Page 36 of Treasure of the Abyss

“I’m not…not trying to avoid it. It’s just…” She inhaled shakily, and when she finally met his eyes, hers were leakingagain.

He raised his hand and brushed the water from her cheeks before settling his palm over her knee. “Tellme.”

“I’ve never cried this much,” she laughed, offering him a sad smile, gone as quickly as it had come. “Probably hard to believe. I’ve been crying since you brought me here, it feelslike.”

“It is okay, Macy. Tellme.”

“My father is a fisherman, just like his father, and his grandfather…so he started teaching us almost before we could walk. As far back as I can remember, Ilovedthe sea. They couldn’t keep me away from it. I sailed with him, helping out as much as I could, and we were both happy. His pride in me felt good, but that wasn’t what called me back. It was thewater.

“Standing on the shore, or in his boat, the sea went on forever. There was no end to it. And swimming was like…flying. It was so freeing.Nobodyknew what was out there…it could’ve beenanything.”

Jax wasn’t sure what flying was, but he understood the sense of freedom, of possibility. The call of the unknown. He’d chased it for most of hislife.

“What changed,Macy?”

“Something happened when I was nine.” She dropped her gaze. “It was during the wet season. The water is always treacherous that time of year. My dad used to say it’d turn on you just to see you flounder. He and my mother told me to stay away from the shore, but…I couldn’t. I wanted to swim.Neededto, I guess. So, I snuck out when they weren’t payingattention.”

“I understand. When I was a youngling, I yearned to wander and explore, and I was scolded by the adults for it.” Jax gave her leg a gentle squeeze. “That did not stop me fromgoing.”

Macy stared at his hand; he was about to remove it when she placed her own atop it. “You wouldn’t be The Wanderer if you hadlistened.”

“Yes. And I could no more deny who I was than you could deny who youwere.”

“Who I was nearly destroyed my family.” Her tongue slipped out to wet her lips, and she squeezed his hand. “My sister, Sarina, was three years older than me. She saw me sneak out and followed me. For a while, she tried to convince me to go back, but, in the end, she relented. Sarina loved the sea as much as I did. If I promised to stay close, she’d go with me and wouldn’t tell ourparents.

“We had so much fun. The sun was hitting the water just right, and itglowed. It was so beautiful. We kept cupping it in our hands, pretending we were holding liquid gold. But we didn’t realize how late it was getting, or how far out we’d gone. The tide was rising. That…that’s when a huge wave hit us. I went under and got turned upside-down, and then I was being pulled away fromshore.”

Though he didn’t often venture near the coast, Jax was familiar with the powerful, ever-shifting currents that pervaded those shallow waters. They were difficult even for kraken to travel, attimes.

“I screamed for Sarina when I resurfaced. I remember the fear, the panic… I heard her calling for me, and saw her fighting to keep her head above the water, but no matter how hard we swam, the current pulled us farther and farther apart. More waves hit me and sent me under. I struggled back up every time, gasping for air, growing weaker andweaker.

“I kept calling her name, watching her get farther from me… And, when another wave pushed me under, I must’ve been turned around, because I lost her. I couldn’t hear her anymore, and I spun in circles looking, but I couldn’t see her. My nose, chest, and throat were burning, and I was so scared. I couldn’tbreathe. Couldn’t keep myself above the surface for muchlonger.”

Jax watched the subtle but unmistakable play of emotions over her features — flashes of fear, panic, desperation, guilt, and sorrow — and frowned. This confirmed the old stories. Humanscouldn’tbreathe underwater. The thought of her struggles tore at his insides, and the pain was given claws by herexpression.

She wiped tears from her face with the back of her hand. “My dad found me. After they’d realized we were gone, he and some of our neighbors came looking for us. He guessed where we snuck off to, and was sailing his boat along the beach. He found me…but he didn’t find her. He never…never found Sarina. And it was allmyfault.

“I never went back to the wateruntil…”

“Until the day I foundyou?”

Macy nodded and offer a strained smile. “The sea seems to have it out forme.”

Jax’s chest ached; sorrow flowed from her every word and permeated her expression. She had cared for Sarina deeply — and still did. He could never truly know the suffering Macy had endured, but he understood the depth of her feelings. Understood the bond. Though his people didn’t treat family the same as hers, he had a brother, of sorts, in Arkon. And the mere thought of losing Arkon so suddenly wasdevastating.

This was an old pain Macy carried, but it was no less intense for its age. If anything, it had been strengthened by the passage of time, had become a wound that neverhealed.

“You cannot blame yourself for the…” He paused, searching his memory for one of Arkon’s words. “…ficklenessof the sea. It takes what it desires, and we can do little to stop it. And you were a youngling. When we are young, we know fear, and we know danger, but we do notunderstandthem for what theyare.”

“It could have been prevented,” she said, glancing up at him. “My parents told me to stay away. They knew how dangerous the tides were that time of year, and I didn’tlisten.”

“As I said, Macy, you were too young tounderstandthe danger. Your sister was, too. You learned a harsh lesson that day — harsher than anyone should endure at that age — but her death was anaccident.”

Her eyes — glistening and bright — searched his. Suddenly, she threw herself upon him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her weight was solid, but slight. Her body shook with hercries.

Jax held her, brushing his claws lightly through her hair. Macy had cried often in the short while he’d known her, and it had affected him deeply each time. But the sounds she made now were agonizing. Raw emotion poured out of her and flowed directly into Jax, demanding he acknowledge it, that he feel ithimself.

He was helpless but to holdher.

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