Page 10 of Call of the Fathoms

A hulking machine surrounded the woman, and they were jabbing her with long needles. He had no idea what this reborn was, but he did see that there was something attached to her mouth. It looked a bit like the rebreather Mira had created, although this one also had a heavy device wrapped around thewoman’s torso. As he watched, it inflated and then deflated. Continually.

Whatever was attached to the woman’s face was keeping her breathing, and that was all he needed to see.

Timing this right was important. But he knew the sea had planned to provide him with an opportunity, and this was that opportunity. The woman lying on the table might be ill, but she was the only one weak enough for him to grab and disappear into the ocean with.

The scientists turned as one at the sound of a noise outside of the glass. Likely another person reacting to the sight of a massive depthstrider laid out on the table.

It was the right time. He could feel it. Almost as though the sea itself swelled in his chest and bid him to move. So he did. Using his arms, Fortis shoved himself off the table and onto the ground, twisting as he did so. He landed on his forearms, which made it all too easy to slither over to that table, lunge for the woman, and drag her onto the ground with him.

Shouts echoed in the room, and he knew there were plenty of people reaching for weapons. By the time they got those weapons drawn, however, he was already out the door.

So many achromos underestimated him because of his size. They thought something big like him would be lumbering and slow, especially on land. But Fortis was quick. Dragging the strange creature with him wasn’t all that hard either, considering the woman weighed less than he expected. She was so thin, so small...

He turned down the hallway they’d brought him in and immediately heard a shout of rage. He took only a few moments to look over his shoulder, delighted to see the big woman was following him.

“You will never catch me,” he tossed over his shoulder as he headed toward the room with the large moon pool. He’d watched them lock it, and he knew how to open it now.

They were all fools. Every single one of them.

Slamming his hand onto the panel, he mimicked the complicated pattern, and it was that easy. Buttons to push and a door opened.

He watched the floor parting, ready to flee into the sea with this weak little creature who would hopefully stay alive in the freezing waters just long enough for him to get some information out of her.

But at the last second, a harsh spike of pain zinged up his tail. Baring his teeth in a snarl, he turned to see the woman had plunged two blades into his fluke. She held them against the ground, or perhaps she’d stuck them into the floor itself, and glared back at him.

“You will not take her,” the woman hissed.

“I find it hilarious that you think two little knives are going to stop me.”

He watched her eyes widen, perhaps in recognition that he wastalkingto her, before he ripped through his fluke and disappeared into the dark waters with his prize.

Five

Alexia

That bastard had just stolen her reborn.

She had no idea how he wasn’t passed out, but she’d had a bad feeling from the moment she’d walked into the room. The scientists were always overconfident in what their drugs could do. Look at her own situation. She was thinking and feeling for herself when that shouldn’t be possible. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that an undine would be able to do something similar.

His breathing had been too shallow. She’d seen people under anesthesia before, many times. The reborns were usually under some concoction of drugs to keep them calm and quiet while they were in their tubes. None of their breaths were so measured. It was like he had been counting between inhaling and exhaling. Too perfect. Too regular.

That was why she had stayed so close to the doctors. The last thing she needed on her record was the death of an entire room of people who were not as easily replaced.

But to lose a reborn? She’d never done anything worse than that. Reborns were worth more than the lives of every single person in that room.

So when she stared down into the black waters that still churned with the weight of him striking them, she knew there wasn’t another choice.

The doctor ran into the room behind her, his breath sawing through his lungs. “Did you catch it?”

“No,” she hissed. “It learned how to lock and unlock the door, likely by watching our own soldiers.”

“Impossible. They made sure it was drugged.”

“It wasn’t.”

Spinning, she hit the button on her wristband and started barking out orders. “The undine has escaped with one of Harlow’s reborns. Turn all exterior lights on in Sector 251. Every single one of them. I want to see where the bastard is going.”

There was a scratchy sound on the other end, but then she could hear the city coming to life. Tau wasn’t just a fortress that should have been difficult to break into. It was also a living machine that could do whatever it took to protect those within it. The arms extended outside, weapons engaging as powerful lights turned on that would turn the entire sea into a summer’s day.

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