Atlantium Trilogy I: Bride of Atlantis (21 page)

His heart lurched in his chest as
Alexis disappeared beneath the water. An awful fear assailed him
that they had not protected her, that she would die. He shook the
thought off. The rebels had wanted her. They would want her alive.
If it had been only Helen, Alexis would probably be dead
already.

He flew low over the water, shifted
into a merman and dove beneath the waves, following
them.

He had no idea where they might be
taking her, but they were taking her to the outside world. If he
did not catch them soon, he could lose Alexis forever.

Grimly, he swam faster, gaining on
them slowly. He didn’t dare use the sound waves against them for
fear of harming Alexis. They would know that.

He was tempted to pull his sword, fire
a bolt of lightning into the tunnel wall, but he could not be
certain that it would only trap them. The walls could collapse upon
them.

He was still a half a mile behind them
when he saw them emerge from the tunnel.

By the time he, too, reached the
opening, they’d disappeared.

He stopped, looking around him,
probing the darkness.

He could not discern their thought
waves, any of them.

That meant they’d placed a band on
Alexis, as well.

Alarmed, for several moments he simply
froze, unable to decide which way to go—knowing if he chose the
wrong direction he would be giving them even more
headway.

He summoned the dolphins.

In moments, three had encircled him,
bobbing their heads, chattering. He sent them each to search in a
different direction. That left two for him. After a moment, he
decided to swim toward the surface. Atlanteans were land creatures.
Regardless of their ability to shift, they would have provided a
place for themselves above water.

He flicked his tail, shooting toward
the surface.

As he neared the surface, he heard the
distant sound of a motor. He stopped, turning slowly until he could
discern the direction.

He smiled grimly. A boat. He struck
off in the direction the sound had come from. Two of the dolphins
joined him, told him what he’d already guessed, that the rebels had
taken Alexis aboard a small boat.

They cavorted around him playfully for
some minutes, but finally dropped away, returning to their own
business.

The roaring of the engine became
steadily louder, assuring Thor that he was closing the distance and
still headed in the right direction.

Quite suddenly, however, the engine
stopped.

Thor surfaced.

The boat had pulled alongside a ship
at anchor.

Thor studied it for several moments,
probing for thought waves.

He uttered a curse. It was a passenger
vessel, filled with outworlders.

He should have known it wouldn’t be so
easy, that they would have anticipated the possibility that he
might follow.

He could not allow the outworlders to
see him. They would know that. They would feel safe now, less
guarded.

Thinking quickly, he dove once more,
shifted into a great shark and rammed the small boat. The boat
shuddered, rocked, but remained upright. Above, he could hear
screams as the people on the vessel spotted him.

A man raced from the railing. He was
back in moments with a gun, firing wildly into the water all around
the boat.

Thor circled, propelled himself toward
the small craft like a torpedo, cracking the hull, tipping the
boat. Helen, Alexis and the unidentified rebel, who’d been trying
to board the vessel, pitched over the side the boat and into the
water.

It was what Thor had been waiting for,
but he knew he had to move quickly or Alexis would
drown.

He caught Alexis carefully in his jaws
and dove, shifting as he gained distance, forming a capsule of air
around her to protect her.

He surfaced when he’d put a few miles
between them and the ship, shifting once more into a merman,
releasing Alexis from the capsule of air. She sank like a stone.
Catching her, he touched her forehead to release her from the mind
hold.

She didn’t respond.

Chapter Fifteen

“
Alexis!”

Alexis heard someone calling her, but
it sounded like they were far away, or speaking through a tunnel.
There was urgency in the voice, and she felt a spark of
recognition, but somehow she couldn’t rouse enough interest to try
to respond. She was so cold! So tired! All she wanted to do was
find warmth and sleep.

She was drifting away when she heard
her name called again.

It took a supreme effort to lift her
eyelid.

She saw it was Thor. That was good. It
was a relief. She’d had an awful nightmare, but it was all right
now. She drifted again. This time she was shaken until she felt her
head flopping around on her neck.

She pried both eyelids open. “Wha
..?”

Thor’s face swam before her eyes. It
took her several moments to bring him into focus. As she struggled
to do so, however, she became aware of the fact that she was
freezing cold, and wet.

How did she get wet? she wondered
vaguely.

“
Alexis. Are you all
right?”

Alexis frowned. Stupid question. She
was cold, wet. She wanted to go home. She couldn’t figure out what
she was doing in the water. She thought about it for a couple of
minutes. Oh yeah! Eric—the snake—had thrown her off the damned
ship.

Somehow that didn’t seem quite right,
though. She thought about it some more. There was something …
something. An image of huge jaws coming at her filled her mind. Her
heart leapt into overtime and she started screaming, clawing at
Thor in an effort to climb out of the water.

He grasped her tightly. She felt his
hand touch her face and suddenly she was drifting again. She
stopped fighting, settled against him. He was warm.

I want to go home, she thought
plaintively.

She felt herself rising up, as if
she’d suddenly become weightless. Cold air blew against her wet
skin. Her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably. It was the last
thing she remembered.

When she woke up, she was staring into
a bright light.

“
Alexis!” someone said.
“There you are! No! Don’t go back to sleep.”

Someone was patting her cheeks,
slapping them lightly.

Annoyed, she opened her eyes
again.

“
Atta girl! Stay with me
now.”

She was moving, she saw. Above her she
could see row after row of bright fluorescent lights whipping
by.

“
Where?”

“
Saint John’s. It’s OK.
You’re going to be OK now. Are you listening? Don’t go back to
sleep, Alexis.”

“
Where’s?”

“
The man that brought you
in? He’s in the waiting room. Just hang in there like a good girl
and we’ll let you see him in a little while.”

They rolled the gurney she was on into
a small room. Overhead, more bright lights from fluorescents beamed
down at her, and then a brighter lamp was shoved in her face and
someone bent over her.

A blood pressure cuff was slapped
around her arm and pumped up until she felt like it would crush her
arm. Slowly the air was released from it, but the cuff remained. A
needle pricked her other arm in the bend of her elbow. A blanket
was thrown over her, and then another. Warmth began to seep into
her frozen limbs.

“
Blood pressure’s low … a
few abrasion’s here. Looks like she’s got an interesting little
goose egg on her head here. Concussion, you think?”

Someone pried her eyelids up and
flicked a flashlight in her eyes.

“
Hey. What’s your name? Tell
me your name?”

That was stupid! They’d been calling
her Alexis every few minutes. Surely they knew her name, but the
guy didn’t seem to want to leave her alone. “Alexis,” she
murmured.

“
What day is it,
Alexis?”

“
How hell should I know!
Thought it was night,” she snapped, feeling thoroughly
provoked.

He grinned at her. “OK. How many
fingers am I holding up?”

It took an effort to open her eyes,
focus. “Two.”

“
Good girl!”

Why was everybody talking to her like
she was a moron? Alexis wondered in irritation.

“
I don’t think she’s
concussed, but take her to x-ray and let’s have a look.”

“
The guy that brought her in
said she was pregnant.”

“
How far?”

“
A month, maybe, six weeks
tops.”

“
Wait on the x-ray
then.”

The blood pressure cuff was pumped up
again.

Every few minutes someone would touch
her face, pat her cheeks until she opened her eyes and looked at
them.

Her teeth finally stopped
chattering.

She drifted off again after a while.
The movement of the gurney woke her. She opened her eyes and
discovered that she was in the hall again, and then an elevator and
finally another room. They parked her gurney beside a bed. She was
rolled onto the bed. A sheet and light blanket were pulled up and
tucked around her.

A woman appeared beside her carrying a
needle. “I’m going to give you something to help you sleep. You’re
going to feel a pinch.”

It was a hell of a lot more than a
pinch.

She could’ve slept without the damned
shot if they’d just let her, she thought indignantly.

In a few minutes, however, she began
to drift away again and her anger faded away with her
thoughts.

When Alexis opened her eyes again,
Thor was standing over her.

He smiled at her and her heart
executed a little flip flop of happiness. “Why, hello handsome.
They let you wander loose in a place like this?”

He looked puzzled. “They have not said
I could not.”

Alexis chuckled, shook her head.
“Never mind. Just a joke.”

He still looked confused.

“
With all these sick women
in here, I’m not sure their hearts can take it … seeing a gorgeous
hunk of a man.”

He grinned. “I think you must still be
a little confused.” He touched his head.

Alexis smiled wryly. “Actually, I am.
I was beginning to think I’d dreamed … everything until I woke up
and saw you. What happened? How did I get here?”

“
You do not
remember?”

Alexis frowned. A shiver skated over
her. “Some of it … most of it. I just don’t remember getting
here.”

“
I brought you.”

“
I gathered that,” Alexis
said dryly. “Why? I mean, why here? Why didn’t you take me back to
… well back.”

“
You said you wanted to go
home. You were … ill. I thought it best for you.”

Alexis stared at him. She wasn’t sure
whether she was glad or sorry that she was back in her own world.
On the one hand, she HAD wanted to come back. She had to do
something about Eric. On the other hand, she had a bad feeling
about Thor’s reasons for bringing her back.

“
Aurora—the physicians would
have taken care of me. Why didn’t you take me back
there?”

Thor took her hand, studying it
thoughtfully. As if it was infinitely fascinating, he lifted each
finger and looked at it, caressed it and finally laid her palm
against his own, studying their hands. Finally, he lifted her hand
and kissed it. “You have almost died twice now, Alexis.”

“
But I didn’t. It’s over
now,” Alexis said, her mouth grown dry with a nameless
fear.

Thor frowned. “Twice, I have almost
lost you … not just because I failed to protect you, but because of
me. I would far rather live without you and know you live, than to
keep you with me and, perhaps, see you die.”

Alexis gaped at him. Before she could
say protest, someone tapped on the door and entered.

Alexis stared at the two strange men
who moved into the room and stood at the foot of her bed. “Who are
you?”

The older of the two spoke. “I’m
Detective Richardson. This is Detective Heikes. We just wanted to
ask you a few questions about your accident.”

Alexis flicked a glance at Thor. “What
accident?”

Richardson gestured at Thor. “Your
friend here told us you were Alexis Stanhope. I checked it out. You
were reported lost at sea almost two months ago, by….” He looked
down at his notes. “Eric Stanhope. The story he gave us was that
you’d fallen overboard, or, possibly, that you’d committed
suicide.”

Alexis felt anger wash over her. “I’ll
just bet he did.”

Richardson and Heikes exchanged a
look. “We had you checked out. You’ve been positively ID’d as
Alexis Stanhope. I’d be interested in hearing what you’ve got to
say, if you feel up to it.”

“
Eric threw me
overboard.”