“Cool.” She went about her work, pressing dozens of the blue leaves together into a tight dressing that she secured into place with canta vine. My left arm was then placed in a makeshift sling and immobilized to prevent further strain on the area. I wouldn’t have received a better field dressing from Damille herself.
“Thank you, Gentry. This is impressive work. You have a future in the medicinal sciences.” I meant that last part far more literally than she realized. We were in desperate need of more doctors.
She gave me a hesitant, almost fearful look and nervously gnawed on her lower lip. “Would you mind if I asked what you did to our necks?”
In some ways things were far more cordial than I’d ever dreamed for broaching this conversation, but it still wasn’t the time or place. I wanted to say this once for them all to hear, and we needed to stay focused on the medical emergencies at the moment. At the same time, they were going to kind of be on the honor system the next two days—I couldn’t see tying them up after they’d helped us—so they needed to know why it was important to leave their necks alone. “I’d prefer not to get into the entire reason you’re here at the moment given the circumstances, but we have taken steps to allow the three of you to breathe underwater. As you’ve seen, the surface of our oceans is not a safe place for Syreni or humans, and our cities are located far beneath the sea.”
Her eyes opened wide. “You’re giving us gills? How is that even possible?” I could see her working the problem over in her head, and patiently waited for her to reach the inevitable conclusion. “The jell—it contains stem cells.”
“Correct. Yours are much further along than Kerrigan’s. I can already see your gill covers coming in. They are a pretty sky blue, by the way. Finally some color to break up all that pale skin.” I hoped my complement and positive spin on things might lessen the blow, but her face remained stoic. Based on the way her hands were now fidgeting, it appeared it was taking every ounce of her restraint not to rip her neck to shreds. “I know this may seem like a drastic change, Gentry, but it’s imperative that you not make any effort to harm them. By now they have their own direct blood supply from your carotid arteries. Even a deep scratch to the sensitive under tissue could cause you to bleed out. Besides, we can’t protect you while you’re living on the surface.”
“We’re never going home, are we?”
I slowly shook my head. There was no sense lying to her. Not about that part, at least. Even if I wanted to take them back—which a growing part of me did—the king would never allow it. And with the portal guarded all hours of the day and night I couldn’t exactly sneak them across myself. Soon their bodies would be so mutated they would no longer be fit to live on Earth, anyway. The faster they came to terms with the fact that this was their home now the better off we’d all be. “I truly am sorry. In time, I hope the three of you can carve out new lives that provide you with at least some degree of happiness.”
Rather than becoming hysterical and pleading for her release, which I’d hardly be able to fault her for, Gentry surprised me by picking up two carnipula leaves and beginning to treat the slash on the inside of my elbow. “At least you’re honest. Speaking of which, I know how you feel about Kerrigan. It’s only fair to tell you that she was going to be married in a few months to an amazing guy she couldn’t be more in love with. I had my bridesmaid dress picked out and everything. She’s also super close with her parents and takes care of her disabled sister. Not to mention that she was almost certain to win Gold at the Olympics in Tokyo, something she’d worked toward her entire life. She’ll never forgive you for taking all that from her.”
“You presume too much, young healer. I have a profound respect for your friend’s courage, and her ability to keep her head and act amongst the chaos—nothing more.” The intense jealousy I felt at the mere thought of someone else touching her, let alone being engaged to her, suggested quite the opposite. As did putting her life above my own. But I would not waste time on such pointless things. There was only one female I would ever love, and my beautiful compar Pulchra was dead. Neither my body nor my shattered soul would ever open up to another.
“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves,” she countered, quoting Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding.
“And well-read too, I see. Maybe I shall court you, instead.”
Gentry let out a loud snort of a laugh. “I do believe fishboy has a sense of humor. Glad to see that stick up your ass is removable.”
Trying to comprehend her bizarre sayings made my head hurt, and I had a sinking feeling fishboy was here to stay, but I felt more like myself than I had in years. Her total lack of reverence was strangely liberating.
After she finished bandaging my right arm she checked on Kerrigan then returned to provide me with an update she knew all too well I was anxious to hear. Her beaming, open mouthed smile set my nerves at ease even before she spoke. “Damille said Kerr’s going to have a nasty-ass scar on her chest along with some facial scarring, and she had to amputate what was left of her foot, but she expects her to pull through. God, now that I say that out loud I don’t know why I’m so happy. I was just so sure she was dead. One second she’s going all Selene on the thing, dancing away and slashing it over and over, and the next it had ripped off her foot, pinned her and was prying open her chest. Even after she stabbed it in the throat it kept clawing her…” She sniffled and wiped away tears. “Please tell me you guys can make her some kind of prosthetic.”
How to answer that question? As accepting as Gentry was being, I doubted she’d take news of the far more drastic surgeries that lied ahead well, including having both of her own feet removed. In the end I decided that was a battle best left for another day. “Our biosciences are capable of far better than that. I give you my word we will do everything we can to help her. And I’ll see to it that she receives an accommodation from the king for her valor today. To think someone of her size took down a full grown griffin with nothing but a dagger. Truly amazing.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
A strange new world
* * *
I blinked my eyes a couple times as I came awake. Unlike my previous brief period of consciousness, the doctor woman—Damille?—wasn’t hovering over me. If only the pain had disappeared. Every shallow breath I took expanded my stitched together flesh enough to make me wince. The cumulative effect of being in constant agony was unbearable. Whether out of mercy—or just being tired of hearing me moan—they’d finally hit me with more of that drug-up-the-nose shit. I had no idea how much time had elapsed since, or how much brain damage I was accumulating. “Tara? Gentry?” I called out, praying that at least one of them was still with me.
“I’m right here, Kerr.” Gentry walked over and squatted down next to me so I could see her face without straining. “I hope you feel a shit ton better than you look, because…damn, girl.”
I let out the start of a giggle then shrieked in agony. “Oww! Don’t make me laugh.”
“My bad. Seriously, though. How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better.” My chest looked like something straight out of a Frankenstein movie, and I hadn’t even started to process the fact that my left leg now ended above my ankle. Oh, and my gills were fully grown in, too. My gills… I’ll take, things I never thought I’d say for a thousand, Alex. Talk about a mind trip. Listening to Gentry’s sales pitch earlier on how badass my dark burgundy gill covers looked made me want to choke her. I mean, I guess her sky blue ones were cute in an alien, strange-as-hell sort of way, as were Tara’s chartreuse, but they both seemed almost resigned to staying here. WTF? Just thinking about what Austin and my family were going through right now brought tears to my eyes. What would they think happened to us? Did anyone see anything, like some image of a giant ocean as we were sucked through? I knew my dad would be knee deep in the investigation by now whether they wanted him to be or not. Not that I had much hope. None of us had the slightest c
lue how we’d gotten here, and we experienced it firsthand. My only real hope of ending this nightmare was to find some way to convince Aristos to take us home. Assuming that was even possible.
“Where’s Tara?” As if I had to ask. Ever since their first breathing lesson they’d been taking turns almost nonstop diving deep beneath the metal and stone prison I’d been stuck in for god knows how many days.
Gentry reached a hand out to comfort me before indecision brought her up short. Unsure where she could safely touch me given my cut and bruised body, she ended up patting me on the head like a dog. “She’ll be back soon. It really is pretty cool, you know. Once you get used to it, anyway.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll take your word for it. Speaking of which, did Aristos happen to mention why were still naked? I mean, I get there’s not a Macy’s around the corner or anything, but after all we did to help they could at least give us our suits back.” Not that my current lack of clothing was my biggest concern—hell, it didn’t even make my top ten—but it was one thing I hopefully could do something about.
The ever-present sparkle in Gentry’s green eyes dimmed slightly as she turned away from me and let out a helpless sigh. “How long could we wear them if they did? Even if we could stand the spandex cutting into our shoulders for weeks, the saltwater would eat through the material eventually.” She paused, nervously gnawing on her lower lip as she studied my face. “I know you don’t want to hear this. And it totally sucks. But you need to accept that we’re never going home. I love you, Kerr. You’ve been more of a sister to me than Riley ever has, even before she turned into a drugged-out tramp. Hell, you’ve saved my life twice since we got here. Please let Tara and me help you deal with this. We need you.”
I would never accept that I was stuck here forever, but seeing Gentry’s eyes well up made me want to offer her some kind of assurance that I wasn’t planning to off myself or just veg out on this stone floor until I died. Besides, my plan required Aristos to be totally committed to helping me. I’d have to play the good little captive convincingly enough to make him care. “Do you think you could teach me the whole fish breathing thing so we can go with Aristos when he gets here?”
Based on the way she engulfed my body in a horrendously painful hug, you’d have thought I’d told her Katie Perry—for whom she harbored an almost stalker worthy obsession—was giving her a personal birthday concert. It only took her a couple minutes to explain what my first dive would feel like and pass on what little she knew about how everything worked.
I was surprised to discover that when I inhaled, the five hardened, scaly flaps along the sides of my neck bowed open, causing a good portion of the air I was breathing to flow out and across my skin rather than into my lungs. Gentry assured me water would pass though my gill slits the same way, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide in the process. The hardest and most terrifying part was going to be fighting my innate instinct not to drown and allowing my lungs to fill with water. It was going to be equally bad when I resurfaced and had to cough it all up to breathe air again.
I can’t exactly say I was giddy to dive in and give it a whirl after hearing what I was in for, but when Tara returned I allowed them to carry me to the edge of the water.
“What about infection?” I asked, remembering my earlier concern as my eyes focused on the foamy waves lapping against the metal platform. Flooding my amputated, leaf-bandaged leg and raw chest wound with bacteria didn’t seem like the most intelligent thing to do.
Gentry retrieved the softball sized seashell from where I’d been laying and smothered more of the lilac colored jelly on my wounds. “Damille told me this stuff is loaded with antibiotics. It must be working—the skin around your cuts isn’t irritated at all.”
“And Aristos was planning on making you swim tonight anyway,” Tara added. “I doubt a couple hours would make much difference.”
Hearing that the insensitive bastard had planned to force me into the water was almost enough to make me dig my heels in on principal alone. Excuse me if getting my ass ripped apart by a giant eagle-lion monster had put him behind on his abduction schedule. Boo-fucking-hoo. But being defiant and combative wasn’t going to get me home any sooner. I took several deep, calming breaths and forced a lackluster smile. “Guess we’re ready to do this thing, then.”
The sea green water was warm, like a steamy bathtub, and eased some of the tension from my battered body and aching bones. I found that keeping my elbows at my sides and just moving my forearms and hands around kept the chest pain at a bearable level. I didn’t even attempt to kick with my left leg. It wasn’t necessary anyway as I could easily tread water without it. I eagerly ducked my head under and tried to scrub some of the filth from my ratted up hair. God what I’d give for some soap—and a toothbrush.
When I surfaced Gentry held a bright orange flower bulb over my head and twisted it in her hands. Fluid slowly dripped into my hair until there was enough to form a lather. It smelled incredible, like a mix of wild berries and aloe. “What is this?”
“It’s called shealing oil,” she replied, her fingers helping to work it through my knotted, blood-crusted hair. “Aveda would pay like a billion for this stuff. It leaves your hair clean and tangle-free for days.”
After I dipped my head to rinse, Gentry supported my body while Tara gave me an extremely gentle bath, being careful to steer clear of the worst of my cuts. It felt so good not to be coated in urine and blood anymore. The best they could do for my teeth and god-awful breath was having me chew on an abrasive, somewhat minty sponge. It was a poor substitute for a toothbrush and Crest, but I wasn’t about to complain. “I feel almost human again.”
“You sure as hell smell better,” Gentry joked, pinching her nose for effect. “We were going to start calling you skunk girl.” She swam out toward the opening, turning back impatiently when I didn’t follow. “So you ready to do this or what?”
My heavenly clean up session made me almost forget the main reason we’d come out here. I placed my fingertips on the side of my neck and inhaled to ensure my gills were still functioning. Feeling the flaps expand did little to ebb my mounting fear. Voluntarily drowning myself—which was basically what I was about to do—went against every survival instinct hardwired into my brain. There was no way I wasn’t going to fight.
Tara took a firm hold of my shoulders and gave me a slight shake to snap me out of my building panic attack. “There’s no easy way to do this. Just let all of the air out of your lungs and go under with me. You’re going to choke at first, and once your lungs fill up it really burns, but I promise you it gets better. Just keep breathing.”
I took one final breath and exhaled completely, then met her eyes and nodded. We quickly sunk about ten feet below the surface, still facing each other, and treaded water to maintain the depth. After about fifteen seconds my lungs were burning with the stored up carbon dioxide. After thirty I was growing frantic. Unable to hold off any longer, I opened my lips and drew in a hesitant mouthful of water. Violent chest convulsions sent me scrambling for the surface, but Tara and Gentry held me under, each securing an arm. When I started to battle in earnest to free myself—landing a sidekick to Tara’s midsection that made her double over—Gentry took hold of my face with both hands and forced me to look at her. Once she had my attention she led me through a series of exaggerated mouth breaths. It took several minutes, but I finally accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to drown.
I was breathing. Like a fish.
It was time to do a little exploration of my own. I followed behind Tara and Gentry, using a very light breast stroke and a one-legged kick, as we passed beneath the chamber we’d been staying in and headed into the dark water below. Gigantic, semi-truck sized containers of trapped air lined the entire bottom of the chamber, answering the question I’d often wondered as to how something made of stone and iron stayed afloat.
Once we were far enough below the surface to escape most of the natural light, countless bioluminesce
nt creatures came into view. A large school of brightly glowing seahorses the size of my leg floated by, making me wonder what else was down here that wasn’t so benign. Tara and Gentry had never mentioned seeing anything scary on their dives, but they’d never mentioned that they had their own supply of shampoo and body wash, either. Looking back toward the surface, I spotted several jellyfish passing overhead along with what looked like a sea turtle. For being in a different word, it was odd how closely some of their sea life resembled our own.
That thought had barely left my mind when Gentry brought me to a halt. A mile or more beneath us I could just make out the brightly lit skyline of what was clearly a massive city. We weren’t close enough to see individual structures, so I couldn’t get much of a sense for it, but based on the size alone, it had to support tens of thousands of Aristos’s people.
Quite the view, isn’t it?
We all spun around to find Aristos lounging behind us, his eyes trained on me rather than the city. Was he…flirting with me? The thought was so ridiculous that I would have laughed if that were possible. Oh yeah, I’m sure my pulverized body was just driving him wild.
Seeing that he was wearing his full armor again stirred up a very unwelcome Brad Pitt Achilles fantasy that I’d take to my grave. The elaborate gold plating accentuated his muscular chest and ripped arms, and gave him a regal look like the general he claimed to be. There was an intricate design carved into the breastplate that resembled the Roman god Neptune, parked atop his chariot driven by hippocamps. I wasn’t huge into mythology, but I did know he was the god of the sea, so that would make some sense I guess. Aristos’s silver-grey hair was free from its braid for the first time and drifted behind him like a great cape. The scales on his long, sinewy tail emanated a slight glow of their own, just enough to cast an emerald hue across his admittedly handsome face.
The only response I was capable of providing was to stare down at his city and nod. I’d never been so happy to have an excuse not to talk in my life.
Kerrigan's Race (The Syreni Book 1) Page 5
