Revel (28 page)
Jax nodded. “According to the stories, a siren is considered too dangerous to be allowed to live unless she can be controlled. In ancient times the ones that managed to reach adulthood sometimes acted as independent assassins. Mercenaries of the gods.”
I shook my head, unwilling to listen to any more.
Jax came closer to me. I could feel the heat radiating from his sun-warmed skin, and I wanted to curl myself inside the safety of his arms. But something in his eyes held me back. He’d put some kind of a distance between us.
“I don’t want this,” I said. “I never wanted
any
of this. I just wanted a place. A home.”
Jax nodded. “Many Landers come to islands looking for a safe haven from the storm.”
I nodded, my lips trembling despite my efforts to hold myself together. “Yes.”
“There is a problem,
Diabolica
,” Jax whispered. His gaze fell to my mouth and lingered there, his eyes doing what I wished his lips would. “You
are
the storm.”
W
e swam to the reef. I needed the water after hearing what Jax knew of sirens. Incredible powers. Short life span.
Still, the newly discovered thrill of being in the ocean ran down my spine as cool water rushed over me, tugging at my hair. Did Jax feel this way when he swam? Maybe he was so used to it he didn’t notice anymore. I felt connected to the water, not just in it. Like my nerve endings didn’t stop at the surface of my skin but reached out into the water, sensing the salty minerals dissolved in it, the pressure of the depth and the thrumming vibrations of little fish.
I was learning to swim as the Aitros did. They used not just their bodies, but the water itself. There were currents everywhere, like miniature aquatic jet streams, and if I angled my
body the right way, I found myself carried along, lifted and propelled.
Jax shot past me, spiraling through the water. The iridescent dorsal fin curled around him like a brilliant banner, and I smiled. He could be such a show-off. He always stayed close, but he wanted to lead. Whatever it was, I decided, whether he was being overprotective or just plain male, I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
I kicked and felt the cool rush of a fast channel of water sweep over me. I surged forward until Jax and I swam side by side. Glancing over, I saw the answering smile and the gleam in his eye. I couldn’t remember ever feeling as happy as I was like this, swimming beside Jax. It was like a combination of joy and adrenaline bubbling inside me.
It was so beautiful here, a new world to discover. And beneath the water, I could see better than ever before. The water must have acted like some kind of superpowered lens, or maybe it was just being part Aitros, but when I was swimming, my vision was 20/20. Or whatever was better than that. Every rock, every ripple of sand, stood out in clear, sharp detail.
I spotted waving tendrils of bright green sea grass fluttering near a column of coral and thought we must be getting close to the reef. I swam down to it and wove my fingers through the delicate strands of undulating grass. It was lovely.
“We call it kettle grass.”
I whipped my head up and let out a startled gasp. Bubbles frothed up around my face.
Jax was yards away, watching me with that same amused, sardonic expression he so often wore. But I’d
heard
him speak. Underwater.
“Yes, you can hear me in your head. It’s another ability that was left to us by the gods. We can communicate with each other.”
It was exactly as if he stood next to me, talking.
“Can you read my mind?” I asked, thinking the question to him.
I noticed that I’d kicked against the water, increasing the distance between us. The idea of Jax knowing all my innermost thoughts made me uneasy. On oh so many levels. I stared at him.
God, I don’t want to have to start wrapping my head in tinfoil
.
“As attractive as that sounds, it’s not necessary,” came his reply, complete with sarcasm. “I can sense your mood, but to read an individual thought there has to be an intention, you have to
want
to tell me something. It’s like talking, except in our heads. I can’t really hear anything you don’t want me to.”
“Hmm. That’s almost comforting,” I told him. “I’m not sure I like the idea of you being in my head. Even if it is by invitation only.”
“Why?” He swam closer. “Have you been entertaining fantasies about me?”
“Not at all.” I hoped my telepathic lying skills were better than my normal ones. “And don’t try to plant any either,” I added with what I hoped was a mental glare, in addition to the one on my face.
“A pity.”
I smiled. I enjoyed this flirtatious bickering between us. But somehow I got the feeling that he was using it to stay away from anything deeper, more serious.
“The reef is a little farther ahead. Are you tired?”
“No. Let’s keep going.”
I still didn’t have the same stamina and speed in the water as the other First Ones. Jax told me that it would take a little time. As he put it, I still had “Lander dust clinging to my toes.”
A bright flash of pink caught my eye as a tiny fish darted by. I’d looked up the names and pictures in one of Gran’s nature books, and now I knew some of the ones I saw, like the yellow tang that glowed placidly against the coral and the busy parrotfish that pecked at the food hidden within. They didn’t seem afraid of me. If I got very close and tried to touch one of them, they’d usually just sidle away. Many of the fish and corals around Trespass weren’t usually found in northern waters. They were warm-water species. It was another example of how the strange climate of the island had created sort of an underwater greenhouse.
Ahead I could make out the faint outline of the reef—a huge, irregular formation of coral. From a distance, the pale, twisted shapes of the coral vaguely resembled a line of people, heads upturned, arms reaching.
I churned water with my legs to stop as I saw the reef through the wavering shafts of sunlight from above. A sickening fear gripped me.
The reef didn’t resemble people. It
was
people.
Reaching up toward the surface as if yearning to touch sunlight stood the stony, frozen forms of men encased in coral.
The Hundred Hands.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Jax. I heard his voice in my head, as clearly as if he were talking to me in a quiet room:
“When the first Landers arrived here, it was in a storm. Some say one raised by Poseidon himself. Their ship sank and these men drowned. The stone coral around Trespass absorbed them, entrapped them. Now they guard the island, along with the Glaukos. Here you see the one hundred able hands aboard that first ship. The Hundred Hands.”
“Are they alive?” I asked.
“No. They are cursed.”
Skull-like faces were still visible, their features blurred beneath the crust of barnacle-covered coral. Clumps of soft-fingered anemones clung to their arms. Bright fish darted in and out of their hollowed eyes.
A shark skimmed by the top of the reef, and one of the stony hands gripped closed.
I jerked back, startled. “They can move.”
“There’s no need to be afraid. They’re only mobile enough to prevent unwelcome visitors from swimming through. If someone or something is unlucky enough to be caught in their grip for too long, it becomes part of the reef as well.”
He extended his hand to me. “Come deeper.”
I took Jax’s hand and turned away, leaving the reef of trapped seamen behind, though I wouldn’t be able to forget so easily.
We dove straight down. We were still inside the protective ring of the reef, but Jax led me down into a dark depression. The layers of grassy rocks passed by in shadowy waves of emerald green.
“This is the Hollow. You might find it interesting. The wreckage from the boat of those Landers drifted into this chasm.”
“The
Dover
?”
“Yes, I believe that was the name.”
The water became cooler. The coral disappeared, giving way to massive dark boulders. I could feel the pressure of the depths around me, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was exciting.
Jax slowed and looked at me, as if to make sure I was okay. His long, muscled form dappled with the shifting shadows of water.
As we paused in our descent I noticed something bright glimmering in a dark niche beside me. Without thinking, I reached for it. Instantly, a sharp pain jabbed my finger, and I let out a yelp.
“What is it?” Jax pulled me to him so quickly that the momentum spun us together and we drifted away from the rocks, bodies entwined.
I clung to him for a moment longer than I needed to. Okay. Maybe a couple of moments.
“I’m fine,” I said as I disentangled myself. “Something bit me.”
“Let me see.” Jax took my hand and examined it. It seemed
strange to see that dark head bent in such an absorbed study of my finger. For one so fierce, he could be surprisingly tender. It was nothing. Only a tiny curl of blood rose from the tip of my finger, dissolving instantly. But I enjoyed watching the way Jax’s dark hair rippled in the water and the strongly molded curve of his shoulders. “There are moray eels in some of these crevices,” he said. “Very irritable creatures. It doesn’t seem to have caused much damage.” He released me and swam back to the spot. He peered through the narrow opening.
“But this is something else.” He reached in and withdrew a small item.
It was a gleaming golden brooch, inlaid with pearls in the shape of a crescent moon.
“The pin must have stuck you.” He smiled and let it fall into my hand.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, rolling the delicately styled piece on my palm. “May I keep it?”
“Of course. The sea gave it to you. And extracted its price,” he added, taking my hand once more and gently rubbing the pad of my finger. I drifted closer to him.
I tried
not
to think of the words that were drumming impatiently in my head. But he must have heard them, because soon our lips were only inches apart.
What happened next was fast. I sensed something behind me, perhaps from a subtle movement in the water. At the same time I saw the flash of alarm in Jax’s eyes.
I whirled around.
The huge, grotesque face of an Icer hung in the water before me.
I gasped, inhaling a mouthful of water, and kicked backward, barreling into Jax’s hard chest as the thing lunged toward me. In a flash of movement Jax put himself between me and the creature.
Jax slashed at the Icer with his knife and somersaulted backward over the thing’s back, grabbed my hand and somehow propelled me ahead of him as we swam away from the beast. The monster followed, snapping its jaws as it attacked. The long fangs made a metallic noise that scissored through the water around us.
I glanced behind us. Dangling pieces of shaggy algae hung from the Icer’s jaws and lips, and the blind staring eyes rolled in its head. Behind the fish head were the bulky torso and tail. Here in the water the Icer moved very differently from the one on the beach; the arms and legs hung almost motionless as it swam. But it was fast, very fast.
Another dark form joined it. Another Icer.
“Jax! There’s another one.”
“Swim, Delia! Get away from here.”
I turned to see Jax stopping in the water. Every muscle in my body was screaming for me to do just as he said, but I hesitated.
Jax coiled up and struck, slamming his heel into the face of the Icer closest to him, sending a cloud of blood churning into the water. His long dagger was out again, slashing furiously.
The next Icer that approached him lost a hand. Then only the slashing, stabbing glint of metal was visible through the murk of slime and body parts.
And through the swirl of violence, I caught glimpses of Jax. His expression remained cool and focused. It was as if this was his element.
I swam in a circle, uncertain what to do.
“Head for the caves!”
The sound of Jax’s command in my head was urgent but with a clarity that surprised me and somehow calmed me. Despite the sense of self-preservation that told my body to simply obey, I hesitated. I wasn’t going to leave him like this.
There were more Icers now. Three hulking bodies came out of the shadows.
As Jax faced the three Icers he straightened. He looked calm and almost regal as he floated before them, motionless except for the subtle movements of the winged fin on his back. Jax cupped his hands together before him and with a sudden, explosive movement threw his arms forward.
The boom reverberated back and rocked me as a literal cannonball of water screamed toward the Icers. The blast was invisible except for its aftereffects. Two of the creatures were flung backward, bloody gobbets of their flesh flying through the water. The third Icer wasn’t hit but swerved away and headed straight for me, its teeth gnashing. It swam with side-to-side movement, its massive upper body lurching. But it was still fast, careening toward me like a derailed train.
I kicked hard, arching backward to swim away. The caves were to the north, I remembered, just past a broad underwater shelf. I might be able to make it.
My arms and legs thrust through the water as my pulse hammered in my ears so hard I couldn’t sense anything else. I didn’t dare look back.