Naia
Aylth hasn't moved in thirty-six hours.
I press my hand to his chest, counting heartbeats. Slower than normal but steady. The blue blood has stopped seeping from his wounds, and the torn scales are reforming grain by grain. But he's lost somewhere deep inside himself, his body focused entirely on healing.
The palace coral pulses around us, softer than usual. Worried. I've learned to read its moods since my connection to the reef strengthened. Right now it's broadcasting concern through every wall, every pillar, every carefully grown structure.
I should be relieved he's healing. Instead, I'm terrified.
Because I can feel them out there.
The sensation starts as a prickle at the base of my skull, then spreads. My skin goes cold despite the warm water. The bioluminescent marks on my body dim, like they're trying to hide. Every glowing creature in the palace has retreated into crevices and shadows.
Something is coming.
I swim to the chamber's transparent wall and press against it.
The water outside looks normal. Dark blue fading to black at depth, dotted with the usual drifting specks of plankton.
But I know better now. I can feel the currents changing, the way water moves when something large disturbs it from a distance.
Two somethings. Maybe three.
They're testing the boundaries, seeing if anyone will respond to their presence.
I look back at Aylth. He's massive even unconscious, tentacles spread across the sleeping ledge in a protective circle around himself. But he's vulnerable. Completely defenseless. If they come while he's like this...
The coral flares brighter for a moment, sharing my alarm. It remembers the Leviathan. The palace is still damaged from that attack, whole sections flooded or collapsed. We can't survive another assault.
I have to keep them away.
The weapons room is half-destroyed, but I salvaged what I could after the battle. Three coral spears remain, each one hollow and coated with Aylth's concentrated toxins. I grab two and swim back to our chamber, placing them within easy reach.
My hands shake.
I'm not a fighter. Two weeks ago, I was a rescue swimmer who pulled tourists from riptides. Now I'm supposed to defend an underwater palace from alien hunters who could tear me apart without effort.
But I'm not the same woman who stepped through that portal either.
I look down at my body, at the iridescent sheen that covers my skin.
My muscles have become denser, more efficient.
My lungs process oxygen in ways that shouldn't be possible.
The bioluminescent marks Aylth left during the frenzy form patterns that connect to my nervous system, creating pathways for sensations that didn't exist before.
I've adapted. Transformed. Become something between human and whatever Aylth's species is.
The question is whether it's enough.
The first shape appears at the edge of visibility.
Green scales catching the filtered light. Tentacles that look pale compared to Aylth's deep blue. Young, I realize. Maybe the same age as Reef, the one who tried to claim me when I ran.
A second shape joins the first. Darker green, slightly larger.
They circle the palace at distance, communicating through bioluminescent flashes I can almost read now. Testing. Probing. Looking for weakness.
I grab a spear and dive through the main entrance.
The water outside is colder than the palace's regulated temperature. The shock of it clears my head, focuses my thoughts. I swim up to where I'll be visible against the palace walls, backlit by its glow.
“This territory is claimed,” I call out, my voice carrying through water in ways it never could on Earth. The translator implant gives my words subsonic harmonics that travel for miles.
The two hunters stop circling. They're maybe sixty feet away, close enough that I can see details now.
The smaller one is definitely Reef. I recognize his pretty scales, the way his tentacles move in practiced patterns designed to look threatening.
The other is someone new, someone who moves more cautiously.
“The Ancient One sleeps,” Reef calls back. His bioluminescence flashes mockery. “Sleeps and does not wake. Female stands alone.”
“Female stands,” I agree. “And female tells you to leave.”
“Or what?” The second hunter moves closer. “Female will fight? Small human female against two hunters?”
I plant the spear butt against a coral outcropping, angling the point toward them. “Female already killed Leviathan. Two pretty boys should be easier.”
Reef's patterns flash anger. “Ancient One killed Leviathan. Female merely watched.”
“Then test it. Come closer and find out.”
They exchange flashes I can't fully interpret. Discussing. Debating. The second hunter seems uncertain, but Reef is pushing for aggression. Young and humiliated, needing to prove himself.
They surge forward together.
I drop below their approach, using the damaged palace structure as cover. They expect me to flee or fight directly, but I learned something during the Leviathan battle. In water, the small and quick have advantages the large and strong don't.
A broken pillar juts from the palace at an angle. I swim behind it, then plant my feet against the coral and push off hard. The move sends me shooting upward, passing between the two hunters before they can adjust.
My spear trails behind me, and I feel it connect. Not a killing strike, just a scrape along Reef's flank that leaves a line of blue blood in the water.
The toxin works immediately. Reef convulses, tentacles losing coordination. Not fatal, but painful and disorienting. He'll recover in an hour, but for now he's out of the fight.
The second hunter roars and comes at me. He's faster than Reef, more experienced. His tentacles spread to create a net I can't swim through.
So I don't try.
I dive straight down, toward the most damaged section of palace. The coral here is unstable, barely held together. When I grab a particular pillar and pull, the whole section shifts.
The hunter follows me down, focused entirely on capture. He doesn't see the danger until coral starts collapsing around him. Not enough to kill, but enough to trap. His tentacles get caught in falling debris, and he has to stop chasing me to free himself.
I surface in the palace, lungs burning despite my enhanced capacity. The encounter lasted maybe three minutes. It felt like hours.
Reef and the other hunter retreat, both injured and wary now. But they don't leave the territory. They float at the boundary line, waiting. Watching.
They'll be back.
I swim to our chamber and collapse on the ledge beside Aylth. My muscles tremble from adrenaline. I check his wounds again, hoping the commotion might have roused him, but he's still deep in healing sleep.
“I kept them away,” I tell him, even though he can't hear. “I don't know if I can do it again, but I kept them away this time.”
The coral pulses gentle blue, like it's proud of me.
I don't feel proud. I feel terrified of what comes next.
The second attack comes at dawn the next day.
I've stayed awake all night, watching the boundary line. Reef and his companion left after a few hours, but others arrived to take their place. Four distinct shapes now, circling like sharks. Waiting for their moment.
When the morning tide starts rising, they move.
All four at once, from different directions. Coordinated. They've been planning this.
I grab both remaining spears and dive out to meet them.
The first hunter comes from above. I recognize the tactic because Aylth used it during our early encounters.
High approach, diving fast, using momentum as weapon.
But I'm ready. I swim sideways at the last second, and he overshoots.
My spear catches him across the tentacles as he passes, more toxin entering his system.
The second comes from below. I don't see him until he's already grabbing my ankle. His grip is crushing, pulling me down toward the damaged coral maze. If he gets me into those tight passages, I'm done.
But the coral knows me now.
I press my free hand against the nearest pillar and push my thoughts at it. Help. Please. The way I've been doing in quiet moments, learning to communicate with the living structure.
The pillar flares bright blue, then brighter. The light is blinding, right in the hunter's eyes. He releases me instinctively, tentacles coming up to shield his vision. I twist free and stab down. The spear enters his shoulder, and he sinks screaming toward the reef floor.
Two down. Two to go.
But I've lost both spears now, and these last two hunters are staying together. They've learned from watching the others fail.
I need a different approach.
The weapons room had nets. Heavy things woven from organic fiber that Aylth soaked in adhesive compounds. If I can reach them, I might be able to tangle these two up long enough to escape.
I swim toward the palace's damaged section, the area where the Leviathan broke through. It's dangerous, unstable, but I know the route. I've been exploring it during my watches.
The hunters follow, thinking they have me trapped.
The net is where I left it, half-buried in coral rubble. I grab it, turn, and throw in one motion. The weighted edges spread it wide, and it catches both hunters before they can separate.
The adhesive activates on contact. The more they struggle, the more entangled they become. Their bioluminescence flashes panic as they realize they're caught.
I could kill them now. Use the damaged coral, drop it on them, end the threat.
But I don't.
“Leave,” I say, swimming close enough they can hear but not close enough they can grab me. “Tell the others what happened here. Tell them this territory is defended.”
I use one of their own discarded weapons to cut through the net's edge, giving them a way to eventually free themselves. Then I retreat to the palace, leaving them struggling in the wreckage.