Chapter 30

Chapter

Thirty

After ascending at a cautious thirty feet per minute, and taking a longer break during the last twenty feet, Nireed returned Reid to the surface with plenty of time to spare—thirty-six minutes to be exact. It was in the mermaid lab that she'd learned to tell time, the clock ticking above the door an agonizing reminder of its slow passage. But she'd felt none of that pain watching it for Reid. It was with loving attentiveness that she made sure he had enough air in his tank.

Pushing his goggles to the top of his head, Reid spat out his mouthpiece, grinning wide. A red outline of where his goggles had been cutely ringed around his eyes. Looping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her in, kissing her fiercely.

"That was amazing." He laughed, water droplets dripping from his lashes and dotting his cheeks.

It was the stuff of dreams. She never could've hoped it might be a reality for them, what with the limitations of his biology. "Would you do it again?"

"In a heartbeat. Although, I think I might've experienced nitrogen narcosis."

"Is that bad or good?" It sounded bad, but he was still smiling.

"Not great, safety-wise. Could've been really bad, if I'm being honest, but you took care of me." He lightly tapped a finger to her nose. "It's an altered state of mind that impairs judgment. Causes fatigue. Sometimes hallucinations. Kicks in at around one hundred feet. If someone else isn't looking out for you when it happens, you may forget to surface, which is bad for obvious reasons."

Deepest murk, that did sound quite bad. Next time, they'd stick to shallower water. "I will always look out for you."

He tipped his forehead to hers. "I know. Thank you, Starfish."

Her tail waved back and forth beneath them, and because Reid liked to match her rhythm, she kept an easy, leisurely pace. It might be a little while before Lorelei and Lila returned for him, and he needed to conserve his strength.

"It's fitting, in a way. Would your first time in the deep even be right if I didn't blow your mind and endanger your life in the same forty minutes?"

"Did you just crack a siren joke?"

She smirked.

"Man, I'm lucky I'm cute."

She just smiled, showing more teeth than strictly necessary.

"I am too cute to eat, right?"

"Cute, yes." Playfully, she nipped at his earlobe. "But I do like the way you taste."

He swatted at her face, and she licked his hand.

But all playfulness died when she detected a shift in atmosphere.

She pulled Reid in close as a thick fog rolled in, a wall of smoky white even her siren eyes couldn't penetrate. It curled around them, enshrouding their surroundings. People got lost in this kind of fog, never to be found.

"That's not good," Reid murmured, arms looped around her waist. "They're not going to see us through that."

"Shh, let me listen." Her hearing wasn't as good above water as below, but it was still sensitive and engine sounds were easy to pick out. If she could get a sense of distance and location, they could start swimming in that direction. They'd have a better chance at finding Cure Creator's research vessel than the other way around.

Concentrating, she filtered out the sound of Reid's breathing, the beating of his heart, the waves, and the wind. She thought she caught snatches of a small engine, puttering somewhere in the distance, maybe three or so miles away. But there was something else. Something too big to be the research vessel, drowning out all other nearby sound.

They weren't alone out here.

She clutched Reid tighter.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"Bigger boat."

"Could be Killian and his crew. They're out here too."

She shook her head. The Lovely Lorelei was familiar, this wasn't. "Something bigger."

"One of Nautic's then." His voice was low. "They're the only other ones still fishing out here. Chased everybody else off."

She nodded, gently fitting his goggles back over his eyes. "It's getting closer. Be prepared to dive."

He complied wordlessly, adjusting the goggles, and fitted the breathing apparatus back into his mouth. With one hand on his diver's belt, keeping them anchored together, Nireed dipped down into the water, listening.

The engines were more distinct now, though one was significantly larger, louder, and quickly overtaking the other.

Her heart sped up, panic flaring.

They were too close together.

Five short horn blasts preceded horrendous crunching and screeching, tearing metal. The terrible sound cut across the distance. Jerking back, Nireed clapped a hand over her ear, pressed the other into her shoulder. It hurt, but she refused to let go of Reid. Not in this fog, not even for a second.

An urgent tap on her hand brought her back to the surface. Reid's eyes were wide with fear.

"You heard it too?"

He nodded, cheeks chalk white. "It's got to be The Seraphis . Nothing else is big enough to do that. They plowed into one of the local fishing boats just last week." A fishing boat was a whole lot bigger than Cure Creator's little vessel; a factory ship would be massive by comparison. Reid swallowed thickly, clenching her hand. "I can't lose my sister. I only just met her."

If Lorelei and Lila had been crushed on impact…

No. Nireed couldn't think like that. Her friends were alive, and they needed her to hold it together. They needed her help. "Lorelei's fast. She would've grabbed Lila."

"She's strong like you?" His voice was quiet, uncertain.

"Yes. She's strong like me." And Nireed meant it, every word. Lorelei may not have been raised ocean-hard, but she was a capable siren and had overcome her fair share of trials and tribulations. Getting run over by a hulking Surface Dweller ship was not what was going to do her in. Taking Reid's hand, Nireed placed it on her shoulder. "Let's find them."

He nodded, determination fixed in the hard set of his jaw.

Nireed raced toward the collision site and the sound of The Seriphus 's engines. It went against everything she'd learned from birth, wisdom passed down from her foreparents. Stay away from the Surface Dweller ships and their deafening noise and ensnaring nets. But risking her hearing was nothing compared to the lives of her friends.

With each passing mile, the noise grew, quickly moving into uncomfortable territory. The factory ship's shadowy hull loomed ahead, propeller churning the water. They needed to dive. Flashing her bioluminescence, Nireed hoped it was enough warning, and Reid's responding squeeze on her shoulder made her think it was. She eased into the descent, putting five, ten, twenty feet between them and The Seriphus . A glance back to check on Reid was met with a thumbs up, the Surface Dweller sign for approval; her resilient mate was stalwartly flutter kicking along, and her heart squeezed to see it.

The water went dark as The Seriphus passed overhead, all 200 feet of its hulking form blocking out the sun. It chugged along, the discordant, metallic grinding grating on her ears, but she gritted her teeth and kept on swimming, because Lorelei and Cure Creator needed her.

When they cleared the ship's underbelly, the water suffused with surface light once more, she brought Reid back to the surface. The less they had to use his canned air supply the better. A horrid ringing plagued Nireed's ears, but she kept swimming, pushing on and on.

She knew they were getting close when she began to smell leaking fuel. It worsened the closer they got.

The surface was littered with broken bits of Dr. Branson's research boat. It hadn't sunk, not yet at least, but it was taking on water, and it was only a matter of time before it made its final plunge into the deep.

Yet, another Surface Dweller vessel destined for the sea floor, Nireed thought bitterly. But she didn't linger on it because the lives of those onboard were far more precious.

Reid let go of her shoulder, and they both fervently began searching the site, making shallow dives for their friends.

Nothing. No one.

Reid's eyes had a wild, desperate look to them Nireed didn't like.

"There's no blood." She assured him, sensing his growing panic. "And I don't smell death."

"Nautic took them. Nautic fucking took them!" He smacked the surface of the water, but anger quickly turned to fear. "Nireed, I don't know what to do. It's going to take the Coast Guard at least thirty minutes to get a helicopter here. If Nautic's crew finds out Lorelei's a mermaid, she's not going to have that long. And who knows what they'll do to Dr. Branson if they feel like they need to tie up loose ends."

Dread sank its ugly claws into her gut. He was right.

A grim sort of determination stole over her. "I need to go after them. You're certain the Coast Warriors will come?"

He nodded. "The boat has an emergency radio beacon that'll ping its location. As long as I stay with the wreckage, they'll be able to find me."

That settled it then.

"I'm going after them."

"Nireed…" He'd seen the bodies of her kin. He knew the risk, the danger, just as well as she did. A protest was forming, she could see it in his eyes.

But they had no other choice, and she couldn't just float here and do nothing. Not when she knew she'd a shot at saving them. He knew it, too, even if he didn't want to admit it. "This is what we do, Reid. We risk our lives to save others."

"I know." He caressed her cheek, each word pained and reluctant. "I know."

"I'm going to get your sister back. Lila too."

Grim acceptance fell over his features. "If only I'd the strength you do," he trailed, before pulling her in for a fierce kiss. "I'll be coming with help, okay? Stay alive, Starfish."

"They can't have me." Her claws framed his face as she pressed another kiss to his lips. "This ends today."

"Give ‘em hell."

And then she dove. Tearing through the water at breakneck speeds. Chasing the sound of a rumbling engine and rotating propellers. Chasing The Seriphus 's giant wake. Trusting the Coast Warriors to come for her mate.

The mermaid-killers had Lorelei. She begged the Twenty-Armed Goddess they didn't find out what she was.