Page 16 of Call of the Fathoms

He leaned close. “Alexia, if you don’t tell me how you’re feeling, I can’t help you. And if someone else discovers that you arefeelinglike this...”

He didn’t finish what he was saying, but he didn’t need to. She knew what would happen if anyone else caught wind that she wasn’t perfection personified.

The doors to the room slid open, the compressed air punching through the space as Harlow strode in with angry strides.

“Why didn’t you tell me you went after the reborn in the water?” Harlow snapped. “You chased an undine in nothing but an exoskeleton?”

She looked particularly beautiful today, even surrounded by the stark white of the med room. Harlow’s hair was twisted into a lovely low bun, a few strands falling around her pristine face. She wore a strapless white dress that clung to her thin figure and ended just above her shapely thighs. Pretty white heels were on her feet, wrapping around her ankles in delicate silk butterflies that almost looked like they were flapping their wings as she shifted.

The red patch on her shoulder was gone. Likely they’d done the transfer the moment Alexia had returned with the rebornin tow. The clone was good enough to harvest the stem cells they needed to fix Harlow’s allergy, and that was that. Another death. Another body to toss out into the abyss and pretend that it wasn’t horrifying what they were doing.

Doctor Barker punched the needle through her side, but Alexia didn’t react. At least that pain helped to ground her so she wouldn’t look tired when she spoke with Harlow.

“Your reborn was taken moments after we found the correct genetic sequence that you needed. I did what any good guard would do, and that was go after the creature who stole the body that would make you more comfortable.”

Harlow scoffed. “Oh please, don’t give me that drivel. You wanted to hunt an undine and as such, you did so. I understand why. But what I don’t understand is how the beast got into Tau in the first place.”

“He was brought in by a research team. They thought he was incapacitated.” Alexia looked down at the stitching to watch Barker’s neat little black rows. “He clearly was not.”

It was then that Harlow noticed what was happening in the room. A dramatic little hiccup escaped her lips, and she lunged forward as though the stitches were surely a sign of death in her guard. “What happened to you, dear one?”

Oh, they were pretending that Harlow cared. Interesting. She wasn’t sure if this was all for show because Barker was in the room, or if Harlow was having a moment where she realized just how fragile her guard might be.

“I fought the undine,” she said through gritted teeth. “I lost.”

“You have to be more careful, dear. You are my favorite guard.”

“I understand that, Harlow. But I will not live as long as you.”

“Unless I have something to say about it. Like I said, you’re the only competent guard I’ve been given in over two hundred years. I don’t think you understand how many of you I have gonethrough.” She shook her head before sighing. “You die when I say you die, Alexia. Do I make myself clear?”

Alexia nodded, as a pit grew in her stomach. What did Harlow mean by that? She didn’t want to stick around forever. Immortality seemed more like a punishment than a gift. And yet... Was that what she was saying?

“You’ll take care of this undine issue,” Harlow said. “The other Originals aren’t certain how to address this situation, but I am. You already fought him once. We’ll give you a better ship, better weapons, and you will hunt him down for me. Bring me his head, Alexia, and you will never have to fear decommissioning ever again.”

The Original left the room, and silence burned in her wake. Alexia knew this was supposed to be a gift. A boon. An underlined promise that would give her hope, but all it did was solidify her feeling of drowning and exhaustion.

“I’ve never heard an Original wish to keep their guard forever,” Doctor Barker finally said. He finished with the first row of stitches, and tied off the end with a knot before snipping it with very sharp scissors. “That is a great honor. You’ve made a lasting impression on her.”

“How wonderful for me.”

Again, Barker looked at her with a gaze that saw too much. “What was it like being in the water with an undine?”

She searched her memory, trying to figure out what he wanted her to say. Likely, he would expect her to say that it was nothing different from what she had experienced before. It was just another hunt. She’d fought her entire life, and this was a different opponent who had beaten her. But frustration got her nowhere, and self loathing also wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

Now that she had her emotions glimmering in the back of her mind, and the meds were wearing off again, it was hard to think of what someone without those feelings would say.

Doctor Barker had never threatened her well being, though. Maybe she couldn’t quite trust him, but she could at least be a little more honest than she could with others.

“Magnificent,” she finally admitted. “Unlike anything I have seen before.”

“Out of the water, he was quite massive.”

“They seem even bigger when you’re in the water with them. It’s odd, because he seems like an overly large human from the waist up… but that tail.” She shook her head. “He can even glow underwater. I’ve never seen any creature like that before. Such power and such control over his own body. There was no way I could fight against him and win.”

“What an unusual circumstance you’ve found yourself in.” Doctor Barker wheeled his chair away from her and reached for a needle filled with more drugs that she knew would take her away from this moment. “I have a few more questions before I administer this medication, if you don’t mind me asking them.”

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Why would you want to ask me questions while I’m obviously not myself?”

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