Water Games

by Juliann Whicker

  He kissed me hard, consuming, bringing me to life and death, agony and ecstasy as my body fought, my mind struggled, and my soul fled in despair.

  There was a thud and then Oliver slid down my body to land on my feet in a very unprince-like heap. I stared at him, lips and fingers buzzing, mind reeling.

  Chapter 12

  “Evening, princess.”

  I looked up and there in that sleek black room was a blond Spyguy. He dropped a metal sculpture beside Oliver’s body.

  “Spyguy?”

  “She can speak, but can she walk?”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  He stepped over Oliver and picked me up like I was a little child, my head against his shoulder. I trembled in his arms as he walked out of the room with me through the buzzing strands of rainbow current and back into the main hall.

  “Married women should stay far away from Soremni princes. He can legally take anyone he wants, male or female. Not that you appeared to be resisting.”

  “That’s a stupid law and I said no. A lot of times.” My teeth were chattering and I pressed my face against his shoulder. Where was Sean?

  “You said no? Repeatedly? That’s something. It’s only an extension of natural law. The kiss of obsession makes anyone his slave. The law only makes it impossible to argue against what is already inevitable. He could be much worse than he is. That’s what I told myself so I didn’t kill him with that terrible piece of junk. They call that art? What a complete waste of muradium iron. And Soremni are so proud of their culture.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Takeo’s chambers. They’re not far and I can lock you in securely. Even when the prince comes to, he won’t be able to break through in the time it will take for Takeo to finish his little game.”

  “I thought that was Takeo’s room.”

  “Your Soremni is amazing. Can you please stop using it? It’s creepy.”

  “Amazingly creepy? The ocean is going to eat Terramore. You need to stop it.”

  “Ah, I’m notorious, but I can’t stop an ocean. You sound like one of them, one of those mindless Soremni females who honestly believes that her man is the center of her universe. I suppose he is. He should be here. I don’t care that the future of these monsters is resting on his shoulders, the ocean is resting on yours. Can you stop it, Watergirl? Can you stop the ocean from crushing Terramore?”

  I shrugged helplessly. “How can I stop an ocean?”

  He sighed and moved faster. We came out in a room smaller than the prince’s, but more Sean in white, gold and blue. He threw me on the bed. I bounced while he went to the screen and went over it with his fingers. He spoke into a small box at the same time, terse words in a language that didn’t fit. Not Vashni. Not Soremni or English. How many languages did he know? It was annoying.

  Oliver. Sean. The ocean. I put my head down on my knees and tried to breathe. Panic struggled beneath the obsession, the other thing, the spell Sean had put on me. What had he done to me? Why couldn’t I breathe? Why couldn’t I think straight?

  The ship, the size of a small city, rose and fell.

  I started to sing my mother’s lullaby while I gripped my legs tightly against my chest. I ached for that idiotic Soremni prince. How dare he make me ache for him when I belonged to Sean? I watched the screen while I sang under my breath, trying to calm down, but the ocean was coming even though we were already at the bottom of it. It would consume everything, Oliver who had touched me, me and my betraying body, and Sean, perfect, beautiful Sean who had never done anything wrong. Except leaving me. He shouldn’t have left me alone.

  On the screen Sean’s fight with the enormous monster finally ended when the army scattered. Some went up to the ships to be taken onboard and others went back into the dark depths they’d come from. Sean disappeared from sight. The cameras panned Terramore. The village was abandoned, random objects left to float away on the current or lie on the sandy ground. The grow fields were dark and the house flickered then went dark as well.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Like you said, princess. The ocean is crushing Terramore. Most of the stabilizers went out. Beyond that field the ocean is terrifyingly alive.”

  “Why?”

  He shot me a look. “I can’t possibly imagine. Why do you think the monsters came? They heard you calling them. Maybe they thought they were rescuing you from the wicked Soremni's. Maybe they thought you wanted them to show their support of you. Either way, Terramore will never be the same again.”

  No. The ship tilted again. Of course I was doing it. I was always making water come alive, but I didn’t feel like I controlled myself much less an ocean. I needed Sean. But he wasn’t here.

  I stood up, gripping the headboard. “Spyguy, I need to leave.”

  He didn’t glance up from the black box he was typing into. “The ship will go soon.”

  “No, I need to leave the ship. I need to be in the water if I’m going to stop the ocean.”

  “Do you have any idea how deep you are? You wouldn’t last two minutes without the stabilizers. Takeo told you to stay here, didn’t he?” He shot me a look that made me feel all squirmy.

  Yes, Takeo had told me to stay safe and wait. But he’d sent me here where Oliver could touch me, where I’d touched him. I sat down on the bed and put my head in my hands. I had to calm down. Sean was coming. I had to trust him. He’d said that he had a plan for every eventuality. Did he have a plan for me crushing Terramore? I didn’t want to hurt that world. Why would the ocean?

  I recited the peace, love, duty kata over and over and over again while the ship tilted until finally I felt the ship push through the water until we tilted sideways. There was a slight shift in my stomach, but I wasn’t sure how I knew we were sideways other than that. I didn’t fall against the wall or anything. The ship had its own gravity.

  “Why isn’t the ship full of water?” I asked as I gripped the blue duvet.

  “The king prefers it this way. It changes depending on the king.”

  “What’s he like?”

  “I’ve never met him, personally, but he has less interest in the affairs of his kingdom than he should. He mostly allows his son to run things. I’ve heard both that he spends his time in riotous living and that he lives in contemplative silence away from the world. That I don’t know tells you something about the loyalty of his servants.”

  “Because you know everything. Spyguy, it wasn’t so bad when you were carrying me. Can I hold your hand?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “You, a Soremni female enrapt in two other males wants to touch me? Apparently, I’ve been here too long. I’ll see you after you get your mind back, princess.” He bowed to me and walked across the room, out the door, leaving me alone.

  I flopped down on Sean’s bed. It was so cold. And hot. My skin was coming apart and the ocean was a roar just behind my eyelids. Calm down. I had to calm down. I tossed and turned as I whispered the lullaby.

  How long did I spend like that? No idea. Someone finally came in. I gripped the blankets while my heart pounded. Who was it? Oliver? A crab monster? Sean stepped into the light from the dim lamp beside my bed, his enormous chest visible between the gashes of his formerly perfect suit.

  He started taking off his jacket, hanging it up like it wasn’t completely ruined. His chest had a bandage over it and his face was covered in small shiny spots where they’d put stuff on to keep the blood in and the water out.

  “Sean, how is Terramore?”

  He continued undressing, slipping his shirt off his massive shoulders so I could see the red marks that would soon be bruises covering his back.

  “Takeo, can’t you hear me?”

  “Stop speaking Soremni.” His voice was cold. Icy. Emotionless.

  I swallowed and rubbed my arms. English? “What happened?” My words were slow, stilted, my voice all wrong, harsh instead of soft.

  He stretched. His arms bunched and his back muscles rippled. He turn
ed towards me and crossed his arms over his massive, bandaged chest. “The usual.”

  I flinched. There was an accusation in those words. Sean, who hated collateral damage, had brought me to Terramore to learn how to be Soremni so I could do an internship with Gerveeg that I’d barely thought about for the last two months. I’d done well, at least I thought I’d done well, but the music must have been my undoing. I’d felt too much. And then I’d let Oliver kiss me.

  My stomach twisted, and I put my head on my knees, the dry fabric papery and translucent. “You shouldn’t have left me alone.”

  “I didn’t think your ability to summon the water would be operative if you were lost in Soremni marital bliss.”

  I lifted my head to stare at him. “That’s why you bit me? What was that? What did it do to me? Oliver…” I took a shaky breath. There wasn’t enough air. “He said I was under your spell.”

  He nodded, sharp. “You still are a little bit, or you’d be screaming at me.”

  I touched my mouth. “That would hurt you.”

  “I deserve it. I miscalculated.” He shrugged and reached for another shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Dressing. I have a lot of matters to take care of. You’re clearly in one piece.”

  He was leaving me again?

  “No. You. Aren’t.”

  My words wrapped around him, turning him towards me. He took five steps before he blinked and frowned narrowed eyes at me.

  “No? Do you want me to sit and hold your hand?” He pressed his lips together.

  Yes. Was that too much to ask? My Soremni Takeo would have kissed my hands a thousand times already. He would take me in his arms and hold me tight. Why wasn’t he holding me tight?

  I stood up on unsteady legs and held my hands out to him. He walked towards me slowly, but he didn’t touch me.

  “Gen, I have a lot of serious concerns that I need to address.” His voice was still icy, rational. Where was the softness, the adoration?

  “Aren’t I the most important thing in the world to you?”

  “Stop speaking in Soremni. I need to find temporary living quarters for thousands of people as well as make certain those who allied are safe and integrated instead of transported somewhere or tried for various crimes. I have no idea what the prince is up to. Is he going to support my efforts or oppose them?”

  I put my fingers to my lips. They were burning and aching for Oliver. “So many problems you have to fix. It’s such a big world to save.” I wrapped my arms around my waist.

  He took a step towards me, his eyes narrowing and lips curled. “Stop speaking Soremni.”

  I stepped away from him and hit the bed. I fell back on the mattress and stared at him. Couldn’t he see how much I needed him? He was my world. Why was he being like this? When was he going to kiss my hands?

  He stared at me for a long time before he shook his head. “I never should have let you get an internship with Gerveeg.”

  “So, why did you?”

  He let out an exasperated breath. “Because you’re my Vashni mate. I don’t let you do things.” He fingered the tattoos at his throat. I’d given them to him. It seemed so strange. I’d taken him like that. He wasn’t going to take me. That much was clear. I had to take him if I wanted him, if I needed him.

  I pushed myself up, my hair falling around my face as I struggled to get it together. I stood and launched myself at him, embracing him with his crossed arms between us. I gazed up at him adoringly, but he glared at the far wall.

  “What are you doing?” he rumbled.

  “Taking what’s mine.” I kissed his throat, soft and slow, until with a shiver, I put my teeth on his skin. For a moment I froze like that, struggling with the need for Sean to tell me what to do when Sean snapped.

  He threw us down onto the bed his hands sliding over my skin while his mouth covered mine. He was so heavy, crushing me down while I pulled him tighter, urging him closer until he pulled away, pale blue eyes lit with an internal fire as he glared down at me. “Is this what you want?” He demanded in harsh Vashni. His eyes were cold, hard, turning darker as the blue fled from his expanding pupils.

  “Yes.”

  I kissed his lips, face, throat, chest, back to his mouth where I drowned as his lips came alive against mine. He pressed me down and down, the lines of his body hard against my limp embrace.

  He pushed back and stared down at me, breathing hard. “Gen, every glance, every touch, every sound that falls from your delicious mouth is undoing my determination. I may have taken your will, but I won’t take your body. I’m not Soremni. I love you, but not like this. Do you love me or are you simply mindlessly adoring? I don’t want that kind of love.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “I can’t want that.”

  He rolled off me.

  I stared at his broad back, bare, streaked with cuts and bruises. This horrible humiliation swamped me, bringing tears to my eyes. I blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry if you find my adoration disgusting. You shouldn’t have bitten me like that.”

  He exhaled and leaned over his knees. His hands were shaking. “It was a miscalculation on my part. I’ll crave you for a very long time.”

  “You’ll crave me?” I sounded so hopeful.

  “I’m already having withdrawals. Dimatrax isn’t anything like this, like you. I thought I’d be immune. I can’t be your simple-minded Soremni mate, not if I’m going to keep you safe in this world.”

  My heart pounded as I reached out a hand, slowly, so slowly and traced one of his gashes. His skin rippled beneath my touch. “I need you to be my everything.”

  His breathing hitched. I could feel him breathe beneath my fingertips, his lungs expanding and contracting roughly. “Everything, Watergirl? And that is why I have to keep my head above water. Somehow.” He turned to look at me. His eyes were a little bit softer than before. “Will you sleep with me, curl up in my arms and breathe?”

  I nodded. “I’ll be a headless Venus statue and everything.”

  His lips curved slightly. “I don’t deserve rest after what I did to you, but I’m taking it, or I’m taking something else.” He grabbed me, pulling my back against his chest, pressing his face against my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I need you to be strong. You can’t control the ocean if you aren’t in control of yourself. I fell into the role of Soremni mate. I forgot that you were a Siren. The ocean has been listening to you the whole time you were here, working with Madame Claria, and the day in the temple. It gathered at the edge of the barrier. I knew that. I saw the reports, the ocean growing dense lower than ever before, the unseasonal currents, the changing temperature, but I liked it. I liked being worshipped by the only woman in the world I’ve ever wanted. I loved it. It fed my ego and lulled my insecurities. I’m sorry, Gen. I thought that you’d adapt like this, becoming a Soremni female so disgustingly well, but I didn’t know that I’d like it so much. I hate that I got used to being worshipped. I’ve always hated it, but having Watergirl actually capable of saying no to her obsession? I still like that.” He slid his hand up the side of my neck and held my head, his grip strong, solid. “You aren’t resisting me at all. Look at you, utterly mesmerized. It’s revolting.” He kissed my shoulder slow and sweet with a hint of teeth before he pulled away. “We’re going to sleep now on the bed. My bed. You’re staying with me until I let you leave.”

  I closed my eyes, listening to his pounding heart for a long time. As long as he held me, everything would be okay.

  Chapter 13

  Everything was not okay.

  I woke up feeling like I’d been up until five a.m. for a week working on music. So like normal. Ha. Just kidding. Sean wasn’t in bed and the rest of the mattress was cold. He hadn’t been there for a long time. I squinted at the dark screen. It stared back at me.

  I sighed and threw myself back onto the mattress. So, my brain was mostly back. That was good because I could think about the past however long since Terramore got crabs and I’d narrowly escaped bec
oming prince fodder. And Sean. Everything was so annoyingly fuzzy. Terramore memories were so sweet and glowing, like an advertisement for a dream vacation. Now I stank and my goo dress had completely dissolved in long strands of boogers like I was a newly hatched alien from an egg sack. I shuddered. They had to have a shower. I swung my legs out and saw the outfit folded neatly on the dresser. Red t-shirt, lace bra, black jeans, definitely Sean’s buyer’s taste. I grabbed the clothes and took them with me, ignoring the damp mess in the bed. Bits of my dress decomposed and slid down my legs as I walked towards the bathroom. Ah, a bathroom.

  I slid open the curtain, got in the shower and then bam, the second I turned on the water, I was thirty-five-thousand feet below the ocean. It didn’t whisper to me, it growled, snarled and roared, every drop of water from the shower’s faucet carrying with it the malevolent voice of the endless force that was coming to rip apart my world.

  I slammed off the shower and stumbled out of the stall. I grabbed towels and washcloths, mopping the water, mucous, and remains of my dress off me as well as I could. I dressed, pulling jeans over my still damp legs as I hopped into the main room towards the screen. I jabbed it with my fingers until it came on.

  “Terramore,” I told it.

  Obligingly, it showed me a scene of spinning water and bits of stone, metal, whirring around like in a tornado until the screen went black for a moment before being replaced by another image.

  I stood there watching image after image of debris that had been my paradise.

  Finally, I gasped a breath and hurriedly finger combed my hair, pulled on my socks and boots as well as a baggy blue sweater from Sean’s drawer. I glanced around the room at the goopy, globby mess I’d made and shrugged. I had a lot of things to think about but the priority was clear: I had to get out of the water until it had calmed down, or you know, forever.