Poseidon's Scar Page 6

  Those bright eyes turned away from her, the bulk of the creature moving away as if in slow motion. But the parasites began to move closer, charging at her like a swarm of wasps, and then she could hear the hissing and the sound of teeth grinding…

  Echo woke up gasping for air, nearly knocking herself out of the hammock she slept in by taking a swing at the monsters in her dreams. Her mouth tasted like seawater, and her skin was covered in enough sweat to make her feel like she’d been swimming. Moonlight shone through the window in the cabin she’d taken to calling home. Great, she thought. Terrified, wide awake, and it’s the middle of the night. I’ll never get back to sleep now.

  She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but every muscle fiber was tense, her skin crawling at the memory of those burning eyes looking up at her from the depths. So, was that a nightmare or a vision? she thought. Is that some rough beast slouching off to Bethlehem to be born? That thought, as morbid as it was, brought a smile to her face. Her mother would be proud to know she could still quote William Butler Yeats when she needed to. Meredith wanted more poetry in Echo’s life, and she’d been particularly fond of Yeats. Having “Second Coming” spring to mind after a nightmare wasn’t comforting, but remembering her mother always was.

  She heard a thump on the deck above her and opened her eyes again. Both the boys had tendencies to wander at night, especially Barnabas who seemed to sleep not much more than four hours a night, and Artem had a tendency, like, Echo, to wake at odd hours and patrol the ship for no reason. She listened for the familiar graceful footfalls of Artem or the uneven gait of Barnabas, both of which she’d had plenty of time to grow accustomed to hearing in recent weeks.

  She didn’t recognize the footsteps. She did recognize the sound of water hitting the deck above however, as if someone had pulled themselves up out of the ocean.

  Echo slid quietly from her hammock and picked up her trident. She glanced at her armor neatly set aside on top of a cabinet, but decided she didn’t have the time for it. Instead, she crept toward the stairs and listened.

  Dragging footsteps. Heavy. Wet. Unfamiliar. A fierce smell of the ocean, not just the sea breeze but something deeper, more primal.

  Was her dream a warning?

  She made her way to the top of the stairs, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Standing in the dark was a thick-set figure, broad-shouldered, skin shifting from mottled gray to a more human tone. The visitor’s body shook as it changed shape.

  Echo readied to throw her trident, reaching back with perfect form like Artem had instructed her.

  “You better have a damned good reason to be on my boat,” she said.

  “Y’know, I really thought about the first thing you’d say to me when we saw each other again, and that was definitely not on the list,” a familiar voice said from the darkness.

  Echo let her trident fall to the ground, clattering all the way back down the stairs. She ran across the deck and launched herself into the arms of the newcomer, throwing a bear hug around him.

  “Yuri Rodriguez! I was looking for you!” she said, clutching her oldest friend tightly enough to break him. He hugged her back, picking her up off the deck and holding her so her feet dangled. “What are you doing sneaking on board in the middle of the night?”

  “I was looking for you, too!” Yuri said. He set her down, but Echo held onto both of his hands as if to make sure he wouldn’t disappear. “I didn’t think I’d find you out here in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night. I figured I could, like, swim circles around your ship like a creeper until morning or climb on board and hope someone was awake.”

  “You could have knocked,” Echo said.

  “What, on the hull?” Yuri said. “That wouldn’t have been creepy or anything.”

  “What the hell is going—oh, it’s you,” Barnabas said. Standing in an undignified combination of striped pirate pants and his long coat and nothing else, holding out a magic wand made out of driftwood like a pistol, the magician looked bleary-eyed but ready to defend his ship. Beside him, a sleepy and shirtless Artem, looking as always like he’d been sculpted of marble, let his sword arm drop to his side.

  “Hello, Yuri,” Artem said with a polite smile.

  “Hey, dude,” Yuri said. “Holy crap, Barnabas, you look like what would happen if someone startled a sleeping, bald Sirius Black.”

  Barnabas tucked the wand into the waistband of his pants and pointed at Yuri.

  “I… do not get that cultural reference,” he said. “But I assume it’s an insult.”

  “Depends on who you ask, I guess,” Yuri said.

  “I’m allergic to banter,” Artem said. “I’m going back to bed. Yuri, it will be a pleasure to hear stories of where you’ve been. In the morning, with coffee.”

  “Sorry for the rude awakening, Artem,’” Yuri said.

  The Amazon waved him off.

  “Morning. Coffee,” he said, disappearing below deck.

  “You okay? In one piece?” Barnabas said.

  “More or less,” Yuri said.

  “Well then, I’ll let you two catch up,” Barnabas said, wrapping his coat around himself like a bathrobe. “Good to have you back on board, kid.”

  “Thanks, Barney,” Yuri said.

  “You get one freebie. Next time you do that I cast a spell and you wake up with termites in your pants.”

  “Got it,” Yuri said as Barnabas went back below.

  Echo grabbed Yuri by both shoulders and shook him affectionately.

  “I missed you, you goofball,” Echo said. “You know I wanted to look for you. I just thought you… needed time.”

  “I did,” Yuri said. “But Echo… I saw something I think you should know about. Something about Atlantis.”

  Echo felt her shoulder slump involuntarily. She forced a smile.

  “Well then,” she said. “Let’s put some coffee on and you can tell me about it. Are you here to stay?”

  Yuri beamed at her, the joyful smile she’d grown up with and missed so much when he was gone.

  “I think it’s time I came home,” he said.

  Chapter 12: It’s not our fault, but it’s our fault

  Echo and her crew had breakfast on the deck, sitting or standing in a semi-circle as Yuri retold everyone what he’d told Echo the night before, about the island, and Whitetip, and more importantly about the dead Atlanteans.

  “Whom you didn’t kill,” Artem said.

  “No,” Yuri said. “Which I’ve explained multiple times.”

  “Just making sure,” Artem said. “You did have some self-control issues last time we saw you.”

  “I really thought coming home to you guys would be a lot nicer,” Yuri said.

  “And they said it was something coming up from out of Poseidon’s Scar? You’re sure?” Echo said.

  Yuri nodded, devouring some bacon Barnabas had brought up from the mess earlier.

  “That’s what they told me. Before, y’know. They expired,” he said.

  “Walk me through this one more time,” Artem said. “Barnabas and I were elsewhere. What happened in the Scar?”

  Echo, sitting cross-legged on the deck, leaned back on her hands.

  “One of the submarines was headed closer to the surface to launch an attack,” Echo said. “While Yuri over there fought off a huge monster that might have been being manipulated by Reina’s people, I… y’know. Punched the submarine until it sank.”

  “You punched the submarine into submission,” Artem said.

  “I punch really hard,” Echo said.

  “Why was all this happening?” the girl Echo had introduced to Yuri as Muireann said. Yuri eyeballed her, trying to figure out her angle. She certainly wasn’t his replacement as the funny companion, that was clear from the conversation so far.

  “We were stopping a war,” Yuri said. “Typical superhero stuff.”

  “Long story,” Echo said. “I guess the shortest way of explaining it is some Atlanteans thought it’d be a good idea to
start a war with the surface world, stole a bunch of submarines, and then we came along and stopped them.”

  “By punching the submarines,” Muireann said.

  “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” Echo said.

  “I’m going to start calling you Aqua-Hammer,” Yuri said.

  “Please don’t,” Echo said.

  “So… something woke up in the Scar, then,” Artem said. “The combat stirred it up.”

  “The Atlantean soldiers I met didn’t say that specifically, but that has to be it, right? I mean you sort of deposited a nuclear submarine on the doorstep of Poseidon’s scar,” Yuri said.

  “You?” Echo said.

  “We?” Yuri responded. “I mean you want credit for punching the submarine.”

  “It really did seem like a good idea at the time,” Echo said. She took a sip of coffee and rubbed her temple. “So, it’s not our fault, but it’s sort of our fault that something terrible is coming up out of the ravine and eating Atlanteans.”

  “Don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” Barnabas said.

  “We have to go tell Atlantis,” Echo said.

  “That is exactly what I was hoping you wouldn’t say,” Barnabas said. “They’re an astronomically powerful undersea society. They don’t need our help. They can totally handle this, Echo.”

  “Why don’t you want to go help them?” Echo said, leaning forward.

  Barnabas stood up, clearing his plate.

  “Because in our direct experience, Atlantis is nothing but trouble,” he said. “And worse, they don’t appreciate it when people help them.”

  Artem laughed.

  “This is about politeness?” he said.

  “I’m just not fond of helping jackasses,” Barnabas said.

  “Will you help if we go?” Echo asked.

  “Of course I will,” Barnabas said. “I will just glare at everyone judgmentally when everything goes pear-shaped.”

  “We do keep you around for your overwhelming sense of maturity,” Echo said.

  “This is assuming they want to see any of us in Atlantis again. We might have done some good there, but half the ruling party did try to kill, well, all of us,” Yuri said.

  “Half the ruling party killed my husband,” Artem said, his tone deathly cold.

  No one spoke for a moment. Echo broke the silence.

  “You don’t have to come with us, Artem,” Echo said. “You have every reason to not care what happens to Atlantis.”

  The Amazon shook his head.

  “No, I’m not going to take out my rage at a handful of evil people on an entire city,” he said. “We’ll continue to do what we have done all along and fix the messes the Atlanteans create for themselves. Clearly this is our lot in life now. Just… keep me out of the room with your aunt, if you can.”

  “I will,” Echo said.

  Muireann raised her hand.

  “I… So, I suppose I must ask—am I invited along with this? Will they let me into the city? Do you even want me along?”

  Barnabas’ face twisted into a pained expression.

  “You are welcome to stay on the ship when we go,” he said. “I’m half-tempted to stay here myself, but unfortunately I’m the designated magic user in this group, so I might be stuck tagging along.”

  “I’d like to see Atlantis, if you’ll let me join you,” Muireann said.

  Barnabas looked at Echo, who looked at Yuri, who looked at Artem.

  “None of us actually want to go there,” Yuri said. “I guess it’d be nice to have someone along who would actually, like, enjoy seeing it for the first time?”

  “The other question is how we’re getting there,” Artem said.

  “The ghost crew remembers roughly where the city is, so we can get to the waters above Atlantis,” Barnabas said. “You still have the water-breathing earring, yeah?”

  “Yes, but that’s still a deep dive,” Artem said. “Are Echo and Yuri going to drag the rest of us?”

  “I can breathe underwater,” Muireann said. “If that’s helpful.”

  “That’s a start,” Artem said.

  “How did you get there before?” Muireann asked.

  “A giant jellyfish,” Yuri said.

  “Excuse me?” Muireann said.

  “Oh, I’d forgotten about that,” Barnabas said. “That was one of the most disconcerting journeys I’ve ever made in my entire life. Let’s not do that again.”

  “I don’t think it’s an option,” Echo said. “We set the jellyfish free, remember?”

  “I think I can help with that,” Muireann said.

  “Please tell me ondines can’t transform into giant jellyfish,” Artem said.

  “What’s an ondine?” Yuri said.

  “No, I can’t transform into a giant jellyfish,” Muireann said.

  “Oh. She’s an ondine,” Yuri said. “Doesn’t exactly clarify what an ondine is, but at least it gives me a point of reference for this conversation.”

  “I can summon a traveling sphere,” Muireann said.

  “A what now?” Yuri said.

  “It’s like a bubble that I can control,” Muireann said. “I can summon one and we can ride it wherever we need to go.”

  Barnabas’ entire demeanor changed. He leaned in curiously.

  “Can you teach me that spell?”

  Muireann shot him a mildly annoyed look.

  “No,” she said.

  “Fair enough,” Barnabas said. “Giant force field bubble. That’d work.”

  “Welcome to the team, I guess,” Echo said. “Where we instantly put your special powers to work in mundane ways.”

  Muireann shrugged.

  “You saved me from a ship full of dead sailors. This is the very least I can do to repay you.”

  “You saved her from what?” Yuri said.

  Echo rubbed her temple again as if fighting off a growing headache.

  “We have so much to catch you up on,” she said. “Barnabas, want to tell the crew where we’re headed?”

  Barnabas saluted her and trotted off, talking to the invisible crew the way he always did, as though chatting with the deceased was something people do all the time.

  “I guess I’m going home,” Echo said.

  Yuri gave her a sheepish smile.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “This is sort of my fault.”

  “Nope,” Echo said. “I think there is so much blame to go around on this we’ll never get it sorted out.”

  Chapter 13: I don’t really call it home

  The ghost crew took them through the weird and winding pathways Barnabas was so fond of, where time and space on the open ocean bent and twisted, taking them to the waters above Atlantis far faster than they naturally should have been able to.

  Echo watched Muireann’s reaction to the journey, but the ondine seemed to not be the least bit put off by it. It’s as if she’s no stranger to the aquatic leylines they followed, Echo thought. She wasn’t one hundred percent inclined to trust her, but it did lend credibility to her story about being a magic user herself.

  The skies above Atlantis were gray and overcast when they arrived, but the air warm, almost welcoming. Different from the last time they were here, under brighter skies, but cooler temperatures.

  Yuri leaned over the railing and looked straight down.

  “I guess this is where we jump in,” he said.

  Artem and Barnabas watched Yuri expectantly. He noticed.

  “What,” Yuri said.

  “Curious about your transformation,” Artem said.

  “I’m dying to see it,” Barnabas said.

  Yuri looked to Echo as if for help.

  “I mean, you don’t have to transform, I guess,” Echo said. “Muireann, how many people can fit in the bubble you’re going to conjure?”

  Muireann pursed her lips as if calculating.

  “I mean, we could all fit, but it’ll be tight,” she said. “With four, we’d be a bit cram
ped, but alright.”

  “I’ll swim down beside the bubble,” Echo said. “Yuri, why don’t you ride with everyone else?”

  “I was really hoping to see you transform in a non-combat situation,” Barnabas said.

  “I’m self-conscious!” Yuri said. “And now I’m twice as self-conscious because you’re being creepy about it!”

  “All things being equal, not showing up at the doors of Atlantis with a were-shark in tow might be the better approach,” Artem said.

  Muireann approached the port side of the ship and uttered a quiet incantation. An incandescent bubble, like one made of soap, rose out of the water and floated before her. She stepped off the ship and dropped into the bubble, a bit ungracefully, and then beckoned for the others to follow.

  “Okay,” Barnabas said, preparing to jump in. His old flintlock pistol was holstered to his left thigh.

  Echo caught his arm.

  “I thought you were changing your mind about that,” she said, pointing at the gun.

  “Last time we were in Atlantis, I knocked over an entire prison,” Barnabas said. “I feel like maybe it’s in my best interest to be prepared to defend myself.”

  “We saved this city,” Echo said. “I’m sure they’re over the prison thing.”

  “Still, I didn’t get this far in life by assuming the good nature of strangers,” he said, then jumped off the boat and into the bubble to join Muireann.

  Artem followed, dropping down with catlike grace. Yuri smiled to Echo as he prepared to join them.

  “I missed you,” he said.

  “I missed you more, you goofball,” Echo said.

  “Think your family’s going to be happy to see you?”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Echo said.

  Yuri laughed and jumped clumsily into the bubble. Echo dove off the edge of the ship, and Muireann, her hands raised, gestured downward, the bubble following her commands.

  Echo took lead, swimming—at a speed that, even after months of knowing the powers she possessed, still scared her a little bit—down into the depths. For a time, they were surrounded by deep blue nothingness on all sides, the light from the surface growing dimmer and dimmer. Eventually, Echo could make out the lights of Atlantis in the distance, the city looking as if someone had dropped a vast, glittering tiara on the ocean floor. She beckoned the bubble to follow her and darted forward.