downward, and only by chance did one of my tentacles sense the scuff of a step. I peeked in a window.
It’s the king!
I didn’t even think twice, I smashed my way in and chased the man who scrabbled down some stairs, the narrow curve too small for my body.
Anger gave me the strength to widen it, smashing at the coral stone, opening it up in time to see the king disappearing yet again.
Wily fucker.
I was getting dry traveling indoors but didn’t want to lose the king. I smashed another stairwell then leaped after him onto a road in pursuit. The rain immediately soothed my flesh, and I yanked and pulled myself after him, level after level until we reached the lowest one, and I finally saw his plan. He had me chasing him towards a harpoon.
Before he could give the command to fire, I whipped out an appendage and snared the king’s ankle.
“Let me go, you overgrown piece of sushi!” he screamed as I dragged him back to me.
I held him up just as the first seeking ocean wave lapped up the stone and washed around me. I could hear the distant screams of the cruise line passengers as they stampeded to escape the sinking island.
As for me, I eyed where the waters ran and followed, diving into a wide aqueduct, uttering a sigh as I dunked myself in water and took a full breath. I submerged the king, too, but the bastard could breathe, so I resorted to giving him a good shake until his eyes bulged, then I pulled him out of the water to ask, Where is she?
Did the king of Atlantis understand kraken like Sasha did?
A sly smile pulled his features. “Kill me, or save your wife? You can’t do both. Even now, I’m sure her cell has filled with water, and she without the gill adaptation she needs to survive. How long can she hold her breath?” The taunt hit me hard.
No. Not again.
My mother had died because my father couldn’t save her. I wouldn’t make the same mistake. The king went flying, and I moved deeper into the aqueduct, slipping into the tunnels under it.
Water rushed in from everywhere. Time had run out.
16
Sasha: Any last smartass words?
The Future: I was right.
I now understood why I saw water in the future. It wasn’t only because of Killian. Yes, the ocean was his fate, but it appeared that it also represented my death.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that the water seeping under the door didn’t bode well for me. I’d not gotten the gill surgery they’d threatened, and now kind of wish I had. Atlantis was sinking earlier than expected.
Help me. I pulled on my power, asking it to show me the different futures, the ways I could escape. The seeing remained silent, showing me only one possibility.
My watery grave.
I pounded on the door even as I tried to grab the magic like I had the night I’d saved Ian. But without the locket, it slipped through my fingers.
The water rose. To my knees now and moving faster.
“Help!” I shrieked. Surely, I wouldn’t die in this cell. There must be a way out.
I saw only water.
And more water.
It rushed into the cell, floating me to the ceiling where I heaved my last few breaths. The water filled the cell completely and yet it remained light. The lichen in the room kept it illuminated.
A wall of water.
My lungs protested. Spots danced in front of my eyes. I thought the shuddering concussions were my body convulsing, but it was rock shifting. The coral of my cell cracked.
A tentacle shot through and grabbed me. I wouldn’t have protested even if I had the strength. I felt myself being propelled through water, my lungs cramping, my lips beginning to part, the feel of air on my damp face just as I inhaled. I sucked in a deep breath, then another.
Not dead.
I know. I was too excited to be alive to yell at my smug seeing.
Ian saved me.
A bright smile crossed my lips as I did my best to hug him. He shuddered. The water churned, red with blood. I gazed in horror as a second harpoon came soaring and hit him.
“Ian! No.”
It hit, and he began to sink, dragging me with him. And me without a full mouth full of air this time.
I felt the strain right away. It wasn’t his fault. He’d come for me. Saved me. Given his life in the process. Because he loved me.
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