Page 16 of Echoes of the Tide

This was Ace, he’d known that from the start. But now he felt like he was looking at the real Ace.

A person who was not only capable and confident. This woman was so much more than that.

He just didn’t know what words were right to describe the woman who had been through so much, and somehow continued forward. She hadn’t given up yet. She was still fighting.

And that was impressive.

Five silver balls rolled out of the bundle of her clothing. They clicked together, making strange metallic noises until she scooped them up in her hand and held them out for him to see.

“This is Tera,” she said quickly, before dropping them back onto the floor.

They all scattered, running in different directions like fish fleeing a predator. But one stayed, and he could see his own reflection in the shiny metal. Almost as though the ball wanted him to know that it was looking at him.

“Tera,” he repeated, before giving it a slight nod. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

The ball did a slow circle on the floor before zipping off to join the others. When he looked back up, Ace had changed backinto clothing. Her skin was no longer a mottled dark gray streak and appeared to be more olive toned now. Her brown hair, brown eyes, all of it was so much better when she was clean.

“Stop looking at me,” she muttered. “I have things to do.”

“Hard not to look, Ace.” He leaned his elbow against the floor and propped his head up. “I wonder what color your hair will be when it’s dry?”

“Shut up.” But he swore there was a tiny smile on her lips when she said it.

CHAPTER 7

Ace spent the better part of what felt like a day trying to figure out how the fuck to get out of the opthamologist’s office. There was a lot of useful shit in here, though. Medical supplies, antiseptics, things that probably no one assumed an eye doctor would have. But then she looked at the doors to exit, she found that unfortunately she was completely barricaded in.

Someone had known this was an entrance into the rest of the medical pavilion. They must have seen the part of the pavilion that had broken, and known eventually, someone would use the opening to get in. Why would these people not cover all their bases? Stupidly, she’d assumed they were more like the gang who ran her tower, who didn’t really care if there was an opening. Someone would have to be insane to even attempt to swim between towers.

Ace tried for at least an hour to work the nails out of the hammered wood pieces that barred her way out. There were too many of them though, and her droid might have a powerful magnet, but it wasn’t capable of wriggling nails out of wood.

“Ridiculous,” she muttered as she stared at the very last exit she could find. There was a staff entrance and exit that had takenher too long to figure out. She’d needed to find a set of keys to unlock certain doors, and even then, the doors were stuck by salt and rust. Hammering through that had exhausted her.

But, once through, she found the staff door was also barricaded. This time by water.

“Who floods part of their own city willingly?” she asked Tera. The little droid made a circle in her hands before dropping down onto the floor and zipping away. Likely to triple check that they’d found every single door that might get them out of here.

She stood there for a few moments, staring into the darkness of the flooded room as a scalpel floated past the small window on the door. There really was nothing on the other side of it. Absolutely nothing. Just a blank space of darkness where anything could be lurking.

For a while, she stared directly into the eyes of the abyss. She wanted to look at that darkness. She wanted to feel the hopeless sensation of loss that even though she had tried her hardest, she could not get out of this room.

For some reason, it grounded her. It always had. Looking into the water and realizing how weak and how small she was, even if everyone else seemed to think she was neither of those things.

Then she turned away from the door and made her way back to the waiting room. At least those windows showed a little more of the sea.

She staggered into the room and sat down on one of those plastic chairs. It wasn’t comfortable. She didn’t imagine it ever had been. But she sat there, her elbows braced on her knees, staring out at the water beyond. There were some neon lights still blinking that she could see. This office didn’t have much of a view, though.

The waiting room faced the back of a wall and an alleyway. At the very end of the alleyway was the smallest glimpse of thoseneon lights. She could just make out the letters OMNI, and that was about it. But there was a figure of what looked like a film camera, and a few other objects that made her wonder if that was an entertainment building. Must be nice to live there.

Trickling water echoed in the room, which was her only warning that there was an undine looking at her. Then again, she’d always been able to feel his eyes on her. Since the very first moment they met.

She wasn’t sure why he was back so soon. Maybe he’d never left. That sounded like something Maketes would do. Just linger in the water until she returned. Maybe he already knew there wasn’t an exit from this place.

“Can’t get anywhere from here,” she sighed. “All the doors out of these rooms are barricaded. I can’t get to the upper levels.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Did you know I was going to be stuck here?”

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