Authors: Tracy Deebs
I nodded, then gingerly did as she instructed, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and my legs around her waist so
that she was pretty much giving me a piggyback ride. Or what mermaids liked to call a seahorse ride.
Are you ready?
she asked as she pushed off from the floor with her powerful tail.
I nodded, though I wasn’t anywhere close to being ready. Holding my arms and legs in that position really hurt, plus any movement of my head made me feel like I was going to throw up all over again. I could only imagine what it was going to feel like being jostled along on Mahina’s back. But it beat the alternative, so I sucked in a breath and said,
Let’s go
.
She took off, streaking through the halls like Sabyn himself was on her tail. Down one corridor, up a ramp, across a room, through a secret passageway, up another ramp, down another corridor. On and on it went until we were finally in a part of the castle that I recognized. Unfortunately, it was the Council’s quarters, and I froze as one of Sabyn’s allies from our last big battle stepped out of a suite. He hadn’t seen us yet—he was too busy locking his door—but I knew it was only a matter of seconds before he did.
Reaching out my good hand, I blasted him with the biggest energy pulse I could muster. He didn’t even know what hit him. One second he was dropping his keys in his pocket and the next he was laid out cold in the hallway.
Mahina whooped.
Nice aim, Tempest!
Not bad considering I can barely see, huh?
Not bad at all
. She giggled.
And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. He’s been doing nothing but hassling people and seizing assets since the moment Sabyn appointed him to the Council
.
Big surprise. But where are the others? What did Sabyn do with
Hailana’s Council?
I didn’t always get along with the group of them, but there were a few Councilors I had considered friends. I hated to think of something happening to them while I was at home, having birthday parties and hanging with my friends.
They’ve been exiled. Sabyn gave them the chance to leave or be executed. They took the path of least resistance
.
Well, can you blame them? Sabyn’s a sociopath. I wouldn’t want to cross him if I were them
.
Mahina glanced at me over her shoulder.
But you did cross him
.
Yeah, and we can see how well that worked out for me, can’t we?
I held up my mangled hand as evidence.
Better to fight than to run away like a bunch of cowards when a monster threatens the kingdom you’ve sworn to protect
, she countered.
Sabyn didn’t make it sound like that was what happened
, I told her.
I know I shouldn’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth, but some of what he said made sense
.
Like what?
Like after Hailana died, when I wasn’t here, people asked him to assume the crown
.
Mahina didn’t answer, pretending to concentrate on taking a corner as quickly as possible. But my best friend was a certified genius who could multitask with the best of them. If she wasn’t answering, it was because Sabyn had told the truth and she was looking for a way to tell me.
It’s okay
, I told her.
I understand
. Although I didn’t, not really. Had it been selfish of me to think I could be both mer and human? Yes. Had I been an idiot to run back and forth between Coral Straits and La Jolla like it was a recreational swim?
Absolutely. But everyone in Coral Straits knew who Sabyn was. They knew he had been instrumental in the fight that had injured Hailana so badly and they knew he had teamed up with Tiamat in an effort to kill Kona and me. How could they have asked him to be their leader when they’d known I was coming back? They could have picked any random guy off the street and he would have been a better bet than Sabyn the Insane. I wanted to say all this to Mahina, but now wasn’t the time. And I wasn’t really sure it was my place, anyway. I didn’t want to sound like I was suffering from sour grapes, whining because they’d picked him as monarch over me.
Mahina made one more right turn, went down one more hallway, and then we were in the servants’ quarters. A left turn and a mad swim down three hundred of the busiest yards in the entire castle—I kept my face pressed into Mahina’s back the whole time in hopes that no one would recognize me—and we reached the servants’ entrance. We burst through the door and out into the city streets just as I heard someone ask,
Hey, isn’t that Tempest?
I used my new telepathic powers to try to shut down his access to anyone else. I had no idea if it worked, though, so I told Mahina,
Shit! Someone recognized me!
I know. I know
. She dodged around pedestrians, food carts, even sea-horse-drawn chariots as she raced from one street to the next.
Just keep your head down and hang on
.
Where are we going?
My family’s farm
.
Isn’t that the first place they’ll think to look for me? I don’t want anything to happen to your family
. Besides her parents, she had seven brothers and sisters whom she adored. I would never forgive myself if something happened to one of them because of me.
Don’t worry. We’re not staying
.
Then what are we going to do?
Just trust me, okay? I know you’re used to making the decisions, and for good reason, but I’ve got this. I promise I won’t let you down
.
I’m not worried about you letting me down, you idiot. You’ve already saved my life. I just don’t want you to get hurt because you helped me
.
I won’t. But there are a lot worse things to get hurt for than your best friend
.
She darted onto the street that ran in front of her house, but instead of going inside as I anticipated, she ducked around to the huge barn in back, where she and her father spent most of their time working on projects of one kind or another. We burst through the back door, caught her father in the middle of some experiment that required mixing a number of different-colored chemicals together.
You got her!
he exclaimed as Mahina deposited me gently on an empty table.
I thought the plan was that we would go together to get her out
. He looked at Mahina disapprovingly.
Your mother is going to kill me when she finds out
.
So don’t tell her
. Mahina leaned up and kissed his cheek.
Sorry, Papa. I saw an opportunity and I took it
.
Rightfully so. We can’t have the merQueen of Coral Straits locked away somewhere, can we?
He frowned as he looked me over.
Go inside, Mahina, and have your mother call the doctor. We need to get Tempest some medical attention quickly
.
I don’t think that’s a good idea
, I told him.
That’s because you obviously haven’t seen what you look like
. Normally, he was a little bit flighty. Mahina got her brains from him, and he was the epitome of the absentminded professor. But
right now, at this moment, his eyes—and his attention—were laser-focused on me.
There’s no time, Papa. I think we were spotted, which means guards will be here any minute looking for her. We need to get her into
Up and Away
now instead of later. Can you help me move her?
I can move myself
, I insisted, pushing into a sitting position.
Where exactly am I moving to?
Just over there
, Mahina said, pointing at the oddest-looking metal contraption I had ever seen.
What is that?
It’s a subbloon. Part submarine, part hot air balloon. My dad and I’ve been working on it for a while and it’s about time it took its maiden voyage
.
I looked from the submarine that wasn’t really a submarine to Mahina to her father and then back again.
You want to flee Sabyn and his guards in a makeshift underwater
subbloon,
and you don’t think that will attract unwanted attention?
Not if it goes as fast as I think it will
. She watched me closely.
So what do you think, Tempest? Are you in?
This was one of those moments where my decision, whatever it was, would change lives. Maybe just Mahina’s and my lives, maybe the lives of everyone we knew in Coral Straits and beyond. But as the clock on the wall clicked the seconds away, I knew there was only one right answer.
Hell, yeah. Let’s go!
With the help of her dad, Mahina got me situated in the subbloon—which was embarrassing in the extreme. I wasn’t that great at taking help anywhere, but down here especially, I was used to being the one who did the rescuing. Having to rely on my best friend and her dad to take care of me, at a major risk to themselves, drove me nuts. But I’d already mentioned it to Mahina once and been shot down. If I did it again, it would seriously piss her off. And once she got mad, it took a while to get her back on track—something we couldn’t really afford right then.
After I was seated and strapped into the cocaptain’s chair, Mahina ran a series of quick engine and equipment checks, just to make sure the subbloon really was ready to go. While she did that, I had time to look around the small craft and check things out.
It was well built, I would give her that. But then, that wasn’t exactly a surprise. Mahina’s dad was one of the most famous merengineers in the Pacific, and his mad design skills had definitely carried over to the subbloon. On the outside it looked a
lot like a submarine, except more spherical and vertical—so that the craft was actually taller than it was long. Mahina told me this was because of the fuel they were using, some homemade, ocean-friendly stuff that was completely biodegradable. But it needed room to rise in its storage tanks or the chance of explosion tripled. That’s when I cut her off. There were some things I didn’t need to know, and the fact that the vehicle we were going to be fleeing in might possibly explode was definitely one of those things.
On the inside, it looked more like a spaceship than a water-craft. There were dozens of controls, more panels than I could count with my spinning head, and three separate guidance systems. When I asked her why we needed so many, especially when under normal circumstances we could just get out and swim, Mahina told me she and her father believed in backups for everything. Since my safety currently depended on their obsession with detail, I certainly wasn’t going to argue.
As I waited for her, I laid my head back against one of the chairs and lightly dozed. When I awoke a few minutes later, it was to find Mahina standing over me, wiping tears from her eyes.
I’m going to kill him for what he did to you
, she told me.
I swear I am
.
Those were big words from Mahina, who was usually very peace-loving. But the times we were in were far from peaceful and I guess it was a brave new reality for all of us. Still, I didn’t want her to think I expected her to defend me. Again, that was my job.
You’ll have to stand in line if you want to get to Sabyn
, I told her with a tug on one of the braids she always wore.
Don’t think I won’t
, she answered. Then she took a deep breath, blew it slowly out of her gills.
So, are you ready to light this baby up?
As long as we’re not actually setting anything on fire, I say go for it
.
Mahina went over to the hatch at the bottom of the subbloon, started to close it, but her dad stuck his head in at the last minute.
Wait one second, girls. Your mom’s getting some supplies together for you. And so am I
.
You didn’t have to do that, Papa
.
He gave her a look very similar to the one my dad gave me when I said ridiculous things. Then he thrust a large duffel bag into her hands.
This is from me. It’s got a bunch of stuff that might come in handy in it—tools and other things. Take a look at it when you get a chance
.
She nodded.
I will
.
She had barely finished stowing it before her mother climbed up through the hatch. Though the subbloon was small, it was big enough to seat four comfortably, and her mother grabbed a chair as she checked me out.
We need to go, Mom
. Mahina looked at her a little impatiently.
I know. Believe me, I know. But I need to say this first
. She turned to me.
I know you’re injured and I don’t know how well you’re following what I’m saying or what’s going on
.
I’m following
.
Okay, then. You let Mahina get you to a doctor and you take your time recovering
. She turned so that she was looking at her daughter as well as me.
You two don’t need to be heroes. Not this time. Coral Straits is fine, and we will continue to be fine until this whole situation works itself out. I almost lost you both last summer and I am not ready to chance losing you again. I would be going with you if your father weren’t worried that the extra weight would deplete your fuel supply too quickly
.
We’ll be fine
. But Mahina threw her arms around her mother anyway.
You’re right. You will be. Because anything else is unacceptable
. She leaned forward and hugged me super-gently, ran a soft hand down my tangled, blood-matted hair.
Take care of yourself, Tempest
.
I will. Thanks
.
She skewered Mahina with the most serious look I’d ever seen from her.
I packed a bunch of food for you two. Make sure Tempest eats something before she dies from malnutrition
.
I’m on it, Mom
.
Good
. She sniffed a little, then wiped her eyes exactly as her daughter had a few minutes before.
Stay safe. And I expect to hear from you as soon as you’re able
.