Descend (Awakened Fate Book 2) (23 page)
His face was ashen, and in his eyes something had died. His gaze lingered on the shadows a moment more, while his brow twitched down with pain.
And then he glanced toward the guards.
“Come on,” he said to me, his voice tight. “Fast as you can.”
His hand gripping mine, we swam away from the hills and the cave.
~~~~~
The island was barely a nub of stone above the ocean’s surface, and the boulders beneath it looked like shoreline that the sea had already managed to devour. A mile beyond it, a rugged coast waited, its rocky shores backed by towering evergreens for as far as my eyes could see. The waves rolled around me, the water the color of metal and tossed by winds that had dragged a blanket of gray across the sky. At Zeke’s direction, we’d swam as hard as we could to reach this place, knowing that every moment we spent in the water just gave the Sylphaen or their mercenaries another chance to find us.
Though now that we were here, Zeke seemed to ignore it all. He’d hardly said a word since we left the cave, barring the short instruction to head this way. He’d barely even looked up from the ocean floor.
With a worried glance to him below me, I dove back down and trailed him as he swam closer to one of the boulders. He pressed his fingers to various depressions on the stone, and then moved a hand to its side and briefly closed his eyes.
My brow furrowed in confusion. I cast a look over my shoulder, searching for the Sylphaen I knew would be coming.
Light caught the corner of my eye and I turned back. In a hollow on the boulder’s face, the water seemed to shimmer and brighten, as though touched with a blue-white light.
“Work,” Zeke muttered, not looking away from the rock, and I couldn’t tell if he’d meant to say anything aloud. “Damned override, just work.”
An image of the wall of a room resolved from the glistening water, revealing shelves and the edge of a fejeria-blocked window that looked familiar.
“What the–” someone cried. Ina appeared in the image. “Zeke? What–”
“Ina, just listen to me.”
I could see fear come into her eyes at the words. At the harsh sound of them.
“Niall…” Zeke drew a rough breath. “Niall’s a Sylphaen. It was all a setup. He’s the one who killed Dad. Him and Liana. They did it to take control of Yvaria, to scare Ren, and to make it easier to get to Chloe. So you have to go to Ren. You have to make him understand that. And you have to stay away from Niall. Whatever it takes. Stay away from him.”
“Zeke, what–”
“Please.”
She stared at him.
I looked back to the ocean. The Sylphaen would be here soon. The guards had been only a few minutes behind us this entire time. We had to go.
Zeke seemed to know it too.
“Just do it, okay?” he continued. “Please. I… I’ll be home soon. I just have something I need to do first.” He paused. “Love you, Ina.”
He dropped his hand from the side of the boulder. The image wavered and vanished before Ina could say a word.
“What now?” I asked quietly.
For a moment, he didn’t respond.
“Zeke?”
His brow twitched down, and his head turned toward me though he didn’t meet my eyes.
“What?” he asked distantly.
I hesitated. “I asked what now?”
His gaze rose to mine for only a heartbeat before pain pulled it away again.
“Now we get you home.”
He turned and swam for the coast.
An ache moved through me. I wanted to help him. I wanted to fix this somehow.
But short of what we were already doing, I couldn’t think of a way.
Drawing a breath to keep me steady, I followed him toward the shore.
Epilogue
Noah
The salty air moved around me and on the horizon, storm clouds formed. The tide swept in around my feet, stinging a bit at random scrapes from the car wreck earlier today.
My cousins were gone. Pretty soon, Baylie would be too. She’d already stayed longer than she’d planned, and after what had happened with my family, she was eager to return home. Meanwhile, Dad had taken care of the cops, though I probably wouldn’t see my license again anytime soon. Maddox forgave me about the car, joking that he’d planned on giving it to me anyway. Diane claimed just to be glad I was alright, although it’d taken her several minutes of yelling to get around to admitting that point.
And now they all wanted to get back to normal.
Even if I wasn’t sure what that looked like anymore.
Waves washed around my feet and then rushed out to sea.
It’d always felt better next to the ocean than anywhere else in the world. I’d never wanted to leave it, not for long anyway, and every time I had, I’d always been so happy to return home.
Until now.
The steps creaked behind me. I looked back to see Baylie coming down the stairs.
“Hey,” she said quietly.
“Hey.”
Her hand lingered on the banister, and her gaze dropped. With a bare toe, she nudged the sand. “I had a question.”
I waited.
She glanced up at me. “You want a vacation?”
My brow furrowed.
Baylie tried for a smile. “I hear Kansas is… well,
calm
, this time of year.”
I paused, taken back by the simple gesture. By the fact she wanted me around.
By how much of a relief it would be to get away from this place and the question of whether I’d ever see Chloe again.
Even if only for a while.
“Yeah,” I replied, “that’d be nice.”
###
Want to know what happens next?
Book Three of the Awakened Fate series
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Other titles
The Children and the Blood trilogy
(published under the name Megan Joel Peterson)
About the author
Skye Malone is a fantasy and paranormal romance author, which means she spends most of her time not-quite-convinced that the things she imagines couldn't actually exist.
Born and raised in central Illinois, she hopes someday to travel the world – though in the meantime she’ll take any story that whisks her off to a place where the fantastic lives inside the everyday. She loves strong and passionate characters, complex villains, and satisfying endings that stay with you long after the book is done. An inveterate writer, she can’t go a day without getting her hands on a keyboard, and can usually be found typing away while she listens to all the adventures unfolding in her head.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks to everyone who supports this series.
To the wonderful people who’ve read these books: the Awakened Fate series wouldn’t be what it is without you. Thank you so much for reading, for your support, and for your excitement about this story.
To Vicki Brown: thank you again for beta-reading, your feedback, and for how much you’ve enjoyed this series.
To Tarra Peterson: thank you again for your thoughts and input, and for all your wonderful enthusiasm.
To my mother and sister, Mary Ann and Keri Offenstein: your support makes all the difference in the world. Thank you so much for all you’ve given me.
To my husband, Eugene: as always, this story wouldn’t have happened without you. Thank you for everything.
Blurb
Chloe always dreamed of visiting the ocean, and now the ocean is the only place she has left to go. Trapped in the form of a mermaid and on the run from the Sylphaen, her best chance for safety lies in traveling with Zeke to his underwater home and staying under his protection there.
Leaving isn’t easy, however. Her best friend doesn’t know where she’s gone, and her family doesn’t either. She’s been forced to abandon Noah, the boy she’s liked for years and who she’s just discovered likes her too. She only hopes Zeke’s people will help her so she can return soon.
But when conspiracies follow her and people start to die, safety becomes harder to find than ever. The Sylphaen are coming. They’re more powerful than she could have imagined.
And they’re not through with Chloe yet.
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