Page 10 of Echoes of the Tide

A laugh burst out of him. “Right, so you really are useless then! Fortis, you have us all tricked. Of that, I am certain. Do you ask for payment for these fortunes? Because I wouldn’t mind doing them on the side for myself. Perhaps then I could get a better nesting site in the pod.”

The bigger male seemed to get even larger. His fins flared around his head and sides, and his tail suddenly started moving again. He was a vision of their people. Huge enough to be intimidating and even bigger than before. Nineteen feet of massive creature and Maketes could tell he’d made a mistake.

Swimming backward, he held up his hands again. “Cool it down, big guy. I meant nothing by it, just that it sure seems like you’re a little useless.”

“Would you like me to show you how useless I am?” The spines all along the back of Fortis’s arms rose, and then the ones on his back too.

“No. No, I think I’m good. Perhaps I was wrong.”

“Perhaps you were,” Fortis snarled, before seemingly pulling himself together. “I do not know how you always get under my scales.”

“It’s a gift.”

“More like an annoyance.”

“Some might even call it a blessing from the sea herself.”

Fortis took a deep, steadying breath. “I am leaving before I kill you myself.”

“Yourself?” Maketes frowned. “Did you just tell me my future?”

“You will never know.” The sly grin on his face was his only warning before Fortis darted away.

“Wow,” he muttered. “That big guy can really move when he wants to.”

Those were ominous words for him to even consider, so Maketes also tossed those fears out. He wouldn’t dwell on what someone like that said. Depthstriders were notoriously difficult to understand, not to mention that they manipulated the world however they wanted. Fortis might have seen nothing in his visions. He might have just decided that he wanted to be bothersome.

Maketes stilled his mind and worked on getting all of those thoughts out of his head entirely until he could see the slightest rays of sunlight above his head. Or rather, the faintest light blue of the water. Gamma was so deep that the rays didn’t penetrate this far down.

But the lighter water meant it was tomorrow. Or rather, that tomorrow was today. And all he could think was that now he would go and get Ace. He could gather her up and together they would start a new adventure.

How odd it would be to have a human pressed against him, as he’d seen his brothers do. They always seemed to enjoy the act,although he couldn’t tell if that was because they were in love, or if it was simply just enjoyable to hold an achromo female like that. He was excited to learn, though.

Even if Ace looked like she’d rather set herself on fire than have him touch her. Soon enough, she would know he posed little danger to her.

He returned to the same meeting spot on his own this time, and there was the fleeting worry that someone might have laid a trap. But they didn’t, and thus he let the thought drift away. Because they were all standing in the exact same spots they had been in before. The same males. The same people. The same strange barrels full of fire that made his eyes hurt just to stare at.

And she was there too. Ace. The strange and curious achromo who had made him wonder just exactly what she had hidden. They’d dressed her in a ridiculous suit. It was nearly twice her size, bulging around her like she was some strange puffer fish. There was a massive dome on her head as well, a strange looking device that resembled a bubble. From his vantage point, he could just barely see the heavy metal tank she had strapped to her back.

Was that how they expected her to breathe? With that tank?

Perhaps she saw him staring, because she spun so he could see it, then turned back around to say, “It’s oxygen. It helps me breathe underwater.”

They were going to do away with that immediately. Once he got her in the water, he was going to make sure she never had to put that stupid thing on ever again. But he couldn’t do that here. Not with everyone else looking.

She strode toward him, but paused when the leader of the group spoke.

“Hey, undine.”

Maketes bared his teeth and stared the other man down.

But the man just grinned, like he’d expected Maketes to not want to listen to him. “Remember our deal. If we don’t get that key, you don’t get the weapons.”

“I couldn't care less about your weapons,” he replied, knowing full well that only Ace could understand him. “I do this as a favor for her, not for you.”

He thought he was the only one who heard her tiny gasp echo inside the chamber of her bubble. And it would probably be dangerous for anyone else to have heard it. These people didn’t seem trustworthy to him, and he’d rather have Ace in his arms now rather than theirs.

He reached for her, his hands wide and his claws already curled. Ready to protect her. But unfortunately, she only saw it as a threat. He knew how scary he must look, but he’d forgotten that he was large in comparison to her. No one was frightened of him. Not usually, at least.

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