Descending (The Rising Series) (15 page)

“Mommy, that girl’s naked,” said a small child to a
woman, who snatched her up in her arms. All the humans were gawking at her.

Naked? Then she noticed it. The humans were
all wearing clothing. A plump woman with white hair approached her with a wide, rectangular piece of cloth. “Are you okay, sweetie? She walked right up to Ambrosia. “Here, let’s get you covered.” She wrapped the scratchy material around her, and all the humans seemed to relax. Okay, humans did not like to see people naked.

“Where’s your mother?” the woman asked.

Ambrosia didn’t answer. She didn’t know how she should answer.

“What’s your name?”

Ambrosia thought about how to answer that question. She wanted to start a new life, wanted to escape her past. She needed a new name. But she didn’t know any human names. Well, actually, she did know one.

She looked up into blue eyes framed with worried creases and answered
. “My name is Gretchen.”

Gretchen awoke to a dark room
, with tears streaming down her face. She remembered everything with crystal clarity. She’d pushed her memories back so many times she’d actually convinced herself they were not real—that they were false memories.

But coming out of th
at dream, she knew it was real. Her past was real. She wasn’t crazy. Still, doubt tickled her mind. She had to prove something to herself.

After fifteen years, it was time.

Gretchen walked across the dark room, pulling out a nail file from her makeup kit. Stepping over to the window, she carefully shoved it under the sensor. It easily popped off. She kept it close to the other half of the sensor to prevent the alarm from tripping. She stuck the freed one directly on top of the other. The adhesive stuck tight.

Ah ha! Now she could open the window without alerting
her overprotective guards. She slid the windowpane up and was greeted with a cool Caribbean breeze.

Looking down,
she searched to see how far it was to the ground. She was on the first floor, but this house was huge. Its first-floor windows were surprisingly high. Still, she’d probably be fine getting down. Climbing back up might be an issue. She’d just have to find a ladder or something. Maybe the garden shed held one.

She shimmied her body backwards out the window. Holding on to the sill, she dropped down and stumbled before falling on her butt
in the soft grass. That wasn’t too bad. Standing up and brushing herself off, she looked toward the beach. It looked amazing. The moon shone through the cresting waves before they crashed into the sandy surf. She breathed the salty air deep, allowing the scent to fill her mind and comfort her.

Gretchen approached the
shore. Looking around, she tried to locate any late-night beach goers, or crazed killers. She seemed to be alone. Then she saw it—the twinkling of lights coming from a ship offshore.

Her heart pound
ed. Why it did, she wasn’t sure. But something didn’t seem right. She jogged behind an outcropping of boulders and pressed her back against its rocky surface. Through the thundering surf, she could hear something squeak. She turned her head toward the sound and saw only more rocks with deep, black crevasses. It quieted for a moment before growing louder. A black, flailing shadow covered her vision as she squeaked out a cry. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she sank to the sand.

A bat
. A stupid bat.

She stood and
brushed the sand off. More squeaking.
Where’s it coming from?

She stepped toward the boulders and began to climb. She
scrambled up and slid down, scuffing her skin against the rocks as she drew nearer to the noise. Then she saw it—the mouth of a cave. As she scooted down a u-shaped crevice toward the opening, some rocks jostled loose and tumbled down. The sounds of leathery wings beat in her ear, and a cloud of shadows flew up and over her. When they were gone, she stood. Stepping through the cave door, she could see the lapping water of a sea cave. A vice clamped around her heart. This place looked all-too familiar. But no, it wasn’t the same. Deep in the repressed memories of her mind, she remembered the other one. And it didn’t have a land-based entrance. The only way in and out of that cave was through the water.

Gretchen’s legs were shaking as she approached the water
’s edge and looked down. She half expected to see the empty sockets of a skull looking up at her.

Gretchen wanted to run away
, but she forced herself to stay. She’d been running for fifteen years—running from the horror, running from the memories. But her mother was not here. With her heart in her throat, she stripped out of her clothes. She’d been fighting since the day she’d left her birth mother—fighting for her independence, for her happiness. But there was one fight left to wage, one she’d been too afraid to confront—the sea itself.

It had been
a long time. Would it still work? Had she been human too long? She sure felt like a human. She’d gone to public school, all the way from elementary to high school—she had the emotional scars to prove it. She’d gone to college, joined a sorority, and kissed more boys than she could remember. She’d talked to her mom—her real mom, the one who adopted her—on the phone every weekend since leaving for college. She’d practically forgotten who she used to be, where she’d come from. But here, standing on the tiny shore of this dark sea cave, she was ready to confront it.

Inching her way forward, her toes were nearly touching the ocean water. She pressed her lips tightly together and decided to take a leap. Well, her leap was actually only a small step. But, with fear pulsing through her veins, she slipped one foot into the
cool water, and then the other.

The world rose around her as her body changed, plunging her into the salty
sea. She sat in water a foot deep. It had been fifteen years since she took her first, terrifying steps on an open shore, leaving her previous life behind. Fifteen years since she’d touched the sea, but regardless of her heartless abandonment of the ocean those many years ago, it seemed to welcome her back in its soft, lapping arms.

Gretchen lifted her tail from beneath the rippling water and examined it in the
dim, moonlit cave. It was pale, flesh colored—not like the ridiculous, scaled fins of mermaid legends. Did the humans really believe mermaids were descended from lowly fish?
No way.
Mermaids were daughters of the sea—daughters of Triton. Gretchen had never actually met her grandfather, but she had always dreamed he would come and rescue her. She didn’t know a lot about him, but her birth mother was angry with him. Angry he had banished her. So he couldn’t be too bad, could he? When he took too long to save her, she had simply rescued herself.

As she reminisced, she fingered her flipper, remembering every jagged edge, every fold, even the scar she got from playing with a young shark. She marveled at the
fin that hadn’t seen the light of day in so long. She slapped it playfully against the water’s surface. Excitement mingled with apprehension as she sat in the shallow water. She’d promised herself she’d never return. She feared if she did, her mother would find her. And her life would be over.

But she wasn’t a child
anymore. She couldn’t, she
wouldn’t
, let fear rule her life or steal her happiness. She needed to put her fear where it belonged—in her past.

Pulling herself forward, she slipped in deeper
, heading out into the water. Her head dipped under the surface, and she took her first, cleansing breath of fresh sea. She relished the flavor of the sea. It had been so long. She hadn’t even known she’d miss it so much, but down here, she remembered all the good things she’d forgotten—the feel of the sea caressing her, the briny scent of the seawater, and the variety of tastes that assaulted her with flavors of all kinds.

Swimming
down, she looked around. A silvery light shone off the rocky walls—it was brighter deep down. Curiosity pulled her to that glow. There was a tunnel. She swam through it, twisting and turning. The farther she went, the more she worried it would narrow too much to let her through. Then she’d have to back slowly out of it. But it went on until she was finally bathed in a sea of moonlight. She’d made it to the outside.

She looked through the glowing water, crisscrossed with moonbeams. The light danced through the water and across her skin.
Stretching her fin, she swam—timid at first. She took in her surroundings. Seaweed rose around her, brushing her body as she snaked through the stalks. Several small fish darted away.

Looking up, she spotted dark shapes silhouetted against the bright, rippling surface. Sharks circled above.
They seemed to catch her scent and turned toward her, coming at her from all sides.

A large female with sharp, glimmering teeth reached her first. Gretchen giggled as she playfully swept past her. Then there were more, circling her like a celebrity surrounded by adoring fans. “Well, hello
,” she greeted impishly.

She continued her one-sided conversation. “What are you all doing here?” A small bull shark swam up and turned
over, his belly facing up. Gretchen rubbed it until his eyes rolled over. Feeling a bit giddy, Gretchen took off, swimming in circles around and through the coral reefs. The sharks followed her like a line of follow the leader. Gretchen hadn’t swum like this in years, but it was just like a bicycle—you never forgot.

She played in wanton abandon for hours—laughing harder than she’d done in
a long time. She could almost forget her troubles on the surface, but soon enough, it encroached on her dream. She gasped when she looked above. The light of the sun was touching the waves.
Holy crap!

If she didn’t get back, Straton and Pallas
would miss her and come looking for her. She bid her new friends goodbye and headed back through the tunnel. Breaking through the surface, she heard voices. They were coming! Should she go back? No, the voices were still faint. If she moved fast, she’d have plenty of time. She pulled up to the shore and dragged her body from the water. As her body left, she could feel the familiar tingle as her human legs returned, inch by inch.

“This is where the footsteps lead.” She could hear Straton’s voice clearly.

Gretchen found her nightgown and slipped it over her head.

“Hades
! Straton, Pallas, I leave for a day and you lose her.” Kyros’s voice rumbled in anger. “If anything has happened to her, I’ll tear your head off.”

“By the gods, it’s not my fault. She tampered with the window alarm.”

“What was she doing coming here anyway?” Straton asked.

“Do you realize how dangerous this makes it for us?” Pallas asked.

What the heck does that mean?
She saw their shadows in the entrance. Gretchen focused on trying to not look guilty. Then they walked in.

“Gretchen,” Kyros said. “What are you doing here?”

“I got bored.” Brilliant answer. Why couldn’t she have thought of a better one?

“
Well, Gretchen, you are one lucky woman. Your killer has been caught and will not be giving you any more trouble.”

“Really?” She stumbled forward, tripping over a rock.

Kyros reached out to steady her and smiled. “Yes. So you’re a free woman. How would you like to get out and have some fun?” he asked.

Straton and Pallas frowned. She didn’t know what their problem was now. Since the criminal had been caught, there shouldn’t be anything keeping her in.

“You want to do something with me?” she asked, unsure. She didn’t trust the change in him. His personality seemed as unpredictable as the sea. Still, she was simply sick of staying indoors. “Okay, but if you start grumbling at me, I’ll slap that frown right off your face. Today, I want to have fun. Got it?”

“Fun it is then.” He smi
led and offered her his arm.

An hour later,
they were walking out to the car. “Look,” Kyros said. “I know I can be a bit hard to take, and I realize I’ve been a tad controlling.”

A tad?
Gretchen nearly laughed at the understatement.

“
To show you I can be reasonable, I’ll let you drive.”

She did laugh then
. “Oh. You’ll
let
me drive.”