Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

S he told herself not to scream in the bubble of her diving suit, and she didn’t. But she definitely might have let out an embarrassing whimper. There was something horrible about the sensation of going underneath the water. The old dive suit wasn’t exactly as warm as it should have been. There was too much space between her skin and the insulated fabric of the suit, so she felt it suction to her and then they were off.

She had the momentary terror that the oxygen tank wouldn’t work. It was old, after all. They’d had someone look at it to make sure that she wouldn’t drown, but there was always the chance. Or that they hadn’t sealed it right and soon enough she would feel water creep in underneath the helmet. A thousand things could go wrong, and that was all she could focus on for a long time.

The dark water covered her head and once she had time to calm her nerves about the ancient suit that was supposed to keep her alive, all she could feel was the muscular arm around her waist.

There was so much strength in that band of forearm that held her back pressed against his chest. He glided through the water with ease, holding onto her like she weighed absolutely nothing when she knew that damn well wasn’t true. The faintest pricks of claws brushed along her stomach, and her belly tensed at the sensation.

No light penetrated this deep into the ocean. All she could see was the darkness surrounding them. And with that, came the realization that there were other sensations. She could feel every individual claw as it brushed along her suit. The flexing of his muscles as he darted away from her home and dragged her into the deep. The sound of her own breath, coming too rapid and too shallow because she couldn’t focus on anything other than the terror that raced throughout her mind.

She could die. He could drop her and she’d sink like a stone. The ocean could claim her just as it had so many other bodies. She’d never realized until right now how much she hated the ocean.

“Where are we going?” he asked, his deep voice somehow even louder in the water than it had been out of it.

She flinched, but he only drew her back into his chest, even firmer. It was like he wanted her to get closer to him, because his arm tightened even more, drawing her so close that her legs brushed against his tail as they fairly flew through the water.

“Um...” Where were they going? Her mind had frayed with fear and now she wasn’t... Jacob had said something... He’d made it very clear that she had to go somewhere to get... shit.

His other arm joined the first, wrapping her up in him. Then, suddenly, she was flipped mid swim. Turned again like she weighed nothing, so she was facing him with her helmet mashed against his strong chest. She tried to still herself, wondering if he was just going to snap her neck or if this was his apology hug before he dropped her into the abyss.

But nothing happened. He just held her. Quietly. Calmly. Then he slowed his speed until they weren’t darting through the water like a missile, they were just floating. Letting the sea hold them up together as though this was the most normal thing in the world.

Maybe it was. Maybe it was entirely normal for him, but it was so strange for her.

She took in a deep, rattling breath. Then another. She had to get herself under control because if she didn’t, then she wouldn’t remember a damn thing of what she was supposed to do.

A steady thud caught her attention. Not quite a beat of a drum, more of a bump-thud sound that was so unusual. She couldn’t think of anything else. She listened to that sound, wondering what in the world it was, until she realized it was his heartbeat.

He’d stopped swimming so she could be wrapped in his arms, listening to his heart. What kind of monster did that? Not a monster at all. Just someone who saw another person in distress and wanted to help.

Taking a deep breath, she let her own fears float away. Taking one deep breath after another, she slowed her heart rate down until she nodded against his chest. “Right. We’re going to the medical pavilion.”

“And where is that?”

“It’s so weird talking to an undine,” she muttered under her breath, before trying to rotate in his arms. “I need to look around.”

“Why is it strange to talk to me?”

“Because you’re...” Ace tried to find the right words. “Massive? The only kind of sea creature capable of speech?”

“Not true.” He let her turn, even helping her by holding her under the armpits like she was a child. And then he just... held her out in front of him. Arms straight, hands under her arms. “Dolphins and whales speak.”

This was a distraction she didn’t need. Ace’s vision had finally adjusted to the darkness of the sea and she could see there were pinpricks of light ahead of her. The medical pavilion should be blue if she remembered right. She wasn’t sure if it would have a neon blue exterior, however. It would make sense that all the signs would have some kind of color coded legend, but... Well. It wasn’t like everything here was consistent.

Apparently, she didn’t respond fast enough, because he swayed her side to side. Swishing her legs through the water in the slowest kind of shake. “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.”

“Why did you not reply?”

She recognized this behavior. He’d done something very similar when they had been talking through their devices. He wasn’t very patient when it came to responses. He wanted an answer, acknowledgement, all the things that sometimes she just didn’t have time to give him.

Sighing, she replied, “Because I’m looking for where we need to go. The medical pavilion is where the last known owner of the key was. It should be blue, and have something that looks like a cross outside of it.”

“A cross?”

It took some effort to hold her hands up, but she bent the gloves on her hands and overlapped her pointer fingers. “Like this.”

“Oh!” He slammed her back against his chest with such force that she let out a little disgruntled sound. “Sorry. I know where that is, though.”

They were off again. Blasting through the water with so much speed that she had a hard time holding onto him. All she could do was hope that he had a hold of her before they were suddenly rounding a corner in between towers and then...

The entire sea burst into light.

Neon surrounded them. Signs on every single building, though pieces of them had fallen off, but she could see their names flashing as they passed. FOOD HERE, with a giant red arrow. STOP FOR ENTERTAINMENT, marked with flowers around it. A giant naked woman that blinked on and off, one of her heeled feet pointing in the direction to go. So much color and light surrounded by tiny schools of silver fish.

A manta ray swam in front of them, larger than she was tall. It arced over their heads, black and white spots so close she could have touched it if she reached out her hand. It was like the sight of that manta ray gave her the ability to see every single other creature here.

While the city of Gamma might be a dying ruin of neon lights and blinking, boring existence, the outside of the city roared with life. Fish swam in every single direction, everywhere the eye could see. The manta ray dove, drawing her attention to jellyfish that were coasting by them. She’d never seen a jellyfish in her life.

Maketes rolled them, suddenly turning her onto her back so she looked up and stare into all the darkness that surrounded them. And then there was movement in that dark, a slight shudder revealing the outline of something massive. The silhouette of a whale blocked out her view, but it must have been some distance away, because it almost looked small.

Ace lifted a hand, comparing the size of it to the whale before they rolled again.

“There?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling through her entire body until she followed where he was pointing.

The medical pavilion was right in front of them. The big blue cross wasn’t blinking like the other signs. She wondered if maybe it had a different generator attached to it, just in case the power went out and people couldn’t find the one place they needed most.

Her stomach twisted with worry. She had no idea what gang was in the medical pavilion these days. Ace had kept her nose out of everyone else’s business. It was a skill she’d perfected over the years. Just in case another group came into her tower, then she could say she wasn’t really attached to anyone. Her loyalties could be bought, and she was useful.

But now she was heading into their territory with the intent to take something that wasn’t hers. It was going to be a lot harder to convince anyone to help her. Perhaps it was best if she stayed hidden.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “That’s it.”

He must have sensed her subdued mood, because he didn’t talk as he swam them toward the building. There wasn’t a lot to say, anyway. She wasn’t going to tell him much about the why or how of what she was doing. And he probably didn’t care all that much to ask. Human business was human business.

“Looks like there’s an opening,” she shouted, trying to make sure he could hear her through the diving helmet. For good measure, she pointed to a small tear at the bottom level of the building.

It didn’t bode well. A lot of these towers were in rough shape. Engineers were rare in these parts, apparently they either were do gooders or they were too valuable to send to Gamma. Whatever it was, if a building was damaged, the people who lived there patched it the best they could and hoped the tower didn’t flood.

Large drainage tubes ran up and down the sides of this building. She’d seen them on a few others as well. Drainage systems that should pump any water out of the building. If they were working, then flooding the tower would be next to impossible.

The tear was on a lower level, and large enough for them to slip through. Maketes handed her through the hole first. Then he guided her rather than swim through the sharp shards of metal with her in his arms. She was almost insulted until she knocked the diving helmet against a jagged edge of rebar and realized he was letting her pick her own way to make sure the suit didn’t rip.

After that, she was a lot more careful. Using her gloves to grab onto stone and metal, yanking herself through the twisting labyrinths of old rooms and floating tables until she saw a light at the surface.

“Finally,” she wheezed before breaking free into fresh air.

She was heavier here, though. Way heavier than she remembered ever feeling. Grabbing onto the first ledge she could, she tried to pull herself out, but the water in her suit made her feel like she was carrying another person on her back. A hand palmed her ass and heaved.

Like a wet seal, she plopped out of the water and slammed onto the floor.

Ace rolled onto her back and fiddled with the ties that kept the dive helmet on her body. If she could just wiggle it off, she knew she could breathe here. There was always air in the medical pavilion. And she needed to take a few seconds to actually rest, because that had been the most terrifying experience of her entire life.

A big body loomed over hers, reaching for her helmet and pulling it off her head. Maketes frowned down at her, the expression on his face was one so clearly of confusion that it almost made her laugh.

“You are still breathing?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Not very well.”

A laugh did burst out of her then. “No, not very well. But I’ll be fine here.”

He withdrew slightly, giving her room to sit up and start wriggling out of the suit. All she had to do now was find the office of doctor whatever his name was—she’d remember it in time— and then loot the whole place. She’d done that before. Ace was good at stealing things.

But the undine in front of her gave her pause. He was leaning against the open floor, nothing behind him but a blank wall that might have once had artwork on it, considering the holes. But he was halfway out of the water. His tail was long and coiled beneath him, not unlike a snake. He drew it nearly completely out of the water until just his thin fluke was still hidden from her sight.

Ace looked over her shoulder and realized they were in a little waiting room. There were still teal covered leather chairs where people would sit and wait for their appointments. An eye chart was on the wall in the back corner, right behind a desk that still had an honest-to-god phone sitting on top of the counter.

She’d never seen so many pristine things. Everything in the tower she lived in had long ago been destroyed, but all of this was perfect. Still here, like it had only been a few moments ago that the receptionist had walked out of the room.

Halogen lights blinked off above them before humming back on. The wooden door even had a sign on its window. She could read it backwards.

Opthamologist .

“An eye doctor,” she mused, before shrugging her way out of the dive suit. She quickly stood and hung it over the back of one of the chairs. “Hard to forget where this is.”

“You’re leaving me here?”

“I don’t think it would be all that easy for you to come with me. Thanks for the ride, though. Come back in... I don’t know, a day or so? Then I’ll definitely have what I need.”

There was a sudden silence. Not even the sound of dripping water.

She turned to look at him, and he reached out his hand for her to take. “Ace?”

Some stupid part of her reached out for him, too. It whispered “Just take his hand”, so she did. “What? What is it?”

Did he sense some danger? Was there something here that she hadn’t realized?

“You stink.” And with that, he yanked her hard and tossed her into the open water.