I scowled.
“In one guy’s case, he took things more personally.” She looked up at me. “Because he actually was a former human.”
“All right,” I said slowly, not sure what she was getting at.
But Lysi abruptly stopped swimming, her mouth agape. Fear washed over me before I even sensed the movements in the distance.
“Army?” I said, barely a whisper.
Lysi shook her head. She squinted ahead for a long moment. “Mee, I think this is it.”
Could it be? Half a day must have passed since we left the raft. I stayed quiet, not wanting to break Lysi’s concentration.
Suddenly, my heart leapt. It was distant, but its frame was so enormous and out of place that it left me without doubt. Somewhere beyond the cloudy blue water sat the ghost of a trawler. It had sunk overtop of a narrow canyon, forming a sort of eerie bridge. I felt the impurity of iron in its frame, prickling my skin like an itchy wool blanket, and the thick layer of wildlife growing over every surface.
Hundreds of bodies stirred in the canyon beneath the ship. When I concentrated, I could distinguish an assortment of fish, predators, and merpeople.
Lysi looked at me, blue eyes wide in excitement, a smile pulling at her lips.
We’d made it to Kori Maru.
CHAPTER SIX - Ben
Perseus’ Last Monster
The USS Perseus hummed through the Gulf of Alaska, approaching the heart of the mermaids’ city. In the bridge, Reeves scanned the empty surface, and then turned his eyes to the monitor. Several thousand feet existed between him and the seafloor. Life signatures moved far below.
Flee,he thought.I’m giving you a chance.
The US Navy had been monitoring the increase in mermaid activity over several years. Until now, traditional means—iron nets, helicopters, safety regulations for boaters—had been enough to keep the American people safe. With the breach of the Aleutian Treaty and the rising number of attacks in the Pacific Northwest, it was time to deploy Perseus whether she was finished or not.
Captain Larson slowed the ship to a crawl and looked expectantly at Reeves. He tugged the sleeves of his uniform, trying to relieve his sweating underarms. It was no use. The uniform was too crisp, too stiff.
His pulse pounded—but not from fear. He’d been on too many drills to feel that anymore. He’d received months of special training for Operation Perseus, and now that the time had come, an immense feeling of guilt pressed on him like a boulder.
You owe her your life.
He shook his head. He was just following orders.
But every time he closed his eyes, that mermaid’s face flashed through his mind as it had done countless times—blank, bloody, lifeless.
“Chief?” said Captain Larson.
“Yeah. Give me a minute.”
Reeves scanned the water, pretending to focus on something.
The mermaids had become a threat to national security, yes, but there must be a better plan than this. He’d been unsuccessful yesterday in convincing Officer Miller to investigate that merman, who obviously had power over the serpent—but how? Did he possess something that could grant anyone control?
Reeves almost laughed at himself for considering the possibility. What did he expect, a magic trident?
“Chief, every second we wait—”
“I know,” said Reeves. “Hold on.”
Larson rolled her eyes. Though she had more years of experience than him, she was being forced to take his orders on this mission, and she had been challenging his every move since they left. Reeves pretended not to notice the way her team gave him sidelong glances and sarcastic retorts. It wasn’t his fault their teams hadn’t met and trained together before Perseus launched. They were all being shoved into this mission prematurely. Besides, he was plenty qualified for this position. It was the matter of actually going through with the operation that made him want to vomit.
It had never left his dreams, the face of the one who had saved his life. And then she lay on the rocks, blood spilling from a dozen places where iron bullets had penetrated, those brilliant brown eyes wide open and glazed. He could never be sure who’d pulled the trigger on her. It could have been anyone on his team, reacting as they were trained to when the mermaids breached the facility.
