I grimaced, trying to push the memory away. Because it didn’t matter. Her touch. Her taste. The warmth of her against me when every inch of her incredible body had pressed to mine…
Cursing, I kicked away from the seafloor. I was never going to be able to come near her
again
at this rate.
Breathing hard, I scanned the ocean around me. I needed something,
anything
, to get my mind off this.
Three shapes paused in the water at the edge of my senses.
And then they turned, heading my way.
My blood went cold and I swore, damning the universe’s sick sense of humor. Vetorians had
not
been the kind of distraction I’d meant.
Of course, it could be Ren’s soldiers this time.
Like it mattered.
Twisting in the water, I dove and pulled up just shy of the seafloor. Kicking up as little dust as I could, I flicked my tail and took off, weaving through the boulders.
I really hoped Chloe hadn’t left the cave.
Torchlight flickered in the entrance. I darted through the opening.
Chloe looked up, hurt and alarm on her face in equal measure.
“Company,” I told her as I swam across the cave. “Coming this way.”
Her breath caught. She pushed away from the ground.
Snagging the torch from the wall, I jammed it quickly into the sand, extinguishing the blue flames. The cave plunged into darkness.
I turned. Chloe hovered in the center of the cave, watching me with her body silhouetted by the paler water beyond the entrance and her green eyes glowing ever-so-faintly in the darkness. Swiftly, I swam back and took her arm, drawing her with me. “Stay behind me,” I whispered.
She didn’t argue.
I inched my head from the cave opening, straining to feel any motion nearby.
Something shot through the water and I jerked back.
A pod of tentacle-ropes burst against the stone behind where I had been.
Chloe gasped. Outside, I heard a distant click, and then the sound of someone swearing in a Prijoran Zone dialect when nothing happened.
“Go!” I ordered.
Shouting broke out behind us as we sped from the cave and took off, twisting between the boulders scattered across the ocean floor. Pods flew through the water at our backs and splattered on the rocks in masses of brown webbing.
I could feel the Vetorians coming.
And merciful waves, were they fast.
My grip on Chloe tightened as I fought for more speed. Several hundred yards ahead, the open water waited, devoid of cover for miles. I could hear her gasping beside me, straining to keep up as I swam.
But the mercenaries were gaining.
“Keep going!” I yelled, shoving her ahead of me.
Carried by momentum, she floundered and then spun to look back in alarm.
“Do it!” I shouted over the distance between us. “Go!”
Spikes grew from my arms. I turned to see the mercenaries charging through the water like torpedoes from hell.
“Zeke!” Chloe yelled.
I looked back.
“Go, Chloe,” I told her.
And then I raced at the Vetorians.
Chapter Twenty
Chloe
The three mercenaries sped through the water.
And Zeke swam right for them.
Like a snake, he cut sharply to the side as he came close and then swung out, striking at the nearest one. But the man just rolled, avoiding his spikes and then lashing out at Zeke with his knife-edged fin. Twisting away, Zeke darted around and sliced at him again.
His spikes caught the man’s tail. Blood clouded the water.
The dehaian shouted with pain, and one of his companions spun back. But the other kept on, coming straight at me.
Knives glinted in his fists.
The other two circled Zeke, drawing their own knives as they moved. Feinting toward him, they slashed out, testing his speed, waiting for an opening.
And there was no way he would escape them both.
A breath left my chest. Through my body, a stillness spread.
The Vetorian rushed at me and I dove, my tail scraping his as I narrowly avoided his grasp. Pain flickered at the edge of adrenaline as the blades on his fin grazed my scales, but I kept moving. He gave an angry cry as I sped off, and I could feel him spin in the water, trying to chase me down.
Spikes tingled from my arms. I charged at the other dehaians.
Their attention was on Zeke. Their knives were pointed at him. The man behind me yelled a warning.
But then it was too late.
My spikes slashed deep into the back of the mercenary Zeke had wounded, and the man howled. His companion’s eyes went wide as the guy floundered and went still. Regrouping fast, the surviving mercenary flinched toward me as I curved in the water toward him.
Zeke didn’t wait. He darted to the other side, his arm swinging with deadly precision.
A cry escaped the mercenary, the sound strangling itself as pain took over. I twisted around while Zeke swam up beside me fast, his gaze on the third guy.
The man kicked backward, coming to a stop in the water. His eyes went from me to Zeke, something almost like fear past the rage on his face.
And then he spun and raced away.
Breathing hard, I looked back, but the other two were gone, sinking toward the seafloor.
And their bodies were collapsing.
I stared in horror. Like hollow shells with the air sucked out, their skin and bones pulled in on themselves, drying up and crumpling the bodies till nothing dehaian or human in appearance remained. As they hit the seafloor, the decay continued, compressing them even as they merged with the grit and sand.
“We’re magic,” Zeke explained quietly. “We have it in our bodies, our bones. It keeps the pressure out, enables us to survive outside the veils, but when we die and it fades…”
I swallowed. Nausea tried to argue, determined to rise back up my throat, and it took everything I had to keep it down.
He looked over at me. “Thank you.”
I hesitated. I wasn’t sure how to respond. He could have been killed. What else could I have done? Even now, there was a slice on his chest where a mercenary’s knife had grazed him, and it hurt to see it. “You too,” I answered.
He gave a small shrug, seeming calm if not for the fact his skin was abnormally pale.
Silence fell between us, heavy and awkward.
“I’m sorry, though,” he continued uncomfortably. “You know, about…”
His hand twitched toward my arm.
I looked down. A trace of blood still clung to my spikes.
Shivers raced through me, whether from revulsion or fading adrenaline, I didn’t know. I’d just wanted to stop them. To keep them from using their knives on Zeke.
And I’d killed someone.
Again.
The trembling grew stronger.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Zeke reach for me and then catch himself. Regret on his face, he drew his hand away.
“It’s not the first time,” I whispered.
His brow furrowed.
“The Sylphaen who injected me. I… I killed the first one who tried. I didn’t mean to. He just… we were in an ambulance and he grabbed me. He was choking me. Trying to stick the needle in my neck. I was so scared.” A shaky breath left me. “And the spikes came out.”
Zeke was quiet for a moment. “They want you dead.”
I glanced over at him.
“You’re their sacrifice,” he said. “Their goal is for you to die.” He gave another small shrug. “Instead, you stayed alive.”
I didn’t know what to say.
His gaze dropped to the bodies now lost in the sand of the seafloor. “We should go. Get the bag and get out of here before that other one brings back friends.”
I nodded. We swam back between the boulders, and when we reached the cave, he slid inside to retrieve the bag without a word. Just within the entrance, I hovered, watching the water for fear of the Vetorians and painfully aware of Zeke behind me.
Seconds passed. Besides a few scattered fish in the distance, the ocean near the cave was empty.
The bag slung over his shoulder, Zeke came back toward me.
“Here,” he said, tugging out the sieranchine.
I took the jar and scooped out a small amount. My skin tingled with the contact, and when the gel touched my scales, the sensation spread. The pain of the knife slice lessened while, beneath the glistening medicine, the edges of the cut drew together, becoming only a thin line on my tail.
Wordlessly, I handed the jar back to him. He applied a bit to his chest and then returned the medicine to the bag.
From the corner of my eye, I watched the wound on his chest fade, and then I dragged my gaze back to the sea. It was hard to be here, only inches from him again with the adrenaline of the past several minutes gone. I wanted to reach out and touch him.
I wanted him to go away.
“So,” Zeke started, his voice tight. He took a breath and glanced around, the motion putting more distance between us. “Where do you want to go now?”
My brow furrowed as I tried to focus. I hadn’t really thought about it.
“I… I have a friend who might still be in Santa Lucina.”
“Santa Lucina?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Baylie. She’s Noah’s stepsister.” Worry flickered through me. I pressed on. “But she… she won’t be like him. We’ve been friends since we were four. She’s from Reidsburg too.”
“Does she know about all this?”
I paused. “No.”
Unless Noah had said something.
And God knew what he would have told her.
Pain moved through me at the thought that less than an hour ago, Noah talking to Baylie never would have been something to fear. At least, not in this way. He’d talked to his stepmom and brother, after all, and they’d seemed so fine with everything. Supportive. Understanding.
Just like him.
I drew a breath, pushing the hurt away. It didn’t matter. I’d made a mistake, trusting him. I’d made a mistake a few minutes ago with Zeke, and I’d made a mistake ever leaving Reidsburg as well. This whole thing was a mess from beginning to end, and now I just needed to get out of here, go back to Kansas, and start over again.
Or something.
“It’ll be okay,” I continued determinedly, praying I was right. “I’ll come up with an explanation.”
He didn’t answer for a moment. “You can’t go back to that house.”
I hesitated. “So I’ll call her from somewhere. Ask her to come pick me up and drive me out of town right away.”
Zeke’s face tightened.
“She’ll do it,” I pressed, not remotely sure if that was true but hoping he’d believe me anyway.
I needed to get out of here.
Zeke sighed. “Alright.”
A heartbeat passed.
He swam out of the cave.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and then followed him.
~~~~~
The tide pulled at us as we approached the coast, and beyond its rushing, I could hear the distant sounds of laughter and people splashing in the water. Bright sunlight shone through the waves, making me feel painfully exposed after the darkness of the deeper ocean.
And a few yards away, Zeke swam.
We’d barely spoken in the time it had taken us to return to shore. We’d hardly even come within a dozen feet of each other. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him for long, and when I did, discomfort drove me to put even more space between us.
This wasn’t how I’d wanted to say goodbye. I didn’t really know
what
I’d wanted – I hadn’t thought that far ahead – but whatever it had been, this wasn’t it.
“Chloe,” Zeke said.
I drew a sharp breath, his voice snapping me from my thoughts. I looked back.
His tail was gone and dark swim trunks had taken its place. His eyebrow rose.
Irritation made me grimace, while embarrassment took the opportunity to turn my face red. All this time worrying about people finding out what I was, about them looking at me like a freak, and my own distraction nearly made me swim into the midst of a bunch of strangers in full dehaian form.
Brilliant.
A shiver ran through me as my legs returned and the healing knife cut became a thin red line down the side of my right calf. My scales melted away, leaving only an iridescent and vaguely scale-like swimsuit. Zeke’s gaze lingered on me as I changed, and my embarrassment turned to frustration as I looked away.
He was
not
making this easy.
Though given the way he’d been holding me, I didn’t know whether he wanted to.
Shivers spread through me for an entirely different reason, and forcibly, I shoved the memories aside. We were coming up on humans. I needed to focus.
The seafloor rose into view as we continued on. Ahead, I could see swimmers’ legs kicking to keep them afloat, while surfboards cut through the waves closer by. Ducking low, we gave them a wide berth as we headed for a spot a few hundred yards away. Keeping an eye to the swimmers, we swam onward till the ground sloped up to meet us and the water became too shallow.
Reluctantly, I let my head break the surface. The air took only a moment to become breathable and the burning on my skin passed quickly as well. Just a few people occupied the sand ahead of us, though farther to my left, it was a different story. Children shouted and ran along the beach, while dozens of sunbathers lay on towels beneath the bright summer sun.
I swallowed, hoping no one questioned how we’d suddenly come from the water, or why Zeke had a bag hanging from his shoulder.
“Where are we?” I murmured to him as we walked toward the shore.
“Mariposa Beach,” he answered, his voice equally low. “About twenty miles from that guy’s house.”
We left the waves. Hot sand scorched my feet for less than a heartbeat before a shiver went through me and the pain faded.
I glanced down at my feet. Nothing visible had changed.
We headed through the crowds. A cluster of kids sped past us, racing for the water with their parents jogging behind, while a group of guys played Frisbee nearby. A lifeguard sat in a watchtower several hundred yards off, his attention thankfully focused on a group of swimmers some distance away.
“Over here,” Zeke said quietly.
I followed him toward a trio of blonde girls sunbathing on red-striped beach towels.