Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (20 page)

I reached for him.

“Wait!” he gasped. “Don’t touch me. All this rain will burn you.” He attempted to undo his jacket, but stopped when his fingers sizzled. The slicker was covered in burn marks and reeked of burnt plastic.

“Why are you here?” I studied his face, looking for signs that he was an evil demon, but it was really him. Sage was calm and so was my intuition.

“I had to come.” He still gasped and wheezed. I glanced around as if I’d magically find a towel or drink to offer him, but of course there was nothing except a shocked Rownan and Treygan in the empty cave with us. “I have information.”

Looking apprehensive, Treygan knelt beside him. “What kind of information?”

Uncle Lloyd’s cloudy eyes blindly searched the rest of the cave. His failing vision was another sign that he was the real deal. “Rownan, I’m so sorry.”

Rownan flinched. “Sorry for what?”

Uncle Lloyd’s hands shook the way they always did when he was upset. “Vienna. She … there’s no point in searching for her.”

Rownan’s jaw tightened. “Why?”

Uncle Lloyd bowed his head. “Many years ago, she tried exiting Harte through the same gate you entered, but it killed her.”

My breath caught in my throat. My heart felt heavier than stone, and my grief sent it crumbling into a billion broken pieces. “Rownan, I’m so sorry.”

Treygan stood and placed a hand on Rownan’s shoulder.

Rownan was frozen in place, his eyes wide. “That’s a lie.”

Uncle Lloyd sighed. “It pains me to have to tell you, more than you can imagine, but it’s the truth.”

Rownan lurched forward. “Who told you that?”

“Stheno and Euryale told the sirens. Nixie told me.”

“Why wouldn’t she have told us this before we came here?”

Uncle Lloyd flashed a sad grimace in my direction. “Apparently, the gorgon sisters were happy to be rid of Yara.”

I knew it. Stheno and Euryale did hate me. They wanted me to go to Harte so I wouldn’t come back. I hung my head. Treygan and Rownan were in this
evil realm because of me.

“We have to go home,” Treygan said. “The minute the rain stops, we’re out of here.”

“I still don’t believe it,” Rownan growled.

“Rownan,” Treygan gripped his arm. “Stheno and Euryale have no reason to lie.”

“How would they know what happened to Vienna?”

“They know everything,” Treygan said.

Rownan’s jaw clenched so tight it looked like it might break. I had to get everyone out of here. If anything happened to any of them, Uncle Lloyd, Treygan, or Rownan, I would never be able to live with myself. “How do we get home?”

“We go back to the gate,” Uncle Lloyd said. “Yara will have to fly us out one at a time.”

I froze. I could feel Treygan’s and Rownan’s eyes on me.

After a few silent moments, Treygan asked, “What’s the alternative plan? Yara no longer has her wings.”

“What?” Uncle Lloyd squinted.

With a tremor in my voice, I explained, “Evil creatures ripped them off as soon as we arrived.”

“Dear gods.” Uncle Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. “I know of no other way.”

Treygan and I exchanged defeated frowns. The inevitable truth escaped my lips in a whisper. “We’re never going home.”

“Don’t say that,” Treygan said. “There has to be another way.”

“Not for us.” Uncle Lloyd sighed. “We all have human blood in our veins. That was the only gateway we could cross through. And it’s hidden high in the sky.”

“This is all my fault.” Rownan leaned against the cave, his head in his hands. His shoulders bounced like he was silently crying.

“Actually,” Uncle Lloyd mumbled, “it’s mine. It all started with me. I never should’ve fallen in love with Liora. Never wed outside of my species. And I most certainly never should’ve made a deal to be turned human. My greed led us to this. I’ll never forgive myself for how badly my sons have suffered because of my choices. And Yara too. I’m a monster in the truest sense of the word.”

“No.” I rubbed his hand. “You’ve always tried to do what’s best for everyone. This isn’t your fault. And it isn’t Rownan’s, either.”

“He’s right,” Rownan snarled. “All this trouble started with him.” He turned and pointed at me. “Then
your
parents broke the rules and fell in love because they saw him and Liora together and thought they could get away with it too. The curse was a chain of events that started with him.”

I stood, balling my fists at my sides. “How can you say such a thing? He’s your father!”

Rownan raised his chin, his eyes smoldered with rage. “It’s the truth.”

I glanced at Treygan, expecting him to stick up for Lloyd, but Treygan said nothing. Worse, he nodded as if he agreed with Rownan.

Uncle Lloyd clutched his chest, groaning loud and long.

“What’s wrong?” I hurried to his side again. “What’s happening? What hurts?”

He clawed at his chest and shoulder. His eyes were bulging and drool dripped from his mouth. I turned to Treygan. “Do something!” He just stood there, watching but not moving.

Uncle Lloyd squeezed my hand so hard I whimpered. “I’m here,” I told him. “I’m right here. It’s going to be okay.”

He shook violently then went rigid. His eyes were wide open, unblinking.

“Uncle Lloyd?
” I squeezed his hand, but he didn’t squeeze back. “Please, say something.”

A rock formed in my throat. He wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t moving. “No,” I pleaded. “No, no, no.”

I began doing CPR. He had taught it to me years ago. I tilted his neck, breathed into his mouth, pumped hard on his chest, and then repeated the process. Nothing happened.

I went through the steps again, desperately blowing as much air into his mouth as I could, pressing down on his chest with all my might. Tears streamed from my cheeks, splashing onto his unblinking eyes.

Treygan’s hands rested on my shoulders. “You have to let him go, Yara. He’s gone.”

“No!” I choked.

He grabbed my hands. “We knew it was coming. At least he didn’t die alone.”

There was a cold resolve in Treygan’s voice. How could he not be upset?

“No!” I pulled my hands free of his and leaned forward, laying my head against Uncle Lloyd’s chest. “Please don’t leave me. I need you. You can’t die!”

There was no heartbeat. No breath. I was helpless to save the man who had always taken care of me. My sunshine was fading from my life.

I cried out. “This can’t be happening!”

Treygan pulled me into his arms. “He’s gone.” I struggled to pull out of his grip and hug my uncle again, but Treygan held me too tight. “He meddled for the last time. They killed him.”

“They can’t.” My words were strangled by my sobs. “It’s not fair.”

“It’s the way our world works. He did this to himself.”

Crying harder, I beat my fist against Treygan’s chest. “How can you say that? How can you be so cold? He’s your father!”

“Yara!” Treygan yelled my name, but his lips didn’t move. The way I heard him was different from when we talk
ed through our minds underwater. I kept pounding his chest, trying to push him away from me. He shouted my name again, but the voice wasn’t the vapid, cold-hearted Treygan in front of me.

“Yara!” Treygan repeated. “Snap out of it!”

I looked down at Uncle Lloyd, feeling emotionally destroyed and mentally disoriented. Sea scorpions crawled out of every hole in the burned slicker. I jumped back, horrified.

Treygan shook me hard. “What’s wrong? Yara?” His eyes were wide with panic and worry. “You spaced out for a few seconds and started pounding on my chest.”

Rownan stood beside him, skeptically watching me.

I turned around to reach for Uncle Lloyd, but he was gone. The cave floor where he
and the scorpions had just been was empty. “Where’d your father go?”

“What?” Treygan turned my chin so our eyes met again. “Yara, look at me. What just happened?”

I tried fighting back my flood of sadness. I wiped at my tears, but my eyes and cheeks were completely dry. “Your dad was here. He had a heart attack. He died.”

Treygan’s eyes narrowed and he glanced sideways at Rownan.

“What the hell is going on?” Rownan murmured.

Treygan studied me like I was an injured animal who shouldn’t be spooked. “You saw something that wasn’t real.”

“No,” I said. “It was real.” My lip quivered. “He came here to help us, and it killed him.”

Treygan slowly shook his head. “No one has come into this cave except the three of us.”

Something about the cave was off. The lighting was different. The temperature wasn’t right. I focused on Treygan. His eyes were almost black. My Treygan’s eyes were blue.

“
This
isn’t real.”

Treygan’s grip on my arms loosened. “What isn’t real?”

“This conversation with you.”

His brows lifted. “No, Yara. This is real.” He held my face in his hands. “I am real right now. My father is not here. He is home in Eden’s Hammock. He’s not dead.”

Rownan stepped closer, looking at me the same way Treygan had earlier, apprehensive but concerned—which wasn’t normal for Rownan.

“Vienna is dead,” I said. “She died trying to get out of this place. Stheno and Euryale confirmed it.”

Rownan and Treygan frowned at each other, but Treygan kept my face in his hands.

“That’s what they want you to believe,” Treygan said. “It’s not reality. Don’t fall for their tricks.”

“Vienna is alive,” Rownan retorted.

I shook my head. “You two aren’t the real Treygan and Rownan.”

Imposter Treygan rested his forehead against mine. “You’re stronger than this. I am real. You have to believe me.
This
is real.” He leaned in to kiss me. Just like the other evil creatures, he wanted to suck my soul out of me. I shoved him hard.

Treygan stumbled backward. “Yara, please, don’t do this.”

“Stay away from me.” I reached into my arm holster for my dagger. A line of black dust swept across my vision, but when I tried focusing on it, it moved again.

Rownan stepped back. “She’s losing her mind. She’s pulling out weapons on us!”

I held my dagger in front of me. I knew what was real and what wasn’t. The pain of Uncle Lloyd’s death hurt too much. I knew his touch. His words. He didn’t look or sound like an evil imposter, but these versions of Treygan and Rownan—with their black eyes and evil dust swirling around us—were definitely demons.

Treygan held out his hands in front of him. “I won’t move or touch you again until you say it’s okay.”

“This is crazy.” Rownan backed farther away. “She has lost it.”

“Think about it,” Evil Treygan said to me. “If we are imposters, why haven’t we attacked you yet? It would be two against one. We would easily win. And if we aren’t real, then where are the real Treygan and Rownan?” He pointed to the entrance of the cave. “Scorching rain is still falling. It’s not like we could have left.”

I glanced back and forth at the two of them, processing what Treygan had said. The black smoke still weaved in front of me. “It’s an illusion. You make me see what you want me to see.”

“No,” Rownan argued. “Obviously you experienced an illusion of our father dying, but right now,
this
is reality.”

I gripped my dagger tighter. They were messing with my mind. The other attack wasn’t successful, so they were trying a different tactic.

“Listen to Sage,” Treygan said. “She’s dancing around your head like crazy. She must be trying to tell you something.”

Sage
. I hadn’t seen or heard Sage since I woke up from resting. I felt for her, but she was missing. No tugging at my scalp, no hissing, nothing. “She’s not here. More proof that this is all a mirage.”