Authors: Tracy Deebs
Yes, ma’am
, Mahina and I answered at once. Her dad might be the absentminded professor, but her mom was ninety-seven percent drill sergeant and three percent Betty Crocker. I loved her, but she scared the heck out of me most days. Today was no exception.
She hugged us both once more, then climbed out of the subbloon. The last thing I saw before Mahina’s dad slid the hatch into place was her mom burying her face against his chest. Then Mahina was locking it from the inside and sliding into the captain’s seat.
You ready?
she asked.
As I’ll ever be. But how are we going to fit this thing through those doors? Isn’t it too high?
We’re not going through those doors
. Then she punched a button and the roof of the barn started to slide open.
Here we go
, she said.
A second later we were hurtling up, through the open roof and out into the ocean.
How fast does this thing go?
I demanded as we careened perilously close to the gossamer-fine electrical net that stretched over the top of Coral Straits. It functioned as a defense mechanism and a warning system.
Fast!
she answered, and we shot forward at what I swear felt like warp speed.
How are we going to get through the gates?
I demanded. Until I’d seen the net, I’d forgotten all about them. Both were new additions to the mercity, ordered by Hailana before her death. I’d argued against them all through the construction period, telling her that neither was going to work to keep Tiamat and her minions out and that if we weren’t careful they could be used against us. Hailana hadn’t believed me, and now, here we were living my nightmare. Sabyn was in control of the city and we couldn’t get out—not without frying ourselves on the specially designed net.
We’re not going for the gates. Too many guards
, she said as we flew toward the outskirts of town.
I was counting on you to do your little electric show and blast a hole in the fence big enough to get us out
.
I can do that
. I was weak, but I was going to have to find the strength from somewhere. There was no other choice.
Except we didn’t make it to the fence. Instead, the second Mahina hit the outskirts of town, she ran into a huge roadblock—one with enough guards and bunyip and weapons to stop a military co alition, let alone two girls in a homemade subbloon.
What do we do now?
I said.
Why are you asking me? I’m the science geek. This whole scenario, this is your part of the equation
.
Right
. I rubbed my hands together.
Awesome
.
Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
she asked as she slowed down and dropped closer to the ground.
What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be turning around, trying to find another way through?
The look she shot me was patently disbelieving.
Are you kidding me? We don’t exactly blend in with the other traffic
.
Of course she was right. As she slowed down even more so she could get into the inspection line, everyone was staring at us. The subbloon was a long way from the small chariots and people movers that we were in line behind, and I figured it was only a matter of minutes before the guards came over to see who the hell we were—and where we were going.
Which meant, if I wanted to get us out of this, I was going to have to think of something quickly.
I glanced around the subbloon.
Do any of these windows open, or are they just to look out?
They all open—one of the perks of being able to breathe water
. She gestured to a panel on the dashboard.
We don’t have to keep it pressurized like a real submarine
.
Right. Of course. Excellent
. I reached over to the panel, played until I found the switch that opened the big window directly to the right of me. Water flooded the chamber, swept away the few things that weren’t weighted or tied down.
So, what are you thinking?
I’m not sure yet. What do you suppose is in that bag your dad packed for us?
A bunch of stuff. Why?
Any of those underwater grenade things you had last summer?
I don’t know. Probably. But, Tempest, there are too many people around. We can’t use—
I know. I know. It was just a thought. Chalk it up to the muddled brain
. I looked around, eyed the distance between us and the checkpoint and the checkpoint and the fence. It wasn’t that far and if we were lucky …
Okay, I know you said this thing goes fast, but seriously, can you give me a top speed?
Top speed?
Mahina’s eyebrows shot to her hairline.
I don’t know, maybe one hundred miles an hour? A hundred and ten if I pull out everything she’s got?
Are you asking me or are you telling me?
Both?
I laughed.
Okay. So they can still swim faster
.
Only if they’re going at top speed too. Remember, these are mermen, not selkies
.
I know
. I closed my eyes for a second, concentrated on blocking everything out—Mahina, the guards, even the fear that had bile rising to the back of my throat—and concentrated on assessing my powers.
I didn’t want to be caught. I really didn’t want to be caught. For my sake and for Mahina’s. And our escape rested on how much power I could drum up.
I glanced down at the gray-lavender shade of my normally violet phosphorescence. I obviously wasn’t at my strongest, but for what I had in mind, I didn’t have to be.
Okay, one more question
, I told Mahina.
How long do you think it’ll take this thing to get up to full speed?
Ten, fifteen seconds, maybe. The fuel is pretty powerful and the engine
—I held my hand up, stopping her middescription.
I know. I know
, she said.
Save the design lesson for later
.
Much later. Right now, what I want you to do is get out of line, start heading back in the other direction
.
But we’ll look guilty! They’ll be on us before we can even try to hide
.
We’re not going to hide. And they’re already on us
. I nodded at the contingent of guards making their way toward us.
Mahina took one look at them and eased the subbloon up and out of line.
I hope you know what you’re doing
, she told me as she started to turn.
Wait! Can you go in reverse?
Yeah
. She looked baffled.
Do that for about thirty-five or forty seconds. And then stop, give them a chance to close in on us
.
Mahina did as I asked, her face full of trepidation.
It’s a good thing I trust you, Tempest
.
I know. I think we’re going to find out just how much you do
, I answered as Sabyn’s guards and the Coral Straits military drew closer and closer.
What I wanted to do was tricky. I knew that, especially considering how many civilians were around. I didn’t want to hurt any of them; nor did I particularly want to hurt any of the military officers. After all, if we managed to fix things, I might one day find myself as their merQueen, and I really didn’t think killing a bunch of them was a good place to start.
Sabyn’s mercenaries and the bunyip, however, were on their own. They’d tried to kill me before, and in my opinion, that meant it was open season. Not that I was relishing the thought
of hurting them, but I wasn’t going to cry myself to sleep either. My tender heart had suffered a lot of blows in the last year and it was time for me to grow up.
Tempest
… Mahina drew out my name in a panic. I knew it was killing her not to move, not to do something, but the success of my plan counted on split-second timing. Not to mention my powers doing exactly what they were supposed to do. But I decided not to worry about the second step until I had the first step taken care of.
Okay, get ready to go
, I told her.
On three
.
One
. A group of fifteen or so guards stopped in front of the subbloon.
Two
. Nearly twice that many bunyip made their way around my side of the craft while ten or so soldiers went around to Mahina’s.
Now, Mahina. Now!
She hit the throttle and the subbloon shot forward at the same second I blasted an energy shot straight at Sabyn’s guards They went flying out of the way, no doubt injured by the shot, but at least they hadn’t been run over by our vehicle.
Tempest, there are people ahead!
Mahina screamed.
I know. Don’t let go of that throttle!
This was where things got tricky. I took a deep breath and used every ounce of concentration I had to control my telekinesis. I’d never done anything on this scale before, but I was determined not to fail. Not this time.
Just as we approached the line of people, sea animals, and vehicles, I swept them all out of the way with my mind. I even managed to move the large underwater boats the military had parked in front of the line.
Holy shit!
Mahina yelled.
Did you just do that?
I was too busy gathering electricity from the water in the cabin to answer. Seconds before we reached the fence, I sent a huge blast of electricity straight at it, blowing out a hole the size of a small tugboat.
We cruised through the hole, but I knew they were going to come after us. Reinforcements were already pouring in from checkpoints on either side of ours. Our only saving grace was there was no gate on this side of the fence—if I could do what I wanted to, they would have to hustle to the closest opening to get out of the city.
As Mahina concentrated on piloting us into the open ocean, I painstakingly pushed myself out of my seat and swam to the other side of the subbloon.
Open the window
, I shouted at her, and she did without so much as a bobble of the craft.
Guards were starting to pour through the hole I’d made, so I shot a huge pulse of energy back at them, big enough to create an underwater wave that swept all but a couple back in through the hold. Then, once again using my telekinesis, I grabbed every sliver of wood I could find and molded the fence back together. Within a couple of minutes, it was like there’d never been a hole. The fence was completely mended and booby-trapped with a shot of electricity that would fry the hell out of anything that tried to come through it.
Mahina had been watching in the rearview mirror, alternating her attention between what was in front of us and what was behind us.
Holy shit!
she said again as I plopped back into the seat beside her.
My legs, and the rest of me, were shaking now. I don’t know
if it was because of nerves or all the energy I’d just expended, but I was spent. My head felt like it was going to split open and my entire body hurt.
How did you do that?
she demanded.
I waved a hand to tell her we could talk later—right now I was crashing, hard.
Here
, she said, reaching into the console between us and pulling out a huge seaweed energy shake.
Drink this. You need it
.
Normally, I hated the things, but she was right. We still had a couple sentries who had made it out of the city, and while it didn’t look like they were pursuing us, we couldn’t afford to drop our guard. Not yet.
I downed the shake in three huge, hideous gulps. It tasted terrible, but I could tell it was working when my shaking slowly eased off. Exhausted, I rested my head against the back of my chair.
I’m not going to sleep
, I told Mahina.
I just need to rest for a few minutes
.
Rest away. That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. And considering I was around to watch you go nuclear last summer, that is saying something
.
I laughed, enjoying the first moments of peace I’d felt in weeks. They didn’t last long, though, because Mahina suddenly slammed on the brakes, yelling
Holy shit
for the third time in the last ten minutes.
I flew forward, would have hit the windshield if I hadn’t remembered to refasten my seat belt.
What’s wrong?
I demanded, trying to focus despite the fact that my brain felt like it had just gone through a blender.
People are out there. And they look like soldiers
.
How could they get out here that fast?
I demanded.
I have no idea
, she answered.
But they’re here. Do you have any more juice left?
Not much
. I braced myself anyway, concentrated on amassing as much energy as I could. Again, it wasn’t close to what I could normally do, but maybe if we could catch them off guard …
I lowered the window, told Mahina to get closer, and prepared to blast Sabyn’s men to the South Pacific. But just as I pulled my hand back, I realized I wasn’t looking at a contingent of mermen at all. The group of people coming toward us was selkies—I could see the necklaces with the little pouches that contained their sealskins around each of their necks. And as we got closer to them I realized these weren’t just any selkies. If I was right, the tall one in the middle of the pack was Kona.
Stop!
I shouted, breathless with relief and joy.
Kona’s out there. That’s Kona
.
Mahina slammed on the brakes, and we shuddered to a stop.
I swam out the open window to find several members of Kona’s entourage had rushed to check on us
The first one to get to me was Jackson, a good friend of Kona’s and someone I had hung out with on a few occasions.
Excuse me, miss, are you all right?
He looked at me with concern, though he made no move to touch me.