Page 47 of Whispers of the Deep

He said something that sounded familiar, then gestured around them like this place was safe.

“And what if I run out of air to breathe?”

He gently lifted the rebreather still attached to her neck and then pointed to the other bell plants. Like it was obvious. She had options for air, it just wasn’t the best option she might have.

And then, to her absolute horror, he sank out of the bell and swam away before she could catch him.

Eighteen

Arges

Arges hated to leave her undefended in a strange new world that likely she was terrified of. He understood how scary it must be for her to be underwater where she could not breathe, and now there was no one else there to help her. It was... horrible what he had chosen to do.

But he had no other option. Daios had come to the cave, and he couldn’t leave her where his most dangerous brother had found her. So he had to move her. He had to bring her elsewhere until he could find a more permanent place for her.

In the meantime, he had to return home. He needed to show his face to the others, so they knew he had not run. He hadn’t turned to the depthstriders in shame and asked them to take him in.

Arges was still the leader of his pod. He was still the favored son of their Mitéra and no mission with the achromos would change that.

At least, he didn’t think.

Soaring through the waters away from Mira felt like he’d left a piece of himself behind. He feared for her safety, and what would happen during their distance between each other.

She could be attacked by all manner of sea creatures. Even sharks frequented that area of the ocean, and she was an easy snack for them to take a bite out of. Although, with all those bones, he didn’t think they would actually eat her. Just likely try a bit, and then she’d bleed out in the kelp. He’d find her surrounded by a plume of her own blood.

And though the thought was concerning, he found himself wondering what color her blood even was. His was dark, almost inky, like the emission of an octopus. But she didn’t seem to be made of the same stuff.

His thoughts clouded with worries about her and musings about what her body was even like. He found himself at the heart of the ocean far sooner than he had expected. And what he found there made his blood turn icy in his veins.

His pod. Larger than before, with more males than he could count and females armed to the teeth. They swirled in a slow circle around the central meeting place. Around Mitéra and Daios, who raised his arms into the air and jabbed his clawed hands toward the surface.

They were not supposed to be here. Not his pod.

Not with him.

Anger raging bright and colorful, he used the currents to push himself through the tangle of arms, weapons, and tails. Someone’s fluke caught him hard in the back, shoving him forward so he raced into the center with a little too much speed to be polite.

But he did not care about politeness right now. Not when his brother had clearly gone too far.

Though the silence that fell after his arrival sent ripples down his spine, he would not back down. “Brother,” he hissed. “What is the meaning of this?”

“There is no meaning. We have been hiding from the achromos for too long. With all your plans of watching and showing our curiosity and not our teeth, we have wasted too much time. We will attack them and we will tear their kingdom apart with our claws.”

“This is madness,” Arges replied, shaking his head and looking at Mitéra. But the undulating mass of her hair was still.

She... agreed with Daios?

His Mitéra, the woman who had always favored him above all others, wished for his brother to hunt?

He turned around, watching the others as they swirled in a circle around them. The pale light of their home flickered on scales and sharp, bared teeth. They agreed with his brother. Then they circled him like sharks. All of their sharp tails and weapons held with clenched hands and emotions bared for all to see. Bright colorful lights danced down their tails, filling the ocean with a rainbow of angry colors.

“We will lose many lives,” Arges murmured, his gills flat with displeasure. “The achromos have weapons unlike anything we’ve seen before. We cannot just attack their home, or I would have led our pod into battle a long time ago.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Daios drew himself up high, his tail coiling and red electricity flickering up and down his body. He really thought that Arges was just too weak to lead them. He thought that Arges wouldn’t have taken the chance, even if the time was right.

With a flick of his tail, he met his brother head on. Their rib gills slapped against each other, his tail already coiling around his brother’s and ready to flex, to make him bend should this fight require it.

“I am no weak leader,” he hissed. “This is my pod, and you will take them nowhere without my permission.”

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