Water

by Hardy, Natasha

  “You make him nervous,” Sabrina replied, “and unfortunately I think you may have also just given him some horrible ideas.”

  “Why?” Her answer didn’t make much sense to me.

  Sabrina turned to Merrick. “How much does she know?” she asked, her tone serious.

  Merrick shook his head, looking worried. “Nothing, Sabrina, can you believe that? He told her nothing! We have been waiting for him to fill her in for years now. Ever since the incident with her sibling, we’ve been expecting him to have the courage to help her take her place. It’s been an exceedingly frustrating time.”

  Sabrina shook her head and made a tsk tsk sound. “Monumentally stupid,” she muttered.

  “What about Brent?” I asked, my voice rough with emotion.

  Sabrina ignored me. “How much should we tell her?”

  “Talita has asked us to show her more than tell her, She’s worried it may take more convincing than we originally thought.”

  “By her, I assume you’re talking about me?” I asked, heat rising into my cheeks as I worked to condense the anger I could feel bubbling to the surface.

  Sabrina and Merrick took a slight step away from me. “Can you see her controlling that?” asked Merrick, talking to Sabrina.

  “Yeah, interesting isn’t it?”

  “What are you talking about?!” I snapped.

  “We can see how angry you’re getting, and how well you tame it,” Sabrina said smiling as she waved her hand at me. Then turning to Merrick, “We met the Merrow earlier. They explained spiritus to Alexandra, so she is at least more aware of communicating her emotions.” She turned back to me, cocking her head to one side. “Perhaps that’s why she’s able to control her anger so well.”

  Merrick shook his head.”No, she always does this. I’ve seen interactions with humans where she manages to do even more. I think that’s why her spiritus is so faint, she keeps a handle on her emotions all the time.”

  “It was much stronger when we were with the Merrow.”

  “Really?” he replied, surprised.

  Sabrina nodded and grinned. “Her control could be useful in the future.”

  Merrick grinned and nodded.

  “So why was Leeroy so angry?” I asked again, determined to get some answers, “and why did our hands ice up like that?”

  Merrick turned to Sabrina, his expression surprised as he waited for her to explain. She shook her head almost imperceptibly before Merrick took my hand and started leading me away from the tree, looking around him casually but with the practised eye of someone always on guard.

  “Laine.” Sabrina emphasised the name as she followed us, a smile pasted on her face as she bobbed politely to some passing Oceanids. “He has issues with what you are here to do, and how we’d like to do it.”

  “What is it that you want me to do?” I asked her.

  “It’s not just him either, Alexandra,” Merrick interrupted, “so I want you to make sure that you are always with Sabrina or me.”

  “Or Josh and Luke,” I added, assuming that Merrick considered them safe too.

  “No,” he replied harshly. “The only two you can trust are Sabrina and me. Josh and Luke are…” He paused, glancing at Sabrina again. “Compromised,” he finished.

  I was about to start arguing when I noticed Josh drifting by in the background, a gorgeous woman lolling on his arm and whispering seductively into his ear. He smiled dazedly at whatever she’d said and nodded his head.

  “Josh,” I called, waving at him. He started to turn his head towards me, but the woman whispered in his ear again, tracing a finger down the side of his face, as he turned back to her and walked in the opposite direction to us. He hadn’t even acknowledged me! Stung, I turned to Merrick and Sabrina for answers.

  “Alexandra, you need to understand that your appearance here is not welcomed by everyone,” Sabrina said gently.

  “But why?” Merrick took my elbow and guided me to the very edge of the semi-circle of cave openings. We sat on spongy moss, Sabrina and Merrick’s legs dangling into nothingness over the edge of the cliff, while I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees.

  “What we’re about to explain to you is going to be difficult for you to grasp at first,” Sabrina said, “but please try to keep an open mind.”

  “OK,” I replied, preparing myself.

  “You are the secret which will ensure our species’ survival,” Merrick told me.

  “I’m sorry, what?!” My voice squeaked on the question. “I thought you’d been around for centuries — “

  “You have very special giftings and abilities…” Sabrina began while I shook my head in denial.

  “Do you remember the story I told you about Sabine?” Merrick asked.

  I nodded.

  “Well, unbeknown to her, she played a pivotal role in our species’ survival. She provided a way for Oceanids to leave the ocean, something our species had never considered until very recently.”

  “Why would they need to leave the ocean?” I asked, “and what does this have to do with me?”

  “It’s best explained by showing you,” replied Sabrina, standing, her expression sober.

  They led me back to the pathway where we had me Laine, Merrick holding my hand. Everything around me sharpened; the darkness dimmed to twilight and an intense sense of wariness and icy foreboding settled over me. Warm light blazed from the chasm below. I peered over the edge of the cliff, my palms itching in fear, and watched the swift sure movement of someone as they leapt from ledge to ledge down the rocky wall we’d climbed up earlier. As they ran through the passageway, the light from their torch illuminated hundreds of circular entrance ways opposite us, which sparkled faintly before slipping back into shadow again.

  My gasp of surprise froze Merrick, his stance instantly protective.

  “How many of you are there?” I asked faintly.

  Sabrina and Merrick exchanged a tragic glance.

  “A couple of thousand,” Merrick replied quietly.

  “So many?” I squeaked, surprised. “There weren’t that many in the cave earlier though?”

  They didn’t answer me immediately, instead walking down a steeply sloped pathway until we reached another fissure in the rock.

  A beautifully menacing Oceanid stood on the opposite side of the gaping split in the rock. The thick muscles on his neck, shoulders and torso tensed as he watched us approach. Across his bare chest a thick strap of leather, pierced through with a variety of odd-looking objects I didn’t recognise, drew attention to the crisscross of scars that laced his body and disappeared beneath a wide belt which secured the flowing trousers to his waist.

  Sabrina bobbed politely. “Marinus,” she greeted him. “We have an important guest to show around today.”

  Marinus smiled, instantly transforming his face from menacing to friendly.

  “Of course, Sabrina,” he replied, and then to me, “I am most honoured to make your acquaintance, Alexandra.” He bowed slightly from the waist before stepping aside.

  Merrick released my hand, grabbing the long bendy pole Marinus threw to him before using it as a lever to make the leap across the chasm first. He greeted Marinus jovially in the same strange liquid language Sabrina had spoken earlier.

  Sabrina paused before the gap, her hands moving gracefully around her, as if she were trailing them through water. I gaped in astonishment as the air grew perceptibly colder and ice crystals began to form across the chasm. Within minutes she’d created a bridge of ice.

  She offered me her hand, smiling at my incredulous expression. “That’s my thing,” she said in answer to my unasked question, as I watched the breath fanning out from her mouth in a fine purple transparent blue mist, curling and condensing slightly in the cold air. “I can manipulate water.”

  “So you were the one doing the ice thing with Laine earlier?” I asked, still determined to get better answers than I’d been given.

  She shook her head, as Merrick’s conversat
ion with Marinus stopped abruptly at my question.

  “No,” she replied, “that wasn’t me entirely, at least not voluntarily…”

  “We’ll take you through the different talents later,” Merrick cut in, sounding irritated as he took my hand again, and glaring at Sabrina as he did so.

  “Is that such a good idea?” Marinus asked, pointing at Merrick’s hand wrapped around mine.

  “Oh yeah… probably not,” he mumbled, releasing me.

  Marinus handed me a small bunch of sticks that smoked gently, releasing a pungent spicy smell.

  “You might need this,” he told me, his expression grim. “If it gets too much, hold it up to your nose.”

  Sabrina and Merrick accepted their bunches of smoking herbs solemnly before silently following Marinus.

  Chapter 15

  Horror

  The first sound that wailed through the silence made every hair on my body stand on end. It was gut-wrenching in its intensity and heart rending in its youth.

  I stopped, trying desperately to figure out the source of it.

  Sabrina winced as another wail, ending in a hiccoughed sob, echoed from somewhere else in the chasm.

  Marinus hurried us forward towards a cave a few entrances in. He disappeared into the darkness, crooning softly as he pulled the leather strap over his head.

  The stench that emanated from the cave entrance was a physical force so intense I reeled backwards. I gasped for air, struggling to get away from it.

  Merrick and Sabrina formed a cocoon around me, holding their bunches of herbs to my face and instructing me to breathe deeply.

  Another pitiful wail from within the cave helped me focus on something other than the smell that assaulted my senses.

  “Hold your nose,” suggested Merrick.

  It helped a little, but only until I breathed in through my mouth, because then the decay formed a flavour on the back of my tongue, so intense that I doubled over, gagging.

  I could still hear Marinus talking quietly to whoever was in the cave, his voice soothing and kind and encouraging.

  “What is this place?” I eventually managed to gasp.

  “This is where we try to heal Oceanids who have been poisoned by their home,” Merrick replied simply.

  “The ocean is no longer safe for us,” Sabrina continued quietly, bobbing politely as a worried-looking woman hurried past us into the cave Marinus had just entered.

  “Why not?” I asked managing to straighten up, holding the branch of herbs over my face, so that only the very faintest cloy of decay made its way through.

  “Because humans have been using our home as a rubbish dump and a toilet,” she hissed, wincing as a bloodcurdling scream echoed around the cave from below us. “Because humans could care less when they spill tons of crude oil into our home suffocating every living thing beneath it.” Her voice grew quieter and more venomous. “And because humans, having no natural predators, have bred like flies and now consume more resources from the ocean than is possible to sustain.”

  I was horrified, and ashamed because I knew everything she was saying was true.

  “Alexandra?” Marinus interrupted the tense conversation. “There is someone who would be very happy to meet you.”

  His eyes were anciently sad and tired as he stood aside and indicated I should go into the cave.

  I looked at Merrick, and he nodded encouragingly. “You need to see this,” he whispered.

  I stepped into the gloom, keeping the branch over my face and breathing as shallowly as possible. The space was as small and neat as Sabrina’s had been. In one corner hung a hammock in which a very small pile of soft blankets moved slightly as I entered. The woman I’d seen earlier was standing beside the hammock, her face infinitely tender as she gazed at the bundle. I walked forward slowly, my heart hammering a terrified tattoo at what I might find in the blankets.

  My first impression was of the largest blue eyes I’d ever seen, rimmed in luscious lashes. Wispy hair floated around her, framing her delicate and very young face. There though, her beauty ended. Her cheek bones protruded harshly, emphasised by the dark hollows of her sunken cheeks. Her neck looked too thin and frail to hold her head up, and her shoulders were drawn upwards as if she were cold. Worst of all though, were the suppurating sores that covered her skin, oozing wetly, the stench of decay coming off of them enough to make me want to gag again.

  I focused with all of my well-practised strength on her eyes, pressing my revulsion away from me.

  She was watching me carefully, her eyes glassy with pain and a deep and ancient sadness.

  She whispered something I didn’t understand, wincing as she did so.

  “She says she is greatly honoured to meet you,” her nurse translated for me.

  I took a shuddering last breath of the herbs as I lowered them from my face, pasting on a smile and kneeling beside her.

  “Please tell her that the honour is mine,” I replied. The nurse smiled and repeated what I’d said in that strange liquid language.

  I offered my hand to the little bundle of a person, watching as the nurse carefully removed some of the blankets from her. Despite her gentleness, tears trickled down the patient’s cheeks at the movement.

  The nurse placed her hand on mine. I stared at it, horrified for a few moments, unable to process what my mind was telling me I held.

  The flesh had been eaten away from her hands, revealing the horrifying white of bone in some places. She was missing two fingers and the skin that remained was charred a crinkled black.

  I looked back into her face, burying my horror as I did so and smiling at her again. I was rewarded by a slight lightening in her eyes as she pulled her damaged mouth into a grin.

  A spasm of pain rocked through her as she curled in on herself, her grin turning to a grimace as she wailed.

  I rocked back from her in shock, scrambling to my feet and moving to the entrance of the cave as her nurse and Marinus rushed to her side again.

  Sabrina took my elbow and led me gently backwards and into the passageway. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to the wailing. Merrick pulled me into a hug, letting my cry for a few minutes, before I pushed away from him.

  “What happened to her?” I managed to ask eventually, drying my eyes.

  “Imagine the air you breathed was full of poison,” he replied gently, “That every time you took a breath your body decayed just a little bit more, weakening you.” He stared through me, his eyes vacant. “And then one day you wake up, and everything around you is dark and you can’t breathe and your skin is covered in something you’ve never seen before. It’s black and thick and burns like… like acid. And you swim as hard as you can until you reach the blue again, but it won’t come off, and you’re scared and your body doesn’t work as it should. You can’t find anyone any more, and you can’t remember where you are…”

  He trailed off, his expression tortured.

  “Is that what happened to you?” I whispered.

  He looked at me for a few moments. “To most of us,” he replied, before taking my hand and leading me down the pathway, back towards the fever tree.

  I stopped him as soon as I realised where he was taking me.

  “I want to see more,” I told him firmly.

  He stopped, his expression incredulous.

  “You’re sure?”

  “It seemed to help that little one.”

  He nodded. “Yes, you are a great inspiration to many of them… not all of them, but many of them.”

  I nodded firmly before turning back down the passage. “Then I want to see more of them.”

  He led me past the first entrance, pausing at the next doorway.

  Every time I looked inside my heart dropped. I’d never seen or even imagined so much pain and so much suffering in one place. I smiled at each one of them, holding their broken hands and accepting their kind words about me, like I knew what any of them meant.

  After the tenth cave though, I couldn�
��t do it any more. It was as if my emotional tank had only so much room in which to bury pain, and it was full. Full from three years of trying not to cry about Brent’s death – after all society only allows a small window in which to grieve, after that everyone around me had expected me to get over it.

  Full from putting a brave face on my parents’ divorce, trying desperately to placate both of them, and cope with the pain of their split.

  Full from taking the barbed comments from kids at school, who had no idea who I was, but still felt the need to push me around simply because they could.

  Full from witnessing so much pain and anguish and horror in the half an hour we’d been walking though the cave.

  “Isn’t there anything you can do for them?” I asked.

  “Time and clean water is the best medicine for them,” Sabrina replied quietly. “If they have the will to live, they may make it.”

  I thought about this as I entered the cave. This Oceanid had been strapped down because the pain had driven him crazy and he’d tried, on several occasions, to kill his caregiver. Despite the murderous look in his eyes as I knelt beside him, my heart ached for him.

  He motioned for me to come closer, his eyes glazed and unfocused.

  “You are –” he struggled to breathe “– dangerous, Alexandra.”

  I was surprised that he could speak English, and even more surprised that he knew my name.

  His hand flailed at me as he tried to grab my wrist. Spittle flecked his lips as the effort taxed his breathing.

  “They will use you,” he said, still searching for my hand.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know who you think I am,” I tried to answer him, “but I have no intention of hurting anyone.”

  “They will mould you to think of the humans as creatures who deserve pity,” he continued, seeming not to hear my protests.

  I shook my head again, leaning closer to him to try to get his wandering eyes to focus on my face.

  “And all will be destroyed,” he hissed, his previously glassy eyes focusing with predatory intent as his hand found my arm. With blinding speed and primal strength, his other arm wrapped around me, pinning me to the ground.