by Allie Burton
A body pushed through the hole at the top.
“Plankson?” Captain Fisher responded. “What took you so long?”
“I’ve brought a present.” Plankson’s tone didn’t sound merry, so I’m guessing the gift wasn’t a good thing.
He tugged on something pulling it into the vent. A body. The person wore swim trunks, a blue swim shirt and a scuba tank on his back.
Recognition flickered sending a shock wave across my skin.
“Caught him searching for her.” Plankson pointed. “Rifled through her tent, then rented equipment and a boat. Headed in the direction of our base.”
Coming after me?
Plankson jerked the guy’s body closer. Strong legs and muscular arms flopped. His brown hair rippled in the water. His body twisted and I saw his face.
Agonized pain stabbed hundreds of points on my skin like over-sized pinpricks. I froze in complete shock.
Chase.
Chapter Twenty-One
Water War
Everything I felt for Chase tsunami-ed. Wave after wave of emotion pounded my heart, eroding any wall I’d tried to erect. All my hurt, all my pain, all my love washed through me. If he’d been gone a long time even my gifted breath couldn’t bring him back to life.
“Chase.” With my arms tied up, I swam toward his floating body. I leaned into him, kissing his familiar forehead and cheeks. The coldness of his skin frightened me. The tiny bubbles tickled my nose from the scuba gear’s breathing apparatus.
I pulled back. Bubbles?
If there were bubbles, he was still breathing.
My chest lightened. Renewed hope burst through me. “He’s alive.”
“I only knocked him unconscious.” Plankson’s whiny voice morphed into a laugh. “He’s alive until his tank runs out.”
I checked the gauge on the canister attached to his back. Over half the air was gone.
“Why did you bring him here?” The captain’s raised voice vibrated the water in the cave.
“Fool was planning to save her.”
My heart warmed at Plankson’s words confirming again Chase wanted to save me. Maybe he was sorry for betraying my confidence. Maybe he did care. Maybe he loved me.
A new feeling rushed through my heart. A feeling of joy. I had to save him.
“You shouldn’t have brought the air-breather here. To her. To us.” The captain flapped his hands around, clearly agitated.
“What was I supposed to do with him?” Plankson didn’t understand the captain’s anger.
“Leave him on the beach. Kill him. I don’t care.”
My hope and joy dashed, crumbled like castles in the sand. The captain didn’t care about anyone. Not me, and certainly not an air-breather.
Relaxing my arms, the seaweed loosened and I inched my hands from beneath the seaweed tied near the top of my thighs. My wrists barely cleared their tight grip. Jiggling at my waist, I let Chase’s body drift a bit away. With his head in my lap, I reached to slip the mouthpiece off.
“Stop her.” The captain noticed my actions.
Before I could take off the mouthpiece, Plankson dove over and grabbed Chase’s limp body out of my arms.
“Why? She was going to kiss him goodbye.” His saccharine tone rubbed like sand in a fresh wound.
“She was going to give him the breath of life, turn him into one of us.” The captain yanked Chase from Plankson and set him on a rock across the space of the dead thermal vent like Chase was a lifeless doll.
Only ten feet away, and yet so far.
The bubbles rose from his mouth apparatus signaling each bit of breath lost. Each precious second we had together gone.
The crumbles of my heart jolted and settled. I lost all faith. Neither of us would survive.
Plankson’s face whitened. “You mean she really is… I thought Finn was making stuff up.”
“She really is one of the lost princesses.” The captain waved away Plankson’s shock.
Judging his reaction and the captain’s determination, I reconfirmed my earlier thought.
I was a real princess.
Daughter of King Atlas and granddaughter of Poseidon.
A lost daughter of Atlantis.
I’d understood the concept, but hadn’t accepted it yet. Logically, it made sense but inside me, inside my heart, I didn’t feel like a princess.
I’d gone from slave and star of the circus, to custodian of the carnival, to princess of the Atlantean people. I’d gone from no history to tons of history. I’d gone from no heritage to royal heritage.
My head spun. Wave upon wave of future possibilities hit me. Or un-possibilities. Because I’d have no future.
My optimism dove like a heron for food. None of the three princesses would have a future. Would anyone even believe we were real?
“Idiot, not only do we have to get rid of her, we have to get rid of the air-breather.” The captain fisted his hands together. “The air-breather will be missed.”
“I-I thought it was a legend.” Plankson still hadn’t recovered.
The captain’s frustration showed in the way he shook his head back and forth. “For Poseidon’s sake, you were married to her mother.”
“What?” I wanted to jump out of my skin. “He was married to my mother? This is how Finn and I are related? Where is she? Does she know what you’re doing to me?”
I had a mother. Another relative I knew nothing about.
“Your mother’s dead.” Fisher’s tone was flat, cold.
A new sadness welled in my chest. My heart ached for the dreams I’d had. I’d never get to meet my mother. Never feel her arms around me. Never know her love.
A love I’d needed.
“I say, good riddance.” Plankson swam around the vent like a caged animal. “She left me and our son when King Atlas crooked his finger. She wanted the prestige of royalty. Didn’t realize how much she’d pay.”
This was the man my mother married? Loved at one time? That didn’t say much about her judgment.
I wanted to ask more about the woman who gave me life but Plankson’s answers would be skewed. And I didn’t want a negative picture of my mother, even if it was true.
“What’s the plan to get rid of her?” Plankson’s gleeful tone cut sharp across me. As if by killing me, he’d get revenge on my dead mother.
So not fair.
“I have a meeting scheduled with the air-breather scientist. He’ll love my surprise.” The captain shot me a conspiratorial smile like we shared a secret. “Until then we wait.”
“What about him?” Plankson pointed at Chase.
“We’ll wait and be entertained by watching the air-breather’s tank run out and him expire. Permanently.”
* * *
I couldn’t sit and watch Chase die. The level on the gauge seemed to move with every second and my heart beat as fast. The seaweed choked my arms and legs and waist. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get to Chase. I couldn’t save him.
He wasn’t innocent in all of this. Sure, he’d told his aunt about me. But I shouldn’t have exposed him to my world, expecting him to keep this humongous secret.
I stared trying to will him awake. His body lay against the rocks, his head lolling to the side. His pale face and lips tinged a light blue. He could die of hypothermia before his air ran out.
My gaze followed the captain. He swam back and forth in between Chase and me, constantly on patrol. Never slack in his duties. I wanted to scream.
A slight movement from Chase caught my attention. I tried not to react. He opened first one eyelid and then the other.
He was awake. Conscious.
A second of lightness floated through only to be brought down by a weighty thought. Watching him die while conscious would be far worse for both of us.
Wishing I could take his place, I wanted to communicate my grief and sorrow but didn’t want the captain and Plankson to know. I wished I could tell him how sorry I was we’d argued. In my anger, I’d classified people int
o categories. Chase wasn’t an air-breather to me. He was special.
One blue eye opened and closed in a wink.
My head fell back against the hard edge of the cave. Not only was Chase conscious but he obviously was thinking. His thought process must be working for him to wink. Did that mean he had a plan?
The captain swam past and headed toward Chase. Chase’s body stiffened.
The captain turned. Chase leapt from his position. He grabbed him around the neck. His legs circled the captain’s waist like a wrestler. Bubbles flew, arms and legs collided.
My heart catapulted out of my chest, vaulting over my tonsils, and sticking in my throat. I had to help. Struggling against the seaweed, it tightened again.
Chase was sacrificing himself for me. He must’ve known he only had a short time left. He didn’t realize I couldn’t help him or couldn’t escape.
“Plankson.” The captain called for help.
Floating in the cave, Chase had his arm around the captain’s neck in a choke hold. His face was red, his eyes bulging. He kept trying to swing his arms back to connect with Chase but he wasn’t accurate.
I held my breath watching the skirmish, flinching with every blow.
Plankson grabbed a rock from the ground and swam up behind.
Two against one wasn’t fair. I wiggled and twisted against the seaweed. “Watch out! Plankson has a rock.”
Plankson raised his arm to hit Chase on the head. At the last second, Chase maneuvered around showing his back to Plankson. The rock came down.
The pinging sound of rock hitting metal echoed through the thermal vent cavern. The rock hit the air tank, not Chase.
I let out my breath in a whoosh.
A waterfall of bubbles escaped from the tank. The rock had put a hole in the metal canister.
Air escaped into the water.
Air that kept Chase alive.
I choked, strangling myself. The tank had a hole. Chase’s air would run out even sooner. He’d die sooner. My heart would die with him.
Oxygen from the tank shot across the vent hitting me with unexpected force. The canned air sprayed my face, my body, the seaweed holding me prisoner.
The seaweed loosened. The plant disintegrated. The bindings flaked off like dead skin. The oxygen from the tank decomposed what ever magical force held the seaweed.
I was free. Exhilaration, like my own oxygen boost, filled me. I jumped off the rock and joined the fray. Chase had an advantage over the captain, so I went after Plankson.
I leapt onto his back and pulled his long, grey hair jerking his head back. I wanted to whoop-whoop with triumph. Through surprise, I got the upper hand.
He spun around grabbing hold of my leg and pulled trying to dislodge me. Our super-strength counter-acted each other. Neither one of us had an advantage. We circled like a carousel, round and round and round and round.
I kicked out to loosen his grip. My heel contacted with his stomach. He doubled over but righted himself. I kicked again and again, using all my built up anger and frustration to punish him.
Plankson stumbled. He lost his balance. I stumbled with him. Together, we went down to the ground of the cave with him on top. He shifted his weight and used his legs to hold my legs down. His weight was too much for me to move, even in water. I was stuck.
Glancing over at Chase’s fight, I saw the captain sink to the ground. Dead or unconscious I didn’t know, but his limp body lay perfectly still. Chase had defeated him.
Pride spouted. Chase truly was my hero.
His arms dropped to his side. His eyes rolled back. He sunk down to the ground beside the captain, reminding me of the way the little boy Brandon had appeared when he’d been in the lagoon too long.
Chase might’ve won the battle, but he lost his personal war with water.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Awkward Accusation
No! My mind screamed. I struggled against Plankson. We’d come too far, fought too much for it to end now. Chase had beaten the captain. He couldn’t die.
I reached out to Chase, but Plankson’s body blocked my move. Bucking I tried to get Plankson off me. His arms scrambled, trying to pin mine down. My arms flayed like a windsock in a breeze trying to evade capture. My legs kicked and twisted beneath.
But all of this took time. Time Chase didn’t have.
I swung my arms wildly. My hand encountered something solid. A rock. The rock Plankson had used on Chase.
Clutching the rough stone, I felt its weight in my palm. I glanced at Chase. He lay dying on the ground. No bubbles emitted from his breathing apparatus. No movement from his body.
A grief so strong quaked inside me. My internal organs quivered and collapsed. Chase would die. I’d probably die. Hundreds of Atlanteans on both sides of the war would die.
I couldn’t lay here and let that happen. I had to try. Gripping the rock, I wielded it with all my strength toward Plankson. The rock pounded into his head. My stomach heaved. I’d never physically hurt another person before.
Plankson’s body went limp. Forcing the upheaval of grief and fear and nerves aside, I shoved him off and slipped from beneath his body. I dove to Chase and ripped off the mouthpiece, placing my lips on his purplish ones. I breathed into him.
Please breathe. Don’t die.
Another breath and then…
A slight movement in his chest. I eased away. His eyelids fluttered open and then widened. His skin warmed beneath my fingers. Color returned to his cheeks.
My earlier sadness and worry bloomed to light. Tears burned, but they were happy tears. Tears of joy.
“Chase.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “Are you okay?”
His lips weren’t purple. They’d returned to their same kissable selves. “I think so.”
I jerked my back straight and leaned away. He might’ve saved me, or helped me save myself, but he’d still betrayed me, telling his aunt about my abilities. Wanting to save Chase was one thing, wanting to kiss him again was completely wrong.
Pushing any warmth, any love, aside, I controlled the betrayal sure to taint my voice. I kept my jaw tight, my gaze cool. “We better get out of here.”
“Yeah.” Dazed, he undid the buckles holding the empty and useless tank.
I straightened and pushed off the sand. Chase was slow to follow. I wanted to reach out to him, to help him, but I needed to stand firm. I’d get him out of the ocean and then never see him again.
We came from two different worlds. We held two different sets of loyalties. We believed in two different meanings of love.
Like swimming out of a small, dormant volcano, I reached the top and used the edges for leverage to push through the hole. I bent down to check on Chase’s progress. He was so close we almost butted heads. Stepping back, I let him wiggle through the hole on his own.
“This way.” I turned to swim forward.
“Halt.” The word came from everywhere.
A group of men advanced, circling around us.
My thoughts scrambled. I sought a possible escape. The rhythm of my heart picked up pace knowing that again we were in trouble.
Chase swam beside me and raised his hands in a cause-no-harm action. “We’re peaceful.”
The men wore blue swim trunks with gold stripes. Each of them held a weapon like a machine gun with a sharp point. They were Royal Guards. And they were armed.
“Who are you?” A man with four stripes on his suit asked. He sported an orangish-red goatee on his chin.
My brain unscrambled. Maybe the Royalist side would listen. “We’re friends. We’ve come to warn you that a few air-breathers,” I shot Chase a look, “know about us and will soon tell the world. They will try to find us, hunt us down, experiment on us.”
At the moment, with the harpoon-like guns pointed at us, I felt hunted.
The man with the goatee jabbed with his weapon. “Why should we trust you?”
“Her information is false.” Chase grabbed my arm, squeezing painfully.
>
My heart crushed into tiny pieces. Pulverized by his betrayal and now calling me names. How dare he call me a liar? I tried to jerk my arm out of his grip. “Listen to me, he’s an air-breather from Mermaid Beach.”
The men gasped. Their disbelief obvious by their dropped mouths and sunken cheeks. “What is this about?”
I held my hand to my heart. “I recently discovered I’m an Atlantean. Down below, in the vent,” I pointed to the hole. “are two Free Atlanteans who held us both captive.”
“Free Atlanteans?” The Goatee-guard snapped to attention. He pointed at two other guards who edged around the hole and then swam inside to check out my story.
Trying to calm my voice, I explained. “I came to warn them, warn everyone, that soon the land-bound world would know about our underwater world.”
“That’s not true.” Chase’s voice had a you-have-to-believe-me tone. “Pearl, I never told my aunt.”
My heart stilled. My backbone wavered like seaweed in the surf. I so wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t. “Mrs. Fowler, or should I say your Aunt Sarah, told me everything. She knew about my abilities and wanted to put me on display.” Remembered pain stiffened my spine, made me stronger.
“Don’t make snap judgments. I didn’t tell her. She found out on her own. Researched you and your circus background.” The intensity of Chase’s gaze bore into me. His ocean-blue eyes appeared honest. Truthful.
I’d been so careful. I remembered her saying that I’d be more famous than before, yet I’d never told Chase about my circus background. “How did she discover the truth?”
“I don’t know. I never would’ve betrayed you like that. I care too much.”
“Enough of this drama.” Goatee-guard raised his weapon.
As Chase had talked, little pieces of my heart had slipped back into place, almost making it complete. He’d risked his life to come after me. He’d fought the captain knowing he’d have no chance of coming out of the ocean alive.
“Who knows about Atlanteans?” The guard continued his questioning.
