Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

H e feared she would, in fact, regret this. There was no way he could know for certain that he or his people could do anything he’d promised her. But the moment he gathered her up in his arms and sank beneath the waves, he knew he would do everything in his power to ensure it wasn’t a lie.

If she wanted to see her sister, then he would make that happen. It was an easy request, after all, and one that he likely should have offered long ago.

The People of Water knew the ocean better than the achromos ever could. It only took a little while for him to be found by a few depthstriders. He scented them deep in the water, watching as Maketes carried his new female through the sea toward a home where a few of her kind were considered safe.

It took even less time for one of those depthstriders to get close enough where they could hear him speak.

“Brother,” he called out, then correcting himself when the scent of the undine came closer. “Sister, I apologize.”

The massive female rose from the depths, her chest bound in tight fibers. Her hair was twisted back from her features in tight coils that drew her skin into a tight frown.

“Brother is more accurate,” the female said. And Maketes corrected himself.

“Two soul?” He paused in their swim, tucking Ace a little tighter to his side and giving him a nod. “It is an honor.”

Such people were honored among his kind. To have two sides of the same shell was both a blessing and a curse. Both male and female, they were quite literally special. He’d heard that the achromo had similar creatures, but the two souled people of his kind were capable of self reproduction. The creature before him was, in fact, both male and female. Though this one wished to be seen as the masculine version of who he was.

The new male inclined his head, accepting the honor Maketes bestowed. “You carry an achromo through our waters.”

“We journey to the home where the People of Water and achromos live together.”

The other male flinched back, disgust filling the water with its scent. “Why go there? Such a cursed place should not exist. The achromos should stay in their towers and confinement.”

“We seek a better future.”

The depthstrider was confused by the subject. Most of his kind were, though. They were all bred to hate the achromos, and very few of them saw any reason to find goodness in her kind. But then he pried Ace’s face away from his neck, turning her to see the giant dark blue depthstrider who loomed before them.

Ace smelled afraid, but she still managed an awkward smile and a half wave. “Hello.”

The word was so quiet, no one could have heard it but him, and he only heard it because he was right next to her. But still, he smoothed her hair back from her face and petted the top of her head.

“She says hello,” he told the depthstrider. “They are capable of much more than we gave them credit for.”

“You treat her as a treasured pet.”

“Perhaps.” He felt Ace stiffen in his grip, and it took everything in him not to laugh at the depthstrider’s statement. “But she is a good pet. One who speaks to me about many things. You would be surprised at how quick-witted their kind are.”

He had a point to this conversation, although he could see Ace was getting more and more angry. He also realized there was a time limit to this. They had to keep moving, because the ocean here was too cool for her skin. He could only keep her warm for so long before he needed to find more temperate waters.

“Are you curious about them at all?” he asked the depthstrider, watching for any kind of reaction.

There was the faintest flickering along his shoulders. Just the slightest hint of color that was nearly impossible to even see. But it was there. It flickered, and that meant this male was interested.

But the depthstrider flared his light tipped fins and hissed. Through bared teeth, he snarled, “I have no interest in the achromos. You speak of ill thoughts from a poisoned mind.”

“Certainly. But I need someone to help me find this one’s sister.” He gestured with his hip fin, almost as though he was just keeping himself upright, but it sent Ace’s sweet scent toward the other creature. “There is a drone that goes from Gamma to Beta. And with it, information. I need to know where that drone goes, and if the woman it goes to can be taken from that city.”

Again the flared gills, the bright fins that glowed. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because I need someone trustworthy. Someone who won’t murder the achromo if we get her out. I need someone... Interested.”

Ace struggled in his arms now, clearly not happy that he would suggest an unknown person of his own kind seek out her sister. But this was the way of their people. If he could, he would choose to trust any of the People of Water who wanted new knowledge of her kind.

“Maketes,” Ace snarled in his ear. “That is my sister you’re sending a random undine to track down.”

He ignored her and inclined his head to the depthstrider. “I would be in your debt if you find this one.”

The depthstrider nodded. “I’m interested, certainly. I will find you at the nesting site where you head.”

“Thank you.”

The depth strider swamAce slapped his chest as hard as she could underwater. “That undine doesn’t even know what my sister looks like! How is it going to find where she is if it has no other information? And the drone? It doesn’t know what drone is going to Beta. There could be countless drones for all you know."

He tucked her a little more firmly against his chest, holding her even through her struggles. “My people do not hunt like achromos. They will find your sister by scent alone. It is easy to do, considering you all smell quite... strongly.”

She stiffened even further, and he wondered if that was an insult to her people. He liked her smell, but he could also track her for many miles. “Maketes. I need you to at least tell that undine what Laura looks like.”

“I don’t know what Laura looks like.”

“Then we need to turn around and tell them, and you can translate for me!” She let out a little shriek of rage. “Are you swimming away from them right now? I said turn around!”

“They know it is a drone that travels to Beta, which means there are only so many that they will need to follow. Our kind were made for hunting. This is a challenging hunt, and therefore, that undine will have every reason to devote their entire attention to it.” He turned her in his arms, making her look up at him. “This is the best option. A depthstrider hunts until their last breath. They are all gifted in more ways than most. If he must, he will look into the future to find your sister and then bring her home.”

“The future?”

He relished the wide-eyed stare that looked back at him. At least now he had her attention.

“The future.” Maketes waved at his own eyes. “You didn’t notice Fortis is a little different?”

“I was a little preoccupied by all the death and the people who were trying to murder us,” she muttered, but then she stiffened again. “Wait, I do remember something off about his eyes. They were a lot of colors! And the depthstriders in the first building as well.”

He snorted softly, his gills flaring against her thighs with the movement. “Kind of. The more colors that are in their eyes, the more they are looking through your future. I told you that. They see the past, the present, and the future. It is not a pleasant experience, at least in my opinion.”

“You don’t like them looking into your future?”

“I like to be surprised,” he replied. “Like with you. I was so surprised to find out you were not who I thought you were. You were so much more than I ever expected.”

She tucked herself a little tighter against his side, her breathing settling as she drew air through the tentacle. “I’m glad I was a surprise. You were a surprise for me, too.”

“Was I?” He pretended like he was shocked. “And here I thought I was exactly as you thought I was. I told you what I looked like.”

“No you didn’t! You said you were an undine like all the others. That doesn’t mean I had any idea you would be this… this...”

“Strong?” he supplied, flexing a little in her grip.

“That wasn’t what I was thinking.”

“Ruggedly handsome?” He tilted her back so she could more easily see his sharp jaw.

“No, not that either.” A small smile cracked across her face.

“Ah. You thought I would be larger.”

“No!”

She was laughing now, the bubbling sound filling him with so much joy that he felt the reasoning for her name again. Everything in him breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t angry with him for sending out the depthstrider anymore. He needed all the reassurance he could get now that he was bringing her back to the others.

Ace shook her head at him, trying hard to not fall under his antics. But then she reached up and traced the jaw he’d just flaunted at her. “Beautiful,” she said. “I didn’t know you would be so beautiful.”

It wasn’t a word he’d ever used to describe himself. Beautiful was a word for pretty things, delicate or soft creatures who were created more for their aesthetics than their use. But then the word settled into him. Beautiful meant she looked at him like she’d looked at the sunset last night. With those wide eyes taking in all the splendor that was stretched out in front of her. She’d looked at that sunset like it was her reason for being, and if that’s what it meant to be beautiful...

Well, he didn’t mind that at all.

He tucked her a little more firmly into his grip and zipped through the sea. He curved around Gamma with her, letting her see the neon lights in the distance and all the fish that swarmed around that place. Her breathing caught as they swam by, but he didn’t think that was because she wanted to go there.

Instead, it was just her moment of saying goodbye to the version of herself she left behind in those walls. He swam higher through the towers, passing just overhead until they were off into the distance where she had likely never been. There were no human cities here. Why would there be? They all clustered deeper in the waters where the storms couldn’t reach them.

But he and his people had found a haven. Just deep enough for the storms to only make the waters a little rougher, but not so shallow that the waves would easily touch them.

With a grin, he spun with her in his arms. A spiral in the water that sent them both careening through a current that they could ride for hours on end.

Neither of them talked much. They just rode the sea current that drew them closer and closer to the home he hoped she liked. Because soon enough, she would live here. With him, he hoped. Although he knew perhaps that was a stretch.

They reached the home where his pod had grown even larger. Arges had been the greatest warrior their people had ever seen. They followed him wherever he would let them, and many of them had come here.

The first thing he noticed was that many of the new pod members had already decorated. From far and wide, they found round stones they then embedded into the sand. Each one had a meaning and a perfect place that created a spiral in the sand. The spirals led to the bed where his people slept, sometimes in a pile with their families, other times floating there, just letting the sea hold them in place.

As they sped overhead, he looked down to see a few families had joined them now. There was a mother and father, the massive female lucky enough to still have the male she’d mated with. She held onto the fin of a tiny female who was struggling hard against her mother’s grip to get to her father’s waiting open arms.

A pang of jealousy struck him. It was the life he’d always wanted, and the one he would forever be denied.

But then he felt a warm hand on his chest, smoothing away the ache that burned there where his hearts pounded. He remembered that while it hurt to see other people so happy, he was also blissfully happy on his own. Because he’d found his joy, and she was right here in his arms.

Holding Ace a little tighter, he zipped past the nests and all the stone beds, heading to what was quickly becoming an expanding city. Once Mira started building something, it appeared it was rather hard for her to stop.

“What is that?” Ace asked, her voice dropped low in awe.

He knew she could see the small village that Mira had built. She was beyond just an engineer, because the genius it had taken to weave all of these pieces together was remarkable. What had just been a single pod that was created for life support of a single person became so much more. They’d expanded into Mira and Anya’s bedrooms, then a garden building. But now that they had so many pieces and parts from Alpha, it was even larger.

Mira had created a kitchen, a dining room, then a living area for everyone to gather. A research pod that stood off from the side of the others, then a storage unit as well. Countless other buildings were ready to be attached just in case they were needed. Or perhaps, in the hopes that they were.

Anya was particularly happy to be on her own, or only spend her time with Daios. But Mira needed people. She enjoyed the company of others, and he’d seen the toll it had taken on her recently. She wanted to be surrounded by her own people.

And Anya? Well. Anya wasn’t particularly good company. The two of them didn’t quite like each other all that much.

Now he feared if either of them would like his achromo.

“Are you ready?” he asked, nodding at a few of the others who had swum up to their side.

“Not really,” she replied with a small laugh. “But I’d like to be dry.”

“I can promise you that.”

Anything else? He wasn’t sure how much he could promise.