Page 28 of Of Songs and Silence

Which makes one of us.

Ari is too still for someone who is actually sleeping, and I seem to be having the opposite problem. There’s a restlessness in my limbs that won’t abate.

“Peace, Kala,” Ari says, his neutral tone edged with weariness.

I’m not even sure what’s keeping me awake at this point, the residual energy from our dance or the things I forced myself to come to terms with earlier. All my life, I have been surrounded by death, but I have never felt it looming before me the way I’m starting to now.

“You aren’t going to die.” His words linger in the water around us for several moments before I bring myself to respond.

“How do you know?”

“Because I won’t let that happen.”

I don’t know exactly how this mind-speak works, if the determination I feel from him is real, or merely a projection of what I want to hear, but his words soothe me from the inside out, quelling some of the agitation in my veins. In spite of our situation and the secrets he keeps, I believe him.

When I finally drift off to sleep, though, it’s short-lived.

Nightmares chase me off and on for hours, the restless feeling swelling to a crescendo until it wrestles me from sleep time and again. By the time I abandon my attempt entirely, Ari is already up and stretching in the center of the room. Judging by the taut set of his shoulders and his hardened expression, it’s clear that he didn’t fare much better than I did.

The rest of the day is edged with tension. It thrums between us, twisting and choking and threatening to drive me mad. All throughout breakfast and well into our arduous ride through swift currents, Ari is careful to keep his walls up, but his eyes tighten or his fists clench often enough to tell me I’m not alone in this feeling.

He doesn’t allow a single, stray thought to escape, even when one of the many deadly sea creatures makes an appearance. Though he is at my side, pulling me deftly from harm, he says nothing.

The silence is deafening.

Sound travels more slowly down here than at the surface. So though there are whales in the distance and bubbling from sea animals closer by, the steady rush of the current in my ear, it’s not the same as the constant swell of the sea that I have spent my life with, both in Delphine and Corentin.

Around what I assume is late afternoon, we stop for a snack—a term I use loosely for the very nutritious and not remotely delicious seaweed Napo insists on plying me with. Even the sound of the water in my ears is gone, then, leaving the kind of silence that soaks into my bones, putting me on edge.

Ari looks over at me, something that might be guilt lurking behind his eyes.

“Kala,” he begins, his tone more reserved than usual.

But whatever he is about to say is abruptly cut off. His features turn to ice, his hand unsheathing his trident in a single fluid motion as he turns his attention to something behind me.

There is murder in his eyes, and his muscles strain against his skin as if they’re trying to break free. Right now, he looks as if he could battle a dragon itself and come out the victor.

I follow his line of sight, spinning in time to see several warriors approaching in the distance, just before Ari places himself between us. His words feel different when he speaks this time, closer somehow and more intimate, despite the warning they carry.

“Say nothing,” he orders, and I nod on instinct. “Prepare the marlin and be ready for a quick escape.”

He doesn’t wait for a response before darting out to meet the group of warriors, speeding through the water faster than anything I’ve witnessed so far.

A tentacle slowly wraps around my wrist, tugging me backward and I don’t want to go. Logically, I know I can’t fight, but my instincts tell me to stay. Napo’s instincts, however, are prodding me toward the expectant fish.

He stays next to me, as I climb into the saddle, his tentacles spreading out as if he is my own personal shield. My pulse is racing—violently beating against my chest in anticipation. I’m too far away to hear their words, but I can feel the moment when everything changes, just before the set of Ari’s shoulders stiffens.

In one fell swoop, he takes out two of the warriors.

Then red fills the water around them as their lifeless bodies float away, fodder for the sharks who will no doubt be along shortly to claim their prize.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

MELODI

The world has turned into a hazy blur.

Blood clouds the water, tingeing everything pink. The blur of bodies. The flash of weapons. Napo’s tentacle, as he prods me to strap my legs into the harness.

---