Fathom (Mermaids of Montana #3) - Elsa Jade Page 0,94

only by their hungers—for something to eat, for a mate, and maybe for whatever other answers lurked in the vastness of the abyss.

Despite the darkness and though she’d lost her echolocation, she sensed the monster gliding through the depths, blanking out the star creatures beyond.

Unable to speak, afraid to risk even the minimal power of a message on her datpad, she could only tug at Sting’s hand and point. When he nodded back at her, she realized she could see better than seemed possible at these depths. Not only were there individual stars of bioluminescent sea creatures, but entire gossamer galaxies drifting through the void, sending out their own little messages of light and life into the darkness.

For safety, Sting had bound her to him with a tow line from his enviable battle skin pockets, and she tried to make herself streamlined as he pushed clear of the runabout. She glanced over her shoulder just as the spaceship released a massive white stream of bubbles—and disappeared.

Had the boundary beast…eaten it?

She managed not to gulp down her gill in terror, but it was a close thing. The pressure around her was like a hand holding her tight.

But Sting’s hold was tighter.

He hauled her away from the monster. Oh god, they were going deeper. Her frantic sips of breath barely found oxygen in the surrounding water. Not a great time to hyperventilate.

She peered back one last time to see a big bubble of air drifting upward as the beast burped out the air it had swallowed.

Tucking herself against Sting’s muscled chest, she faced the darkness.

Chapter 19

He took them deep, deeper than he’d ever been.

When he’d come to the Abyssa’s grotto so long ago, he’d stopped, as all the Tritonyri warriors did, at the shrine. Though the Abyssa hadn’t spoken to him, he’d seen the light, almost as bright as the sun at this depth, and then he’d turned around and left without his omen.

At the time, it had seemed appropriate for a monster like him to get no blessing. This time, he didn’t bother waiting for a grace that would never come. He swam past the carved columns representing all the creatures of Tritona’s waters and plunged into the heart of the chasm.

This time, the Abyssa would answer the Phantom and the fire-witch.

To his shock, after descending near vertical for long enough to leave him uneasy, the waterway abruptly twisted and widened, emerging into a huge, spherical cavern bisected by the mirrored curvature of the interface between water and air. He surfaced with Lana into the fresh air.

They floated for a moment, pivoting slowly in bewilderment, and Lana let her gill dangle from its cord around her neck. “This looks like the core of the Atlantyri.”

It did, although instead of a segmented churning wheel of artificially imposed tides, here the water swept in a slow, elegiac whirlpool—powered by what, he couldn’t tell. Long streamers and wide blooms of bioluminescent algae lit the cavern softly, but somehow it was almost painful to his eyes and he couldn’t seem to close his third eyelids.

Because he wanted to see it all, this hidden heart of his world. And some part of him wanted to be seen by the Abyssa.

He licked his lips. “This water has never been touched by Cretarni toxins. It is pure.”

“And warmer than I would’ve thought. Must be a hydrothermal vent.” Though she was still tethered to him, Lana drifted an arm’s length away. “Some of these specimens are the same extinct species we found in the Atlantyri.” She spun in the water to flash a wide smile at him. “Sting, this is amazing! There’s enough cloning and breeding stock here to revive the ocean decades sooner than the Tritonesse had estimated. The council rep will have no reason not to approve Tritona’s return to the intergalactic community.”

“No reason except the Cretarni armada,” he reminded her. Hating the way her smile sank, he channeled his fury into a mighty pulse sent outward in a bell that made the water dance around them.

Her eyes widened. “You’re yelling at your goddess.”

“I’m using my words.”

He sent another and another until the mesmerizing swirl of the pool was a crosscurrent storm of white-capped waves.

Until underneath, a bright glow ignited.

“Sting,” Lana hissed. “Be quiet.”

With a final sullen ping, he subsided.

The light kept rising in a bell of its own that reached across a third of the submerged cavern.

Reeling Lana to his chest, he backpaddled clear of the light’s outer ring. The algae flickered, as if in greeting,