Page 23 of Welcome to Seaman’s Cove: Part Two

I look back over my shoulder as I swim, but so far, I don’t see anyone pursuing me.

Ahead, I spot a school of fish and race toward them. They’ll hopefully provide the cover I need. All I have to do is get to them before the guards figure out I’m missing.

Bright yellow swimmers with neon blue cheeks break formation as I near them, but quickly realize I’m not a threat and reconverge into their pack. Slippery bodies slide against my bare skin, some of the fish braver than the others. They buy me some time, but I can’t follow them indefinitely. They zig and zag, and I don’t want to get thrown off course.

After swimming until my body feels like jelly and I can barely go on, I see lights. Though, not the lights you’d see in the human world. These aren’t as hard, giving off a more ethereal glow. Similar to the ones embedded in the cave walls in Ocearus. That makes sense, because it was a mercity, even if it was also inhabited by humans.

I push my body toward the bioluminescent colors, my lungs and muscles burning from the exertion and lack of pure oxygen. As I get closer, I see the lights are actually corals and anemones. It’s like a coral reef was grown into a wall to protect the city. Spires rise above the walls, intimidating even from here, but I can’t see more than that. Shit. Are there guards stationed at the wall as well? I assume so, based on how I’ve been treated so far. Though anything could swim over the top I suppose. Ah hell, what if they have some science fiction-y weapons? That would be just my luck, escape a barren mer-prison, swim gods know how far, only to get taken out by a merman ray gun or something.

Movement in the water ahead of me makes me pause, I can’t tell who or what it is. It’s getting closer though, which makes me jolt backward and nearly drop the breathing device. Fuck, that would have been bad.

Desperate not to get caught, I look for anything I can hide behind. A shelf of coral, more fish, even a patch of seaweed at this point. But there’s nothing. Just open ocean and small aquatic life that’ll be no use. Just as I’m about to accept my fate, I recognize the figure.

It’s the girl who visited me in my rock prison! The one who showed me the breather. She nearly drowned me in the process, but I’ll take her friendly face over the scary guards any day. Was she on her way to visit me again or just out exploring?

She smiles brightly and does a cute little twirl, her gorgeous tail billowing around her in the water. She looks happy to see me. She helped me before, maybe she can help me find Caspian now. If I can figure out a way to communicate with her.

I return her grin and wave, then swim closer. She flips and plays, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was showing off. I’m so busy watching the sweet mermaid that I’m not paying attention to my surroundings. A damning mistake.

The girl slows as her smile drops, and she shakes her head. But she isn’t looking at me. She’s staring in anguish past me. I don’t have time to turn around before a strong hand grips my bicep painfully. I cry out in surprise, and the breather escapes my lips. I try to reach for it, but the guard holds me firm. He has to know I need that right? Or I’ll drown! Maybe he doesn’t care.

The young mermaid suddenly dives at a speed I wasn’t prepared for, scooping up the breathing device before it can hit the sandy sea floor and shoving it back into my mouth. It’s rough, but I suck in a lungful of oxygen gratefully. Another guard darts between us, saying something that sounds extremely aggressive in their language and forcing the girl to retreat with his sheer presence.

She looks at me apologetically as I’m yanked back the way I came. He swims much faster than I do, so in no time at all we’re back in the familiar waters that surround my island prison.

He says something to me in his language, but of course I don’t understand until he points at the rock with an angry scowl. Yeah, pretty sure my swimming privileges were just revoked.

16

Icatch Hunter just as he falls, pulling my body up behind him and gripping under his arms. “Hunt? You okay?”

He doesn’t respond. All his weight slips down, slumped in a way that terrifies me.

“Hunt!” I shake him. His head lolls to the side, expression slack. “Shit, I think he passed out.”

“Can you get him upstairs?” Seb asks, a few steps behind me. A clap of thunder punctuates the last of his words. It’s still far off, but the clouds are moving in fast.

“I think so.” I grunt as I wrap one arm around Hunter’s torso and try to ease him up another step.

“W-what… happened?” Hunter comes to with a confused shake of his head.

“You blacked out for a second there.” I study his face, then let out a relieved sigh when I see his eyes clear. My heart pounds frantically, but I force a playful smile. “Help me out, ‘cause you weigh a fuck ton, old man.”

Rather than fight with me about my little jab, he does as I ask and slowly works his way up to the main deck of the ship. We lay on the floor for a long time, both panting. I grab his hand as I stare at the rain clouds closing in over our heads, needing to remind myself he’s here.

“Are you okay?” I ask once I’ve caught my breath.

Hunter turns his head toward me. “I don’t know.”

Seb joins us, sitting with his legs tucked into his bare chest. He looks as shaken as I feel.

“That could have been bad,” he whispers, looking at Hunter with concern.

I shudder to think about what could have happened if Hunter lost consciousness like that when we were still in the water. A single drop of rain lands on my chin and rolls down my tense jaw.

“The bonding sickness is getting worse, isn’t it?” Seb looks past Hunter as if he’s seeing someone else.

Hunter grunts his acknowledgement. “Not much we can do about it, though.”