Deep Sea Creatures

Part 11

Jack was so happy to see Mark, but the fear slowly crept into his heart.  Mark was here!  He shouldn't be!  Magdalena and The Seeker were looking for him.  Jack banged his hands against the glass, telling Mark in a rush of panic.  "Mark, you can't be here! They are looking for you"!  Mark stared back at him looking confused as he waved his hands by his ears.  Jack stared back trying to decipher what he meant.  He couldn't hear him?  The glass must have been too thick.  Mark pointed to a door beside the tank.  Jack shook his head, trying to stop him.  However, Mark was already quickly moving toward the door.  Jack smacked the glass in frustration as he saw the door swing open.  Pushing away from the glass, Jack quickly swam up to the hatch.  Listening to the soft thudding against the metal grates.  Jack touched the hatch door in anticipation. 

Jack felt the hatch vibrate and when it opened, he felt his heart stop.  Rushing up to the surface, Jack reached out to touch Mark's legs.  Mark took hold of Jack's arms, asking really worried.  "Jack? Are you alright"?  Jack moved his hands to Mark's chest, pleading out desperately.  "Mark, you've got to get out of here! You have to get as far from me as you can"!  Mark stubbornly shook his head, snapping back.  "No! We are leaving together".  Jack wanted to keep fighting him about this... but it wasn't any good.  Mark was already pulling him up out of the tank.  Mark laid Jack across the metal grates and Jack whined out softly.  "Mark, it's no use. I can't walk. I'm soaked. Just leave me".  Mark rolled his eyes, bitterly snapping back.  "Stop saying that. I'm carrying you out of here. We'll worry about you walking later". 

Mark wrapped his arms under Jack, lifting him off the floor.  Jack laid his head in the nape of Mark's neck with a small smile.  It gave him so much hope being in Mark's close embrace.  Mark was risking everything to save him.  The Seeker was wrong.  Mark did love him.  Mark started to head down the steps, when a light streamed under the door.  Someone was patrolling.  Mark cursed softly, turning around to head back as Jack whispered to him.  "Back that way. There is a back door that they brought me in through".  Mark quickly made his way over to the other stairs and started down them.  When the room suddenly filled with an eerie fog that seemed to come out of nowhere.  Jack gasped, clawing at Mark's shirt desperately.  He recognized this type of fog.  A sirens fog. 

The fog grew so thick the Mark was having trouble seeing even him.  Mark's arms tightened around Jack as the Seeker's voice eerily drifted around the fog.  "I had a feeling that someone would try to rescue him. I thought it would be his daddy. Maybe even a sibling. But I never thought that it would be you".  Jack wrapped his arms around Mark's neck as he pleaded out to the Seeker.  "Please, just let us go? Whatever wish Magdalena promised you... My dad can match it! This doesn't have to be like this"!  The Seeker's laugh crackled through the air like thunder, before he stated seriously.  "What do you take me for, lil' prince? I'm a 'Seeker'. A hunter. A collector. You're daddy would kill me on sight. Any promises you make me are worthless. I'm not willing to take that chance". 

Jack caught a dark figure drifting through the fog with bright purple eyes and begged him.  "Please! I'm telling you the truth"!  Jack lost sight of the figure, but heard him say loudly.  "It won't happen. My power is limited to controlling only the hearts of humans. With my wish... I want to influence all. The hearts of mankind, beasts, and creatures. It will make my job of capturing so much easier. Still think daddy will grant my wish"?  Jack's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.  There was no way his dad would grant that.  Jack felt a chill across his back, turning to look behind him into bright purple eyes.  Jack jumped in surprise and then began to panic.  The Seeker was humming a very haunting tune.  Jack's dad had told him that a siren's power laid in their voice.  That's how he got Mark the first time. 

The idea jerked at Jack's heartstrings.  The song did nothing to him... but Mark.  Jack turned to Mark, covering his ears and trying to get him to look at him.  Mark's eyes were turning purple.  The Seeker's voice was already taking hold of him.  Desperately, Jack yelled out to him.  He hoped his voice would over power the Seekers.  Mark's eyes flickered for a moment and Jack kept yelling his name.  It was working!  When a hand grabbed Jack's wrist and yanked him out of Mark's arms.  Jack hit the cement floor hard.  The Seeker gracefully stepped over him to cup Mark's face as he continued to hum.  Jack forced himself to move, thrashing his tail to knock the Seeker away from Mark.  However, his tail went right through the Seeker's misty body.  An illusion.  Another trick that Sirens had.  One of the reasons the sailors feared them. 

Jack watched in horror as the illusion slowly lead Mark back up the steps.  While a low voice in the mist told Jack smugly.  "Did you know, lil' prince, that one of my gifts as a wizard is that I can sense your greatest fears".  Jack's heart began to race as he forced himself to crawl across the floor.  He knew what the Seeker was going to do.  There was only one thing Mark feared more than anything.  Adrenaline coursed through Jack's veins as he fought to climb up the steps with every bit of strength he had.  The illusion held Mark's shoulders in a tender embrace, backing Mark over the open hatch.  Jack tried to call out Mark's name, but Mark couldn't see or hear him.  Mark stood on the water and very slowly the illusion lowered him in.  Mark closed his eyes seeming so willing as he was pushed completely under. 

After a second or two, Mark's arms burst from the water to grab at anything within reach.  His hands going right through the illusions arms that held him under.  Jack continued to crawl toward the hatch as the Seeker's voice chimed out happily to him.  "Save him, lil' prince! He's drowning! Here. I'll make it easy for you".  Jack saw a figure suddenly shimmer into view at his side.  The Seeker's real body.  The Seeker dropped a beautiful gold dagger in front of him.  Jack shoved the dagger out of his way and continued to crawl for the hatch.  The illusion suddenly faded away as Mark's hands sank lifelessly into the tank.  Jack grabbed the side of the hatch and yanked himself over the edge.  Splashing water everywhere as he fell into the tank.  Twisting around in the water, Jack swam as fast as he could toward Mark.  He looked unconscious. 

Taking Mark's arm, Jack pulled him back up to the surface quickly.  The moment they burst to the surface, Jack smacked his hand against Mark's back until he spit water across the grates.  Mark began to gasp violently, but Jack only got a moment to sigh in relief.  The Seeker dropped the dagger into the water, telling Jack very seriously.  "I can wait. You can't save him from death. And I can prove it".  The Seeker grabbed the hatch lid and brought it down over them.  Jack and Mark both shot their hands up to stop it, but Mark had no leverage to really help.  Leaving Jack to do it all himself, but he was already so weak from crawling to the tank... That he couldn't keep it open.  The hatch slammed shut and Jack panted heavily.  He was both tired and terrified.  With the hatch closed there was no air in the tank. 

Mark had his eyes closed, clawing at the side of the tank as he tired to hold his breath.  Jack swam quickly around the tank, looking for anything he could use to get air in... but there was nothing.  Jack saw the glint of the gold dagger on the tank floor, but ignored it.  He wouldn't do it.  They couldn't make him!  Mark moved back to the hatch door and banged his fights against it.  He was loosing air fast.  Jack swam over to Mark to try and calm him down.  Jack grabbed his shoulders, but Mark was starting to claw his throat.  Jack's brain was going a mile a minute.  He knew all the Merfolk stories... but were they true?  He could only think of one that might help.  Cupping Mark's face, Jack pressed his lips against Mark's.  Mark calmed down in shook just enough for Jack to inhale through his nose and exhale carefully into his mouth. 

Jack had water and air lungs.  His body could convert the water into oxygen.  It took a minute for Mark to realize what he was doing, but he eventually got it.  Mark had to exhale through his nose, but he was at least able to breathe.  Jack couldn't believe it was working.  He had taken a huge risk.  Mark's hands slipped around his waist and Jack shivered.  He had been so focused on saving Mark's life that it had slipped his mind.  He was technically kissing Mark for the first time.  A blush burned across Jack's cheeks and all the way up to the points of his fin ears.  He never thought his first kiss with Mark would be anything like this.  To Be Continued...