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I thought of my mother then, about how the memories she had shown me saved my life—and kept me from making some of the mistakes she had. The idea that Kona would never have that chance devastated me.
It’s going to be okay, I repeated.
He just shook his head. And what about you? Hailana’s in bad shape and you’re the only one she’s—
Don’t. Please, don’t go there. I can barely keep it together as things stand now. If you say the Q word I’ll lose it.
Hiding isn’t going to change anything.
Yeah, well, it’s worked for me so far.
That’s debatable. Mahina couldn’t resist adding her two cents.
We swam quietly for a while, all of us completely exhausted from what we’d been through. We stopped to eat when we were hungry, to sleep when we couldn’t swim anymore. But in general, we just kept moving, determined to get home as soon as we possibly could. At the same time, I know we were all anxious about what we would find.
As we swam, I couldn’t help wondering where Tiamat was, what she and Sabyn were planning. But I figured we would know soon enough—it wasn’t like she ever really played her cards close to her chest. Except for that blood thing. I really hadn’t seen that coming.
I glanced down at my arm, at the long, deep scab there. I probably should have gotten stitches, but it was too late now. I tried to tell myself a scar there was no big deal, but for me it kind of was. The last thing I wanted to do was think of Tiamat every time I saw my arm. Then again, it wasn’t like I was ever going to forget what she’d done, or how close she’d actually come to killing me. Mark was right. It was the stuff nightmares were made of, and I had a feeling I was going to be seeing Tiamat in mine more often than usual.
Do you think they’ll be back soon? I asked suddenly.
I expected to have to explain myself, but Mahina and Kona must have been worrying about the same thing—they knew immediately who I was talking about.
I hope not, Mahina said. I need a little recovery time. I think we all do.
So do they, Kona told us. Tiamat was in bad shape when Sabyn pulled her out of there. And without her, I’m not sure how much power he really has.
What about his tattoos? I asked. They’re signs of his power, and he has more of them than anyone I’ve ever seen.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Kona exchanged a glance with Mahina.
What does that mean?
I take it you didn’t look in a mirror when you brought Mark to the surface. Kona reached over and traced a finger over my shoulder, then down my rib cage and across my stomach. I followed the path, saw that my entire torso was now covered in purple tattoos in the same shape and pattern of those on my back.
Where did these come from? I demanded.
They were there after you did your little exploding sun trick. Once the light died away, these were hard to miss, Mahina answered. Not that I’m surprised. I’ve never seen anything like what you did.
Me, neither. Kona shook his head, looking more than a little awed.
I don’t know how I did it. These weird powers keep showing up—it was just part of the whole electric thing.
Kona nodded. I know. And I guarantee you, Tiamat and Sabyn are scared to death after seeing what you could do.
Give me a break. I’m still pretty damn scared after seeing what they could do. Sabyn healed himself after I practically split him in two. How is that even possible?
My guess is they’ve been sharing blood for a while now—combining species’ powers like that has a tendency to make both more powerful. For a while anyway, Mahina said.
Is that why she wanted my blood?
Yep.
But what did she mean about Kona’s energy? I asked. She wanted my blood and his energy.
Selkies’ actual powers aren’t blood based, like mermaids’ are, Kona said. Any power we have comes from the way we channel energy from the ocean. The better we are at doing that, the more power we have.
So, you’re really good at that whole water-channeling thing, then? To be as powerful as you are?
His smile faded. I’m good but nowhere near as good as my father was.
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t say anything. Neither did Mahina.
We made it to Kona’s territory a couple of hours later. The cleanup had continued during the days we were gone and the city was almost back to normal—just with a lot less people out and about than it usually had. Some were barricaded in their houses, hiding, while many others had died in the attack. Either way, I felt miserable swimming through to Kona’s castle and figured he must be feeling about a million times worse.
I went on land with him, to the castle, took him inside while Mahina waited in the ocean. She said she needed a nap, but I knew it was because she didn’t want to intrude.
The house felt so empty without his parents and siblings there—I hadn’t realized how used to their presence I’d grown in the last eight months. They were a loud, big, boisterous family and it seemed strange to be here without them. Again, I knew it was a million times worse for Kona. Only two of his brothers and two sisters had survived Tiamat’s attack, and they were sitting in the media room watching TV. They jumped up and greeted him, but their jubilation only lasted a few seconds before they were once again looking as blank and devastated and lost as Kona did.
I didn’t know what to do for him, didn’t know how to help. After my mother had died, I’d been too frozen inside to let him help me. I wondered if that was how he was feeling now.
“Do you want me to stay?” I asked after hugging his brothers and sister and offering them my condolences. “I can—”
“You need to get back to Coral Straits. I know you must be anxious to see what’s going on.”
“It doesn’t matter. If you need me, I’ll be here.”
He smiled sadly, and the expression on his face was so much like the one on Mark’s when we said good-bye that I did a double take. “It’s fine, Tempest. We both know this isn’t where you want to be anyway.”
“That’s not true.” My heart fluttered a little in panic. I wasn’t ready to do this—dealing with Mark had already thrown me for a loop. Having to also deal with Kona … it was too much for me to handle right now on top of everything else.
But I couldn’t tell him that, not when he was an even bigger emotional basketcase than I was. So I just waited to hear what he had to tell me.
In the end, he didn’t say anything at all. Just kissed my forehead and whispered, “I’m tired. Can we talk about this later?”
“Sure. Of course.” I felt like I’d just been spared a trip to the guillotine. “Get some sleep—you were close to death a couple days ago.”
“So were you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m resilient like that.”
“Thank God.” He pulled me to his chest and hugged me. I hugged him back, dropped a soft kiss on his shoulder. As I did, I realized that I would always love Kona, always be grateful to him and have mixed-up feelings for him. But the way I loved him was different from how I loved Mark. With Kona, it was sweet and comfortable and lovely. Which was nice—I wasn’t denying it.
But it wasn’t the same wild, crazy excitement I felt whenever I saw Mark. My heart didn’t skip a beat, my palms didn’t sweat, my powers didn’t jump. Some might think that was a good thing—I certainly had for a while—but now I wasn’t so sure. I liked the way I felt when I was with Mark, loved the tingle he still gave me even after all these years.
