As we enter a room, I notice other sets of eyes taking us in. One set is familiar and I’m glad that the odds might possibly be in my favor at the moment. Alex nods as I glance his way.
I scan the other faces, and my eyes meet the gaze of Metea. The disgust on her face speaks volumes about how she feels at my appearance. Sara squeezes my hand but I don’t look over. I continue staring at Metea. Yes, childish, a stare down is definitely not appropriate here but she needs to know I mean business. The silence spreads for minutes but is finally broken when someone enters behind me and clears his throat. When he speaks her eyes immediately avert to him dismissio hrance. Sarng me as if I’m inconsequential.
His deep booming voice announces, “I’m told we have unexpected visitors.”
I turn not wanting any kind of threat behind me where I can’t see it. I’m shocked at the resemblance this guy has to Jaspen. He is taller and bulkier but there is a very good chance they are related. I’m wondering now if this plot is about to grow even thicker.
He speaks clearly, “I heard Jaspen’s grandson had the audacity to come into my city. I had to see this with my own two eyes.”
I feel Sara’s hand squeezing mine as if her life depends on it. My blood starts to boil just a little at the threatening tone of this guy. Obviously, I am not welcome here. Before I can answer, I feel a hand on my shoulder and Alex’s voice. This is a good thing because I was planning to tell him off.
“Roman, I’m so glad you could join us. This is James. Yes, he is Jaspen’s grandson and your nephew. He has come to help us, not harm us.”
This Roman dude swims around me reminding me of dogs puffing out their chests checking each other out. He is pretty threatening if I’m truthful. Finally, he settles in front of us and looks down at Sara as if he just noticed her presence.
“Did you bring him here?”
She looks at me uneasily and unclasps our hands bowing her head to him, “I did, he has been close to Jaspen, he knows how Jaspen plans.”
It suddenly hits me. Once again I have been used. I glare at her knowing she won’t dare turn her head in my direction.
Roman looks to me and asks, “Is this true or are you here to take information back to Jaspen?”
I dismiss Sara from my mind for the moment. I’m such a pushover.
I answer simply, “I’m not here for Jaspen.”
He seems satisfied with my answer and turns to look over my shoulder, “Alex, meet me in the planning room in fifteen minutes.” Alex nods and Roman leaves not giving me or Sara a second glance.
Alex settles in front of me. But all I can do is stare at Sara. She did it again and I fell for it. She keeps her eyes averted staring at the marbled floor.
Alex clears his throat, “AHH James, we need to talk.”
I look up at him and see the seriousness in his face. I follow him out not giving Sara another moment of my time. I’m done. She won’t get anything else from me.
Alex leads us across the hall to another room, much smaller than the room we left. It is pure white with rock structures that look like chairs built into the walls. I sink onto a chair, realizing my energy has been depleted. Alex hovers in front of me, “James, I’m guessing you are not here to help this city.”
I frown looking at the floor I didn’t notice before. How they built with marble under the sea, I haven’t a clue. After a minute of silence I finally look up and shake my head slightly.
“They view you as a threat. I can appease them for only so long before they suspect why you are really here.”
I glare at him, “How is it that you can fight against my sister if you care for her so much?”
He slides into the chair beside mine shaking his head.
He responds quietly, “You don’t get it do you? I tried to get her to come with me but she chose to stay. “
I’m starting to get angry with him, “You could have stayed and helped. You know they will need all the help they can get.”
He shakes his head, getting up suddenly and replies angrily, “She made her choice. I can’t help her anymore.”
He starts to leave the room but turns slightly and sighs, “I would suggest you leave the city as soon as possible. I guarantee Roman will see right through you.”
He leaves and the water settles around me. Guess I’m on my own after all.
Chapter 17
Ever
Opening my eyes to the light slowly gathering through the water, I realize today is it. The day I have to say good-bye. It’s not really good-bye I tell myself, it’s more of a when I am done, hello to forever. But we have to get to that point first and I have to do the one thing I suck at so completely, acting like someone I’m not. I roll over in Jack’s arms and face him. His breath ripples the water and tickles my cheek. I smile at how wonderful he is. He is so accepting of every little flaw. How in the world did I get so lucky?
His eyes flutter open as if on cue. He doesn’t flinch or back away in surprise. He lays there staring at me with the clearest, bluest eyes. We lay there for a few minutes before he breaks the silence, “Ever, I absolutely adore you.” My heart soars and wavers at his words. This is going to be so hard.
As if he can read my mind, he utters, “Today is going to be one of the hardest days of my life.”
I hold my breath afraid that if I let myself breathe, a sob will come out.
His hand lightly brushes my cheek and he lowers his lips to mine. Finally, I let myself breathe and tenderly kiss him.
We break apart and his gaze focuses on me but I can tell he is somewhere else.
“Ever, If Alex lets anything happen to you, I will kill him.”
He looks away and back really seeing me this time.
I nod my head, no words are necessary. I’m not thrilled to be leading Alex on again. This time for real but it has to be done. Or so I tell myself. I know Alex won’t let anything happen to me. Hopefully he won’t see through my terrible acting. I can’t voice any of my worries to Jack because I know this whole thing is so hard for him already.
He gets up and pulls me with him. I follow him out toward the kitchen not letting his hand go the entire time.
***
We enter the Erebus caves and I shudder at the thought of being on my own in an unknown place. Jaspen meets us in his new favorite room, the one filled with maps. He must feel powerful in there or something. Truth be told, I wouldn’t be showing off the fact that a city twice the size of this one is coming to defeat us, but I never really understood Jaspen.
“Ever, there you are, yet again, the most important person in our fight.”
I catch the look on Jack’s face as he hears this. It seems like a touch of fear. I have to assure them both that I can do this. I push back my shoulders and try to make myself a little taller.
“Yep, that’s me.” My voice does not exude the confidence I need, at least not in my ears.
Jaspen chuckles, which seems to annoy Jack even more. Maybe Amber was right. Maybe he is going to do an ‘Ever’ and lose it when I’m gone. I definitely can’t let that happen. I grab his hand and squeeze a little tighter than I mean to.
He looks over startled, “Whoa there killer.”
I smirk uneasily and loosen my grip.
He brings my hand to his lips and kisses it gently.
“Hey, it’s going to be alright.”
When exactly did the tables turn here? A minute ago I was afraid Jack was going to lose it, now suddenly I’m teetering on the edge.
Jaspen speaks up amused by our little interlude, “Do you understand what you need to do?”
I nod repeating what he told me the other day, “Find Alex and when I get there convince him that I changed my mind about…being with him.” My voice cracks at the last part. I’m sad that Jack must hear this. It betrays us.
I continue, “Find out their plan of attack when, and how many people they have fighting, and what weapons they are using.”
Jaspen responds, “Yes, and don’t forget…”<
br />
We both say at the same time, “Find out who is leading this attack.”
He turns and tells us, “I’ll leave you to say your good-byes.”
As the door closes Jack gathers me in his arms. His touch shoots the familiar sparks through my body and I focus as they travel down my fin and up into my neck. He lowers his face to my ear and whispers, “Ever, I love you. You are my heart. Please come back to me.”
A tear rolls down my cheek. I move my face so my lips meet his and we kiss. This definitely will not be our last.
We pull apart and his hand lingers caressing my cheek.
my face 3em">“I’ll see you soon.”
I smile and tell him, ‘I love you!”
I back away and close my eyes before I can have second thoughts. I feel his hand fall from my face and focus on the water far away to the South. It stirs around me and I can tell before I open my eyes that the light in the water has changed positions. I open my eyes and see the most incredible and scary sight all at the same time. The city is far in front of me. It is immense and beautiful. My stomach does a flip and I tell myself, stay strong.
The city grows as I get closer and the impending doom creeps through my bones. I keep telling myself this is for Jack though and I swim on. I would have different thoughts about this place if I were here under different circumstances. It really is so incredible. Many of the buildings put Jaspen’s city to shame even when they were still intact. About a half mile from the city I notice other mer-people swimming through the water on the edges of the city where the buildings are sparse. I really don’t want to draw any attention to myself so I duck behind a rock structure close by. I think about Alex, wondering if he will accept my lie or see right through me and send me back. I shake the doubt away and try to formulate a plan.
Knowing that ‘traveling’ works with places, I wonder if it will work with people. There’s a thought. I close my eyes praying this works and picture Alex. His broad shoulders, now short, blonde hair and bright green eyes appear in my mind. The water around me stirs. I’m afraid to open my eyes but I force them. Standing across the room from me is a startled but very amused Alex. It worked! I take a deep sea breath and tell myself, Okay, it’s show time Ever.
Chapter 18
James
Alex gave me fair warning to leave and I took heed of it. I believe that this Roman guy means business. To top it off, I’ve pretty much lost any ally I thought I had in Sara. I guess I’m on my own. This pretty much sucks. The shit I do for my sister, you would think she’d appreciate me more.
I close my eyes thinking about my new plan. If Alex won’t help me and Sara can’t, I’ll just have to find help elsewhere. I open my eyes momentarily losing my focus. She did it again. Sara betrayed me again and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I should have known. I vow, no chick will ever get that close to me again.
I close my eyes again trying to focus on one thought. The Erebus caves aren’t far from Jaspen’s city. There must be some around here as well, anything, to get me far away from here. Here’s just hoping if there are, they are Erebus and not Lior. I picture the outside of the city. Not much to go on but it’s all I’ve got. The water stirs around me and I know I’ve changed locations. my not Lan>
I open my eyes and find large foreboding caves centered in front of me. Here goes nothing. I glide to the entrance and knock on the wide bronze door. Not a soul is around which is odd. Even on the worst day, Jaspen always had Erebus monitoring the outside of the caves. No one comes to the door so I try the curved handle. It turns easily and the door swings inward. The room in front of me is grand on a different scale. It is rustic looking. The walls and floor look like they are made of planks of wood, reminding me of the deck on a ship. The ceiling rises up into the sea with transparent glass. This, I’m finding is the same no matter where we are. Mer-people appreciate the view above them.
I carefully glide into the room taking it all in. The one thing that’s missing is the people. As I roam around, I let my guard down a little which turns out to be a mistake on my part.
I turn a corner and find myself greeted by the point of a spear. The shock that I just about swam into this spear quickly turns to anger. I’m about to hit someone or at the very least yell at whoever would allow this when my eyes roam over the small, milky, white hands holding onto the end of the spear. My eyes follow the small arms up to meet clear, scared, green eyes. She is just about the cutest girl I have ever seen. I’m taking her in as she speaks to me in a sweet voice and all I can do is grin.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
I just stare at her and my upturned mouth goes completely dry. How this is possible under water, I have no idea but I feel as if cotton is filling my cheeks.
She repeats her questions with more anger, “What are you doing in these caves? Who are you?”
I try and clear my throat to find my voice. I must look like such a prick grinning at her like this but it’s all I can do. She is so adorable and holding that spear that is almost too big for her. I’m entranced and I can’t pull myself out.
As I speak, I push the point of the spear away from my face to avoid any mishaps.
Finally my voice cracks as I introduce myself, “Hi, my name is James.”
“Why are you here?”
I have to be careful with the answer to this one. If she is a Lior, I could be in big trouble. I look her up and down trying to decide which side she might be on. Her fin is an array of blues and greens shimmering with the movement of the water around us. She is wearing a blue bikini top but it’s partially covered by her long dark, almost black, hair. I look back up into her face and notice a straight perfect little nose and small pink lips.
I decide to chance it. She looks like she could be on either side.
“I’m looking for the Erebus that live here…”
She cuts me off breathlessly, “Why do you want to see the Erebus? Did Roman send you?”
And the spear swings back into my face, inches away from my cheek.
I push it away with more resistance this time and smirk at her, “Hey, watch it with that, you could put an eye out.”
She frowns and raises her voice slightly, slowly enunciating each word, “I asked, why. do. you. want. to. see. the. Erebus?”
I want to just laugh at the feistiness of this girl but that will probably get me poked with that spear. I’m truthfully not even sure she could do any damage, she’s so petite.
“I’m not a threat, I can guarantee that. I just want to talk to whoever is in charge. “
She snidely asks, “What makes you think I’m not in charge?”
I can’t help it; a small chuckle escapes my lips. The spear swings back around and sticks a few inches into my arm. I watch, shocked as blood seeps into the water. I know this is nothing to my body because of my healing abilities but she doesn’t. I’m about to go off on her when I watch as the spear falls to the floor and her hand covers her opened mouth. She obviously didn’t mean to hurt me. Her eyes are so worried. She surprised herself more than me. I decide to have a little fun. Putting on my best agonized look, I grab my arm as if in pain. I’m enjoying this way too much.
She swims over to me and places her hand on my arm. A jolt shoots straight through my arm causing me to fall back against the wall. The look on her face is sheer disbelief. Whether it be that she unintentionally hurt me with the spear or the obvious electricity that just seared my skin, I don’t know.
I ask, “What was that?”
She shakes her head not seeing me as if lost in thought for a moment.
Finally, she focuses on me and swims slowly toward me again. I’m reluctant to let her get closer. I take my hand off of my arm having forgotten about the spear injury and open my mouth to ask again about the shock.
She glances to my arm and her features darken.
“Were you faking that I hurt you?”
I look surprised and realize it’s all healed up.
I shake my head,
“No, I…uh… it was just a tiny flesh wound.”
She comes closer still, examining my arm without touching me. She looks up into my eyes and claims, “But I saw blood, a lot of blood and…”
She reaches out to touch it and I flinch, waiting for the shock again. When her finger grazes me, a jolt shoots up my arm but it feels good and it doesn’t last. It turns into something else. I feel the energy travel to my neck and down my fin. Her finger lingers on my arm and it’s as if we’re frozen for a moment. When she pulls her hand back, I feel as if a part of me was just taken away, the warmth is gone and I suddenly want it back.
Get a grip, James. What the hell is wrong with you? Oh yeah, that’s right, you chose to follow crazy girl down here and now you’re in over your head, way deeper than ever before.
She looks at me suddenly scared and speaks up disturbing my thoughts, “Where is the cut? There should be a cut. I saw the spear go into your arm.”
Forever Breathing (Just Breathe #3) Page 7