In the Deep

GEORGE SWEPT OUT his tentacles as he moved through the water with smooth grace. Here, he could be a dancer, could be as athletic as he wanted. In human form, he was awkward and gangly and without confidence. But in the cold blackness of the water that was his true home, he was a powerful being who made others scurry away.

He smiled inside his other self, feeling whole and strong and not damaged as he was in human form. Not scarred and used up and broken.

His tentacles thrashed.

He nearly lost his grip on the case he held so tightly.

Calm, be calm, his human self whispered. No one can touch us here.

It was difficult at times. The most primal part of his changeling nature occasionally wanted to take over. He knew that was dangerous. But part of him wanted the wildness in control. The others in the clan, when he heard them talking, they all spoke about how both sides of their nature were in balance, how it was never a fight between one or the other. They didn’t worry about shifting and becoming lost in the shift.

George never said anything when they talked like that; he’d learned his lesson as a child when he dared tell a long-ago friend about his fight for control. That friend had immediately told his own mother, who’d told George’s mother. She’d then made him go to extra lessons meant to teach him how to manage the powerful creature inside him.

Her voice had been soft and warm as she explained it wasn’t a punishment but only a thing he needed to learn for his future. Like math and science. He’d gone quietly because that was what he did, that was what made her happy.

George had loved his mother. He hadn’t liked it when she cried.

But though he’d gone to the lessons, he’d tried not to learn anything the adults wanted to teach him. He’d pretended he did, but inside, he stayed the same. Because if he ever learned how to control this self, he couldn’t lose himself in the black and forget the horrors that had been done to his human body.

In the water, he was free and strong and no one’s victim.

In the water, he was the predator and everything else quailed in front of him.

In the water, nothing could harm him.

He smiled again, the human part of him curled up happily within the wildness of his other side. And he thought about just giving in, taking that extra step and losing himself to the wildness forever. But no, he was a scientist and he’d read enough reports to know that changelings who did that, the “rogues,” inevitably went mad and began hunting their clanmates.

The latter didn’t worry George. He felt very little loyalty toward those who were meant to be his clan.

Except for Seraphina and Dr. Kahananui and Kaia.

Dr. Kahananui had always treated him as an equal even though he was less qualified. She’d even given him the position of responsibility that allowed him to take his vengeance. He’d never want to hurt her or the innocent child she carried in her womb.

The same with Kaia. She always made a special effort to bake his favorite cake at least once every month. She didn’t have to do that—there were a lot of people on the station and carrot cake wasn’t as popular as chocolate or red velvet. But Kaia always said he had just as much right to her skills as anyone else. He never felt bad asking her for a burger on a day when that wasn’t on the menu. She’d scowl and tell him she was busy, but then a little later, the burger would turn up on his desk.

Kaia was nice in a deep-inside way. He wouldn’t want to kill Kaia in his madness, either.

As for Seraphina . . .

He thrashed again, unable to stand the idea that he might hurt her in his insanity.

So no, he couldn’t give in to his primal heart. Not today, anyway.

Because the pain, it was growing inside him. Each year it felt as if it grew stronger, huger. Until he could no longer escape it. Maybe when that happened, he’d stop fighting. Maybe he’d forget Seraphina and Kaia and Dr. Kahananui.

Maybe he’d become this creature, magnificent and dangerous.

And because he didn’t want to be human again, he kept on swimming. The ones to whom he’d sold his spoils could wait. They could all wait.

He would come up in his own good time.

Chapter 52

Fear is an intruder in your life, child. You must cast him out.

—Bebe to Kaia (17)

KAIA’S HEART THUNDERED when the submersible finally docked with Ryūjin. “I’m only going up to Lantia,” she told herself silently, but her mind knew this was the first step on the road to a nightmare.

“Hey.” Bowen’s hand closing around hers, warm and strong. “The doc is doing fine. I just spoke to Dex.”

Kaia smiled tightly and nodded, not ready to tell him that her fear was her own and that it was an aged and knotted thing with roots sunk into her soul. Waiting until the passengers from Lantia had disembarked—and after exchanging hugs with more than one—Kaia forced herself over the threshold.

Bowen prowled in behind her; the stronger he got, the more he reminded her of some sleek hunting creature. This man would always be a demanding lover—but oh, his capacity to give was a vastness that enfolded her in affection and an emotion to which she wasn’t ready to give a name.

“Where’s Hex?” he asked, settling down beside her.

“With Tansy.” She’d kissed Hex good-bye and told him to be good for her friend. “I moved his house to her quarters. That’s how he knows he’s supposed to stay with her until I get back.”

“Mouse genius.”

Kaia couldn’t smile, but it was all right. Bowen was distracted by watching their departure from the station, his attention on the procedure so acute that she knew he was storing it all away in his brain just in case he ever needed the information.

They were the only two in the autonomous submersible, but Kaia knew they weren’t the only station dwellers heading cityward. When she spotted movement through the windows on the other side, she touched Bowen’s shoulder and said, “Look.”

His muscles moved under her hand as he turned. Bowen was fascinated by everything in the deep, laughed when an octopus touched its suction pads against a window for a second. “Oleanna?”

“Yes. She told me she’s swimming up to surprise Tevesi.” Kaia wasn’t sure her cousin had any idea what he was in for.

Bowen kept watch for other visitors, but stayed pressed up alongside her, his body thrumming with tension.

Thirty-nine hours.

Fighting to shut down that voice with its ominous countdown, Kaia leaned her head against his shoulder. “Tell me a story about your childhood,” she said. “A happy one.”

“I’ve got nothing that can top kissing a lion.” He laughed and it was a big, warm, alive thing. “But I did get chased by an angry cow once.”

Kaia couldn’t help but smile as he told the story, just able to imagine a wild little boy running amuck in a muddy field full of normally lazy cows. Deep inside her, however, fear continued to curl outward with tendrils as black as night.

* * *

• • •

THEY arrived in darkness, the sky above dotted with stars. Stepping onto the sprawling floating city of Lantia, Bo felt a chill wind against his skin, a taste of the winter that held this hemisphere of the planet in thrall. And though he had a hundred questions, the first thing he did was look to his phone to see if Lily had sent through any updates about George.

Nothing. No sightings.

He and Kaia headed directly toward a grim-faced woman who stood with the bearing of a soldier; this had to be the commander Malachai had said would be waiting for him. Miane was with Malachai, a sleek and dark shadow in the water.

“Have you found your people?” he asked the commander, who reminded him strongly of someone, though he couldn’t put his finger on whom.

“The wounded witness, yes,” she said shortly, though her face softened when she turned her attention toward Kaia. “Aloha, Cookie. It’s good to see you—you need to come up more often.”

“Aloha, Aunt Geraldine.” Giving Bo the lightweight box she’d carried onto the submersible along with her overnight bag, Kaia leaned forward to hug the tall and sober-faced woman.

The resemblance clicked.

The commander’s dark eyes had an edge of sunlight to them.

“I had just enough time to bake your favorite muffins.” Kaia took the box from Bo, held it out.

Commander Geraldine Rhys smiled and shook her head before pressing a kiss to Kaia’s forehead, her hands rising to cup Kaia’s face. “The same old Cookie.” Afterward, she set the box of muffins carefully aside on a nearby stack of small shipping containers that were still wet on the sides—either from being recently offloaded, or because a rogue wave had crashed onto the massive deck that jutted out from the city.

Bo couldn’t see all of Lantia from his current position, but he could tell there were sharp towers within, not quite high-rises but not exactly small family homes, either. Material that appeared to be glass dominated, though he guessed it was apt to be the same thing BlackSea had used to build Ryūjin.

There was no wood or brick, the deck under his feet apparently metal. The same type of material was incorporated into the buildings he could see—but there were no signs of rust, which told him this was another BlackSea-developed solution to the salt water. Greenery cascaded from various balconies and on the roofs he could spot, this city supporting a thriving internal ecosystem in the middle of the ocean.

In front of him, Geraldine Rhys returned her attention to Bo. “This is BlackSea business.” No trace of maternal softness in her face now. “I don’t know why Malachai is letting you run it, but I promised him that I’d help. What do you need?”

“Have any of your people spotted George?”

“No.” Chilly dark eyes in a face full of angular contours that made her striking. “We have excellent lines of communication, but we can’t reach those who are swimming in the deep. If they see him, we’ll only find out once they surface.”

“Then we wait.” He might be running out of time, but rushing off half-cocked would achieve exactly nothing.