Tempest Unleashed (44 page)

I expected to have to explain myself, but Mahina and Kona must have been worrying about the same thing—they knew immediately who I was talking about.

I hope not
, Mahina said.
I need a little recovery time. I think we all do
.

So do they
, Kona told us.
Tiamat was in bad shape when Sabyn pulled her out of there. And without her, I’m not sure how much power he really has.

What about his tattoos?
I asked.
They’re signs of his power, and he has more of them than anyone I’ve ever seen.

I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
Kona exchanged a glance with Mahina.

What does that mean?

I take it you didn’t look in a mirror when you brought Mark to the surface
. Kona reached over and traced a finger over my shoulder, then down my rib cage and across my stomach. I followed the path, saw that my entire torso was now covered in purple tattoos in the same shape and pattern of those on my back.

Where did these come from?
I demanded.

They were there after you did your little exploding sun trick. Once the light died away, these were hard to miss
, Mahina answered.
Not that I’m surprised. I’ve never seen anything like what you did.

Me, neither.
Kona shook his head, looking more than a little awed.

I don’t know how I did it. These weird powers keep showing up—it was just part of the whole electric thing.

Kona nodded.
I know. And I guarantee you, Tiamat and Sabyn are scared to death after seeing what you could do.

Give me a break. I’m still pretty damn scared after seeing what
they
could do. Sabyn healed himself after I practically split him in two. How is that even possible?

My guess is they’ve been sharing blood for a while now—combining species’ powers like that has a tendency to make both more powerful. For a while anyway
, Mahina said.

Is that why she wanted my blood?

Yep.

But what did she mean about Kona’s energy?
I asked.
She wanted my blood and his energy.

Selkies’ actual powers aren’t blood based, like mermaids’ are
, Kona said.
Any power we have comes from the way we channel energy from the ocean. The better we are at doing that, the more power we have.

So, you’re really good at that whole water-channeling thing, then? To be as powerful as you are?

His smile faded.
I’m good but nowhere near as good as my father was.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t say anything. Neither did Mahina.

We made it to Kona’s territory a couple of hours later. The cleanup had continued during the days we were gone and the city was almost back to normal—just with a lot less people out and about than it usually had. Some were barricaded in their houses, hiding, while many others had died in the attack. Either way, I felt miserable swimming through to Kona’s castle and figured he must be feeling about a million times worse.

I went on land with him, to the castle, took him inside while Mahina waited in the ocean. She said she needed a nap, but I knew it was because she didn’t want to intrude.

The house felt so empty without his parents and siblings there—I hadn’t realized how used to their presence I’d grown in the last eight months. They were a loud, big, boisterous family and it seemed strange to be here without them. Again, I knew it was a million times worse for Kona. Only two of his brothers and two sisters had survived Tiamat’s attack, and they were sitting in the media room watching TV. They jumped up and greeted him, but their jubilation only lasted a few seconds before they were once again looking as blank and devastated and lost as Kona did.

I didn’t know what to do for him, didn’t know how to help. After my mother had died, I’d been too frozen inside to let him help me. I wondered if that was how he was feeling now.

“Do you want me to stay?” I asked after hugging his brothers and sister and offering them my condolences. “I can—”

“You need to get back to Coral Straits. I know you must be anxious to see what’s going on.”

“It doesn’t matter. If you need me, I’ll be here.”

He smiled sadly, and the expression on his face was so much like the one on Mark’s when we said good-bye that I did a double take. “It’s fine, Tempest. We both know this isn’t where you want to be anyway.”

“That’s not true.” My heart fluttered a little in panic. I wasn’t ready to do this—dealing with Mark had already thrown me for a loop. Having to also deal with Kona … it was too much for me to handle right now on top of everything else.

But I couldn’t tell him that, not when he was an even bigger emotional basketcase than I was. So I just waited to hear what he had to tell me.

In the end, he didn’t say anything at all. Just kissed my forehead and whispered, “I’m tired. Can we talk about this later?”

“Sure. Of course.” I felt like I’d just been spared a trip to the guillotine. “Get some sleep—you were close to death a couple days ago.”

“So were you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m resilient like that.”

“Thank God.” He pulled me to his chest and hugged me. I hugged him back, dropped a soft kiss on his shoulder. As I did, I realized that I would always love Kona, always be grateful to him and have mixed-up feelings for him. But the way I loved him was different from how I loved Mark. With Kona, it was sweet and comfortable and lovely. Which was nice—I wasn’t denying it.

But it wasn’t the same wild, crazy excitement I felt whenever I saw Mark. My heart didn’t skip a beat, my palms didn’t sweat, my powers didn’t jump. Some might think that was a good thing—I certainly had for a while—but now I wasn’t so sure. I liked the way I felt when I was with Mark, loved the tingle he still gave me even after all these years.

Not that I was going to tell Kona that. Kicking someone when he was down was much more a Tiamat thing to do than a Tempest one. But when I pulled away, I realized Kona already knew. It was in the sad smile he gave me.

In the friendly way he squeezed my shoulder.

In the kiss he brushed across my cheek instead of my lips.

“Kona …”

“Don’t worry about it, Tempest. We both have a lot on our minds right now.”

“But—”

He put a finger on my lips. “You need to get going. Hailana is probably having a stroke wondering where you are. And I have a kingdom to run. It’s not like I have time to do the whole love-triangle thing right now, anyway.”

Ouch. His words hurt, even as I understood the truth in them. Still, I knew I could fight him. Right now, I could fight this thing that he was doing. I could throw my arms around Kona and tell him I loved him and I would never give him up. If I was ever going to do that, this was the time for it.

But in the end, all I said was, “Are you kidding me? Hailana probably knows more about that fight than you and I do. Her informants are everywhere.”

He agreed, a sad look in his eyes, and I left after giving him another hug. As I got into the water where Mahina was waiting, I vowed to be there for Kona whenever he needed me. He had a terrible, awful time in front of him and he was going to need all the friends he could get. No matter what happened with Mark or Hailana or this whole mermaid thing, I was not going to let him down.

The scene at Coral Straits was just as miserable as the one at Kona’s house. Maybe even more so, as Hailana lingered close to death’s door. I went to see her as soon as I got back and she barely recognized me. She was shaky, weak, almost impossible to follow. In the space of a week, she’d gone from a formidable, if old, opponent to a weak object of pity. It made me feel awful.

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur as I worked tirelessly to help get Coral Straits back in shape. We upped our patrols, trained more soldiers, cleaned up the destruction Tiamat and Sabyn had left behind. And tried to slowly put the pieces of our lives back together.

I was having a hard time with it—partly because I was trying to do the job of a merQueen without ever taking on the actual title. As long as Hailana was alive, it would be hers. When she died,
if
she died, I would think more about what my responsibilities were and what I wanted to do with them.

I’d been back under the ocean about four weeks when my first chance for a break came. I told myself I was going to hang out with Mahina, go shopping, have fun, but in the end I did what I knew I would do all along. I swam home to San Diego.

I didn’t know what Mark was going to say, didn’t know if he would want anything to do with me, since I’d been gone a month without so much as a word to him, but we needed to talk. Needed to see if the spark was still there. If he still felt for me what I was beginning to think I would always feel for him.

It was night when I came ashore, and I was better prepared this time. I pulled a sarong and tank top out of my waterproof backpack, slipped them on over my swimsuit, then made my way slowly up the road to Mark’s house. He lived only a few houses down from me, and I smiled as I passed the house I’d grown up in. I was dying to see my dad and brothers again, but I had to do this first. I’d traveled the whole world, yet after everything was said and done, I’d ended up falling for the boy next door after all.

I knocked and his mother answered. Her eyes grew wide when she saw me, but she welcomed me in and ushered me to the backyard. I knew exactly where Mark would be—next to the beach, his favorite place to think was a large, double hammock his mother had hung up years before.

Sure enough, he was there, kicked back, arms folded behind his head as he studied the myriad stars in the late-night sky. “I’m fond of Pisces, myself,” I said, pointing at one of the constellations.

Mark jumped at the sound of my voice, then nearly fell out of the hammock. “Tempest?” he asked, climbing to his feet.

“Yep.”

He glanced back up at the sky, where I’d pointed. “That’s Aquarius.”

“Oh. Sorry. You’ve always been better at this than I am.”

He didn’t answer, so we just stood there, staring at each other. “You didn’t come all this way to talk about the stars.”

“I came because I missed you.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. I’m sorry it took so long. Things were … difficult. The merQueen is sick and I needed to be there, to help.”

“I’m sure you did.”

I was getting a little annoyed. I didn’t expect him to greet me with open arms, had figured I’d have to do a little groveling, but … actually, I had hoped he would greet me with open arms, now that I thought about it.

“Is that all you have to say? I came this far to see you.” I got in his face and his eyes narrowed, his hands coming up to circle my biceps.

“What do you want me to say?” Mark asked.

“Tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me what you want from me.”

“I’m thinking that this whole mermaid thing of yours is turning out to be more complicated than I expected.”

I stiffened, backed away. Subconsciously, I’d been expecting this all along. I thought I’d prepared myself for it, but I’d been wrong. I’d really hoped … I cut the thought off before it ever really formed. “I know. I understand.”

He put a finger under my chin, lifted my face to his. “What is it you think you understand?”

“If I didn’t have to live this life, I wouldn’t want any part of it either.”

“That’s not what I said, Tempest.”

“No, but it’s what you meant, right? It has to be, because no one in their right mind would actually sign up for this shit.” My breath hitched on a sob.

He closed his eyes, pulled me against him. “I can’t do this,” he murmured against my hair.

“Can’t do what?”

“I can’t pretend I didn’t miss you every second you were gone. Your life is crazy, I know that, but I don’t care. I never said I wanted you to change, only that I wanted to be a part of your life.” He leaned down and swept his lips gently over mine. “
Want
to be a part of your life. I love you, Tempest. Even after everything that’s happened. Maybe even more, after what I saw you do down there.”

“It didn’t freak you out?”

“I didn’t say that, especially when you went all, I don’t know, nuclear? But I figure that just means I’ve got a lot to learn about loving a mermaid.” He rested his hand on my cheek and I turned my head, kissed the center of his palm.

“I’m going to have to go back again. I’m not here to stay.”

“I know that. But you won’t be gone so long next time, right?”

I thought of the mess down below, of Hailana and Tiamat and everything I still had to do to help make things right. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He nodded. “Good enough.” Then he paused, stepped back. Cleared his throat and looked out at the fruit trees that lined the edge of his backyard, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his board shorts. “Kona—”

“I know.”

“If you want him—” He cleared his throat again. “If you still want him …”

“Yeah?” I asked, eyeing him curiously.