by Porter, Jack
Megan was already on it, positioning herself behind one of the girls, with me behind her opposite, the one with Velma etched onto her blade. I silently mouthed a countdown from three, and then Megan and I yanked our girls away from their pedestals at the same time.
The connection between their blades snapped and I had to scramble to keep hold of Velma’s knife, shifting my mists around to keep it safe for me since my right arm hadn’t fully healed from the shark attack.
We acquired the other girls in rapid succession using the same method. Then I gathered three of the girls to me, losing my air bubble again in the process, with Megan collecting the rest.
Once we had them all safely in hand, we began our ascent up to the broken dome.
Goddess, but my lungs were desperate for air. I had to puff out little bubbles from my mouth every few seconds to keep my reflex to breathe in check.
Still, we made it. Carefully, we slid my girls out of the glass dome one by one. I followed swiftly, and gasped in sweet relief when I re-established my bubble, and worked my magic to draw air down to me from the surface again.
I took one more deep breath before my bubble vanished again as I regathered my girls.
“Uh, Dexter, we have a problem,” Megan’s voice came to me. I turned to watch her somehow slip all three girls out of the glass dome while still holding on to them. She had a grace and precision in the water that I couldn’t hope to imagine for myself.
“Two of my girls are waking up.”
Thirty-One
I felt my eyes widen horror. These were technically goddesses, but their crystals hadn’t been activated. They were still in human bodies.
I didn’t want them to take their first breath in centuries only to drown.
Studying my girls’ faces, I noticed they were losing that waxy sheen of Zavier’s spell. The magic must have been wired to fade out when they were moved from their pedestals.
I let my girls go so I could reset my bubble and talk to Megan. “I need you to use some of that speed to get your three girls to safety. I’ll follow along as fast as I can with mine.”
She nodded, a look of worry for her charges on her freckled face. She took off like a bullet as I grabbed my girls and kicked my feet as hard as I could, using my crystal’s magic to speed things along.
A quarter of the way to the surface, the worst happened. One of my girls, Velma, snapped her eyes open and flailed desperately in the water.
Thank goddess she didn’t breathe in. Perhaps the last memory she had was of holding her breath underwater.
Thinking quickly, I set my bubble in place, this time stretching its limits so that it held both of us.
“Relax, take a deep breath. Everything is okay. My name is Dexter. You’ve been asleep for a very long time.”
“Dexter?” Velma said, her voice soft like silk against my skin. Her hip-length hair was white-blonde and thick enough to add a few pounds to her slender frame. The girl took two deep breaths, turning her head to survey her surroundings before circling back to me.
“Yes, I know that name. Hannah told us. I’m honored to meet you, White Guardian.”
My bubble was reaching its limit. One of the other girl’s eyelids fluttered, and this was going to be an unpleasant situation if I didn’t haul. “We can do introductions later. Take a deep breath. We are almost to the surface, see?”
Velma glanced up, her bright green eyes reminding me of Hannah’s, but deeper in color like the leaves of a Sequoia tree. She nodded, a determined look on her face.
“I can swim from here.”
I wanted to advise against it, but she’d already pushed away from me, knocking my bad arm as she went. I couldn’t suppress a hiss of pain as my bubble broke and we were both swimming again.
And the other girls were waking up as well.
I did my best, helping them to the surface.
Finally, we were there. We’d made it. Every one of us. And it was absolute chaos. Everyone was talking at once. Some more than others.
Megan was having her tail fawned over by one particularly chatty woman with a perfect California tan on her skin, straight, chestnut hair, and expressive eyes.
“My name is Amandeep. Hannah has told us much about your group, and about Dexter.”
Amandeep pulled on one of Megan’s fins and was rewarded with a swat and an icy stare.
“Stop that,” Megan chided. “You’ll rip them.”
“Ah, you must be Megan, because your hair is the color of orange fire and Hannah told us you had a temper to match. Tell me, is this what we can expect when we fuck the White Guardian? If so, I’m all aboard. Not that I wasn’t in the first place, but even more so now. You know this coloring reminds me of—”
I had to tune out Amandeep’s chatter before a headache erupted.
Another girl with short, dark-blond locks clung to my head as if it were a buoy.
“I can’t swim, save me, White Guardian!” she cried, pulling me closer until one of her perfectly rounded breasts pressed directly onto my cheek. It was warm and positioned in such a way that if I adjusted my face even slightly, I was sure to get a mouthful of nipple.
Pierced nipple.
At the same time, Kara (whose name I knew because she seemed to prefer speaking in the third person) kept diving under the water to rub her hands all over my thighs.
Everything about Kara was unusual, from her bubblegum pink hair that melted into purple tips just past her jawline, vibrant violet-colored eyes, and shimmering light pink skin.
All this together made me think that maybe she wasn’t from earth at all. I wanted to ask her about that, but every time I opened my mouth to speak to her, she dove again to have another look at my lower half.
This time, Kara sent her fingers inching closer toward more personal places, and it was all I could do not to get hard right there in the middle of the ocean surrounded by all those beautiful naked women, much less make polite conversation. I was still wearing my pants, and that was a good thing, but still.
Kain help me, not even Hannah was this bold when we first met, I thought, and that was saying something.
I worked hard to breathe through my nose and out my mouth as the feeling of heated lust unfurled in my chest, demanding that I claim her.
Claim all of them.
“Elsie, the White Guardian will not drop you. You don’t have to crush him with your giant boobs,” Velma said, popping up beside me and wringing the water out of her hair.
“Mind your own business Velma, you’re just jealous because you belong to the itty-bitty-titty-committee,” the blond girl, Elsie, snapped. Her arms squeezed me tighter and her nipple ring brushed my lip. “If I let go of him now, I might die.”
I wasn’t quite sure if the sound that came out of me was a possessive growl or a pained whimper as I forced myself not to open my mouth and flick that silver ring with my tongue.
Keep it together, man. Undoubtedly, Kara is just fueled by the same need that Yua and I had experienced for the last few months.
But logic wasn’t winning at the moment. Because while each of them only felt their lust for me individually, I had six times that weighing me down.
Now that I was taking notice, several other girls were inching toward me as well. Even Amandeep, the one that was still chatting a mile a minute at Megan, seemed to be closer than before.
A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties got to me first. With skin a tone or two lighter than Piper’s, but eyes as gold as the sun itself, she gave me a friendly smile and began running her hands up and down my tattoos with interest.
Through the sex-fueled haze fogging my brain, I saw she had interesting tribal patterns all over her that looked remarkably similar to mine.
“Hello there,” she said coyly, her voice thick with an Ethiopian accent, ignoring Elsie and Kara completely. “I’m Faizah. Fai for short, if you’d like.”
Goddess, her voice was like pure honey. She seemed to know it too. She hummed in lustful tones an
d swam a circle around me, her soot gray dreads floating behind her.
She seemed to enjoy getting a good look at my upper body because when she was fully face to face with me again, her eyes were a touch warmer.
“I’m—” I started, but she cut me off.
“I know who you are, White Guardian. Not one of our group hasn’t fantasized about being with you since we met Hannah. Tell me, do you know what these mean where I come from?” she asked, brushing her hands up my body to indicate my tattoos.
Suppressing the urge to lunge for her, to crush her against me on the spot, I replied, “No. What do they mean?”
“That you’re a god.”
“Oh, yeah. Zavier’s guardian told me something like that.”
“Did it also mention that you were a sex god?” she asked, smiling up at me with eyes full of meaning.
My jaw dropped open for just a moment. Then I quickly snapped it shut again, very conscious that my face was still pressed against Elsie’s soft flesh. “Uh no,” I said, laughing at the revelation. “The word he used was that I was a ‘false’ god.”
She shook her head. “Perhaps he was trying to discredit you. But that is what your markings mean to my tribe. One who will bear many children.” She paused, then added, “Mine were given to me as your sacrificial wife. The island brought me here before my tribe had a chance to throw me into a volcano.”
“I see,” I stalled, trying to think of what to say to that. “I’m glad you weren’t sacrificed.” Goddess, that must have been frightening.
However, Fai just shrugged it off. “Hannah told us most information about the old gods and their magic has been lost over the millennia,” she said.
“That’s true,” I said, happy enough with the change of topic. “I’ve learned so much, but still feel like I have a lifetime of knowledge waiting for me to find.”
“Well, don’t worry,” Fai said, patting my arm. “Cyanne will get you up to speed.”
“Who’s Cyanne?” I asked, looking around for a girl I hadn’t yet spotted.
Fai glanced around her. “I think I see her shadow coming now,” she said, and pointed to a dark shape cutting through the water. Bubbles rose to the surface right in front of me.
The amazon of a woman that followed took my breath away. It was apparent that she’d been a warrior in her life before the island. Her toned body implied a life of war, her practical hands spoke of daily weapons practice, and the flat line of her full, blood-red lips suggested a serious mindset.
Sapphire eyes met my own in such an intense connection that every other noise surrounding us melted into the background.
Resting upon her midnight-hair was a golden head-chain that trailed down over her shoulders. It complimented her creamy complexion and was the only thing besides her crystal that remained on her body.
And I could not fail to notice what a body it was. If the female form could be athletic and full at the same time, it would describe the girl in front of me. No more than nineteen or twenty, this woman was supremely confident in her skin.
I realized that the girls’ chatter had faded. Looking to my left and right, every single girl had their head bowed. Even Megan, who seemed confused as to why she was submitting before this stranger.
“Dexter, allow me to introduce you,” Velma said, not looking up from her position beside me. “This is Cyanne, our queen.”
Thirty-Two
“A queen?” Megan repeated, head snapping up.
Cyanne didn’t seem the type to smile, but her voice was pleasant as she said, “That’s the title these girls give me, but I have no desire to be called that by anyone ever again.”
“You were a queen before the island?” I asked.
“After. I was given the gift of a floating city named after my deceased mother. This was done in the hopes of nurturing my ability to lead and rule a united people.” She gave a soft, humorless laugh. “I wanted to hate Atlantis, at first. Being a queen was never my heart’s desire. But no one else was looking after the needs of the people. So, I ended up taking the city under my wing.”
All at once, several things clicked into place.
Atlantis.
The sunken city.
I stared at the young woman in horror. “Cyanne, I’m so sorry.”
“What for?” she asked, her tone filled with genuine curiosity.
Surely, Cyanne knew what had happened to her city. Oh goddess, do not let me be the one who has to tell her.
When I struggled to find the right words, Megan spoke for me.
“We saw what Zavier did to your home,” she said. “He had you buried with the other girls in the city, and I can only tell you it looked like it had once been a beautiful place. I promise we will do everything we can to avenge it.”
A moment passed, then a slow, haunted look crept into Cyanne’s eyes. “Oh, yes. I remember now,” she said, her voice breaking. “That bastard! He sunk it. He had no right!”
I’d never seen anger like that before in my life. For someone so expressionless and cool headed in appearance, her eyes sure spoke volumes about the emotions she kept hidden. And I felt like we were barely scratching the surface of this story.
But my body was tired, and I thought we all needed to rest after today’s events. Even Megan seemed to work harder to keep herself upright in the water, flipping her tail back and forth every few seconds with quick, graceful motions.
“First things first, let’s get you all to shore. Another of my goddesses, Yua, will have food and a fire going for us.” I hoped. “Just be careful not to take her food. The dragon is temperamental at best.”
One by one each girl’s eyes lit up. Well, except for Cyanne’s, who was still lost in her grief and anger over her former home.
“A real dragon? This I have to see up close,” Amandeep squealed, though from the nervous look in her eye, it seemed to me that she’d keep a decent distance from Yua.
“Forget the dragon. I haven’t had a meal in,” Velma paused a moment, “what year is this?” she asked, starting to swim towards the sandy beach in the distance before us. “Hannah never said, every time we brought it up, she’d quickly change the subject.”
Oh boy. “Let’s just get to the island first. We can compare notes after we’re all fed and dry.”
They all nodded, and we set off. Sensation was finally returning to my shark bitten arm, so I worked it in with my stroke and kick combo. Elsie slid down my shoulder and onto my back, nearly choking me with the hold she had around my neck.
Megan, my six new goddesses, and I swam the distance from the sunken city to the island without a hitch.
There were no sharks. No passing out from lack of air. Nobody accidentally bringing up painful pasts.
It was nice.
Megan was arm in arm with Amandeep as we touched on dry land, a short walk away from the campsite. They appeared to have become fast friends already. Perhaps this was because Amandeep had chatted the entire trip, somehow managing to swim and talk without getting a single drop of ocean water in her mouth.
We all had the pleasure of getting to know her entire life’s story that way. How she had been scorned by her favorite prince at the party she was the guest of honor for, because she was making her entry into society as a woman. How her rich daddy planted her on a private ship to clear her head. And how that ship was hijacked by a pirate wanting to hold her for ransom.
“So, I lure him in nice and close, right?” Amandeep was saying to Megan, “Then I grab him by the shoulders and knee him right in the unmentionables. He hits his head on the wooden side railing on the way down and he was out like a light.”
“Wow, what a creep. Did you turn him in to the authorities?”
“Oh, no. I mean, I planned to have my daddy make an example out of him, but our ship hit some rocks and we all went overboard.” She gestured a hand to the other girls. “Everyone here except Cyanne and Kara were on that ship. Velma and Elsie were socialites like myself, lower status of course, and m
eant to keep me company. Faizah was the captain my father hired. Thankfully, the pirate didn’t hurt her or she’d likely have ended up with the same fate as him. Elsie almost didn’t make it. I had to swim down and cut her hair free from some wreckage to pull her ashore. Stinky pirate he was, it’s all his fault we crashed.” She dry spit symbolically on the sand. “Good riddance, I say.”
“Ruthless, gal,” Megan said, faintly. It appeared my little mermaid goddess was suddenly unsure about her new bond with this woman. She turned toward me as I helped Elsie to stand, reassuring the easily-spooked girl that she was safe now, and gave me a help-me-out-of-this look.
I cleared my throat and said the first thing that came to mind. “Amandeep, you mentioned a cruise ship. I saw some fragments of a ship on the beach that looked pretty well preserved. Any chance it could be from that wreck?”
“Possibly. It depends on how long ago we crashed. Zavier plucked us from the shore not long after we got our crystals.”
I bit my lip. “What year did your ship go under?”
“1617.”
I sighed, pressing my lips together in frustration. Fucking Zavier.
Well, at least I knew now that the ship wreckage I saw was newer. Maybe someone else had made it to shore....
Then I remembered Zavier’s host, the one that tried to take Hannah, had worn clothes and had a hairstyle that seemed to fit Amandeep’s era. Maybe that mobile corpse was the pirate that attacked her?
In any case, I’d keep that little piece of information to myself.
“Tell us,” Elsie said, her voice soft and urgent. “We deserve to know.”
I closed my eyes. She was right. And there was nothing left to do but rip the band aid off.
“The year 1617 was more than four hundred years ago,” I said. “It’s now a couple of decades past the turn of the millennium. I’m sorry.” I wanted to hug her, to offer her and the others some sort of comfort, but I didn’t know her well enough yet. One day I would, when she told me more of the life the island forced her to leave behind.