Page 14 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

My fluke moves only because I will it. My muscles ache with the Arg-leth poison leaching in.

This will not end me.

On.

And on.

Until the thick black water turns gray. But the bubbles continue. And when I swim through them, I can make more out. I can see the texture of the top of the tunnel, and it spurs me on. One, two excited kicks scrape the top of the tunnel. The dull throb in my fluke tells me I’m bleeding. I can’t turn to examine it; the tunnel is too narrow. But the end is in sight. There’s a round ring of light up ahead. My heart throbs. If this is an exit without the trident, I will have to turn around again.

But when I push through, it’s not. I’m in the middle of a cavern, a cavern with light pouring through a chimney. In the center is a trident. It’s ancient. Barnacles grow around the base of where it’s pushed into a rock. It has a golden and silver handle encrusted with pearls and diamonds. The tines shine like steel. I’ve never seen one like it before. Not even in the museum. Not in any of our cultural teachings.

Swimming over to it, I yank it out of its rock bed. The cavern rumbles as I do. This has been here far longer than a hundred years. I hold it in my hand. For the lack of technology in it, it’s especially well-balanced.

I glance back at the lava tube and over to the chimney of light shining down into the cavern. The quest wasn’t to go in and out of the abyss with the trident. The quest is to come back with the trident.

I swim into the chimney. And as I do, a damn viperfish comes out of nowhere.

7

EROS

I’m confused. Well, not really confused. The journal of my great uncle twice removed said he was told by his grandfather how he found the trident on the shelf at the bottom of the trench. But it’s not there. And Nico vanished three hours ago into the caldera beneath the ledge, only for a large bubble of blood to swirl out of the crevasse he dove into.

Three hours, and he’s still not back.

Five hours.

My stomach sinks. He’s gone. I feel the loss for Annabelle. Fuck. Nico’s gone, and she is going to be devastated. I’ve done plenty I’m not happy about, but this? I don’t want it to be true.

The sooner I get back to the Veiled City, the better. I tune into the feed that broadcasts where they would have shown Nico being dropped off. It’s empty.

I need to get back to Annabelle, keep her safe.

I slowly make my way out of the chasm. Mysolocloaked, I’m confident that even the best devices won’t be able to pick it out. Even if they are right next to me. I zap a giant eel that latches on to the front. Fucking hell, the last thing I need is for the windshield to crack the rest of the way.

I skirt the edge of the force-field to an area normally not patrolled. It’s the side of the city that leads to the open ocean. But even as I go, I expect there to be multipleomadaswaiting, guarding against Nico returning without the trident. That’s always how it plays out. They leave the government vehicles all around the shield. But there’s only oneomada, and I’m pretty sure I see the pilot sleeping.

There’s no way he got around me. He’s gone. And I need to tell Annabelle.

The city is vibrating. But it always does that this time of year. Everyone loves Vividaria. Everyone but me. Having this party when we’ve sent our hero—questionable hero, but hero no less—to his death tweaks me in the gut.

There are more and more people swimming around the domes. And the traffic is horrible. It’s worse than the day of all the balls during Vividaria. I’m being extra careful to pilot above and around the crowds, keeping my cloaking on. It’s hard to go through the city but not impossible. I maneuver around the backside of Zaffiro and pull into the enclosed parking of the main dome. I turn the cloaking off in the airlock, then maneuver into one of three spaces I own. I pull the oil cloth off Uncle Titus’s oldsoloand cover the windshield of mine. I’ll need to figure out what to do about it later. But I can’t leave the cloak on. It would draw too much power. I put my head down and proceed through the main dome’s lobby. Or rather, the lobby under the main lobby. The garden domes are connected by a web of small corridors that connect to the larger dome.

I’m down the hall to my apartment. I put in the codes to unlock the door. I’m cold, tired, and hungry, but all that can wait. I’m on edge. I’m not sure why I think Annabelle is going to be gone. The third security system unlocks, and my apartment door opens up.

Annabelle is standing there with a large frying pan in her hand. It’s hoisted over her shoulder like she’s going to smack me in the head. And she doesn’t put it down when I walk toward her. Her blue eyes go wide. I reach for the pan. She shakes her head and backs away.

“Sunshine, what’s going on?”

“You’re what’s going on.” Annabelle stomps her foot as she says it.

“I’m going on?”

“Yes, Eros. Is Nico dead?”

I can’t answer. “I don’t know.” Because technically I don’t. I saw the massive amount of blood. And the empty ocean around the chasm.

“Did you help him?” Her lip trembles. I can tell she’s trying not to lose it.

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