Page 99 of Echoes of the Tide

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “They aren’t going to catch up to us.”

She pointed toward the dark abyss. “I need you to bring me to the deepest part of the ocean. There’s one last thing we need to do.”

He didn’t question her. He just drew her deeper and deeper into the sea. All the lights went out, and that made her feel even worse. Tera moved in her palm, though she could barely feel it through the wetsuit, and she wished that her hands were free. She wanted to hold her friend, knowing that the loss of them would forever mark her soul.

When Maketes finally paused, she lifted Tera up to her face so she could look at the little droid in the faint light glow ofMaketes’s scales. “You have been my best friend since I was a child. Every step of the way, you were here for me. Letting you go is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

“What?” Maketes asked. “What are you doing?”

“Tera has the tracking on it. The signal for the video to be transmitted to all the cities. If we want to promote even the promise of an uprising against Tau, Tera has to do it. And we can’t keep running.” Already the lights of Tau were so much larger. They only had a few moments for this goodbye. “We’re dropping them in the sea, Maketes. The abyss will keep them safe until Tau can find them, but it won’t be easy to find something smaller than a thumb print. It’s the best chance we have. Each bead will fall separately, and the message will be sent with each bead.”

Tera rolled in her fingers, looking at Maketes and then her. Two of the magnetic balls detached and snuggled up to her thumb, almost as though the droid was hugging her.

Maketes’s hand came down on top of hers, trapping the droid between them. “We’ll never get them back, Ace. If you drop them... they’re gone.”

“I know,” she whispered. If she had been above water, tears would have streamed down her cheeks. Instead, all she could feel were her eyes growing painfully hot.

“You don’t have to do this. We will find another way. You do not have to sacrifice any more than you already have.”

She hiccuped, drawing water into her mouth before expelling it roughly when she remembered he was breathing for her. “I know.”

He peeled his hand away from hers, and she looked down to see that Tera had gathered all of its pieces together in a small cluster. As though the five pieces wanted to see each other one last time before an eternity alone at the bottom of the sea. All bythemselves. Without anyone to talk to them or joke with them or bring them on adventures.

Another sob wracked through her chest. “I can’t do it,” she said, staring at her dearest friend. “I can’t do it.”

Tera bumped against her thumb one last time, and then all five pieces rolled off her palm. Ace tried to catch it, but the weight of the droid dropped through the water faster than she could move. They disappeared out of sight, and she felt like she’d left a piece of her soul behind.

Another sob. Another cry that echoed through the water as she screamed out her loss. Because even though it was the right thing to do, she had never felt such pain.

Maketes scooped her against his hearts and then swam. Faster and faster. Behind him, she could see the lights of Tau were even brighter. Then the little zips of lasers firing at them, but Maketes was too fast. He swam like the sea itself guided him, and all she could think was that her entire life had been about sacrifice. She just wanted, for a few moments more, to not have to sacrificeeverything.

CHAPTER 39

Ace didn’t know how long they traveled through the ocean, only that they eventually shook the soldiers of Tau. The lights disappeared in the distance, just like the shattered feeling of her heart. Eventually, she became just as numb as her body. The cold of the sea settled in her chest, sinking through her very flesh and bone until she felt like she didn’t care about anything anymore.

It was nice to exist in that place for a little while. It didn’t feel like she was doing anything wrong, and she wasn’t hurting anyone but herself. Because she knew it wasn’t healthy.

Logically, she could look at what she’d done as the right choice. She needed to let Tera do the job that they had always wanted. Her droid only had one function, and that was to be of use. The fact that it could save not just her, but so many other people? Of course it was going to take that role happily.

But then her mind would scatter into the darker thoughts. Tera was just going to be alone down there. In the icy cold, knowing that time was passing, but that it was on its own. Worst-case scenario, Tau found her droid. And if they did, they would tear her droid apart for whatever it hadn’t wiped from its own memory yet.

Because she knew that’s what Tera would do. It wouldn’t give any information up about her, and that meant it had to start destroying itself on the way down.

Maketes’s arm tightened around her, and she could feel the ache in him as well. He wanted to fix what was broken, but he didn’t know how.

Neither did she.

After all they had been through together, this was the most broken that she’d ever felt. Her droid. Her best friend. All of it had been traded to save a sister who she wasn’t even sure wanted to be saved. What if Laura was happy down there? What if she had wanted to stay in Beta?

“Kefi?” Maketes asked, his voice pitched low and gentle.

She nodded against his neck, then buried her face in his gills. The thought of facing anyone or anything right now stung.

“We’re here.”

“Where is here?” she breathed against his skin.

Hopefully, somewhere she could pretend the world didn’t exist for a little while. If she could take some time to herself, she could piece all of these shattered bits back together. All she needed was a few minutes to herself and then she would crawl out of this dark hole.

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