‘Big ... but fast. Tail bigger than yours.’
I roll my eyes and power on, gritting my teeth. There is no reasoning with him when we’re close to everything we both treasure.
The ocean bed drops away in a sudden cliff that always reminds me of my own insignificance. Here, the water is deep and black like a starless night, and feels just as empty.
No fish pock the water, and the sharks are far too cunning. The dolphins and the whales journey well out of their way to migrate around the trench.
Only the truly desperate brave this part of the ocean.
The desperate and thestupid.
Every cautious swish of my tail makes my chest tighten as I plot a path between the bergs, flinching each time two collide and mimic the crack of lightning. I pause periodically to ensure I’m not being followed.
That something isn’t reaching from below to snatch me.
I dart skyward, slow when I near the glassy surface, and gently break through. The breath I release from the gills scored behind my ears is steady.
Controlled.
Which is a lot more than I can say abouthim.
‘Get the rock. Get the rock!’
‘Calm. Down.’
My eyes feast on the masterpiece before me—the small island caught in a shard of morning sunlight cutting through the clouds. All the colors of the rainbow ricochet off magnificent crystal spires that pierce the sky, bathing the island in a glimmering halo of light.
How nature birthed such a wonder has always been beyond me.
A geyser protruding from the center leaks a river the color of blood that cuts a skewed path into the sea, painting some of the water pink and tainting the air with the smell of sulfur.
I’m hit with a dose of serenity, remembering how I used to bathe in that warm, nutrient-rich water. It always made my scales gleam—
‘Get the rock!’
I sigh.
‘You’re a pain in the ass sometimes.’
My regard darts to the waveless beach and the jagged band of shore littered with smaller pieces of crystal ... along with the bones of creaturesshedecided to spit out closer to the surface after she’d finished gnawing on them.
I survey the crystals from afar, studying their shape and the way they catch on the sun, trying to decide which one shines thebrightest.Though my eyesight is good, it doesn’t beat the ability to touch the marvelous, the fragile, the unique ...
Thetreasured.
It doesn’t allow me to hold those gems to the sun and twist them this way and that to see their facets come to life.
‘Nearer.’
‘Okay. Just ... keep your shit together.’
I slide through the water slower than a setting moon, then pause, gaze flicking, senses sharpening.
‘Don’t stop.’
‘Choke on a clam,’ I growl, and Zykanth finally shuts up.
I resume my advance in peace, though he continues to bounce around, whipping against the walls of my insides.
