Tink’s scanning the ocean. Her optics dull to a neutral grey—she’s got nothing. Just like on the Tiger Lily’s deck, she’s blind. These boats are hidden from sensors.
A higher-pitched chirp comes from Tink as she hovers ahead of me. She replays a staticky intercepted communication, sounding like the crew of the remaining weapon boat.
“The insurgents are moving in. We are trying to intercept, but the Nikola 1 is destroyed. Please send reinforcements.”
“Tink,” I say. “We might not be able to locate their boat with your sensors, but you can triangulate that radio signal, right?”
Her optics burn bright orange with excitement. It only takes a moment, and she tips her head in the apparent direction of the vessel.
“Tink, you beautiful pixie! Let’s finish this.”
We fly in evasive patterns, just in case they know we’re coming. The smoke has dampened the heat from the sun, providing a slightly cooler breeze that feels so good on my face I nearly forget what we’re doing.
Tink slams to a stop and I almost tumble into her. I catch my breath and follow her gaze down, spotting the Syndicate vessel charging in the direction of our fleet. We need to act now before they’re in range. I nod to Tink and we dive. Hurling toward the boat, I notice an aft cannon that wasn’t on the first vessel.
Pointed directly at us.
A blue halo emits from the tip of the weapon then a massive burst of plasma tears from the barrel. There’s no time to react. Tink is hit, spinning into an uncontrollable downward descent.
“Tink, no!”
I can't go to her. Anger clogs my thoughts. I want nothing more than to rip that boat apart with my bare hands.
Avoiding the cannon’s sights, I land on the unmanned deck, locking onto its gravitational pull. I slowly strut up to the protruding cannon turret and open fire. Round after round hammers into it, the silver metal standing no chance against the heavy plasma I hurl. It kinks with every blast, crumpling until it’s just a lump of singed and molten metal.
Clank.
I turn as three men pour out of the top hatch and onto the deck. I direct a blast at their shoes, knocking them to the ground. Their weapons fly from their grasps, sliding from them. In unison, they scramble to their feet and raise their hands in surrender, to avoid being burnt to a crisp by my rifle.
My brow furrows as I glare at them. Someone must pay for what they did to Tink and Arya. I throw my rifle to the deck and clench my fists. I want to feel their pain on my bare knuckles.
The crew's energy is thick with fear. They know who I am. Taking a step back, they inch toward their weapons. I lift in the air and quickly lower myself behind them, cutting them off from their only hope.
“Hold on a minute,” the man nearest to me pleads.
There’s no break in my stride. They stumble into one another trying to get away from me. I clock the first man across the jaw. He spins and topples over the deck’s railing. With no options, the other two charge me. I lift up and kick them both in the chest with the bottoms of my boots. They crash together a couple yards back on the deck. Struggling to get up, they turn to each other before rushing for the side of the boat. They hurdle the railing and plunge into the water. Apparently, they want nothing more to do with me. I hunch over the railing, watching them free swim as fast as they can from the boat. My job's not done yet.
I jerk up when a sting jolts my lower back. The agony shortens my breath, falling to the deck face first. I roll over as the air returns to my lungs. A man hovers over me, pointing a gun at my head.
“Well, aren’t you a sneaky one,” I force out with a smile. “Let’s play.”
Chapter 21
Arya
I blink and squint against the light. An erratic, high-pitched beeping pierces my ears. I struggle to lift my hand to my eyes, but my arms weigh a thousand pounds. They’re on fire—my legs, too. The pain races through my body, and I grit my teeth and try to sit, but my heart goes wild. I gasp, panic welling in my chest.
“Hey, hey,” James’s voice soothes from somewhere near. I can’t see him. A hand that I can only assume belongs to him touches me lightly on the shoulder and guides me to lay back.
“Wha …” I croak out as James’s blurry form appears over me.
“Shh. Don’t speak yet. I need to get meds into you to regulate your heart from the shock.”
Shock?
Something pricks my neck and almost immediately my pounding heart slows to a regular rhythm. The beeping in the room slows, too. I inhale deeply and let it out, my body relaxing as some of the soreness lessens.
“I added in a painkiller, too,” James says as my blurry vision resolves itself. “But too much? That would knock you out again, and I figured you didn’t want that.”
“You’d be right.” I push up a second time and reach to touch the spot where I felt the jab. The neck of my suit is loosened, exposing my gills. Embarrassment makes my stomach lurch. Old habits die hard.
Calm down, Arya. James doesn’t care.
James stands directly beside me, relief in his eyes, but lips pinched slightly in annoyance. He turns and places the device he must have used to administer the med down, then pulls a metal chair to my side and sits.
“Why were you and Peter out there by yourselves?”
His words bring the memory flooding back. Fear waves up my chest.
I was electrocuted in the water.
“I ... I could have—”
“Died,” he finishes for me.
“Where’s Peter?” I swivel my head to scan the space and try to swing my legs to the floor.
“No,” James says firmly, staying me with his hand. “Just a few minutes for the medication to take full effect.”
“Peter—”
“Peter is fine, but if we don’t get this figured out, none of us will be for long.”
“Where is he?” I ask.
James doesn’t answer right away. He’s hiding something.
“Did he go back?” I demand.
“That’s what Wendi came and told me. You know Pan. There’s no stopping him when he's on a mission.”
My brain reels with images of Peter dead in the water. Fish food. “Did anyone go with him?”
“Just Tink.”
I sigh. Peter’s capable. Physically, he’s a lot stronger than I am, but Nerissa captured him before, and could do it again. I’m sure she’d be more determined than ever, now.
“I need to be on deck.” Feeling almost normal, I push my legs to the floor faster than James can stop me and refasten my suit over my neck.
“I told you, you need to—”
“No way. You either help me, or I’m going by myself.”
“You're a stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” James asks, a small, tight smile quirking its way onto his lips.
I grab for his shoulder and lean in, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Tenacious, not stubborn. And isn’t that what you love about me?”
James groans and breaks into a full grin. He gives me his hand and pulls me to my feet.
♦ ♦ ♦
On deck, I see the plume of charcoal clouds on the horizon has grown, spreading far up into the sky.
A fireball bursts into the air, orange and red, making me flinch.
“Why did you let Peter go?” I ask.
“I had nothing to do with it. I was getting you below when he left.”
How can I help Peter?
My mind works through possible solutions, but not one of them has a happy ending. I shiver, even though the air is warm, and I know I’m still recovering. I can deal with the pain, but if I’m too weak, there’s no way I’d be any good to Peter once I made it to the ships. On top of that, if they blast the water again, it would be all over for me.
I snap from my thoughts and scan the horizon again, pointing to a shape coming toward us in the sky “Is that him?”
“We’d better hope so,” James says.
As it comes closer my heart leaps, the
familiar outline of Peter’s shape revealing itself.
“It’s him,” I say. “And he’s holding… something. Maybe he picked up something useful.”
Peter slows his speed on his approach and floats onto the deck. Eyebrows furrowed, and jaw tensed, he unwraps his arms from his chest and reveals a very damaged Tink. Her normally pearly white body is partially charred, and a limb is missing.
“What happened?” As if I need to ask.
“She ... took ... a hit,” Peter says, gasping. He takes in a deliberate breath and lets it out. “But you should see the idiots who did that to her.”
“The boats?” James asks.
Peter looks up at James. “They’re destroyed.”
My heart fills with hope.
Peter shakes his head. “We have a problem, though. I heard them radio the Syndicate before the last ship sunk.”
The words deflate me, mind and body. “So, more are coming?”
“That would be my guess,” Peter says, raking his free hand through his sweaty hair. He grimaces as he lowers his arm.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he insists. “Nothing I can’t heal from. The other guys aren’t so lucky. I’m more worried about the future.”
“Ok, then let's come up with a plan, fast,” I say. ‘Since it looks like the timeline has been stepped up.”
“Yeah,” Peter says, looking to James. “Can you bring Tink below? Elijah will have to fix her later.”
“Sure.” He snags the bot from Peter’s grasp. “But, Arya, remember you almost died, so take it easy.”
“I know,” I say softly as James turns to head below.
Peter swings his attention to me in alarm. “I totally forgot. Are you OK?” He wraps his arms around me, then almost immediately yanks back. “I’m not hurting you?”
I chuckle and pull him back in for a short squeeze, then let him go. “I’m OK.” It’s a partial lie. I’m still hurting and not running at one hundred percent, but I know I’ll be fine, so it’s good enough. “You got me back here just in time, and James patched me up.”
Peter relaxes and steps back. “Good, because you can’t go and die on me,” he mumbles while straightening his filthy shirt.
I give him a pat on the shoulder. For all Peter’s bravado, we both know we’ve always relied on each other as family.
“Radio the others,” I say, staring out over the ocean and the calm, blackened, cloud bank of smoke. “It’s quiet now, but there’s no way it’s going to stay that way.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“It’s too late for a sneak attack—” Peter speaks into the comm.
“And whose fault is that?” Mateo’s hardened voice comes back through the speaker.
Peter doesn’t take the bait and ignores him. He’s suddenly become all business. “Like I said, it’s too late for a sneak attack, so we’ll need to use the direct approach to Neverland. I have no doubt Nerissa’s Syndicate army will be waiting for us, but I believe in you, so I’m sending over the new coordinates Smeid sent over. We’re headed out in five minutes.”
He clicks off the comm without pausing for a response and turns to James, Ethan, and me.
“Ethan, back to your station. I’ll go tell Wendi what’s going on,” Peter says. He walks to the exit, shoulders slightly slumped as if the world is resting on them, calling back, “Everything’s set for you, James, so man the helm for now.”
“Aye, aye.” James occupies the pilot’s station and I the copilot’s as Peter and Ethan leave. Wordlessly, I run my fingers over the controls, confirming the course. For now, it looks clear, but looks can be deceptive.
I shift my attention to James, appearing lost in thought while double-checking the ship’s operating system. He swipes at the instrument panel and brings up a holographic image of Neverland. The image of the glowing, floating, blue city slowly spirals in the air. He swipes the screen and the image flicks off, replaced with a Syndicate ship.
“That’s your dad’s old ship, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he answers and taps it off.
“Why are you looking at that?
“I don’t know.”
I spin my seat toward James. “Not having second thoughts, are you?”
He sighs, quiet for a moment. “No. I just wish I knew my dad wasn’t a part of this battle. He’s going to get caught in the crossfire, and I know if I could just break him from Nerissa’s spell, he’d be back on the right side again. That Witch has some sort of unexplainable power over him.”
“Love does strange things to you.”
“It’s more than that. I just haven’t been able to prove it.”
I reach out to touch James’s hand. “We’ll get him back.”
James gives me a sad smile and checks the clock. “I hope so, since it’s time to go.”
♦ ♦ ♦
After almost an hour at full speed, our meager fleet slows. On the horizon, a gigantic, floating city sparkles under the overhead sun. Towering above the surface of the sea, walls of steel and composites stretch up nearly five times as high as our little boats, stretching just shy of a quarter of a mile wide. I can’t see the ends in either direction, but I can see the faint bustle of activity on the surface, movement from the cabin windows lining the vertical outer walls. The view is truly amazing. Buildings and even trees jut from the top level of the massive haven. I can only imagine this is what civilization must have been like before Earth was almost completely covered in water.
Neverland.
Neverland was one settlement built when the water started to rise. Everyone was lucky the process was slow enough for nations to have time to build habitats. Otherwise, humanity would have been done for. But the projects were expensive, and most of the people who got in were wealthy. Of the ones that were built, as far as I know, many are still floating out there across the globe. The undersea versions were no different, and a lot of people lost their lives because they didn’t have the means to pay their way in.
Things have changed on Neverland. Nerissa made sure of it. The man-made island consists of a small bustling city and even farms to keep the civilians just fed enough to be complacent. The steady supply of fruits, vegetables, and even a few grains make life more bearable then out on the open sea. Peter told me they keep small herds of livestock that Nerissa and her Syndicate have now commandeered for themselves. There must be greater than ten thousand citizens live on Neverland, close to the same population as the Atlantis project where I grew up. How Peter and the boys managed all those people, I’m not sure, but they did. And they didn’t use the iron fist like the Syndicate uses. Now that Nerissa controls it, I’m confident she’s using the people there for experimentation.
“There she is,” Peter says from behind us in a wistful tone.
“Don’t get too attached until this is finished,” James says.
As if on cue, the control panel pings, and I look down to the radar. The console seems as if it’s been lit up by an army of green stars headed our way in the water. Fast.
My hands fly over the instruments in an attempt to figure out what’s going on. “What is that?”
Peter pushes in and glances from the console to the viewing window, squinting. “I’m taking a look. Alert the other ships. Oh, and don’t start shooting till I’m out of range.” He darts from the cockpit.
“What do you think it is?” I ask.
“No clue,” James answers. “But I think from the readings, they’re organic.”
“Organic?”
“Yeah. The scan says they’re not mechanical.”
I peer out the window, but I can’t tell. They’re too far away.
Then my heart drops into my stomach.
“No one can swim like that but me.”
“Then apparently, we have an army of mermaids coming in our direction,” James says without a hint of irony in his voice.
His words sober me further. These people … were they forced to become w
hat they are, like I was? Or did they choose it?
It’s not something I can allow myself to consider right now. Either way, they’re coming for us. I force down the swirling nausea in my stomach.
“Nerissa’s been busy,” I mumble, grabbing the comm and radioing the two ships to reveal the bad news.
The ships take an attack formation. From the viewing window, I can see Peter, high in the sky, heading to the ship. He’s well out of range.
“Wendi, Ethan, fire at will!” I yell into the comm.
A blast shoots from the bow of the Tiger Lily and explodes on the water, not reaching the approaching army. Additional fire blasts from the other ships, the blasts reverberating the metal under my feet.
“I’m going on deck to meet Peter,” I say, watching his form growing larger through the viewing window as he approaches.
“I got this,” James assures me. “You do what you need to.”
I pop up from the copilot’s seat and lean into James, pressing my lips to his cheek. “I love you, James,” I say, pulling back. Not hanging around for a reply, I shoot out the cockpit door.
♦ ♦ ♦
On deck, the rough water from the bombing sprays over the sides of the ship. I grab hold of the railing and wait for Peter. He lowers himself to the deck, his face tense.
“Those guys are huge,” he says. “There are probably twenty, all decked out in some kind of armor and weaponry. Must be the first wave.”
“Take out as many as we can before they get here,” I say. “If the soldiers board, we could be sunk.”
A smirk crosses Peter’s lips. “I have an idea.” He catches my arm and guides me back toward the cockpit. Inside, he hails Una, Smeid, and Mateo. “Arya and I will draw them in, closer to the ships. We’ll drive them into one location, then the fleet can launch a full attack on the group.”
Una’s voice sounds through the comm. “We have a personal watercraft onboard the Scylla. Does anyone else?”
Mateo and Smeid confirm they have a set of them on their ships.
“The Tiger Lily has a PWC, too,” Peter says. “I think that would be a better option for you, Arya. You can be armed. I can lead from the sky.”
NeverSea: Echoes of the Lost (Book One) Page 14