The Neptune Promise

by Polly Holyoke

  :I know,: I say, warmed by how worried he is for me. :I’ll be careful.:

  The rest of our team stops and waits in the water ten feet down, spear guns loaded and ready to cover our retreat. Shadow and Tobin say earnest goodbyes to each other, and Ree kisses Rad. A pang of regret shoots through me as I glance at Dai. He starts for me, and then he stops, his face torn.

  :You are such a stubborn idiot,: I say. :You’re not going to damage me with a hug.:

  I look away and try to put Dai out of my mind. I need to focus if I want to survive tonight’s mission.

  The shore team surfaces and swims silently toward the point. Thick clouds cover most of the stars and darken the night, which is good for us. We can still see, but Thom says Rath’s men will be using night vision goggles, which means Sunny’s brilliant light show should overload their sensors and blind them for a minute or more. We hope.

  Sunny stops at the base of a rock pinnacle beyond the end of the point. The top of the spire sits just a few feet below the point itself.

  :Give them the brightest light show you can, and then get out of there before someone decides to shoot you,: I tell her. Sunny nods, looking pale. Silently she climbs up the spire, more agile than most land kids. Tonight she’s wearing just a swimsuit, which will allow more of her bioluminescent light to escape from her arms and legs.

  We continue on to the pile of sandstone rocks along the shore directly below the point. As soon as we walk out of the water, I lose track of Ocho and Shadow. They’ve already used their genetic ability to alter their skin color to blend in with their surroundings. To darken his skin, Thom borrowed medical ointment from Tobin and mixed in some black ink Shadow donated. Now he spreads the ointment on his hands and face.

  :Good luck,: Janni says, and then Rad, Ocho, Thom and Shadow start working their way silently up a dirt gully that leads to the top of the point. I barely breathe as I watch them, afraid they’ll knock a rock loose that will announce our presence.

  Ree, Janni and I stay behind as the rear guard at the rocky shore. After our friends reach the top and leave the chute, we can’t see them anymore.

  :’Kay, there’s one guy near the top of this gully,: Thom reports back to us, :but he’s busy watching the water. Shadow’s gonna dart him. Sweet shot! He’s down. Ocho, you take the guy behind the bush over there.:

  There’s a brief silence and then Thom announces, :That’s two down and no alarm raised yet. The Chief is not going to be happy with these guys for snoozing on the job. Now we gotta find the closest relay for the perimeter laser. I’d have placed it right about… yeah, here it is, but first we need to knock out the guy on watch ten feet from the relay. Whoa, I know him. That’s Snake Eyes. He is one mean mucker.:

  There’s another silence, and we all wait on edge. All I can hear is the blood pounding in my ears.

  :Sunny, are you in position now?: Janni asks.

  :Yeah,: Sunny replies, :and I’m ready to light up on your signal.:

  :Snake Eyes is out,: Thom reports back in. :These darts work great. Sparkhead, come do your thing.:

  There’s another silence. I hold my breath because we’re all afraid that an alarm might go off after Rad shorts out the relay for the perimeter laser.

  :It gave me a little tingle,: Rad announces after an endless minute, :but I gave it a bigger zap, and now it’s fried.:

  I let go a sigh of relief. The night remains quiet with no alarms betraying our presence.

  :We’re in position about fifteen feet away from Cam now,: Thom says, :and we’ve taken out most of the fighters on this side of camp. But they’re going to realize something’s wrong any moment now.:

  :Roger, that,: Janni says. :Sunny, it’s time for you to do your thing.:

  Fifteen seconds later, light flares outward from the top of Sunny’s spire. I don’t want to lose my own night vision, so I close my eyes, but the light she’s generating is so bright, I can sense it through my eyelids.

  Her light flickers out. Seconds later, it pulses again even brighter than before. Men exclaim and curse above us.

  :The guys are blind, we’ve got Cam, and we’re bugging out,: Thom reports.

  “Where’s that light coming from?” a man with a deep voice calls out.

  “Chief,” another voice shouts, “there’s someone out on the point. I swear it looks like a girl, and her whole body lights up.”

  “Digs, you’re dead if you’re been drinking again,” the man with the deep voice yells. “Whoever she is, shoot her.”

  :Sunny, get out of there!: Janni yells telepathically.

  :I’m gone,: Sunny says breathlessly, and a second later the pulsing light vanishes.

  Two dark figures appear at the top of the gully. Ocho is using two of his arms to carry Cam and the rest to steady himself as he scrambles down to the shore. He sets Cam down beside me at the waterline. I almost burst into tears when I see his battered face. The moment Ocho cuts Cam’s wrists free, he staggers forward and grabs me in a hug.

  “I had a hunch you’d try to rescue me, but I can’t believe you pulled it off.”

  “I had a lot of help. Can you use a breather?” I ask Cam as Robry splashes out of the water and helps to steady his brother.

  “I th-think so.”

  I hand him the breather. “Robry and the others are going to take you by tow underwater to where the Phantom’s anchored.”

  “Thanks.” Cam places the breather between his teeth, signals it’s working, and Robry and Ocho hurry him down into the water.

  Suddenly, I see a white flash from solar fire above us, and someone cries out.

  :Crap, they just seared Rad’s shoulder with a solar rifle,: Thom yells. :Shadow, you help him down the gully, and I’ll cover for you.:

  Janni and I move closer to the bottom of the gully and peer up. More flashes light the night sky. Shadow and Rad come sliding down the chute, bringing a wave of rocks, gravel and dirt with them. Rad’s face is twisted with pain. Ree takes his arm, and the girls help him into the water. I’m so glad now that we have two experienced medics with us.

  :It figures you’re the only clam-head who managed to get hurt,: Ree chides Rad as they slip under the waves.

  :Talk to us, Bigfoot,: Janni says anxiously.

  :I’m pinned down behind a bush. They haven’t found me yet, but they will when I move, and I’m outa darts.: I hear the strain in his mental voice.

  :Janni, we’ve gotta go help him,: I say. :You know he’d try to help us.:

  :All right,: she nods after a moment, :but keep your head down. If we can’t reach him, we retreat back to the water. We won’t do anyone any good if we get shot or captured.:

  Before she finishes speaking, I’m scrambling up the gully, rocks and gravel biting into my palms. I stop near the top and crawl the last few feet, the acrid scent of singed brush from stray solar shots filling my nostrils. My pulse thunders in my ears as I pull out my tranquilizer pistol and steady my shaking hand on the dirt edge of the gully.

  :We’re at the lip now,: Janni tells Thom, crawling up beside me. :Where are you?:

  :Ten feet to your right.:

  I wait till I spot a red sighting beam, and then I fire my pistol a foot to the right and down from it, just like Thom told me.

  A woman, sounding surprised and angry, says, “Chief, some slimesnake just darted me!”

  :Sunny, make another light burst down there on the beach,: Janni orders hurriedly. :We need a diversion to get Thom out of here. But after two pulses, dive back into the water. These fighters are seriously mad now and they will try to shoot you.:

  :Understood,: Sunny replies. :Two bright light bursts coming up in fifteen seconds.:

  :Thom,: Janni says with remarkable calm, :you’re going to have to sprint for us, and Nere and I will cover you.:

  :I’m ready.:

  Sunny’s light radiates outward from the beach below in a golden flash, and Thom rises from the brush and sprints toward us. He makes it three steps, but just as Sunny creates another
light burst, he jerks and falls forward, grunting in pain. Janni and I make a dash for him, solar fire searing the air around us. We grab his arms and try to drag him toward the cliff face, but Thom’s so big, we manage to shift him only a few feet before bright lights shine in our faces.

  “Drop your weapons, or we’ll cut you to pieces,” an angry voice orders us from the darkness.

  Squinting against the brilliant lights, Janni and I drop our tranquilizer pistols and slowly raise our hands.

  chapter twenty-eight

  Groaning, Thom rolls over on his back, sits and puts his hands up, too, to show he’s unarmed. He peers into the dark and then grimaces.

  “Hey, Chief, don’t shoot. It’s me, Thom Johanson.”

  There’s a long silence after Thom announces his name to Rath and his fighters. My mouth dry with fear, I brace myself, expecting to be seared by a solar rifle any moment. I glimpse movement beyond the lights, and a tall, shadowy figure steps closer to us.

  “Thom, it is you,” the deep voice speaks again. “So, Scarn’s boy was telling us the truth. Kyel’s necklace did come from you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Jayzus, Chief, it’s just a bunch of kids in wetsuits,” a second voice says as they study us.

  “Well, somehow these kids just infiltrated our camp, neutralized a third of our fighters and stole a prisoner out from under our noses. I assume my people are going to wake up eventually?”

  “Yes sir,” Thom replies, “we darted ’em with fish tranquilizer. Your people should wake up by morning, or sooner, if you give them stimulants.”

  “Fish tranquilizer?” There’s a strange note in his voice now. I reach out with my telepathy. Rath can’t decide whether he’s enraged or amused by us, and underneath it all, he’s feeling a deep sadness caused by the mention of his dead son.

  “Um, sir, Thom is bleeding pretty badly,” I force myself to speak up because there’s a crossbow bolt protruding from his thigh.

  “If you don’t want to kill us right away,” Janni adds, “we should get a bandage on that leg.”

  “And you two are?”

  Guessing it would be a mistake to show how terrified I am, I speak as boldly as I can. “My name is Nere Hanson.”

  “And my name is Janni Novotny.”

  “You any relation to Mark Hanson?”

  “He’s my father.”

  “Hmmph.” Rath turns away from us and snaps a series of orders. “Torches set to dim. Reiss and Tonio, set a new perimeter. Nid, come look at Thom’s leg here, and Strafe, you check all our people who got darted and make sure they’re still breathing.”

  Once the torches go to dim, I can see again. A thin, bald older man with colorfully tattooed hands and arms kneels beside Thom with a med kit. Now that my adrenaline rush is fading, my lungs are getting itchy. Baking heat from today’s sun still radiates from the rocks and dirt all around us and makes my head swim. Will Rath let us go back to the sea? If he doesn’t soon, I’m afraid I might pass out.

  “Hey, you old coyote, I’m glad to see you’re still alive,” Thom greets Nid with a pained smile. “You still cheat at cards?”

  “Hey kid, it’s good to see you’re still breathing, too,” Nid replies as he adjusts his small headlamp and examines Thom’s injury. “Yep, I still cheat and I guess I’m just too ornery for the Western Collective to kill. The good news is, I don’t think this bolt nicked your artery. Before I pull it out, though, I’m gonna give you something for the pain.”

  Thom puts a hand on his wrist. “Don’t give me too much. I need my brain working to talk to the Chief.”

  Nid shoots him a quick look. “I promise it will just take the edge off. This next part won’t be fun.”

  Thom lies down on his stomach and the medic gives him a dose of painkiller and antibiotics. When Nid pulls the crossbow bolt from his leg, Thom tenses and squeezes my hand hard, but he never makes a sound. Then the medic swiftly cleans and packs the wound.

  I try to concentrate on Thom, but my lungs feel like they’re on fire and my skin prickles from the heat. I’m panting and getting more and more dizzy. The air here is so dry and hot, and now it seems there’s not nearly enough oxygen in it. I’ve never spent this much time away from the water since my transformation. Janni is starting to pant, too.

  “You want to keep this as a souvenir?” Nid waves the bloody bolt under Thom’s nose. “Pretty sure it’s one of Rocky’s. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. He don’t miss very often.”

  “Nah, you should give it back to him so he can work on his target practice.”

  Nid grins. “I forgot just what a mouthy kid you could be.”

  :Um, Thom,: I fight to keep the panic from my mental tone, :we need to get back to the water soon. I’m not breathing so well, and I don’t think Janni is, either.:

  :I’m getting lightheaded, too,: he says as he sits up.

  Rath strides over and stares down at us. “So, you ready to talk?” he asks. Now, without torches blinding us, I can actually see Ty Rath’s face. Tall and thin, he wears a neatly trimmed beard, and his gray hair is cropped short. His deep-set eyes are alert and thoughtful, and his skin is tanned from years spent in the punishing sun. If he wasn’t wearing beige camo fatigues, he’d look more like a school teacher or a college professor than the most feared rebel in the Western Collective.

  “Sir,” Thom says, “we do want to talk with you, but we’ve been away from the water for too long, and the gill filaments in our lungs are drying out.”

  “So, what is it you want?” Rath frowns at us.

  “Well, if we don’t go back to the water soon, we’ll all suffocate,” Thom says apologetically.

  “After what you just did to my people, you expect me to just let you walk out of my camp?”

  “Yes sir, if you want us to stay alive long enough to tell you about Kyel and why Dr. Hanson wanted us to meet with you.”

  Rath stares at us for a long moment, and then he sighs. “All right, you three can return to the sea,” he says, “but I want you back on that beach down there in forty-five minutes. Does that give you enough time to re-hydrate and re-oxygenate?”

  I must look surprised because his lips twitch. “I know more about the science that created you than you realize, Ms. Hanson.”

  “We can be back in a half-hour, sir.”

  “Get going, but if you want us to still be here, don’t set off any more of those blasted light bursts. You’ll bring a world of hurt down on us all.”

  Promising that we won’t set off any more bright lights, Janni and I stagger to our feet and boost Thom up. Nid leads us down a more gradual path to the beach. Breathing hard, the three of us help each other to the shoreline.

  “I get you all fixed up, and then you want to go for a swim? I don’t get it,” Nid says as we hurry out into the surf.

  “It’s a long story,” Thom calls over his shoulder. “Thanks for patching me up.”

  “You’re welcome. I like a good story,” Nid calls back, sounding wistful. “Maybe you can tell it to me sometime.”

  Finally, the cool water closes over our heads and I let it flow down into my burning lungs.

  :Whew, I was afraid I was gonna pass out up there,: Janni admits as we float under the surface, gasping as though we just outswam a shredder patrol. Our team gathers around us, exclaiming in relief, and Dai sends me a smile that warms me through and through. The dolphins circle us, too, and I can sense Mariah’s joy that I’m back in the water, safe and sound.

  :Thanks for coming after me,: Thom says to Janni and me.

  :Sea Rangers never leave one of their own behind,: Janni says with a dry smile, :even though it was tempting to forget that rule in your case, Bigfoot.:

  :Hey, Nere,: Roni breaks in on us, the contact faint because she’s on the Carly Sue anchored two miles from here. :Your dad wants to know how your meeting went with Ty Rath.:

  :We haven’t had it yet. We’re going back on shore to meet with him in half an hour.:

 
Roni’s quiet for a moment, and then she says, :Your dad wants to be a part of that meeting, too. He’s diving into his scuba gear now, and he’ll come on the Torpedo.: The Torpedo is a fast one-man tow.

  :Um, I’m not sure that’s the best idea. This Rath guy is pretty uptight about security. He’s not going to like someone else showing up uninvited to our meeting.:

  :Your dad says he knows Rath won’t mind,: Roni says, sounding puzzled and worried.

  :I’ll send some of the dolphins to escort him. But tell him to hurry. I don’t think Rath likes to be kept waiting.:

  Thirty minutes later, my dad is still a half-mile from the cove.

  :We’d better go,: Thom says. :We’ll tell the Chief about Kyel, and by the time we’re done, maybe your dad will get here.:

  :You sure you’re up for this?: I ask because his face is pale and, from the stiff way he holds his leg, it has to be hurting him.

  :Yeah. I gotta be the one to tell the Chief about Kyel. I owe him that.:

  :All right then, at least let a dolphin tow you most of the way so you don’t have to kick that leg.:

  Densil helps pull Thom through the waves, and I help him limp out of the water. By the time we reach the beach, Rath and two of his men are waiting for us. Rath tells Thom he can sit on a nearby rock, and I stand beside him. We’re close enough to the water, the temperature is cooler here than it was up on the point. Rath gestures to his men, and they move back several steps out of earshot.

  “Tell me about my son,” Rath orders us.

  Thom takes a deep breath, and then he launches into an account of what happened to Kyel after they went through their Neptune transformation together in a San Diego lab. Kyel took command of their small party of Neptune kids and kept them alive as they swam up the dangerous coast to the Channel Islands. He died fighting off the Marine Guard divers who were trying to capture or kill us. Thom’s voice thickens with grief when he explains how we had to leave Kyel’s body in a sea cave twenty miles north of Santa Cruz Island.

  After Thom finishes, I add, “I was with Thom and Kyel that night the Marine Guard attacked us. What Kyel did was incredibly brave. He purposely swam into the path of a spear dart aimed at Bria. An eleven-year-girl is alive today because of your son.”