Waveborn

45

                  

Cass resurfaced beside the rock where she'd left the Matriarch with Selena and Jason. It was empty. She tried to yell and couldn't; she had to cough the water from her body before she could speak. "Jason! Selena!"

Pounding surf roared in answer.

She dove again, opening her mouth and letting water rush into her lungs. Her chest burned with it, squeezed impossibly tight, but she kicked deeper and deeper, straining her eyes against blackness for some glimpse of where they'd gone.

Water surged against her and she hunched into a ball to avoid unseen danger. Silky skin bumped her hand and a silky touch brushed her mind. Even with the glow of her skin, she could see almost nothing, but she could feel him. Amak, her beautiful, powerful Amak, gliding past, brimful of confusion. She could feel his thoughts—wordless questions, uncertainty, fear, rising anger—and she felt the depth of his passion for her. A thick sensation—protection—folded around her mind. He wanted to protect her.

Yes! She shoved the thought at him as the word bubbled from her mouth. Yes, protect me! Help me. I need help. I need to find Jason.

Confusion pulsed back from him.

Jason, the dark-haired one. And Selena. I need to find them. The Matriarch has them. She focused all her energy on envisioning them and the sense of his confusion solidified into something sharper.

He shoved his nose against her side and pushed her backward through the water. She floundered and spun. Was he taking her toward them? Amak rolled sideways before giving her another shove.

She couldn't see anything but the bubbles that swirled in his wake. What was he doing? She pushed images of Selena and the Matriarch at him again, but they bounced back from his mind tinged in red.

Panic rose in her. He wasn't helping. He was trying to get her away. He was trying to protect her—because he was afraid. He was afraid of the Matriarch.

No, no, no! Cass tumbled in the turbulence of the orca's movements but she couldn't get past him. On his next pass, she caught one of his pectoral fins. With the contact she felt his mind upon hers, crimson with fear.

"Why?" she yelled. The word belched out of her, water through water. No air remained in her lungs. "Why? Help me, Amak!"

His answer surged through her with such strength that it blinded her to everything but the vision washing over her. The water's touch faded; the blue glow winked out.

She saw the water's surface from beneath, as a whale would view it. Whitecaps danced about the gray of a boat hull; rain pitted and marked the water's surface. She broke through to air, where she could see the sailboat in its entirety: a keelboat with sails reefed and motor in the water, riding upon rough seas.

But that wasn't what she—what Amak—was watching. She was watching a woman who stood near the rail, facing forward, gripping one of the wire side stays that held up the mast. She'd gathered copper-colored hair into a fat ponytail with a halo of loose strands flying about her face.

A man sat at the boat's rear, at the tiller. Bright yellow foul weather gear covered him from neck to ankles, but the thrown-back hood showed his face, her father's face, turned up to the rain and set in lines of unhappiness.

As Cass watched, a thin figure rose from the water at the rear of the boat. Cass recognized the Matriarch instantly, even though her hair was red instead of white, and even though it hung loose instead of braided. Cass wanted to scream warning, but the thought barely registered before the sound reached her. The Matriarch, singing. Her father slumped.

Cass struggled against the sweeping vision and the memory skipped forward. She saw a flash of the Matriarch throwing herself at the other woman, the red-haired woman who must be her mother. Another flash: white-fingered hands closed around her mother's neck. Her mother's body slid to the deck, tumbled overboard.

Another flash and the Matriarch emerged from below with a red-haired child on her shoulder. Another: Dan attacking her, the Matriarch singing again, Dan's hand raking parallel scratches down the side of her face. The child slid and fell, backward into the sea.

The vision ended, leaving Cass dizzy. Amak held her at the water's surface and she wrapped her arms as far around him as she could reach. Tears slid from her eyes and across his dark skin.

But Selena had shown her. She'd seen her father strangle her mother...no, she realized, she'd seen him attack the woman carrying her. Carrying Selena, who had been half-asleep. It hadn't been their mother carrying her. It had been the Matriarch. That's who Dan had attacked. He was trying to protect her.

"Amak." Her voice emerged a croak; air and water fought in her lungs. "My father didn't do it. The Matriarch killed my mother. Not him."

His sadness pulsed through her.

Cass pushed back. "The Matriarch is going to kill Jason, too, if we don't stop her. Please. Don't let her kill anyone else."

A tremor shivered through his body. Then, slowly, he submerged.

Cass held tight to his fin as they moved past rising columns of rock. Another glimmer of light shone ahead, a yellow triangle in the swirling foam where the surge hit the rocks. Even down a dozen feet, Cass had to fight the waves' push and drag to keep them from ripping her away from Amak. She kicked forward with every incoming wave and pressed herself to the orca's side to keep from being dragged backward when the water receded.

The light glowed from a wave-carved tunnel that arced upward through the rocks. It was too narrow for Amak to follow. He didn't want her to enter, but when she pressed her forehead to his, he reluctantly moved aside.

Inside, the waves lost their strength and Cass pulled herself hand over hand through the passage. Her skin still pricked with lights; she hoped desperately that no one was looking as she moved forward and up, forward and up, until she reached the water's surface, a pool only a few feet in diameter. The bottom sloped to dry rock beyond the pool's edge.

She eased to standing, swallowing a cough.

She stood in one corner of an immense cavern that stretched nearly a hundred yards to one side and even farther than that ahead of her. The whole place echoed with the distant growl of surf. Torches were set against the near wall, and their flames sparked cobalt, aqua, ultramarine, jade, a thousand colors off walls and ceiling brilliant with reflections. She lifted a hand to the nearest wall, half-convinced it was an illusion. The world didn't really hold jewel-encrusted caverns; that was the stuff of fairy tales.

Like mermaids and sirens?

When her fingers met the wall, the surface didn't disappear, but she realized she wasn't seeing jewels. The colors reflected from a hundred thousand pieces of sea glass.

But the cavern, however wonderful, seemed to be empty.

She moved away from the torches to explore the far side of the room; the farther she moved, the less she could see. Her shin knocked into something and she bit her lip to keep from swearing. The thud already rang too loud in the echoing space. She bent to feel what she'd run into and ran her hands across something rough and wooden, crossed with cold metal bands. A box, maybe? She needed one of the torches. She couldn't see anything.

Sound echoed from ahead and she saw what she hadn't noticed before: another glow not cast from the torches she could see. Silently, she moved toward it. The cavern wall curved beside her, until it revealed a stone archway. The light came from beyond it—and voices. She definitely heard the sound of voices. She crept across the open space until she could see into the space beyond.

Not five feet from her, Jason sprawled across uneven stone, water pooled around him. Water and—and bones, Cass realized ingrowing horror. He was surrounded by a scattering of bones.
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A/N
Thanks for all the sweet messages and comments--they really mean a lot! Special thanks to @zofzofus -- you've been an amazing encouragement :D

Life's a little crazy with the holidays, but I'll try to update this weekend. Feel free to message me with a reminder! And if you enjoy, please share and vote :) :) :)