I left the room and stopped as Spyguy straightened from his position leaning against the wall. He had a bruise across his cheekbone. And he looked like an idiot blond. I started walking and he fell in beside me.
“Are you looking for Takeo? He’s in an important meeting right now.”
“I’m looking for a ship that can take me away from here. I have to go home. I can’t do this ocean thing.”
“Aaah. In that case, let me direct you in the opposite direction you are headed. This ship is ridiculously enormous. You could be lost for days.”
“And you couldn’t?” I demanded, turning to glare at him, arms crossed over my chest. Either I do this or blush remembering the all kinds of idiot I’d been as a fair Soremni maiden. Shudder. And now I was blushing. I turned and walked back the way I’d come, glancing at Sean’s room like he’d be there or something, like I needed him.
My chest hurt so much. My stomach tied in knots and it was so hard to breathe. In. Out. Breathe. See? No problem. I could do the hard stuff even without my man.
Spyguy kept pace with me. “I’ve been here a few times. Guests sometimes keep state secrets in their rooms. Sometimes just really good liquor. A really good bottle can go for more than the state secrets if you know the right buyer.”
“So many hidden talents that you don’t keep hidden. You are the worst spy in the history of spyness. How long will it take me to get out of here?”
“Do you mean the ocean?”
I nodded. Could he hear the pounding, feel the pressure on the ship as the ocean tried to rip it and me apart?
“The turbulence is a little bit intense. Forward thrust will be an issue. I’m thinking six hours. That’s a long time to be in a smaller ship. Are you sure you don’t want to stay on board the King’s Serpent?”
“The king’s serpent is right. Where is the prince? Far from here? If I see him I’ll kill him.”
“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. He’s in the important meeting with Takeo.”
“Good. Let’s steal the prince’s personal ship. It’ll be fast.”
“I have just the one. Not only fast, extremely well-armored.”
It was. The massive thing was like a rocket with layers and layers of heavy metal plating with space between for the buzzing shields. There were also two guards.
I ducked back behind the small port house on top of the suspended bridge where the ships were stored, high and dry. I pressed my back against the metal wall and shook my head.
“Two guards with guns are standing at the end of the bridge, past the Prince’s ship.” It was hard to miss the prince’s ship. It had Oliver’s seal on it with green and silver swirls all down the sides. Also, it was the only one that looked like that, part tank, part luxury vehicle.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked with a nasty smile.
“I’ll distract them, you come along behind and knock them out.”
He nodded once. “That should work. Their weapons will probably only stun, not kill. There won’t be any bullets. Bullets are extremely stupid to use in a ship beneath the ocean.”
I nodded. “Okay then. One more thing: blond looks terrible on you. Stick with tall dark and dangerous.”
I stepped out and went towards them, adjusting my pace to a slow walk instead of my newfound brisk march. I was a tourist, someone from Terramore who had gotten lost. Soremni. Could I make myself soft without throwing up from my own self-contempt?
I closed my eyes for a moment as I shifted into that creature, the Soremni female. I smiled softly as I approached the guards. They didn’t notice me at first and when they did, they turned towards me, shifting their weapons in their hands.
“Can you help me? I was trying to find my friend and I got turned around.” My Soremni was spot on. Of course it was. I was a Siren, I could adapt. It still sounded weird out of water.
The guards softened as I smiled sweetly. They straightened up because they were men and had to protect me. Obviously. I couldn’t even find my way. I was super lost. I needed the kind of help that only a brain transplant could give me.
“There’s a map printed over here. Why don’t I help you?” The bigger guy nodded at the other one who stayed at his post while the first put his hand on the small of my back and ushered me towards the pilothouse. This wasn’t exactly right. I’d meant them to come together, but Soremni females wouldn’t object. They just wouldn’t. Ask me how I knew. No, don’t. I shivered.
“Are you cold? I’m sorry about Terramore. They’re saying that the stabilizers were sabotaged. Maybe the Queen, maybe the Deepness Master.”
My smile faded and the man apologized, realizing that I was too delicate for a topic like losing my home. Terramore. Neither the Queen or the Deepness Master could cause a fraction of the damage I could do accidentally.
His apology didn’t last because we were behind the pilothouse and Spyguy knocked him out in one precisely aimed blow to the back of his neck. Spyguy shook out his hand and made a face at me. He signed, Scream, so I did. Not a real scream because that would probably bring the water alive and eat everyone. It was a cute little yip, but it was enough to bring the man.
He looked at me, standing there helplessly with the other guy lying on the metal walkway.
He aimed the weapon and then heard Spyguy behind him. He whirled around and then I struck his knees from the back, bringing him down before I pulled back his arm, twisting it so he was disarmed. I rolled him and choked him out with my legs while he struggled, eyes bugged out as he stared at the delicate Soremni female.
I hissed and he said, “Cleaver Queen?” in a really confused and breathless voice before Spyguy knocked him out.
I glared at him as I rolled to my feet and checked him for weapons.
“What are you doing? We don’t need weapons on the ship. Come on, Cleaver Queen. You looked like you were going to kill him.”
I lifted my chin. “Then it’s probably a good thing you knocked him out.” We walked towards the prince’s ship quickly, the metal sturdy and solid beneath our boots.
I stood beside Spyguy, the guard’s weapon in my arms while I waited for him to operate the keypad that was hooked into the ship. The weapon felt good, solid, even if I had zero idea how to use it.
“After you, princess,” Spyguy said, gesturing me towards the now open doorway. It wasn’t just a skin that kept out water, it was a genuine metal door five inches thick that swung out.
I ducked inside, not hesitating however much panic I felt at actually leaving Sean, getting up and running off without telling him where I was going. He’d told me to stay, like I was his dog. I gritted my teeth and headed towards the cockpit. I sat down at the lit control panel and buckled myself in.
Spyguy cleared his throat. “All right. Do you know how to steer this thing or are you just a front seat kind of person? You might do better laying down and listening to some music.”
“No music.” I studied the buttons and levers like they would show me something.
He sat down, running his fingers lightly over the keys.
“Spyguy, tell me what you’re doing. Teach me how to do it.”
He glanced at me. “Why?”
“So I can focus. I’m going to need a lot of focus.”
He shrugged and started explaining how to ignite the engine, what button would release the straps that held the ship aloft, and steering mechanism as well as how to activate the shields.
“We’re going to use all of them.” I sounded so paranoid. I wasn’t paranoid. I’d heard the ocean and I knew what it would do to my ship, to me if it could.
He raised his eyebrows but nodded. “Do you want to do it? Release us and then activate the shields while we’re dropping.”
I nodded and hit the switch. For a second I almost panicked while we plummeted and I left behind my stomach, but then I hit the buttons in the correct order to activate the shields and focused on Spyguy’s instructions instead of the water that came closer until white bubbles
enveloped the nose.
Seven and a half hours later, we arrived on the surface. Not on the surface, we travelled about five feet beneath, heading towards home, the beautiful Atlantic coast and land. The trip had been hours and hours of turbulence and nearly failing thrusters until we’d made it out of the worst areas. How could my effect on the ocean be so vast? Thousands of miles of water were angry because of me.
“Take over. I’ll be right back,” Spyguy said, standing up and leaving me in charge.
I’d been steering for a while, but what if a hurricane sprouted up? Or a whale or something? I glanced over my shoulder before I focused on the panel showing our depth and what was around us for thousands of feet.
We were fine, but I felt better when Spyguy came back. He tossed my bag on my lap. I stared at it. Slowly, I opened it, trusting Spyguy to take over as I pulled out a still damp t-shirt, an empty jar of peanut butter, and my black music box.
“Where did you get this?”
“It happened to be back there beside this.” He tossed an envelope into my lap.
I stared at the handwriting, Sean’s precise all caps print spelled ‘Watergirl’.
“He knew that we’d steal the ship?”
“Technically he suggested that I take this one. It would have taken even me a little more effort to break the prince’s personal ship out of the bay. Sorry. It was just so nice to see you strangling people with your soft legs.”
I glared at him and tossed the envelope in the bag with everything else. I put it to the side. “Can we go faster?”
He laughed and tapped some buttons. “Let’s see, shall we?”
Chapter 14
I stared at the contents of the fridge for five minutes before closing it and walking to the back door past the washing machine. The pond looked nice, really pretty. The decorative grasses rustled in the wind that sent ripples across the water. Water.
I opened the door and closed it firmly behind me before heading towards the disaster waiting to happen. The pond was about thirteen feet long, nine wide, and deep… no idea. I sat down on the bank between the plants and took off my boots. I’d been home for three days but I couldn’t sleep no matter how tired I got. I kept seeing Terramore, what was left of it. Which was nothing.
The worst thing was there wasn’t any music in my head. I always had music in my head, but now, nothing. My thoughts were so loud. Basically asking myself why I was such an idiot. In Sean’s icy, contemptuous voice.
I slid closer to the pond and dipped my toes in. Warm. My thoughts went quiet as I listened to the wind in the grass, the water.
“Hey, Vee! Don’t fall in.”
I turned to stare at Cole where he stood at my back door. Maybe I was hallucinating.
He sauntered towards me, his baseball cap low over his forehead. “So, you’re probably wondering if you’re hallucinating. You’re thinking, ‘what did I do in a former life to have Cole in my backyard?’ Am I right?”
I blinked at him. “Pretty much. It must have been something terrible.” I flinched because I did enough horrible, awful, monstrous stuff in this life.
He squatted beside me, not quite trampling the plants. “So, your dad asked me to hang out with you. You know he’s my sensei, so I can’t say no.”
I nodded. “What’s that supposed to do?”
He shrugged. “Apparently he thinks you’re depressed. I think if he thinks you’re good, I can leave. What do you say we pretend like you’re cool?”
“Sure. I’m cool.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re sitting in the dirt. Only gardeners and crazy people do that. You’re no gardener. Go and put on a swimsuit. You still have lawn chairs in your shed? When I am finished with your backyard, no one will think you’re doing anything other than enjoying your last few weeks of summer before you have to do the adult stuff, go to college, you know, be responsible. Sound good?”
I frowned at him. “You want me to put on a swimming suit?”
He shrugged and smiled slowly and winked at me. “I don’t mind if you want to tan nude.”
I wrinkled my nose, but slowly straightened. I was stiff. I’d probably been sitting there for hours. I brushed dirt off my jeans and headed inside. My dad was worried about me. What a stupid thing to do. I wasn’t what he should worry about; it was the rest of the world. Still, if he was worried, and there was something I could do about that, then I would.
I went upstairs and opened the drawer that had my swimsuits and underwear. There was the red swimming suit from Sean’s buyer and Flop’s pink ruffled bikini that I hadn’t returned yet. My hand hovered over the red one-piece before I snagged the bikini and slammed the drawer shut.
Cole was all set up when I came outside again. He lounged on a chaise with sunglasses, swim shorts, and a beer. He had music playing on his little set of speakers, good jazz with Cajun flair.
I picked up the hat and sunglasses that were on the other lawn chair before I sat down. I put on the glasses and the hat then leaned back.
“Now you can be depressed and no one will know.”
He handed me a bottle and then clicked his to mine.
I stared at the pond. “Have you had a lot of experience with that?”
He was quiet for a second before he laughed. “You know me, Vee. I keep it all inside. You can’t mingle with the mindless if you’ve got thoughts, feelings, any of that stuff. What classes are you taking this fall?”
“Classes?”
“You’re going to college. You made it on the honor roll. Are you going to Maine to be with your boyfriend?”
“No. Maine isn’t good for me. I was thinking the community college would be good.”
“Community College? What do they have for music? Their art program sucks. At least go to State.”
I shrugged. “If I go to college, it’s going to be local.”
He shoved my shoulder. “Don’t piss me off, Vee. What’s this ‘if I go’ crap? Did you have some fight with your boyfriend?”
I turned and took off my sunglasses, glaring at him. I was so angry so suddenly and so completely that I could barely talk. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
He leaned closer to me, leaning his elbows on his bare knees. “Then why did I let them swab me?”
I stared at him while my anger mingled with confusion until I just had a headache. I popped the bottle open and took a drink. Root beer.
“Who swabbed you? Like mopping a deck? Beating you up?”
He took off his glasses and shoved his hat back. “Like spit into a bottle and got my mouth all rubbed out with a Q-tip. Swabbed.”
I stared at him. “Who did that?”
“Dean, by order of the captain. Gave me five thousand bucks for it. I offered to pee in a jar, but they weren’t interested in my urine. Go figure.”
He took a long swallow of his beer, his Adam’s apple bobbing until he lowered the bottle. “I have no idea what’s going on, and I don’t want to. I don’t want any more of these,” he said gesturing to the scar on his arm. “Or those,” he said gesturing to my stomach and chest where the scars were still pink. “Or weeks in a hospital after getting blown up. It is none of my business and I’d like to keep it that way. But you should know. Unless you’re out of it.”
I snagged his beer and took a long, long drink of the pretty much vile liquid. I finally lowered it and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I’d drunk from Cole’s bottle a million times. Swapping spit wasn’t what caused the obsession. It had to be a kiss.
He stole it back and rubbed the mouth on his forearm. “Drink your root beer. Alcohol is a depressant. I’m supposed to be un-depressing you. Hm. That sounds like undressing you. I could do both.” He winked at me again.
I gave him a flat look. “I am wearing a lot less clothes now than I was earlier. So, Dean swabbed your mouth? Did he say why?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“He just came up to you and asked if you’d let him swab you for five thousand bucks? Are you
an idiot?”
He grinned at me. “My truck’s paid off for the price of spit. And I’m the idiot? I would have done a lot more than that. Nothing weird, nothing that will impact my beautiful future of idle mediocrity.”
I stood up and finished my root beer before I dropped it onto the chair.
“Where are you going? Are you going to change before you confront Dean? Also, do you want a ride? Your dad has the car.”
I stopped and turned around to stare at him. “You know where he is?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Everyone knows that Sean started a lab and imported a bunch of fancy scientists down Mole Hill, to that old factory. It’s all rehabbed. He’s been working on it since last winter. The town had the lowest unemployment rate in decades for a little while.”
I vaguely remember someone talking about that. I wasn’t exactly into construction. Maybe demolition. “So, you care about unemployment rates?”
He shrugged and grinned. “Guys talk about girls, cars, and work.”
I stared at him. “What happened to you?”
He stared back. “It’s a natural thing. Between good genetics and bad habits, I got to look like this.”
I exhaled. “You used to write. Words. I’d do music, you’d do words. You were going to be a writer. Why aren’t you going to college? You’re smarter than I ever was, at least you used to be. What happened?”
He shrugged and finished off his drink. “The thing that happens. Life? You really want to know? Okay. I ran the numbers. My job right now will pay me at a rate that will increase at a higher pace than my student loans if I went to college. College will give me pretty much nothing since I don’t want to go into academia or high level science. Or low level for that matter. If I dislike my current job, I’ll look at trade schools. To be honest, I’m not looking for anything. My life is fine how it is.”
“And your mom would be alone if you left. I used to hope she’d marry my dad.”
Water Games Page 12
