Page 110 of Oceansong
“I would love that.” Adrielle gave her a single nod, and then murmured something to the sentinels that Angie couldn’t understand. “We should go. I also hope we will cross paths again when we are no longer fighting. And Angie, I will tell Kaden and Queen Serapha that you and your sister returned him to us.”
A buzz lapped through Angie, her stomach constricting at the mention of Kaden’s name.
She had to know. “Is he okay?”
“Healing. The Queen is quite upset with him, though.” The mer-princess’ brow furrowed. “And you.”
Angie wanted to ask more, but the growing maelstrom didn’t escape her. “Adrielle, you need to stop that. It’s coming much too close to the docks. Cyrus is safe with you now.”
“I didn’t do that. Whoever’s responsible, I cannot stop it. I’ve tried.” Her voice lowered, and her lips parted. The maelstrom grew wider, eating away at the already fragile gangway. Wood splintered and slid into the maelstrom’s gaping maw. Without a foundation, the rest of the gangway began to collapse.
It crept ashore with the force of a devastating tornado.
Her gaze frantic, Adrielle looked back to Angie and Mia. A single word left her lips in a whisper.
“Run.”
Forty-Three
Angie grabbed Mia’s hand andthey sprinted inland.
Sometime in the last five seconds, the maelstrom had doubled in size, a violent tornado consuming everything in its path. Water levels were rising much too quickly, consuming the rest of the gangway, the smaller buildings in its path, and the handful of workers caught in it.
Their screams as the sea harpooned them into her watery grip haunted Angie.
It was strengthening. Still moving toward them.
More buildings crumbled in their path, the maelstrom shattering their very foundations. Their staff break house. The outhouse that had held Cyrus and the other mer, and nearby storage shed. The building where they held a staff meeting what seemed like a lifetime ago. When Luke and Eva were still alive.
Angie was breathless. She didn’t loosen her grip on Mia’s hand, but they couldn’t outrun the furious tides that charged at them, like aggressive whitetip sharks chasing down its prey.
“I can’t run anymore. I’m exhausted,” Mia whimpered from behind her.
“We have to keep going. We’ll get sucked in and drown.” Angie panted, her legs like jelly.
The water reached them, and Angie pitched forward with Mia in tow, narrowly escaping the frantic spinning tides that would have sucked them both in.
She tripped on a piece of driftwood, and her knees smashed into the pavement. Losing her balance, she pulled Mia down behind her, one arm across her stomach. Stabbing pain raced down Angie’s shin, and she winced.
They’d made it halfway into the docks. As inexplicably as it had appeared, the maelstrom seemed to settle, the waters receding.
The world slowed, bleary voices coming through in buzzes. Angie stayed on her bruised knees, hands to her head. Her head spun and spun, breaths catching in disbelief. A high-pitched ringing struck her ears, a perpetual siren that all but deafened her.
The voices came together into a coherent noise. Male voices. Bàba and Nick’s, in the midst of a cacophony of others.
“Shut it down! Shut everything down, NOW! I repeat, CEASE ALL OPERATIONS.”
“Everyone, pull back! Get out of the docks!”
Frantic footprints stampeded past her, and a hand gripped her wrist, pulling her to her feet. “That includes you, Angela and Mia!” Nick’s sharp voice cut into her ears, and she snapped out of her daze, allowing him to pull her up by her forearm. His palm grazed a deep scrape on her arm from when she fell to the ground earlier, and she gritted her teeth through the searing pain.
“Are you two okay?” Bàba joined them, helping Mia up.
Nick let go of Angie once she was upright, running ahead to corral workers on the dock’s outskirts.
“Y-yeah. I’ll live,” she whispered, quickening her pace to join the others. Mia gave him a silent nod of assent. “Where are we going?”
“Home.” Bàba lengthened his strides, his grip firm on his older daughter.
