by Ann Gimpel
“Thanks for trusting me.” Ketha gave him a quick hug.
He hugged her back before letting go. “It goes beyond the personal,” he told her, his voice solemn. “My ship is in your hands. Do not scuttle her.”
“I’ll do my best.” Ketha tipped her chin at Aura and Zoe and left the bridge, using telepathy to summon the rest of them back to the presentation room.
“Why there?” Zoe asked, hustling after Ketha’s retreating form.
“It’s closest to the water, and we want to make this as attractive as we can.”
“What if they don’t snatch up the bait?” Zoe walked into the auditorium on Ketha’s heels with Aura bringing up the rear.
“All we can do is try.” Ketha stumbled to the front of the room, grabbing passing chairs and couches for support.
The other women filed in. “We should form a circle,” Karin said. “On the floor since I don’t trust chairs not to tip over, and our attention will be elsewhere.”
Zoe scooted to the front and sat cross-legged, extending her hands on both sides. Her stomach twisted into a knot of anxiety, and she swallowed around a thick place in her throat. She’d lobbied for this, but she had no idea how it would pan out. If their sea kin had been tarnished by the Cataclysm, they were about to invite death onto Arkady. Once invited, they’d be harder than hell to get rid of.
Kind of like Vampires. Once you invited them in, you were stuck with them, except it was an urban myth. In truth, they could go anywhere they wanted, invitations be damned.
Zoe’s mind was wandering as a hedge against a pervasive sense of foreboding. They trod a precarious road. Optimism could make or break them. She had to get hold of her fears, funnel them in a positive direction.
Magic flickered through their circle, enhanced by their linked hands. “Talk with your animals,” Ketha urged. “Ask them to petition the sea Shifters on our behalf.”
“What if they can’t find them?” Moira asked.
“Keep trying,” Aura replied. “No more talk.”
Zoe shut her earth eyes in favor of her third eye and offered her coyote free rein. It was excited and apprehensive, but it understood—maybe more clearly than she did—the risks they ran. Tension filled her, feeling like high voltage electricity. It had great potential to either help or burn everything in its path to a lump of expended coal.
Time hung heavy around them. It might have stopped, for all she knew. The air she breathed felt sticky—Rip Van Winkle air that could put all of them to sleep forever. Panic tore through her, and she tightened her grip on Karin’s and Aura’s hands to center her here in this room. Not goddess only-knew-where, mired in the ether threatening to suck them into oblivion.
Ketha surged to her feet. “I feel you,” she cried. “Show yourselves.”
The sensation of choking where the very air spun tendrils holding her in place lessened. Light flashed, golden then silver then pure, bright white, and two figures shimmered into being.
The man wore a robe made of glistening, silver fish scales, belted in gemstones woven with hammered silver. Blue-gray hair fell to his feet, and his eyes reflected the sea, shifting from gray to blue to silver as he regarded them. His companion’s gown sparkled in mother-of-pearl shades. Pearls draped around her neck and dripped from her ears. Snow-white hair was braided with glittering multihued gems and lay close to her head. Silvery eyes regarded them solemnly.
“We are the guardians of all that lives in the sea,” she announced.
Zoe scrambled to her feet and bowed low. “’Tis an honor Amphitrite and Poseidon.” She spoke in old Gaelic, grateful she could match their language. Perhaps they would view it as a sign of deep respect for their heritage.
The other women mirrored her actions and paid obeisance to the king and queen of the sea.
“The Shifters you’ve summoned have not fared well,” Poseidon said in a clear, ringing voice.
“We have taken the few who remain under our protection.” Amphitrite tilted her chin and raised an accusatory finger. “Their plight is your fault.”
“We accept full responsibility for our kinfolk’s actions,” Ketha said. “Even though we didn’t know until it was too late, it doesn’t excuse us.”
“I would be harder on you”—Poseidon’s deep voice resonated like the sea— “were it not for the fact you’ve suffered as well.”
Zoe met his unsettling gaze and took a chance. “Once we understood it was a Shifter casting gone awry that created the Cataclysm, we took steps to correct the problem.”
“Corrected one part, but made others worse.” Amphitrite’s musical voice quivered with sorrow.
“We’re doing our best to fix the secondary fallout too,” Karin said. “We unearthed evil’s primary gateway. If we can get there, we’ll do what we can to shut it forever.”
“You’ll never get that far,” Poseidon said.
“Not on our own, mayhap,” Zoe replied, “but if all Shifters banded together, we’d be stronger.” Her heart thudded hard. Had they done all this for it to come to naught?
The air between Amphitrite and Poseidon took on a sickly, greenish hue. Worry twisted the goddess’s beauty into something harsh. “I told him not to come.”
“As did I.” Poseidon shook his head.
Breath caught in Zoe’s throat, and she sucked hard to move air into her lungs. What was about to break through? Worse, would it emerge with blood in its eyes?
The salt smell of the sea intensified. A coruscation formed, alternating shades of brightness and dark. When it cleared, a dolphin lolled on the floor. Kneeling, Poseidon stabilized it. “You didn’t have to do this, my son.”
“I did,” it croaked.
When Zoe looked closer, she saw large areas of its skin were marred by wounds, and pity cut deep. The creature must be in constant pain.
“Look well, land Shifters. This is what has become of us,” the dolphin intoned. “After a decade of living in waters poisoned by bad magic, I can no longer shift. My skin burns and sloughs off my bones. I am one of fourteen of us left. Within the year, we will be no more.” A gasping wheeze cut off its last few words.
Zoe crawled forward, head bowed. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry won’t offer us a second chance at life, coyote Shifter.” It shook itself, showering her with blood and sea spray.
An idea formed, and she looked up. “Please don’t take this wrong.” She moved her gaze from one monarch to the other. “Have you tried aught beyond magic to cure your Shifters?”
“What might such a thing be?” Amphitrite scoffed. “If magic can’t fix a magical creature, neither can anything else.”
“You have no reason to trust me,” Zoe told the dolphin, “but you have naught to lose, either.”
It turned its head and regarded her with one red-rimmed eye. Zoe took it as assent to move forward. She focused a thread of magic outward and used telepathy to summon Recco and Daide.
“Brilliant.” Understanding lit Karin’s lined face. “Their veterinary skill and my magic just might fix this.”
“Aye, and if we can make the sea Shifters stronger—” Zoe didn’t finish her sentence because the doors at the end of the auditorium burst open, and Recco and Daide ran through.
Chapter Eighteen: Pick Your Poison
Recco had almost bitten his nails down to the cuticle, worrying about what was happening in the bowels of the ship. Viktor and Juan hadn’t made things any easier between pacing and muttering the odd curse in Spanish. He’d wanted to come along with Zoe, but the women made it clear it was only them. Somewhere along the line, Daide joined him on the bridge.
When Zoe’s summons blasted through, he couldn’t scramble down six flights fast enough.
“What do you suppose they need us for?” Daide asked.
“We’ll find out.” Recco shoved the doors open hard enough they slapped against the walls. When he caught a glimpse of the trio sheathed with brilliant light, he stopped dead.
“Come forward,” th
e robed man with hair like living fog commanded.
Recco did, flanked by Daide.
“I am Poseidon, king of the seas. Can you help my Shifter?”
Recco bowed reflexively. So did Daide, who replied, “May I examine him?”
“I can talk,” the dolphin said dryly. “I’m not that far gone.”
“Excellent.” Recco smiled. “It puts you head and shoulders above most of our other patients.”
Daide knelt next to the dolphin and ran his hands gently over its hide, poking and prodding.
“What do you need?” Recco asked his friend.
“Everything,” Daide said tersely and bent to lay his ear over the dolphin’s rib cage.
“I’ll gather supplies,” Karin said. “Whatever you alter, you’ll need me to bind things together with magic.”
Recco hunkered next to the dolphin. “What’s your name?”
“Leif comes closest to what you’ll be able to pronounce.” He coughed and groaned.
Recco placed his hand on a flipper. “Leif, this man”—he glanced at Daide— “is Dr. Diego Vegas. He used to be a world-renowned expert on treating cetaceans. If anyone can cure you, it’s him.”
The dolphin barked, and Recco realized he was laughing. When his mirth subsided, he said, “Never thought I’d end up in a veterinarian’s hands.”
“There are worse places to be,” Daide murmured. “Now, hush. I need to listen to something.”
Karin rushed back into the room and dropped two black leather medical bags next to Daide. “Take a quick look to see if I got everything. Once I link to the dolphin with my magic, it will be best if I don’t leave.”
Daide rustled through the cases, extracting a stethoscope and a few other items. “Looks complete enough, but I could use a microscope and an assortment of basic reagents, so I don’t have to shuttle between here and the lab. Bring whatever you have for injection antibiotics too.”
“On my way.” Ketha hurried from the room.
Recco grabbed another stethoscope and moved to Leif’s other side, probing and listening while reminding himself what he knew about dolphins. Marine mammals, they were susceptible to many of the same diseases that attacked humans.
“What are you doing?” Poseidon stood behind Recco, so close the scents of salt, kelp, and marine life surrounded him.
“Examining him.”
“I’m not stupid, land Shifter. What have you found?”
Recco rocked back on his heels, still squatting next to Leif. “I have a few ideas. Let’s see what Daide thinks. While he’s working, I do have a question.”
“What?” The word rumbled from Leif.
“If you can’t shift, why are you in your animal form?”
Understanding flared from the dolphin’s eyes. “It’s primary for us. Not like you, where your human form grabs ascendency.”
“It’s a pretty big difference,” Daide said and looped the stethoscope around his neck. “Without lab tests to confirm anything—”
“I’m back with one of the scopes and slides and stains,” Ketha called from the doorway, sounding out of breath. “And drugs.”
“This isn’t the human world,” Leif huffed out. “Absent laboratory results, what’s your assessment? I’m not going to sue if you get it wrong.”
“I’m not in the habit of getting things wrong.” Daide’s nostrils flared in annoyance. “What I believe happened is this. The Cataclysm knocked holes in your immune system, leaving you open to major parasitic infections.”
Recco nodded. When he’d listened to the dolphin’s chest, he’d been almost certain the creature was infested with lungworms. Trematodes could have attacked its digestive system too, from liver to pancreas to stomach and intestines, raking off nutrition before the dolphin could make use of it.
“Parasites? It can’t be quite so simple,” Leif protested. “They don’t kill their host. If they did, they’d lose their food source.”
“True enough,” Daide agreed, “if you only had one type of parasite, but they’re opportunistic little bastards, and I suspect you have both lungworms and trematodes, which means two of your major organ systems are compromised. The only reason you’re still alive is it’s not in their best interest to kill you, but left unchecked...”
He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t have to. Leif knew he was dying.
“Can you fix it?” Amphitrite hovered next to her consort.
“I can knock out the parasites. At least I think I can. I haven’t looked through what we have for drugs.” Daide spoke slowly. “Not sure how to address the original issue, which is a non-responsive immune system.”
“Which is where I come in,” Karin said. “If magic destroyed it, I bet I can come up with a counter spell.”
“It’s not only me,” Leif cautioned. “I’m one of fourteen. Five whales and eight other dolphins.”
Karin joined the group on the floor. “If we can fix what’s amiss with you, we simply do the same thing for everyone else. How do you feel about being a guinea pig?”
“If it means you learn enough to save everyone else, I’m game.” He thrashed weakly.
Daide regarded him. “You need to be back in the ocean, fellow.”
“Agreed, but you can’t treat me there.”
“Sure I can—so long as they have dry suits and oxygen tanks on board. Recco, could you—?”
“On my way, amigo.” He dashed from the room, remembering all the times he and Daide had donned diving gear and taken care of marine life. Of course, it had been in somewhat warmer waters. Surely, Daide was expecting Recco to join him. He hadn’t said as much, but when they worked underwater, it was always as a team. Otherwise, manipulating instruments and medications in an aquatic environment was close to impossible.
He burst onto the bridge. Before he could get a word out, Viktor and Juan peppered him with questions. Boris and Ted were on the bridge too, listening to his replies and trading incredulous looks, particularly after he told them the king and queen of the sea from Greek mythology were onboard.
“Hate to cut you off.” Recco broke into Viktor’s never-ending stream of questions. “The reason I’m here is we need polar diving gear. Do you have any onboard?”
“What on earth for?” Juan asked. “I thought you said the dolphin was inside.”
“I did, and it is, but it’s not doing very well. It needs to return to the sea, and the treatment Daide has in mind requires time to run medication through an IV. It won’t be very comfortable, and the dolphin—Leif—will fare far better if his rib cage isn’t being half-crushed by his own weight.”
“We used to have gear,” Juan said. “Keep your fingers crossed the dry suit seals haven’t dried and cracked. You can’t be in these waters without a fully encased suit with lots of layers underneath. It’s too cold.”
“I know. Let’s have a look at what you’ve got.”
“Come on.” Juan moved fast as he left the bridge.
Recco had a hell of a time keeping up with him and fighting the rolling, pitching ship. “Do you have a protected way in and out of Arkady?” he asked. “Or will we need to brave the gangway?”
Juan came to a halt in front of one of many metal storage lockers and spun the combination dial until the lock sprang open. “Good question. There’s an airlock system we could use on the far side of the engine room, except it hasn’t been opened in ten years, and I’m not sure about the integrity of the seals. They’re fine now when everything is shut tight, but—”
“Never mind. We’ll figure something else out.” Recco rooted through the cabinet pulling out dry suits in large sizes and O2 tanks.
“I’ll take the tanks and make sure I can pressurize them.” Juan walked to a wall-mounted nozzle inside a locked glass cabinet and dredged a key from beneath it. Once it was open, he looped hosing out and flicked a switch. The distant hum of a compressor flared to life.
Recco bent over two suits, examining them for telltale cracks that could fail. One looked o
kay. The other one didn’t, so he dug through the pile in the huge locker and came up with another promising candidate, adding two masks to the pile.
Juan looked up from the compressed air tanks and their attached pressure regulators. “Still good, although I’m not certain how. Regulations require these be replaced every couple of years, whether they’ve had a problem or not.” He cast a sidelong glance at Recco. “Please tell me the two of you are certified divers.”
“We are, but even if we weren’t...” He shrugged.
Juan narrowed his eyes. “Did the dolphin or Poseidon and what’s her name say they’d help us in return?”
“Amphitrite. No, they didn’t.” Recco tucked the suits under an arm, gave the masks to Juan, and made for a stairwell. “No guarantees on either side. We might miscalculate with the dolphin Shifter. He’s weak, and he’s not just a dolphin. Daide will have to guess at the dose of medication. And then Karin’s timing will need to be spot-on. If she can’t undo the magic that tore holes in his immune system to begin with, Leif will be in a worse place from where he started, and a new batch of parasites will rush into the breach.”
“Why worse?”
“Antibiotics to treat parasites work on the theory they kill the bugs before they kill you. A working rule of thumb is lowest possible dose for shortest possible time, but we don’t have that luxury here. Daide will have to guess right on dosage. Too much will kill him. Too little won’t have much effect.”
Juan paced him. “You mentioned Karin. You don’t have three suits. And I only brought tanks and masks for you and Daide. Will she dive too?”
“Since she’ll be working with magic, I’m hoping she can do her part from inside the ship.” Recco stopped shy of articulating he and Daide would have to work damned fast. Their time underwater was limited. Cold water meant a higher air consumption rate. They’d expend more energy and become fatigued faster. Cold would also decrease their manual dexterity and eventually erode their mental processes, making them sluggish.
“Do you want me or Vik to come along?”
Juan’s question broke into Recco’s thoughts. He considered it but couldn’t justify putting a third man at risk, particularly one who was instrumental in piloting the ship. “Probably not.”