Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (33 page)

I flew against the wind as fast as I could. Six minutes left—or was it four? I lost count. I had no idea where the gate was.

I was a siren who could control fire, but I had never known true heat until I was caught in the vacuum breath of a soul sucker
. We were pulled backward toward its inferno of a mouth. I kicked and flapped my wings harder than ever, but we were sucked in.

With my elbows, I blocked the beast’s jaw from closing all the way. I screamed when teeth tore through my flesh. Yara was still draped over my shoulder, only an inch above the teeth, but Treygan was below me, deeper in the huge, tubular mouth of the soul sucker.

My skin burned so intensely from the heat that I assumed my flesh was melting. Treygan swung and struggled below me, but I kept my grip on his hand. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, but then he roared and the beast screeched so loudly my ears rang. Black smoke rushed up around me and the circular mouth of teeth opened and fell away, allowing me to soar up into the dark sky again.

I glanced down and saw Treygan hanging like a charred rope from my singed, black arm. A dagger glistened in his hand. I couldn’t
see the full extent of damage the beast had done to my arms, but I could feel it. Yara still lay unconscious over my other shoulder. I kept flying higher, desperately searching for the gateway again, but I found nothing except empty sky and my own despair.

Treygan was becoming unbearably heavy. My arm was numb in the places that didn’t pulse with crippling pain. As much as I didn’t want to accept it, I had to let go of him if I had any hope of saving Yara. But actually doing it—letting go of Treygan’s hand, knowing what that meant—seemed impossible.

I gazed down at where our hands joined. I wanted to say goodbye. I needed to apologize for being so weak. All I could see was his hair and a hint of his forehead and nose. It was better that way. If I had seen his face, his selfless and caring eyes, they would have haunted me eternally.

I closed my eyes, fighting back tears. “Please forgive me, Yara.” I whispered into the wind, “I’m so sorry, Treygan.”

The heavy weight of him fell away.

My injured arm no longer felt like it would rip into pieces from the strain.

But I hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

“Got him!” Jenna yelled. She lifted him over her head, smiling at me as she rose to my eye level. “I’m here! I’ve got him!”

“Jenna!” I squealed, releasing my death-grip on Treygan’s fingers and using both hands to secure Yara in my arms.

“Jenna’s got you,” I told Treygan. I said it again, assuring myself because it almost seemed too good to be true. My eyes were teary, a mixture of shame, joy, and intense physical pain. “She’s got you.”

My arm wouldn’t have lasted another second if she hadn’t come along. Jenna had saved me from having to release Treygan to certain death in a sea of soul suckers.

Treygan noticed my shredded arms. “Nixie, you’re injured.”

“I’ll be fine.” A second wave of adrenaline and hope rushed through me. I dipped my head to check on Jenna. “You sure you can handle it?”

Her arms were locked above her head, Treygan draped over her like a living cape. “I can handle it.”

I cradled Yara against my torso and yelled. “Let’s go home!”

Jenna enthusiastically nodded.

Jenna led the way, directly to the gate. I stayed behind her in case she needed help. The moon was so close I felt like I could reach out and touch it, but the hot breath of a soul sucker engulfed my legs again. The soul sucker’s body broke off into three heads.

“Get to the gate!” I shouted. “We can outrun them!”

Jenna peeked back at me, and her eyes flew wide open at the sight of the beast. Her wings flapped harder as she and Treygan surged upward. Treygan still had the dagger clutched in his hand.

“Faster, Jenna!”

Treygan was looking back, shouting something I couldn’t hear. The heat and the pull of one beast sucking us in intensified.

“Left!” I yelled, swerving out of the path of the beast. By the time I realized Jenna hadn’t heard me, it was too late.

She and Treygan were sucked past me. I reached out, trying to grab Treygan’s hand, but he rushed by me too fast.

I doubled back, chasing after them. Jenna hung on to Treygan’s hair, her body stretched out behind her as they were sucked closer to the beast’s mouth. I managed to grab Treygan’s foot. I squeezed hard, struggling to keep hold of Yara while trying to pull Treygan and Jenna out of the powerful vacuum.

I was no match for it. I was going to lose everyone, including myself. We had come so far, but this was the point of no return. The soul suckers and Harte had won. 

Treygan shouted, “Save Yara! Let go, Nixie!”

Jenna was terrified, crying, screaming, still clutching Treygan’s hair.

“I can’t,” I grunted, fighting against the pull, but my arms felt so weak and useless. I hugged Yara tighter to my body with one hand while squeezing Treygan’s foot with the other. If I let go, I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. I would have to live mourning Jenna and Treygan forever, knowing it was me who killed them. I would have to tell Yara that I failed her and let Treygan be eaten alive by a soul sucker.

No. We were a sinking ship, but we would go down together.

The heat scorched my hands and face. The beast’s teeth looked close enough to snap shut around Jenna.

Treygan’s eyes met mine. I couldn’t hear him over the roaring breath of the beast, but I could read his lips. “Let go!”

I shook my head as he tried kicking free. Sweat dripped from every pore on my body. His foot was slippery, but I held on. Treygan’s head fell back in the same hopeless defeat I felt.

“We die together,” I said, even though no one could hear me.

Sage whipped forward, snapping into consciousness. She bit Yara’s cheek and Yara jolted awake. Yara
flew out of my arms so fast I barely had time to blink. She looked around frantically then flipped over, grabbing Treygan’s other foot. Her wings flapped furiously. “Nixie, get Jenna!”

I sprang into action, swooping past Treygan. Jenna was flapping her wings
so hard they were a blur of yellow. I snatched her up in my hands and surged backward, but I wasn’t powerful enough to pull us out of the beast’s vacuum. Treygan’s arms were free, so he hooked his hands inside my elbows, fighting to keep me away from the beast’s teeth. I lifted my legs toward my chest as one tooth grazed the heels of my boots.

I don’t know how Yara did it, but she spun us like a chain. I was whipped upward, away from the beast’s deadly teeth. Now Yara was closest to the beast’s head.

She kept one hand locked on Treygan’s ankle as she pulled a giant tooth from a holster on her thigh. Just before they were sucked into the beast’s mouth, Yara drew her arm back. Using the giant tooth like a knife, she stabbed the top of the beast’s head.

The soul sucker let out an ear-piercing screech followed by a gasping noise. The pull of the vacuum decreased significantly.
I flew higher out of its path. Yara kicked the tooth in deeper, clogging what I realized was a singular nostril on the soul sucker’s head. The vacuum suction stopped entirely as the beast shook from side to side trying to dislodge the obstruction.

Jenna flew from my hands and stood on my shoulder, grabbing hold of my hair. “Nixie, your arms. You’re badly wounded.”

She was right. My muscles and tendons felt like they had been shredded. I cradled my bloody arms against my chest. “I’ll be fine.”

Yara turned to face us and yelled, “Go!”

She didn’t need to tell me twice. We flew side by side, racing toward the moon. She had Treygan, I had Jenna. We could do it. We were going to make it. We were free and clear. The soul suckers were far below us.

Until two more splintered out of the moon.

“Where the hell did they come from?” Yara shouted.

I slowed, not knowing what to do. Jenna grabbed my hair tighter.

Treygan called my name. He fumbled with a pack on his side. “Here!” He tossed me another tooth. I tried to catch it, but my hand was numb. The tooth grazed my useless fingers and fell away.

Treygan waved his dagger as Yara banked left. One soul sucker followed
them. The other was coming directly at us, so I darted to the right. We passed under it, inches from its slimy chin.

We entered the gray fog. A violent wind pushed against us.

“Hang on tight!” I screamed to Jenna.

“I am!”

I wanted to cry when the heat hit my legs and scorched my wings. The soul sucker was too close. My hair felt like it might rip from my head as Jenna hung on for dear life. The vacuum was even more powerful than before. Then the tugging at my scalp stopped.

I quit breathing.

Jenna had let go. She tumbled through the sky, straight into the beast’s mouth as if caught in a tractor beam.

“Nooooooo!” I screamed.

Jenna never looked back. Even the beast’s tongue was covered with teeth. Like a tiny leaf being sucked into a whirlwind, Jenna was swallowed by the soul sucker.

I doubled back. Shaking. Still not breathing. I didn’t know what to do. I was in denial. I couldn’t accept what I had just seen. She couldn’t be gone.

“Jenna!” I shouted as loud and long as I could.

More soul suckers slithered to life below. Glowing eyes opened on their eel-like heads. I saw no sign of Yara and Treygan. Maybe they had escaped. I hoped it more than anything.

I waited for the soul sucker that had swallowed Jenna to open its giant mouth again, which only took a few seconds. I flew in, zipping down his dark gullet before his teeth snapped shut.

The smell alone should have killed me.

Getting in was easy compared to getting out.

The wind and water mercilessly whipped against us. I felt like I was frozen in a block of ice, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t budge. But through it all, I made sure of one thing: I did not lose Treygan. Like a limb that I refused to part with, I kept Treygan attached to my side.

I vaguely recalled breaking through the surface. I was so woozy I might as well have been sleepwalking. My mer senses led us to the boat. I crashed into it, eyes closed, past the point of exhaustion. I wanted to gasp for deep breaths, but I didn’t have enough energy.

Rownan’s voice was a relief. “You made it. I knew you would.”

Treygan peeled himself out of my grip. He caressed my cheek with his quivering hand. “You did it.”

“We did it,” I murmured.

He collapsed, his head on my chest. I silently thanked all the gods and goddesses everywhere a million times over.

“Praise Poseidon, it’s a miracle,” Pango said. “With only seconds left.”

Seconds left.
My eyes snapped open. The winds were calm. The sky and ocean weren’t angry, and it was getting dark. The sun had set. “Where’s Nixie?”

Delmar knelt beside me, holding my hand. “She didn’t make it out.”

“No!” I tried to sit up. Treygan lifted his weight off me.

Delmar put a hand under my shoulder to support me. “There’s nothing you can do. Time is up.”

“No!” I tried scrambling to my feet and getting my wings to flap, but my body failed me.

Treygan clutched my hand. “I’m sorry, Yamabuki. I’m so sorry.”

“Not Nixie.” A choked yelp stuck in my throat. My eyes filled with tears. “And Jenna. They were right beside us. They can’t be …” Treygan held me as I cried for my siren, my sister, my savior, my friend. And the tiny angel who had saved our lives.

Indrea knelt beside me and placed her hands over my chest. Caspian pressed his hand to my forehead. They worked as a team, giving me all the calming and healing power they could. But no matter how powerful they were, there was no way they could fix my imploding heart.

Some of my strength returned after only a minute or so. I stood up. “I’m going back in.”

Treygan grabbed my hand. “You can’t.”

“Let go of me! I’m not leaving them in there.” I broke free from his grip. “They saved us. We can’t just leave them!” My wings spread wide. “I’ll be back—with both of them.”

They all stared at me like I had lost my mind. I flew out of the boat, zipping through the sky. There was no fog. No wind. No funnel churning in the ocean. I hovered above the spot where I was sure the gateway had been. A glint of electric blue caught my attention.

“Keeley,” I whispered, flying over to her.

“Where are they?” she asked me, not taking her frantic eyes off the water.

“We’ll find them.” I dove in, swimming down until I hit the dark, sandy bottom. The gate had to be somewhere. I would rip it open with my bare hands if I had to. I dug so fast my fingertips burned. I unsheathed my selkie claws and kept plowing.

Treygan appeared at my side. He tried stopping me from digging, so I swatted him away and threw a few frustrated punches at him. He caught one of my hands in his, wincing at my claws cutting his flesh, but he held tight.
The sun set
, he said.
The gate is closed. It won’t open for another eighteen months
.

Tears poured out of me, disappearing into the godforsaken ocean, just like Nixie and Jenna. I hated Harte. I hated the Devil’s Triangle.
I failed them.

Treygan held me and let me sob as we slowly floated upward. 

The boat’s engine vibrated the water around us. Its humming grew closer until it purred directly above us. Together, we surfaced.

“Where are they?” Keeley flitted back and forth so fast the water rippled under her toes.

My voice cracked with defeat. “I’m so sorry, Keeley.”

“No!” She flew at my face, shaking her finger. “You get them out of there! My sisters will not be eternally trapped in hell.”

“Keeley,” I uttered. “I can’t—”

“Don’t tell me you can’t! You find a way, Miss Almighty Powerful Sea Monster. You find a way. Right now!” For such a small thing, she was intimidating. “What do you feel? You
feel
that she’s still alive, don’t you? She felt everything you felt while you were in there. She was so sick and in so much pain. I know you can feel her too. How can you just leave her in Harte if she’s still alive?” She balled her fists at her sides and screamed at me so loud my hair blew backward. “Don’t you give up on them!”

She was right. I could still feel my connection with Nixie.
She was in a lot of pain, but she wasn’t dead. Sage coiled on my shoulder as I turned to stare at the area where the opening had been. Eerily calm waves had replaced the giant whirlpool that had churned and sucked us into the dangerous depths of Harte. I had seen the ocean floor and dug through the sand with my own hands. The gate had closed without a trace.

Keeley practically stood on my nose. “Don’t give up on them! They didn’t give up on you.”

I lifted my arm out of the water, but the words I had burned into my skin were gone. I looked at Treygan and mumbled, more to myself than to him, “Never give up.”

“What?” Treygan asked, drifting closer to me.

“The tide will turn,” I whispered.

Keeley threw her arms above her head as she stomped the air. “Don’t just float there. Do something!”

A scene played out in my mind like pictures in a book. “The tide will turn.” I smacked the water with my hands, excited by my epiphany. Koraline’s quote might have given me the answer to saving them. “The tide will turn!”

Everyone on the boat exchanged confused glances. Treygan stared at me with questioning eyes.

“Delmar, Kimber, Merrick, Pango.” I pointed where the gate had been. “Part the water.”

Pango and Merrick just stared at me. Delmar glanced at Kimber. “What?”

“At my welcoming ceremony, I watched all of you lift a castle out of the water. You parted the water. Do that again.”

Pango leaned on the railing of the boat. “Yara, it took teams of merfolk to lift that castle. Lifting from above and below.”

“I’m not asking you to lift anything. Just make a damn opening in the ocean!”

“Wait,” Treygan touched my arm. “If you’re about to do what I think, you aren’t considering a major problem with your plan.”

Treygan had a knack for reading my mind, and thank goodness for that, because I was too frantic. If he hadn’t stopped me when he did, I probably would have lost everyone.

~

We worked out a plan within minutes, but with every second that passed it felt like Nixie and Jenna were slipping further away. 

Treygan tugged on the anchor chain. “Pango, what’s our anchor situation?”

“Three total. The main, backup, and dredge. Strongest ever made.”

“You’ll have to serve as a fourth,” Treygan said. “With your strength, it should be enough to hold.”

Pango nodded. “Got it.”

“Rownan and Vienna are secured down below?” Treygan asked Indrea.

“Yes. Tethered with safety lines, just in case.”

I didn’t know how safe Rownan and Vienna would be in the sleeping quarters of the boat, but it was all we could do. Selkies couldn’t offer the kind of help we required, and Vienna wasn’t strong enough to do anything but recover.

“Everyone, in the water,” Treygan ordered.

All of our trusting merfolk family dove or jumped into the water around us. Treygan, Pango, and I reached the ocean floor. Pango’s tail morphed into legs and he planted his feet in the sand. Treygan went to work. Shaky breaths rattled through me as I watched Treygan put his insane plan into action. He formed thick stone around each anchor for extra security. Then he swam back to me and Pango.

He created a slab of rock on the ocean floor. He slowed down, but not much, as he encased Pango’s legs and torso in stone.

You’re our anchor,
Treygan said.

Pango grinned.
Haven’t I always been?

Treygan squeezed Pango’s shoulder then faced me.
You’ll have to help me if we’re going to do this quickly.

He had much more faith in my stone-making skills than I did.

What if I crush them? What if I can’t control it like you can?

You won’t crush anyone,
Treygan assured me, forming a huge slab of bedrock below us.
You’ll do great. Use that as your base and build upward until you can connect someone. Start with Delmar.

I did what Treygan taught me in our days of training, imagining stone forming like a giant puzzle building upon itself. When I reached Delmar’s fins, I froze. What if I hurt him? Worse, what if I killed him?

I glanced up, looking for Treygan to help me do it correctly, but he was an indigo blur in the water, erecting pillars of stone.

Slowly, I formed a foot or so of stone around Delmar’s fins and tail. I couldn’t do it as fast as Treygan. I was too worried about crushing Delmar. Treygan was beside me in an instant and Delmar was encased up to his waist before I could thank Treygan for helping me.

I swam to the surface, needing to make sure everyone was okay.

“Holy Poseidon.” Delmar tucked his long hair behind his ears. “I can’t move my lower body—at all.”

“I think it just might work,” Caspian said.

“Is anyone hurt?” I asked.

No one was. Not one complaint of pain or discomfort.

Treygan surfaced beside me. “Okay, Yara. Your turn. Anchor me.”

“I can’t.”

“I can’t encase myself, so you have to or I’ll be swept away.”

“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”

“Do it,” Treygan said. “Now. For Nixie and Jenna.”

That was the only reminder I needed. I dove down, concentrating on my gorgon ability and feeling its power simmering inside me. I started at the bedrock base and kept expanding the stone. I built upward until I reached Treygan’s tail, sculpting all around him, up to his abs, but it didn’t seem safe enough. I added more, encasing him up to his chest, and then I surfaced.

He smirked. “Went a bit overboard, didn’t you?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“You did an amazing job. Now, go. Nixie and Jenna need you.”

Keeley hovered above our heads with one of my packs. “I found the one you wanted.”

“Good. You stay with me.” I flew into
the sunless sky, gazing down at Treygan, Caspian, Indrea, Delmar, Kimber, and Merrick, and deeper to where Pango anchored the boat that Rownan and Vienna were stowed away in. I was putting all of them at risk. I grumbled to myself, “What am I doing?”