World of Aluvia 2 (4 page)

Her lungs were too tight. She needed oxygen. She kicked toward the surface, bubbles slipping out of her mouth.

Then something grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. Down, deeper into the dark waters.

hoebe’s leg felt as if it were sheathed in ice. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the creature below her. It was at least twice her size. It had a long pointed black tail, more snakelike than fish, but its face was that of a beautiful woman, marble-statue-perfect. Glowing red eyes stared out from the center of that stunning beauty like twin flames. This was no mermaid.

Then the thing snarled, and large, sharp teeth pointed out in all directions. Phoebe screamed, her mouth full of water, and frantically kicked her legs, but the thing had an iron grip on her right ankle. Its hand covered half her lower leg.

Phoebe plowed her arms through the water over and over again, but the dull light overhead dwindled. She would die soon. Her lungs would pull in the salty water, and it would sink her to the sandy floor now coming into view. She had no hope that this growling, angry creature had any interest in helping her breathe.

Tristan!
Her mind called out. Panic beat at her like a moth against a lantern. Things were getting fuzzy now. Her mind felt lighter than a fluff of dandelion. The unyielding pressure made her ankle burn, then tingle into numbness. Her arms stilled. She fought to keep holding her breath. Her hair swirled around her as if alive, the only part of her left with any movement.

Her eyelids drifted shut, and an image appeared in her mind: a stirring shadow of some giant beast that glowed a sullen red. She somehow knew it was asleep, this terrifying thing. But it was rumbling, it was moving, it was waking… The vision faded, and just before things went completely black, a bright light flashed, visible even through her closed eyes. She barely managed to crack an eyelid. Cool blue light shimmered in the water around her like a sapphire in the sun, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

So pretty. Like sparkling jewels…

As she drifted into unconsciousness, a ragged voice called to her.

“Phoebe, stay with me,” it begged.

Phoebe was perplexed by the pain she heard in the voice but was too far gone to look. It was a deep voice, a familiar voice that made her want to smile, but her lips wouldn’t cooperate. She was a heavy anchor, stuck on the bottom of the ocean.

Something shook her, and a stubborn spark of life made her take a deep breath, before she remembered she was under the water.

Her eyes flew open when the cold water swirled inside her without harm, filling her body with energy. She gasped, grabbing at her ankle, but it was freed. No terrifying monster glared below her. Instead, Tristan held her in his arms. They had risen from the depths, the water now full of light all around them.

“Breathe,” he urged, gazing at her face, black eyes tracking every inch of her, as if looking for wounds. “Have you lost your senses? Why did you come this far out to sea alone?”

“Something grabbed me!” she said, dazed.

“A
mer
?”

“Th-Th-This wasn’t a mer,” Phoebe stuttered.

Mina swam into view, her dark eyes wide. “What on Aluvia was it, then?”

Tristan’s brow drew to a dark V. “Tell us,” he commanded, pulling Phoebe toward the shore.

“Wait!” she cried, laying her hands on his shoulders. “The men. Bentwood’s old enforcers, Donovan, and another. They came for me! They were up there!”

Tristan cursed, a low trill of sound in the merfolk’s ancient language she’d rarely heard before. Mina darted above them and peeked her head above the surface for a moment before returning.

“Two men seem to be fighting on shore,” she reported. “The ugly one just hit the short one.”

“They’re both ugly,” Phoebe muttered.

Mina laughed, but then stopped short. “Are these the men, then? The ones you escaped when my brother rescued you from that prison?”

Phoebe nodded and shuddered, the reality of the moment sinking in. “Donovan was the one who beat me when I was trapped at Bentwood’s. It sounded like they wanted to use me to force Sierra to collect nectar for the dark alchemists again.”

She drifted a bit in the current, and Tristan pulled her to him, holding her steady. She blinked rapidly, both at the shocking events and at Tristan’s sudden nearness. It had been at least half a year since Sierra had last allowed Phoebe under the waves like this. Even that short period of time had made a surprisingly big difference in Tristan’s appearance. His jaw was squarer. The child-like roundness to his cheeks was completely gone. His ribs might be more prominent than they used to be, but muscles clearly lined his torso and arms. It was one thing to see him through the water, quite another to be pulled snug to his chest.

The merfolk had both come straight from work. Mina wore a bulging knapsack, and Tristan’s work belt was cinched around his waist where his scales met the skin of his torso. A tiny knife was tucked in the belt, and a net dangled from the side, half full of clams. His eyes, so green above the water, had bled to solid black as he used his magic to allow her to survive. They were dark and shining as obsidian, and as beautiful.

“They’re trying to control your sister?” he asked.

Alarm flared through Phoebe.

“I have to go home. What if Sierra gets home and they’re waiting for her?” she announced, kicking her legs as if she would return to the shore immediately, but Tristan held her steady.

“Think, Phoebe. They’re waiting for
you
! I can’t let you do that.”

Phoebe glared at him. “You think you can stop me?”

He and Mina laughed, and Phoebe glared harder.

Tristan smothered his grin and replied, “Well, yes, honestly, I do. But think, little songbird. They want to use you to blackmail your sister. If they don’t have you, they can’t manipulate her, can they? They didn’t try to take
her
. But if you go storming out of the water, they’d take you for sure. And then what?”

Then what, indeed? He had a point. She chewed her lip. Sierra would be out of her mind with worry if she returned early to an empty house. Phoebe hadn’t actually expected to still be gone when Sierra returned. But it would be foolish to leave the water now.

Phoebe groaned. “You’re right, you’re right. But I don’t want to wait around here for that creature to come back, either. Can we hide somewhere safe just long enough for those men to give up? Like the sunken ship you took me to once? Then I could hopefully still make it home before Sierra does.”

The twins exchanged another glance. Mina said, “This would be wise. Don’t you think, brother?”

Tristan looked conflicted, but he finally shrugged. “Well, the sunken ship is too exposed, but I suppose we could take her to our secret place. It would definitely be safe there. Whatever attacked Phoebe could still be around here, but it would never find us in our hidden spot.”

Phoebe shivered, tightening her grip on Tristan’s arms. He whispered in Phoebe’s ear, so softly that Mina could not hear, “No matter what attacked you, no matter what danger comes, know that I’ll keep you safe, always.”

His smile gleamed, charming despite the intensity of his black eyes. He tipped his head sideways, a habit of his from childhood. How many times had she seen that smile, that head tilt? She had missed it so much. Missed him.

Then his words sunk in.

“Wait a minute,” she blurted. “You rescued me. Didn’t you see what had me?”

He shook his head, face heavy with concern. “No, you were sinking, alone, when I arrived. I made it just in time. What had you captive?”

Phoebe’s mind hurt. Where had the blue light come from, then? She’d assumed it was some sort of mer-magic she hadn’t known about. And had she really seen a shadow moving in the darkness? No, that had to have been her mind playing tricks on her. Lack of air could do that.

“I was grabbed by some horrible creature I’d never seen before, with red eyes and too many teeth!”

“Hmm. There are many predators in the sea. There are creatures in the depths so strange and cruel-looking that they would shock land walkers, but such deep dwellers rarely come to shallow waters during the day. We’ll need to talk more of this,” he murmured.

Phoebe took a deep breath, always amazed by the miracle of breathing underwater. Her spinning mind slowed. Her friends’ concern was a bandage, wrapping up a bleeding wound. “But won’t this get you in trouble? You’re not supposed to take me beyond the shoreline, you said. Your own people forbid it.”

“Well, as you say, what they don’t know won’t hurt them!” Mina chirped.

Tristan scowled at Mina, but then relented with an exasperated smile. “We’re not really breaking any laws, Phoebe. You’re here already, almost terribly harmed by a creature of the sea. We wouldn’t be doing our duty to our people if we didn’t learn all we could about it and keep you in a safe, hidden spot until we can deliver you safely to shore.”

“Exactly!” Mina said.

“No one could argue with these facts,” Tristan added, almost as if convincing himself.

Phoebe didn’t need much convincing. She would love to stay with them, to be honest. A chance like this was something she might never have again, not if the relations between merfolk and humans continued to worsen.

“Well, if you think it won’t cause you any trouble…”

Tristan reassured her. “It’ll be fine. You can tell us about the creature that attacked, and we can share our news of the skeleton. It is good news, of a sort, as much as anything of that kind could be. But trust me when I say you are safe with us. We’ll tell you more, but first, let us go farther from the shore.”

Mina squealed and clapped her hands. “Oh, please say yes, Phoebe!”

Phoebe nodded. She couldn’t face the shore. Not now, even knowing that horrendous creature was still sharing the ocean with them. But Tristan’s touch radiated warmth that thawed the terrified frozen place inside her.

“Come,” he said softly.

He held one of her hands; Mina held the other. And they pulled her deeper into the sea, where she’d always longed to go, no matter how many told her she couldn’t.