Tempest Unleashed (38 page)

No
, she huffed.
But I really don’t want to die today—can I just throw that out to the universe?

I think the universe is aware.

The bunyip continued on their path, giving every indication that they were oblivious to us following them. I could only hope they weren’t leading us into an ambush. In a perfect world, I would be able to scope out the situation before going in blind. I was more than aware that probably wouldn’t be the case—here, but hope springs eternal.

Kona.
I called him again.

What?
he roared.
Where are you?

Sorry. We were hiding from the bunyip.

I felt him recoil.
Where are they?
he demanded.

Where are you?
I countered.
Are you out in the open ocean or are you in a cave?

About a mile past the reef, there’s a sunken ship. She has us in the hold, at the bottom. And, Tempest, she has hundreds of soldiers in and around us just waiting for you. Bunyip and the sharks, plus the others.

I figured.
I paused, then spoke to both him and Mahina, wanting my friend to be in on the conversation as well.
You say you’re a mile north of the reef?

Yes. But there’s no way for you to sneak up on us. I told you that already. You have to go, try to get out of here before she realizes you’re close.

Don’t worry about us, Kona
. I glanced at Mahina.
We’ve got this.

Mahina shot me a thumbs-up sign even as she looked ready to puke.

I have to go now
, I told him.
I’ll talk to you again when I’m safe.

Tempest!
Kona shouted suddenly.
Tempest, no! She’s moving troops. I think she knows you’re here. The bunyip must have seen—

More likely, you’re tipping her off
, I told him.
Somehow I don’t think Tiamat could fail to notice the fact that you’re suddenly freaking out.

She doesn’t know I can talk to you. She gave me something that was supposed to inhibit my powers. Instead, it knocked me out completely. I haven’t been awake that long.

Does she know you’re conscious?

No.

Good. Try and keep it that way. Are you and Mark alone?

No. That’s what I keep trying to tell you. You can’t win—

I’ll see you in a little while, Kona. I promise.

I broke the connection, then slowly, stealthily, made my way out of the reef. No one attacked, so I was hoping we’d have a few minutes before the next patrol came by. Of course, if things went according to the hastily manufactured plan in my head, we would need only a fraction of that time.

What are you doing?
Mahina hissed.
They’ll see us.

Not if I have anything to say about it.

I shifted back to human form—for some strange reason my magic always worked better when I had legs—shimmied into my bikini bottoms and called the power up inside of me. I could feel it growing, getting stronger, seething just below the surface as it sought an outlet.

I refused to let it loose, at least not yet. Instead, I gathered more and more energy from the waves until my entire body was vibrating with the strength of what I was trying to hold deep inside myself. When I couldn’t contain it any longer, when it felt like I would break apart if I amassed even one more drop of energy, I focused on the ground and let it all go at the same time.

In seconds, I’d created a twenty-foot-long passageway straight down into the ground.
Come on
, I told Mahina, diving in. We hit the end of the passage in less than a minute, so I used small blasts of energy to continue building the tunnel, much like my mother had done in that last memory.

I need to know when we’ve gone exactly one mile
, I told Mahina.
Do you think you and your weird geography talent can calculate that precise of a distance?

Seeing as how the alternative is death, I’ll give it my best shot.

You do that.

I turned my head to grin at her, but she just glared.
I don’t know how you can laugh at a time like this.

Because the alternative was to start screaming again, and that wouldn’t help anyone.

Going back to work, I pulsed out another section of the tunnel, then another and another. It was slow work, and I couldn’t help wondering how my mother had done it. She’d created one of these so fast that I barely had a chance to blink before she was out the other end.

My inability to do the same was not exactly inspiring confidence.

How much farther?
I asked Mahina after nearly an hour of blasting out piece after piece of the tunnel.

At least half a mile
, she told me.

You have got to be kidding me.
I stopped for a second, pulled back. Really looked at what I was doing. I was blasting away, pushing outward and compacting the dirt against the walls of the tunnel as I went.

It was working, but it certainly wasn’t very time or energy efficient. I was already exhausted and I hadn’t even started battling Tiamat yet. There had to be a better way of doing things—I just needed to figure out how.

I thought about surfing, about how I duck dived under the water to get better momentum and control. Thought about the way I always twisted my hands when I went to break the surface because it made things cleaner, easier. And wondered if there was a way to use that same barrier-breaking twist down here.

An idea came to me—strange and outlandish, but it could work. It wasn’t how my mother had done it, wasn’t how anyone else I knew would do it, but maybe it would work for me.

Back up
, I told Mahina, scooting after her a few feet back up the tunnel. Feeling stupid, but willing to try anything at this point, I stretched out on my stomach, hands above my head. And then I started pulling the energy back in again. Not gathering a little bit at a time to do the small blasts I’d been working with, but enough to do that first blast again.

Enough to set every nerve in my body to vibrate.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to do what I had when I’d created that long, silver spear against Sabyn. I visualized what I needed from my magic, and then I let the power loose.

I spun like a top at high speed, my flexed fingers tunneling into the earth so fast that I covered yards in mere seconds. Like a drill bit going into wood, I twisted my way through the tunnel at an amazing speed, going and going and going until Mahina yelled,
Stop!

I fell to the ground, exhausted and more than a little dizzy.

How did you do that?
Mahina asked incredulously.
I’ve never seen anyone spin that fast in my whole life.

I have no idea. I just know I don’t ever want to do it again.
I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to stretch out the cramps in my fingers.

Now what?
she asked.

I looked straight up, visualizing what might be above us.
Now we find out how close we actually are.

She looked pale.
What happens if we come up right in front of them?

We duck?

You are really on a roll today. An absolute riot.

I do what I can.

Before I started digging my way out, I decided to try one more thing, just to see if I could get a bead on where exactly we were.
Kona?
I called again.

Tempest? Where are you? It’s been forever!

Yeah, well, I’m a little busy. Say something else, will you?

What do you want me to say?

You sound closer.

So do you. Where are you?
He also sounded terrified, but I didn’t tell him that—especially since I knew his concern was all for me.

I’m not exactly sure. Is Tiamat still with you?

Yes, along with a few of her henchmen. Please, don’t do anything stupid.

A little late for that, isn’t it?
I was crawling along the tunnel while he spoke, trying to find the spot where he sounded the loudest.
Keep talking
, I told him.

What are you doing, Tempest?

Trust me. How’s Mark?

He’s still out. Or, like me, he’s pretending to be. I’m not sure.

Are you both tied up? Or locked in somewhere? How is she holding you?

We’re chained to iron posts.

Of course they were. It wasn’t like Tiamat wanted to make this easy for me or anything.

Okay
, I told him,
I think that’s the best I’m going to get.
I’d crawled about forty feet back down the tunnel to the spot where he was at his absolute loudest.

What does that mean?

It means close your eyes and relax. I’ll be there soon.
I injected a lot more confidence into my voice than I was feeling.

Tempest, please.
He sounded broken, defeated, completely un-Kona-like.
I don’t want you to do this. Do you hear me? Don’t make me watch you die, please. I love you and I can’t
—His voice broke.

Tears filled my own eyes, but I batted them away.
It’s going to be fine
, I told him huskily, knowing I was lying but not caring. Because I hadn’t come this far to turn back without even trying to save him and Mark.
I love you too. Be ready.

Tempest! Tempest, no!

I cut the connection completely, slamming a wall up in my mind so I wouldn’t hear his desperate pleas.

This is it.
I turned to Mahina.
Are you ready?

Oh yeah. Can’t wait.

We tunneled straight toward the surface, using the small energy blasts again as I didn’t want to take the chance of going too fast and blowing right onto the surface. I could feel the consistency of the dirt changing, getting wetter, and I knew we were close.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for the backpack I’d given to Mahina for safekeeping. Pulled out the knife I’d stuck there a few days ago.
This is for you
, I told her, sending as much energy into it as I could. Within seconds, the blade burned hot enough to raise blisters.
It’s not much, I know, but—

She knocked me with her shoulder to shut me up.
Hey. It’s fine. I figure I’m going to spend most of my time ducking behind you, anyway. Besides, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
She gestured to her own backpack.
Now, get out of my way.

She shouldered past me.

I grabbed on to her arm, horrified.
I’m going up first.

Really? Have you never watched any of those human cop shows? You’re the one who can blast people at a thousand yards, so you need to go up second. To cover me.

Mahina, there’s no way I’m letting you do that.

You don’t have a choice.
She reached her arms above her head and, using every ounce of strength she possessed, plunged straight through the thin layer of dirt at the top of the tunnel and onto the ocean floor.

Chapter 32

I piled out of the tunnel about two seconds after Mahina, arms extended and energy blasting in all directions. I dropped two of the shark-men before I even had a chance to look around and figure out where we were.

But the second I turned, I realized we couldn’t have picked a worse spot to come up if we tried. Kona and Mark were nowhere in sight, although the ship Kona had spoken of was only about five yards away. That was actually the good news. The bad news was that we had somehow managed to emerge in what looked like the middle of a strategy session.

Sabyn, the traitorous bastard, was at the front of a group made up of bunyip and shark-men, while a half-human, half-snakelike sea serpent stood a little bit to the side, speaking to another group of bunyip. Her top half was human and as beautiful as Tiamat’s, except this creature’s hair was long and black, while her skin was honey colored.
A Polynesian version of the sea witch?
I wondered as Mahina hissed,
Scylla.

Our eyes met across the expanse of ocean, and I watched as hers widened in surprised comprehension. She went for a spear that was stuck into the ocean floor right next to her, but I had already created a spear of my own and now hurled it straight at her chest. With a cry of rage, she jumped out of the way, but not before it took a huge chunk of skin, muscle, and scales off of her hip.

I turned to face a smirking Sabyn and his crew, but Mahina was already lobbing a series of what looked like homemade grenades straight into the middle of the group. As they scattered, she grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the ship. We made it behind the bow just as the first one exploded, followed by detonations of the other two.