His expression was stern. There was a glint of curiosity in his eyes, as well, though Cassie was in no state to interpret that look at the moment. The harsh set of his features was enough to reinforce her certainty that her life was in danger—that and the fact that he’d pulled her mask off. More than half fearing he’d rip her mouth piece off next, she recommenced her struggles, this time shoving at him instead of swinging.
Ignoring her attempts to pry herself from his grip, he dove, carrying her through the water at a dizzying speed. Cassie’s terror hit a new peak as she dragged on the mouth piece and discovered she’d run out of air. Her fight this time was much more ferocious but of far shorter duration. As her lungs began to burn with the need to pull air into them, her struggles became weaker and weaker until she finally hung limply in his grip. She still managed a half hearted attempt to fight him as he pulled her mouth piece from her mouth, but she didn’t even have enough strength left to try to fight him when he caught the back of her head with his free hand, fastened his mouth over hers, forced her lips apart and breathed into her mouth. She sucked in the air he gave her, wondering dimly if it was the shortage of air that sent a dizzying rush through her. She didn’t know or care at that moment, the only thing that mattered to her was breathing. She ceased struggling and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him, fighting now to recapture his mouth each time he lifted his head.
She didn’t have a thought to spare for anything beyond the precious breaths he gave her each time the panic of drowning swept over her again. She was dimly aware that they were moving deeper and deeper and that cold was creeping into the marrow of her bones, but there was only one focus in her life and that was getting air.
The darkness that had been steadily encroaching, growing deeper and more profound, began to lighten after a time. Cassie had no idea when that happened, only that she became aware that she wasn’t surrounded by darkness anymore. The merman slowed, paused for a few moments, and then moved forward again.
A great heaviness settled over her. Her skin, what was exposed, prickled with a sensation that seemed vaguely familiar—like air. Her mind refused to accept it, however, when it didn’t make sense to her.
She held her breath, refusing to give in to the desperate urge to breathe. Blindly, she sought the merman’s mouth again. She saw a gleam in his eyes as his head descended obligingly toward hers. When his mouth fastened over hers this time, however, it was far more than a sharing of air. His mouth clung to hers in a way that transformed it from resuscitation to kiss. Heat wafted through her as her body acknowledged the sensual nature of the touch before her brain caught on. She became acutely conscious of the taste of him even before he thrust his tongue into her mouth and 15
raked it possessively over hers, exploring her mouth with a thoroughness that set her heart to hammering with something entirely different than fear.
She blinked up at him dizzily when he broke the contact and lifted his head to look down at her. Heat and amusement both gleamed in his pale blue eyes as he stared down at her. His hard mouth curled slowly into what was almost a smile.
Then he opened it and said something completely incomprehensible to her.
She blinked, thrown into more confusion.
Lifting his arms, he caught her legs and peeled them off. Gravity, unimpeded by the buoyancy of salt water, dragged her legs downward. The sensation finally penetrated, and she looked down to see a bright mosaic floor beneath her feet—which still hovered several inches above the surface. His hands settled on her waist as she loosened her death grip on his neck and she slid down his hard frame.
She was in a room, she realized blankly, wondering a little wildly if she’d died or was just hallucinating. How?
“Get your hands off of her, fishman!”
Mark’s voice snagged her attention, and Cassie’s head swiveled automatically in the direction of the sound. Carl, Ben, and David were struggling to hold him, she saw in dismay. A shaft of guilt went through her, and Cassie pushed the merman’s hands from her and moved away from him before it even occurred to her that she had no reason to feel guilty.
She glanced back at the merman when she’d put some distance between them, still too stunned by all that had happened to take everything in.
He was standing, though--on two legs.
Taking care not to allow her gaze to linger on his genitals, she swept her gaze upwards to his face again, puzzled. The face was the same. She’d imprinted that pretty solidly in her mind. But where was the merman’s tail?
Shaking her head to try to clear away her confusion, she retreated to the far side of the room where she saw that the diving crew was grouped. Mark snagged her as she reached him, wrapping his arms around her possessively and glaring at the merman—naked man—over the top of her head.
It didn’t occur to her to try to break his grip, but she twisted around to look at the man again.
Whatever amusement had been on his face, or that she’d thought she’d seen, was gone. His expression was hard now, his gaze speculative as it moved over Mark.
Without another word—not that she’d understood what he’d said before—he turned on his heel, strode to a doorway that looked like nothing so much as a wavering mirror—and stepped through.
Cassie felt her jaw slide to half mast.
He paused on the other side. As she watched, his legs
merged
, became the fish tail she’d seen before. Without glancing back, he flicked the tailfins and vanished from sight.
Slowly becoming aware that Mark was still holding her in a bruising grip, Cassie began to struggle to free herself. Reluctantly, he eased his hold on her, but he didn’t release her completely. She pushed at him until he let go, putting some distance between them before she stopped. “What’s going on here?”
16
Mark frowned at her. “That’s what I’d like to know. What the hell were you doing
kissing
that fish?”
* * * *
Raen moved to the video display when he reached the observation room. Jadin, who was already at the console studying the prisoners, glanced over at him and grinned.
What was that all about? I can not believe you, of all people, would deign to touch one of
the primitives so intimately.
Raen turned to look at his long time friend, studied him for a moment, and finally shrugged.
She is a land dweller. She needed air.
Jadin eyed his friend skeptically but finally decided Raen’s expression didn’t welcome teasing.
They seem to have progressed quite a bit since I saw them last. How
long do you suppose we were in stasis?
Too long. I feel like hell. Do you know what brought us out?
You have not heard?
Jadin asked in surprise, pleased to know he’d learned the news before his superior officer, a little puzzled, too, if it came to that. Raen wasn’t just
his
superior officer, he was the head of the garrison. He should’ve been informed first, but then again he appeared to have been a little preoccupied with his prisoner, he thought wryly.
Raen frowned.
I assumed it was the breach in security, that they had tripped the
alert when they came in. When I came around the woman was right in front of me and all
the lights were on, the alarms blaring ….
Jadin shrugged.
Maybe, but everyone is awakening, not just the sentinels.
Raen dragged his attention from the woman with an effort and looked at Jadin, sensing he was bursting with excitement.
They have come?
Jadin’s face fell.
Damn it to hell! Who told you?
Raen felt a smile tug at his lips.
No one. It was just a wild guess,
he retorted
dryly
, based upon your comment that everyone is awakening. You are certain that is
what it is?
I heard it from Kadar. He said when he roused, the communications were open
and they were trying to hail us.
Raen’s expression turned wry.
And there were those who doubted the Mother
world would send us succor in our hour of need!
Jadin frowned.
You did not think they would? Why the hell did you agree to go
into stasis if you did not think they would send help?
Raen shrugged.
I am a sentinel. It is my duty to guard the citizens of Atlantis, not
to question my superiors.
17
Cassie felt her color fluctuate madly at the accusation in Mark’s voice. Guilt and resentment warred with embarrassment. “He’s
not
a fish!” she said indignantly.
Mark’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever the hell it is,
it
ain’t
a human,” he said tightly.
Cassie had had time to wonder why her first impulse was to defend the merman.
She didn’t have time to analyze it, though, since Mark’s next comment put her on the defensive. “I ran out of air. He was breathing for me. I’d have drowned if he hadn’t.”
“You wouldn’t have nearly drowned if he hadn’t grabbed you,” Shelley pointed out.
Cassie turned to look at the woman huddled next to Linda against the wall.
“And that didn’t look like he was breathing for you … aside from the fact that he didn’t
need
to once you got here.”
Cassie turned a narrow eyed glare on Mark again, but she couldn’t help the blush that rose to her cheeks. “I was still in a blind panic about not being able to breathe,” she admitted reluctantly. “I didn’t know he’d brought me to a place where I could breathe without his help.”
She
had
realized it at about the same time it had dawned on her that he was kissing her, not breathing for her, but she saw no reason to admit that. Not that she felt like Mark had any right to question her in the first place! As far as she was concerned the
date
had ended the minute he’d abandoned her top side to go off exploring.
Glancing away from Mark, she saw the others were staring at her with varying degrees of accusation, and her temper erupted. “You needn’t be looking at me so damned accusingly! I didn’t get any of you into this mess! You got yourselves into it, and got me into it, too, I might add! I happen to be the only one here that isn’t used to diving and I would very happily have stayed on the damned boat if all of you hadn’t left me there by myself.”
They had the grace to look away guiltily, but she was still angry that they behaved as if she was fraternizing with the enemy when she hadn’t done anything but try to survive. Was it
her
fault the guy had taken advantage of her mindless panic? Why should she feel guilty that she’d actually enjoyed it?
Moving to the wall where the other women were seated, she put some distance between herself and the others and sat down. She still felt unaccountably weak from her ordeal and found herself struggling against the urge to burst into tears.
“What are we going to do now?” Shelley asked after a prolonged silence. “We can’t stay here. We have to think of a way to get out.”
“Hey!” Mark said nastily. “We’re all open to suggestions! Unfortunately, none of us can breathe water like they do and they took the damned tanks.”
Cassie looked up at him in surprise. Right up until he’d said that, she hadn’t realized she’d been relieved of her tank, as well. Not that it mattered since the thing was empty, and she suspected theirs would’ve been close to empty, but she couldn’t even remember when he’d taken it off of her. Truthfully, she’d been so mindless with terror 18
she couldn’t remember much of anything from the moment she’d found the merman staring back at her when she’d pushed away from him.
Remembering the wave that had shoved her into him to begin with, though, brought her prior impressions back to mind. “Has anybody noticed the vibrations?” she asked uneasily.
Shelley gave her a look. “Yes, we’ve all noticed. Carl seems to think it might be the shocks of an underwater quake. That’s why I want to get the hell out of here.” She glanced around at the men. “One of the reasons, anyway.”
Cassie frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think it’s a quake.”
Carl sent her an irritated look. “You a specialist?”
She glared at him at his tone. “It’s been constant since I first noticed it,” she said tightly. “Nothing I’ve ever heard about quakes seemed to point to the constant vibrations I’ve been feeling.”
“She’s got you there,” Mark retorted. “Although I have to wonder how you noticed anything the way you were wrapped around that guy.”
Cassie studied him for a long moment, wrestling with her temper. They were all scared and lashing out with their tempers and it wasn’t helping matters at all.
Nevertheless, she found his possessiveness too irritating to ignore. “Let’s just get one thing straight right now, Mark Sanderson! Your possessive attitude has been duly noted and isn’t appreciated! I do not belong to you. This was a date—a first date—and as far as I’m concerned it ended when you left me on that damned boat to go exploring,
knowing
we had a storm bearing down us! So I don’t, definitely don’t, feel like taking this shit from you about me being with that merman—like I … enticed him or something!
“I thought he was a statue. I was looking at him and the next thing I knew he was looking back at me! I tried to get away, but he caught me—the same way you were all caught, I assume.
“Even if I
was
flirting with him—which I wasn’t—it
still
wouldn’t be any of your damned business!”
Mark reddened. “I guess this means ‘every man for himself’ then?”
“Oh, you really are an asshole!” Linda snapped. “I don’t blame her for dumping you!”
“Up yours, Sanchez!” Mark snapped and stalked to the other side of the room.
“Fighting among ourselves isn’t going to help anything,” Carl put it. “We need to be constructive, people.”
“Well, in the words of the asshole, we’re all open to suggestions, great leader,”
David said testily. “I don’t know how it went down for the rest of you, but I tangled with one of those things, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think three of us could take
one
of them down. Then there’s the little problem of no air. I could make it to the top, I think, but it would have to be a fast climb and we don’t have anything on the boat for the bends.”
Carl stared at him angrily for several moments and finally moved to settle against the wall like everyone else.
There were no furnishings in the room at all. After studying over that for a little while, Cassie finally decided that where ever they were the place wasn’t a prison cell.
She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She supposed it didn’t actually make a hell of a lot of difference, but she felt better about it not being a prison cell until it 19
dawned on her that it was just one room and there was no place to relieve themselves if anybody had the need.
She wished she hadn’t thought about it because the moment the ‘suggestion’
popped into her mind she noticed her bladder was beginning to get uncomfortable. “Do you think they’ll keep us here long?” she asked no one in particular.
“I don’t know why we’re here at all,” Shelly retorted. “How can we guess how long we’ll be here when we don’t know why?”
“Snooping,” Jimmy said succinctly. “They’re aliens and they caught us snooping around their ship and they’re not going to let us go at all.”
“Shit, Jimmy!” Carl snapped. “Don’t start with that crap!”
“Well, what the hell do you think they are?” Jimmy demanded.
“This isn’t a ship,” Shelly said pointedly. “Look around. It’s obviously a building.”
“On the ocean floor?” David pointed out, his voice laced with skepticism.
“Don’t tell me you agree with him,” Linda demanded.
“They aren’t human.”
“Who says they aren’t?” Cassie asked irritably. “Just because they don’t look like any of the races we’re familiar with doesn’t mean they’re not human.”
“Oh! Come on, woman! You kiss that thing and now you think you know it’s human?”
Cassie narrowed her eyes at Mark’s comment. “Fine! Have it your way! I
kissed
him! He felt human, damn it! He tasted human! He kissed like a human—except better,” she added nastily.
“Really?” Shelly asked, obviously intrigued. “They are … gorgeous.”
“She’s lost her mind. They must be able to control minds or something,” David growled savagely, pushing himself to his feet and stalking across the room to join Mark.
Shelley exchanged a long look with Cassie and finally shrugged. “I’m just saying
….”
“Just don’t,” Carl snapped. “We’re in danger. Yes, I can see where you might think they look good—I’ll concede that much—but they’re
not
human and it would be really dangerous for you to think of them that way.”
Linda stared at him speculatively for a moment. “You agree with Jimmy? You think they’re aliens, too?”
He returned her look for a moment and finally shrugged irritably. “How the fuck would I know? All I do know is that they’re not human … Did anybody understand
anything
that thing said?”
“It sounded like Greek to me,” David put in.
“Well, at least we can all agree on that,” Carl said dryly. “It was Greek to me, too, but that ain’t very helpful.”
“Naw, man! I’m serious. It sounded like Greek.”
That comment caught everyone’s attention. “You can speak Greek?” Jimmy asked, obviously impressed.
David reddened. “I can’t speak Greek, but I used to work for this Greek couple.
They talked in their native tongue to each other all the time. What he said sounded a lot like that. I think it’s Greek.”
20
Carl rolled his eyes. “Well, even if it is, that isn’t helpful worth a shit!
We
can’t speak Greek.”
Cassie thought that over. “Maybe Mark was right? Maybe this is Atlantis? I mean, the language—the architecture—doesn’t it seem like it has a strong Greek influence?”
“The Atlanteans were Atlanteans, not Greek. It was just the ancient Greeks that wrote about Atlantis.”
Cassie frowned. “So? This place still has a strong Greek influence. Doesn’t that suggest they had contact with them sometime in the past?”
Carl shrugged. “Maybe … but I still don’t see anything helpful about that information, even if you’re right.”
“Maybe and maybe not, but it might mean they have some familiarity with other people that were around back then.”
David frowned. “Unless there were people around that were speaking English, I doubt it would matter if they had.”
“The Romans!” Cassie said pointedly. “They spoke Latin, and English is based on Latin, and so are the romance languages—like Spanish.”
Everyone turned to look at Linda. She stared back at them blankly for a moment and then with irritation. “I don’t speak Spanish.”
Shelly gaped at her. “How can you
not
speak Spanish when your name’s Sanchez?”
Linda glared at her. “Your last name’s German. Do you speak German?”
“No, but ….”
“I rest my case.”