Descending (The Rising Series) (14 page)

“I have to go.”

“No, you don’t
have
to go. You can just pull out your phone and dial 9-1-1 or whatever number they use here to call the police.”

“Gretchen, I’m not debating this right now.”

She pulled Kyros toward her. “I need to talk to you.”

“But we’re already…”

“In private,” she snapped and turned to lead the way. She heard him sigh at her back as they walked. They passed a couple of cars and ended up standing behind a minivan. Gretchen stopped and turned toward him. She tried to ignore how close he was standing, or how much she wanted to reach out to him. The way he’d been acting since their kiss, he’d probably just push her away.

“I don’t know how they do things where you come from
,” Gretchen said, “but here there are laws, laws you are not exempt from. You can’t just go chasing after criminals. You can’t.”

“Mm hmm,” he hummed in agreement as he took a step toward her.

“You need to let go of your anger. Let go of your need for revenge. Let go of…”

“Gretchen?” He took another step in.

“Yes?”

“
Stop talking and kiss me.” He moved toward her.

She stiffened. A flame ignited at his words. She wasn’t sure
if it was fueled by anger or desire, but she sure wasn’t going to kiss him after he avoided her at every turn the last few days. “Take one more step toward me, and I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

His eyes widened, and a slow smile spread across his face. “You are not like any other woman I’ve ever met.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I shouldn’t want you,” Kyros said, his voice as smooth as silk
, “but I do.”

“You can
want
all you wish. You won’t be getting anything more from me.”

“Gretchen…?” He paused. What he was waiting for, she had no idea.

“What?”

He traced his fingers over her jaw and down her neck. She trembled at his touch. “Your body betrays you.”

Stiffening, she clenched her fists. She’d like to see how well he could kiss with a fat, bloody lip. Instead of giving in to her violent impulse, she turned on her heels and walked away. Before she reached Xanthus and Drakōn, she shot Kyros one more message over her shoulder. “Do what you want. I hope he shoots you through your black heart.”

T
he sound of the surf outside penetrated Gretchen’s consciousness as she lay in bed. Worry assaulted her. Worry for Kyros, worry for Sara, and worry about her world coming to an end. But finally a troubled sleep found her, and unbidden, another reality thrust itself upon her. Another life, another girl, another place, a place that held memories that only served to torment her.

“It’s okay
; you’re safe,” Ambrosia said. Her voice was the sweet voice of a child. It was the type of voice that loosened tongues, emanated kindness, and made you want to pour your heart out.

“What’s your name?”
Ambrosia asked.

There was
no response from the young girl at her side—only a blank stare. She was shaking. Her teeth chattered in her mouth.

“Don’t you have a name?”

Still no answer.

“
Are you hungry? I could catch you a fish or a sea urchin.” Still nothing.

“Why are you shaking?”

Silence.

“
Here, maybe you just need to sit and rest.” Ambrosia tugged the girl, pulling her to the back of the cave. Pointing to a pile of seaweed, she said. “This is my bed. It’s softer than it looks.”

Despite the friendly overtures,
the girl stood, unblinking.

“L
et me show you.” Ambrosia pulled her down to sit on the weeds.

“See? Nice and soft.”

Ambrosia frowned at the girl. She didn’t seem happy. Perhaps a little song would help. Ambrosia sang a simple tune, a song about rainbows and jellyfish. It was light, and it was soothing. A song one would sing to a friend. When her song was through, she tried again. “What is your name?”

“Gretchen,”
she finally answered. Ambrosia smiled; pleased she was now speaking to her.

“Do you like being human?”

“Um, I guess so.”

“What is your favorite game?”

“Mario Party.”

“It’s a party? Do you play it on the beach?” Ambrosia asked.

“It’s a video game.”

“What’s a video game?”

“It’s a game you play on a TV.”

The questions
poured from Ambrosia’s lips, but the answers seemed to only multiply the questions in her head.

“Do you live with other humans?”

“I live with my mom, dad, and brother,” Gretchen answered.

“Do you love them?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Do they love you?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“They tell me.”

Ambrosia noticed tears leaking from the girl
’s eyes. “Are you sad?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I haven’t hurt you. Aren’t I being nice to you?”

“I miss my family.”

Ambrosia didn’t ask any more questions. The answers only made her heart ache.

Ambrosia laid
Gretchen down to sleep. She couldn’t ignore the tears streaming down the girl’s cheeks.

Tears of her own began to fall when she realized she couldn’t keep her human. She had to take her back. But
it was night. She’d wait until morning. She would absolutely take her to shore later. For now, she would spend a little more time with her. She curled up next to the girl, relishing the contact, drifting to sleep with a smile on her face.

Hours later,
Ambrosia awoke to an ear-piercing scream. She blinked her eyes open and sat up. Her mother was dragging Gretchen toward the water.

“Where are you taking her?” Ambrosia screamed.

“The humans have about twenty boats and divers out there. They’re looking for her.”

“But, I’m not ready to give her back yet.”

“Ambrosia, you will not argue with me. I have to let them find her.”

“How will you return her without them seeing you?”

“I’m not going to stay out there with her.”

“But… can she swim? Some humans can’t swim. I’ve seen it. The small ones often can’t.”

Her mother laughed. “I don’t care. You think I care about a human?”

“But she could die.”

Her mother smirked at her. “Oh, she’ll die. I’ll make sure of it. We can’t have her blabbing to the humans about us.”

“No!” Ambrosia screamed as she raced toward her mother. “I won’t let you kill her.”

She met her mother’s fist, while running full on. The pain was blinding just before everything went black.

The next thing she was aware of was the
throbbing pain in her head. It was excruciating. She opened one eye; the other one seemed glued shut. She gingerly touched it. Her face felt all puffy.

P
ain slammed into her heart when she remembered what happened. Her mom was going to kill Gretchen.

She dove into the water
. Her legs tingled as they changed into a fin. A moment later, she raced out, swimming toward the shore. Surfacing, she looked around. Her mother had said there were humans searching for the girl. The moon shone above the empty beach. There was no sign of her friend. No sign of the humans. Tears sprang to her eyes. She was too late.

Her mother had proven her cruelty again. She didn’t care about the girl. She didn’t care about anyone. She didn’t even care about her own daughter. Ambrosia swam aimlessly through the water, sobbing. She should have taken the girl back last night. If she had, she would still be alive.

Guilt crushed down on her, making it hard for her to breathe. Her mother was a monster. Ambrosia hated everything about her life. Why couldn’t she have been born a human? Why couldn’t she have a mother and father who loved her, who would search for her if she’d gone missing?

Finding
herself back at the cave, she swam in and kept swimming. She didn’t go back to her sleeping area, but wandered through the endless maze of tunnels.

Looking up
, she was surprised to find herself in a place unfamiliar to her. She continued to swim, uncaring where she was. She just wanted to escape the reality of her life. The darkness deepened. She could have turned on her lighted necklace, but she found the blackness comforting. She could pretend she didn’t exist… pretend the world didn’t exist.

As she swam, she was assaulted with a smell. It wasn’t
horrible, but it wasn’t a pleasant smell either—just strange, ancient. She’d never smelled anything like it. Swimming into the room, she could feel seaweed brushing her skin. How seaweed grew in such a dark place, she didn’t know. But it would help to keep her hidden from the world—hidden from her mother. She settled in among the weeds and fell fast asleep.

She didn’t know how long she slept, but
eventually, consciousness returned. Her head didn’t hurt nearly as much, and her mind was clearer as she awoke. She needed to make a plan. She dreaded going back to her mother, but where else could she go?

A thought struck her. What if she went to shore? What would the humans do to her? Would they hurt her? Would they accept her? She’d never seen humans hurt or mistreat each other the way her mother did. Could life on shore be any worse than the life she had
?

Ambrosia
finally turned on her orbed necklace.

Her scream echoed off the cave walls. She’d found herself face to face with a white skull
haloed with long wisps of hair. She continued to shriek as she turned and swam into a tiny skeleton. It floated in front of the bones of a small tailfin. She turned around again only to find countless more skeletons floating above a pile of bones. She knew at once who they were—these were her brothers and sisters.

She swam through them on her way to the exit. Their skeletons floated like specters
—their eyes gaping wide, their jaws grinning at her. She frantically swam through the caves, the scent of her own cavern leading the way. But she didn’t stop there. She kept swimming—leaving the cave system and heading into open sea.

She swam with no destination in mind. She only wanted away from the island, away from the nightmare, away from her cruel mother. How far she swam,
she had no idea. She only knew the sun arched over the sky many times on her journey.

Sleep was a
torment, and wakefulness a nightmare. She didn’t eat much on her journey. Sharks would give her food along the way, but she could barely choke it down. The sickness afflicting her mind also affected her stomach. Just the thought of food turned it sour.

When she finally spotted land, she wasn’t sure whether or not she was dreaming. The sound of laughter and the soft roar of human voices seemed to penetrate her consciousness.
Finally, she snapped out of her stupor.

Popping her head above the surface, she took in the view before her. There were humans, hundreds of them.
Giant, rectangular rocks with shiny, square holes in them stood behind the humans. Ambrosia looked closely to see whether the people looked angry, mean, or threatening in any way. She was relieved to see they looked pleasant, many of them smiling.

It took hours of coaxing herself
to go ashore. She had to. She could leave the sea. Leave the horror. She could make a life for herself among the humans. She could be human—forget what she was.

She found an area of the beach that seemed to be free of people. Surfacing was the hardest thing she’d ever done—even scarier than talking back to her mother.

Pulling herself from the water, her fin turned to legs. No one shouted, and no one looked shocked. She’d done it without a single witness. Her legs felt weak, wobbling as she walked. Going days with little food had sapped her strength. But, she was more concerned with the humans than her empty stomach. As she walked toward them, their eyes shot open wide and their jaws dropped. She wondered if they could tell she was a mermaid after all. She’d thought she looked human. Was there something she’d missed? Something they could see that let them know she wasn’t one of them? She backed slowly away.