Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) Read online

  Pango’s eyes widened. Oh, goodness, that throws a wrench in things, doesn’t it?

  To say the least. I need to find someone of pure sea monster blood who is brave enough to go in and find her.

  Merrick’s brow lifted.

  Pango pursed his lips. Hmm, yes, splendid plan. He tilted his head side to side. Impossible, but splendid nonetheless. Who are you thinking of asking?

  I looked pointedly at him. You were the first one that came to mind.

  His eyes widened. Me? Whaaaat? he shrieked. Dear, sweet seal boy, did someone club you over the head? I have a life here, and family, and Merrick. I’m not giving all that up for an eternal romp in hell.

  Merrick shook his head. Agreed. Sorry, Rownan, but absolutely not.

  I grasped Pango’s huge shoulders. Please help me. I’ll do anything.

  Pango laid his hands over mine. Rownan, I can’t imagine how difficult this is. I can honestly say I don’t think you’ll ever get over it, but you have to accept it. Vienna entered Harte sixteen years ago. She’s gone. Even if a superhero of the sea could find her, she wouldn’t be the Vienna you knew and loved.

  I pushed him away. That’s not true. She’s strong enough to remain herself. She’d never stop looking for me. I know that with everything inside me. She knows I’ll find her.

  Merrick swam closer. But you can’t. You can’t go to Harte, and I’m sorry, but no one is going to go for you.

  I shook my head, not wanting to accept what they were saying. Delmar. He might go.

  Merrick’s shaking head mirrored mine, but for the opposite reason.

  Pango touched my cheek. It’s over, Rownan. I’m deeply sorry to say it, but it’s time to let go and start the grieving process.

  I turned away and swam as hard and fast as I could. I prayed Jack’s bar had a bottle of vodka deeper than the ocean, because I planned on drowning myself in it.

  Echo Bayou was peaceful and quiet.

  The water was so still it acted as a mirror, reflecting a blur of red as I flew above it. I dipped beneath the canopy of weeping willows, gliding above the river to my old village.

  I landed on a tree branch and gazed longingly at all the floating water lilies below. I missed my water lily. I missed my brothers and sisters. Many times I wished I had never accepted the promotion to a siren.

  When Cleo died, my siren sisters panicked. Otabia and Mariza needed a replacement for Cleo or they wouldn’t be as powerful. They came to my village and tempted us with stories of the amazing and adventurous life one of us would be gifted with. The chosen one would control weather, fly faster and farther than any sprite had ever dreamed, and be directly connected to the spirit of our almighty Medusa.

  I yearned to be bigger, faster, more powerful—special. I trained and competed like my life depended on it. I wanted that sacred spot as a siren so badly. Years later, after seducing countless men and stealing even more memories, after being bossed around by Otabia and Mariza and never once feeling a true connection to Medusa, I realized the grass wasn’t greener on the other side. If I could go back and do it all over, I would choose to remain a sprite. Homesickness is a wretched disease, and I would never be cured of it.

  Reminiscing about the merrier days of my life, I started humming an old sprite hymn. The water lilies lit up one by one as my family stirred awake. Keeley was the first to poke her tiny head out from the petals of her electric blue flower.

  “Nixie!” Her high-pitched voice buzzed through the air, followed by the happy cries of dozens more water sprites. Their voices sounded like pennies dropping into a copper wishing well.

  Keeley zoomed at my head then stopped short and stood on the tip of my nose. “We’ve missed you so!” She threw her arms open and hugged the bridge of my nose, then flitted around kissing my eyelids and forehead.

  “I’ve missed you too.” I sighed. “More than you can imagine.”

  More of my brothers and sisters swarmed me, landing on my shoulders, arms, legs, and anywhere else they could find room. My skin was speckled with all the colors of the rainbow as they tickled me with kisses and loving pinches.

  “Tell us news!” Jenna circled my head. Her radiant grin was almost as bright as her sunflower-colored skin. “What great adventures will you be having with Yara?”

  “No adventures,” I confessed. “Not even any work to be done.”

  Echoes of “what” and “why” and “what do you mean” reverberated off me and the trees. I wanted to tell them everything, how Yara had chosen Rownan over me and everyone else in Rathe, how Yara spent most of her time with Treygan, and how she had bonded more with Sage than with me. Now that I thought about it, I had felt a stronger connection to Yara before she was transformed. She was so powerful now that she didn’t need me. I hated being the orphaned siren who would never live up to the reputation of her sisters.

  My lips parted as I started to explain, but then, there beneath the weeping willows, with dozens of sprites watching me, a tear rolled down my cheek. It was unexpected, and something I could never let happen in front of Otabia or Mariza.

  “Why so sad?” Keeley asked as she pushed away my tear. “That’s not a happy tear, and sad tears shouldn’t fall from such a pretty face. If I could, I’d weave a spell to make you our size again so I could give you a big hug, but as it is I can only hug one of your fingers at a time and somehow I think that wouldn’t be enough unless maybe we all hugged you at the same time and—”

  “Keeley, shush.” Jenna said. “Sometimes I don’t understand how your mouth can keep up with your mind. Let Nixie tell us what’s upsetting her.”

  They all looked at me, wide-eyed and full of concern. My huge family of tiny, beautiful souls surrounded me and supported me, even though I deserted them to become a siren. I couldn’t tell them that I had made a horrible mistake. I couldn’t admit the tear I shed was due to my own sadness. A siren would never behave that way.

  “It’s just Yara’s emotions,” I lied. “Our bond is so strong that I feel her sadness as if it’s my own.”

  “Ooooh,” Jenna cooed. “It must be amazing to feel so connected to Rathe’s new ruler.”

  All the sprites sparkled and fluttered, intrigued and excited by my lie.

  I nodded. “Words can’t express how I feel.”

  Only a few minutes had passed until something inside me ached to fly again. Since my transformation I never felt content. If I was flying, I ached to be in the water. If I was swimming, my wings yearned to break free. When I was hot, I craved the chill of the moon. When I was cold, I craved the sun. The internal battle was daunting. Had I made a mistake by thinking I could handle being a combination of human, mer, selkie, siren, and gorgon? Would I ever feel at peace?

  Sage slithered up against my cheek, silently assuring me I would find a way.

  I rounded a stretch of glowing coral then shot upward and broke through the surface. Pink and green rays of Medusa’s sun stretched through the sky.

  Rathe’s suns were different from the sun that shined on Earth. Three huge, oval-shaped suns floated high in our sky. In our sky, not millions of miles away. Rathe’s suns had rays that stretched, curved, and coiled in all directions. The beams changed from very short to so long that the ends wrapped around the horizon. They weaved through the sky, linking together, crisscrossing, and creating a blanket of colorful strings over Rathe.

  The best part was our suns weren’t blinding. I could stare at them for hours, watching them pulse, grow, shrink, stretch, change colors, get brighter or dimmer, but never did I have to squint or shield my eyes.

  The three suns represented Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. Medusa’s sun changed almost constantly. Stheno’s and Euryale’s stayed pretty much the same, never glowing as bright as they should, their beams never stretching and weaving like Medusa’s. I tried imagining what the sky must have looked like when the three sisters were still together. Were Stheno and Euryale happier then? Did their suns become duller the longer they were shut away in their dark a
nd lonely cave? As beautiful as Rathe was, some aspects of it seemed so unfair.

  On the cold selkie side of Rathe, three moons never slept. Again, Stheno and Euryale’s moons were pale and dull compared to Medusa’s. I had heard about the colors that streaked the dark sky; not in radiant sunbeams like the mer side, but as showers of what appeared to be shooting stars. I hadn’t witnessed them for myself yet because I had been so busy taking care of my obligations with my new gorgon sisters. I hadn’t explored much of my new world, or met many of its inhabitants, but Treygan assured me I would soon.

  The area of Rathe where Treygan lived reminded me so much of Solis. Houses made of all-natural materials were connected by waterways. Unlike Solis, homes here were sometimes miles apart. They were surrounded by lush landscapes with many waterfalls, trees, plants, and flowers I had never seen before.

  Nature in Rathe was different in many ways from Earth. Colorful trees and buildings made of sparkling rock existed above and below the water. Coral and plants changed color all the time. Beaches had unexpected colors of sand like lavender or mint green. Even the clouds, stars, and Rathe’s three moons were tinted different shades of the rainbow. Medusa had created a masterpiece when she designed this world.

  Treygan paced the beach in front of his half-in-the-water, half-on-land house. His attention snapped to the sky when he sensed me, then his eyes lowered and he spotted me flying inches above the water.

  The sight of him momentarily stole my breath. His hallmarks glimmered in the sunlight, and his skin’s silvery hue enhanced the dark blue color of his hair. In Rathe, we didn’t have to worry about humans seeing us in sea creature form. We didn’t have to hide who we were. It was one of the many things I loved about my new realm.

  “Nixie wasn’t at the nest,” I told Treygan as I landed in front of him. “Neither were Mariza and Otabia.” I leaned into him as he hugged me.

  “You can catch up with her later. You must be exhausted.”

  “Getting there.”

  “Let’s go inside.”

  We swam through the stream that led into Treygan’s home. As it got shallower, we both transformed our tails into legs and waded through his main entrance.

  “I still can’t believe rivers run through the houses here.”

  “Rivulets,” Treygan corrected me. “No one’s home is big enough for a river.”

  “You know what I mean. All the waterways and pools throughout everyone’s houses are so cool.”

  “What about you?” he asked. “Where do you want your home to be?” He had an expectant look in his eyes.

  “Technically, I live in the gorgon grotto.”

  He squinted. “Do you even have any of your belongings in there?”

  “No, but …” Stheno and Euryale each had their own den, and there was a third den that used to be Medusa’s, but I was forbidden to go in it. That was fine with me because, in my opinion, Medusa’s room was sacred. I took her place in the trinity to do a job, but I would never try taking over her previous private space. “The grotto doesn’t exactly have a homey ambiance. I’d rather keep my stuff at my house on Eden’s Hammock.”

  “I see.”

  “Why are you upset?”

  His chest was speckled with blue and green. He was definitely upset, or disappointed. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, tugging harder than normal. “I hoped you’d want to live here, with me, but maybe it’s too soon for that.”

  He wanted me to move into his house? Impose on his personal space?

  “Forget I asked,” he said. “It’s obviously too soon for you.”

  “No, it’s just … I guess I hadn’t thought about it. So much has been on my mind, and then the Harte thing. Everything happened so fast.”

  He nodded, but still seemed let down. “We can discuss it whenever you’re ready. Just know the invitation stands.”

  We walked up a few steps of carved rock and into Treygan’s kitchen. I sat at the table and grabbed an odd-looking fruit, running my fingers over its green, scaly skin. It looked like a mutated cornhusk. “What is this?”

  “Monstera fruit.”

  “Monstera fruit for monsters, of course.”

  Treygan grinned. “It grows in Earth too. It’s just not as common as apples or oranges.”

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “It was one of the few things Medusa contributed to that realm that still exists. Poseidon wanted to make sure some parts of her would always live on in the mortal world.”

  “What else is there?”

  “Jellyfish.”

  “Jellyfish?” I repeated.

  “Medusozoa. Commonly referred to as, and I know this will be tough to remember,” he winked at me, “Medusa.”

  I playfully smacked him with the monstera fruit. “I’ve never heard jellyfish called that.”

  “I suppose it’s not common knowledge for most humans.”

  “Uncle Lloyd should have told me that sort of stuff.”

  “My father tried to shelter you. I’m sure he assumed the less you knew about our world, the better.”

  “I didn’t imagine Rathe would be similar to Earth in so many ways. I mean, the houses, and all the modern conveniences. I figured everything would be underwater and more … 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or something.”

  Treygan laughed. “Merfolk and selkies were created as land and sea dwellers. We like our legs and land just as much as we like our tails and water.”

  I eyed Treygan from head to toe. I was still getting used to us being somewhat naked around each other. Between our satiny, color-changing skin and the hallmarks covering our bodies I never felt truly naked or exposed, but I still had moments when I missed clothes.

  I sniffed the fruit in my hands. It reminded me of pineapple. “Can I eat this?”

  “Not yet. You have to wait for the scales to lift away.” He silently stared out the window for a minute, then his shoulders slumped. “I’m worried about Rownan.”

  “Me too. I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

  Treygan shook his head. “I still can’t believe we almost went to Harte. Unprepared, no less.”

  “We couldn’t let him go alone.”

  “He was going with a broken arm. He was exhausted and beat up. He never would have survived. With or without us.”

  “He’s in love. People do crazy things for love.” I pointedly raised a brow at him. “You know, like fight their own family, or volunteer to die.”

  Years ago, Treygan agreed to give up his life and future so I could have one, and so the sea creatures could return home to Rathe. After I found out about Treygan voluntarily sacrificing himself, I would have done anything to spare him from turning his life and soul over to the gorgon sisters. We were just as reckless as Rownan, but in different ways.

  “Thank the gods we weren’t able to enter Harte,” Treygan said, as if suddenly realizing how dangerous it really was. “All three of us are deeply disturbed. You do realize that, right?”

  “You know the saying. ‘Heaven doesn’t want us and Hell is afraid we’d take over.’”

  “I’ve never heard that before.”

  “Must be a human thing,” I snickered. “What is Harte, anyway? I mean, I know it’s an evil place, but how and why is it connected to Rathe?”

  “Have you ever heard the story of Pandora’s box?”

  “Sure. Uncle Lloyd told me Pandora was the wife of some important guy, and they were given a box as a gift but told never to open it. Pandora got curious and opened it anyway, and unleashed all kinds of bad stuff.”

  “Correct. That box Pandora opened was a gift from Zeus. Not long after Poseidon created Rathe for Medusa, his wife, Amphitrite, found out about their continuing love affair and sought revenge. She asked Zeus for help, and Zeus obliged. With his assistance, Amphitrite created a mirror similar to Pandora’s box. Zeus sent Pegasus to take the mirror into Rathe and deliver it to Medusa.”

  “Wait. Pegasus? The flying horse?”

&nbs
p; “Yes.”

  “Wow.” I sat back in my chair. “It’s hard to comprehend that some of these supposedly mythical creatures were real.”

  “Some were not only real, but they still exist. As you’ve witnessed firsthand.”

  “Who else is still hanging around? Is Pegasus? Because I would love to go flying with him.”

  Treygan smiled. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”

  “Okay, okay, but eventually you will have to answer my questions about which creatures still exist.”

  Ignoring me, Treygan continued. “As I was saying, Pegasus delivered the mirror to Medusa. A note was attached that said the mirror was a gift so she could always see what she looked like before she was turned into a monster, but the price for her vanity would be costly. Each time she gazed into the mirror, evil would be unleashed into the world.”

  I sat forward, resting my elbows on the table. “Don’t tell me she looked in the mirror.”

  “Not only did she look, she stared into the mirror more times than anyone could have guessed.”

  “What? I’ve met her. She’s not that stupid.”

  “Wisdom comes with experience. She was sequestered in her grotto. She had no idea what was going on in the world outside. She thought evil would be unleashed on Earth, not Rathe. And, well, she didn’t care much for Earth, seeing as how she was banished from it.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “When Poseidon visited her next, he found a dark nightmare world. He questioned Medusa and she showed him the mirror and explained what happened. Poseidon removed the curse from the mirror by putting his own spell on it. From that point forward, when Medusa looked into the mirror, all she could see was Rathe. She was horrified by all the ugliness it contained, and she begged for forgiveness. Poseidon could never deny her, so he created a second realm, Harte. He spent a long time rounding up all the evil and wickedness and locking it away.”

  “How?”

  “How what?”

  “How did he round up the evil? I mean, was there some big magical net and he just scooped it all up and flung it into this other world? Seems a bit, you know, out there.”