Chapter 19

“Miss Storm.”

“Who is this?”

Luna frowned at the clipped voice on the other end of her cell. She’d only just got her phone back after a friend of Marrick’s had fixed it. She’d been bitterly disappointed that there had been no special app to download, no message of any sort from Kai.

“You don’t know me,” the voice continued, nasally, definitely human. “My name’s Dulcie Clinch from the Tween Council of Towns. We’d like to congratulate you on your recent win of the Kraken Games. Quite an achievement.”

Luna stiffened, her antennae for bullshit suddenly on high alert. “Thanks,” she muttered.

“The officials, including Mayor Jordak, would like to invite you to a meeting with the Tween Council.”

“Why?”

She could sense the woman’s surprise on the other end of the phone.

“Well—the photos you sent to the Tween media were most useful, and we’d really like to thank you for that. A lunch has been arranged…”

“No, wait—w-what photos?”

The woman’s voice bowled on. “Never have we got such fantastic close-ups of a kraken in partial shift. Interesting to see the damage to his er, tentacles.”

Luna’s mouth went dry. “I—I don’t recall taking photos at any time during the games.”

The woman chuckled. “Oh Miss Storm, you are a one. These were very obviously not taken during the games. You were at the Hotel Amore were you not? Not that I would have known where it was, of course. But we have our sources. You clearly very much enjoyed taking those photos.”

Panic clawed at Luna’s throat. How? How had they got hold of those shots? Her mind drilled back. To when her phone went missing, how she’d found it on Wyatt’s desk, how he’d meddled with her code.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. How low would that selkie stoop?

Unable to speak, nearly choking on her own tongue, nausea surged up her throat.

“We’ve been trying to get close-up shots of krakens for years,” Dulcie continued brightly. “And in one week you’ve given us better material than anyone. We think you have a lot to offer us, Miss Storm.”

Luna slammed down the phone. Running out of the house, she sprinted to the edge of the marshes and fell to the ground, gasping and dry retching. If those pictures had been spread around Motham and beyond, to Tween and Twill, then the kraken would surely have heard about it.

The whole thing looked like a set-up. There was no getting around it.

Scheming human takes photos. Tells a kraken a sob story, having lured him with sexual favors. Cunt-struck he lets her win the games. Now said human uses that against him for financial gain.

What would they do to Kai? He’d talked of being put in isolation for losing, but this was so much worse.

Oh, gods in heaven. He would hate her forever. And she had no way to find him, no way to explain.

And as for her… well, the krakens would never talk to her now.

Luna curled into a ball on the shore and suddenly the dam inside her burst. Tears filled her eyes, spilled down her cheeks and she sobbed, great racking, howling sobs. She had lost her chance of ever finding out what had happened to Tomas. And now the humans who had always shunned her were touting her as some kind of hero. Wanting to wine and dine her and no doubt try to involve her in one of their schemes to infiltrate kraken waters.

And the kraken who had melted a sliver of the ice around her heart… what about him?

She would never see Kai again. Never feel his lips on hers, his tentacles embracing her, bringing her to an ecstasy she hadn’t thought possible with another being.

Her face buried in her hands, the tears fell in a steady stream, wetting her palms, her fingers, dripping onto her bare legs. Luna knew her tears stretched way back; all the pain she’d held in behind a wall so high even she hadn’t realized what devastation lay behind it.

A sudden high-pitched kerrick, kerrick in the water nearby made her head jerk up.

What—the—hell?

Luna swiped the tears off her cheeks and peered over the bank into the marshes. Could it be… Kai? Her blood surged so fast she could hear the rush of it in her ears, but it didn’t drown out the clicking sound. Kerrick, kerrick.

All was still in the murky water. She wriggled further out, pushing back the weeds. And then, right in front of her, something arced out of the water, sleek and shiny in the moonlight. A long beak-like snout and a bright eye flashed past.

What the fuck?

The beak appeared again, dark gray and white underneath. Right up close to the bank. Was it a dolphin?

How weird, dolphins were never seen in the marshes.

It snapped its beak in several quick volleys, then spoke in a high-pitched voice. “I’m Torqua. Kai’s friend and we need to have a chat.” Luna’s eyes widened. “I don’t shift. And these marsh grasses are too freakin’ hard to swim in. Want to get on my back? We’ll go a bit deeper.”

“Oh um—yeah, okay.”

Without hesitating, not even removing her clothes, Luna climbed onto the dolphin’s back.

“Hold onto my flippers.”

“Okay.” Well, this had to be a first.

Keeping her feet high to avoid them tangling in the marsh grasses, she marveled at how a dolphin had even managed to push through all this weed. All she could think was that this was Kai’s friend. This was her chance to get a message to him.

Finally in the deeper water of the river, he said cheerily, “Dropping you,” then immediately rolled and dumped her in the water.

“Is Kai okay?” she gasped as she surfaced.

“Not really. He’s been placed in solitary by the elders.”

Luna groaned. “Oh my gods, it’s all my fault.”

The dolphin stared at her solemnly. “He wants to know if you sold photos of him to the media.”

“No. No. NO!” she moaned, her voice echoing strangely through the misty night air. “My phone was stolen by a selkie. He broke my code, and must have got the pictures then sold them to the Tween Council of Towns.” She almost choked on her words. “Does Kai think it was me?”

“Yes—and no. He’s very confused, angry. Upset. The elders are furious with him for his, um—liaison with you, and the photos—obviously.”

She covered her mouth to hide a sob. “Where is he?”

“In the Cave of Contrition, the deepest cave in the complex. They will not let him return to Thedaka until his shame is purged.”

“I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered hoarsely.

“He told me about your family. You brother being taken by a kraken. Is that the honest to goddess truth?” The dolphin’s face took on an unmistakable don’t-mess-with-me look. “You’d better not hurt my friend. He’s special to me, and I warn you, these flippers can deliver a serious thump.”

She looked at him, alarmed, but detected a dimple hovering close to his beak. She could understand why Kai liked this guy.

“Cross my heart it’s the truth. You have to believe me, Torqua, please. I only wanted to win the games to force the kraken to talk to me, and now it’s all gone horribly wrong. I doubt they’ll agree to it now. They’d probably slit my throat first.”

Torqua sighed, then grinned. “We dolphins tend to look on the bright side. I’m sure there’s a solution.”

Luna wished she could believe him. They remained silent, Luna treading water as Torqua swam around her so swiftly she kept having to swivel to look at him. Did he ever slow down, she wondered?

Suddenly he stopped slap bang in front of her. “Kai has feelings for you Luna.”

Luna’s eyes flew wide. “He told you that?”

“Not in so many words, but… I’ve known him since we were kids, and he’s never gone this soft over a girl. Do you reciprocate?”

Luna swallowed a moan. “I—I don’t know what that means. I just want to see him to apologize. Explain.”

Liar. You miss him so much it’s like a part of you has been torn away.

As if reading her thoughts, the dolphin eyed her shrewdly. “You care about him, don’t you?”

Suddenly a weed twisted around Luna’s foot. In struggling to free herself she slipped under the water, coming up gasping and spluttering.

Torqua helped her with a strong flipper, his lips quirking. “Rather drown than admit it, right?”

She couldn’t help a weak smirk in return. “It’s new to me, Torqua, I’m not used to…” Wow, what was it about this dolphin? He was so easy to talk to. “To having feelings for someone.”

“He’s a great guy. The best. With two deep kind hearts.”

“I know,” she said in a small voice. “He let me win. There’s no way I could have beaten him.”

“I know that too.”

Luna huffed a sigh, and for a few moments there was silence, broken only by the sound of Luna’s teeth chattering.

“How do we go about this, Torqua? Will the clan leaders listen to you?”

“Krakens listen to a dolphin?” Torqua let out a volley of clicks that Luna guessed was laughter. “No way. They think we’re buffoons. But they will listen to Shen. He’s one of the clan elders.”

Now it was Luna’s turn to snort out a laugh. “Shen won’t support me; you should have seen the rage on his face after I won.”

“Shen is influenced by Hana; she is the love of his life. He will trust her word. I know Hana well. She’s a good, kind kraken. I think she will be open to hearing your story, especially if I take you to her. And if Hana believes you, she’ll make sure that Shen hears your story.”