Chapter 12

She'd underestimated just how dark the sea was. Anya had looked out at it through Alpha's glass dome for her entire life, seeing only darkness beyond the artificial lights. She had known that it was pitch black out there. The city of Alpha was built so deep that no light could penetrate their city from Above. Not that there was any light to come through.

But she hadn't expected the darkness to affect her so much. Apparently, she'd never seen true darkness.

It had pressed down upon her out here. The weight of the dark felt worse than being blind. She'd always thought losing her sight would be harder than losing her hearing, likely because she knew what it was like to lose one of her senses. But this was... heavy. So heavy.

Anya could feel her heart beating harder. She was more aware of her body and every ounce of blood that pumped through her veins. She could feel her breath coming in and out of her lungs, entirely reliant on a device that she'd never seen before.

All of it gave her mind time to turn and rumble and boil with the fear of what she had done. She'd been so desperate to be free that she hadn't realized that it meant trusting her entire life in the hands of an undine. A creature who her people had fought against for years. It was a risk she had thought she was ready to take.

Until the cold depths of the sea swept her away in his arms.

But he had sensed it. Or perhaps he had known that she would be afraid. She wasn't sure. One moment she was counting under her breath and the next, he'd lit up.

She didn't know if he was aware that red was a warning sign to her people, and the red light wasn't immediately helpful because it sent messages to her mind that she was in danger. But then she noticed the pattern. How he was lighting up specific parts of himself for her to count, in the same rhythm that she'd been counting.

This monstrous being who had crept out of the sea had wanted to keep her calm. He'd panicked when he'd thought she was hurt, and that was the only explanation she had for the way he'd acted after they'd gone through that sharp coral. Even though he had been the one to be nearly ripped to shreds.

Even now, her fingers touched the edge of a deep gash left behind on his back. There were plenty of them. She didn't know where to hold on to him that wouldn't hurt, but he didn't seem to notice. He moved through the water like it wasn't a problem that he was bleeding.

Swallowing hard, she told herself that he was a monster. It didn't matter that he had spoken more to her in body language than anyone else had in her entire life. He cared that she was well. And he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that she stayed safe.

Fuck. She liked him. He wasn't just a monster; he was becoming a real being to her, and that was dangerous. He was the means to an end. An escape from her city and she was going to get away from him the first moment she could so she could reunite with Ace.

Her heart sank into her stomach when the light of his body caught on the edge of an abandoned research facility. She'd heard of this one before. It had failed in a few key wings of the building, and the flooding had made her father order everyone home. It should still be liveable, though.

Damn it. He was bringing her somewhere that he deemed safe enough for her to be in. Why did he have to be thoughtful? Why couldn't he be the murderous creature that her father claimed all of his kind were?

They took a while to circle the entire building before he decided on a place to swim inside. There was water damage galore. She could see where the pressure had caused one of the walls to cave in. The puncture looked like a giant creature had plunged a talon into the side of the building, even though she knew that wasn't... possible.

Was it?

Anya swiftly realized she knew nothing about the world she had just tossed herself into. And the deep sea was more terrifying than she had originally thought.

But maybe it was a little less terrifying with his arm wrapped around her and all that power between her legs. She felt her cheeks heat beneath the mask as she realized just where those thoughts were going to get her at the same time he surfaced in the air filled room.

Time to get away from the Stockholm Syndrome that was setting in way faster than she'd thought it would. Scrambling out of his arms, she half crawled up the broken metal floor and into the air beyond.

This she could do. This was air and home, and she knew how to wander around places like this. Ripping the mask off her face, she ignored the angry growl that rippled from the creature behind her.

Taking in a deep breath, she was relieved to find that most functions of this facility were still online. Obviously there was power if there was air.

"Computer?" she called out, her voice a little raspy. "Report."

Crawling a few more steps, she pulled Bitsy out of her box. The little robot blinked a few times, looking for all intents and purposes like it was waking from a nap. Though she knew that wasn't entirely how it must have felt. Still, she put the little droid onto her head.

Bitsy put the words immediately on the screen, a little warped as she projected the words coming out of two speakers, but not at the same time. "Life support, online. Messaging function, online. Research facilities, damaged. Living quarters, damaged. Generators, online. Air compressors, thirty-two percent."

"Damn it," she muttered, pressing her hands a little more firmly into the metal floor. She'd have to divert some of the power to this room. She'd hoped the generators would be outputting more electricity than that, but she assumed that meant quite a few of the generators were either no longer functioning, or that there was significant water damage in that room, too.

This was liveable, for now, but not forever.

"Bitsy, can you hack into the system?"

The droid gave it all a once over before the words flashed. "Of course."

"Good. We'll need to shift all life support to this sector and try to divert whatever power we can without letting my father know we're here. If we can get into the system correctly, then we should be able to message Ace as well."

Desperately trying to ignore that the undine was still right behind her in the water, she scanned her gaze over what would now be her home. A giant wall of windows made up an entire wall, but they revealed very little beyond ten feet. The murky water was only barely illuminated by the meager light of the consoles beneath the windows. The floor space was maybe fifteen feet wide before it hit the water that curled icy tendrils up into the air. Even her breath frosted with every exhale, and she could only imagine if she didn't have her wetsuit on, she'd be freezing.

Currently, this room had no doors that were open to any other part of the facility. The drain doors were sealed shut, and when she leaned to look past the wall of windows, she could see both hallways on either side were filled with water. So she was stuck in this room, for now, until Bitsy could hack into the system and drain the water out. At least then they could maybe see what they were working with.

Scrambling to her feet, she bit her lip and took another step into the room. Red lights blared all around her and she could feel the reverberations of some kind of alarm. She couldn't quite hear it, not really, but there was definitely the sensation that there was noise just out of her reach.

A hand grabbed onto her ankle and yanked her back into the water.

With a yelp, she hit the icy water hard. It flooded up her nose, and all she could feel was the burn of salt as she came back to the surface, gasping in air and trying to clear out her nostrils.

"What the fuck," she muttered, but had a feeling she might have shouted, before that hand slammed the mouthpiece over her face a little too hard, and then yanked her back underneath the water.

The undine had his hand wrapped around her ankle, and he was dragging her into the depths. She couldn't tell if the red alarm from above was turning him red, or if his own colors were flashing in answer to the colors above them. Either way, she was pissed.

Kicking out with her other foot, she slammed her heel into the hand holding onto her ankle.

He released her, but turned with a glare and flared fins around his body. She was stunned by how massive he was. Would she ever get used to that? Probably not. Especially not with his teeth bared like an animal and all that anger rioting through his body like a tsunami just waiting to sweep her away in the sheer power of his emotions.

But she would not be dragged around like luggage while he tried to get her to go somewhere else.

"I'm staying here," she said, flexing her stomach to force the words out louder. "Here is safe."

Those sharp teeth gnashed at the water as he mimicked biting. "Stupid achromo. Nearly got herself killed."

The words flashed in front of her eyes, and it made her pause. She hadn't realized Bitsy had downloaded his language yet, but apparently she had. The sassy little droid had chosen a vivid pink color for his words.

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

He cupped a hand behind what she assumed was his ear, and also a handful of gills at his neck.

"This is so fucking frustrating," she swore under her breath before squeezing her stomach to try to shout. This time, she used her hands as well, signing to him, "What did you say?"

He watched her hands moving, his gaze narrowing before she swore she saw his hand move in a similar way. But then he growled low under his breath.

"Come," he growled, the word ripping through his throat. "We are not safe."

"I can understand you." Her hands flew with the words, probably too fast for most people to even decipher, but she was so excited. "I can understand what you're saying! And I can hear you. I can..."

The deep rumble that came out of the undine in front of her wasn't a word. It was an expression of frustration and anger and... desire. Or at least, that's how she took it. Stupid. Stupid thoughts that had no place here. It didn't matter if that's maybe what he sounded like when he was in the midst of…

He made the sound again, and it shook through her entire body, sending a zing of electricity from her chest all the way down between her legs. She pressed her thighs together, trying her best to not think about that sound and what it did to every hair on her body that wanted to raise.

He lunged for her, or rather, flicked his tail so hard that he was right in front of her again. She flinched, expecting him to grab her and drag her deeper into the depths with that clawed, terrifying hand.

But he didn't do that. Instead, he touched the back of one of those black claws to the side of her throat. She could feel the smoothness of it. The edge caught on the glimmering red lights that refracted along the churning waves above them, and from his shimmering body that had yet to stop glowing like some strange electric eel.

That deep, deep voice dropped even lower. The sound was something she didn't even hear. She felt it deep in her chest, rattling her ribs. "We go," he said, the words flashing all around him. "So that I can keep you safe."

Tears burned in her eyes and she didn't know why. She'd been protected and cared for her entire life, hadn't she? Her father and everyone else had always made sure that she was safe.

But they had never made her feel like this. They'd wanted her to stay where she was so they could watch her, control her, manipulate every move and then use her to their advantage. But this undine? He just wanted to keep her safe.

Such a simple thing to say, and yet she felt like she might never recover.

Nodding her head, she sniffed hard, so she didn't get all snotty inside of the breathing mask. "I'm safe here. I promise."

He shook his head, pointing up at the red lights with a clawed finger. "It attacks."

She grabbed that clawed finger, some madness in her telling her to reach out and touch him. Maybe she had some insane feeling that she could help him relax just by touching him, and that was stupid. She was stupid for even thinking she could grab onto his claw and that he would listen to her.

But she saw the way his eyes widened. In shock or anger, she had no idea. He stared at her hand wrapped around his finger, and every single part of him froze. Like she had stopped time.

All his gills didn't even move, and she thought maybe they had to move for him to breathe. He just stared at her hand wrapped in his, and then, just the barest movement. A fluttering at his neck, in what she thought was his gills. It made the delicate membranes there look almost pretty. Just the barest of fluttering, a little wrinkle of silk that attached to his neck.

He swallowed hard. Then those black eyes turned to her.

"It's not attacking," she said. Those eyes made her feel pinned, like a butterfly stuck to a board. "It's a warning system. I can turn it off."

"Explain."

"It's in the entire facility. Anyone not authorized to be in an area will set off an alarm system. It's a safety measure."

"Then turn it off." But he didn't move. He didn't seem to even breathe as she gently released his hand and turned back to the room.

Using her arms and legs, she moved through the water with ease and then took Bitsy off her head. The little droid ran for the middle control panel, attaching herself to the electronics there and setting to work.

She could feel the pressure in her head lessen, which she assumed meant the sound was off. And then the red lights stopped swirling as well. Her tinnitus flared immediately, likely the pressure changes that meant the room was finally safe for a person to be in.

With the ringing in her ears, she hauled herself out of the water and said, "Computer, change all life support to — Bitsy, where are we?"

Her droid bounced up and down, usually a sign that she was going to take care of the situation so Anya could turn her attention to other things. She spun around, ready to argue more with the undine, even if she couldn't understand him without her droid.

But he was gone.

There was nothing in the water, no dark shadow, nothing but a murky grey mess and white caps of waves still lapping at the metal floor.

"Shit," she muttered, before staggering over the consoles and sitting down in front of Bitsy. "He's gone."

Her robot wobbled up and down again.

"I wish I had brought more things." She looked down at the wetsuit, blowing out a long breath. "This needs to be dried, and I can't just stay in a wetsuit the entire time I'm here."

Bitsy lifted one of her legs out of the console panel and pointed to the right. In the corner, where a few other wheelie chairs had been shoved, there were a couple boxes with the big label, "Emergency supplies."

"Perfect." Staggering once more to her feet, Anya told herself she could do this without the help of a confusing, too handsome for his own good, undine.

And it was really messed up that she had to tell herself that he wasn't handsome. He was a monster. An undine. Not even her own species.

A whisper in her mind said, "Yes, he is. But you still like him."