming as if he was fighting not to explode, Zeke tugged away from the guards. Gasping, I met his eyes.
He nodded tensely. “It’s just for a minute. We’ll be right here.”
The guard yanked the hood over my head, and then clipped something to its side.
Numbness rushed through me, deadening everything but the feeling of Niall’s hands on the skin of my back and arms. I choked, and then shrieked again as a stronger burst of electricity jolted me from my spikes contacting the shackles.
Niall’s grip vanished sharply and then returned. “Breathe,” he urged, his voice duller from the force of whatever the thing on the hood had done. “You can breathe. Just stay calm.”
Trembling, I tried to do as he said.
He swam forward, bringing me with him.
I couldn’t feel the water. Not like I had. Gel moved over my face, my arms and tail, its touch neither hot nor cold. The viscous muck slid in through my nose and mouth with each breath, and it took everything I had to believe that I wouldn’t suffocate. Niall’s warm hands gripped me, his touch the only thing still keeping me grounded when all my senses screamed that something was horribly wrong.
“Almost there,” Niall said, his words warped and muffled.
Eternity crept by. The pressure of his hand on my shoulder shifted, guiding me downward.
“Floor below you. Just fold your tail. That’s right.”
Something thudded against my scales.
The hood vanished.
I gasped, the world returning in a rush. Light glared in my eyes, white and gold by turns, while every nook and cranny for a hundred yards around suddenly made themselves known in my head.
Niall let me go. I blinked hard, the blur resolving into a room.
An enormous room, filled with dehaians.
Polished white floors stretched away from me on all sides, reflecting blue-white light from chandeliers over a hundred feet above. Levels upon levels of galleries and archways formed the walls to either side of me, all of them shaped from marble and sparkling gold. Ahead, a broad stone dais stood, an ornate set of seven thrones at its top and an intricate mosaic of a blue stone mountain taking up the entire wall behind it. Dehaians with every color of scales imaginable floated in the arches and lined the floor, leaving me in an open aisle that led to the dais and the thrones.
I looked up, and my confusion melted into shock. Another dehaian sat on the largest and centermost throne.
And give or take a few decades, he looked just like an older version of Ren.
My gaze slid to the brothers, all of whom were watching the floor. From the corner of his eye, Zeke cast quick glances to me, concern and discomfort on his face.
The man rose and immediately, the others dropped into a bow.
At a loss, I dipped my head, still watching the man.
“Renekialen,” he said, his voice deep and neutral as it carried through the room. “What is the meaning of this?”
“A spy, Father,” Ren replied, his gaze on the floor.
Zeke’s jaw muscles jumped. “She’s not,” he growled at Ren.
The man’s eyebrow twitched up. “Zekerian?”
“She’s not a spy,” Zeke elaborated, his tone only barely civil.
A moment passed.
“Very well,” the man acquiesced. “Then perhaps we should hear your case for why your brother is mistaken.” He looked to a gray-haired dehaian with faded emerald scales who floated at the base of the dais. “In private.”
The old dehaian moved immediately to the center of the aisle. Drawing himself up to the most of his relatively short height, he intoned somethin
g in a language I couldn’t understand, and then paused. “This concludes the royal audience for the day,” he continued in English. “His Highness, King Torvias Ociras of Yvaria, wishes you well.”
The crowd swam from the room. With a controlled gesture, the gray-haired dehaian motioned us all toward a doorway near the base of the dais.
I followed the others, swimming awkwardly with my forearms still bound.
Slender-leafed plants stretched the length of the doorframe, and past them, a room waited. The space was much smaller than the one we had just left, with dark stone for the walls, another door on the opposite side, and a fireplace lit by blue-white flames in the corner. Guards took up positions around the room, while the gray-haired man waited till we all were inside and then pressed his hand to a lighter patch of stone beside the doorframe.
The long leaves of the plants stilled, taking on a solidity like wood. Turning from the door, the old dehaian floated to the corner, stoically awaiting further commands.
Ignoring him, the king looked to his sons. “Ren?”
“The girl tried to get inside the city with claims the ‘Sylphaen’ are chasing her, and that they gave her a drug that requires the attention of our doctors.”
“She’s not claiming that,” Zeke snapped. “I am! Damn you, Ren, why can’t you listen–”
“Zeke,” his father interrupted. He turned back to Ren. “And where did you find her attempting to enter the city?”
Ren paused. “When I found her, she was with Zeke and Niall. She’d already convinced them of her story by the time I arrived.”
Scowling, Zeke eyed his brother. “Oh, for the love of–”
“Zeke,” the king said. “Where did you find her?”
“In Santa Lucina,” Zeke replied. “Not trying to convince me of anything. She didn’t even know what dehaians were till I told her.”
Ren scoffed.
Gritting his teeth, Zeke didn’t look at him. “Ask Ina. She knows all about how this started.”
His dad paused. “I will check with Ina later. Now, you tell me your side and why you think a dead cult is involved.”
Zeke drew a breath. “They’re involved because they attacked me. And because they chained me to a wall in a cave and told me how they wanted to sacrifice her. They also said they’d had trouble finding her, and so they’d drowned a bunch of humans just trying to figure out which one was the girl they were searching for.”
