Above World - By Jenn Reese Page 0,64

seal. There wasn’t much air inside, so she swam swiftly.

They caught up to another group of Deepfell, and she recognized a small, pale figure among them.

“Hoku!”

“You’re safe!” he answered in her ear.

She saw Dash behind him. He had an air bubble over his mouth and was being carried by one of the Deepfell. He waved with his good hand and managed a weak smile. His eyes were bloodshot. After looking at her, he squeezed them shut again. Ocean salt wasn’t kind to visitors, especially those without special ocean-ready eyes.

Hoku spoke in an endless quiet stream to Calli. “I hope you have the radio on. We’re okay. We’re going underwater with the Deepfell. But not the evil Deepfell. At least, I don’t think they’re evil. Stay safe. Stay in the trees. Hide. We’ll be fine. You have to take care of yourself. Don’t let the Upgraders find you. I hope this works. I hope you have the radio on.”

The Deepfell escorted them farther up the coast but stayed close to the ocean’s surface, probably to keep Dash’s lungs from collapsing from the pressure. She grew more comfortable with the air bubble, despite its tendency to tickle her nose as it wiggled.

As they swam, they passed cadres of Deepfell camped along the ocean floor or sparring midwater. She’d never seen so many together in one place. She saw one warrior without a right arm and another without a dorsal fin. In fact, she couldn’t spot a single Deepfell without a scar marring its sleek gray skin.

The Deepfell were at war.

Their escorts took them into a cave. They swam through a tunnel that angled up. After a few dozen meters, her head broke the surface of the water. The interior of the cave was as large as the ritual dome back home. They surfaced in a small pool of water, but the rest of the cave contained sand and air, and hundreds of wounded Deepfell.

Aluna’s rescuer turned and touched her lips to Aluna’s air bubble. The Deepfell inhaled and sucked the whole membrane back into her mouth. She swallowed and smiled, then swam away.

The rest of the Deepfell dragged themselves onto land and headed for the back of the cave, walking like seals instead of people. One of them, a male, beckoned to Aluna and she followed, more relieved than she wanted to be about leaving the water. Hoku and Dash joined her.

Much of the sand beneath their feet was stained red, and it took her a moment to realize that it was blood. But it made sense. Blood in the water meant death. Too many predators would be thrilled to find a secret stash of wounded Deepfell. Great White itself could smell blood for miles. According to legend, it had once swum all the way around the earth to eat a dying penguin. The Deepfell took their wounded out of the water for the good of the colony.

At the back of the cave, they found the command center of the Deepfell’s war operation. Battle plans and accounting tallies had been scratched on thin sheets of shale and were stacked in piles around a lone Deepfell. Unlike the others, he reclined on a raised hammock as he reviewed some sort of report etched into a piece of the rock paper. A thin circlet of shells and coral surrounded his hairless gray head. Despite the fact that he was a mortal enemy of her people, he looked noble.

The Deepfell they were following pointed at the man and squeaked, “Preeence Eekikee,” before disappearing into another part of the cave.

The prince looked up when they approached, and Aluna saw a deep scar across his neck, still red around the edges, but mostly healed.

The Deepfell from the beach — the one that she had saved!

Prince Eekikee swung his tail off the hammock and stood on it, tall as a Kampii. She had no idea they could do that. Thick muscles bulged under his shark skin. He could have been the same age as one of her brothers. Now that she thought about it, she’d never seen a Deepfell much older than that. Certainly none as old as her father or the other Elders.

“Come. Here,” the prince said, looking directly at her. The words looked painful for him to speak. He held out his webbed hand. She offered her hand in return, and he dropped a small shell necklace into her palm.

She stared at the familiar jewelry in wonder.

“Your shell,” Hoku said. “Aluna, your breathing shell!”

She nodded dumbly.

The