Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (24 page)

I kept my distance. Vienna and I exchanged silent glances and occasionally she told me to go away, but I just sat there, trying to figure out what to do.

Eventually, she drifted back to sleep, so I quietly crawled closer. If I could move the driftwood away from her and get rid of it, then I could take its place. Maybe she would believe I had come back to life. As slowly as possible, I attempted to roll her off of the log, but she woke up swinging her fists.

“Don’t touch us!”

“Okay, okay.” I backed up with my hands in front of me, showing I had no intentions of hurting her. “I won’t touch you.”

The fire in her eyes calmed and she hugged the driftwood tighter. What did she see when she looked at that moldy log? Did she really see
me
? Did a hunk of old wood really feel like me?

I settled into the sand a few feet away from her. “Your mother and brother miss you.”

“Don’t speak of them,” she snapped.

“How about us? Can I tell you stories about us?”

“There is no us. You’re not my Rownan.”

“Okay then, how about your childhood?”

She looked at me skeptically. If I could prove I knew everything about her, then maybe she’d believe I was truly me. She didn’t say no, so I proceeded.

“When we were seven years old, your mother was really into gardening. She had these beautiful frost-rose bushes that she cherished. She warned us never to play near them.” I smiled at the memory of Vienna so young. “You weren’t good at following directions, though. We were building a fort and you climbed one of the trellises and slipped on the ice. You ended up falling into a rose bush.”

Vienna’s eyes were locked on me. Her expression was impossible to read, so I continued. “You cried like someone had cut off your limbs. I helped pull you out, but you were covered in thorns. I wanted to take you to Indrea and Caspian so they could heal you, but you wouldn’t let me. You thought you’d get in trouble, so we ran from the house and hid in Seal Cove while I carefully pulled every thorn from your skin.”

She blinked then looked away.

“Do you remember that, V?”

“I remember,” she said quietly.

“How would I know that if I wasn’t really me?”

She picked up a clump of muddy sand and rubbed it around in her hand, staring at it oozing between her fingers. “I don’t want any of this to be real. I want to go home. I just want to go home.”

“I can take you there.” I leaned forward, hesitant to move any closer because I didn’t want to spook her. “Please, Vienna. Come home with me.”

She threw her head back and rubbed her lips together. After a few moments of staring at the sky, she asked, “Why do you love me?”

My heart fluttered with a surge of hope. Why hadn’t I thought to ask her that? No, it wouldn’t have worked. She had to ask me first so I could give the right answer. The only answer I had ever given her. I crawled up on my knees, reaching out to touch her, but she cowered back so I dropped my hand. “Because you are my everything.”

Her head snapped to attention. Her eyes were wide.

“It’s me, Vienna. I swear it’s me. Please believe me.”

“I want to. I want to so badly, but—” she twisted a strand of
black hair around her pale finger while staring at the log beside her. “If you’re Rownan, then who did I spend two years with? Who is he?”

“I don’t know who that was, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the past. I am me.” I placed my hands on my chest. “Me. Right here. With you. Right now. Ask me anything, V. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I’m not an imposter or a wicked trick of your mind.”

Her eyes lit up. “I almost forgot.” She reached into her coat and pulled out half of a broken shell and held it in front of her so I could see it. “What is this?”

“A shell.”

Her hand lowered. The light in her eyes dimmed. “Just a shell?”

I was confused. Obviously, I was supposed to know something more about the shell. My gut told me it was important, that it had deep meaning, but I searched my memory and found nothing. “It’s a very pretty shell.”

She snatched it back and stuck it in her coat pocket. “You’re not him! If you were him, you would’ve known.”

“Known what? I am him! I mean, I’m
me
! I can’t remember everything. Tell me a little about it and maybe it will tug a memory loose.”

“Tell you a little about it? You’re a phony! You’re the best imitation yet, but I can’t be fooled. Go torment someone else!” She turned her back to me. “You will not get my soul. You’ll never make me believe you’re Rownan.”

I hung my head. I had failed her. I had failed us both. Again.

~

I couldn’t keep track of time, but what felt like hours passed with us sitting several feet apart in silence. I sat with my back resting against a rock. My head hung heavy in my hands.

Vienna stood. I lifted my head and watched her gather all her hair, twisting it into a heap on top of her head. She used bones from a carcass to pin it in place. She walked closer to the water, picked up a dead fish, then hurled it as far out to sea as she could throw. She picked up another and did the same thing, grumbling, “Filthy, stinking place.”

I stood and walked to the water, but stayed a safe distance from her. I picked up a dead fish and threw it hard, taking out as much of my frustration as possible. It felt good, so I threw another one, and another.

“What are you doing?” Vienna asked.

“Helping you, I guess, I don’t know.”

She squinted then turned away from me, ridding the beach of more dead fish, one at a time. I kept helping.

After hurling dozens more fish into the ocean, I took a break, resting my hands on my knees and catching my breath. Why was I so exhausted? “Reminds me of that time we swam up to Maine and found those seal poachers partying on the beach.” A bittersweet grin tugged at my lips. “You and Dina talked the guys into taking off all their clothes, and then you threw everything into the ocean, including their boots. You told them to walk home naked.”

Vienna smiled hesitantly. “They were so mad they chased us into the water.”

“Which is exactly what you planned.” I chuckled. “Not only did they have no clothes, they were soaking wet, and it was freezing.”

“They deserved it.”

“They deserved a lot worse.”

Her smile turned to a confused frown. “Dina wanted to drown them, but you said we couldn’t kill them or we’d be just as awful as they were.”

I nodded.

Vienna wrapped her arms around herself. “I know you’re not him. You can’t be, or you’d have known that shell as well as your own coat. But whoever you are, thank you for making me smile. For helping me remember why I love him so much.”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I don’t remember the shell. But I’m glad I could make you smile again. Knowing you aren’t here alone is enough for me.”

A long comfortable moment of silence passed. I took a chance and held out my hand
to her. “Will you dance with me?”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t dance.”

“Yes, you do. You love to dance. We won countless contests together.”

She bounced on the balls of her feet, biting her nails. “You should go.”

“You just thanked me for making you smile.”

“That was wrong of me. Please go away.”

“I left you once. I won’t leave you again. I can’t.”

She dropped her hands at her side. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want you here. I don’t want to look at you, or talk to you, or anything. You’re not my Rownan. You’re an infectious disease that makes me weak.”

I inhaled sharply. “Wow, harsh words, Vienna. I’d accuse you of ripping out my heart, but I already gave it to you, willingly and completely, a long time ago. Now you’re just clawing at the empty hole inside me.”

“Leave me alone!”

I stepped forward and looked her straight in the eyes, mocking her earlier words. “Over my dead body.”

I see Rownan and Vienna,
Treygan said.
They’re standing on a beach, talking.

Do you really think it’s them?

I’m sure of it.

We reached a forest of seaweed and both of us slowed to a stop. I eyed the eerie scene ahead.
I don’t think we should swim through there.

A loud screech
pierced the sky. A shadow from one of the creatures passed over us, briefly darkening Treygan’s face.
We’re out in the open. At least in there we’d be harder to spot from above. Plus, Rownan is this way. I sense him.

Swaying black seaweed stretched wider and deeper than I could see. Who knew where the dark underwater jungle ended? But Treygan was right—we would have to swim through it. Turning back wouldn’t get us closer to Rownan and Vienna.

Treygan reached out to me and I took his hand. We swam forward and I cringed as slimy seaweed brushed against me. We swam slower as the seaweed grew thicker.

My foot caught on something and I jerked to a halt.

Treygan floated forward until our linked hands pulled him to a stop too.
What’s wrong?

I’m stuck on something.

I’ll take a look.
He dipped toward my feet and a rope of seaweed followed him. At first I thought it was just caught in the drag of the water, but then it curled around his leg and yanked him away from me.

“Treygan!” I shouted, swallowing a mouthful of water.

More vines wrapped around my arms. I punched and fought against them, but they wound tighter. Treygan was pulled farther away from me, flailing and thrashing against his own ropes. He was shouting my name and I yelled for him again, but seaweed tightened around my neck, choking me into silence.

Oh, gods, this is it
.
This is how we die. Strangulation by seaweed.

But no, that would have been too easy. The seaweed didn’t keep choking me like I expected. It launched me upward, lifting me above the surface of the water. My arms were bound at my sides. I couldn’t move my head or legs. I lay there, helplessly staring up at the screeching black creatures in the sky.

One of their long bodies split into three sections, a head forming on each segment. Three pairs of glowing eyes raced toward me, slithering like snakes.

Sage! Sage, help me
, I mentally begged her. She stretched forward, hissing and snapping her fangs. Then I regretted ever asking her to help.

The three creatures opened their massive mouths, and they had something much worse than fangs. Their round mouths were filled with circular rows of razor-sharp teeth. Treygan was right. They were mutant, larger-than-life lamprey.

I couldn’t turn my head, but from the corner of my eye I saw another creature split into three and dive toward the water. They were heading for Treygan. My chest ached and my body was convulsing with fear. We would be eaten alive.

One beast stopped inches from my face. A huge, pointy tongue darted out of the center of its circle of teeth. The stench of death made me gag, but because I couldn’t swallow it burned my throat. I closed my eyes, too terrified to watch the hundreds of teeth tear through me.

Sage swayed and snapped. She tugged at my head as her body lashed out over and over.

Stop, Sage
.
Don’t make it worse
.

The beast’s hot breath blew so hard against my face that my skin rippled and tightened. I waited, dreading the moment its teeth would clench down on me, but it didn’t happen. I felt one hard yank at my scalp before a deeper pain took over. That instant, I knew the beast had Sage.

Emptiness spread throughout my entire being, something not physical. I had never felt anything like it. Through my tears, I watched the beast pull back, moving up and away from me. Impaled by the beast’s teeth hung a severed Sage.

I tried to scream, to break free and reach for her, but I couldn’t move. Tears dripped down the side of my face and behind my ears. I closed my eyes again, knowing I couldn’t handle seeing Treygan snared in the beast’s teeth too.

My left hand snapped free and dropped behind me. I opened my eyes and saw the other trio of beastly heads pulling back, but two of the three were dripping a black substance and the other was making a god-awful screaming sound.

My neck was suddenly freed too. I turned and saw Treygan below me, slicing the seaweed with a dagger. I breathed a sigh, a mixture of relief and despair.

The seaweed holding me up collapsed, and I splashed into the water. Treygan clutched me to him. I pawed at my head, desperately pleading for it to be an illusion, wanting so badly to feel Sage’s scaly skin. But she was gone.

The thought of her lifeless body in their huge teeth sent more tears spilling down my cheeks. How could I have been so careless? Why didn’t I protect her?

Treygan pulled me under and held my face in his hands.
I’m so sorry about Sage, but we have to get out of here. Those things might descend again.

I nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence.

With one arm, Treygan held me tight at his side as we swam. With his other hand he sliced through seaweed with impressive speed.

~

We reached a cave and swam into it, surfacing and taking a moment to rest. The rock ceiling hid us from the beasts’ view.

“Sage,” was all I could mutter to Treygan.

He held my head against his chest. “I know. I’m so sorry.”

“She was part of me.”

“I know,” he whispered. He pulled back, lifting my hair and examining my scalp where she and I used to be connected. He leaned closer and pressed his fingers against my scalp. It stung, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

“Strange,” Treygan murmured.

I whimpered. “What’s strange?”

“There’s a slit, but it’s not bleeding, or even inflamed.” We exchanged worried glances. “Everything is wrong and unpredictable here.”

“I hate it.” I felt like I might puke. “Why did we come? We were idiots to think we’d survive this place.”

Treygan lowered his eyes. “I tried turning those creatures to stone. I tried turning the seaweed to stone. I couldn’t. Not even a crackle.”

My nausea got worse. “How can that be?”

“I don’t know.”

I pressed my hand to my mouth. “I feel sick.”

“Sick to your stomach?”

“Sick everywhere. That helpless and exhausting sick when you know how wrong and hopeless everything is.”

A loud roar sounded outside the cave. I turned slowly, afraid to see what was making the noise. My eyes widened.

A wave formed, flowing downward
out of the sky
. The water around us rushed out of the cave, pulling us with it, and rose up to meld with the huge wave forming above us. Treygan kept a tight hold of me, but I barely had any strength left to fight.

The beasts appeared in the rush of water, writhing as their teeth spun open and closed over and over.

My eyes met Treygan’s.
I will always love you.

Never give up,
he mentally shouted.
We’ll get through this!

The wave ripped us forward and I was launched through the sky—flying without wings. I crashed, hard, onto jagged ocean rocks. I was sure every bone in my body was broken, along with my will to live.