Page 9 of Echoes of the Tide

But even Maketes wasn’t dumb enough to fight the depthstrider in front of him. Let alone two of them.

Fortis was the largest of the People of Water that he’d ever seen in his life. So big that his tail sometimes just hung limp beneath him, as though dragging it was just too much effort. It was why he was suited for deeper waters than the ones they were in now. Yellow tips of glowing fins cast light from below on his severe expression, just enough to illuminate the deep violet hues that made up his tail and the rest of his body.

His son floated behind him, smaller but no less intimidating. All depthstriders were, though. Maketes had always heard they could see into the future with just a touch, and he didn’t want to know anything about his future. Not even the barest hint of what might happen.

Fortis withdrew his hand that was always a little too rough. Maybe the big beast couldn’t help himself. His hand was, after all, twice the size of Maketes’s head.

“You are here,” Fortis said, his black eyes already swirling with colors. “This is where you are supposed to be.”

“Eh!” He waved his hand in front of Fortis’s face, breaking him out of the trance. “Don’t do that. I don’t want to know anything about that.”

“But it is exactly where you should be, Maketes. You have been fighting against fate your entire life.”

“I sure have, and I plan to continue doing so.” He used his tail this time to blast water into the depthstrider’s face and also propel himself away from him. “Don’t say a word about it. I don’t want to know.”

“What if it would help you?”

“It’s not going to help me, though. It’s going to put thoughts in my head that aren’t my own. I make my own way in life. I don’t listen to prophecy or whatever it is your kind do.”

He didn’t want to know. He feared what the other male would say because he knew he wasn’t the same as all the others. He was smaller, prettier to the females, but useless to them. Maketes had all of his walls built up and all the coping mechanisms he needed. A depthstrider would not mess with all the carefully constructed walls he’d purposefully kept in place.

“We’re here for a reason,” Fortis snarled.

“What do you want, then? I know you love to stare into my future, but aren’t you just wasting the present? You’re obsessed with me, Fortis. It’s flattering.”

Fortis sighed, and even his son seemed to have a small amount of reaction. Maketes wasn’t used to the younger—yet somehow an exact copy of Fortis—reacting at all. The young version always seemed to be stoic and unmoving. But this time,Fortis’s son smiled, almost as though he was amused by what Maketes was saying.

He pointed at the son. “I see that expression.”

As soon as the words were said, the small grin disappeared.

“Doesn’t matter if you hide it. I saw it.”

Fortis slapped him with his tail and then turned to his son. “Go home. If you can’t keep it together, I will do this myself.”

“Father.” The son disappeared without argument, which could only mean that Maketes was, in fact, as funny as he thought he was. Or maybe the boy was just laughing at him, rather than with him. Both were acceptable. He just enjoyed making people laugh.

There was a small moment of silence until Fortis turned back to him again. Those eyes were already swirling with colors, a bad sign for sure. Maketes took a deep breath and then let it filter out of his rib gills. A billowing wave of air bubbles obscured him from Fortis’s gaze for the few moments it took to pull himself back together.

“What do you want?” Maketes finally asked. “I don’t want to know my future, and I don’t want you helping me find my future, or whatever other nonsense you’re here for.”

“I will not tell you your future if you do not wish to know it, but there are things about this place you need to know.” Fortis’s voice was low, quiet, and sounded more like a prophecy than it did words. “This city hides many secrets.”

“Gamma is a prison city. From what my brother’s mates have said, they aren’t hiding anything here other than what people brought with them. And I highly doubt they were allowed to bring anything important.” At least, he didn’t think the achromos were that stupid. Maybe they were.

“This city was not always a prison. It was more than that. And it has valuable information that we all need.” Fortis’s gaze did that odd thing again. Colors swirled in his eyes, similar to whatMitera could do, before he shook his head and the colors cleared. “I cannot see what it is, though. There are too many decisions between now and then for that future to be clear.”

“Sounds like your power is useless. This place is dangerous. There are things we need to know about it. But I don’t know what those things are or how to find them. Are you sure you can actually see the future, or do you just pretend?”

Fortis narrowed his gaze. “Would you like me to read your future and you can decide for yourself?”

The threat hovered between them before Maketes held up his hands in surrender. “Not really, big guy.”

“I have seen that there is something here that could help us just as much, if not more, than the achromos. You need to find out what it is and bring it to us before the achromos get their hands on it.”

“Do you know what it looks like?”

“No.”

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