by Starla Night
“Good.”
In the past, mer had descended using currents. Thanks to the human cables anchoring the platform above ancient Atlantis, they had learned it was possible to ascend and descend directly. But their bodies did not react well to rapid fluctuations of pressure and temperature. New techniques for breathing, kicking, and even shifting forms had been developed to take advantage of the structures.
They had also installed a submersible filled with pressurized breathable air at the bottom of the ancient city. King Kadir stationed warriors to attend to the communication wire inside. Now, they could call from the surface to the sea floor in seconds and do so privately.
A human miracle.
A small group of humans blocked the entrance to the elevator.
Lotar spoke quietly. “The owner of the construction company wishes to speak with you and your bride.”
Balim fell back to Bella’s side.
She tried to finger comb her wild, windswept red hair, but her exhaustion and her darkening soul showed that she was losing heart.
He took her hand.
She brightened and leaned on him.
One genial man stepped forward from the group with a hand out to meet Pelan’s bride. “Merrit Ryerson. Welcome to Ryerson Deep Water Construction.”
Bella greeted him with a human handshake, and he repeated the same greeting with Balim and then Bella a second time. His open expression faltered, and he gestured for them to follow him into his office.
“I understand your friend is ill, so this will take no time,” he murmured, sorting through cardboard boxes. His office was furnished with books and a wide wooden desk with a computer on top. “No time at all. Something came for you in the last supply shipment. We get those by the slow boat, you know. Ah! Here it is.”
He emerged with a padded orange envelope marked with writing.
Bella paled and took it. “How long does it take a shipment to reach this platform?”
“Sailing from the closest port, ten days in good weather. Why?”
“Just curious.”
“Are you?” He set his feet apart and folded his fingers across the belly of his button-up, cream shirt. “Let me enthrall you further. Do you have time to experience the technological marvels we’re creating here with Ryerson Deep Water Construction?”
Her lips curved, closed, over her teeth. “I’m sorry. we don’t.”
“What a shame. I think you’d love it, Bella Taylor.”
A knock on the frame of the open office door wiped the smile right off his face. He looked past them, and his tone flattened. “What?”
The site manager Balim had met when he’d first ascended long ago stood in the doorway, his nostrils just as pinched as they were in Balim’s memory. “We’re having trouble again with thruster A-29.”
“So get to it.” The owner’s smile returned, tighter, as the site manager remained. “Anything else?”
“The turbine’s lugging—”
“Parts are on the way.” He edged the site manager out and forced a laugh. “Every project has delays. We at Ryerson Deep Water Construction are committed to and capable of bringing your dreams to life.”
Then he ducked out into the hall and quietly conferenced with the site manager.
Bella ripped open the envelope. Inside was a large vial of blue liquid and a small paper scratched with human writing.
“Inject this into the Life Tree,” she read, then frowned and shook the vial. “Inject what? How?”
Balim took the vial. “Mitch can analyze liquids.”
“Back in New York.” She closed her eyes. Her soul light extinguished. “Knowing what it is doesn’t help us.”
“It does. Identifying the poison—”
“Does what?” she demanded, frustrated tears shining in her exhausted eyes. “This liquid kills the Life Tree. So whether it’s Roundup or bleach or another herbicide doesn’t matter. I have to figure out how to steal a Life Tree blossom, get it to the Sons of Hercules on the surface, and then inject the Atlantis Life Tree with this poison, or else…”
Or else the Sons of Hercules would harm her young fry son.
Balim pressed Bella to his chest, soaking up her weakness while she battled this intolerable choice. He knew the crush of emotion and duty, where all that lay in either direction was grief. So he spoke the words he wished someone, anyone, had spoken to him.
“I will help you. Do not be afraid.”
“But…I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Injecting is easy. Jam it into the stalk. The Life Tree’s circulation will suck up the poison.”
Her chest shuddered. She pulled back and stared at him, fear tinged with uncertainty. His coldness frightened her. “You make it sound so easy.”
“Murder is easy.” Cold spread throughout his chest. “That is why warriors cannot let an enemy enter the city. Hide the vial in my bag with your small plastic-coated picture of Jonah and be strong.”
“But I can’t…”
“Two times, you inject a poison. Once, to kill a person, and second, to kill something worse. The second meaning is the philosophy of your human ‘chemo’ medicine, yes?”
She nodded, choking.
“Then concentrate on the second and control your sadness. Your enemy has eyes here.”
She put a hand to her cheek. “Okay. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I will help you.”
“Please don’t.” She straightened her loose clothing, battered by the wind, and tucked the vial into her bag. “This time, I want to fail.”
He knew that wasn’t true. She wouldn’t sacrifice her son without a plan. “What is the deadline?”
She reread the papers and checked inside the envelope. “I can’t see one.”
“And there is no way to ask?”
“Why?”
“The queens call it ‘time dilation.’ You do not sleep for months, and so you do not realize how many surface days pass.”
“Hopefully, the Sons of Hercules took that into account.” She sighed. “Okay. We’ll figure out something.”
The owner returned to the office, took in her watery eyes, and lowered his voice, solicitous. “Are you feeling well? The platform is large and secure. You shouldn’t feel the ocean swells, but suggestive minds imagine them.”
“No.” She waved away his gesture with a false laugh. “I’m feeling sentimental. Thank you. Where can we meet our friends?”
“My site manager will show you. I’m taking your airplane back to civilization.” He held out a hand to shake again. “Goodbye, Balim. Good luck, Bella Taylor.”
They bid the owner farewell and followed the site manager through the metal gangways to an exit closer to the surf. Waves like rolling hills broke against the base and sprayed them with ocean water.
“I hate this.” The site manager sniffed. “I wish we’d never taken this job. I never signed up for shark attacks and undersea civil wars. Can’t go in the water without taking my life in my hands.”
Balim noted the long scab on the back of his dominant hand. “You need a bandage.”
“And whose fault is that?”
He reached into his bag, withdrew a roll of seaweed bandages, and took the man’s hand. “I will heal—”
“Heal yourself!” The site manager jerked his hand away and glared. “Healing me doesn’t get rid of the savages tormenting my men.”
He stormed back into the platform, slamming the door behind him.
“Pleasant,” Bella noted.
Balim stowed his clothing and shoes into waterproof tubs welded to the platform. Bella followed his lead, stripping down to the skin. Unlike most warriors, who strapped daggers to their biceps and thighs, Balim wore only a single dagger. He secured the small photo of her son and the vial of poison in his seaweed pouch, where he always carried his tools, and tied it to his waist.
His chest twinged.
If his enemies knew about this poison, they would take it and use it. His friends w
ould exile him without hesitation.
For the second time in his life, he was committing an action that was treasonable. Only weeks ago, he would have prosecuted himself without mercy for risking the lives of the city and the new young fry.
But the dark part of him was capable of evil. He’d already proved it.
And he would rather bear the evil than Bella.
Balim forced it from his mind and instead focused on the dangerous task ahead. He collected his trident from the weapons storage locker beside the clothing tub. It was strangely pale and dried out. He’d never let it dry so long, and he tested the balance, tightening it to his side. It rested, awkward on land, in the crook of his elbow.
She walked into the wind. At the platform’s ledge, a well-armed and otherwise nude Lotar balanced Pelan over his shoulder while Pelan’s completely nude bride shivered.
“It sounds like we’re diving into a war zone,” Bella said, ineffectually covering her feminine places with her palms and giving a mirthless laugh.
“You are.”
“What?”
“Do not think, Bella. Trust in me. In the Life Tree. In your destiny.”
Her soul fluctuated, but she turned to him and gave him that trust. His heart swelled. He would protect her.
“Leap.” Balim entwined their fingers, led her to the edge, and they jumped.
Chapter Twenty
Trust. That was not something Bella did lightly.
She was not a leaper. She was a thinker, a plotter, a seducer. Closing her eyes and doing the fall backward while waiting for another to catch her? Not in her wheelhouse.
But if it was Balim…
Bella tensed up as her toes left the platform.
The cheerful way Balim announced they were jumping into a war zone distracted Bella from the uncontrolled white-water surf crashing and smashing the metal platform.
Then the seawater closed over her head and encased her in a frothing, thrashing, bubbles-and-surf fist.
Panic hammered her chest.
Unlike during her plunge into Lake Eerie that night, this water didn’t chill her, although it was at least the same temperature or colder.
Balim floated in front of her and vibrated. “Release your air.”
She blew, letting go of a long sigh, and then tightened against the inevitable.
Seawater hit the back of her throat, and she fought the gag reflex, mastering her response while tears burned in her eyes. Alone and cold, she struggled.
Balim’s arms closed around her, and she relaxed. He was warm. Solid. Her anchor.
She didn’t want to rely on him, but in this vulnerable moment, she had no choice.
Her heart thudded hard. Warmth filled her. All she had to do was trust in someone else for once in her life. Believe everything would work out, embrace being a mermaid, and pursue a new life with Balim in Atlantis…
Her throat closed.
She choked.
Cold seeped into her body. Icy water suffocated her.
It wasn’t working?
“Bella?” Balim’s arms tightened. “You are transforming back into a human. Let go of your fears and yield to the shift.”
She’d thought she was. She’d focused on becoming a mermaid, and knives stabbed her in the back.
“Bella…” His voice faded out as the sounds of the seawater blubbed into her brain.
She spasmed.
“…your eyes. Open your eyes!”
She forced herself to look at him. The ocean was dark and frigid and heavy. His face faded into the darkness. He pushed her. The surface loomed.
But she couldn’t rise. She had to save Jonah. She had to trick the Sons of Hercules into revealing themselves.
The ocean brightened as if stadium lights had turned on. And she saw a million miles in all directions with perfect clarity.
Balim’s worry shone in stark relief. He was kicking to the white water. The other warriors were shouting as they tried to keep him from being swept away by the furious currents.
“…not transforming! Quickly, Bella is human—”
“It’s okay.” Her chest vibrated the words, arresting him. “I’m fine now. Let’s continue.”
Sharp worry furrowed his brow. “When did you last consume elixir?”
“I don’t know.”
“It is only temporary.”
“Do you have any here?”
“The nearest is New York.”
Lotar appeared at his shoulder. “You must clip on the cable.”
“I must examine my bride and ensure she is fit to descend.”
“I’m fit,” she insisted, even though she wasn’t sure she was. But she didn’t have a choice. Jonah’s salvation lay below.
Lotar guided Balim across the underside of the platform while Balim checked Bella’s vitality.
The mass of the submerged platform was like an iceberg where a part was above the water but much more anchored underneath. Lotar hauled them down through a maze of cables to a central column where four other warriors hung suspended with Pelan and his bride. They had shifted to mer; Pelan grew long fins while his bride’s feet remained short and stubby like Bella’s. The current dragged them away from the cable.
Lotar had to fight hard to clip on a harness. But Balim wasn’t finished.
Nerves tensed in Bella’s throat again. “We should go.”
“You cannot change on our journey.” He nailed her with his serious gaze. “If you have a doubt, you must surface.”
“I don’t have a doubt. It’s for Jonah.”
Lotar’s gaze fixed on Balim’s. He seemed to be awaiting orders.
Balim released his frown and confirmed, “Concentrate on your son. And hold tight.”
The warriors watched her, round-eyed in fear.
She lowered her voice to a murmur, “Are they worried about me?”
“A bride is stronger with her husband. Your reversion in my arms frightened and disturbed them.”
Balim pointed down and kicked.
She held on to Balim.
Gleaming fish flitted and small crustaceans, worms, and wigglers adhered to the cable, tooting funny noises. Their chests glowed.
Her ears popped.
“Normally, we descend with the current,” Balim told her, kicking steadily after Lotar. “Descending this swiftly, our bodies must adjust.”
The oil platform shrank smaller and smaller as they swam away from it. But it was still crystal-clear to see it. She saw for a hundred miles. The rig, which looked so massive up close, was a tiny dot in a vast sea.
If Starr were here, she’d enumerate the vulnerabilities.
She missed her half sister talking in her ear. They’d gone years without speaking, first when Bella was ignoring her roots in the city with Chaz, and then again after Jonah’s illness knocked her sideways.
Starr’s calming presence, even as a young child, contrasted with Bella’s constant kinetic motion.
No camera could capture her mermaid view.
“This isn’t so bad.” Small, see-through shrimp danced on Balim’s broad shoulders like crustacean pixies. “A peaceful, if windy, war zone.”
“We are at risk below,” he grunted, kicking hard, “because the All-Council knows we use this column. They can attack us at their leisure. It is expedient but dangerous.”
Her worry panged.
Bella held on to Balim. She had to trust in him. Let go of her own power and trust that he and the other warriors of Atlantis would fix everything.
Her throat closed in protest.
She focused on her own fingers clenching Balim. I still have power here. I need to claim it. Helplessness was not something she tolerated, and ever since the Sons of Hercules had captured Jonah, putting her at the mercy of others, they’d pushed her off center.
She wiggled her human toes.
His long fins whooshed the water.
“What can I do?” she asked, crinkling her toes.
“Watch for danger.”
&nbs
p; A shark swerved toward them.
She pointed. “Like that?”
He glanced in her direction and raised his voice by vibrating louder. “Lotar!”
The gray-eyed warrior unclipped from the column and floated into the current, legs splayed and arms out so his limbs formed an x with his trident stretched. He made himself look large.
Three sharks swerved and flew past, giving him a wide berth. They emitted a siren sound like emergency vehicles from a different country, impossible for her to ignore.
Balim focused on kicking.
Bella watched over his shoulder.
In Balim’s arms, destiny swept her away. The water felt right. She was at home.
What would she do about Jonah if she truly did belong in Atlantis?
The choking sensation returned.
Not now. The elixir needs to work. Just a little longer.
Lotar faced the sharks as they split, circling the group.
One dove at him. He thumped it with the sharp edge of his trident. It swerved away with a snarl. He rotated to the other two as though he understood their shark communication, positioning himself just before the second one swerved at him from the other direction.
He slashed.
The trident made a shink sound as it slid across the sandpapery gray skin. It did not penetrate.
The shark swerved away again.
In the distance, an inhalation sounded like someone gasping in shock. It made the hair on her neck stand up and shivers of primal fear run up her spine. A giant maw lumbered toward them.
The trio of sharks swerved erratically. The inhalation disoriented them, and so they darted back in the giant maw’s direction.
“Curse it.” Balim clinked their harness hook on the cable. “Diran, how secure is this cable?”
The warrior closest to Pelan, long-haired Diran, answered. “A Merman Warrior has not tested it.”
“Merman Warrior” was the mer name for a megalodon because it was the only creature in the ocean that could destroy entire cities—and the mer could do nothing to stop it.
He vibrated harder, calling out to Lotar. “Snap on.”
Lotar obeyed, his gaze never leaving the giant hissing mammoth.
“What is that?” Bella demanded.
“A megalodon,” Balim replied grimly.
