Two Moons of Sera

by Tyler, Pavarti K.

  At least we have you now.”

  “Nilafay,” Tor spoke, his voice low and menacing. “Her name was Nilafay.” Heat rose from his hand. A spark lashed out and trailed up my arm.

  The two sentries backing Vaughn raised their weapons.

  ~Break the glass!~ Mintoch’s words vibrated in my mind, but I couldn’t respond without Vaughn or Lock realizing our intentions. Vaughn could understand Sualwet, but he couldn’t sense Mintoch’s vibrations the way I could.

  The guards took another step closer.

  “I’m sorry, Sera.” Lock shook his head. “Vaughn said I wouldn’t have to go to Life Services, that I could move to the City alone.”

  Desperation had driven him to this. The Erdlander obsession with Matching and mating destroyed Elle’s life, Lace’s life, Lock’s life, and now mine.

  “And you will, Lock,” Vaughn said, turning his cruel smile on my former friend. “Once we figure out why you can’t be Matched. We’ll study you along with Sera. Perhaps we’ll even let you have adjoining cages.”

  Lock’s eyes ballooned with terror.

  ~Break the glass!~

  Tor’s growl intensified, and my bones shook with its vibration. The guards exchanged glances and adjusted their hold on their guns. Even without knowing about his abilities, Tor cut an intimidating figure.

  “I knew who you were the moment we met,” Vaughn said to me. “You have your mother’s eyes, you know. They’re a different color, but the calculating intelligence is the same. When you pretended to have worked with Rhine, I knew for sure. Rhine is an idiot, and his grasp of Sualwet is about as sophisticated as this idiot’s understanding of the female mind.” He gestured to a withering Lock.

  “You t-tricked me,” I stuttered.

  “Guards, take her. Put her in the genetics lab in Science.”

  “No!” I screamed as the guards rushed forward.

  Lock lunged, knocking one of them down before he could reach me. Tor’s flame burst from his free hand and wrapped around the other guard’s body. For a moment, a single flame extended from his hand like a rope but seconds later the man’s clothes caught fire, and flames engulfed his entire person.

  “A’aihea!” The guard Lock had tackled screamed, scurrying out from under Lock’s bulk and away from Tor.

  “How did you get in here?” Vaughn seethed, stepping closer to us.

  Instead of attacking, Tor squeezed my hand.

  “Now!” I shouted.

  “What?” His attention broke, and he turned to me in confusion.

  Vaughn lunged for the incinerated guard’s weapon.

  “Do it!” I yelled, staring at the gun pointed straight at Tor.

  “Slime! That’s all you A’aihea are. Slime of the earth! No matter what temperature you make it, you’re still the rotten—”

  Like a flash of lightning, Tor’s heat rose, and flames bursting from his hands ignited Vaughn’s clothing, immolating the Erdlander in mid-sentence. For a moment he was an ashen statue. Wisps of his form flitted around him and floated up into the air as the rest drifted to the ground in a gray cloud of dust.

  Releasing my hand, Tor looked down at me, the embers behind his eyes bursting to full blaze. Red and orange flames licked along his arms, his eyes emitted a radiant white light. He turned away from me and focused all his attention on the wall before us.

  The blistering heat didn’t break the glass the way I’d expected, but slowly melted it, allowing a trickle of water to enter the room.

  “You’re going to kill us!” Lock screamed as he and the last living guard ran for the secured door behind me.

  Water spilled out onto the floor and splattered against the tile until it stopped. For a split second the molecules of water, glass, and time stood suspended. I watched them intermingle, creating the chaos that would crash around us.

  The glass wall splintered with a crack. It seemed like time froze as fractures slowly spread their fingers across the expanse. I found myself holding my breath, fear and anticipation shocking my senses. This had been my idea, but now, faced with the reality of what was coming, I wished I had some way to know how it would happen. I tried to brace myself for impact, but I feared nothing I did would stop the wave from slamming me against the wall, crushing my bones, and dragging my body underwater.

  The glass groaned and then broke with the ferocity of an unchained animal. A wave of unadulterated power slammed everything and everyone against the back wall. I struggled to breathe, my brain insisting I needed to be above water to survive. I choked on inhaled salt water, and my body tossed through the room like no more than a child’s plaything.

  But Tor stood in the middle of it, a blazing god of righteousness and fury. The water arced around his heat, leaving him in a haze of steam.

  The water receded and I lay on the now-dry ground. When it crashed back in, I was ready. I kicked off my shoes and dove as low as I could to avoid the pressure change as the undertow pulled furniture and bodies through the broken wall. The relentless current swept the remaining guard past me. I reached out to him, but he was gone before I could grab his clothing. Lost to the prison he’d helped create, the guard was sucked through the wall and into the fury of the river.

  All around, bubbles and currents distorted the water. Furniture floated past me, and a dark stream of liquid coalesced and dispersed. It was only right that Vaughn found his end in the sea.

  I quieted my thoughts, absorbed the cool water into my flesh, and opened the membrane over my eyes. In the distance, I spotted Mintoch swimming toward Tor’s dimming flame.

  We’d done it.

  We’d escaped.

  Through the water, I heard the vibrations of an alarm sounding, but more guards would never reach us before we broke out of the cage. And even if they did, opening the Hub door would only invite disaster by letting the water into the rest of the building. Their computers, research, and war plans were all destroyed anyway.

  Mintoch reached Tor and led him into the cage, careful to keep a distance from the blasting flame that kept the water from overcoming Tor. I swam toward them, past the dark outlines of computers, desks, and bodies.

  Bodies.

  Lock.

  No matter what he may have done, Lock was my friend. He had been my first real ally here, and desperation had driven him. I’d seen the look of devastation and terror in his eyes when he learned I would be tested on and he would be joining me. Lock couldn’t be trusted, but did he deserve to die?

  I swam to his limp form and pulled him to me. Absorbing the oxygen I needed directly through my flesh, I placed my mouth over Lock’s and exhaled, hoping he hadn’t swallowed too much water yet.

  ~Sera, the cage is breaking!~

  Mintoch’s Sualwet song met my ears with glee. He would be free, rescued by people so unlike his pure-blooded brethren. Maybe this was how we forged peace.

  Tor’s fire dimmed in the distance. The exertion of breaking the wall, keeping the water at bay, and melting the cage bars was taking a toll on him.

  I continued to breathe for Lock. With a sputter, he opened his eyes and spit out water into the abyss surrounding us. Red emergency lights flashed around us, giving the eerie look of chum strewn in the water.

  He tried to speak but inhaled a mouthful of liquid.

  I pinched his nose and latched my mouth back onto his to give him the breath he needed. After three or four breaths, I pulled away. Lock kept his mouth shut this time and nodded to me with sorrowful eyes. Or maybe it was just the distortion of the water and my own desperate desire to forgive him.

  After taking his hand, I pulled him to where Tor was melting the last bar needed for us to swim out of the cage and into the open river.

  ~I can go home!~ Mintoch’s joy rang through the words.

  ~I need you to help me get these two out of the river first.~

  The boy’s scowl focused on Lock. ~Leave that one here.~

  ~He’s my friend. I won’t leave him. And you won’t let Tor drown after what he�
��s done for you, will you?~

  “What?” Tor yelled from within his shrinking bubble of air and humidity.

  I pulled Lock close and pushed him into Tor’s sphere of protection. It would be hot, but at least he wouldn’t drown. Lock was already small standing next to him, but shame made his stature minuscule.

  “We’re taking him with us,” I yelled as Lock took in a deep lungful of air.

  “I can’t do this and swim at the same time,” Tor replied without protest.

  “Mintoch and I will breathe for you while we swim.”

  ~I’ll take the fire starter. You can save the traitor if you want.~

  “What’d he say?” Tor inquired, glancing from me to Mintoch.

  “He’s going to swim with you. Just let him know when you need a breath. I’ll take Lock.”

  Tor’s eyes widened, but he hardened his jaw and nodded at the Sualwet boy who was about to save his life.

  ~We will have to swim upstream. They have a trap set downstream for Sualwets who wander that way. Plus, upstream will take us closer to the mountains. There are springs there, which come from this river.~

  Mintoch nodded and began to swim. His lithe body, although unused, took to the motion easily. His muscles may have been weak from enslavement, but his body knew what to do, and the movement came as naturally as breathing.

  ~Wait! You have to stay with Tor. He can’t swim like you.~

  Mintoch rolled his eyes and swam back to the quickly disappearing haven around Tor.

  “All right! Let’s go.” I grabbed Lock’s hand and pulled him back into the water. He had no choice. It was swim with me or die.

  The four of us worked our way upstream in the pitch black of the underground river. I struggled to see the path ahead and avoid any jutting rocks or sharp turns. Even with my genetic advantage, I found it near impossible to see, and Mintoch doubtless experienced the same. Tor offered what help he could but mostly focused on swimming and holding his breath so Mintoch could scout ahead.

  Breathing for Lock was easy. We swam close together, me more pulling him than him swimming, and when he needed a breath, he squeezed my hand. At first, crushing my lips against his to exhale the oxygen I pulled from the water into his lungs was clumsy and awkward, but as time went on, fatigue and practicality won out. We all just needed to get out of here.

  Time passed slowly. Swimming upstream made it impossible to tell if we had made any progress, and in the blackness behind us, I was sure I could hear the constant shouts of pursuers.

  Exhaustion clung to my body, weighing me down. I couldn’t stop now. The river would just carry me back to the cage. I swam harder, lugging Lock along as his body gave out under the exertion of such an intense swim. When I glanced over, I noted even Tor was fading. We had to escape the depths soon.

  ~Looks like light ahead,~ Mintoch announced in his singsong Sualwet.

  I sang out with relief, earning myself a raised eyebrow from Tor. Even underwater and unable to breathe, he managed to give me attitude.

  I tightened my grip on Lock’s arm and hauled his weight around the bend. His fatigue made it difficult for him to help me. I pulled him to my chest so he could hold on to my shoulders. My legs moved in unison, trained in the swift motions of my Sualwet upbringing. Would my body know how to swim like this if I hadn’t spent my childhood watching my mother? Tor’s oversized movements and awkward kicking would have made me laugh if we were anywhere else.

  Before long, breathing for Lock became second nature, and now, carrying him like he were a hatchling, I was able to move faster. The promise of land reinvigorated my burning muscles. Ahead I glimpsed a twinkle, a shimmer in the water too subtle for Erdlander eyes, but to a Sualwet, it was as clear as the stars at midnight.

  I rushed ahead of Mintoch and Tor. Soon the dot brightened, a pinprick in the blackness, streaming light down through the river. I swam up and broke the surface where the light became the brightest. We found ourselves in a small space where the walls of the underground river peaked high above. Water rushed past us without filling this small break.

  Lock latched onto me and gasped for air, finally breathing on his own after our arduous swim. His head rested on my shoulder as he clung to me. The opening was high, and we would have to scale the cave walls to reach it. Lock was too exhausted for me to leave him long enough to try, and the river would carry him away without a second thought.

  “Air!” Tor exclaimed as he broke the surface. His hair hung heavily around his face, but his eyes jumped from me to the opening above in excitement.

  ~How will we get up there?~ Mintoch asked as he joined us.

  Tor and Lock both looked to me.

  “He wants to know how we’re going to get up there,” I said.

  Tor smiled his devious grin. “Tell him I’m going to need him to hold steady so I can get a little higher up.”

  I translated for Mintoch, and he nodded with a quizzical frown. Once he had the go-ahead, Tor swam to Mintoch and placed his feet on the boy’s shoulders. Mintoch treaded water easily, staying above surface even with Tor’s added weight. Tor hunched down and flung himself up to the cave wall.

  With the same grace and ease I had seen him scale the cliff by my home in the cove, Tor climbed the slope until he was scampering upside-down toward the sun-filled opening. My breath caught as I watched him skitter across the rocky surface. I was still pulling oxygen in from the water, but the instinct to breathe ceased as fear for his safety gripped me. What if he fell?

  Tor inched to the opening, and we watched, treading against the current of the river as he reached through and climbed out. For him to fit through, the opening must have been much larger than it appeared, which meant it was dizzyingly high. How were we ever going to reach all the way up there?

  “Sera, stay there,” he called down to me. “I’m going to look for something I can lower down to you!”

  Moments passed in silence. Nothing but the splashing of the rushing water against the cave walls filled the space. Lock’s breathing deepened as he slumped in my arms. I held him up completely as his body gave out.

  ~Why did you save him?~ Mintoch asked, eying Lock’s drenched hair with interest.

  ~He’s my friend.~

  ~He betrayed you. He’s just another Erdlander. I can tell the monkey-man is different and cares about you, but that one....~

  ~Think what you want.~ I turned away, knowing the boy’s hatred was ingrained by his upbringing and justified by the way Vaughn and the others had treated him. Lock was my friend. At least he had been, at one point. What changed that was as much the Erdlanders’ doing as what Mintoch, my mother, or I had suffered. Elle and Lace had shown me that the cruelty of the Erdlanders wasn’t limited to the Sualwet. Maybe Lock actually had a reason for what he’d done.

  Mintoch dove beneath the surface, leaving me alone with a passed-out Lock to carry and nothing but my thoughts to entertain me.

  “Sera!” Tor’s voice boomed through the darkness. Something splashed in the water near me.

  “I’m here!”

  Lock bobbed under the waves in my arms.

  “I dropped down your bag. Elle, Traz, and Lace aren’t far from here. Put Lock’s arms in the bag’s straps, and Traz and I will pull him up.”

  “They’re here?”

  “Just do it!”

  I shook the Erdlander’s limp form. “Lock! Wake up!”

  He moaned but raised his head, looking at me through exhausted lids.

  “Tor’s getting us out. Come on.”

  After swimming us over to the bag, I saw that Tor had attached a rope from Elgon’s pack to the back of it. It would certainly get Lock out, but I wasn’t sure it was strong enough for Mintoch and me.

  Lock clumsily treaded water as I worked to help him put his arms through the straps. “I’m sorry,” he muttered over and over, his mind in a haze of exhaustion and guilt.

  Once he was secured as much as I could, I wrapped the rope around his chest and back. Then I tied it to th
e bag so the straps wouldn’t be the only thing bearing his weight. “Okay! Pull him up!”

  The rope tightened and strained against Lock’s drenched form. The straps of my bag stretched tight. It was one of the only things I owned. I knew it was wrong for me to worry more about the bag breaking than Lock falling, but I did.

  As they hauled him up through the cavern, Lock held onto the rope like an oversized drooping rat. I dove back under the black water.

  ~Mintoch! They’ve come to get us,~ I called out, knowing my voice would carry.

  ~Coming!~

  Above me, Lock disappeared through the opening, and then Tor lowered the bag again. Mintoch crested the surface as the satchel fell.

  ~They got him out?~

  ~Yes.~ I reached out for the bag, preparing to put it on.

  ~Serafay, let’s keep going. We’ll find another opening, and then we won’t have to worry about the Erdlanders. You can come back with me. We can find the others.~

  ~I belong with them. Tor and I, we’re all we have. We’re more alike than anyone else. The Sualwet will never accept me, no matter what I do.~ Strings of matted wet hair hung in my face, accentuating my point.

  Mintoch nodded but made no move toward the bag.

  ~Come with us. We’ll find a safe way for you to get back to the ocean. I promise.~

  The boy smiled as age settled along his features.

  ~You don’t have to be alone,~ I said.

  ~Go on. Go above ground, into the sunlight where you belong. It’ll just burn me. I don’t belong up there. I’m better off alone down here, even if I never find the others.~

  If Sualwets could cry without opening their second lids, I’d think he was. Without warning, he dove underwater again, for the last time.

  A sense of loss tried to pull me under, threatened to tie me to a boy I didn’t know and a family I never had. Mintoch was the only Sualwet other than my mother I had ever known, and he’d left without even a smile or a real goodbye. The sadness that welled up only proved further that I would never be one of them.