Chapter 5

Five

The first conversation with her father about where she had been didn't go so well. Alys had sat for a very long time, waiting for him to calm down. He had yelled, screamed, even threatened to take away her submarine because she refused to tell him where she had been going.

But she knew better. She would not tell him the secret she had with Imber. Her father wouldn't understand the man who had found her in the sea. Nor would he care that they had a connection.

All he would see was that there was another person in the ocean. Another creature that would threaten his ability to build wherever he wanted. And though she loved his ability to see the future in a different way... she didn't want to waste what she had, either.

Imber was a secret she would keep. If that meant she had to stay away from him for weeks on end because her father would surely follow her, then so be it.

She hated staying away from him, though. Life above the sea had already lost its luster long before she met the undine. She was the strange girl. The daughter who had so much responsibility and expectation on her shoulders. And even though she loved her father, more than he would ever know, she also was very aware of his flaws.

Especially lately. She didn't know how to tell him that she was frightened for him. He'd gotten so lost in his work. Like he could see a future that no one else could, but also that he was fighting for something that might never exist.

He didn't sleep. He barely ate. He just focused on the project of creating Alpha. The city that would sink beneath the sea and keep all of humanity safe for ages to come.

But that wasn't entirely right, now was it? Alpha was going to be a beautiful city and humans would live in it for years on end. It was still a city under the sea. It wasn't life up here. Living as humans were meant to do, in the air with the land underneath their feet.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She packed up her things, making sure there was enough air supply in her ship to get her to the places she needed to go, and enough fuel to get her there and back. She packed an extra set of clothing so no one would be able to ask where she had gone.

And then she wrote a letter, leaving it on her desk in case her father got curious about where his wayward daughter had gone off to. She was not going to get in trouble this time.

"Don't feel too guilty about lying," she told herself. "Your father wouldn't let you go, and really, you are stopping by the dig site along the way, aren't you?"

Sneaking through the halls, she found herself lingering outside her father's office.

Alys did that sometimes. She just... stood there. Waiting. Maybe she liked hearing her father's voice. Or maybe it was just knowing that he was there, on the other side of the door.

But this time, there was another voice as well.

"Listen to me, Fairweather." The deep voice was almost familiar, although she couldn't place where she had heard it before. "The city will be built whether we destroy the ecosystem or not. You said it yourself. It will be easier to build if it's on flat land."

Her father cleared his throat, and she could sense how uncomfortable he was with the conversation. "Yes, but there is the conversation with the architects we need to uphold. Aesthetic is considered to be one of the greatest things we can do for this build. And aesthetic means that we build it around what is currently there. Alpha is meant to be functional and beautiful. It is a showcase of what the human mind can conjure."

"And it will be the most heavily fortified city underneath the sea. How are we meant to fortify it without having a clear view of everything around us?"

She knew who spoke this time.

The General.

He had come from a long line of men who had essentially taken control over what was left of humanity. No more presidents or kings or rulers. Just a general with the entire army at his beck and call. There was nothing for them to fight against, so why they needed a general she had never understood. Maybe it was because he could kill anyone who disagreed with him.

Alys hadn't realized her father was working with this man.

"I understand your primary concern is safety," her father started, clearly trying to choose his words wisely. "But we need to build a place that is both safe and feels like home. Otherwise, no one will move there."

"I think you're underestimating the circumstances. We only have a few more years on land. At best. The volcanoes are erupting more frequently. The storms are getting worse. Soon, all life will be wiped out. If we have nowhere else to go, then those who wish to survive will join us."

"A few years?" her father choked. "I need far more than that to design a functional city under the sea! This will take a lifetime of work, perhaps even a lifetime more of architects to design something that is safe."

"You don't have years, Fairweather. And you have a working design currently. Don't think I don't see it. You are afraid that your design isn't what you think it is, and so you are stalling. I understand fear. I know what you fight against, but the beast must die. Give me the design, and I will have it built in a year."

"It's simply not possible. You will destroy too much in doing so."

"I will destroy whatever I must."

Heart in her throat, Alys slipped out of the house. She didn't know where she was running off to. Maybe to him. Probably to him, if she was being honest with herself.

And that was silly. She shouldn't go to the people whose homes her people were likely going to destroy. She shouldn't feel so guilty about this, either. Her people had to survive, and they didn't realize that the undines were there. Right?

Surely they didn't.

But that pit in her stomach did not loosen. No matter how much distance she put between herself and those men, she couldn't stop thinking about what they were going to do.

Imber deserved to know. But she didn't have any way to communicate this with him, and what if he didn't understand what she wanted him to do? What if he realized that this would destroy his people, or could, and then there was a war that she started?

Panic had long set it by the time she got to their meeting spot. She didn't even know if he would be there waiting for her. So far, he usually was, but what if she was wrong?

The "what-ifs" turned her inside out. They ripped through her lungs, rioted in her stomach until she thought she might throw up.

"Miss Alys, your heart rate is dangerously high," Beta said, its voice echoing through the room. "You need to calm down before you go outside. I cannot promise there is enough oxygen in that tube to sustain your current body needs."

Hyperventilating. Her mind knew what was happening, and yet she was already ripping at the hatch over her head. She didn't care. She had to get out of this little bubble that her father had made because his touch was all over it.

What was he going to do? Was he really going to go along with this and ruin so much of the sea for... what? Glory? Honor? A legacy that would be forgotten about the moment he died?

"Miss Alys—"

She wasn't listening. She couldn't. Yanking the mouthpiece over her face, she slammed the button to close the door. Sealing Beta inside the sub even as she risked opening the top hatch, maybe a hair too soon. She was thrown against the wall of the submarine, her back catching on a piece of metal and searing pain slicing through her spine.

Still, she crawled her way out and blasted into the sea. She swam far above the sub and just let the sea buoy her. She could feel it moving all over her body. The currents gently held onto her, like the warm pressure of a hug. And the sun above her head glittered on a rare day when the sky wasn't full of ash.

She couldn't breathe. There wasn't enough air in the damn tube and her father was going to do something stupid. She couldn't tell the undines about this, not yet. All of this reaction was maybe just dramatics, and she didn't actually have to do any of this. Maybe her father would stop it. She had to believe in him.

Cool arms slid around her from behind.

Immediately, all the panic disappeared. It bubbled out of her mouth and suddenly she could breathe again. She could inhale, long and slow. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth as he drew her against his chest and held her safely in the circle of his arms.

"You came," she whispered, allowing her body to sag against his.

She let her eyes drift closed, allowing him and the current to rock her gently from side to side. Together they hung there, suspended where gravity had no rule on her body. Every now and then, she felt his tail shift between her legs, flicking to keep them afloat.

Finally, she was calm enough to open her eyes and practically liquid in his arms. Like he sensed it, he held something out in front of her.

The box. The copy of Beta that she'd given him. If he was giving it to her then... that had to mean... He touched something to the side of her head, and she knew it was a translation chip. Just like she had told Beta to make before, this box was no longer useful. It would then destroy itself once it had made two translation chips. One for him and one for her.

In awe, she took the box from him as his arm tightened slightly around her waist. He leaned down and murmured in her ear, "Hello, Alys."

Tears pricked in her eyes.

She could understand him! And those were the first words she heard, just like she would have if they were two people meeting on land. Like they didn't already have a massive amount of history between the two of them.

Slowly turning in his arms, knowing her eyes were wider than they had ever been before, she licked her lips and watched his mouth. "Say something else."

"You understand me?"

Words eluded her. Instead, she just nodded, her gaze still on his mouth.

"I don't know what to say now," he said with a slight chuckle. "Your strange creature gave me a small piece of metal to affix on the side of my head. It was not a comfortable experience."

"I didn't even notice it hurting." Probably because she had been shocked to hear his voice.

And oh, what a voice it was.

Everything in her suddenly fired, hot and wild. The depth of his voice was like watching molten caramel pour. It was deep and luxurious, flowing over her senses with specific words chosen slowly and with intent. She could listen to that melodic voice speak for hours on end. He could read her the dictionary and she would still be thinking how wonderful it was that he was speaking to her.

Looping her arms around his neck, she drew slightly closer to watch him speak. "Again."

"You have heard me speak before," he replied with amusement. Then suddenly they were moving. Drifting away from the submarine and through the kelp that brushed against her sides. Then his fingers brushed against her sides as well.

He stroked her body like he'd never touched her before. His fingers questing as he relearned the shape of her, draping her across him as he preferred while they floated and meandered through his world.

But now, they could speak. Suddenly, all of this felt very different. She could feel the heat of a blush burning her cheeks, and lying her head against his chest felt like maybe she was doing something wrong.

Shouldn't they... talk? Shouldn't they be learning about each other?

"I can feel you thinking," he said, his voice a low chuckle filled with humor. "You can speak about these worries now."

"I don't really know you," she whispered. "And you don't know me. What if this changes everything all of a sudden?"

"You think you don't know me?" Imber let them float down onto the soft gold sand. He sat up, his tail bracing her spine as he held her trapped against him. "After all the time we have spent together, you truly believe that I do not know your soul as well as my own?"

"Pretty words. But what if we have conjured up an image of the other person, not that we actually know each other?" That anxiety started creeping in again. Maybe she should tell him what she'd overheard.

Maybe she should let him know what her people were building underneath the sea, and how it would affect him directly. He needed to know the truth, because her people could be starting a war between all of them and he wouldn't be able to stop it.

Long claws dug into the back of her hair, drawing her close to him until their foreheads touched. "Breathe, my wave song. And listen to my words. Yes?"

She nodded against him.

"Our souls were called to each other long before you even saw me. You came to this place because the sea drew you here, knowing that the two of us needed each other. You are here after fate guided your hand. You understand that?"

"I don't believe in gods or fate."

"I believe in both enough for the two of us." And then this strange creature kissed her forehead, his lips lingering against her skin that was so much warmer than his. "This place, when we are together, it is a haven from the rest of the world. There are no responsibilities, no expectations. It is just you and I, wave song. The world doesn't exist here."

All the anxiety fled from her body yet again. Because he was right. The world didn't exist here.

It was just the two of them, and that made her happier than anything else. She was tainting this hidden place they had created between the two of them. If she wanted to let go of her stress, then all she had to do was let go of it.

Sighing, she eventually nodded and repeated, "The world doesn't exist here."

"No, it does not."

His hands moved from her hand, and then something heavy fell around her neck. Surprised, she looked down to see a string of lovely pearls woven together with emerald grass. She was almost scared to touch it, only feathering her fingers over it lightly. "What is this?"

"A gift."

"You always bring me gifts," she whispered, before looking up at him with wide eyes. "I never bring you anything in return."

He shrugged and didn't seem bothered in the slightest. "I think of you often. So I bring you whatever makes me think of you."

"Pearls make you think of me?" She had never heard something so kind in her life.

Imber traced her fingers with his own, gently touching the delicate pearls and her collarbone in the same stroke. "They look the same as your skin. Pale, but with a hundred colors hidden underneath."

"I don't have any colors other than my skin," Alys snorted.

"Oh, you do." He moved his fingers, stroking her collarbone with intention this time. "You turn red here when I do something you like. And if I follow the line of your shoulder, there is the faintest hint of blue and purple where your veins are close to the skin. I've seen patches of yellow and green, where I think perhaps you have hurt yourself."

With her breath caught in her lungs, she didn't move at all when he moved her mouth piece up enough for his thumb to trace over her lower lip, gently pulling it down before he gave her back her air. "And you are so pink here. Especially after you've touched me with your mouth."

"A kiss," she replied. "That's what we call it."

His eyes somehow went from black to obsidian. "A kiss. I would like to kiss you again, Alys."

She groaned and let the world fall away. Who needed to breathe when he could breathe for her? Pouring desire and oxygen deep into her lungs with every broad stroke of his tongue.