Chapter 19
“What the actual fuck?” Autumn mumbled to herself.
Autumn would recognize that tail anywhere. Just the flash of navy blue and silver tips was all she needed to know that Soulara was trailing her. She tried not to strain around the edge of the front window to see Soulara because Marshall and Trent would know something was up immediately.
Biting her cheek, Autumn flipped back to the controls in front of her and glanced at the readouts. If Soulara was outside the water collector, then she should be able to see Soulara on the sonar. A few quick flicks of the dial and Autumn was able to zero in on Soulara’s presence.
Soulara moved off, hiding behind a chunk of seaweed. Autumn smiled to herself as she pressed a few more buttons.
“Walton, you ready?”
Autumn jerked around at Marshall’s voice. Had he said something she missed in her distraction? They’d gone below the surface of the water, but they hadn’t traveled too far from the launch point yet. They weren’t cleared to leave.
“Yes, sir.” She flicked her gaze to Trent, the sneer firmly on his face still. “All systems are set and ready.”
“Good.” Marshall gave her a curious look, as if he sensed something else was going on.
Autumn’s heart moved into her throat. Had he seen Soulara? He and Trent were facing the front. Autumn had only happened to glance over. Had he seen the Princess of Reine? Was he asking if she’d seen Soulara on the sonar?
“Picking up anything odd?” Marshall asked.
Autumn gulped audibly. She wasn’t great at lying. She had been at one point in her life, but since joining the military there hadn’t been much point in it. Not to mention, if she was caught then she could lose the one escape she’d found, and she’d be sent home to face even more consequences than the military could come up with.
“Walton?” Marshall’s reminder of his question was sharp.
“Oh. Um… no. Just some seaweed about fifty meters east of us.” Autumn curled her toes in her boots. That wasn’t so much a lie as it was a redirection. She could handle that. Rolling her shoulders, Autumn nodded firmly at him before glancing at Trent. “All systems are a go.”
“Okay.” Marshall focused on his controls.
He tapped the speaker in his ear, and Autumn remembered belatedly that they could hear everything that was said in there. She winced. At least she hadn’t said anything too stupid. She had to get better at this life thing. Then again, she’d never managed to succeed in that.
“We’re a go for beginning the mission.”
The engines whirred to life. Vibrations seeped from the metal floor, through the rubber soles of her boots and into her knees. That was going to make this a long trip. She’d get used to it, but as soon as she stepped out when they were done—Autumn stopped that thought.
They weren’t going to be on land again.
The heavy stone weighed in her stomach, making it hard to swallow. She was here to drown. She’d given Soulara the exact information she needed in order to take down the water collectors. Autumn had no doubts that Soulara was going to use that information. As she very well should.
The ache in her knees would be the last time she felt this. A deathly shiver rolled through her chest and into her limbs. She really should relish this last trip, shouldn’t she? Knowing she would die in the end?
No.
She should put all of her focus into helping and saving Soulara.
As the water collector moved and dove deeper into the ocean, Autumn immediately pulled up the sonar and locked onto Soulara’s position again. Would she follow? Would she continue to watch Autumn from afar?
What was Soulara even doing there?
Autumn couldn’t handle it if they killed Soulara. If she killed…
Bile rose in her throat, threatening to spew all over her controls. Autumn had to close her eyes to keep it in. Marshall and Trent rattled on about something. Autumn tuned them out. She wished Soulara would be able to hear her. Shuddering, she frowned. What would she even say?
Don’t follow me.
It was one night.
It didn’t mean anything.
But it did. And Autumn had never been able to deny it, but perhaps it would take some of Soulara’s guilt away at the end of the day. Autumn hated that she was here. If only there had been a way to get out of going on this mission.
The medic had called her bluff.
She couldn’t fake period cramps when she hadn’t had any in the months they’d been there. She couldn’t convince Marshall that someone else should be there. She’d tried. Several times. But she could have tried harder, couldn’t she?
“Walton!” Trent shouted.
“What?” She spun around to face him.
“What the hell crack are you on?”
Autumn furrowed her brow, catching sight of Soulara’s hair flowing over the edge of the glass. Autumn bit her lip and focused on Trent. “What?”
“Shitting your pants yet?” Trent snorted and snickered.
Autumn rolled her eyes and shot Marshall a glare. Whatever possessed her to get stuck in a tin can with him was going to roll over and burn in hell with her. Autumn clenched her jaw, keeping her hands on the controls. She winced as she controlled the one arm she could and wrapped it around Soulara’s stomach.
Holding her breath, Autumn moved the arm away from the water collector. She slowly let its grip go, hoping that Soulara hadn’t been too injured by the metallic touch. But Autumn could only control so much without making it look like she was doing something she shouldn’t.
“Walton, make sure those thrusters are working at full capacity,” Marshall ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Autumn checked them. She pushed Soulara as far from her mind as possible.
Except that was impossible.
The rest of the dive to their retrieval location was easy. Autumn didn’t see any more of Soulara or any other mermaids for that matter. Had they all gone? They settled against the ocean floor, and Autumn turned on the water collectors. It would suck and filter and keep exactly what they wanted. This was one of their largest machines, designed for long term missions.
Autumn’s fingers trembled as they hovered over the switch.
What was she doing here?
“Any day now, Walton,” Marshall muttered under his breath.
Autumn hit the switch. The vibrations under her feet increased. Autumn could barely focus. Her stomach twisted into knots. The first punch against the glass was hard.
“What the hell was that?” Trent sounded afraid.
Autumn would snort if she had the time. She wasn’t the one who was afraid. Trent was a wuss. Never had she felt more conviction in her assessment than now. Chuckling quietly, Autumn focused on what little things she had control over.
Another mermaid shot by the glass. This was a mass attack. They were going to die soon. Autumn ripped the arm she had control over and shoved it into the sand, digging it down so it was stuck. “Marshall, I can’t get the arm to move.”
“Figure it out, Walton!” he sounded so stressed.
They should be. Yet Autumn knew exactly what was happening. And since Marshall and Trent seemed distracted, Autumn took the chance. She flicked a few switches and reached under the dash to pull some of the wires. The water collector sputtered, the arms holding them up against the floor went limp on one side, and they slid heavily.
Trent went flying.
His head collided with the dash, the joystick hitting his eye, and he collapsed against the floor in a ball. Autumn stared at him, about to jump down and help him up when Marshall’s loud booming voice hit her.
“Take over for him!”
Leaving Trent on the floor, probably where he deserved to be, Autumn climbed into his chair and strapped in like he should have been. When the belt clicked, Autumn shifted to get more comfortable and stared down at the controls. This wasn’t her station, but they were all trained to do each other’s jobs in case of emergencies.
Like this one.
One she had caused.
Autumn winced as she flicked a switch and twisted a handle. “The engines aren’t responding.”
“Make them,” Marshall growled out. “We’re sitting ducks for these fuckers.”
“What fuckers?” Autumn hit a few more buttons in an attempt to get the thrusters running again. What had Trent hit with his giant head on the way down? If they couldn’t get the thrusters going, then they wouldn’t be able to get out of there.
Autumn froze.
The point wasn’t to get out of there. Autumn held her breath, and it burned her lungs. She stared out, watching mermaids dash here and there. Were the other water collectors facing the same thing? Were they seeing this?
Mermaid after mermaid swarmed them.
Autumn refused to move the legs of the water collector to chase after them. Marshall tried to get everything back together, even out the tilt the water collector had taken, but Autumn was entranced with the way the mermaids moved together as one unit.
Was Honour here?
“Walton! Get those engines going!”
“On it.” Autumn pushed more buttons, reset the wires, tried everything she knew and had been trained for.
Trent moaned on the floor, blood pooling below his head. Maybe he would be the first casualty of this war Autumn had brought on her own people. That thought sank hard in her stomach, eating her away from the inside out. She’d always be remembered as the traitor, as the one who sold her people for nothing.
No.
Not for nothing.
But Autumn wasn’t about to even think out loud what that something was.
“Got it!” She shouted and pushed the lever hard.
Marshall spoke rapidly into the microphone at his lips. Autumn half listened as she watched the mermaids continue to hit and throw spears at their vessel. They really wouldn’t stand a chance without help, would they? Soulara’s people were massively outnumbered and outgunned.
Autumn slammed her fist onto the large red button, and the vessel immediately started to piston up out of the water. The air pressure changed rapidly, popping her ears every few seconds until sharp pain seared through her head and right behind her eyes. Autumn cried out, her stomach roiling with nausea.
A loud ringing echoed in her ears, and no matter what, Autumn couldn’t hear anything Marshall said. She was going to pass out. No amount of training had prepared her for this. Autumn turned to the side, vomiting up everything in her stomach all over Trent’s torso.
Her eyesight went dark, then light, then dark again. Her head spun.
What the hell was this?
Her heart was in her throat.
She was going to puke again.
Autumn pried her eyes open and stared straight ahead.
Stunning. Beautiful. Silvery locks that faded into navy blue. Bright, silver, concerned eyes stared widely back at her.
“Soulara.”
Everything went dark.