Chapter 20

The next morning, Luna waited nervously by her little boat as the sun rose. Mist floated over the marshes like ghostly fingers. Finally, Torqua’s shiny blue/gray head appeared in the water.

“Ready, princess?” She nodded. “Let’s go then. Follow me.”

She started the outboard motor and chugged along the waterways until the boggy marshes gave way to properly built canals and big, grand houses. Here, nature had been contained, held back by stone walls that kept the bogginess at bay.

Luna glanced nervously at the pristine homes, with their tiered gardens and lush green lawns that led down to cute little boat ramps. Amazing how some parts of the marshes were gentrifying. When she’d arrived here as a frightened child it had been a dank area that everyone avoided, other than birds and marsh creatures, and the odd human or monster that had made their home here out of adversity.

Adversity. That was all she’d ever known.

Until you met Kai. And he showed you what was possible.

Her heart lurched as she steered after Torqua’s sleek form. Would Hana believe her story? Would she be able to make Shen listen?

The need to see Kai, to put things right, vied with her long-held grudge against the kraken. But her heart was softening, and she didn’t know what to do with that. When you’d held onto hurt so tightly for so long, how did you even begin to let it go?

Her breath hitched and her pulse sped up as Torqua motioned for her to tie up. She gazed up at the sparkling white weatherboard house, the bright blue-painted window frames and doors. The pretty gardens, full of flowers in shades of blue and white and turquoise.

Color coordinated to befit its kraken owners.

Through a picture window, she could see someone moving around inside.

Torqua jumped out of the water, clicking madly and waving his flippers. “She can detect my sonar.”

Sure enough, the figure inside came to the doorway.

She looked like a beautiful woman, but of course, the soft blue of her skin gave away her heritage. Her hair was a deep resonant navy, flecked with turquoise highlights, and her eyes had the same length and tilt to them as Kai’s.

Luna’s heart lurched. Such a beautiful woman. She was no doubt glorious also in her kraken form.

Luna slowed the boat, letting the outboard motor idle, reluctant to moor unless invited to.

“Torqua, what’s going on?” The woman’s puzzled gaze went from the dolphin, posturing and flapping his flippers to Luna, hunkered in the little boat.

“I have someone with me who needs to talk to you.”

“I can see that.” The kraken nodded, her lips tightening, but her eyes were not unkind. “Luna Storm.”

“Please, I can explain what happened,” Luna heard herself beg.

The kraken sashayed elegantly along the boardwalk toward them. “You’ve caused our folks a lot of trouble, Luna. Kai is in disgrace because of you,” she said finally as she reached the end of the little jetty.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Slowly, Hana’s eyes travelled over Luna, making her feel naked and exposed, as if she could see right into her soul. “Please, can I tie up my boat?”

Hana nodded. “Very well. But if Shen sees you here, he’ll chase you away.”

“I know. I guess I deserve that.” Luna unlooped the rope and threw it to Hana, who wound it around the post.

Luna was suddenly lost for words.

“So,” the other woman folded her arms across her chest, “what is your reason for causing so much mayhem?”

Luna battled a strong sense of injustice. It would be easy to protest angrily, pull back, retract into her shell, like she always did, but there was truth in Hana’s words. For all intents and purposes, she had caused mayhem.

Claiming the victory that Kai had gifted her, then the photos of his damaged tentacles being leaked. It looked terrible.

She bit her lip, and to her surprise the word “Sorry” spilled out. “I didn’t mean to hurt Kai. I just want… answers.”

“To what?”

Luna felt herself trembling. She huddled in the boat, hugging herself, and the two women surveyed each other solemnly. Behind them in the water, Torqua clicked. “Maybe I’ll leave you two to talk.”

Hana nodded.

He disappeared, leaving the women alone together. For long moments there was silence. Somewhere in the bullrushes a melancholy frog called, and a sea bird cawed high up above.

Hana sat down, cross-legged on the jetty, folding her hands in her lap. “Okay, tell me your side of the story, Luna,” she said.

Luna sought desperately for the right words, but there were none forthcoming except the brutal truth.

“Fifteen years ago, your people killed my family.”

Hana’s eyes widened. “No. That is simply not possible.”

“I was there. I know what happened,” Luna gulped out. “I spent hours holding onto a plank of wood, watching kraken destroy our boat, seeing my mom and dad’s lifeless bodies float out to sea.”

Hana’s shook her head. “I’m sorry for your loss. But it couldn’t have been kraken. You have been fed a lie, no doubt by humans… the sinkings stopped twenty years ago.”

Luna scrunched her eyes. “No, no. I’d just celebrated my eighth birthday. I’m now twenty-three. A whole lot of kraken were churning and thrashing in the water around us. They took my baby brother. I saw him… disappear in the tentacles of one of them.”

She saw a stiffening of Hana’s spine, her eyes shifted away.

“Do you know about this?” Luna blurted on a hunch.

Again Hana shook her head, still not meeting her eyes.

“It was a blue kraken. There were lots of them, all blue. And then they disappeared and left me to die along with my parents. Did you hear anything, anything at all? Please, Hana… try to remember.”

“They would never…” Hana faltered, took a deep breath. “If kraken kind knew you were out there, they would have saved you.”

“I was saved by a sea bird, not a kraken.”

“If this did truly happen, and I’m not denying your memories, Luna, it must have been another species that perpetrated it.”

“That’s what Kai first said when I told him.”

Hana’s eyes widened. “Kai knows about this?”

“Yes, that is why he let me win. Because he realized how desperately I needed to speak to your people.”

“So that is why he pushed you up to the surface, gave away the victory?”

Luna nodded. “But I’m willing to trade my win. For a chance to speak to your elders.”

“That can’t happen, Luna. I’m sorry, they will never agree to meet with a human.”

“Please. Hana, I need to find out what happened to Tomas. If… if they killed him too.”

Hana’s lips tightened. “We would never kill an innocent child. Never, you hear me? Not of any species.”

“You killed my innocent parents.”

“That was…” she hesitated, “most likely a mistake.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Then you do know something.”

“No, I—look, Luna, I was a kid myself fifteen years ago. Did something unfortunate happen? Maybe, but I heard only of a pirate ship that got too close to our boundary. Nothing about drownings… You must have got something wrong—if not the species, the dates.”

Luna wrinkled her face in frustration. “I’ve recorded the passing of every single season since then. It was fifteen years ago. The year I came to live in the marshes was the fifth year of the Kraken Games, and they’ve been running for twenty years, right?” Hana inclined her head. “I recall the horror of seeing a kraken again on land. At first, I thought they’d come for me too. I hid away for several years during the season, until I was old enough to face up to what happened.”

“I’m sorry we imparted such fear in you,” Hana said softly. “Kraken kind are not murderers, Luna. We are creatures of the deep who must protect what is ours from human invaders. We have suffered many losses at human hands. Our own Kai was hurt by human bombs.”

Luna hung her head. “He told me, but… my people, my human clan—they would never have… I know they wouldn’t.”

“Well, you say that, but you saw his scars. And then you photographed and spread his injuries for all the world to see. That has been a double wounding from humans for Kai.”

Luna choked down her tears. “I swear to the goddess I did not spread those photos.”

“But you took the shots.”

“Yes. I took them so I could show them to my trainer, so we could plan for the fight. But I never showed him. When it came to it I just couldn’t… and I never leaked them to the media.”

“Then who did?”

Luna explained about losing her phone, about Wyatt’s suspicious behavior. When she’d finished, Hana pushed her hair away from her face, huffing a sigh. “Luna, this all sounds so crazy. Everything points to you using Kai for your own ends.”

“No!” Luna hung her head, biting her lip. “Why would I even be here if that was the case.” She hated that this beautiful woman thought she’d stoop so low, that this would be the account Kai heard. “I admit, yes…” She palmed her forehead in frustration. “I did claim the win that was legitimately Kai’s. But only because winning the games seemed like my only way to bargain with your people. Please, you must help me. I need to know what happened to Tomas or I’ll never find peace. At least let me explain to your leaders that I did not sell those photos to humans, that I did not mean to hurt Kai in all of this.” She gulped helplessly. “Please. You really are my last chance…”

Hana’s gaze stayed fixed on her. “Luna, this is a hard ask. Kraken and humans… there is no love lost between us.”

“I know, I know, Hana, but this goes beyond that.”

“Even if I can get Shen to listen, there are technical problems. The elders won’t agree to meet with you on land. And if you came to them, you would need special equipment to breathe, to talk.”

“But surely—humans lived among your people once?”

Hana gave a sad smile. “We’re talking centuries ago. Back then it was easier to adapt for all species, even humans. But the magic has weakened, and it would be impossible for you to spend any length of time under the sea with kraken kind.”

To Luna’s horror, a great big sob escaped her at those words. All hope was being robbed from her. And once again, having shed not a tear for years, she found herself weeping uncontrollably, unable to hold back the tide of sadness.

“I, oh—I…” she gulped out, her shoulders heaving as she tried to stem the tears with her fists.

“Oh goddess, child.” Hana uncrossed her legs and stood up abruptly. “You’re a mess.”

“Please… don’t go,” Luna hiccupped, staring up at her out of blurry eyes. Her final chance to be heard, and to see Kai again, to tell him she was sorry, was about to walk away.

The thought of losing all of that was unbearable.

“I’m not leaving.” Hana held out her hand, and through the swirl of her tears, Luna saw the kraken smiling gently down at her. “I’m going to take you inside, find you a box of tissues, and then we’re going to talk to Shen.”