Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

M aketes watched her hit the water with a harsh slap. Perhaps he’d thrown her a little too hard. Poor thing clearly wasn’t used to being graceful in the water, because she struck face first and then seemed to sink like a stone.

Had he knocked her out with the sheer force of his throw? Unlikely. She must not know how to swim.

Without another thought, he dove into the water after her. Everything was vaguely lit by the lights above them. The room that she had entered was so bright it had made his eye ache. But that brightness gave him the unique opportunity to be able to see everything under the surface.

And to see the shocked expression on her face. Not at what he had done, but at what she was seeing.

“You’ve already swum through this portion,” he reminded her, slowly circling her still form.

He wondered for a moment why she didn’t respond, only to remember she was holding her breath. Was now the time to connect with her? Did he draw the tentacle out of his hair and give her the air she so desperately needed?

He waited too long. Already Ace was heading back to the surface of the water. She kicked her feet, those strange pants seeming to slow her down only for a few moments. But then she was treading water at the top and he had a momentary flare of pride. For a second, he feared she couldn’t swim. Mira and Anya had both warned him that not all humans could. In fact, many of them couldn’t swim at all.

He had never been so afraid in his life than when he heard such a thing. All the humans were surrounded by water. What if their homes flooded? What if they had to go out into the sea? Not being able to swim seemed almost impossible to him.

With a flick of his tail, Maketes joined her at the surface. She still had her glasses on somehow, and had a glare on her face that threatened his life without a single word being said.

Grinning, he said, “Now you do not stink.”

“The fuck was that, undine?”

“If you were to come across any enemies, they would have smelled you long before they would see you.”

Her face somehow turned red, even though he could see she was starting to shiver. “Are you insane? I can’t get wet! If I’m freezing cold, I could die of hypothermia or never dry out. Besides, it’s far more likely someone would hear the water dripping off my body before they would smell me!”

Maketes considered her words and then wrinkled his nose. “Unlikely. You really smelled quite pungent.”

She stared at him. Just stared. Didn’t stop staring until all of a sudden he felt a little uncomfortable. It was like she was looking into his soul and he didn’t want her looking there.

Words bubbled up in his throat. He’d never been very good at sitting in silence. It pressed down upon his shoulders, made it feel a little hard to breathe. He wanted her to say something. Anything. Just fill the silence with something other than this.

Finally, he cleared his throat and asked, “Would you like some soap?”

Again, she stared. Until finally, blissfully, there were a few words. “How do you know what soap is?”

“We have a few humans in our pod. They are female like you, and they’ve both pressed on the necessity of soap.” He started sinking underneath the water for a moment before pointing out at the floor. “You should find different clothes. Like you said, they’re going to hear you coming.”

“And whose fault is that?” He heard her mutter before she moved off and pulled herself out of the water.

Her wet clothes clung to her body, and he found himself curious about the differences he could already see. Mira was strong, her body flexed with muscles even when she was sitting. Anya was a delicate little thing who looked like she could break at any moment. But Ace had tantalizing curves that she’d hidden from sight. She was soft, plush, and she looked so much more tempting than the other two.

Or perhaps that was just his own loneliness talking. Of all things, he just wanted someone to look at him the way Mira and Anya looked at their mates. It seemed... nice. More than nice to have someone who cared about their partner. Perhaps he wouldn’t be quite so solitary, then.

But he couldn’t think like that. Those thoughts were a little too serious for him, so he tossed them away and swam out of the building to find the seed pods that foamed up. When he’d brought them back to Mira for the first time, she’d squeezed his face hard and kissed his cheek. Arges had nearly beaten the scales off him, but it was worth it to see both of the women squealing with excitement.

He’d do the same for this achromo.

It didn’t take him long to find the little pods. They were abundant in the deeper waters of the ocean, because they grew best on the sea floor. To an untrained eye, they looked like large mussels. Their shells were dark in color and frequently had little white scars made by barnacles. Once he cracked it open, there was a soft spongy interior that foamed up when it was rubbed between hands. Apparently, it was perfect for cleaning hair.

He quickly made his way back to the achromo he’d left alone. Ace could have gotten into trouble while he wasn’t there. But as he rushed past broken pieces of furniture, he was quick to find that she was right where he had left her.

The dirty, ancient clothing she’d worn was gone. Instead, now she was snuggled up in a blanket that had seen better days. Her feet were bare for his gaze, their shape still odd. Even to him. He’d seen Mira and Anya’s feet many times before, but the sight of new ones was never easy to get used to.

Her toes were smaller than either of the other two. Itty bitty toes with the tiniest claws he’d ever seen on the tips of them.

She drew her feet underneath the blanket, those brown eyes watching him yet again.

“What?” he asked.

“You were staring at my feet.”

“I know.”

“It’s rude to stare at people’s feet.”

“Why?” He tilted his head to the side, genuinely confused why that would ever be considered rude. “They are very unusual appendages for my people to see. I have only seen two pairs before yours. Some of my people have seen more, but I never watched your kind very often.”

Ace’s face screwed up in a strange expression. Her mouth pressed thin, her brows drew down, and her eyes squinted at him. Was she trying not to laugh? Or perhaps she was simply constipated.

“What?” he asked again.

“They’re just feet.”

“They are so tiny, though.” He moved a little closer and then placed the pod down on the floor beside her feet. “I did not know that they came in such a small size.”

“Well, I didn’t pick them and then affix them onto myself.” Grumbling, she grabbed the pod and turned it over in her hands. “How’s this work, then?”

He grabbed it from her hands, an idea forming in his mind. Instead of explaining anything to her, he backed away into the water. “You have to come in to get clean.”

“I am clean.”

“You are covered in saltwater and I can still smell you.” He gestured with a clawed hand, hoping the sight of those deadly weapons wouldn’t scare her off. “Come here, Ace.”

She jolted at the sound of her name. He wasn’t sure why it was so startling to her, only that it was. And in just a moment, she brushed the blanket from her shoulders and slipped into the water.

He sank underneath the surface for a brief moment, if only to look at her better. She wore very little now. Just a small scrap of fabric hiding what was between her legs and twin cups that were formed around her breasts. But he could see her so easily, so perfectly. The soft curves of her body, the way her stomach was slightly rounded. Though she was so small compared to him, there was much of her to grasp.

Perfection, he thought as he cracked the pod open. Just as he’d thought she would be.

He moved back to the surface with two halves of the pod already open. “The innards of this plant foam. One of our females said that it cleans the hair very nicely.”

She reached for it, huffing out an angry sound when he held it back from her. “Can I have that?” she growled.

“No.”

A muscle in her jaw jumped as she clenched her teeth. Somehow she still ground out, “Why not?”

Because he wanted to touch her. Because he wanted to see how soft she was and if she felt the way he thought she might. But saying all of that would scare her off, and he had no interest in ending this adventure. So instead, he reached for her.

His hand slid around her waist, fingers curling around the cooled flesh even as he felt the strange sensation of her shivering. She shuddered against his touch and he thought for the briefest of moments it was because she might enjoy his touch. Even if that was only a dream, it surely was a wondrous one.

Maketes drew her through the water, turning her body so her back was pressed against his chest. At this angle, his tail was just long enough to wedge against the wall. It gave him a steady brace for her spine, with his tail lifting between her legs. She could sit on him, which she seemed to fight for a moment before giving in. Then her legs straddled his tail, the sudden heat of her core nearly burning through his scales, and he had to remind himself he wasn’t doing this for that sensation.

Cleaning her. That’s what he was doing. Helping her find what she needed to find. Getting weapons for his people.

He wasn’t here to seduce the female he’d been talking to for weeks on end. And he certainly wasn’t here to find himself an achromo mate of his own.

But what if he was?

To distract himself from the thoughts that were entirely beyond reality, he scooped some of the spongy substance out of the pod and lathered it between his hands. “Why were you in Gamma?”

The question blurted out of his mouth before he realized just how awful it was to say. It was like asking Daios why he was missing an arm, or Mira why she was so abrasive sometimes. These weren’t things a male asked when a female was straddling his tail and stiff as a board beside him.

She somehow became even stiffer. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because no one is in Gamma without good reason, and I suppose I wish to know if I’m helping a murderer...” He paused, tilting his head slightly even as he lifted his hands to her hair. “Murderess?”

“Murderess might be correct. I failed English class, but...” She froze as his claws skated through her hair. There wasn’t much of it. She’d shorn it off at her shoulders and the ends were particularly uneven. But she seemed to lean a little into his touch as he started to work the foam into her hair.

“You were saying?”

“I’m not a murderess,” she murmured, and he had the distinct pleasure of feeling all the tension leak out of her body. It started in her shoulders, as the tight muscles there loosened and her arms dropped. Then it went down her spine like liquid dripping down her entire body. Her legs fell limp against his tail, and she even leaned further back into his touch.

What a joy. What a pleasure to know that she trusted him not to hurt her. He knew it must have been a shock to see him, but he had thought they had a friendship brewing between the two of them. Now, he was certain of it.

“Not a murderess,” he murmured, slowly moving through the strands of her hair knot by knot until his claws slipped through them smoothly. “Then what did you do to end up in Gamma?”

“Oh, nothing terrible. I’m a thief, is all.”

Now that was interesting. “A thief? What did you steal, Ace?”

“Just a few things here and there. It started with food to eat, then it was clothing my sister wanted, but we couldn’t afford. And then I started being more interested in money and... well. It all went downhill from there.”

“You stole... money? I have heard humans need this, but I do not know what it means.”

“You don’t have currency?”

He tried to think of the word that might even match what she was saying. But there wasn’t anything that was the same, not really. Not in his language. “In a way, I suppose. We trade what others might need for things we do. We take care of each other in our pods, although I cannot say that we are particularly kind to other groups. It is merely who we are. We take care of our own, perhaps not so much of others.”

She nodded. “That makes sense. Well, anyway. I went too far. I stole from a bank that apparently kept accounts of a lot of very rich people, and the people I took from weren’t thrilled that I did so.”

“Did you wish to hurt them by taking the money?” Intent meant everything. The Ace he knew was not someone who wished to harm others, only to help. But if she was here because she did want to hurt others...

“No,” she whispered, moving away from him and using her own hands to scrub her scalp a little harder. “I just wanted to see if I could do it. And I could. I did. One glorious heist that no one had seen the likes of in years, and now look at where I am? A broken city, surrounded by criminals, taking a risk I never should have taken.”

He watched her dunk under the water and vigorously slide her hands through her hair. When she came back up, he was looking at a different woman. Her expression was hard. Her features said she was no longer an open book, and she would talk to him no more. But he wasn’t done peeling back her secrets, not even remotely.

She hauled herself out of the water, dripping on the floor as she rushed back to the blanket and rubbed her skin until it was bright red. “I have to get going. I don’t know where this man’s office is, but I can only assume it is in the upper levels of this place. Who knows what I’ll have to deal with between here and there?”

“Right,” he muttered, watching her body as she dried herself. She even bent over and ran that blanket over her short hair, rubbing so hard he thought she’d rip strands right out. And when she righted herself, pushing those strange round glass pieces up her nose, he felt something inside him click.

This was Ace, he’d known that from the start. But now he felt like he was looking at the real Ace.

A person who was not only capable and confident. This woman was so much more than that.

He just didn’t know what words were right to describe the woman who had been through so much, and somehow continued forward. She hadn’t given up yet. She was still fighting.

And that was impressive.

Five silver balls rolled out of the bundle of her clothing. They clicked together, making strange metallic noises until she scooped them up in her hand and held them out for him to see.

“This is Tera,” she said quickly, before dropping them back onto the floor.

They all scattered, running in different directions like fish fleeing a predator. But one stayed, and he could see his own reflection in the shiny metal. Almost as though the ball wanted him to know that it was looking at him.

“Tera,” he repeated, before giving it a slight nod. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

The ball did a slow circle on the floor before zipping off to join the others. When he looked back up, Ace had changed back into clothing. Her skin was no longer a mottled dark gray streak and appeared to be more olive toned now. Her brown hair, brown eyes, all of it was so much better when she was clean.

“Stop looking at me,” she muttered. “I have things to do.”

“Hard not to look, Ace.” He leaned his elbow against the floor and propped his head up. “I wonder what color your hair will be when it’s dry?”

“Shut up.” But he swore there was a tiny smile on her lips when she said it.