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Never in all my years of living here have I ever felt otherwise. It’s secure, safe, and hidden away, deep past caves that no surface dweller would ever dare to explore lest they risk drowning.
It’s home, and it will continue to protect us until its dying breath, of that I am sure.
Neither of us says a word until we’ve fully retreated into the temple’s safety. Penny’s hand is in mine as we move all the way back up into the atrium, where we both surface and are able to exhale for the first time since the attack.
Bloody visions streak past my brain still, anger and adrenaline pumping hot blood all throughout my body. Penny squeezes my hand tenderly, and it stops just for a moment.
“It’s over,” I tell her with finality. “We’re safe here.”
Penny nods, letting go of my hand to pull herself up onto the island that holds the tree. She keeps her legs in the water, and I put my own hands on her knees, engulfing them with my size. I settle myself close to her, and she leans forward to press her forehead to mine. We both take a moment to come down from the fear and anxiety that ruled over our past moments, our breaths intermingling with each other.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” she asks, placing her hands over mine. Her eyes are closed but mine aren’t, so I can see the nervous downturn of her lip.
“Yes.” I turn my hands over so she can rest her hands in my palms. I give them a soft squeeze. “This place has always been a sanctuary for me. Don’t you feel it?”
Penny nods.
“Then trust in it. It will keep you safe.”
We stay there, holding hands and drinking in each other's presence for as long as we can. Eventually, Penny shuffles backward to hug her knees to her chest. I pull myself up on the ledge next to her, tentacles slipping off my face like water as I turn into my more human form. I put my arm around her shoulders to have her close to me.
“I will keep you safe, too. Always,” I say with finality. I once said that the only time Penny would be free of me and this place would be if I died, and I still mean it. She will have to be ripped from my dying grasp, and that will be a feat more impossible than draining the entire ocean of its water.
“I know you will,” Penny murmurs, leaning against me. “But you have to keep yourself safe, too.”
“Of course.”
I feel Penny turn her face so it's pressed against my chest. There’s a small smile there, even if I can’t feel it.
“I know. I would never let you leave me, either.”
The words send heat coursing through my body. Even a small amount of possessiveness from her is enough to make my thoughts cloudy, filled with nothing but ideas of her skin pressed against mine. Of her heat mixing with my own.
I tug her closer to me, smiling to myself.
“Do you think they’ll leave us alone?” she asks.
“If they know what is good for them,” I answer. “If they understand that what they are trying to do is impossible.”
“Do they?”
I look up, taking a deep breath inward.
“I’m not sure.”
Water laps at our legs gently, like it is trying to console us both for what has happened and what is to come. I can feel Penny’s adrenaline seeping out of her body and being replaced with exhaustion and trepidation, but I do not let myself relax as much as I want to.
The temple, too, does not let itself relax. When the water moves a little too forcefully, and when I feel a pressure in the back of my mind, I know that the time to relax and hope is over.
They are here.
I remove my arm from around Penny and slink back into the water, not saying anything at her questioning noise. When I turn around, tentacles morphing back around my face and my eyes squinting with anger and determination, her own eyes widen.
“They found us,” she says.
I nod.
“How?”
