Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The sea was relatively calm as the kraken sped along the surface. The coming sunrise had stained the water and clouds purple, and the patches of sky visible on the horizon were a blend of soft orange and pink.
Jax had seen the humans’ home from afar, and, as they neared, Macy’s name for it — The Watch — seemed increasingly fitting.
He felt exposed beneath the light-crowned structure atop the cliffs.
Boats bobbed beside the dock, and the dark shapes of humans walked along its length.
Jax had seen many of the boats from below during his travels, but had never been close to one…
not until the day of the storm, when he found Macy.
Uncertainty crept up his spine. Would they be able to help Macy in this place? Was she going to survive, would her wounds fully heal? What would the humans do if they saw a kraken?
One question, stronger and more troubling, rose above the others — would they ever be together again? If she survived, would her people let her leave?
Despite any misgivings, his path was clear; he knew what to do, knew there was only one way to be sure she was safe. He had to go with her. Had to place himself at the mercy of her people. He had to ensure her survival, even at the risk of his own.
When she agreed to go to the Facility for the first time, had Macy felt the same fear blossoming in her stomach?
He tightened his hold on her and stopped, turning to Arkon and Dracchus.
“I will go on with her from here. You two stay back,” he said.
“Nonsense,” Arkon protested. “I will go with you, Jax.”
“I am not afraid of these humans.” Dracchus’s nostrils flared as he shifted his gaze to The Watch.
“No. It is too dangerous. I will take her, and whatever happens, both of you will return to our people. They cannot stand to lose three of us at once.”
“And what of you?” Arkon’s brow was low, his eyes hard.
“For her, anything,” Jax said. The words washed over him, easing the tension in his muscles. Macy had sacrificed much — her comfort, her friends and family, her home, her freedom — since they’d met. He would do the same, and more, if it meant saving her.
Arkon clenched his jaw and forced air through his siphons. “We will not leave you. We’ll keep watch from the sea.”
“Good luck, Wanderer,” Dracchus said.
Jax nodded. “Thank you both.”
He turned away from them, ducked beneath the surface, and swam toward the dock.
The humans will help her. She will recover.
He angled himself upward as he neared the end of the dock.
They will help her.
Adjusting his hold on Macy, he pulled himself onto the end of the dock with one arm and his front tentacles. The structure floated on the surface of the water, and its swaying, combined with the sense of heaviness he always felt in the air, set him off-balance.
“What the hell is that?” someone shouted from nearby.
“Oh, shit!” A second human stumbled back, calves hitting the side of his boat. He tumbled into it with a crash.
Jax cradled Macy in his arm. He shifted her wrist and brushed his fingertip over the control there, summoning the projection.
She’d shown him how to perform some of the basic functions just to pass the time one day.
He knew the symbols by their shapes, rather than their meanings, and touched them in the order she’d demonstrated.
He took the mask in hand and set it aside gently as humans approached, their footsteps heavy. Their hushed voices held a mixture of fear and awe. Carefully, Jax drew back Macy’s hood, uncovering her sweat-dampened hair and looked up at the humans. “Help her. Please.”
“That’s Macy!” One of the humans turned his head and yelled over his shoulder. “Get Breckett!”
“What is that?” another human asked.
“I don’t know… A monster.”
“Help her,” Jax repeated. Even with the suit on, even after hours in the water, the unnatural heat of Macy’s body flowed into his skin.
“And it fucking speaks!”
“Get her.” They shoved one of their number forward.
“Hell no! You see that things claws? Its teeth?”
Jax growled. “She doesn’t have time for this!” He moved forward; all the humans scurried back, stumbling over one another.
“What the hell is this?” someone shouted from the far end of the dock. Heavy footfalls plodded nearer.
The crowd of humans parted and glanced back at the two newcomers. One was tall and broad-shouldered, his face covered in hair. The other was familiar to Jax.
Camrin.
“Macy!” the larger male called. He shoved through the cluster of frightened humans without hesitation and barely looked at Jax as he snatched Macy from the kraken’s arms. He smoothed her hair back. “Macy girl?”
Jax backed away slightly, spreading his hands to the side and sinking down. They were unsettled by his appearance, fearful because they did not know what he was, and he didn’t want to push them to violence.
Camrin grasped Macy’s hand and pulled it to his chest. “Macy…”
“She is sick. Infected,” Jax said.
“Infected?” one of the men asked and looked at the others. Several of the humans retreated farther.
“The wounds on her leg are infected. She was attacked by a razorback.”
“What are you?” Camrin asked, staring at Jax with wide eyes.
“She needs help, needs medicine,” Jax said, keeping his gaze on the larger male.
The big human looked up from Macy, and for the first time, he looked directly at Jax. His eyes widened, and his mouth moved beneath his thick face-hair. “Did you do this?”
“No. I would never hurt her.” Jax gestured toward the water. “She was attacked by a razorback, and it bit her leg before she killed it.”
The emotion on the man’s face didn’t diminish, and he didn’t look away.
“What…what are we going to do with this thing?” someone asked.
A different human leaned forward. “You really think it’s not the one that hurt her?”
The large man shook his head. “If he did, why would he bring her here?”
“I will not leave her,” Jax said. “I only want her to be healed.”
“We can take it to one of those old tanks. Enough of them are empty that it won’t hurt to use one.” Camrin said.
“I’m taking my daughter to Doc Rhodes. Will you go with these men if they take you to place to hold you until we figure all this out?” the large man asked. His eyes were hard, but there was an undeniable honesty in them.
This man was Macy’s father, who she’d spoken of so fondly.
“Yes. I wish none of you harm. Just…save her.”
Macy’s father nodded and turned to the others. “It brought my Macy back, so it deserves fair treatment until we get some questions answered. Understood?”
The other humans made stammering replies, shifting their attention back to Jax. Macy stirred, moaning, and opened her eyes. They were glassy with fever. “Dad?”
“Yes, Macy girl. I’m here.”
“Jax?” she asked. “Where’s Jax?”
“Who is Jax?” Camrin asked.
“I want Jax.” She shook her head back and forth, slowly.
“Shhh,” the large man soothed. “You’re sick. We’re getting you to the Doc.”
“Jax!”
Macy’s father hurried down the dock as her cries continued, her voice weak and desperate.
Camrin followed immediately behind. Jax watched with his jaw clenched, his chest tight, and his stomach churning.
It took all his willpower to prevent himself from calling for her, from chasing after her.
She needed medicine; he wouldn’t delay that any longer.
The remaining humans stood, staring at Jax, for several moments before they finally acted.
Several stepped into boats — teetering to maintain their balance, seemingly unwilling to take their eyes off the kraken — and gathered weapons.
Some hefted poles with pointed, barbed tips, others knives of varying size.
“A-Alright,” one of the men said. “Just listen to what we say, and we won’t have to use these. Follow me. Everyone else is going to be behind you, just in case you try anything.”
Jax nodded, and when they made room for him, he slowly rose and moved forward. The man who’d instructed him turned reluctantly and started walking.
Their gazes were heavy on his back as the humans fell in behind him.
Jax focused on keeping his movements smooth and steady, on giving them no reason to make use of their weapons.
He breathed deeply and evenly and did his best to match the pace of the male in front of him, who kept glancing over his shoulder.
They moved up a stone path cut between the cliffs.
Jax tilted his head back to look up at the structures built atop the stone to either side; to his left, a device jutted past the edge of the cliff.
It was a large metal arm, and a thick rope hung from its tip, the hook at the end swaying in the breeze.
Behind him, the humans muttered to one another nervously.
Any one of them could lunge at any moment and bury their weapon in Jax’s back.
Any one of them could be his end. And he’d brought Macy into the Facility, knowing the same had been true for his people; any one of them might have killed her at any time.
As they crested the path, Jax’s nervousness was temporarily forgotten.
It had always been difficult to determine the size of The Watch from the sea.
The sight of it now, from within, was stunning.
The structures were so varied; a few bore a vague resemblance to the Facility, but many more were constructed of some sort of stone or wood, sometimes mixing materials.
There were more humans in the pathways between the buildings. All of them stared at Jax as the male in front of him led him onto a path that doubled back toward the water — toward the large building overlooking the dock.
Two of the humans hurried forward and slid open the big doors. They escorted Jax into a huge, dimly lit room. Rows of cylindrical glass tanks, all filled with water, ran from one wall to the other. The foremost were full of various fish; was this how the humans kept their food fresh?