Pacing. Pacing. Pacing
Chapter Twenty-Six
KYROS
The moment Sadie disappears into the dark, I know I’ve made a mistake. I stare after her long after she’s vanished from sight, every instinct screaming at me to follow.
I grip the trench wall hard enough to crack stone. Pressure is already building behind my eyes, and my vision swims whenever I look too far downward. I brought her farther into the trench than I should’ve. Another hundred feet and I’ll black out.
Sadie can do it. She’s a poor swimmer, but I’ve watched her push through exhaustion. I’ve seen how she throws herself into every challenge, determined despite the odds.
She’s brave.
Stubborn.
Determined.
She can do this.
Still…
The darkness below swallows everything, including her. I don’t like not knowing what’s happening, and my tension mounts with every passing second, building and building. I pick scales off my tail, ripping them out one after another and letting them drop into the darkness below.
The pain is grounding.
She can do this.
A deep rumble travels along the trench wall, vibrating up from the depths. The siphon. It must be. There’s another vibration before the entire wall seems to shudder. Then silence.
Dead silence.
Relief sweeps through me, dizzyingly fast. She did it.
She actually did it.
I stare into the darkness, my heart pounding. I don’t see any movement from below, just an abyss of black water. I begin pacing. Back and forth like a trapped animal, my tail cutting through the water beneath me.
Sadie is fine.
She’s alive.
She’s climbing.
I repeat this to myself, even as my brain supplies images I don’t want. Images of Sadie slipping. Sinking. Images of Sadie dying. Alone.
I growl and slam my fist into the trench wall, stone exploding outward.
A minute passes. Then another.
She should be here by now. Or at least visible.
Something is wrong. Must be.
I swim a few feet down, pressure slamming into me. Pain erupts behind my eyes, and I flinch so hard, my shoulder scrapes against sharp coral.
No. No, no—
Think.
Sadie destroyed the siphon. My pod is safe.
My obligation is fulfilled.
I still, realization sweeping through me.
My obligation is fulfilled. Tideborn is safe.
I push away from the wall and propel downward, ignoring the pain that spears through my skull. My vision blurs as the pressure shifts, and an immediate pulse of agony follows.
I swim through it.
Down.
Toward Sadie.
I don’t care if the pressure kills me.
I don’t care if I black out.
I don’t care if I never make it back to Tideborn.
I’m not leaving Sadie.
Pressure crushes against my skull as my vision narrows, turning my field of vision into thin slits. Where the fuck is Sadie? Am I too late?
The thought has me pushing harder, my tail burning with effort.
My blood runs cold as a sudden scream erupts through the water, the sound so recognizably Sadie. Every muscle in my body locks as the sound echoes through the trench.
I snap my tail and pull out the blade all Mer store in their bottom fins.
Then I plunge into the darkness after her.