Page 12 of Echoes of the Tide

It took some effort to hold her hands up, but she bent the gloves on her hands and overlapped her pointer fingers. “Like this.”

“Oh!” He slammed her back against his chest with such force that she let out a little disgruntled sound. “Sorry. I know where that is, though.”

They were off again. Blasting through the water with so much speed that she had a hard time holding onto him. All she could do was hope that he had a hold of her before they were suddenly rounding a corner in between towers and then...

The entire sea burst into light.

Neon surrounded them. Signs on every single building, though pieces of them had fallen off, but she could see theirnames flashing as they passed. FOOD HERE, with a giant red arrow. STOP FOR ENTERTAINMENT, marked with flowers around it. A giant naked woman that blinked on and off, one of her heeled feet pointing in the direction to go. So much color and light surrounded by tiny schools of silver fish.

A manta ray swam in front of them, larger than she was tall. It arced over their heads, black and white spots so close she could have touched it if she reached out her hand. It was like the sight of that manta ray gave her the ability to see every single other creature here.

While the city of Gamma might be a dying ruin of neon lights and blinking, boring existence, the outside of the city roared with life. Fish swam in every single direction, everywhere the eye could see. The manta ray dove, drawing her attention to jellyfish that were coasting by them. She’d never seen a jellyfish in her life.

Maketes rolled them, suddenly turning her onto her back so she looked up and stare into all the darkness that surrounded them. And then there was movement in that dark, a slight shudder revealing the outline of something massive. The silhouette of a whale blocked out her view, but it must have been some distance away, because it almost looked small.

Ace lifted a hand, comparing the size of it to the whale before they rolled again.

“There?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling through her entire body until she followed where he was pointing.

The medical pavilion was right in front of them. The big blue cross wasn’t blinking like the other signs. She wondered if maybe it had a different generator attached to it, just in case the power went out and people couldn’t find the one place they needed most.

Her stomach twisted with worry. She had no idea what gang was in the medical pavilion these days. Ace had kept her noseout of everyone else’s business. It was a skill she’d perfected over the years. Just in case another group came into her tower, then she could say she wasn’t really attached to anyone. Her loyalties could be bought, and she was useful.

But now she was heading into their territory with the intent to take something that wasn’t hers. It was going to be a lot harder to convince anyone to help her. Perhaps it was best if she stayed hidden.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “That’s it.”

He must have sensed her subdued mood, because he didn’t talk as he swam them toward the building. There wasn’t a lot to say, anyway. She wasn’t going to tell him much about the why or how of what she was doing. And he probably didn’t care all that much to ask. Human business was human business.

“Looks like there’s an opening,” she shouted, trying to make sure he could hear her through the diving helmet. For good measure, she pointed to a small tear at the bottom level of the building.

It didn’t bode well. A lot of these towers were in rough shape. Engineers were rare in these parts, apparently they either were do gooders or they were too valuable to send to Gamma. Whatever it was, if a building was damaged, the people who lived there patched it the best they could and hoped the tower didn’t flood.

Large drainage tubes ran up and down the sides of this building. She’d seen them on a few others as well. Drainage systems that should pump any water out of the building. If they were working, then flooding the tower would be next to impossible.

The tear was on a lower level, and large enough for them to slip through. Maketes handed her through the hole first. Then he guided her rather than swim through the sharp shards of metal with her in his arms. She was almost insulted until she knockedthe diving helmet against a jagged edge of rebar and realized he was letting her pick her own way to make sure the suit didn’t rip.

After that, she was a lot more careful. Using her gloves to grab onto stone and metal, yanking herself through the twisting labyrinths of old rooms and floating tables until she saw a light at the surface.

“Finally,” she wheezed before breaking free into fresh air.

She was heavier here, though. Way heavier than she remembered ever feeling. Grabbing onto the first ledge she could, she tried to pull herself out, but the water in her suit made her feel like she was carrying another person on her back. A hand palmed her ass and heaved.

Like a wet seal, she plopped out of the water and slammed onto the floor.

Ace rolled onto her back and fiddled with the ties that kept the dive helmet on her body. If she could just wiggle it off, she knew she could breathe here. There was always air in the medical pavilion. And she needed to take a few seconds to actually rest, because that had been the most terrifying experience of her entire life.

A big body loomed over hers, reaching for her helmet and pulling it off her head. Maketes frowned down at her, the expression on his face was one so clearly of confusion that it almost made her laugh.

“You are still breathing?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Not very well.”

A laugh did burst out of her then. “No, not very well. But I’ll be fine here.”

He withdrew slightly, giving her room to sit up and start wriggling out of the suit. All she had to do now was find the office of doctor whatever his name was—she’d remember it in time—and then loot the whole place. She’d done that before. Ace was good at stealing things.

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