Authors: Joss Ware
It seemed too much time had passed when dark land at last loomed ahead of them and Fence stumbled off his ride and gathered up Ana, slogging to the shore.
“Ana,” he said, gently shaking her as he leaned over her on a debris-strewn beach.
She moaned, coughed, and began to shiver violently, though it wasn’t cold at all. Blood covered her torso and clung to her hair as he huddled her close, curling around her in a seated position and settling her on his lap.
“Turns out,” she said in a wavery, rough voice, “it wasn’t me they wanted.” She coughed, more blood gushed out, and he stroked her back, horror turning him cold and empty. “It was my crystals.”
She shifted, and he felt her move as if to touch her torso. “They’re gone,” she whispered, her chest moving raggedly as she pulled away a blood-streaked hand. “They’re all gone.”
He felt her weakening, growing limp and chill, and he shook her. “Ana! Ana! Don’t leave me!”
Hearing a soft splash, he looked up, tensing, ready for yet another blow to his world: zombies or some wild animal of prey.
“How the hell did you get back here so fast?” Zoë demanded, stepping out of the ocean next to him. “We could hardly keep up.”
For the first time, Fence looked around and realized he was back on Envy’s shore.
“I need Elliott,” was all he said.
A
na opened her eyes.
She was in a dim room. A line of white light around a curtained window indicated that it was day. Her body hurt, her head felt light. She sensed that she wasn’t alone, but whoever was with her neither spoke or moved. In fact, she thought she heard the soft sound of a snore.
That was fine. She needed a moment . . . She remained quiet, trying to sift through the vague images of what had brought her here. The last thing she remembered was—
All at once it came back in a rush of memory. The pressure of hands, holding her down . . . violent tugs, slicing pain, the heaviness in her chest as the sea weighted her, smothered her.
Her crystals were gone.
Gone
.
She closed her eyes.
No
.
Her hand moved slowly beneath the covers to her torso, her fingers brushing cold against her abdomen. She felt along her rib cage, over warm skin: the little ridges of her ribs, the give of elastic skin between them. It was smooth and soft.
Unmarked . . . where her crystals had been.
As if they’d never been there.
A terrible chill rushed through her as the realization set in.
No.
Had she dreamt it? Dreamt those years of life under the sea?
She must have made some sort of sound—a gasp, a choked sob—for he erupted from the shadows.
“Ana.”
It was Fence, suddenly next to her, jolting the bed as he sat.
She was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see the tears streaking her face, and she squeezed her eyes to blink the rest back.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, reaching to open the curtains next to her.
Rays of warm light filtered into the room and she could see his face: beautiful and haggard in its concern. Something glittered on his chin and cheeks—little unshaven hairs.
“They took my crystals,” she said. Her voice was rough and scratchy. It burned when she tried to swallow.
“I know,” he said, and his hand settled over her forehead. “Ana, I’m so sorry. I’m so—”
“They took my crystals . . . and left me to die.”
His full lips tightened into a flat line. “The bastards put a boulder on top of you, Ana. To hold you down at the bottom. To make sure you died.”
“Atlanteans. Every one of them . . .” She swallowed, trying to catch her breath, keep her voice steady. “They’re evil.”
He covered her hand with his. “Not all of them.” He tightened his fingers.
She shook her head against the pillow, squeezing her eyes closed as another tear leaked out. They were all evil. Her family, her people.
Not one had ever done anything good.
It saddened and frightened her to know she carried that in her.
“Ana,” Fence said, as if to pull her from her morbid thoughts.
“How could I have survived?” she asked suddenly, as dullness settled over her. Her life had changed irrevocably. “Without my crystals, trapped at the bottom of the ocean?”
Fence brushed the tear away with his thumb. “I don’t know how long you were there before I found you. Elliott thinks you managed to continue to breathe water for some time, even though your crystals were taken. He saw remnants—little specks of crystal—in your lungs. He thinks they must have settled in there over time, flaking off from the bigger studs you wore. They must have enabled you to ingest just enough oxygen to keep you breathing until I found you.”
Ana closed her eyes, a little wing of hope fluttering inside. “Does that mean I can still . . .”
She felt him shake his head, his fingers closing over hers once again. “I’m sorry, Ana. You weren’t breathing when I found you. Whatever those little flecks were able to do, it was temporary.”
Her wave of hope evaporated and the black despair returned.
“Why aren’t there any scars? Why aren’t there any marks?” she said, abruptly sitting up. Terrified. Had she lost days, weeks,
years
? “How long have I been asleep?”
“Only since yesterday.”
“Since yesterday?” Her voice rose. “What happened to the scars? The holes, and where they cut me?”
She felt the hysteria rising in her voice, in her breathing, in her mind, and could do nothing to keep it at bay. Tears spilled from her eyes and she felt as if she were going to start screaming . . . and not be able to stop.
There’d never been a time that she felt so dark and empty. Even after her leg was damaged, she hadn’t felt this depth of despair. For even then she still had the sea.
Now she didn’t even have that.
She couldn’t ever swim deep and long and low, she couldn’t explore ruins, scavenge for treasure. She couldn’t play hide and seek with the dolphins or watch the graceful bounce of shrimp as they scavenged for parasitic food.
She could never be free and elegant and graceful again.
Now all she had was an earthbound body hampered by a limp and a hitch. Bitterness welled in her heart.
“Ana.” Fence’s deep voice had a note of command to it, and it penetrated her consciousness as she started to spiral into confusion and pain. “Open your eyes.”
When she did, not even realizing she’d closed them, she found him there, filling her vision. His gaze was soft and concerned, and overflowing with some intense emotion.
“What?” she said, trying to bat away the gentle little flutter in her belly. Fence was
here.
But she didn’t
want
to feel happy or warm or cared for.
She wanted to be angry.
And to feel violated.
And to know that her life was wrong now.
“I love you, Ana.”
She shook her head, angry tears spilling forth. She wasn’t
Ana
anymore.
“Look at me,” he said firmly. “Please.”
She wiped her tears away. “I’m never going to be the same.”
He nodded. “I know, Ana. I know. But you’re still the woman I love. Every part of you.”
“It’s not fair!” She felt as if she’d lost a limb.
Hell, she’d lost
half her life.
Half her body.
“No, by God, it’s not fucking fair.” His face looked murderous—darker and more frightening than she’d ever seen it. “But you’re alive, and safe. And I’ve never been more grateful for anything in my life. You almost died . . . and I don’t know what I would have done if you had. I love you.”
“But how can I not have any scars?”
He tilted his head just a bit and his gaze held hers as he replied, “Elliott healed you.”
Her heart stopped and her breathing caught, and before she could think, really understand what he meant, her fingers slipped down along her left side, toward her awkward hip . . . over the mottled and striated scars of her leg.
And then her hand sagged.
Nothing there had changed. She was still crippled and mangled. That leg still only felt half of what the other did.
And her foot was still curled up into a vee.
“You were bleeding to death when we got back here, hemorrhaging from the holes in your lung,” Fence continued. “Elliott healed you. He saved your life. That’s why you have no scars.”
It took a minute for the words and their meaning to penetrate. But they didn’t make sense. “How could he have healed me so quickly? How can I not have scars?”
There was silence for a moment as he hesitated. Then . . .
“For the same reason that I have gills,” he told her. His eyes were fastened on her, and even through her despair she recognized apprehension and hesitation.
He drew in a deep breath, and she realized she was holding hers. He was about to tell her something . . . big.
“We were trapped inside a cave during the Change, and the best we can guess is that an energy center—what do you call it, a flash row?—was inside the cave. And when the Change happened, with all the energy being conducted, we were altered as well. There’s no other explanation.”
She stared at him, once again trying to comprehend his words . . . but it was almost as if he were speaking in a foreign tongue. Ana grasped one piece of information. “The Change. But that was . . . almost fifty-one years ago.”
His face tightened then, even as he copped a smile. It wavered a bit. “Yeah, so the truth is . . . you’ve been getting your freak on with a much older man.”
She blinked, staring at him, her mind racing. “You sure don’t look eighty years old.”
“True, that. There aren’t too many eighty-year-olds who have guns like this.” Flexing his biceps beneath a tight T-shirt, he flashed that special smile. But it didn’t quite reach his eyes, and she realized he was afraid.
She dragged her gaze away from those smooth muscles and another thought struck her. “So you haven’t aged in fifty years? Are you . . . um . . . are you immortal?”
Fence shook his head, a bit of sadness in his eyes. “No. I know that for certain, because one of us—my best friend—died shortly after we came out of the caves. And I figure I’m fixing to start showing some gray and wrinkles any time now.” He laughed uneasily. “I mean, I’m not going to turn into an old man tomorrow . . . but it seems like my body was frozen in time for a while. And now it’s starting to age again as normal.”
And then he lapsed into silence.
Ana realized she’d been holding her breath, and now she let it out easily. “Well, it was no wonder you knew exactly where to go in that big store,” she said. “And what to look for.”
“Does it freak you out?” he asked.
“Knowing that you’re older than my father? No, wait . . . that you’re older than my grandfather?” she replied, injecting a bit of levity into her tone. But then it evaporated as she continued, “I don’t care about that. You are who you are. And I love you.”
His eyes widened and she realized it was the first time she’d actually said the words to him, even though she’d been thinking them for longer than she cared to admit.
“Ana—” he began, but she interrupted.
“But doesn’t it bother you that I’m half Atlantean? That my race killed your family and friends?”
He was looking at her soberly. “But that wasn’t you, Ana. That was long before your time, and you’ve already demonstrated how far you’d go to keep something like that from happening again. You are who
you
are.”
Yes. But she wasn’t sure who she was anymore.
At that moment, she noticed for the first time that there were marks—cuts, scrapes, even burns—on Fence’s arms and neck, peeking from beneath his shirt. “Why didn’t Elliott heal you too?” Glad for a distraction, she reached over to tug the sleeve’s hem away from one big bicep to see ugly scrapes and bruises beneath.
“What? These little things?” he scoffed. “That’s nothing compared to what I got when I played football, or when I was first learning to mountain climb.” Then he took her hand, curling his fingers with hers. “Ana, I love you. All of you . . . the way you were, and the way you are now. It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
She felt tears threaten. If only she could find a way to love her damaged self.
A
na sat on the beach, staring out into the rushing, foamy waves.
They surged up around her ankles, soaking her seat and sprinkling salty water over her face.
It had been three days since she woke without her crystals, but it was the first time she’d ventured down here to the sea. She’d had to wait for a time when Fence wasn’t around because this was something she needed to do on her own.
A farewell she had to make by herself.
The salty tear trickling down her cheek was the result of grief, not the overzealous sea, and for a moment she couldn’t hold back the sobs. They caught her by surprise, fierce and deep, and she let them come.
She’d had to say goodbye to so many things in her life: her mother, the full use of her leg, the man she thought she’d loved . . . and now the best part of herself.
The part that made her feel whole.
At first she didn’t even want to attempt to go in; it would just remind her too much of what she’d miss. But Ana still loved the sea, and she couldn’t keep herself from taking off her shirt and struggling out of her cargo pants.
Dressed only in panties and a tank top, no longer having to worry that someone would see her crystals, she waded out into the sea.
The rush of pleasure and familiarity struck her with such great force that she thought it would knock her to her knees . . . but she kept herself upright.
And then, all at once, she dove into the water.
The Sea embraced her as She always had, cool and comforting . . . but right away Ana sensed the difference. She felt the heaviness in her lungs after only a few minutes: burning, constriction. The instinctive need to
breathe
.
She hadn’t even gone far from shore when she realized she had to go back.
For a moment she considered dragging in a long, deep breath and letting the Sea have her . . . but the image of Fence’s face rose in her mind and she popped to the surface.
The slog back to the beach was tedious and seemed to take forever, and she collapsed onto the gritty ground. Her hands shook and more tears threatened, but she blinked them back bravely.
This was the beginning of a new life. With a partner who loved her . . . and who understood her and how her life had irrevocably altered—for he’d lived through something similar.
She no longer needed to fear the Atlanteans finding her and bringing her back. She didn’t have what they wanted any longer.
Ironic, wasn’t it: when she first met Fence, he couldn’t bear to go into the water. And now that they’d found each other, everything had changed.
Something moved in the water, and she saw Fence emerge: tall and broad and dark, glistening with the sea. He looked so delicious, so welcome, that she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at him and feast. Just the sight of that massive chest, so chiseled and firm, made her feel light-headed . . . not to mention the way it eased into lean hips and long, strong legs.
And he
loved
her.
Yes, this does make up for it. A little.
Well, a lot.
“Hey,” he said, seeming surprised to see her there.
“I went in the water,” she told him, wondering what he’d been doing.
Fence nodded and sat behind her on the beach, pulling her back into the warmth and protection of his damp body. “I would have gone with you.”
“I know . . . but I needed to do it myself. It wasn’t so good,” she said.
“It’ll get easier,” he replied, rubbing his cheek against hers. “I’ve been thinking . . . you know, we’re lucky to have you.”
“I knew that,” she said, a little wavery smile starting on her lips.
He laughed softly. “What I mean is, aside from the fact that you are the craziest, madliest sexy woman I have ever known—
and
you are smart and brave
and
you are determined
and . . .
you manage to stay upright even after I lay my very best kisses on you.”
Ana couldn’t help but laugh. “True. Very true. And don’t forget, I laugh at all your jokes.”
Fence gave that deep chuckle near her ear and sent a shiver of excitement down into her middle. “Very true. But aside from that, you have so much knowledge and information you can share with us—verbally and through your drawings. Even, and maybe, especially now. Now that it feels like . . . well, almost like it’s going to be an all-out struggle between us and the Atlanteans. I get the feeling they’re not just going to stay back in their Raised City.”
She nodded. “You’re probably right . . . although they do have my crystals now, and that’s what they really wanted. Maybe they’ll just leave us alone for a while.”
“Maybe. But I intend to spend a lot of my time out there, watching for signs of a problem,” he said soberly.
Ana submerged a pang of envy and grief that he’d be doing it without her.
She rested her head back against Fence and it settled onto his shoulder. His jaw was right there, and she turned to press a kiss to it, noting that it was rough with stubble. “I’m going to be all right. I got through this before,” she said, gesturing to her leg. “And I didn’t even have you.”
Fence squeezed her tightly. “We’re together now. I’ll be here with you, just as you were with me.”
She nodded, then turned her attention to other matters. “What did you find, out there?”
For a moment his arms tensed and she was afraid he was going to prevaricate—keep stuff from her, now that she couldn’t experience it for herself. But he relaxed then and said, “The barrier is gone.”
“Gone?” She sat up and turned to face him, her knee bumping his awkwardly. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I went to destroy the crystal—and was successful,” he added, then pulled a shard from his shorts pocket. “Brought this back for Quent. But it’s in little smithereens all over the bottom of the ocean now, down in a few holes and hidden inside some cars. They’ll never find the pieces. And the barrier was gone.”
Ana was nodding, looking out at the sea, her mind working. They had her crystals, they didn’t need anything else from her. If her guesses had been correct, part of the purpose of the Goleth stones was to lure her out of hiding. But also, the barrier had been closer to Envy than it needed to be, so the stones could be set up in a protected area in order to cause the tidal wave. “If I had to guess, I’d say maybe they just moved it. Out farther to sea.”
“That’s possible. I’ll be checking further.” His voice was determined and sober.
A sudden spike of fear lodged in her chest.
“No!”
She grabbed his arm. “No. You can’t go after them, you can’t go to Atlantis.”
His mouth tightened mutinously. “They have to pay for what they did, Ana.”
They should. They had taken the best part of her away. But she was filled with terror at the very thought of Fence going back there, to Atlantis. To a place where they’d know at first sight that he didn’t belong there.
They were Atlanteans. They’d kill without thought.
“No, Bruno, please. They have what they want . . . they’re no longer a threat to me.”
She had that, at least. It wasn’t enough, but she had that. And she didn’t,
couldn’t,
lose him too.
She shook her head. “You’d never even get close to them. They’re protected. Darian—”
“He’s dead.”
Dead.
A little shift inside her middle told her that despite what Darian had done, she still had some feelings for her first love. It just confirmed that she wasn’t as cold-blooded as the rest of her people.
But that little flicker was nothing compared to what she felt for the man next to her . . . and the very thought of him trying to fight his way into Atlantis to the Crown and Shield made her whole world fall apart. She could not lose him too. “How?”
“I figure they killed him right around the time they hurt you—slit his throat.”
Ana remembered the blood dripping from the Shield’s blade as she approached her. Darian’s blood.
Terror filled her. “Fence—Bruno—promise me, please, promise me you won’t try it. Please.”
He was watching her with soulful eyes, but this time a little warmth came into them. Hesitant, but present nevertheless. “I’ll promise you that if you promise to stay here with me and make some fat, chunky babies.”
What she’d wanted for longer than she could remember. Ana started to smile, then it faded as reality set in. They’d be Atlantean too. They’d have that streak in them, that part of her she hated . . . and yet had loved.
“What is it?” His face had tightened with concern.
“I don’t . . . Bruno, I’m part Atlantean.”
“So what? You’re afraid our baby would grow up to be an evil murdering creature?” He looked and sounded so affronted she almost laughed.
And that was a relief: to feel something warm and light stirring inside her. And when he put it that way, she realized how ridiculous she sounded. After all, she was part Atlantean. And if her father had felt the same way . . . well, heck. Her father had loved her mother. And so had she.
All Atlanteans couldn’t be evil.
“You’re right,” she said, that warmth stirring more strongly inside her. “I guess if you can forgive me for what my family did to yours, then I should be able to do the same.”
“So you’ll stay here with me?” He looked down.
Ana nodded and realized there was no other place she wanted to be.
Even . . .
She looked out over the ocean, the Sea’s beautiful rolling, glistening waves brilliant and beckoning. And then she looked up at Fence.
No, she realized, there was
no
other place she wanted to be.
“I guess so,” she said. Then, drawing in a deep, shaky breath, she joked, “Though I was really looking forward to introducing you to underwater sex. Guess we’ll have to stick with dry humping, huh?”
He did that deep chuckle that never failed to make her insides tingle. “Well, sugar, you know it ain’t all that dry where I’ve been . . . especially going down on you. It’s like you’ve got your own sweet honey, just waiting for me to lick it all up.” His voice dropped deep and low.
She shivered again, just hearing those words, and smiled a real smile now. “Don’t let me stop you.”
“Oh, you won’t, Ana-sweet. You won’t.” And he reached for her.