Always Remembered (26 page)

Someone
poked Evan in the cheek. The third time, Evan grabbed the offending
appendage and peered up into Vesh’s grinning face. “Do you get some
kind of sick thrill out of waking me up?” Evan grumbled.

Vesh shrugged. “Not just you, Buttercup.” He
proceeded to poke Dex and Slate and got similar reactions.

“Are you going to poke them next?” Evan
motioned to the sleeping pile of fur that was Kieran and Meara.

“Maybe her…” Vesh wiggled his eyebrows
suggestively, and Evan glowered out of habit. “But him? No way. I
don’t have a death wish.”

Interesting choice of words
, Evan
thought. None of them had a death wish, at least that Evan knew,
but they were heading into danger willingly. What did that say?

Wake up, Meara.
Evan repeated it until
he felt her stirring in his mind.

Is it time to go?
she asked
sleepily.

He didn’t answer her.
Wake Kieran,
he
said before cutting the connection. Evan knew she found it
intrusive when he was in her head, so he tried not to do it. Who
knew what Kieran would do if he discovered Evan could read their
minds. It was better to let Meara deal with the Selkie. He wouldn’t
bite her head off, but the rest of them? Evan wasn’t taking
chances.

“From here, we can reach Azuria in about
fifteen minutes.” Vesh peered out of the cave as if he was actually
gauging the distance. “I’ll take us through one of the back
passages that is rarely used.” His face and voice filled with
excitement. This was probably the most adventure he’d seen in a
while. “If you see any Blue Men, assume they are an enemy and take
them out.”

“Take them out?” Meara sounded worried.

He means disarm them, not murder,
Evan
explained.

Relief was clear on her face.
Oh. Okay
then
.

Evan smiled at her in reassurance, but
frowned when she turned away. He hoped he was right. He assumed
that was what Vesh meant. He wasn’t a killer, was he?

They kept to the shadows as they swam.
Breakfast came in the form of unsuspecting fish. It wasn’t Evan’s
preferred way to eat—he liked his food prepared and cooked, but the
options were limited in the middle of the ocean. They needed to
maintain their energy.

When Evan got his first glimpse of the
underwater castle, he stopped. Since learning of his heritage, he
wondered what Azuria looked like. He hadn’t imagined the elegant
buttresses and slim towers. Even in the underwater gloom, it
sparkled like an aquamarine gem. It was an absurd comparison, but
all Evan could think of was Cinderella’s castle at Walt Disney
World. His parents took them there when he was twelve. What he
remembered most was all the turrets. Cinderella’s castle seemed to
be more about beauty than form. This was built much the
same—elegant, not intimidating. Instead of stone and plaster, it
appeared to be made of opaque glass and polished gemstones.

“Would you like to pose for a picture in
front of it?” Kieran asked dryly. His voice never failed to get on
Evan’s nerves, or maybe it was the words that his voice formed.
Evan didn’t really care for sarcasm.

“Your first time to the
‘
ole homestead,” Kieran continued, either oblivious to
Evan’s irritation or not really caring. “How does it feel?”

“I don’t know,” Evan drawled. “How would you
feel with my fist in your teeth?”

“Seriously, guys.” Meara swam between them
and shook her head. She sounded frustrated when she said, “Could
you at least try to get along?”

Evan decided to ignore them both and swam
over to Vesh. He was talking in hushed tones to Dex and Slate. Vesh
nodded to Evan and continued, “…looks deserted, although we know
that doesn’t mean anything. They could be waiting for us. Remember,
be alert and ready for anything at all times.” He looked past
Evan’s shoulder and snorted, nodding in the direction of Meara and
Kieran. Evan chanced a look over his shoulder and winced. The
Selkies had changed forms and were currently wrapped around each
other, oblivious to the attention from the rest of the group.

“Those two are such bait,” Slate said with
derision. “Someone could sneak up on them right now, and they
wouldn’t even know it.”

“Hey—” Vesh’s eyes grew thoughtful. “Maybe
that’s not such a bad idea.”

“What do you mean?” Evan asked. He
didn
’
t like the direction of this
conversation.

“We could spend days determining which
dungeon they’ve got the other Selkies in, right?” Vesh asked. Evan
shrugged because he didn’t know, but the other two nodded. “If we
let those two get captured…” Vesh nodded toward the Selkies, who
still hadn’t come up for air.

“You want to let the Blue Men capture them?”
Evan couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice. “Are you
serious?”

“Hear me out,” Vesh said. “If we let them
capture Kieran and Meara, they’ll lead us right to the other
prisoners.”

“Absolutely not!” Evan said.

At the same time, the other two said, “Great
idea!”

“You’re outnumbered.” Vesh smirked. “Don’t
worry; we won’t let anything happen to your ex-girlfriend.”

“You better not,” Evan said. He hated the
plan. They weren’t sharing it with Meara or Kieran either, because
Vesh thought their reactions needed to be believable. Evan had no
choice except to go along with the others. In all honesty, he
couldn’t think of a better plan.

“What
do you think they’re doing over there?” Kieran asked, his lips
tickling my ear. Not that I minded. While I loved Kieran in either
form, there was something about his strong arms wrapped around me
that made me want to purr.

“Plotting against us,” I said, half joking,
half serious.

“You’re probably right,” he agreed before
lowering his head and capturing my mouth. I knew we should be
trying to rescue my dad or at least looking for a place to hide,
but when Kieran kissed me like that, I lost all rational thought.
He murmured something I couldn’t understand before trailing kisses
down my neck. This time, I heard his words, “God, I’ve missed
kissing you.”

Laughing, I said, “I’ve been with you this
whole time.”

“Yeah, as a seal. That doesn’t count. I like
your curves better like this.” To prove his point, he slid his
hands down along my side until they rested on my hips.

“Shouldn’t we see what the others are up to?”
I asked, a part of me hoping he agreed and another selfish part
hoping he wouldn’t stop the magic he was working on my neck. In
response, he nuzzled my ear and kissed it. I sighed and tilted my
head to the side. My gaze traveled to where Evan and the others
were standing. How sad that I wasn’t even embarrassed if they were
watching us. What did that say about me? Only, they weren’t there
anymore. Frowning, I asked Kieran, “Where did they go? Why didn’t
they come and get us?”

“Hmm?” Kieran lifted his head and lazily
glanced in that direction. His eyes sharpened, and he scowled.
“We’ve got company.”

I was still wrapped in his embrace and wasn’t
sure if I should look or pretend not to notice. “Should we
hide?”

Company only meant one thing—Blue Men—and not
our friends. At least, I thought they were our friends. Again, I
wondered, where did they go? Why did they leave us?

“Halt!” One of the Blue Men stepped out of
the shadows, a nasty-looking weapon pointed right at us.

Kieran lowered his forehead to mine and
kissed my nose. “Too late.”

There were two of them. One had bright red
hair that stood out against his blue skin. The other’s hair was
wiry and gray. Both were tall and muscular. For a moment, I
wondered if we could take them out like Vesh had told us. Then I
realized they probably had backup waiting where we couldn’t see
them. Two, we might be able to take, but a small army? No way.

They bound our hands behind our backs and led
us into the castle through a nearby door that I hadn’t seen. Who
was I kidding? I was too focused on Kieran to notice anything else,
and now I berated myself for it. My hormones would be my
undoing.

Kieran was nonplussed. He hummed a chipper
tune and winked at me when I scowled. At least one of us was
confident.
You’re awfully happy about being captured,
I
grumbled.

His laughter filled my head. Irritated, I
turned away to study our surroundings.

I figured out the plan, and it’s
brilliant.
I caught the excitement in his words.
I’m
surprised I didn’t think of it myself.

He had such a healthy ego, maybe too healthy.
Still, I was curious.
Care to enlighten me?

They let us be captured.
I sucked in a
sharp breath, shocked by his words, and regretted it a moment later
when I was coughing. We could breathe underwater, but water down
the wrong pipe was water down the wrong pipe.

When I stopped coughing, I asked.
Why
would they do that?

We’re going to lead them right to your
dad.
He nodded to the guard in front of us, who was currently
leading us down another dimly lit hall. In other circumstances, I
would have stopped to admire the design. This castle was absolutely
gorgeous. I’d have to compliment Azuria later. I giggled. I’d
compliment Azuria on Azuria. Bizarre.

Then Kieran’s words sunk in. My dad! They
were taking us to my dad. I knew I couldn’t get too excited. Kieran
might be wrong.

I’m never wrong,
he interjected.

Hey!
I scolded.
Get out of my
head!

Or, they might be taking us to a different
part of the castle. Too late, my hopes were up. He was probably
right. They were taking us to the other Selkies.

As my mind raced with excitement, Kieran
cautioned me.
Do not let on that David is your father. Act
nonchalant until the guards leave.

Easy for you to say,
I said.

He turned to stare at me.
I’m serious,
Meara. When the guards leave, you can feel free to hug away. I
don’t know what they’d do if they knew you were his daughter, so
I’d rather we not tell them.

My initial resentment at his command faded
when I realized he was right and as usual, protecting me.
Protecting me from myself. How sad was that?

We swam down a winding corridor. There were
stairs, which surprised me, because we didn’t need to use them. Had
the castle always been filled with water? It grew cooler as we
descended. At the bottom was a thick, metal door. The first guard
moved forward to unlock it and usher us into a small, stone
chamber. The second guard closed and locked the door behind us.
There would be no going back that way. How would Vesh and the
others rescue us?

The sound of draining water filled the room,
and I realized that the water level was lowering. Within minutes,
the water was gone, leaving only a wet, stone floor. On the other
side of the room was an identical metal door. The guard unlocked
this one as well. He roughly untied our hands and then pushed us
into the darkness. The door locked behind us.

“Enjoy your stay,” one man’s deep voice
sneered through the door.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust, and
when they did, my heart fluttered.
“
Dad!
”

His hair was longer, and he had a full beard.
Other than that, he looked the same. I tugged on the beard before I
threw my arms around him. “What’s with the facial hair?”

I sank into his arms while he held me close.
I felt him rest his cheek on top of my head. His laugh shook us
both. “I
’
d shave if I could, but there is
no way to conjure a blade or even magically do it. Something about
this room prevents us from using our powers. We can’t change shape,
we can’t visualize clothes or anything else, and we can’t conjure
anything.”

“Wow. That kind of sucks.” I stepped out of
his arms and gave my aunt a small smile. She still managed to look
beautiful, even if her hair was longer and a little tangled. She
didn’t smile back—I really didn’t expect her to—but her face
softened slightly. Whether she would admit it or not, I knew she
was happy to see us.

“Why are you here?” Dad asked after shaking
Kieran’s hand.

“To rescue you, of course.” I thought it was
obvious.

Aunt Brigid glared at Kieran and then me.
“How do you plan to do that now that you are imprisoned like the
rest of us?”

Kieran stepped closer and put his arm around
my shoulder. Dad gave me a look, but he didn’t say anything. “Is it
safe to talk in here?” Kieran asked.

“We’re not sure.” My dad settled into the
corner, resting his forearms on his knees and leaning back against
the wall. “And before you ask… no. We cannot
communicate
here either.” He made quotation marks with his fingers when he said
communicate.