Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) (22 page)

“What about the middle?” Keeley asked.

“That was Medusa’s wing. They haven’t entered her space since she died. Even Yara isn’t allowed to go in there.”

Keeley nodded as she and Tucker flew off and we started our search mission.

I was prepared to search for hours, but after searching only three caverns, Jenna squealed with excitement. “Look! Look, Nixie! Is this it?”

I ran over to her. She fluttered by the corner of an elegant gold mirror. My heart sank to the heels of my boots. “Yes, I’m sure that’s it.”

“Why do you look so sad?”

“I always envisioned it as a hand mirror.” I ran my nails along the exquisitely etched frame. Wider than me with the top coming up to my chest, it leaned against a wall. “Don’t you see? It will never fit through the tunnel.”

Jenna flew from side to side, assessing it. “Oh dear. You’re right. It’s much too big.”

“How did they originally get it in here?”

Jenna shrugged. “Magic?”

“Sadly, I don’t know any magic to get it out.”

“What should we do?”

I had no clue if it would work, but my intuition took over. “Get back.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, Jenna.”

She flew backward until she reached the other side of the room.

I took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and prayed to Medusa that this would work for Yara’s sake. I held my hands over my face for protection, then kicked the mirror—shattering it into pieces.

“Nixie!” Jenna yelled. “What have you done?”

“Seven years bad luck is worth it if this works.”

I carefully picked up a shard of the mirror the size of my hand. “This will easily fit through the tunnel.”

“But it’s broken. Will it still work?” 

“Let’s get Keeley and Tucker and get out of here so we can find out.”

I woke up expecting to relieve Yara and Treygan of their lookout duties, but both of them were passed out. “Some guards you turned out to be.”

The rain had stopped. How long had we been out of it?

“Hey, rest time is over!” I stood and walked over to them. I nudged Treygan’s shoulder with my foot. “The rain stopped. Let’s go.” He didn’t move a muscle. “Yara?”

Snapping them out of rest mode should have been easy. One half of their mind stayed conscious while the other rested. Treygan said he was always vaguely aware of what went on around him.

That’s when I noticed how pale they were.

No way
. It had to be another illusion or trick of some kind. They couldn’t be dead. Crouching down beside them, I placed my ear against Treygan’s chest. No heartbeat. No breath. I pulled back and stared at him. “Wake up, man!”

I shook him hard, but he was cold and stiff. I placed a hand on Yara’s arm. She felt the same. “No,” I said out loud. Then louder, “No!”

I ran the scenario through my mind. We were alone in the cave. No other imposters or creatures pretending to be someone else. No black smoke like Yara had seen. The lighting in the cave was different, but it had stopped raining outside, so that made sense.

I had watched Yara bang on Treygan’s chest during her hallucination. No matter what she saw, she was still in her body. Even if I was imagining this, they should’ve been able to hear me.

“Wake me up!” I screamed. I yanked Treygan so he was sitting up. “If you’re not dead, snap me out of this nightmare!” His head fell back, totally limp. I hugged him to my chest. “Treygan?”

How could they be dead? I would have woken up if someone had entered the cave. And why would they be killed but not me?

Yara lay still on the ground beside us. Treygan was lifeless in my arms. I gently lowered Treygan’s body and crawled over him, shaking Yara. “Yara, wake up.”

Her head rolled to the side and I scrambled backward. A creature that looked like a viperfish with legs gnawed on what was left of Sage’s body. I tried shooing it away, but it snapped its sharp teeth at me. Foam dripped from its lips in bright green and yellow bubbles. It turned its attention back to Sage’s corpse and continued eating.

I pulled my dagger from my hip and stabbed the vermin without hesitating. It squealed and hissed as black goo oozed out of its skin. Gagging at the rank stench, I stabbed it again and again. When it no longer moved or made any sound, I flung it against the back wall.

The skin on Yara’s neck was peeling away and covered in foaming teeth marks. “Oh, gods, no.” My voice echoed through the cave. This couldn’t be happening. “Yara?” I shook her again, but she was limp. “Treygan?” I searched his body and found the same foaming wounds on his leg. “No!”

I ran for our packs, frantically searching for the salve. Fumbling to remove the lid, I hurried back to them and rubbed the ointment on their wounds. “Please work. Please don’t let me be too late.”

I stared, waiting. Begging and praying for them to breathe and open their eyes. When I realized it wasn’t going to happen, I choked back a sob and punched the cave wall, shouting at the top of my lungs. “What have I done?”

I fell against the wall, continuing to punch it until my self-hatred and heartache manifested into tears. I waited five ragged breaths before turning around. I begged for it to be an illusion. I would have traded my own soul to turn around and see them alive. Through my blurry eyes, I stared at Yara’s and Treygan’s lifeless bodies—even Sage was an innocent victim. All of them gone. Because of me.

I shouldn’t have let them come. Treygan and Yara were supposed to have more time together. So much more time. I pulled at my hair, fighting back rage. “I’m so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

I slumped down beside them and placed Treygan’s hand over Yara’s. “I pray you’re together in a place even more beautiful than Rathe. Please believe me, I never meant for this to happen.”

I kissed my fingers then touched them to Yara’s cheek. I wiped away the tear rolling down my face and stood, listening to the eerie silence. Pieces of my broken heart scraped at my insides. I was alone. I was brotherless. I was a murderer.

I couldn’t leave them. I promised Yara and Treygan we would stick together. I needed to keep that promise. Their bodies needed to be brought home, their souls honored with heartfelt ceremonies by their loved ones. I pulled Treygan back up to a sitting position. I hoisted him over my left shoulder then reached for Yara. I dragged her to me and lifted her into my arms like a baby. Rising but stumbling sideways, I tried to keep Treygan balanced over one side of my body. They were heavier than they looked.

I carried them out of the cave, but I had only made it a few steps when a spasm locked up my back. Grunting, I dropped to my knees and set Yara down. I heaved Treygan off my shoulder, flinching at the tremors of pain shooting down my spine and leg.

How could I keep carrying both of them? Especially through a damned realm where I had no idea what awaited me, or where I was going, or how I would ever get out. My body was already failing me. Failing had become the theme of my life.

“Tell me what to do,” I said to Treygan. “You always knew the right thing to do.”

I stretched out on my back beside my brother, the top of our heads touching, like we used to do when we were kids. We would lie on the rocks at the gorgon grotto—the melding point of the dark and light sides of Rathe. We would stare up at the sky and talk about all the places in Earth we were going to visit, and all the human adventures we wanted to experience.

We went through with so many of them. Vienna came along on more trips than I could count. Treygan never minded. He always welcomed her. Never once did I feel even a hint of jealousy or resentment that I could love, kiss, and be physically intimate with another soul without turning them to stone. Never once did he complain that he would never be able to have what I had.

He loved unconditionally and selflessly. And I took all I could because he was my brother and my best friend, and being around him made me happy. We led an amazing and exciting life together.

Until the gate closed and our differences made us enemies. For me, survival trumped brotherhood. Even though it shouldn’t have. Treygan knew that. He fought tooth and nail for the first couple of years to keep our bond unbreakable. But I turned my back on him. I was a selfish, bitter coward. Partly because it became crystal clear who was the better between the two of us, and it wasn’t me.

What Treygan didn’t know, what I never told anyone, was that every night I prayed for him. Every single night for years I had fallen asleep begging Poseidon and Medusa to gift him with happiness.

They gave him Yara.

Not because of me or my prayers, but because he deserved her. Because he deserved happiness. And like a selfish, stupid coward, I ruined one of the most rare and magical loves any of the worlds had ever seen by allowing them to be killed by some sneaky venomous creature.

A special place existed for souls like me—it was called Harte.

Medusa’s pearl shined
brightly, radiating beams of color in all directions. All around her head the petals of her flowery vines bloomed. Her star-filled eyes shined as bright as her crescent moon smile as she recited Koraline’s favorite line from the famous gorgon poem. “Beauty is sometimes hidden under a veil of tragedy.”

The agape pearl in the hollow of Medusa’s throat began spinning.

Poseidon appeared. His eyes raged fiercely with white-capped waves. He towered above me with his ethereal trident raised at his side. His voice boomed like thunder. “You must choose.”

When I had visited the Inbetween, I had no clue what the foreboding dark sea represented. It was so ominous compared to the beautiful towering waterfall. But now I had figured it out.

The ominous sea was Harte. It was Medusa’s biggest and ugliest mistake—one that couldn’t be erased. Sealed off, apologized for, contained, but not erased. When souls died, they had to make a choice. Had anyone ever willingly chosen to dive into the horrifying sea instead of the Eternal Falls? They would be out of their minds to do so.

Just as we were out of our minds for willingly entering Harte.

But that made me wonder. We were
visiting
Harte. Did that mean the living could visit the Eternal Falls too? Or, a much more tragic thought, did Rownan, Treygan, and I voluntarily give up our lives when we crossed into Harte?

I raised my head to meet Medusa’s gaze. “Are we already dead?” 

She reached forward, her fingers flowing like gentle waves toward my face, but just before I felt their caress, Koraline’s voice shouted from behind me. “Never give up! The tide will turn.”

My eyes snapped open and I sat up.

We couldn’t be dead. I was no genius, but I would know if we were dead. I intimately knew what death felt like, and this wasn’t it.

Treygan stirred beside me. What did he think about while he rested? 

Sage slept peacefully on my shoulder. I glanced at the cave’s opening, expecting to see Rownan, but he was gone.

“Treygan!”

He shot upright. “What? What’s wrong?”

I scrambled to my feet. “Rownan’s gone!”

Treygan scanned the empty cave, as if it were so big that I might have overlooked Rownan. “But it’s still raining. He wouldn’t have gone out there. He knows we have to stick together.”

“Then where is he?”

Treygan walked to the entrance and cupped his hands over his mouth, shouting, “Rownan!”

No one answered.

Sage swayed beside me as I stood behind Treygan. “What does this mean?”

Treygan reached back and pulled me closer to him. “I don’t know.”

“I’m scared.”

“Me too.”

“Wait.” Treygan let go of me. “I can shadow him.” Thank gods one of us had the ability to think rationally. “Give me a minute.” Treygan rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes. I held my breath, waiting what felt like centuries for Treygan to tell me he could see Rownan and that he was okay.

I waited.

And waited.

I didn’t want to interrupt him, but my anxiety kept building. Outside, the rain pounded harder, or maybe it just seemed to get louder because of Treygan’s deafening silence. He had said a minute or two. At least five minutes had passed. I paced, tapping my knuckles together and chewing my lip. How far could Rownan have gone? 

My chest tightened. The long wait with no word from Treygan could only mean one thing. I couldn’t wait anymore. “You can’t find him, can you?” Treygan didn’t respond. Not even an eyelid flicker. “Please, say something. Do you see any trace of him?”

No reply.

I had seen Treygan shadow Rownan before. This time seemed different. Something felt wrong. I touched Treygan’s arm. “Treygan?” He still didn’t react. Even with him standing mere inches from me, I felt alone. “Please take a break. I need you here. I’m worried about you.”

Still nothing.

“Treygan!” I snapped my fingers in front of his face then clapped my hands. This wasn’t normal. He would never ignore me. Especially knowing I was already scared. I shook him, but he stiffened. Every muscle in his body locked up. “What’s wrong with you? Treygan!”

I peeled open his eyelids. His pupils were so huge and silver they almost eclipsed the whites of his eyes. “Oh, gods,” I muttered. He was reliving a memory. I had seen the same thing when he shared memories with Caspian and Indrea. “Where are you? Treygan come back!”

I wished with all my being to see clouds pass over his beautiful eyes and take me into his soul so I could see what he was seeing, but I couldn’t get through to him. He was already too deep in the memory.

Sage hissed in my ear, startling me. I was part siren. I could create storms. Maybe I could create clouds in Treygan’s eyes and force my way in.

“It’s worth a shot,” I told Sage. She settled on my shoulder in agreement.

I stood tall and bowed my head, focusing on pushing my energy down my arms and through my fingertips. Out of habit, my shoulder blades spread, allowing the ghost of my wings to release. I imagined storm clouds forming around us, then I drew my hands inward, pressing on Treygan’s temples.

My fingers tingled as silver clouds glided over his pupils. I plunged into them and felt the familiar tug at my chest. In the blink of my own eyes, I was Treygan.

And I was screaming in agony.

I watched helplessly through Treygan’s eyes as he turned me to stone with a kiss.

I fought—hard—to remember the moment wasn’t actually happening. Treyg
an’s despair, his heart break, his anger and guilt, were
not
my own. It was in the past, and his feelings were not mine. But then it worsened.

Treygan wasn’t just reliving the Triple Eighteen; he was experiencing a twisted version of it. In Treygan’s nightmare, I remained stone. The gate didn’t open. Talus the gorgon flamed through the water and ripped Treygan away from my stony form. Talus carried him, kicking and screaming, past all the merfolk and selkies who had been trapped in Earth’s realm. They had all turned to stone too. Treygan was so horrified, so consumed by guilt and heartbreak that he begged Talus to kill him.

Talus kept rushing him away, dragging him through a dark gateway, into Rathe. But he whisked him through it so fast that Treygan didn’t even have time to realize he was back in his own realm. Talus dropped him outside of the grotto like a bag of trash. Stheno and Euryale rose out of the water, their eyes flaming, black seaweed hanging from all the snakes hissing around their heads. They each grabbed one of Treygan’s arms and pulled him under into murky darkness.

Somehow, through all of that, Treygan kept calling out, whispering or crying my name.

The real me couldn’t tell him anything. I could barely cling to the truth that I wasn’t him and the nightmare wasn’t real. But I kept clutching at reality, holding tight for both of our sakes.

The scene we were experiencing must have been what Treygan feared might have happened. It was draining his soul and weakening him so fast I wasn’t sure I could stop it.

I fought to take control of his limbs. It was like trying to catch a fish in water. Every time I grabbed on to him, he would slip away again. He clung to the image of my stone form, letting it destroy him from the inside out. He pictured his mother turning to stone seconds after giving birth to him. The memories were debilitating him. But I was stronger.

I focused on the feel of his muscles, imagining I could manipulate and control them like strings on a puppet. I forced his hand to touch the wet mud of the grotto. Then, using his index finger, I slowly made him write
not real
.

He read the words. They registered. But he struggled to believe them. I was getting the hang of controlling his hand like it was my own, so I kept writing.
Not stone. In Harte. Come back
.

The hope hit him light a lightning bolt. His head snapped up.

I was shoved in the chest, back into the present, and Treygan’s cobalt eyes focused on me.

“There you are,” I said, sighing with relief. “Welcome back.”

He hugged me, rocking me. “Thank you.” He pulled back, holding my face in his hands and staring into my eyes.

We didn’t need to say anything. He knew I had experienced what he had. He knew I felt what he felt and how awful it had been. If I hadn’t known how much he loved me before, I certainly knew it now. One of his deepest fears was losing me.

“I’m right here,” I assured him.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “We stay together. Always.”

“Always,” I promised. “But what about Rownan?”

He blinked and turned to look at the rain outside. “I never got that far. Whatever happened to me happened instantly.”

“This is bad,” I said. “They’re using our fears against us. Mine was Uncle Lloyd dying.”

“Mine was turning you to stone. Losing you forever.”

“They make it seem so real. It feels so real while it’s happening.”

“The question is who are
they
? And how do we stop them?”

“I wish I knew.”

Treygan leaned against a wall as I made slow laps around the cave. Where could Rownan have gone? Did someone or something take him? If so, how did we not hear it?

I tripped over something on the ground and it skidded into the shadows. I crouched down, reaching into the dark, narrow cubby at the back of the cave. My fingers closed around something solid. A handle. I pulled out a dagger. Hanging from the tip of the blade was the watch I took off earlier.

Treygan closed in behind me. “What did you find?” 

“My watch. Stabbed.”

“I assume you didn’t stab it.”

I shook my h
ead. “This is Rownan’s dagger.”

“Why would he stab your watch?
And please tell me you weren’t wearing it at the time.”

“I took it off earlier.”

“This gets weirder and weirder.”

A scary thought hit me. “What other weapons did Rownan bring?”

Treygan’s jaw shifted. “I’m not sure.”

We were both worried, hoping Rownan hadn’t ventured out into Harte unarmed.

“We have to find him,” I said.

Treygan nodded and glanced at the rain. “But how? This place seems to outsmart us at every turn.”

I hated that he was right. Soul-sucking demons, nightmarish illusions, murderous weather, and now Harte had managed to separate Rownan from us.

“I have a feeling we haven’t seen the worst of this place yet,” Treygan said.

I chewed on my lip, trying not to imagine what could be worse than what we had already encountered. “They’ll probably keep trying to separate us.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

He said it out loud, which meant he wholeheartedly believed it, but I wasn’t so sure. Harte kept hitting where it hurt the most. Treygan feared losing me, and I feared losing him. Harte would probably feed on that. What if we were both lured into hallucinations and neither one of us could snap the other back into reality?