NeverSea: Echoes of the Lost (Book One)

by Jenetta Penner

  One by one, we each grab a plasma rifle and cram into the small space not occupied by our vessel. Arya activates a tiny flashlight that’s strapped to her wrist. The white light shines on the back hatch leading into Neverland’s lower levels.

  “Hold up,” I say, looking up in the corner of the chamber. “There’s a camera there. I could’ve sworn it just swiveled.”

  “Relax, Pan,” Smeid says, waving a dismissive hand my way. “This module is dead. Check out the access panel. No lights. It’s dead.”

  “Let’s just get out of the dark and do this.”

  “Hey son, help me out,” Smeid says to James. “It’s rusted a bit.”

  “Yeah, OK,” he agrees, walking to the door.

  They release the hatch as slowly as they can, limiting the anxiety-inducing screeches. Once fully open, we peer around the edge and look out, checking both directions. My side is clear, nothing more than a poorly lit metal corridor with steam venting from the walls.

  “This side is powered,” Arya says, peeking over my shoulder. “Can we take the less creepy path, Smeid?”

  “Yeah. They all lead up eventually.”

  “Our destination is the control center in the middle of the settlement,” I instruct. “Once we get up, we need to move fast. There are surveillance drones everywhere.”

  We reach a stairwell heading up. The words Service Systems are etched into the wall lining the stairs. We barely arrive at the next flight before several armed men shout at us to halt. We don’t even have a chance to draw our weapons. Hot light from their weapons’ scopes blind us as we back into one another.

  My body floods with adrenaline. I can feel myself disconnecting from gravity’s grip on me, but I pull myself back down. They’ll open fire on us if I try anything.

  “Move this way,” a fully-armored fighter says, gesturing with his rifle.

  “Boys, boys,” Smeid says. “I’m not with them. I just bumped into them.”

  “Shut up, Smeid,” a guard with a gruff, muffled voice commands.

  “Ah, great, you do know me,” Smeid scoffs. “I’m more popular than I thought.”

  “Nice, real nice, Smeid,” I growl, rolling my eyes.

  Two of the men grab our rifles. I grip mine for an extra second. The man bares his teeth at me. I release it.

  I count five guards—all with huge rifles—surrounding us as they lead us up three levels and through a long corridor to an area I’m not familiar with. I glance at Arya. James stands in front of her, holding her wrist. Her green eyes have an intensity in them I recognize as her wanting to attack, but before she releases the energy behind those eyes, we stop at a red door with a handprint scanner. The stockier of the guards places his palm on the door. A red light halos around his hand followed by a loud pop sound from inside the door. The man pushes it open and the two men nudge us with the muzzles of their guns, forcing us forward. I could so easily take a few of these guys out, but there’s other people to think about than myself now.

  “Well, look what we have here,” a female voice says from the shadows.

  A chill runs down my spine. That smug, raspy voice is unmistakable.

  Nerissa.

  As if she’s in slow motion, Nerissa strolls into the light in the center of the room. Her brown hair’s fastened into a neat ponytail, her stiff, charcoal lab coat falling to her knees. Bright red heels contrast her dreary outfit.

  “N … no …” Arya stutters. “How?”

  “Oh, my sweet Arya, I’ve missed you, too.” She flicks her attention to me. “Then there’s Peter. You just keep slipping away from me, don’t you? My most successful subjects. I’ve missed our time together.”

  “How did you find us?” James snarls.

  Nerissa twists to James and slowly strides toward him, pausing just out of range. “Son, how could you do this to me? To your father?”

  “I’m not your son!”

  “Oh, that hurts, but I guess you’re right. Still, your father isn’t happy with you.”

  “Enough family reunion crap,” I snap. “Get on with whatever this is.”

  Nerissa grins at me, locking her violet eyes on mine. “Do you really think Mr. Smeid’s little access points were not under my full control? I knew they would come in handy eventually. My mousetrap caught four rodents. Some of my favorite ones, too.”

  Chapter 23

  Arya

  The sight of Nerissa causes my blood to go cold, as if ice water was just shot into my veins. I shiver as she lifts a well-manicured eyebrow, waiting for us to respond. When we stay silent, she waves her hand in the air, and like magic, lights flick on, revealing a small lab with a desk to our left. She pivots on her scarlet heels and struts around the desk, sitting in the chair behind it, a creak breaking the silence.

  “You seem uncomfortable.” She gestures to the pair of metal chairs ahead of the desk and a bench affixed to the wall. “Why don’t you four sit?”

  None of us move.

  “You heard her,” the tallest of the guards orders, motions his weapon in our direction.

  I grit my teeth. Reluctantly, Peter and Smeid take the bench, leaving the two chairs as mine and James’s only options.

  James glances at me and sighs. We walk over and occupy the seats in front of Nerissa. She flashes us a false smile, showing off her perfectly straight, white teeth, and opens the drawer next to her.

  “See? That wasn’t so difficult. I think we’ll be able to work something out we can all be satisfied with.”

  “I... I don’t even know why I’m here,” Smeid lies again. “I told the guards I was here on trading business. I’m meeting a friend.”

  Peter flashes him a death glare and knocks his knee into Smeid’s, hard. Smeid winces.

  Nerissa looks in his direction and her lips pinch. “Save your breath, Smeid. You might need it if I have you walk the plank. People enjoy a little entertainment around here.”

  Smeid’s eyes widen, and he snaps his gaping mouth shut.

  Nerissa removes an object from the drawer and from what I can tell places it in her pocket. The desk blocks me from knowing for sure.

  I scan the lab for a means of escape. Two of the guards are at our back, and two others stand at the doors. One of them is to the right near the lab station, fiddling with our weapons. Now to figure a way to take them all out and get our rifles back before they try to shoot us. Our odds of success are low, probably impossibly so. No way we’d be fast enough.

  “What are you doing with us, Nerissa?” I ask, turning my attention back to her.

  “I’m only glad you’re back home safe, my dear. I’ve been so worried.” She brings her hands onto the desk, interlacing her fingers. Her ponytail’s done up so tightly it pulls at the skin on the sides of her face. That, mixed with her icy stare, makes her appear like a predator patiently stalking her prey.

  “This is not home,” Peter growls.

  Nerissa’s lips quirk into a thin smile. She runs her fingers over the top of the desk. With a flicker, a navy-blue hologram of a girl in a simple dress, sitting alone in a room, appears. The girl’s pretty, with long, dark hair and a slightly rounded face. She has the features of a Pacific Islander, or at least what used to be Pacific Islanders before the sea swallowed their homes.

  Peter leaps from his chair. “Lily.”

  So that’s Lily.

  “Sit down, boy,” a guard behind me growls at Peter.

  Peter lowers himself into his seat, silent, but his tense expression and flushed cheeks tell me he’s about to explode. Peter’s impulsive, but I’m sure he doesn’t plan to risk his girl's life by doing anything stupid.

  Lily’s holograph smiles at something or someone off screen. My eyes are drawn to the flower set in her dark hair. She looks so sweet that I can’t quite blame Peter for being in love with her. I think I want to be her friend, too, already.

  Then Nerissa smiles and ruins the whole thing for me. She snaps off the hologram and I flinch.

  “But this could be y
our home, Peter,” she purrs. “You have friends here.”

  “Don’t you use Lily against me,” Peter says through his teeth. “There’s no way she's choosing to be here.”

  “You saw her. She was happy. Lily is helping our cause. I have her safe in an undisclosed location. Do what’s right, and you can be happy, too.”

  “Tell me where she is, now!”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Nerissa replies evenly. “I’m in control here. So, what do you say? Want to come back to the program?”

  Peter glances at me. “Arya and I are not coming back to your freak-making factory. You stole our lives.”

  Nerissa clicks her tongue. “Why do you view things that way? I improved you. I made your survival on this forsaken planet viable. It’s harsh out in the NeverSea. Every advantage you have, the better off you are. Without them, you’d be nothing. Everyone should be improved.”

  “But we didn’t have a choice,” Peter snarls.

  Nerissa leans back into her seat, her face void of emotion. “Great problems require greater minds to solve them. There's no time for naysayers. I wasn’t going to wait for permission to alter the DNA of people’s kids. But results have changed, improved, and soon, you'll be glad to hear, we won’t require the children at the research station. Due to your sacrifices, the procedures are working on much older subjects.” She waves her hand in the air. “Well, mostly. We still lose a handful here and there. Progress takes commitment.”

  “The merpeople army,” I breathe.

  Nerissa’s eyes light up. “Yes. All that was possible because of you, Arya. You should be proud. The data we received from your success helped us to produce that army. But they need to be stronger. The next step is to combine the underwater capabilities with Peter’s strength and youth. They would be unstoppable.”

  “They all died,” I say.

  “I know.” She shrugs. “It was a loss I was willing to make to get you here. I’ll develop them again—and better.” She leans in closer over her desk. “That’s why we want you to join our little family once more.”

  Pressure builds in my chest. Here I thought Nerissa would probably just kill us, but this is worse. So much worse.

  “And you.” Her focus flicks to James. “Your father has been so worried.” Nerissa stands and saunters around the desk to him. “We need to ensure your loyalty.”

  “I am loyal to my father,” James growls.

  Nerissa ignores him. “Now, I realize that you’ve been in love with Arya for many years, but that’s just not an option. Your place is with us. Your father needs you, and I require your loyalty as well.” She pauses beside James and reaches into the pocket of her lab coat.

  I move to rise, but the barrel of a gun presses into my shoulder, and I drop down.

  Nerissa reveals a small white device I recognize from my time with her. It’s a medical delivery system, but I have no clue what it’s filled with. I doubt it’s good.

  “She’s inject—” I try to warn James, but it’s too late. Nerissa presses the device into James’s neck and it lets out a hiss. She pulls it away and pushes it back into her pocket.

  James slaps his hand to his neck and attempts to bolt from his seat, but the guard is on his tail, too. “What was that?” he yells.

  “Oh, just something so we know where you are.” She pauses and tips her head, looking him over. “And an experiment I’m testing. I’ll fill you in on that later.”

  “You injected a tracker in me?”

  “We should have done that a long time ago. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it. I guess I was too nice. Too trusting.”

  Peter lets out a hoarse laugh. “You’re kidding?”

  “I never kid,” she says flatly, tone matching her emotionless expression.

  James’s face has gone ashen. A bead of sweat trickles over his temple.

  “Are you OK?” I whisper.

  “I don’t feel right.” He rakes a hand through his hair as his breathing quickens.

  I glare at Nerissa. “What did you do to him?”

  “Oh, he’ll survive,” she chuckles. And if you must know, I wanted to test his stress hormones for part of a larger study. We just need to get him into the main lab to download the data and inject the next dose to calm everything down. I figured it would keep the four of you from trying anything along the way.”

  “My father will hear about this,” James seethes, sweat now pouring down his cheeks.

  “Your father is easy to control, just like you will be soon enough,” Nerissa growls.

  My heart aches to help James. If he stays here I have no idea what will happen to him. “Fine, Nerissa. Let’s go.”

  “See how easy that was?”

  I glance at Peter, but he’s distracted, looking back at the guard alongside our weapons. Oh no … what is he going to do?

  “Peter,” I say, and his attention falls back to me. “We have to help James.”

  “Yeah,” he says and raises an eyebrow at Nerissa. “Let’s get this over with.” He and Smeid stand and I move in to James.

  Four of the guards close in on us, weapons trained. The stocky one edges up to Peter. “No funny business, boy.”

  Peter snaps his focus to me, face filled with determination. He’s not going easily. Let the funny business ensue.

  I open my mouth to stop him, but it’s too late. He pushes up from the floor into the air and rockets straight into two guards, slamming them to the ground. I plunk James back into his chair, and he slumps over, making me suck in a breath of worry, but there’s no time for me to do anything else for him.

  “Don’t shoot,” Nerissa screams at the guards. “We need them alive!”

  The other two guards are nearly on top of me. I dodge to avoid their grasp, whipping around to see James out of his seat, suddenly recovered and launching himself behind the desk toward Nerissa. A look of horror blankets her face.

  The electric zip of a blaster rifle discharges and one of the guards in front of me collapses, his own weapon clattering to the tile. They’re either out or dead. I don’t know. Peter stands over the two he attacked, gun in hand. I scramble for the stray weapon as it slides across the floor, snatching it up and rounding on the remaining guards as they lunge for me. I get off a shot and the tall one drops. Another shot echoes from Peter’s direction and the last guard, the one who was with our weapons, is down.

  I turn back to James and find Nerissa slipping out the back door, holding a comm. James is on the floor, passed out. I race to his side.

  “Get back here, you weasel!” Peter shouts. I glance up to see him clutching Smeid by the arm as James strains for air beside me.

  “Help him!” I cry out.

  “We need to get Nerissa,” Peter replies, clutching the gun in one hand and giving Smeid a shake with the other, pushing him toward me and James. “If you care about James at all, Smeid, you need to take care of him now. Hide him before reinforcements come.” Peter releases of him and looks at me. “We must get Nerissa.”

  I know he’s correct. None of this will help James if we fail to stop his stepmother.

  I touch James’s cheek and guilt punches me in the stomach. “Please don’t let him die,” I tell Smeid.

  Smeid sighs. “I’ve known this kid from when he was a minnow. I’ll take care of him. I promise.”

  Although Smeid doesn’t deserve it at this point, I have to trust him.

  Peter grabs my arm and tosses me a rifle. “Let’s go.”

  We race out the door into the corridor and skid to a halt. Several options lay before us; left, right, and straight ahead.

  “We’ll have to split up,” Peter says.

  “No, wait.” I let out a series of sonar clicks, and a visual of a running female forms my brain. “She’s this way.”

  I race the hall to our right, Peter on my heels as I continue tracking her with the sonar. The visual keeps forming in my head like a schematic. Other humans show up in adjoining corridors, but none appear aggressive,
so I block them out.

  “She’s just up there,” I call back to Peter.

  He races ahead, feet lifting from the floor. As he does, the sonar comes back to me again. In front of Nerissa is a possibly armed soldier, and by the shape and size, probably male.

  “There’s a shooter,” I yell, but it’s already obvious to him since a blast flies past us. I weave so it misses me and raise my rifle, sending a return shot. A new sonar click informs me Nerissa has gotten around the shooter. To get to her, we have to go through him.

  Peter has tucked himself into a doorway and I dodge the blasts to get to him. “What’s the plan,” I ask as I lower at his side.

  “There’s just one? Right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Peter grips his rifle tighter. “I’ll take care of him. Go after Nerissa.”

  I don’t even get a chance to answer. He’s already bolted from our shelter. Blasts come from the shooter, but Peter avoids them. He lifts into the air and raises his weapon, letting loose three shots. I prepare myself to run and dash along the corridor.

  Peter lands and the shooter falls forward, dead. Nearly past them, I glance at the man’s limp body and skid to a halt.

  Thacher.

  “That’s James’s father!” I scream at Peter.

  “He was planning to kill us!” Peter yells back. “What were we supposed to do?” He snags my wrist and pulls. “Get Nerissa, remember?”

  But my feet are glued to the floor. I can’t move. All I can do is stare at a man James loves, one he wanted to save.

  There’s no saving him now, and it’s our fault.

  “We have to go. Now,” Peter insists. “She’ll get away.”

  A groan sounds from behind us and I unfreeze, training my weapon as I turn to the sound, then lowering it as I see James slumped over Smeid’s shoulders. His stare is trained on me, then he glances at the body at our feet, eyes growing wide.

  “Dad?”