Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs)

by Karen Amanda Hooper

  Treygan leaned back and covered his face with his hands, groaning.

  “What?” I pulled his hands away. “You’re telling me you never questioned this? I mean, what kind of evil was it? Evil creatures? Because that I can believe. But, like, greed, hate, all the stuff that supposedly came out of Pandora’s box, how do you gather that up and get rid of it?”

  “I don’t question how our gods did most of what they did.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  “You question enough for both of us, Yamabuki.”

  I crinkled my nose at him, and then turned as a faint, high-pitched squeal caught my attention. Outside the kitchen window, dolphin fins bobbed through the water. “I’ve seen a lot of dolphins in Rathe. Do sharks live here too?”

  “A few small breeds are permitted to come and go, but they rarely visit here.”

  I glanced at him, and again, he seemed to read my mind. “No tiger or bull sharks. You’ll always be safe swimming in Rathe.”

  The awful image of Koraline fighting off sharks flashed through my mind. “I need to see Koraline and thank her for saving my life.”

  “I already told Pango we would visit her today. But if you’re too tired we can go later.”

  Treygan knowing me so well was a comfort at times. “No, I’m okay. I feel bad that I haven’t visited her yet.” I paused, then took a deep breath. “Does she hate me?”

  “I don’t think Koraline is capable of hatred.”

  I stood and we made our way outside.

  “Do you want to swim or fly?” Treygan asked.

  “You said you didn’t like me flying you around.”

  “I don’t. I can swim while you fly.” His chin lowered slightly. “I want you to fly if that’s how you want to travel.”

  A flashing neon elephant had been dancing between us ever since I transformed into more than just a mermaid, but neither one of us wanted to acknowledge it. I had powers that Treygan didn’t. I could conjure up storms. I had fierce selkie claws. I could fly faster than he swam. I didn’t know much about dating or relationships, but I was pretty sure he was feeling emasculated.

  “Does it bother you that I …” I couldn’t think of the proper words to describe what I wanted to say without making the situation worse. “That I can fly?”

  If we left it as just flying, maybe he wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable.

  “I’m envious that you can fly. And I’m sure one day I will be okay with you flying me around. Right now it reminds me too much of the siren sisters. They’re manipulative and live a lifestyle I have never agreed with. I know you’d never do the despicable things they do, but Otabia and Mariza have rubbed me the wrong way too many times. And flown me around too much lately.”

  “Oh!” What a relief. “So, it has nothing to do with me being faster than you.”

  His head snapped up.

  Crap. Did I really just say that out loud?

  Half a grin pulled at one corner of his mouth and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Ah, you thought my manhood was being threatened because you can fly faster than I swim?” The sand under my feet was the only place I could look. “Yara, I’m much more secure than that.”

  “I figured you were. It’s just all these new abilities are overwhelming me, so I figured they might be overwhelming you too.”

  “They are a lot to take in, but I can handle it, I assure you.” He reached forward and cupped my chin. “Besides, I’m still more experienced in many areas. I’d beat you in a swimming race any day. And I’m not sure if you’ll ever be able to do this.” He turned to the left. A nearby sea grape tree crackled and turned to stone.

  Sage hissed to life beside my head.

  “Treygan!” I exclaimed.

  He blinked his eyes a few times before looking at me again.

  I playfully shoved his chest. “You said you avoid using your gorgon side whenever possible.”

  “That was before the love of my life turned part gorgon and acquired a charming snake as her sidekick. I suddenly feel proud to be gorgon.”

  I smiled so big it made my cheeks ache.

  Sage reached forward, and Treygan rubbed her head. “Gorgons unite, isn’t that right, Sage?”

  She purred and wrapped herself around his hand in what looked like her version of a hug, then returned to her place on my shoulder.

  “I like seeing you like this,” I told Treygan.

  “Like what?”

  “Proud of who and what you are.”

  He stood taller, his shoulders spread wider. “You helped me realize my gorgon side is nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “Good.” I threw my arms around his neck. “Now teach me how to turn things to stone.”

  He lifted me off my feet. “Later. First, we have a date with Koraline and Pango.”

  “I’ve decided I want to swim there.” I bit my lip, fighting back a smile. “So we can race.”

  Treygan kissed me while carrying me into the water. Confidently—bordering on cocky—he said, “I apologize in advance for leaving you in a cloud of bubbles.”

  ~

  He did win. I could barely keep him in sight underwater, so I had to fly to catch up.

  Koraline’s private oasis was almost as pretty and green as she was. Treygan held my hand as we walked onto her beach, which had the softest lime green sand my feet had ever felt. My stomach, however, was queasy.

  I retracted my wings and told Sage to get some rest. She faded away, leaving only a dull tingling at the base of my skull. Treygan’s brow rose.

  “Koraline lost half of her tail,” I explained. “It would be rude to walk in there flaunting all the new additions to my body when she just lost a crucial part of hers.”

  He nodded and squeezed my hand.

  “I don’t know what to say to her,” I admitted.

  “Speak from your heart. The words will come.”

  Pango’s green, curly hair popped through a window of the sandstone house. “Hello, love birds! We’ve been expecting you.”

  I waved to Pango then shot Treygan one last worried look, but he was already shouting back to Pango. “Good to see you!”

  Koraline’s home had a rope bridge porch just like her house on Solis. We went up the steps and Treygan walked right in. Pango met us just inside the door and barreled us over with one of his not-so-gentle hugs. “It warms my heart to see you sugar babies alive and well. We’re home!” He spun around with his arms above his head. “Can you believe it?”

  “Feels good to be back,” Treygan said.

  “What do you think of our lovely world?” Pango asked me. “Isn’t it like Disney World on steroids?”

  I grinned. “It’s more gorgeous than I imagined.”

  “And now, little miss queen of our magical kingdom, you are the grand master of it. How’s that feel?”

  “It’s a lot of pressure.”

  Pango laughed. “I bet it is. I would not want to trade places with you. No offense.”

  “None taken.”

  “Hello?” Koraline called from another room. “Rotting away like unwanted sushi in here! I thought this visit was for me.”

  Treygan led me into what would be considered the living room in a human house. Koraline was sitting in a pool with stone seating carved into the walls. My focus immediately shot to her tail. The tip where her fins should have been was wrapped in material that looked like palm fronds. I was glad the foliage and water prevented me from seeing further details. I wasn’t sure I could handle seeing what the sharks did to her.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

  “Much better.” She was smiling as if she didn’t mind getting eaten half to death by sharks. “How are you doing?”

  “A lot has changed since we were last together.”

  “It sure has. You’re a White, which no one has ever seen before. You’re breathtaking.”

  My cheeks roared with warmth that spread down my chest where orange splotches appeared.

  Koraline was still smil
ing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

  I wrung my hands, trying to mellow out so my chest would go back to its normal color. “It’s okay.”

  Koraline looked at Treygan. “Good gods, look at you, Treygan. I’ve never seen you so happy. Love looks amazing on you.”

  Treygan flashed me a smitten grin. “Thank you, Koraline. We were a very unlikely couple, but somehow, here we are.”

  “A perfect and adorable couple.” Pango clapped his hands. “Let’s celebrate all these good tidings with baked goods. I’ve been whipping up all kinds of deliciousness.”

  Treygan stepped into the pool and sat beside Koraline. “The Violets tell us you’re healing better than they expected.”

  “I’m feeling so much better.” Koraline rubbed the scales around her hips. “Anything is an improvement from a coma, right?”

  She shouldered Treygan, and they both smiled. I wasn’t ready to joke about the disabling injuries I had caused her, so I offered to help Pango in the kitchen.

  “Need any help?” He was shoveling cookies from a pan onto a plate.

  “Thank you, but I have everything under control.”

  I lowered my voice so Koraline wouldn’t overhear me. “Is Koraline upset with me for what happened to her?”

  “Why would she be? You didn’t tell those heathen sharks to eat her tail.”

  I cringed at the memory of their gnashing teeth and all that blood in the water. “But she was attacked because of me.”

  “Sweet potato, stop it. All of us are alive and back home because of you. She came out of her coma because she returned to the strong energy of our world. Did you consider that?” He wiped his hands on his apron and hugged me. “We can split hairs all you’d like, but we’re all victorious because we are home, alive, and well.”

  “Do you honestly think Koraline will ever be able to swim again?”

  With his huge hands that smelled like cookies, Pango lifted my chin. “Yara, that’s like asking if the sun will ever shine again.”

  Half a smile broke through my tense lips.

  “Yes! That’s what I want to see. Smiles all around. Now, come on, we have cookies to consume!”

  Koraline and Treygan were talking quietly, but they stopped as soon as Pango and I entered the room. An awkward indication they had been talking about me.

  Koraline motioned to the empty seat beside her. “Yara, sit with me. We have lots to catch up on.”

  I sat down in the pool, almost letting my legs transform into my tail, but then I realized how inconsiderate that would be. “How deep is this thing?”

  “Deep. It has a couple of rooms down there.”

  I figured. Treygan’s house had the same kind of set-up. I just didn’t know what else to talk about.

  Koraline shifted so she was facing me. “When you died, what happened?”

  “Koraline!” Pango almost choked on his cookie. “Have manners somehow escaped you?”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I don’t mind discussing it.”

  Koraline splashed water at Pango, but didn’t take her eyes off me. “Treygan said you met Medusa and Poseidon.”

  “I did. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.”

  Her sea-green eyes were wide and sparkling. “And you talked to them?”

  “Yup.”

  “Holy mackerel. What was that like?”

  “Very intimidating.”

  “I can imagine!” She threw her head back. “You were shooting the breeze with our makers! A god and goddess. Do you realize how epic that is? You’re my hero, you know that? Seriously, I want to hear every detail from start to finish. I might even take notes.”

  “Later.” Pango held out the plate of cookies. “Right now it’s time for treats, and you need to reassure our worry wart here that you’re going to recover and that all is well in the land of Koraline.”

  Koraline grabbed two cookies, practically inhaling the first one. “I’m fine.” She waved her hand, sending crumbs dropping into the pool. Pango tsked her and tried scooping them out of the water while Koraline kept talking. “At least tell me what you said to convince them to send you back. I mean, you were dead!”

  “I told Medusa I was her only shot at filling her place in the gorgon trinity. That I couldn’t die. I demanded she send me back.”

  “And she just agreed?”

  “At first she said no, but my uncle and—” I didn’t want to get into a long explanation about how Liora was a ghost that still communicated with Uncle Lloyd. “Let’s just say I had wise advisors who told me not to take no for an answer.”

  Koraline nibbled on a cookie with a giddy smile. “It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Harriet Stowe. Never give up, for that is the place and time that the tide will turn.”

  Koraline truly didn’t seem upset with me at all. It felt just like it did when she was my teacher, educating me about my new life as a mermaid. The ease of our conversation didn’t make me feel any less guilty, but at least communication wasn’t awkward between us. I took one of Pango’s cookies and handed another one to Koraline. “I’ve missed hearing your quotes.”

  “Tell me more,” Koraline said. “I’m living vicariously through your adventures.”

  I finished telling her the story of everything that had happened after the Triple Eighteen. I told her about Rownan and Vienna, and how we couldn’t pass through the gate to Harte, how Rownan trashed Uncle Lloyd’s house, and how, in the middle of all the drama and tension, Uncle Lloyd asked me how she was doing.

  “Me?” Koraline’s green eyes widened. “He asked about me?”

  “Out of nowhere. I think he was trying to tell me you might be able to help, but without actually meddling. Maybe you know something or someone that can help Rownan?”

  “Me? I don’t know any—” She paused, then sucked air through her teeth.

  She did know something. A glimmer of hope sparked inside me. “What is it?”

  She pressed her palms over her eyelids. Pango and Treygan stared at her with intrigued expressions.

  “Koraline?” Treygan scooted closer to her. “Please, if you can think of anything that might help Rownan, you have to tell us. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. If anyone can figure this out, it’s you.”

  She dropped her hands and half-smiled. “Actually, it’s not me. If there is any way around this dilemma, I don’t have the solution.” She glanced apprehensively at us. “But I know someone who might.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  She rubbed her forehead. “It’s been sixteen years. Do you realize how minute the chances are that Vienna is still alive? Or worse yet, what if Harte has transformed her into something evil?”

  “I know,” Treygan said. “But you didn’t see Rownan. You can’t imagine how this is destroying him.”

  I touched her arm. “If there’s any chance of going to Harte, even if it’s to prove that Vienna is gone, then Rownan deserves that chance. He deserves closure.”

  “And what about you and Treygan? What if your souls are tainted just by going there? What if you don’t come back?”

  “It’s a risk we’re willing to take.”

  Pango whimpered and started chewing his nails. “I don’t like where this conversation is heading.”

  Koraline crossed her arms, gripping her own shoulders. “More people would be involved this way. More people could get hurt, or in trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Treygan asked. “What do you mean?”

  Koraline had transformed over the last few minutes. When I arrived, she was the same radiant and confident Koraline I had first met as my teacher, but now she looked like a guilty child caught doing something wrong.

  “You’re a White,” she said to me. “What exactly does that mean? Do you have authority over the Violets?”

  “Huh?” I had never thought about my status in the mer ranks. I was too busy figuring out how to be accepted by Stheno and Euryale, or master my new abilities, or understan
d and learn my way around Rathe.

  “For example,” Koraline said, “If I had broken a rule, and the Violets wanted me punished, would you be able to overrule them?”

  I glanced at Treygan. He looked as confused as me. I looked at Pango, but his focus was on the water in front of him.

  “I have no idea,” I admitted. “Why would you be punished?”

  “Pango?” Koraline said weakly.

  He lifted his gaze to meet hers. After a few moments of silence, he nodded.

  She sighed deeply. “I have this friend, a human friend, and he’s a genius when it comes to ocean life and history. He also knows a lot about our kind, and our legends. He could probably help.”

  “A human?” I asked. “But I thought we kept our existence a secret.”

  “We do,” Treygan said.

  “We go to great lengths to keep everything about us top secret,” Pango added. “Sometimes information slips through the cracks. And once humans find out about us, they become obsessed with learning as much as possible. Just like Koraline’s friend did.”

  “Is this guy dangerous?” I asked.

  “Not at all.” Koraline grabbed my hand. “He’s one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met.” There was a gleam in her eye. Was she more than just friends with this human? Now wasn’t the time to open that can of worms. “But I could get in trouble for associating with him if the Violets found out.”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” I assured her. “You have my word. I won’t ever tell another soul. Your secret is safe with me.”

  Koraline nodded, but didn’t look convinced. Behind her, Treygan squinted at me.

  “I swear on my life,” I said. “Please, Koraline, if this guy can help, we have to talk to him.”

  Her mouth opened, but it took a while for her words to surface. “He works in a bookstore on the mainland. His name is Joel.”

  “Will you go with us?” I asked her.

  “Me? Hello? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m missing half of my tail.”

  “I’ll fly and carry you.”

  “What? No. I don’t want Joel seeing me with half a tail. I look like something from a horror movie.”

  “You can go in human form.” The words came out without thinking, but the pain that filled Koraline’s eyes slapped me with a heavy realization.