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Are you going to be all right? I asked her. Not that I was stopping. The idea of Mark throwing a pulmonary embolism or slowly being crushed beneath the weight of the ocean was killing me, pushing me to faster and faster speeds.
Go, she answered. I’ll catch up.
Within minutes, I reached a huge coral garden that I figured must be the Sahul Reef. Instead of passing over it, I dived deep and hid among the animals’ branches. I got stung by a coral again, but it was better than last time—either because it wasn’t fire coral or because I was slowly becoming immune, as so many of the other mermaids were.
Either way, I wasn’t moving—this was a good place to wait for Mahina and to try to figure out what tricks the sea witch had up her sleeve.
Where’s Tiamat? Mahina asked when she found me.
I’m not sure. I know she’s close—I can feel her. It’s like this darkness is pressing in on me, making it hard to think or move.
Sounds like a spell—she’s not taking any chances with you.
At that moment, two of the ugliest creatures I had ever seen swam by. Glowing yellow, they had strange misshapen heads; large, pointy ears, and small, humanlike bodies covered in big, mismatched scales. Bunyip? I asked Mahina.
Yes. She shuddered.
In the back of my head, I was aware of Kona trying to talk to me, but I ignored him. I couldn’t afford any distractions right now and one more bombshell like the last one he dropped would mean game over.
We barely dared to breathe as they passed by us, armed with spears and obviously on patrol. But once their backs were to us, I started weaving my way through the coral in an effort to stay undercover while I followed them.
What are you doing? Mahina hissed.
I didn’t answer, figuring it was pretty obvious.
They’ll catch us.
Or they’ll show us where we need to go. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just swim up on Tiamat accidentally.
How do you know they’re not leading us into a trap?
Do you have a better idea? I demanded.
No, she huffed. But I really don’t want to die today—can I just throw that out to the universe?
I think the universe is aware.
The bunyip continued on their path, giving every indication that they were oblivious to us following them. I could only hope they weren’t leading us into an ambush. In a perfect world, I would be able to scope out the situation before going in blind. I was more than aware that probably wouldn’t be the case—here, but hope springs eternal.
Kona. I called him again.
What? he roared. Where are you?
Sorry. We were hiding from the bunyip.
I felt him recoil. Where are they? he demanded.
Where are you? I countered. Are you out in the open ocean or are you in a cave?
About a mile past the reef, there’s a sunken ship. She has us in the hold, at the bottom. And, Tempest, she has hundreds of soldiers in and around us just waiting for you. Bunyip and the sharks, plus the others.
I figured. I paused, then spoke to both him and Mahina, wanting my friend to be in on the conversation as well. You say you’re a mile north of the reef?
Yes. But there’s no way for you to sneak up on us. I told you that already. You have to go, try to get out of here before she realizes you’re close.
Don’t worry about us, Kona. I glanced at Mahina. We’ve got this.
Mahina shot me a thumbs-up sign even as she looked ready to puke.
I have to go now, I told him. I’ll talk to you again when I’m safe.
Tempest! Kona shouted suddenly. Tempest, no! She’s moving troops. I think she knows you’re here. The bunyip must have seen—
More likely, you’re tipping her off, I told him. Somehow I don’t think Tiamat could fail to notice the fact that you’re suddenly freaking out.
She doesn’t know I can talk to you. She gave me something that was supposed to inhibit my powers. Instead, it knocked me out completely. I haven’t been awake that long.
Does she know you’re conscious?
No.
Good. Try and keep it that way. Are you and Mark alone?
No. That’s what I keep trying to tell you. You can’t win—
I’ll see you in a little while, Kona. I promise.
I broke the connection, then slowly, stealthily, made my way out of the reef. No one attacked, so I was hoping we’d have a few minutes before the next patrol came by. Of course, if things went according to the hastily manufactured plan in my head, we would need only a fraction of that time.
What are you doing? Mahina hissed. They’ll see us.
Not if I have anything to say about it.
I shifted back to human form—for some strange reason my magic always worked better when I had legs—shimmied into my bikini bottoms and called the power up inside of me. I could feel it growing, getting stronger, seething just below the surface as it sought an outlet.
I refused to let it loose, at least not yet. Instead, I gathered more and more energy from the waves until my entire body was vibrating with the strength of what I was trying to hold deep inside myself. When I couldn’t contain it any longer, when it felt like I would break apart if I amassed even one more drop of energy, I focused on the ground and let it all go at the same time.
In seconds, I’d created a twenty-foot-long passageway straight down into the ground. Come on, I told Mahina, diving in. We hit the end of the passage in less than a minute, so I used small blasts of energy to continue building the tunnel, much like my mother had done in that last memory.
I need to know when we’ve gone exactly one mile, I told Mahina. Do you think you and your weird geography talent can calculate that precise of a distance?
Seeing as how the alternative is death, I’ll give it my best shot.
You do that.
I turned my head to grin at her, but she just glared. I don’t know how you can laugh at a time like this.
Because the alternative was to start screaming again, and that wouldn’t help anyone.
Going back to work, I pulsed out another section of the tunnel, then another and another. It was slow work, and I couldn’t help wondering how my mother had done it. She’d created one of these so fast that I barely had a chance to blink before she was out the other end.
My inability to do the same was not exactly inspiring confidence.
How much farther? I asked Mahina after nearly an hour of blasting out piece after piece of the tunnel.
At least half a mile, she told me.
You have got to be kidding me. I stopped for a second, pulled back. Really looked at what I was doing. I was blasting away, pushing outward and compacting the dirt against the walls of the tunnel as I went.
It was working, but it certainly wasn’t very time or energy efficient. I was already exhausted and I hadn’t even started battling Tiamat yet. There had to be a better way of doing things—I just needed to figure out how.
I thought about surfing, about how I duck dived under the water to get better momentum and control. Thought about the way I always twisted my hands when I went to break the surface because it made things cleaner, easier. And wondered if there was a way to use that same barrier-breaking twist down here.
An idea came to me—strange and outlandish, but it could work. It wasn’t how my mother had done it, wasn’t how anyone else I knew would do it, but maybe it would work for me.
Back up, I told Mahina, scooting after her a few feet back up the tunnel. Feeling stupid, but willing to try anything at this point, I stretched out on my stomach, hands above my head. And then I started pulling the energy back in again. Not gathering a little bit at a time to do the small blasts I’d been working with, but enough to do that first blast again.
