grunt in reply.
“And here and here. This is all her.”
They were quiet for a while.
“I knew this Oceanid.” The Miengu this time. “His name was Qinn, he was in the pod with us for a while, his talent was disguise.”
“It doesn’t look like it helped him much.” A snicker that was quickly cut short with a gurgle of pain.
“He was a good man.”
They swam back into view, the Miengu scanning the reef methodically as he did so.
“She has probably learnt how to disguise herself from Qinn.”
“She can do that?”
A grunt.
“I’m going to report what we’ve found and get some help. You wait here and be alert. She’s still here, I’m sure of it.”
He left without another glance, disappearing quickly into the darkening blue.
I watched the smaller Oceanid as he drifted lazily over the coral, seemingly disinterested in the task he’d been assigned.
As I planned my escape, to dart out in disguise and gradually allow the current to drift me away, I wondered how many more Oceanids like Qinn would die before Merrick was rescued. I hadn’t known Qinn well but my inability to save him had come as a sharp shock to me. What if Sabrina, or Maya, or any number of Oceanids all followed me to Neith’s lair only to die…
Every muscle in my body tensed as the Oceanid swam purposefully towards my cave. He stuck his head into the opening, his eyes darting around the space, a confused expression on his face.
I had drawn back my fist and was about to hit him, making my escape a clear possibility, when he darted out of the cave and swam swiftly away.
I’d managed to move only a few metres out of the cave when he returned to exactly the spot I’d been in, ruffling the coral and sea creatures I’d been imitating to check for a normal response.
This close I could see the faint yellowish sheen that shone just under his skin and watched as irritation replaced his puzzled expression. I allowed myself to drift in the ever-moving backwards and forwards motion of the current, emptying my mind of every thought and pushing back the fear that threatened to blossom around me in the telling water.
He floated upwards into the middle of the blue, his eyes scanning the reef intently.
He was clearly waiting for his partner to return from Neith. And then it hit me, the obvious plan I’d missed. With Qinn’s gifting of disguise, I’d easily be able to follow them into Neith’s lair and then once inside I could free Merrick.
I waited for a long time.
The water darkened, the pale blue fading to a rich navy from the sea floor up. I hoped he wasn’t talented with great sight as well as the ability to track scent so effectively. Merrick had explained the Oceanids’ talents as being single-faceted, with each Oceanid inheriting their talent from their forebears.
As the reef became enrobed in night I wrapped strands of sea weed around my body, allowing me to rest and wait and watch.
I woke with a start from a sleep I hadn’t intended to fall into. The scent and flavour that filled my mouth was sheer agony and bliss at once.
I’d come to recognise Merrick’s distinct fragrance and the delicious flavour that lingered on the back of my tongue every time he was near me, while he was helping me to discover the talents that were part of my DNA.
In the green light of the wooded valley we had been sitting in I’d discovered the distinctly exotic fragrance of his skin and been amazed by the strength of it. In the water it was overpowering to the point that it seemed to affect every cell in my body, galvanising me to action.
The time it took to impatiently pull the strands of sea weed I’d wrapped myself in saved me.
Had I not had them wrapped around me I would have shot forward and into the danger that lurked around me without a second’s thought. Instead, as the last piece gave way beneath my impatient fingers, a current of excitement, hope and sheer aggression flowed into the water incapacitating me momentarily.
They were here. Lots of them. And they had Merrick with them.
I sank to the rocky sea floor and tried to work out how I could get to Merrick. I had settled on an “all guns blazing” strategy, planning to hurl every talent at them in a flurry of distraction while I tried to find Merrick.
“To the left,” a voice whispered in the water. The current of their movement swirled around me as they swam past my hiding place, paying no attention to me as I lay pressed against the rocks.
“Are you sure it’s her?” one of a group of three asked.
“I’d recognise her scent anywhere.” It was Nereus who answered. He was a powerful Traduzir, an Oceanid with the same talents as Merrick but with few ethics to temper his power. He had attacked me on the one occasion Merrick had left me alone, wanting to take me as the prize his twisted mind felt he deserved. Bile rose in my throat at the implications of being caught by him.
I risked a peek above the tumble of rocks, watching as the third shook his swirling hair as they swam away from me.
“You would have thought that the fortieth generation Gurrer would be a lot smarter wouldn’t you?”
Their voices were fading quickly and with it Merrick’s scent. I hadn’t seen him with them but it was obvious he was close.
I slipped from my hiding place and followed them, using the contours of the animal-encrusted rocks and drift of the current to carry me inconspicuously forward as I tensed every muscle in preparation for the attack.
They were laughing when I caught up to them, holding a blood-soaked rag in the current.
“This should lure her a little closer.” Nereus laughed, wringing the rag between powerful hands as the blood curled from between his fingers into a sickening stain through the turquoise water.
The force of the fragrance was unbearable, and I stifled the scream that was building in my throat by clamping my hands over my mouth. It was Merrick’s blood – so much of it – swirling around me in the current.
I allowed myself to sink onto a small patch of white sand, as I half listened to them discussing how they had soaked the rag.
“How long do we wait before we go and get some more?” one of them asked.
“Oh there’s another rag already being prepared,” Nereus replied as the others laughed cruelly.
Fury burnt hot at my centre as I pulled all of my focus into creating the most powerful ball of energy I could make, feeling it form on the palms of my hands and blowing out a stream of bubbles as I prepared to launch it at them.
Nereus
