Crest (Ondine Quartet Book 3) (42 page)

Helene scowled and tried to walk around him. "Yeah."

Loverboy pressed on. "Did you like the twist I did? It's really hard to —"

"Yeah, I saw," she said, disinterested. "Sorry. I need to interview the stars."

Dax's cocky smile wavered. I almost cheered.

Aubrey and Renee joined us. I grudgingly nodded at the swaggering New Yorker.

"Nice aim."

Renee gave a slight bow. "I know."

The corner of my mouth tugged up. Show-off.

"How bad is it out there?" Chloe asked in a low voice.

Aub shrugged. "Pretty much what we expected, I think."

I glanced at Amber. "Your mom didn't know."

"No one did." Nervous fingers twisted the bottom of her shirt. "Guess everyone knows now."

Renee nudged her shoulder. "That vine trick was really badass."

A faint smile flickered over Amber's face. "It was, wasn't it?"

"Tristan arranged for extra security until things settle down a bit," I explained.

Aubrey nodded. "His men took Ian out right after the presentation was done."

Relief flooded me. As a nix, Ian presented a prime target for angry backlash.

"Don't answer anything you feel uncomfortable with. If anyone bothers you, report it immediately." I looked at them one by one. "What happens now isn't your problem."

It was mine.

The ondine training program and today's surprise presentation were my ideas. I'd handle my own end of things.

Jeeves approached. "We should leave soon,
sondaleur
. Yahaira has a small reception planned at her apartment."

Quite a few ondines and a lot of unhappy people out there. Smaller moving targets were safer.

"We'll separate into groups. Renee, Helene, and Amber first. I'll head over with Aub and Chlo in the next group."

He nodded and left to assemble security.

Helene swung the camera toward her sister. "How do you feel about what you did?"

For a few long moments, Renee looked straight into the lens with an odd expression.

And then a brilliant smile flashed. "Best day of my life."

She wrapped Helene in a tight hug. Pressed against her sister's shoulder, Helene missed the tightening around Renee's eyes.

I swallowed and looked away.

Renee let go and slung her arms around Helene and Amber.

"Come on, girls," she declared with theatrical drama. "Let's grab some of that food before those boys inhale it all."

Helene giggled and Amber rolled her eyes. Eight gardinels accompanied them out.

The tent suddenly felt empty.

"Tonight?" Chloe stared at their backs.

"Midnight."

The recall process would begin the moment her birthday arrived.

"Maybe you can convince Jourdain to let Renee stay," Aubrey murmured.

I looked at her. "You do remember who we're talking about?"

Besides being creepy as hell, Jourdain possessed a powerful magic I didn't want to mess around with.

"Yeah, but you're also the
sondaleur
and Governor-elect. That has to count for something."

For some reason, Aubrey and Renee thought I possessed superpowers. I didn't know whether to be flattered or flabbergasted.

"Why in the world would she listen to me? The recall process has been going on since the beginning of our race."

Aub shifted. Brows furrowed and conflicting emotions warred in her emerald eyes.

She knew something. "Spill it."

"I was working on the translation of an old history book in the library," she said slowly. "It mentioned older ondines in their sixties and seventies who weren't mated."

Chloe frowned. "You mean widows?"

Aubrey took a deep breath. "No. I mean there was a time before the war when unmated ondines weren't pulled back to the ocean. They continued their mortal life on land."

She hesitated. I tensed slightly as if expecting a punch.

"And they weren't just unmated. The book also mentioned ondines who chose mates other than humans. Like selkies."

No one spoke for almost a full minute.

Chloe touched my arm. "Kendra, maybe —"

"No." I sank a lot of weight into that word.

"But —"

"I said, no."

I wasn't going there. No way. Raising my hopes even a little was dangerous.

It was one thing to accept what I couldn't have. Another thing entirely to hope I could have it, only to have that hope crushed to dust when life inevitably stomped all over it.

One I could survive. The other would be difficult.

A commotion broke out at the front of the tent.

"Let me in!"

Ewan attempted to hold back a struggling dark-haired figure.

Lucas. I thought he was still in the infirmary.

"It's okay," I called out.

Ewan reluctantly let go. Lucas had lost weight and his face still had that hollow look I'd first seen after the attack.

He walked straight to Chloe. "Teach me."

Jeeves caught my eye and I shook my head slightly. I was as clueless as him.

Chloe startled. "What?"

"I want to learn how to shoot like you." A fierce look of determination carved on Lucas' face. "Teach me how to fight them."

Michael neared. "That's not a good idea."

"I know how to use a firearm. Dad taught me and Matt how to hunt."

"Hunting animals is not the same as hunting Aquidae. As a human, you're at a worse disadvantage than an ondine —"

"Why don't we see what the Governor-elect thinks?" Jeeves said politely. "She is, after all, officially in charge of this program."

Michael and Ewan looked like they desperately wanted to say something, but kept silent.

Lucas turned to me, eyes driven. "Please."

How many times had his family flown selkies, including Tristan, over the years? They'd given their lives to help elementals.

And now he was alone. Unable to retreat into the safe ignorance of human life and unable to fully belong to our world.

Today's demonstration had been about change, something that couldn't be one-sided or reserved for only a few.

It had to be all or nothing.

Fly or die trying.

I nodded. "Michael will teach you."

THE MEMORY OF MARCELLA'S FUNEREAL floated like an invisible layer, a reflection shimmering underneath the present.

All the same things were here. The somberness in the air, sharp and grim. The ocean's salty scent blending with its gentle murmur.

A family in mourning.

The only differences were in the replacement of bright afternoon sun with pale moonlight and in the change from warm golden sand to the rugged landscape of rocks and cliffs.

Daniel and Rhian had already said their good-byes as did Garreth, Adrian, and Ewan. Fujio and Urian, her friends and protectors from New York, had also bid farewell.

I stood with Aubrey, Chloe, and Amber at the tree line behind the gravel bed.

The people who remained were all ondines, silent witnesses to the end of our internal countdown.

Maybe we were the only ones who understood.

I walked away from the others and met Renee halfway to the water's edge.

"Julian's angry at me and that's probably why he isn't —"

"Don't worry," she said. "We said our good-byes when he came back yesterday."

She extended her hand and I stiffly took it. My insides trembled.

"You can still run." Desperation edged my whisper. "If you get far from the water, there's a chance —"

"No." Renee gently squeezed my hand and let go. "The pain becomes unbearable if you stay away from the water. Most ondines don't make it a week." She took a deep breath. "It's been a pleasure, Kendra."

She was really doing this. She was really leaving.

I forced a smile. "Can't say the same."

She laughed. It would be the last sound I heard from her.

She returned to the arms of her family. Catrin, Helene, and Renee held each other in a group embrace.

Helene only used one of her arms. Other hand gripped the camera so tight, her knuckles were white.

A lithe figure moved through the trees opposite me and I caught the glint of blonde hair.

Dax. Concern etched on his face.

Air stirred.

Ocean glowed with a luminous ivory light. Magic, rich and weighty, perfumed the wind.

Pale, glimmering vines uncoiled from the lapping water and slowly glided up the gravel toward Renee.

She stepped away from her family, expression a portrait of peace.

Streams of white ribbons bound her body to the ocean.

Renee took a step back. Another.

Tawny eyes fastened on Helene and Catrin.

With each step, energy pulsed as if the water's heart beat in time to her return.

Her feet touched the water.

Locks of ebony hair lifted off her back and neck, whipping around her face as if an invisible wind swirled around her. Strands coarsened, transforming into thick rubbery chunks.

She moved farther away, distance between us steadily increasing.

Skin paled like bleached grass. Phoenix tattoo on her arm unraveled, ink fading as magic wiped away proof of who she once was.

Water now rose to her waist. Color had completely leached from her skin.

Blackness flooded her eye sockets, the tawny brightness swallowed by an onyx sheen reflecting everything except her.

Still, her eyes stayed on her family.

"Put the camera away."

Catrin's quiet voice was as loud as a thunderous roar.

"No."

Shoulders shook. "Helene. Put —"

"No," she said loudly.

Catrin yanked the camera out of her hands in a sudden burst of fury. "I said put it away!"

The silver machine fell to the sand with a dull thump.

Helene stood frozen for an endless moment, staring at the silver metal winking in the sand.
 

She jerkily bent, fingers carefully picking up the machine as if it were the most precious object in the world.

Head bowed, she fiercely clutched it to her chest. Thin shoulders quivered.

Catrin's face contorted. She crumpled to her knees and pulled Helene into her arms.

Wet tracks glistened on the cheeks of mother and daughter as they continued to watch in silence.

Only Renee's head now remained above water.

Something pushed against the edges of my Virtue and I glanced up. A figure I'd recognize anywhere stood on the cliff outside the palace.

I couldn't see Tristan's face but I felt the weight of his eyes on me.

All of this was a stark reminder of the dangers we needed to guard against.

He melted back into the shadows. Renee's form disappeared beneath the waters.

In that moment, it was as if the world stood still.

Catrin and Helene stumbled back to the palace, arms supporting the other up. The girls murmured something I didn't hear and left.

The rhythmic rise and fall of waves continued as if nothing had happened. Some part of me expected Renee to emerge from the glossy waters, head tilted back in laughter as she explained how the entire thing was a joke.

She'd insist she wasn't done pissing me off yet, rub her hand against Helene's hair, and toss a few things around with her Virtue just for kicks.

The image was so vivid, so real. I was certain if I waited a few seconds longer she'd appear.

Nothing.

The wistful, bewildered ache in my chest sparked into hot anger.

I was pissed off at Renee for asking me the impossible and Tristan for ignoring me. Marcella for dying and Gabe for leaving me behind. Catrin for letting her daughter do this and Helene for hiding behind her camera.

But most of all, I was pissed off at that dessondine at the bottom of the ocean for calling us back to her.

I marched over the gravel bed. Virtue connected with the water as soon as I waded in.

Closing my eyes, I let Empath determine Renee's trajectory. Mind's eye showed me a path of diffused white winding deep into the bowels of the sea.

I dove, body instinctively following the magic residue north.

Warm water gently caressed my skin. Dark rawness threaded the tides, a severity similar to the harsh terrain above.

Austere rocks, gaping canyons, and chunks of ice converged into a craggy, lethal landscape. This place survived untouched, a territory where nature reigned wild and untamed.

Dense schools of salmon and pollock brushed against me, spilling over rocks in a brilliant silver arc. Fungal fronds and bright, textured coral sprawled against boulders.

Measured resonance pushed against my Virtue followed by a flash of grey and white. Two fin whales called out, their vibrating vocalizations as natural as the magic running through my veins.

Trails of pale magic shimmered, leading me to the base of a massive iceberg. Pearly notched ridges hung in the indigo black. A haunting familiarity surrounded it, like the faint recollection of a dream.

A cluster of dessondines floated around the glacial mass. Renee drifted near the east face of the iceberg.

My stomach twisted.

The height of her nose, the shape of her eyes and lips, and the curve of her cheekbones remained the same. But everything else - the tattoo, the bright eyes, the silky ebony locks - was gone.

Her expression was now as lifeless as the other dessondines.

"
Sondaleur
."

Jourdain emerged from the wall of ice, androgynous body rising before me in a glimmering mist of magic. Black eyes crawled, powerful magic prying under my skin.

The first time I'd faced her like this, fear had dominated.

Now, anger flowed.

Undo this.

"She cannot return."

The voice, neither male nor female, vibrated from the water itself.

Eyes narrowed. War took enough daughters, mothers, fathers, sons. Our own world shouldn't be doing the same.

Renee
. I turned to her still form.
Let's go back.

Blank eyes gazed at me. No recognition.

I tried again.

Helene and your mother. They're waiting for you.

Nothing.

"She no longer remembers you," Jourdain said flatly. "She has bridged the gap between mortal and immortal. What was once a full mortal life has become a mere speck her memory washed away."