Page 76 of Surface Pressure

Soulara took a deep breath and centered herself in a quick meditation. She sent prayers to the gods and then let them loose. She could do this. There was no doubt in her mind. They were launching the krakens soon. Autumn had told her as much, and the soldiers were getting in position to fight them.

The war was just beginning.

Soulara could almost taste the blood on her tongue. There would be hell to pay, she had no doubts. But they needed to win. Because to lose would mean complete annihilation, and that was unacceptable. Soulara shivered as she pulled herself out of the water. She needed to do this. Distract the men while they were attempting to go into the water.

Give them something to think about that they shouldn’t and maybe get more information while she was there. If she could manage that, then they’d have one more advantage over the humans. The bonus at the moment was they couldn’t breathe underwater and most of them didn’t even know that mermaids existed.

Soulara stood on the beach, letting the sun dry her skin. She held her hands up to the sky and drew in a deep, sure breath. This was her time. This was when she could thrive. This was when her abilities would be to the benefit of her entire community.

She wouldn’t be tossed out like her mother had.

Soulara paused, furrowing her brow. Where had that thought come from?

Shaking her head, Soulara focused on being the distraction rather than being distracted.

There was so much more beach now, a much longer distance between the tide and the tree line. Had they collected more water without Soulara knowing? Without Autumn knowing? The Kwights’ communication system would come in handy right about now. At least they’d be able to track where all the krakens were once everything was in place.

With an insistence she hadn’t needed since Milan had first taught her how to harness the magic in her blood, Soulara tugged until the magic pulled free. She would use every ounce of advantage she had to make this happen the right way. She strode purposefully toward the tree line and the human encampment within.

It was quiet—too quiet.

Had they already taken the krakens into the water? Had they launched earlier than Autumn knew? Had they kept it from her as well because they suspected her?

Relief filled Soulara with hope, like a scared blowfish. If Autumn didn’t know, then she remained out of harm’s way.

Remembering both Autumn’s memories and her instructions, Soulara made her way through the thick greenery. Even having seen it through Autumn’s eyes, the sight overwhelmed her.

Everything about these humans and their presence on her planet was hard and sharp. Violence lingered in everything she saw. Gray structures with sharp edges pointed up to the sky, as though they might pierce through the clouds themselves. Around the cluster of buildings sat the fence Autumn had told Soulara about. Something called barbed wire glinted in the dying sunlight on the top. It wound in large loops to prevent anyone climbing over the top. That was not the way to get in or out of the camp.

This wasn’t a camp.

It was a prison.

Soulara hadn’t had a lot of time to think about the infiltration. She’d simply woken that morning, frustration bubbling within her and an energy to get moving, to find success again in the way they had the last time.

Waiting—there was so much damn waiting in the buildup to war. And she’d had her fill of it.

But this was something she could do, something active—maybe even a way for her to stop her people having to fight and lose more good mers to the brutality of these aliens.

Was she willing to pay whatever it cost to be rid of them, though?

Her throat felt thick as she struggled to swallow.

The thoughts could wait for later. She had to stay alert.

At the fence, she allowed her fingers to dance over the wire. It hummed lightly as she flicked from one angled strand of metal to the next. It was thick—thicker than she had expected—but she would still be able to get through.

With a deep breath, she pulled the knife from its sheath against her leg and pressed it to the fence. She held still for one more second before she sliced down hard. The spark made Soulara catch her breath, but she forced her body not to jump back or flinch away. The single cut had severed three wires. She had hoped for more but had expected less.

It took far too long for her liking to get through enough of the metal for her to push her lithe body through the gap she had created. With a hiss, she pulled her arm through after her, catching it on one of the newly cut wires.

“Damn it,” she muttered, twisting her body around to see the large cut along the back of her bicep.

Soulara looked down at her body and the nakedness that had never seemed strange before. She would need to find some coverings. Of all the things she had thought about, in the short amount of time between thought and action, not once had that entered her thinking.

But she would find something. She could easily find the place where Autumn slept. In her mind’s eye, she saw the large area, Autumn small and alone within it. It would take her from her original destination, but it would help her blend in while she caused the distractions.

She pulled Autumn’s memories closer to the forefront of her mind. Corridors and turns, false lights and rough faces flashed through Soulara’s mind. First, the coverings, and then she would find the others, and ensure they knew the mers wouldn’t simply sink to the bottom of the sea.

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