Oceanborn

by Amalie Howard

  Breathe.

  I bury my hands into the wet sand beside me, willing my tumultuous emotions to fade. Facing Cano angry is a sure way to lose, but I can’t help myself. My rage builds with every breath, rising like storm tide to suffocate me. Echlios was right—controlling the emotional side of things is going to be far harder than I anticipated. As if in confirmation, forked ice-blue lightning arcs across the sky.

  Focus.

  I take a deep breath and try once more to release the charged emotion. And then another, and another. Eventually I feel myself becoming calmer, and if the clearing sky is any indication, I’m doing a decent—if painfully slow—job of it. I’ve got to get this thing under control, because there’s no way I’ll have the luxury of this kind of time if I’m fin-deep in an actual battle.

  I sigh, wrapping my arms around my knees, and stare at a now cloudless sky merging into the darker blue of the sea. Meteorological analysts must love all this unpredictable atmospheric activity—storm-tossed clouds followed in seconds by a perfect blue sky. They probably think the world is going to end. If I can’t stop Cano, it just might.

  I feel a tug deep in my center at the same time that an indistinct shape on the horizon catches my attention. The shape looms closer. My heart beats a shade faster before I realize that the essence isn’t Cano’s. It’s Aquarathi, although for some reason, I can’t identify it. It’s fuzzy...tainted. Squinting against the sunlight, I hold my right hand over my brow as the shape condenses into a half-recognizable human form with pale white skin and jet-black hair.

  “Hello, Nerissa.”

  “Nell?” I say, blinking.

  “You’re probably wondering why you couldn’t see who I was,” she says conversationally. “Oh, wait, you’re not the queen anymore. But still, that wouldn’t have helped, either.”

  “Why are you here?” I rise to my feet.

  “You summoned, did you not?”

  I frown. “I didn’t call you.”

  “Right, right. You summoned Cano.” She wrings the water out of her dark hair, pulling it over one shoulder and staring at me with venom in her eyes. “You think you’re so important, all high and mighty...and even now, when you’re nothing, you think you can control people. Cano sent me with a message for you.”

  “You’re the spy,” I say quietly. “From school. And the traitor—the one who led the hybrids to Waterfell.”

  “Look who’s been paying attention,” she says, grinning. “And not just me, Nova, too. Anyway, Cano wants you to come to North Coronado Island in one hour. Alone.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or he takes out your entire family with his new toy.” She smirks, her eyes glinting with malice. “You saw what it can do? With your mother? I hope every second was agonizing. She deserved it and more.”

  I restrain my immediate surge of rage. “You are nothing but a filthy traitor. You and your brother both. Where is Nova, by the way? Skulking?”

  “We’re hardly traitors if we’re with the winning side. It’s not our fault that your mother got soft in the end and had to be put down like the dog she was.” Nell eyes me, running her hands along her bare rib cage. “I have to tell you I got used to being on land instead of down there in the dark, lifeless depths of Waterfell. And being human without being beholden to you is so much more fun. Cano made that happen.”

  I sneer, despite the hot wave of pain at her words about my mother. “Let me guess, he promised to give you a pair of legs...let you live on land with the hybrids...happily ever after. You aren’t the smart twin, are you, Nell?”

  Nell’s eyes narrow, her fingers clenching at her side. “North Coronado. One hour. Bring anyone and your family dies.”

  “Right,” I say, and walk toward her. It’s gratifying to see her take a couple steps back, fear shimmering across her face for a second. “How much of that toxin was he able to make up after my mother destroyed it all? I’m guessing not much. He’s bluffing about my family.”

  “Bluff or not, Nerissa, he’s got enough to put down that slut handler of yours, just like he did your mother. Nova was the one who told Cano what she did, you know. What a stupid bitch, she totally forgot about the video feed—”

  I cut off the last word from Nell’s mouth as I lunge forward to grab a handful of her hair, yanking with all the force I can muster. I twist it around my fist so hard that tears snap to her eyes. “Stop. Talking. About. My. Mother.”

  “Cano said I’m not to be harmed,” she gasps.

  “I’m not harming you, sweetie. I’m just making things easier to understand. Cano lied to you. See, you’re in way over your head. There’s no way you can become human. Or hybrid. You have to be born that way. This isn’t The Little Mermaid, and Cano isn’t King Triton with a magic trident. Open your eyes—this is reality.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says.

  Something sharp and cold pricks into the soft flesh at the back of my neck. “Let her go,” a pissed-off male voice threatens.

  “Nova,” I guess, releasing my hold so quickly that Nell tumbles to the sand. I turn to face Nova, who is holding a spear in one hand. I hadn’t sensed him approach, but I’m not in the slightest bit afraid of him or the weapon pointed at my heart. I’m pretty sure Cano wants the joy of killing me for himself. Plus, I can move twice as fast as Nova on my worst day. I grin. “I was wondering when you were going to turn up.”

  “I can’t kill you,” he says. “I’m sure you already know that, but you need to be taught a little lesson.”

  “And you’re going to teach me?” I scoff with as much sarcasm as I can manage. I fold my hands over my chest with a brief glance to the house. Lo is nowhere in sight, which suits me just fine.

  “No. We’re going to teach you.”

  Nell rushes me from behind while her brother comes in slashing with the spear. To my overheated senses, it seems like they’re both moving in slow motion. I kick out backward, catching Nell in the chest, before swinging back around to bat Nova’s spear out of the way. The underside of my palm comes up to connect with his chin and he stumbles back, the end of the spear propelled by my heel to crack him in the face.

  Nell vaults to her feet, snarling, and charges me again. This time, I let the rage build and slam her with two closed fists right in the center of her sternum. The crack is loud and unforgiving, echoing down the beach like thunder. She falls to the sand with a gurgle and clutches her chest. I may not be her queen, but I can still hear her heart failing, crushed under the weight of unbreakable Aquarathi bones.

  “No!” Nova screams. “I’ll kill you.”

  I eye him calmly. “Who’s learning the lesson now?”

  “You psycho bitch!”

  “You brought the psycho to this party, not me,” I say. “You picked a fight with the wrong Aquarathi.”

  Power is churning around me in massive waves, making me feel light-headed. I hadn’t considered how strong my mother’s energy would make me...how unbelievably powerful she’d been. A power that she gave to me, every last drop, even though she could have saved herself. She chose me. Nova was the one to rat her out to Cano. Her death is on him.

  Nova stares at his sister’s shuddering body and flexes his fingers. His lips curl back from his teeth. Scarlet lights race along his arms in violent ripples, his Aquarathi eyes burning crimson. “I’m going to take you to Cano alive, but before I do, I’m going to shred you into so many pieces, you’re going to wish you were dead.”

  “I’m so afraid,” I mock.

  “You should be.”

  With a demonic shriek, Nova flies toward me, the spear raised. I deflect it easily, and sharpen my fingers into claws as his body continues its course straight into me. He tries to pull back, but it’s too late. Momentum drives him forward, his eyes widening just before he impales his stomach on the jagge
d points of my outstretched hand.

  I hold him close, grimacing at the oily sensation of blood pooling over my fingers, my lips against his ear. “That’s for my mother, you asshole.”

  24

  Leap Before You Look

  Shuddering into Aquarathi form, I swim the fifteen miles to North Coronado in seconds. If Cano wants me alone, that’s what he’s going to get. I’m going to give him exactly what he’s asked for. Fighting Nova and Nell had been child’s play. I can handle Cano. I’m going to rip his throat out. I’m so blinded by fury and the violent flood of my mother’s strength that I don’t consider anything but getting to that island. Not even Lo, whom I left at his house without a word, or Echlios, or anyone. They’ll be safer this way.

  Fish and other underwater creatures dart out of the way as if they can sense my brewing rage. I don’t blame them—I can feel the energy crackling through my veins like wildfire. As I get closer to the Coronado Islands lying to the west of Mexico, a group of playful sea lions approach me—the same ones Lo and I met—but I scatter them with a growl. Their chirps of fear and sorrow along with the mournful expression in their eyes do nothing to weaken my single-minded resolve.

  Cano.

  Breaking the surface, I scan the horizon to see a boat—Scylla—bobbing in the waves on the far side of the island. Aldon’s boat. Of course he was the one to kill Aldon. I tread water for a few seconds, feeling the salt slide into my mouth and out through my gills. Everything inside me knows it’s a trap, but the only way I can get on that boat is to transform into human form.

  “Come, now, Nerissa,” a jovial voice calls out. “You’re not going to float to Catalina, are you? I just want to talk.”

  Talk, my ass.

  It’s not like I have much choice, especially if Nell was right about him not bluffing. I shift into human form, tugging on the clothing that Cano has so thoughtfully left near the gunwale. Not that I want to take anything from him at all, but the thought of standing nude anywhere near him creeps me out.

  He’s sitting in the captain’s chair—cigar in hand—looking as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. I’d be deceived by the pacifying smile on his face if it weren’t for his eyes, which are watching me with calculating, deadly precision. He may look normal on the outside, but I can sense the tainted essence of Lo beneath the surface. This isn’t Cano, I remind myself.

  “Nova and Nell are dead,” I tell him.

  Surprise flashes across his face before it’s concealed by that conciliatory smile. “Didn’t expect that,” he says. “Then again, you guys were...what’s the word again? Oh yes, frenemies.” Cano takes a long drag on the cigar, and leans back in the chair. “I tell you, I don’t miss dealing with teenage issues on a daily basis. It’s too dramatic,” he says with an exaggerated flourish. His voice lowers a cadence. “But drama aside, the twins were loyal. I’ll have to make you pay for that, you know. An eye for an eye, as they say.”

  “You’d know about that, wouldn’t you?” I shoot back. “All the innocent lives you’ve taken?”

  “All in the name of science, my dear,” he says, leaning forward as if he’s about to tell me a secret. “So, tell me, how did Neriah look when she died?”

  Energy thrums in my fingertips, pushing against the boundaries of my tight human skin. Greenish-gold lights race along my arms and I can feel the bones pushing against my cheek and brow. Teeth crowd my jutting jaw as my spine arches, fins tearing through the soft cotton of the T-shirt.

  Cano raises an eyebrow. “That bad?”

  “I’m going to tear you apart,” I seethe through a mouthful of fangs.

  “Really?” he says, a maniacal look coming over him, his eyes darting to something behind me. “And how, pray tell, are you going to do that?”

  I sense the presence of the hybrids a hair too late, but it’s no matter. They’re all going to die just the same. “Enjoy the show,” I tell Cano. “Because when it’s done, you’re next.”

  Turning in slow motion, I face the six misshapen creatures standing on the wooden diving platform and eyeing me with varying degrees of hunger. One I recognize—the hulking creature on the surf beach and on the pier at Scripps. I knew I didn’t imagine him! The others are equally hideous—half human, half Aquarathi—with blunt snouts and bulging eyes. Two of them have taloned limbs, while the one on the far right looks the most human but is covered in electric-blue scales. Intelligence shimmers in his eyes. He’s the leader, I decide. Him first.

  But I don’t get the chance to reach him before the ugliest hybrid charges me with surprising agility. Shifting my fingers into pincers, I swipe at his body, leaving bloody red claw marks and gushing entrails in its wake. One down. Five to go. Whirling with furious speed, I duck and dart and kick my way through three more of the hybrids. With my new strength, they’re hardly a challenge. Brimming with confidence, I grab the fifth one by the throat and squeeze, snapping his spine in a snap. I’m desperate to get to the last of Cano’s hybrids—the blue one. I toss the dead hybrid into the water.

  Before Blue Scales can move, I dive toward him with incredible speed. He darts out of my way, and we circle each other. I’m sure I must look as monstrous as he does with finned bones protruding from my head and back, and lit up like a Christmas tree. Blue doesn’t attack—he dances out of the way of each of my strikes, almost like he’s toying with me. I snarl. Enough of this. Dashing forward, I watch his eyes and veer right to duck behind him, rising and grabbing his neck in a headlock.

  “Too predictable,” I whisper into his ear. A line of razor-sharp fins emerge from my human flesh along the forearm that’s just beneath his neck. Holding my prize, I look triumphantly to the captain’s chair to find Cano, only to discover that the chair is empty.

  A wet cloak descends upon my shoulders like a noxious cloud. Cano’s behind me. “That was indeed a nice show, but sadly, you are the predictable one. Foolish girl, you haven’t learned a thing, have you?”

  Fear slithers through my veins for the first time since I’ve stepped onto that boat. Predictable. Reckless. Foolish. Arrogant. Idiotic. I’m all those things, and more. In a desperate move, I try to shift into Aquarathi form to protect myself from whatever’s coming, but it’s too late.

  Something icy pierces the vulnerable side of my still-human neck, and as my senses go fuzzy, all I can think is that maybe Cano wasn’t bluffing after all.

  * * *

  I’m floating in the ever-reaching arms of the ocean—cocooned and safe. Dolphins gambol around me, sea lions, too. Their happy chirps and barks make me smile, until something scatters them and I am alone. I frown, shivering as the ocean grows cold, the warmth leached out of it with their absence, but then Lo materializes in the distance, his handsome face beaming. Relieved, I reach out to him until I remember that we are hundreds of feet deep and he’s in human form. Something isn’t quite right. As he swims closer, he clutches at his belly, his mouth opening in a soundless scream. Blood pools in the water as a gaping hole appears beneath his hands. A head emerges from where his stomach used to be, and then a leering face. Cano, covered in blood. Lo’s blood.

  I scream, and try to bolt upright, but my body refuses to cooperate. Cano’s face—unbloodied and normal—looms over me. The last few minutes before I passed out come back to me in a rush. He poisoned me...with the same biotoxin that had killed my mother.

  “Am I dying?”

  “Not quite yet,” he says, checking my eyes with some kind of metal instrument.

  I try to move away from him, but once more, my body remains unresponsive. I glance around, details still somewhat fuzzy. I’m tethered to a metal table. The delayed thought hits me that we’re no longer on Aldon’s boat—we’re in some kind of facility on land. I can still sense the ocean, so maybe we’re not that far away from somewhere familiar. I blink, trying to focus. How long have I been out? I stare at my a
rm and try to move my fingers. Nothing.

  “What’d you do to me?”

  “This biotoxin is my greatest work,” he says conversationally. “We developed it to inhibit the hybrids, just in case, you know, they went berserk. And we had a few, I’ll tell you. Scared the pants off me.” Cano holds a scanner in front of my face and peers over it. “Then I...became one, and well, plans change, don’t they? Part of one of the great things of being human is our adaptability. We go with the flow.” He chuckles at his own joke. “The hybrid version of the toxin worked so well that I started playing around with its Aquarathi counterpart. You see, I needed a contingency plan for you.” Cano walks away, stepping out of my sight for a second. “And especially after Neriah started losing focus, I knew I’d have to contain her at some point. Without Ehmora in the picture, I think she started to become sentimental.”

  “So you killed her,” I say. “Just like that.”

  “Oh, trust me, it was painful. After all, I wouldn’t be here without her research. She was quite brilliant, your mother. I will miss her greatly.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  Cano laughs so hard that tears leak from the corner of his eyes. “Isn’t it ironic that you are this fearsome creature with no natural enemies, but you act like a weak human instead of the predator that you should be. And yet here you are, calling me the monster.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Power.” His grin is crazed. “They called my research substandard. Fools! Now who is the one in charge? Who is the one with the superior intelligence? They’ll rue the day they crossed me.”

  Ignoring his tirade, I arch my neck forward, trying to see my body. “Why can’t I move?”

  “Ah, that’s the beauty of this toxin,” he says, picking up and empty syringe. “Sea snakes...vicious little things. Did you know one drop of their toxin can kill a normal human? Learned about them from Ehmora.” He glances at me with a knowing smile. “As I recall, she had a special fondness for them. In small doses, their toxin can cause paralysis and hallucinations. In larger doses, it can lead to unconsciousness. But I wanted it to be lethal, so I started combining different strains of the red-tide toxin we’d developed with it. After many failed experiments, I discovered a workable compound.” Cano leans against the table and runs an icy finger down my cheek in an almost gentle—if revolting—caress. He stares idly at a shiny scalpel in his other hand. “Your mother was its first subject. It worked quite well, did it not?”