Tempest Unleashed (13 page)

For now, I just felt numb. Except, of course, for the pain all that seizing and crashing around earlier had inflicted on my already messed-up body.

I stood slowly. Carefully. Suddenly I felt a lot older than seventeen, though I didn’t know if that was because of what I’d just seen or if it was a result of all the injuries I had sustained in the last twenty-four hours.

I should leave. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I figured I’d been gone long enough for it to have gotten late. Kona was probably trying to check on me, and God only knew what Hailana had planned in my absence.

Yet I was strangely reluctant go. Half an hour ago I would have done anything to get out of here, to run away from the horrors swamping me. But now, now that the pearl had done what it was supposed to, now that the enchantment that had brought me here had finally let up, I wasn’t sure what to do.

Go or stay.

Get another pearl or get the hell away from them.

Learn more about my mother or keep my memories of her exactly as I was used to.

I shook my head, fought the urge to bury my face in my hands. I was sick of all these questions, all these dilemmas. In some ways, it was just like being back on land with my birthday looming. I’d been forced to make choices I wasn’t ready for, and I felt like I was being forced to do it again now.

I was tired.

I hurt.

And nothing was turning out quite the way I had expected it to when I’d first decided on this life. Maybe it never would.

With that thought foremost in my head, I coasted closer to the wall. Examined pearl after pearl without actually touching any of them. Trying to decide which one I would drop into next.

On the second row there was a brilliant white blister pearl in the shape of a thumbprint. I liked it, felt it call to me even with the awkwardness of its contours. Despite the warnings in my head, despite all the reasons I had to back away and simply disappear, I found myself reaching out. Wanting to touch it. Wanting to know more about the woman I had spent so much of my life despising.

I was almost there, my fingers almost brushed against the cool, slick surface of the pearl, when I heard Hailana’s voice in the back of my head. Low, cool, and oh so urgent, it sent chills through me—as did all the things she refused to say, even though no one would think about dropping in on Hailana’s private lines of communication.

Get back to Coral Straits right now
, she told me impatiently.
I need you!

Chapter 11

What’s wrong?
I demanded, even as I shot straight up to the hole at the top of the cavern, pausing only to extinguish the lights I had created.

We have a situation. How far away are you?

I sucked in my breath, held it while I shot through both narrowed passages like a rocket. New scrapes bloomed on my shoulder and stomach, but I didn’t let myself pay attention to them. I’d known Hailana for eight months now and never had I heard her sound so anxious.

I’m about two hours away
, I told her, already wincing as I prepared for the ass-kicking I knew was coming.

Two hours away?
she demanded.
While injured? And on duty?

Technically, I’m not on duty. Because of my injuries—

I didn’t remove you
, she snapped.
Which means,
technically,
you’re in direct violation of our training protocols.

Direct violation? Training protocols?
I nearly snorted up lungfuls of water as I struggled not to laugh. But seriously …
When did you start talking like we were in a James Bond movie?

Since we’ve been overrun by refugees and I need every pair of hands I can find.

Refugees?
The word felt strange, foreign, here in the ocean where life was so different, so much less politicized, than it was on land.
From where?

Get back here and I’ll explain everything.

Hailana
—I started to ask more, but she was gone, the connection between us severed so completely that it was like it had never been.

I tried to reach for her, to speak to her, but no matter how hard I’d been training, I still couldn’t get the hang of initiating long-distance telepathy. I could answer when someone—usually the merQueen or Kona—spoke to me, but I couldn’t figure out how to reach across miles of ocean and open the conversation.

I sped home as fast as I could, ignoring the fish and other sea creatures that wanted to play. Refugees? I mused. From where? And why had they come to Hailana? I had trouble seeing her as the altruistic type.

About ten miles out of Coral Straits I saw them, mermaids carrying messenger bags, backpacks, and duffels as they inched their way toward my city. Some were in groups, some were straggling on their own, but they all had something in common—they were moving slowly and looked so bruised and defeated that it was like they had already given up.

What could have done this to them? What could have turned such normally vibrant creatures into these hopeless people? An underwater volcano eruption that buried their city? A massive earthquake along one of the fault lines?

I could only imagine.

I wanted to stop, to help, but there were so many of them that I was afraid of being buried in their stories, in their grief, and never making it back to the city where I could do more good. I sped past them, determined to make it into Coral Straits where I could take up a position to help get the refugees settled. But as I rocketed along, it grew harder and harder to keep going.

So many people, so much suffering. I wished I had some food on me, some blankets for the little ones shivering despite the relatively warm water. Were they in shock? Injured? Because mermaids could regulate their own temperatures, despite being warm-blooded creatures, it was rare for us to be either too hot or too cold—at least in the water.

My concern for the little ones doubled. I swam faster—maybe I could gather up some supplies and bring them back here. These people didn’t need to suffer any more than they already had.

My headlong flight stopped abruptly the second I saw him. Young, no more than five or six, he was curly-headed with bronze skin and huge brown eyes ringed with lashes. And he was injured, his little arm wrapped up in a bandage and a sling that was way too big for him.

I couldn’t help it—I had to stop. He reminded me so much of Moku that it just ripped my heart wide open.

Swooping down, I squatted—or did the closest thing to a squat that I could with a tail—and asked,
Hey there, big guy. You doing okay?

His lower lip trembled and those huge eyes filled with tears.
I want my mommy.

Of course you do, sweetheart.
I looked around.
Where is she?

One of the women on the trail—who had three young children hanging off her—whispered to me,
She didn’t make it.

Didn’t make …
I froze in horror as I realized what she was saying.
And his father?

The woman shook her head.
I’ve been watching out for him on the trip, but it’s been hard.
She gestured to the kids in her own arms, none of whom looked older than four.

Let me see if I can find someone to take care of him. Okay?

She nodded gratefully as I picked him up in my arms.
What’s your name, baby?

Liam
, he told me. His lower lip was trembling.

I’m Tempest. How about a piggyback ride?

His eyes grew wide.
A what?

Hmm, maybe some things didn’t translate from land to water.
How about a ride on my back?

A sea-horse ride?

Sure. A sea-horse ride.

He nodded, and scooted so that his arms and legs were wrapped around me. Like all mer children, he wouldn’t grow a tail until he’d proven himself, sometime after his adolescence hit.

How fast do you want to go?
I asked him as I took off, careful to keep a secure grip on his legs.

Superfast!
he cried, bouncing up and down a little.

Superfast it is, then. Hang on!

I sped up, staying low to the ground to cut down on the current for him. I also moved away a little from the refugee path. It was so depressing, so awful, that I wanted Liam to have a little break from it. He had a hard road in front of him—the least I could do was give him a few minutes of fun to try and take his mind off everything he’d lost.

When we arrived at Coral Straits, I whipped through the huge gates that were more decorative than protective. I’d planned on swimming right up to the castle, but one look at the city had me stopping dead, my head whirling with the difference a few hours made.

The training fields were filled with huge white tentlike structures. At the entrance to each one were two long tables, staffed with merpeople from my clan. They were checking in the long lines of people that snaked from the tent, handing out packets of food and the waterproof blankets we used down here. It looked so much like the scenes I used to see on TV after disasters on land that I almost couldn’t process it.

I don’t know why, but I guess I’d never thought anything like this could happen under the surface. It was strange to realize that it could. Even more so that it
had
. Looking at all those people who were wounded, hungry, who had lost their homes and their families, made me realize that, in some ways, the ocean wasn’t as different as I’d thought.

Tightening my hold on Liam’s legs, I swam as fast as I could toward the castle. Hailana often spent evenings out of the water, on her island, but I was guessing that with everything going on, she was in the ocean.

I didn’t even make it to the castle before I spotted her. She was on the outskirts of the tent city that had sprung up from nowhere, deep in discussion with Sabyn, a couple of her advisers, and a number of mer that I didn’t recognize. I wondered if they were from the incoming clan.

Liam and I zoomed up to them, and though I had planned to lurk at the back of the group, Hailana spotted me right away and waved me to the front. I’d never seen her look so grim, which was saying something as Hailana was not a big smiler. Now, however, she looked like the world really was crashing down around us.

What happened?
I asked, suddenly not sure I wanted to know. Something told me that a natural disaster wouldn’t put the slightly bemused, slightly horrified look on Hailana’s face.

Tiamat attacked another mer clan. She wiped out about half their numbers, including the entire royal family.

The strangers winced at Hailana’s blunt summation of the facts, but no one said anything.
Is this it?
I asked, instinctively shifting Liam around so that I could shelter him in my arms.
Is this the beginning?

We’d known war was coming, but Hailana had said she’d hoped to put it off until I was better trained. I’d been hoping to put it off indefinitely. I might have power, but fighting would never be something I enjoyed.

Not yet
, Hailana answered.
I believe she’s just running amok, causing trouble. It’s something she’s infinitely good at.

That’s not
—Sabyn started, but a swift look from the merQueen shut him down quickly. I looked back and forth between them, wondering what he’d been about to say. And what Hailana hadn’t wanted to share.

Who is this?
she asked, looking at Liam like he was a rare and exotic species she had no interest in getting too close to.

I found him on the path in
, I told her on our private channel.
He’s lost both of his parents.

Oh, well, that’s certainly a shame
. The reply was brisk, without feeling.
You should probably get him settled at the tents. We have a lot to do in the next few hours.

I glanced down at Liam. The tears were gone, for now anyway, but he still looked lost. He probably would for a while—his whole world had been yanked out from under him. And Hailana wanted me to just dump him in with all the others?

I knew it was stupid, knew that he probably wasn’t the only child in this situation, but I wanted to help him. And not just in the abstract, but personally.

I didn’t bother telling any of this to Hailana, however. She wouldn’t understand. She was great at doing what had to be done to save the many, but she’d never paid much attention to the individual. And while I recognized that sometimes you needed to be like that, I also knew that sometimes you couldn’t. Sometimes objectivity had to fly out the window.

What do you need me to do?
I asked.
Do you want me to help out at the tents? I could—

I want you to get the boy settled. And then you need to train. You have to master your talents. Quickly.