Page 18 of Song of the Abyss

She spun around, the wet ends of her hair slapping against her cheeks as she turned. “You can understand me.”

A low rumble started in his chest. This was getting ridiculous at this point. “Yes, achromo. I told you already.”

She blew out a long breath, then pressed her hand to her chest. The strange being she wore on her head made a soft chirping noise, and then it held a piece of glass in front of her eye again. What was that creature doing?

He could see her eyes moving as though she were looking at something he couldn’t see, and it made him uncomfortable. This situation had to be controlled, and he was not in control right now. Daios preferred knowing everything that might happen in any situation. Knowing everything was his safety net.

With a soft growl, he lunged forward. The little achromo had no time to react before he had already plucked the droid off her head. It was built a little like Byte, and he still hated that strange box that Mira carried around. This one had spindly legs that tried to stab into his hand as he lifted the glass up.

Writing?

Mira had shown him a book before, and she’d written words on the sands. He wasn’t particularly good at reading their language, but he knew the word “Danger” after Mira had written it so many times.

That made him grin. Wide and feral and probably everything she’d seen in her nightmares. She certainly went white as the pale underbelly of a fish. But then he handed the droid back to her, still in one piece.

He hoped she realized what an exercise in personal strength that had been. It would bring him much satisfaction to feel the droid crushed in his grip.

She took the metal spider back with delicate hands, so small compared to his own, and he hated how intrigued the size of them made him. He wanted to hold her short little fingers, and what a curious thought that was. He’d never wanted to touch an achromo. If he was being honest, he had little interest in touching his own people, either.

How strange that he looked at this one and wondered how soft her skin would be if he ran the back of his finger down her cheek. He could see the fluttering of her pulse on the side of her neck, and he wondered what it tasted like.

A small part of him sent off warning signals, screaming that he shouldn’t want to know what she tasted like. Maybe there was something wrong with him, because what if he wanted to eat her? His fangs would so easily tear through her skin. He could hurt her like he had hurt everyone else, and he’d already thought about her blood. Daios made mistakes. That was his fate. He fucked everything up. Why did he think he wouldn’t hurt her?

He swallowed, suddenly afraid of what would happen if he stayed any longer. So instead, he held out his hand, which contained the small chip she was supposed to affix to the side of her head. Mira had given it to him. Once he had kidnapped her, he was supposed to put it on the head of the General’s daughter. Ignore the pain it caused her, and bring her to the others.

She looked at the chip, then back up at him. “I can’t install that. It goes directly into the cochlea, but mine is damaged. It can stick into my ear, but it won’t work. I’m not... I can’t download any translation chips.” She turned her head, showing him the blank space behind her ear. “I had to have mine removed after the accident. Those devices translate the words using tones we can hear, but those are the tones that I can’t hear. It doesn’t work in any other way. It... it can’t.”

Well. That was going to complicate things. How was he supposed to communicate with her, then?

He looked down at the chip in his hand, at a loss for what to do. The voice in his head that warned him about wanting to hurt her, suddenly started whispering that this was wrong.

He would be taking her into a world where she would never understand anyone else. She already had admitted there was something different about her hearing, which meant communication must be difficult for her to begin with. If he took her with him, then he was condemning her to a life of silence. Not just underneath the sea, where all sound was muffled. But completely and wholly silent.

Those delicate fingers brushed against his. She plucked the chip out of his massive hand and held it out to the robot at her head. “Bitsy? Hold on to this for me, will you?”

He watched the robot take it, his eyes narrowing in distrust. Another robot had created that chip, but he was uninterested in any of their kind. They were unnatural and untrustworthy.

The achromo licked her lips, and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the movement. Every time that little flicker of pink appeared, he wanted to know where it came from. What other differences there were.

And if she was pink in other places.

“I saw the security footage of you coming into the city multiple times,” she said, her voice almost too soft to hear. “Do you know they are tracking you?”

He shrugged. Let them. Once he was inside the pipes, they were blind.

“They’re going to put droids in the piping system. Or they’re going to flush it. They’ll remove all the water from the city for an afternoon, probably. You’ll be stuck wherever you are, and then they’ll send the clean-up crew. Those droids will slowly take you apart, bit by sawing bit.” She took a deep breath when he puffed up. “I know you think you can fight them, but there will be hundreds. Too many to destroy.”

Though his chest puffed up even more, he had to admit that didn’t sound like an ideal situation. His spines slowly rose on his back, even the ones along his arms. If he had to fight his way out of here, then he would. Daios didn’t mind fighting. But he had a feeling this little achromo would not like to see what he could do with this massive body of his.

She should have been afraid of him. The sight of his anger was enough to startle most people, even his own kind. But instead, she bit her lip and just looked at him. Regarding the anger as it rose like she was watching water boil.

“If I’m guessing right, you’re here for a reason.”

He nodded.

“For me?”

He lifted a hand and tilted it side to side. He was here for her, yes, but they really wanted to strike at her father. They needed a chance to prove that his people would fight to the bitter end against the achromos if required. His people would be left alone, and they would take their sea back.

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