Fathom (28 page)

Then I saw the pale gleam of gold-streaked hair and realized it was Caleb. Here, just like he promised. I wanted to smile but couldn’t. All I could do was nod when he made his way through the gate. He took a short sniff, wrinkled his nose.

“Tuna? Really?” he asked in a hushed voice.

I grinned.

But he didn’t smile. In fact, the expression on his face made me realize what I was really doing.

“You sure this is what you want to do?” he asked.

I nodded. More than anything, this was what I wanted. As long as I got to see my mom one last time, it would all be worth it. Although part of me couldn’t help but wonder whether I was just trying to get that hug that I’d wanted for years.

Arms cold and wet and sticky.

Only this time, the blood would probably be my own.

Caleb:

I waited outside in the quiet night, hoping that the ending would change. I’d heard the legend for years and knew how it ended. Even Riley knew. I wondered how she had been able to go to sleep. Part of her must have known what was going to happen out here tonight.

A human sacrifice.

One life in exchange for another.

All of it done for love.

The ax was going to swing down and split that monster in half. The long-lost mother would slip out, gasping and confused, and there would be a brief reunion. Just enough time for the two of them to wrap arms about one another. Then the beast would swallow the girl alive and leap back over the cliff.

The mother would be free and the child would become the monster.

If I had known that I would end up part of this nightmarish story, I would have stayed away. I never would have come along.

But Kira already stood on the cliff, hair blowing in midnight wind, just like in the legend. Walking between earth and sky and sea. Waiting.

And now I had to meet her, to play a part in this.

Because now she was more than my secret love. She was also my friend. And friends don’t walk away, even when death looms near. 

Kira:

I didn’t know what to do, so I decided I may as well break all the rules. I wanted to get this over with. Before something happened to change my mind.

“I’m going to call the Hinquememem,” I said, not surprised when Caleb flinched.

You’re not supposed to say its name, not out loud, not at night, and definitely not when you’re standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooks the ocean.

“So, maybe you should leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I turned and faced the sea, closed my eyes, inhaled deep the salty breeze.

“I’m here,” I whispered. “Come and see me, Mom.” My voice raised just a pitch, but not enough to carry back to the house. “Hinquememem, can you hear me? Aren’t you hungry? I’ve been on land my entire life. Sixteen years. Hinquememem, are you listening? Don’t you want to take me down to your cave? Hinquememem—”

I drew out the last word, let it slide over my lips like a song, low and sweet.

The breeze shifted and the tide retreated, white foam disappearing from the rocks down below. Then I smelled it. A horrid stench like burned rubber and rotting seaweed. Already closer than I expected.

“Kira,” Caleb touched my arm.

“Back away,” I warned him.

With my left hand, I reached up and pulled my cross out from beneath my shirt.

“No,” he said.

I tugged the string until it broke, said a hasty prayer, then I tossed the cross back toward the house. It sailed over the fence and landed with a soft whisp in the grass. As soon as the cross was gone, my heart started hammering in my chest.

What have I done?

A slithering, shuffling noise sounded behind me and I turned, ax raised high. But there was nothing there. And then I remembered that I had to keep the ax hidden until the last moment, or the beast wouldn’t come near enough to strike.

The wind shifted again and clouds began to cover the moon.

No! I needed clear sky, bright moon. I glared up at the clouds, anger thudding through my veins. Move! And the wind seemed to hear and respond. The clouds parted.

Moonbeams struck the ground all around me.

“Come on, Hinquememem,” I said, a bit louder this time. “Selkie dinner. Ready and waiting. Come and get—”

A shadow fell across me, blocking out the sky, erasing Caleb. And a stench, stronger than anything I’d ever smelled before.

It was here, right in between us. A tall dark shape with snake-like arms that swept through the air, a body made of rubber, every inch of it in constant swaying motion, almost impossible to focus on because it never held still. I hadn’t expected this. There wasn’t anything Caleb could do to help me now. I instinctively took a step backward. The beast followed, making a sucking noise as it moved. So far it hadn’t seen the ax, but now I wasn’t even sure how I was going to strike it.

How was I going to get close enough? Its arms were almost as long as its body and it towered over me, like a tree made of seaweed and rubber. Then it growled, a low thundering tremor that shook the ground.

I swung my ax, blade sparking in a moonbeam, then disappearing in shadow.

I missed. Almost knocked myself over when the blade didn’t connect with anything.

“Kira!” Caleb yelled.

Shut up, you’ll wake my family—

Another swing. It moved closer now and a loud squeal emitted from its mouth, opening wide, even nastier than in my dream. I think I nicked it, felt the blade connect with something but it still swung past without sinking in.

Whatever I did must have made it really mad.

Because it lunged at me then, rubbery arms twisting over its head. Suddenly one long tentacled arm wrapped around my waist. It encircled me, pinned my arms to my body—I couldn’t swing the ax.

“Stop!” I yelled. This wasn’t going the way I planned. “Help!”

But it was already too late. The ax slipped from my fingers.

Meanwhile, the beast’s rubbery arm continued to wrap around me, tightening, squeezing the air from my lungs. It circled around me, over my arms and my shoulders, until finally it wrapped around my throat. At the same time, lights come on inside the house. I thought I heard someone cry out, but I’m not sure.

Because my split-second of life on land was over.

The Hinquememem leaped off the cliff then, back toward the water, pulling me with it.

The cliff rushed past, a blur of rock and moss, and we hit the water, plunging deeper than I’d ever gone before. My skin changed during the fall, skin to scales. But I still couldn’t breathe, because the Hinquememem had coiled its long sinewy arm around my throat, blocking my gills.

It was going to drown me.

I wasn’t going back to the cave. There was no hope of a rescue, no back-up plan.

It growled and shrieked, made the water vibrate all around us. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth inside. It could rip my head off with a single bite.

I was going to die.

But I hadn’t set my mother free.

It was going to eat me alive. Probably as soon as I passed out. And already, waves of blackness started rolling over me.

Caleb:

Behind me, the little house filled with light and clatter. A door opened and I thought I saw movement from the corner of my eye. But I had lost interest in the humans.

Because, just then the Hinquememem plunged over the side of the cliff, dragging Kira with it.

For a brief second, I stared down at the two of them, plummeting toward the surface of the sea, Kira with her face toward me, her chest and throat hidden beneath the snake-like grip of the beast. Her mouth moved, as if she was trying to call my name, and I almost thought I heard it. Then she was surrounded by an explosion of water and foam. The weight of the creature pulled her under, faster than I expected.

One moment, she was here. Alive.

The next, she was gone.

The stench of rubbery flesh settled like a haze about me and my chest ached. I had tried to anger the Hinquememem, had shouted its name, beat my fists against it, hoping it would take me instead.

But I had failed.

I turned. Ran my gaze over the ground. Already the moon was retreating behind the clouds. Without Kira to command them, the clouds were thickening and darkness approached.

Only one stray beam still touched the earth, as if waiting for me to see.

The ax lay on the ground. Blade glittering faintly then glowing dull as the beam of light disappeared.

I grabbed the weapon, clutched it to my chest, just as Kira’s grandmother and Riley were approaching—they were almost upon me with cries and shouts. I managed to slip away right before they reached me.

I spun and dove, feet pushing off the rock, like Kira’s mother had done so long ago in pursuit of the very same beast.

And just like her, I knew I would not give up until I caught it.

Until my blade struck and I forced it to set both captives free.

Tonight I would rescue Kira and her mother. And once they were gone and safe, I would do what every Selkie warrior must do if one of their comrades falls in battle. I would have vengeance on the beast that had killed my friend, Ethan.

•

I didn’t feel the cold when I plunged into the water. I didn’t feel anything but the call of the hunt. I searched for the oily slick that the monster must have left behind. On land it had left a trail, so I hoped I would find something underwater as well. But I didn’t.

Not yet, anyway.

I swam deeper and deeper, down where the light of day never penetrated. I listened to the currents, to the whispering roar, looking for anything unusual.

Then I saw it.

A flurry of barracuda, paddling away from their natural feeding ground.

And a small school of herring, racing one another, swimming right toward me even though I was one of their predators. Today they didn’t seem to care.

The Hinquememem must have come this way. I continued to follow the signs, deeper and deeper.

And then I saw Kira’s eyes, like a pair of blue stars twinkling in the distance.

I kicked my feet harder, twisting my body sideways to fit through a narrow passage between a corridor of rock. The beast must be heading toward its lair. I could see both of them better now and I knew that Kira probably wouldn’t survive much longer. One of the tentacles had blocked her gills.

Her eyes blinked, slow, almost like she was drugged.

I swam faster, ax clutched tight to my chest. I needed to distract the monster, so I roared, a loud bellow that echoed through the rocky canyon.

The beast hesitated, turned a swarthy mud-colored head toward me. Sinuous arms began to swim in all directions like a giant octopus. Any one of them could have captured me, pinned me in place just like Kira.

I swung the ax, struck one of the Hinquememem’s arms and chopped it off. The water darkened with blood and the beast screamed, a high-pitched screech that made my skin grow cold. It was a battle cry and all of my kind have an instinctive fear whenever it sounds.

It took all I had, and more, to swing again, to grin when I heard a soft thwack that let me know I had struck it.

Two arms were gone now, but I still hadn’t freed Kira. This wasn’t working. The Hinquememem began to swim away from me. I chased it again, managed to get right behind it and I swung my blade down—

A perpendicular strike—

Right in the center of its back.

The entire canyon echoed with the sound, a deep wet thwack, and the blade almost stuck in thick rubbery flesh. I yanked the ax back, watched the wound widen and split, heard the beast scream another primal roar. And yet, it still hadn’t dropped Kira. It continued to hold her close to its chest, well out of my reach. Meanwhile, its back cracked open like a hinge; the two halves fell apart and inside lay a pale, still Selkie. At first, she looked dead.

Then, for a split second, I thought it was Kira. They looked that much alike, mother and daughter.

She awoke with a start, just like a princess in a fairy tale. She saw me, gave me a puzzled look and then she fled, swimming toward the surface.

She must not have known that the beast still held her daughter captive.

I swung the ax one final time, struck and dismembered yet another arm. But it still wasn’t the one that held Kira. And now my time was gone.

The Hinquememem sprung toward me then, its back cracked open even wider; it lunged closer and something pulled me inside like an inescapable whirlpool. The ax slipped from my fingers. The creature’s back swung closed and my arms were pinned at my sides. I couldn’t move and I could barely breathe; I was suddenly surrounded by a horrible stench and unbearable pressure. I screamed, though no sound came from my mouth, and I wrestled against the black, suffocating enclosure.

Then finally, my limbs went numb and I was filled with a silence like death.

Kira:

I needed to breathe. Needed to be set free. But the Hinquememem continued to swim, deeper and deeper, through canyons made familiar by my dreams. Soon we would be at the cave. There, I would either be a captive or a meal.

Death without victory.

Bitter and empty.

All my strength had left me long ago. All I felt now were the black cold waves, each one numbing me more, becoming more welcome even as I tried one last time to fight.

I thought I saw something. Golden hair and a swinging ax. Thought I felt the beast tremble and scream. But every motion, every sound bled together, until it became part of my own numb blindness.

Again, another blow struck, even harder this time, until it pushed us forward and I seemed to sense an emptiness, almost as if the beast’s spirit had fled.

My mother.

She must have been set free.

A quiet joy filled my heart. Then this hadn’t been for nothing, there had been a triumph. She would surface and find her way home, back to my father and my sister. At last, they would be the family they were supposed to be.