Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (32 page)

“Jenna,” Nixie said. “Take Vienna.”

“What?” I gasped. “She’s the smallest! Why can’t you take Vienna?”

“Vienna is the lightest body,” Nixie explained impatiently. “She and Vienna are a good match. I’m going to have to carry Treygan and Yara.”

She was right. We only had three winged creatures to carry out four people who couldn’t fly. I eyed Keeley. She looked more nervous than anyone.

“I’m counting on you, little one,” I told her. 

She took a deep breath and stretched her arms. “I’m ready.”

Treygan cradled Yara against him. “I’ll carry Yara,” he told Nixie. “You carry me.”

“Your muscles are too fatigued.” Nixie gripped his bicep. “They’re already shaking.”

Treygan didn’t look happy about it, but he handed Yara’s body over to Nixie. She wrapped one arm around Yara’s waist and hoisted her upper body over her left shoulder. She pulled Treygan against her with her right arm. “Ready.” 

With all bodies—and souls—accounted for, our trio of winged angels carried us off the boat and into the dark sky of Harte.

I had done what Otabia told me—I kept counting.

Through every conversation, every step, every struggle, I counted. Even if I was talking or doing something, a part of my mind counted. Maybe I had missed a few seconds here and there, but we had approximately thirteen minutes until the gate closed.

My brave sprites flew ahead of us. I couldn’t see them, and Vienna and Rownan looked as if they were soaring through the air on their own. I pictured Keeley and Jenna underneath them, struggling to carry all that weight above their heads. The soul suckers Lloyd and Otabia warned me about screeched below us.

“Faster!” I yelled.

Jenna shot forward. Keeley wasn’t far behind her.

Yara and Treygan’s weight was no problem for me, but they felt so different. Treygan was tense and constantly moving. Every time he turned his head or leaned to look below or behind us, my muscles had to work harder to keep a grip on him.

“Stop fidgeting,” I told him. 

Yara was limp and draped over my shoulder. Her hair tickled my back and her hip bones ground into my collar bone. But at least she kept still. 

Finally, the black crescent moon came into view. “There it is! Go, girls! Fly directly into the moon!”

The heat of the soul sucker’s breath hit me like fire swallowing my legs. Glancing down, I saw the beast’s open mouth full of teeth. I darted out of its path.

Treygan let go of me and reached for something in his jacket. “Stop fidgeting!” I yelled again.

The soul sucker followed us, one of its heads extending rapidly in our direction. I climbed as fast as I could, trying to spot Keeley and Jenna again. I found nothing but black sky.

Cold shot through my chest. Where were they?

They couldn’t have been eaten. They were ahead of us. Maybe they had made it through the gate.
They’re fine
. I had to tell myself that or my despair would make me lose focus.

I kept darting side to side, flying high then dipping low, trying to confuse the soul suckers, but each time one or more of their heads trailed us.

One of them bumped my feet, jostling all of us. Yara slid off my shoulder, but I caught her under the arm and kept her clutched at my side. The jolt sent Treygan sliding out of my grip. Our hands connected before he fell away.

I screeched, panicked, and adjusted to keep hold of both of them.

Treygan swung his free arm up and held on to my wrist. He dangled below me like bait on a hook. Bait that probably had the soul suckers foaming at the mouth.

“Hold on,” I shouted to him, lifting him close to me again. I flew back toward the area where I thought I had seen the moon.

At least a dozen soul suckers followed.

I had no idea how such tiny creatures could be so strong, but Keeley’s hands pressed into my ribs, lifting us into the fog of the moon.

Vienna was close enough for me to reach. I grabbed her hand and she squeezed as tight as she could manage. She was weak, but at least she wasn’t the rotted corpse everyone had tried convincing me she would be.

“It’ll get rough,” I warned her. “Don’t let go.”

She nodded, her lids drooping heavily over the dark circles under her eyes. She was far from healthy, but she was alive. She was alive, and we were on our way home.

Gale force winds blew against us. We bobbed up and down as the sprites fought to keep flying forward. I felt so helpless. If I had wings I would have bulldozed us a way out of here.

“You can do it!” I yelled, hoping Keeley could hear me. “I believe in you!”

We surged forward so hard that I pulled Vienna along behind us. My body ached to kick and help propel us forward. If only my tail could help us swim through the sky. All I could do was have faith that Keeley and Jenna, small but so courageous, would have the strength to get us out.

Keeley never said a word. She just groaned and yelled as if she was pushing through the worst pain she had ever felt. “You’re doing it, Keeley! Keep going! I can see the opening!”

The wind whipped so hard I thought Vienna and I would be ripped apart. I held her hand so tight I couldn’t tell the difference between her fingers and mine.

Vienna tried pulling her hand free. “That’s not the gateway. Let go of me!”

“It is the gate.” My pulse throbbed between our palms as I fought to keep our hands linked. “Stop struggling!”

She kicked and thrashed, trying to break free as she screamed and cursed me. We bobbed and flailed through the air. Keeley struggled beneath me, her small hands kneading my chest, trying to rebalance my weight above her.

“Liar!” Vienna yelled. “I won’t be tricked!”

The realization hit me harder than the wind. Vienna had entered Harte through Rathe’s gateway. We used the Devil’s Triangle. Of course they didn’t look the same. Harte’s demons had been trying to lure her into a deeper level of hell for years. She thought this was another trick. “V, it’s not what you think!”

She was fighting so hard to free herself from Jenna. She would fall into a sea of soul suckers. I hadn’t come this far only to lose her again. “Keeley, get me closer to her!”

We collided, and I threw my arms around Vienna, pinning her against me and clinging to her so tightly that the devil himself wouldn’t be able to take her from me.

~

We shot out of the turbulence and into a tunnel of swirling water. The spray felt like bullets hitting me. I tried looking at Vienna, but I couldn’t turn my head or open my eyes. The pull from the spinning was too strong.

Then the pelting spray stopped. We sailed upward through an orange and pink sky. My head drooped from exhaustion. Below us was the ocean. Earth’s ocean.

The sprites had saved us.

“Keeley!” I shouted weakly. “You did it!”

A boat filled with familiar faces staring up at us came into view. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. I had never been so happy to see Delmar, Kimber, Pango, and the rest of the crew. We didn’t so much land as crash onto the deck of the boat. I rolled to my side, knowing Keeley was crushed beneath me. Vienna crashed just as hard beside me. I immediately pulled her off Jenna.

Both tiny, angelic sprites lay face down on the deck boards. Their backs rose and fell rapidly. Their wings were motionless.

I gently rolled both of them over.

Keeley’s eyes opened. “Are we dead?”

I smiled. All the merfolk had gathered around us. Kimber was cradling Vienna in her arms. I lowered my face so Keeley and I were almost nose to nose. “No, you’re alive. And so are we, thanks to you. You and Jenna are heroes.”

“Heroes,” Jenna sighed, eyes still closed, wearing an exhausted grin. “I always wanted to be a hero.”

Indrea kneeled besides us, snapping into action. “Who is hurt the worst?”

“Vienna,” I said.

Delmar was holding Vienna’s wrist. “Her pulse is almost non-existent.”

Indrea rushed over to Vienna and I grabbed Indrea’s arm. I took a breath, my lungs aching at the gravity of my words. “Her soul was out of her body the whole time. Until a few minutes ago.”

“Holy Hades,” Pango gasped. “It’s a miracle she’s still alive.”

Indrea patted my hand. “Love kept her alive.”

I closed my eyes. The adrenaline, the realization that we were out of Harte, and having Vienna by my side again was overloading my system.

Indrea’s voice was calming as always. “Just lay beside her while I work on her. Being with you is the best medicine for her right now.”

Kimber delicately handed Vienna to me. I placed one hand behind Vienna’s head, letting my arm be her pillow. I lay on my side, my other arm wrapped tight around her. “I’m here,” I whispered into her ear. “Soon we’ll be home.”

She let her head fall against my neck while Indrea worked on her.

“Where are the others?” Caspian asked.

“They were right behind us,” I said. “Nixie was carrying Yara and Treygan.”

“Why Yara?” Delmar asked. “She can fly.”

“She got knocked out. Nixie had to carry both of them.”

“Good grief,” Pango sighed. “Could the odds be any worse?”

Keeping Vienna’s head tucked under my chin, I watched glimpses of color from the setting sun peek through the fog. I silently prayed to Medusa and Poseidon, begging to see Nixie’s red wings above us with Yara and Treygan in her arms. 

But minutes passed with no sign of them.

Jenna sat up. “I’m going back in!”

Keeley sat up beside her. “Me too.”

“No,” Delmar said. “You can’t. There’s not enough time.”

“We can’t leave them in there,” Keeley argued.

“They’ll make it out,” I offered. “I know they will.” But even as I said it, my doubt grew stronger.

“And what if they don’t?” Jenna asked.

“You’re exhausted,” Indrea reasoned calmly with her. “No good could come from you going back in. What if the gate closed before you came out again?” Jenna crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry, girls,” Indrea told them. “We can’t allow you to go back in at this point. It’s too dangerous.”

The boat kept rocking. Vienna cooed softly, asleep in my arms. Delmar offered hope that they would make it out. Pango kneeled at the bow of the boat, his chin resting on his praying hands. I almost didn’t hear Jenna’s quiet voice behind me.

“They will make it out. I’ll make sure of it.” Jenna flew from the boat.

Caspian caught Keeley by the wings. “Oh, no you don’t.”

“She can’t go alone!” Keeley yelled, kicking the air furiously.

Jenna’s shimmering yellow wings left a trail of light through the fog. I hoped beyond hope it wouldn’t be the last time we saw her.