Of course you aren’t, he growled.Then you’d have to find another sucker for your plan.Whatever that plan was.
His own plan was simple.
The ocean sang of everything it touched. The salt-spray reaching to the clouds above, the floor crushed by immense pressures below, the crack of tectonic rock and the hissing heat that boiled through the gaps. The darkness, and the filtering light.
Carol had gone out to see if she could find anything familiar in the surrounding ocean. He was doing a similar thing. But whereas her senses were limited to the waters directly around their island, his were not.
He was right. They were close to home. He hadn’t had all these extra senses the last time he was home in Te Waipounamu and had hung out with his family, but he still recognized the chill tenor of the water. A long sail or swim away.
The kraken could probably zip them over there in a flash. If it ever had any intention of actually rescuing them.
They’d been on the island a few days. Was it long enough for Pania and Ataahua to have flown home to tell the rest of his whanau what had happened?
Yes.
There they were.
His family. He could have wept. Maybe he did; this deep in the ocean’s song, he could hardly feel his body. It was a numb and distant part of himself. Small and far away. Lost.
And his whanau, his family, were gathered close enough to the sea that he could almost hold them.
Mum. Dad. Worry gathering like clouds around them. Pania and Ataahua, bright like stars, heavy with the grief they were about to share. The salt tasted it on them, in their weary shoulders, tired breaths, the burn of dried tears in the corners of their eyes. Humans were mostly water, and his people rarely left its sight; the ocean knew its own.
Mouths moved, but the ocean didn’t hear the words. He concentrated. If he could sense them like this, then surely…
*Pania? Ataahua?*He didn’t dare crack open the chrysalis of despair that was talking to his parents, but his cousins? Who’d shared his fears and already knew what he was? Their minds were easier to find.
And they heard him, with shock that blazed like a comet.
*Moss? Is that you?*
*How is this possible? Are you—we thought you would be—*
*Is the kraken—?*
He aimed his thoughts at the monster.After this, we go,he told it.She’ll be safe. No more putting off our destiny.
Without waiting for a response, he spoke to his cousins.
*I’ve got some bad news and some worse news,*he began. *Which do you want to hear first?*
He told them everything. The kraken. The plane. The strange shifters who’d attacked Maggie and Carol. The island.
*But shouldn’t you be gone by now?*
*Ataahua!*Pania sounded like she wanted to smack her.
*It’s true! If our great-uncle is dead—the prison is unguarded.*
*The dragons guard the prison. They can fucking deal for a few days.*
*What if something happens and he’s not there to hear the call?*
Moss’s thoughts were starting to get hazy around the edges. Something was trying to help, but if it held too close, it would hurt him more. He tried to shake his head to clear it, but it was like shaking a numb arm after sleeping on it. *I will go. After this. This is the last time I’m going to be able to talk to you.*
*Moss, no—*
*You need to find Carol and Maggie. Get in touch with Lance MacInnis. Pania, you know my logins. Get Grant Diaz’s number and go through him. They’ll say he’s busy. Tell them it’s about the dragons. You know where they are. Where they need to look for Maggie and Carol and the eggs.*
