by Starla Night
The giant sharks, which scientists had long thought extinct, apparently lived on in the deep water the mer called the “Blacknight Sea” and occasionally emerged to torment the bottom-dwelling warriors.
They were significantly larger than scientists had thought too.
She tightened her grip. “What can I do to help you?”
A partial smile curved Balim’s lips. “Relax.”
“You’re joking, right?”
He gave his head a quick shake. “When our bodies move in rhythm, a warrior and his bride can move more efficiently than a single warrior alone. King Kadir discovered this with Queen Elyssa. Relax.”
She tried to relax. Think relaxing thoughts. Ignore the massive, creepily inhaling megalodon hissing on a collision course.
This wasn’t the worst fear of her life. A visceral fear, but not the worst one. She let go. Gave in to Balim. Yielded her body to his, his powerful thighs swishing the water, his fins kicking between her stubby human toes while awareness of his nude, hard waist heated her blood.
They moved faster, sliding up to the warriors hauling Pelan and his bride.
The choking happened again. A tickle like a terrible, deadly sneeze gripped the back of her throat. If she let herself go, she’d shift back to human, and that tickle would turn into choking while the water transformed into shattered glass.
She stiffened, controlling herself.
Balim’s kicks slowed and grew heavier. “Relax, Bella.”
“I’m trying.”
His wide hand held her head, and his vibration turned into a private, sad question. “Can you not trust me?”
She couldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t.
Because giving in to this enchanting world, and Balim specifically, would kill her.
“The All-Council has outdone itself,” Diran vibrated, glancing over his shoulder at Balim, unaware of their struggles. “Merman Warriors are creatures of the blacknight abyss and the vents. They cruise the ocean bottoms and should not rise to this column of the water.”
“This Merman Warrior is lost,” Balim vibrated flatly. “Want to give directions?”
Lotar eyed him as though to ask why he was resorting to sarcasm now that their lives were in immediate danger.
But Diran answered. “The All-Council has been attacking us with many distractions. We withstood their attacks, and so they have escalated to sharks and now a megalodon. When will their reign end?”
The megalodon came at them like an approaching blimp.
With her new senses, the blue column of water appeared to be vast sky, and the megalodon crossed it like a deadly Hindenburg.
One smaller shark flew too close.
The megalodon twitched. It vacuumed up the writhing shark. The shark had seemed so large close-up, but it was a minnow inside the massive jaws. The megalodon drifted toward them, crossing the miles of ocean with disconcerting speed.
“How far to the midpoint?” Balim asked, his chest vibrating with a sharp edge of fear. “Any shelter?”
“Some distance.” Diran slowed, released his grip on Pelan, and unclipped as he leveled his trident. “You continue.”
Balim snapped. “Do not be a fool.”
“I must protect the future queens of Atlantis.” He lifted his chin. “I will—”
“Diran.” Lotar’s tone ordered him to obey Balim.
Diran paused.
A new sound reached Bella’s chest, one of gravel tumbling in the washing machine, like when Jonah had come home unbeknownst to her with pockets full of rocks, combined with a scratchy record on top making a high-pitched “we-we.” Awful, tone-deaf, and yet somehow, a cheerfully defiant noise that greeted them from below.
“Praise the Life Tree,” Balim murmured. Everyone kicked toward that terrible sound as fast as possible. Then, he swore again. “This is not the midpoint.”
“No,” Lotar confirmed.
A gigantic octopus filled the ocean below them. Standing on top of the octopus’s head, arms out as if she were embracing them, was a human.
“Queen Lucy.” Balim’s vibrated worry mixed with awe.
“That’s a queen,” Bella repeated.
“She is your future.”
Lucy’s hands glowed with a white light that reminded Bella of the glow of the Life Tree blossom. The same gentle light glowed over them in a sphere of protection.
The octopus waved one arm in the megalodon’s direction and squawked. He curled his arm like a crotchety old man shaking a fist and shouting to get off his lawn.
Across the ocean, the megalodon checked itself and then it turned away. It disappeared into the far distance. The creepy hissing noise like inhaling snakes dissipated with it.
Around Lucy, the protective glow faded.
They descended to the level where the woman had stopped. The octopus curled one giant arm around the rope like it was hanging out, fist at the ready in case it needed to thump someone. Its noise changed to a satisfied gurgle-snort.
Lotar and the other warriors ringed Lucy. It became really noticeable that all the warriors were bristling with daggers, tridents, and blades while Lucy floated entirely nude without even a pin in her flowing hair.
Balim wielded his doctor’s implements. “Queen Lucy. This is not the midpoint. You will injure yourself.”
“I went slow,” Queen Lucy protested, obediently holding out her wrists for him, blinking and fluttering her gills on command while he conducted an exam with Bella still within his arms. Lucy smiled self-deprecatingly at Bella while she submitted to his orders. “Patrols swore they heard a megalodon, and when we found out you were coming down, I had to risk it.”
“What would you have done if your lungs had inflated?”
“Been shocked since I don’t have lungs right now,” the woman replied.
Flowing black hair swirled around her head like a halo as she stood with normal human toes on the generous head of the giant octopus.
“You know I used to scuba dive, Balim. I may be an idiot about mer things, but I’m more aware of the risks and symptoms of rapid decompression than you are.”
“You seem well,” he grudgingly agreed, bandaging a small wound on her finger. “Tell your young fry they must stop using your fingers to teethe.”
“That was Prince Kael. Stand back. I want to greet everybody.”
She drifted off the octopus and kicked her feet, grimaced, kicked a few more times like she was trying to kick-start a recalcitrant motorcycle, and then her feet finally morphed into long fins. She opened her arms to Bella and Pelan’s bride.
“Welcome to the middle of nowhere, the ocean! I'm Lucy. This is Octopus Kong, our resident giant cave guardian.”
The octopus curled his tentacles around Pelan’s bride and nudged Balim aside.
He released Bella reluctantly.
Octopus Kong curled around Bella delicately, with her safety harness still clipped to the cable. Despite his massive size, his control was expert. He held her with perfect care, the large suckers tightening and loosening.
Bella rested her hand on his rubbery skin. Aside from the raucous noise, he emitted a bright light like a lantern in daylight.
He released her, Pelan’s bride, and also the cable.
Balim examined the places the octopus had touched, ensuring that no sucker had marked her, and then entwined her again.
Octopus Kong stretched his massive arms. Flying out in an exploratory manner, he acted as if he had done his due diligence of greeting them and was now off to do octopus things, creaking and groaning the whole time.
Beneath him, a squadron of warriors rose.
They’d held back, cautious of the giant, and now traded greetings with the Atlantis warriors using a subtle hand gesture of two hands touching in the center of their chests three times.
“Second Lieutenant Ciran.” Lotar approached the leader. “The cable is not safe. The All-Council moves.”
Just as Bella remembered from meeting him months ago at MerMatch, the st
udious warrior paused his orders only long enough to gain information and then returned to his authoritative role.
“If the All-Council moves, then we must also move.” Ciran’s coffee-and-green tattoos tangled around his cheeks like twin plants. “Nothing will turn us away from claiming our brides and reuniting the air and water kingdoms. So says King Kadir.”
They repeated the gesture honoring the king of Atlantis.
Balim greeted the warriors rising to find their brides. They looked and sounded worried. Their view of Pelan, too sick and injured to greet them or introduce his own bride, gave them pause.
“And Queen Bella experienced a reverse shift after entering the water.” Lotar’s gray eyes met hers across the distance. He vibrated softly, as usual, but was too disturbed by the experience to stay silent. He turned his back on her and continued to Ciran. “Her transformation is unstable.”
“She must drink the Life Tree blossom nectar right away.”
No! No, she mustn’t. Jonah’s cure!
But the warriors separated into two groups.
Bella’s heart ached for them. They risked so much to go to the surface, meet their soul mates, and have a child. They escaped the traditionalist All-Council trying to crush them only to run into the Sons of Hercules forcing them back into the water at gunpoint. It was hard to see Pelan looking so ill. It was a terrible warning of what reaching for dreams could cost.
“Despite this setback, we must not give up until all warriors have found their brides.” Lucy’s voice vibrated with crisp hope.
The warriors straightened with her encouragement.
“We will not be cowed by fear. We will not be stopped by anger. We will not be hobbled by grief. Together, we will rise and claim our destinies. Just like Balim and Pelan have.”
The warriors relaxed.
Bella’s own heart lift as the fears fell away. She had already fought the Sons of Hercules. She’d made progress. Now she was relying on Starr. And somehow, she would continue to follow her destiny until she got Jonah back.
“You must be Bella.” Lucy exuded a motherly warmth. “I will escort you the rest of the way to your new home in Atlantis.”
“Thank you.” Bella’s chest twinged with the twin fears of excitement and worry. She was going to a mer city.
A sneeze threatened the back of her throat.
She swallowed hard.
And the vial of poison clinked in Balim’s bag. It brushed against her as he positioned her to continue their descent.
“You will love Atlantis,” Lucy exclaimed as she descended. “You’ll get your own octopus friend, your own castle, and rule the ocean as a queen. It’s awesome. You’ll never want to leave again.”
Which would be tragic when Bella poisoned them all.
Chapter Twenty-One
Balim felt Bella’s tension through the water.
“I can’t wait to see Atlantis.” She smiled at Queen Lucy with closed lips. “I’ve heard so much about it.”
“Conveniently, two Life Tree blossoms have just bloomed, so you can both drink the nectar at your wedding ceremonies.”
“Only two?” Bella questioned. “On the whole tree?”
The groups separated, and Queen Lucy waved goodbye. Lotar, Diran, and the surface warriors ascended the cable with the escort of Octopus Kong. Queen Lucy led Balim, Pelan, her warriors, and Pelan’s bride to Atlantis.
“Yes. The Life Tree grows a blossom when there is a need.”
Bella fixed him with worried eyes. “You had one in New York.”
“It should have gone to Faier’s bride. Living in a tank is unusual.”
“Aya kept alive the little blossom that Elyssa gave her,” Queen Lucy chimed in.
“Because she already possessed the force of a powerful queen. Another future queen staffs MerMatch. My belief is Hazel and Faier’s guess was Dannika. One kept the blossom alive by her presence.”
“Neither wants to become a mermaid.”
“Oh, I felt the same way, once.” Queen Lucy made the light crackle from her fingertips. “If my old self could see me now.”
Bella bit her lip.
“Perhaps another will grow,” Balim vibrated quietly. “The Life Tree senses the need. Blossoms grow when brides are located.”
“How do you feel about becoming a doctor’s wife?” Queen Lucy asked Bella conversationally as they descended along the cable.
“About the same as he feels becoming a marketing executive’s husband,” Bella replied deftly.
“Oh, you used to do marketing?”
“I’ve completed a marketing campaign for the mer and am waiting for the ideal timing to release it.”
Queen Lucy laughed. “Right. I don’t mean to be dense. It’s difficult to maintain a life on the surface and also raise a family, rule a city, and change the world beneath the sea.”
“Yes, and so I’m continuing your work. You did a wonderful job of introducing the modern world to the mer with your Facebook videos, but new voices have arisen, and you’re not there to control the record.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “My friend Mel is still replying.”
“Yes, but the world has changed. The narrative is being taken over by other voices who claim to have more authority—and you won’t like the direction they’re taking it.”
Queen Lucy darkened. “The Sons of Hercules.”
“The person who controls the narrative controls reality. So that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m taking your narrative back.”
“But instead, here you are.”
“Here we are,” Bella agreed, grim once more. She swallowed convulsively.
He held her closer. Feel my strength filling you with the power of the Life Tree…
She stiffened.
Once she saw the city and the majestic Life Tree, she would relax. Its presence would reactivate the elixir in her veins.
He hoped.
She swallowed again hard.
Just a little farther…
The wreck of the ancient city grew across the ocean floor.
Finally.
It differed from the last time Balim had seen it.
Cables were embedded in the wreckage. Human lanterns were stuck into bits of the floor and flattened the view throughout the territory.
It gave their enemies more places to hide.
King Kadir had a great interest in the past. His warriors sifted through the ruins for information about the Great Catastrophe. They’d searched for frescoes and found ancient drinking vessels and ornamental boats. Each discovery only inspired more questions and answered nothing.
Now the descending group unsnapped their harnesses, leaving them at the base of the city. A team of warriors lifted to greet them with waves, hailing the new future queens with honor.
“There’s Octopus Kong’s home.” Queen Lucy pointed to the giant cave at the foot of the extended coils. “You can come with us when we go over later and leave his favorite fish.”
“Did King Kadir authorize that?” Balim asked.
Queen Lucy smiled. “Since Octopus Kong is the official savior and guardian of Atlantis, he can’t say no. Anyway, we don’t bother him on his bad days.”
They flew on to Atlantis, the reborn city.
The Life Tree twinkled like a sun in a galaxy of stars. The great castles glowed green. Beneath the floating castles, the massive ribs of a felled megalodon glimmered white and fed nutrients to the vibrant sea floor.
His throat tightened.
It had never been his wish to leave Undine, even after the horrible events that had claimed his father and his prince. He’d always felt a grateful tightening when he’d returned home. Atlantis was now his home, and he had the same reaction.
Even though treason clinked in his bag.
When the city had first been planted, only King Kadir’s and First Lieutenant Soren’s lonely castles had arisen from the sea floor, but now a hundred castles bobbed around the Life Tree in concentric circles. So many for such a young ci
ty. They crossed the bare rock toward the increasingly lush floor where the Life Tree and castles anchored.
Bella’s chest lit along with her eyes gleaming with wonder. “It’s like a fairy ring.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Queen Lucy twirled as she kicked her fins. “I think they look like bull kelp and Elyssa thinks little planet balloons. Balim, you’ll be excited to know yours grew in your absence.”
His chest twinged. Imagining Bella choosing him wholeheartedly felt wrong. Shameful. He didn’t deserve it, and yet he couldn’t stop wanting it. “Thrilled.”
Queen Lucy laughed again as though he were being modest. To Bella, she explained, “You’ll get an octopus and grow your own garden, and it will be your sanctuary. You’ll love it.”
Bella returned her smile, closed-lipped.
“But first, the Life Tree.” She aimed for the brilliant light in the center of the ringed castles.
The warriors shouted greetings, swirling around them. Strong hands took Pelan so that their group could move faster.
Attacks had damaged the Life Tree’s protective petals, leaving it cracked open and dangerously exposed.
Queen Lucy descended through one of the large cracks in the protective petals.
Inside, calming radiance soothed his heart. Bella held him closer, and her thighs brushed him as did her forehead. She breathed. “It’s not beautiful…but it is.”
He knew what she meant.
Balim landed at the foot of the barren tree.
Like an oak bereft of leaves, the Life Tree’s bare branches stretched toward the surface. Tiny pebbles of Sea Opal resin beaded up on its small clefts and tinkled to the dais. Two small flowers bloomed at the upper branches of the tree.
It, like its crumbled dome shelter, had been battered to its roots. A silvery trunk was embedded into the dais, and the pastel pink of rebirth tinted the upper portions. The two colors intertwined.
“The roots are the original tree planted from King Kadir’s seed,” Balim told her. “Queen Elyssa grew the trunk when she brought King Kadir back to life after the first betrayal.”
Bella clutched a hand to her throat. Guilt and hope crossed her expression and echoed in her soul light. “Would she visit Jonah?”
