Dauntless (11 page)

His words hit me hard and I swayed where I stood, telling myself that it was the waves, not my emotions. “You aren’t going to sink,” I managed.

“Just the same. I don’t want to be separated from you, especially if these are the last minutes we have.” He reached out and smoothed my hair, tucking it behind my ear.

We’d said goodbye so many times before, I just didn’t have the heart to do it again. “No, I won’t say it, so get your ass in gear and let’s get out of here.”

He smiled at me, a whisper of the cheeky man he’d once been. He opened his mouth, then froze.

The boat groaned and we sunk another few inches. Jessica let out a yelp, her fingers digging into my arm as she shivered and clung to me. “We have to go,” I said, my throat tightening with fear.

Sebastian swiftly tied the two floats together and he beckoned me over. Jessica made it difficult, but we managed the few steps. I tried to get Jessica to hang on to the float and a very large flaw in our plan became apparent. She couldn’t grip anything; she didn’t have any fine motor skills.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Shit.”

“Now what?” Bastian asked.

The water was past my belly button and I let out gasp as the water lapped even higher. Jessica stood tight against me, her whole body quivering, her eyes shut tight and her lips parted as she panted for air. Sebastian stood quietly, his eyes not giving any indication of fear or any other emotion.

“We’ll have to tie her to the floats.”

She didn’t resist us as we rushed to tie her between the two floats. Once secured, Sebastian took the float on the left, I took the one on the right and we went to step out into the open water.

“Wait!” Sebastian said, our feet on the lip of the boat. I jumped, startled, as he turned back and dove down into the cab of the boat. I sucked in a lungful of salty air, my heart struggling to catch up with my racing thoughts. What was he doing? There was nothing in there of any value. Bubbles floated to the surface as I started to count in my head. When he’d been down for forty-five seconds I started towards where he’d gone in.

“Come on babe,” I whispered, my hands clenched around a cold, wet length of rope.

A sudden rush of bubbles and he broke the surface, gasping for air. I struggled towards him, grabbed his hands and helped pull him upright. Gripped in his teeth was a large knife.

“You went back for that?” I asked. He nodded and I shook my head as the boat suddenly shifted, groaned, and began to sink in earnest, the water rising at an alarming rate. Jessica let out a howl and I swam—it was easier than walking at that point—to her side. The water was to her chin. I tightened the ropes and tucked her between the two floats. Taking a deep breath I looked over to Sebastian. He had the knife in his left hand, the right on the ropes attached to the float closest to him. He gave me a smile and a wink and my heart lifted a little. For now, he was with me, 100%.

With a small push, we were out in open water, the floats sagging under the weight of the three of us, but holding. Jessica whimpered, her eyes still shut, her body limp in the ropes.

“This isn’t so bad,” I said, as we started to swim for shore.

“It’s a long ways in, love. I wouldn’t get too cocky, yet,” Bastian said. I rolled in the water to face him and saw that he was struggling to keep his head above water. He was still heavy with the effects of Nevermore, the density in his bones dragging him down.

There was nothing I could do except swim harder and hope, to all that was holy, that we would make it.

Halfway to shore was when the quiet calm that had settled over us evaporated in the hot mid-afternoon sun. My mind and body were numb from the constant push. I could see Sebastian out the corner of my eye still struggling, but keeping it together. Jessica was still pretty much a rag doll in between us, her breathing rapid, but her body still.

And then she opened her eyes. Letting out a screech that startled me right off the float, I was pushed under by a wave. The water was cool and soothing on a sunburn I hadn’t realized I’d been getting. For a moment I let the water hold me and I floated in an empty spot, my mind revolting at the thought of something else going wrong. Only a few seconds passed, but it felt longer, like I could let myself float there forever.

One stroke and I broke the surface of the water to see Jessica flailing, her body only held up by the floats. “Stop it!” I yelled at her as I swam closer. She flung out her arms, catching me in the side of the face, stunning me with its force.

“We have to cut her loose!” Sebastian yelled, already hacking at the ropes.

“No! She’ll drown!” I yelled.

“It’s us or her, we can’t all make it to shore,” he shouted, as one of the ropes broke free, plunging Jessica under water, her howls muffled and the bubbles from her last breath quickly rising to the surface.

“Mara, don’t come so close, I’m afraid she’ll . . .”

I didn’t hear the rest. A hand clamped onto my calf, nails digging into my skin, yanking me under water before I could even take a breath.

I opened my eyes to see Jessica staring up at me, her eyes wide and pleading. She wasn’t trying to hurt me; she was terrified.

Reaching down I pried her fingers off my leg and held her hand as I swam upwards, pulling her with me. It was no use. She was too heavy and I watched in horror as the rest of the ropes trailed down around us, like streamers thrown at a party.

I flashbacked to the last time I’d seen Jessica as a human. The final words I’d said to her, how impossible my plea had been considering what we both knew she was becoming. My tears were swept away by the ocean. I squeezed her fingers and her eyes softened as she gave me the slightest of nods, her hand opening in mine.

As she sank into the darkness, her eyes never left mine and I mouthed the words I’d said to her once before.

“Be safe, sweetheart.”

18

My head broke the surface and Sebastian pulled me into his arms, a sob rippling out past his lips.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he said, body shaking as he held me.

I wanted to cling to him, wrap myself in his warmth, but we still had a long way to go. Minutes rolled by as we swam for the beach, Dan, Annie and Dustin urging us on, Nero barking at their feet.

A quick glance at Sebastian, who with the help of the float was keeping his head well above water, eased my mind. Stroke after stroke we cut through the water, the swell of the waves occasionally lifting us and propelling us forward.

When my feet brushed against the sand, I started out of the daze I’d settled in. My muscles screamed at me, the fatigue I’d been ignoring finally crashing down over me. Sebastian slogged through the water and wrapped an arm around me, kissing me on top of my head.

“We made it,” he whispered, the disbelief in his voice surprising me.

I smiled up at him, then let the smile fall, as I once more in my mind saw Jessica float down into the depths of the ocean, her eyes wide and trusting. I burst into tears and Sebastian held me close. Then another set of arms and another and another wrapped around me, until I was cocooned within them. The sobs trailed off into hiccups that left me shaky. Dan patted my back and left the group hug first, his sling gone and his broken arm tucked into his shirt.

“You did the right thing, Mara,” he said, his voice gruff as he waded back to shore.

Annie gave me a last squeeze and Dustin followed her lead as they too headed back to shore. Sebastian and I linked hands and stumbled the rest of the way in, our legs weak.

Once we were all on the beach, it was decided we would camp there for the night, building a fire and sticking close to the water in case any Nevermores showed up. That way we had an easy escape.

I sat down, my back against a large piece of driftwood, the tiny pebbles that made up the beach shifting underneath me as I settled my weight. The small rocks were hot and warmed up underneath me. Nero trotted over to me, his limp improving already, and flopped down in the rocks by my side.

Letting my hand rest on his still damp back, I watched Annie take charge and direct the boys to get firewood as she started on building the pit a few feet away from me.

She glanced up, her blue eyes tired. “My dad used to take us to the beach all the time. He showed us how to start a fire and we’d roast marshmallows. . .” Her voice was suddenly thick with tears.

“We’re almost there, Annie,” I said, reaching out to touch her purple and blond hair. Somewhere along the way she’d lost her diamond nose ring. I didn’t think now was the time to tell her.

She nodded, swallowed down the tears and went back to piling rocks in a circle to make a barrier for the fire.

I lay back on the rocky beach, my right hand on my belly, the sun warm on my face and drifted in and out of sleep. Something rolled under my right hand and my eyes opened wide. The baby.

“I felt the baby move!” I shouted and everyone froze what they were doing. I pressed my hands against my stomach and . . . there is was. Like a butterfly fluttering around in there, only bigger—maybe a bird would be more accurate.

Annie was the first to crouch beside me. “Can I feel?”

I nodded and she placed her hands on my belly. “I don’t feel . . . wait, there!” She lit up, her smile stretching across her face.

I looked around to see Sebastian staring down at us, his face grim. I smiled up at him, refused to be pulled into his worries, and fears about this child.

“Sebastian,” I called to him, keeping my voice soft. He closed his eyes and his chest lifted as he took a deep breath. Like going into battle, he strode over to my side and dropped to his knees.

His big hands pressed gingerly into my stomach and Annie snorted. “You have to press real hard, you aren’t going to break her.”

I gave Annie a wink and put my hands over Sebastian’s, pressing them in to my belly.

He didn’t seem to feel the first flutter of movement; he kept his eyes closed and his mouth tight. Annie, perhaps sensing this was not a moment for her to be a part of, stood and went to help the others gather wood.

Alone, I whispered to him. “No matter what, we will love this baby Sebastian. No matter what.”

Tears trickled down his cheeks. “It’s my fault, Mara.”

“That I’m pregnant? Yes, that is your fault. Nothing else is though,” I said.

He opened his eyes and I drew in a big breath. It would take me a long time to get used to him having golden eyes. I didn’t mind though, he was with me; that was all that mattered.

“That the baby is deformed.” He took a breath and let it out in a shuddering sigh.

I shook my head and took his face in my hands. “We have not come all this way to give up now. You are going to make it with me to that airport, we are going to get on a plane and we are going to get the hell out of here. Got it?” I rubbed the tear tracks off his face with my thumbs.

He leaned in and kissed me, softly at first and then deeper, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his lap. If only we’d been alone… but of course, it was at that moment that Dustin came running around the corner, out of breath, his eyes wide and his words barely intelligible. It took three tries to get him to spit it out. And as the seconds passed, I could only imagine what it was going to be. Nevermores? Marauders? A forest fire that would burn all the way to the beach? I was betting on one of the first two, though I would rule out nothing at this point.

Dustin took a big gulp of air and finally spit it out.

“A boat! There’s a big boat coming this way!”

19

We scrambled to our feet as Annie and Dan came around the corner. “We’ve got to get that fire going. Now!” Dan shouted.

The five of us threw the firewood on, Annie and Dan fighting over the best way to light it. Dan finally produced the flare gun. “Get the kindling ready, we’ll shoot into it and that should light it.”

Annie had her hands on her hips, her head shaking, her twenty-something attitude showing. “I don’t think it will work.”

“Have you got a better idea, pipsqueak?” Dan growled at her.

We all stepped back as Dan lined up the gun and squeezed the trigger. Again, there was a delay and then a puff of smoke and a red streak flew right into the pit. Of course, Annie was right too, and kindling and burning wood burst out of the pit. We all ran to get the pieces and get them back on the pile and within a few short moments, we had a blazing fire going, the tinder-dry wood lighting easily.

But there was no smoke.

“We need some wet wood,” I said, casting my eyes around. Up the slope was a small stand of alder trees, their leaves still green. That would work. I made my way up the slope and started to break off branches, throwing them down to Dustin who ran them over and threw them on the fire.

The green wood produced a large cloud of smoke that curled up into the sky.

I smiled, one hand on the closest alder tree for balance, the other pumped into the air. “It worked!”

From the higher ground, I could see a large freighter cruising into the harbour, avoiding the rocks that we crashed into and anchoring just off shore. A rowboat was lowered into the water and two men jumped aboard. We waved and hollered, making damn sure they could see us. I mean really, how could they miss us? But, still we waved.

One of the two men’s heads snapped up and with it a gun, aimed straight at me. What the hell? I ducked and slid as the boom of the rifle ripped through the air and a squeal of rage erupted from behind me. I didn’t turn around, I knew what was there.

I slipped and slid down the slope and into Sebastian’s waiting arms where he held Nero tight. Dan stumbled, cursed, and rolled to his back as a Nevermore leaped onto him. The Nevermore’s head exploded in a shower of blood and bone, the marksmen covering us.

Annie bent and grabbed Dan’s arm, Dustin grabbed the other, well above the break. Sebastian and I were steps away from the water when I was suddenly standing by myself. I spun as Sebastian dropped Nero and was yanked into the fray by three large Nevermores.

I scooped up Nero as one of the Nevermores attacking Sebastian dropped to the ground, a bullet wound appearing in his neck. I hadn’t even heard the rifle shot over the howling and high-pitched screaming.