Hidden Depths (21 page)

Though there wasn’t much to see beyond the lights flashing by on the wall outside, James still pressed his nose to round window.

“We’re clipping along at a hundred knots,” Ty said, noting his fascination.

“Once we leave the secure tunnel and enter traffic, we’ll slow to about thirty.”

“Wow,” James said in the same wondering tone he’d used for Olivia’s outfit.

“I suppose it takes a special license to drive these things.”

“Very special. The smaller models are easier to qualify on. They’re just as entertaining, I think. You feel the speed more when you’re a minnow and not a whale.”

“
You
could drive this baby,” James said, turning back to him.

Ty confirmed his guess with a grin. “There isn’t a single vehicle in Oceana I’m not licensed to operate.”

“Shit,” James said, unabashed envy in the sound.

Boys and their toys
, Olivia thought, laughing silently to herself.

No doubt James would have grilled Ty more if they hadn’t entered the city then.

“Ooh,” Olivia said, leaning across her husband to press her nose where his had been.

Apart from being
underneath
sunlit water, they could have been cruising Venice’s Grand Canal. Olivia was suddenly grateful for Mrs. Bonn and her fancy pins, which kept her hair from floating around her face and spoiling the view. The city of Oceana was magical in every sense of the term. Wide boulevards. Graceful historic buildings. A “sky” that was only a slightly deeper blue than at home.

Many vehicles joined them in the main thoroughfare. Some were big, some family-sized with faces pressed to their windows, some as neon bright and tiny as scooters. The people who drove these clung to their backs as if riding dolphins with handlebars. Almost all of them were grinning behind their eye goggles.

“Those are Vespas,” Ty informed them. “They’re cheap to buy and a lot of fun.”

“We have Vespas at home,” James exclaimed excitedly. “They’re little motorcycles. We drive them on the ground.”

“A lot of folks who live in the Pocket are descended from Outsiders.

Sometimes they like to reinvent a piece of their native land. The majority aren’t abducted,” he added. “Most wander into our territories on their own. They don’t quite fit in your world, and they have enough magic in their nature to hear the call of ours.”

“Does it ever work the other way around?”

Ty cocked his head at Olivia’s question.

“It would be difficult,” she said, “if you were born here and didn’t have any special gifts. It might be tempting to try your luck with mundanes.”

“I suppose,” he said. “But people don’t run away very often. Generally speaking, Oceanans aren’t fond of dry land. We feel like fish out of water, I guess you’d say.”

That scooped a hollow in Olivia’s chest, one whose cause she didn’t want to examine. Maybe James felt it too. He patted her hand and fell quiet.

Shortly after that, their whale of a gondola pulled up at an anchorage beside the upper level of a basilica - St. Mark’s of the Meimeyo, she presumed. The guards sprang into action, including Ty. Before she and James had finished freeing them from their safety harnesses, their uniformed cordon was ready to escort them. Anso swam back through it to her.

“Ready?” he asked, taking her face gently in his hands.

Her eyes stung with tears that immediately washed away. This man was as protective of her as James.

“I’ll be fine,” she said as lightly as she could. “With all of you looking out for me, how could I not be?”

Seeming to know this wasn’t quite the truth, Anso brushed her cheeks with his thumbs. He looked behind her to James.

“We’re ready,” James assured him. “Olivia doesn’t fold when the chips are down.”

With that vote of confidence to shore up her shaky nerves, they swam through a frescoed corridor Olivia really would have enjoyed lingering in. She loved the Italian masters, and these paintings looked very much like Giottos. Sadly, art appreciation wasn’t on their itinerary. In no time at all, they reached a stone balcony that overlooked the basilica’s broad front steps.

The instant their figures were visible a great roar went up. That was enough of a shock for Olivia, but a million camera flashes seemed to go off simultaneously, blinding her before she had a chance to find the recommended footholds for anchoring her slippers. Between barrages of white strobes, she caught glimpses of Anso and Ty kneeling down on either side of her to help her secure herself - very much like two golden princes preparing to propose. That sent the photographers into a fresh frenzy. Olivia had to press one arm across her eyes until the flares died down, though she tried her best to keep a calm relaxed face. When the worst seemed over, she dropped the shield cautiously.

Anso must have been a popular king. The square beneath them was packed with people, level upon level of them, the colorful, slowly undulating mass stretching out in the distance to either side. A line of easily identifiable green-uniformed police kept anyone from swimming too close. Viewing screens were tacked to some of the buildings, so the balcony could be seen from more angles.

Olivia watched her startled eyebrows shoot up her giant brow and firmly ordered them to stop doing that.

At a podium beside her, Anso stood tall and proud. Seeming perfectly calm, his hand came to the small of her back and stayed. In that moment, it didn’t feel at all deceitful to lean closer to his support. At these small signs of their connection, the crowd fell quiet. They’d been told their king had taken a mate, so that at least wasn’t a complete surprise.

“Thank you, Oceana,” Anso said into the microphone. He was very steady, and his voice sounded beautiful magnified. It echoed a bit between the grand buildings. “My queen and I appreciate your interest in our well being. I’ll be making a brief statement, after which I’ll answer a few questions. First of all, I wish to confirm that I’ve followed Vitul tradition in seeking a mate with whom I have a true blood bond. Olivia comes to us from Outside. Our courtship has been short but providential. I cannot doubt her sweetness and integrity will bless our city nation and myself.

“In addition, as was the case for William the Second and Conjugus the Magnificent, Olivia has the added commitment of a human spouse.” Anso paused while the crowd exploded again. Intensifying the furor were questions from reporters, who were in the cluster nearest the balcony. He withstood this with more patience than Olivia could have pulled off. The vibrations of the renewed uproar pulsated to them through the water. Anso waited a minute, lifted his hand, then waited some more until he could be heard.

“Thank you,” he said, exactly as if they’d cooperated right away. “While no one can deny this situation presents emotional challenges, I have faith that my heart and instincts have guided me truly. Her Majesty’s husband is a man of honor and intelligence. Any king would be lucky to have his queen cherished as James Forster cherishes her.”

Anso’s voice actually broke, which Olivia knew he and the others hadn’t planned. This was genuine emotion he was displaying. He was grateful to her husband for loving her. Olivia’s eyes flew to Anso’s face as he turned to her.

“I feel very lucky,” he said to her, though his words still addressed the crowd.

“I trust and hope you’ll afford us the same courtesies any newly mated couple would want in order to step more firmly onto a path of lasting happiness.” He couldn’t have been more romantic if he’d tried. His hand had slipped from her back, but hers found it as it dropped. Their fingers twined together without effort, and Olivia’s throat went tight. She had the increasingly familiar and - in its way - increasingly terrible sensation that he was indeed her man. In that moment, she no more could have let go of Anso’s hand than she could have looked away.

He was the one who broke their eye-lock. This time, as he drew breath to continue, the crowd was pin-drop quiet.

“Finally,” he said, his voice still husky, “I wish you to know I share your concern for the fate of our city’s beloved guardian dragons. The resources of the royal treasury have been put at the disposal of the Oceanic Wildlife Patrol, so that they can more effectively search for them. Until the Meimeyo are returned to their home, I humbly ask you to join me in praying for their safety, in whatever manner you observe. Love is a power in our fair city. With that behind our rescue efforts, I don’t foresee us failing.”

He was getting her choked up now. She couldn’t have found the voice to pelt him with questions as immediately as the reporters did.

The very first who was singled out asked if His Majesty was going to set up a sexual schedule for all his potential new lovers.

“That’s a personal question,” Anso said calmly. “I won’t be answering those on this or any other day.”

If Olivia hadn’t known Anso and Ty deliberately chose this journalist to call on first, in order to get him out of the way, the even keel Anso remained on would have amazed her. Subsequent questions weren’t as bold, but they all struck her as intrusive.

Because she didn’t want to be seen getting upset about it, she tuned them out.

She turned her gaze to the marvel-worthy scenery instead. The crowd billowed up and down like a cape, the bright yellow gondola taxis gleamed, and the curving stretch of Venetian buildings provided plenty of distraction. The dome of another church rose above the rooftops a few “canals” beyond them. Scaffolding surrounded its cupola, so she supposed even magic cities required repairs. The silver cross on its roof glinted in the sun, a beacon calling her eyes to it.

Where do faeries worship
? she wondered. Did creatures of pure magic believe in gods? She spotted a handful twinkling regally at the back of the crowd against the opposite buildings. They floated hand-in-hand in a line, perhaps to avoid bumping elbows with the regular rabble. Their wings, if they had them, weren’t in evidence. Would Olivia get a chance to see some before she and James escaped?

She thought back to her exchange with Ty, about how Oceanans rarely emigrated to the Outside. When their daughter Violet had been a child, she’d sometimes run away as often as once a month, just go into a fury over some perfectly reasonable restriction and take off with her little Barbie backpack full of supplies.

Olivia smiled to remember it. Violet had been so blasted willful and passionate. She was lucky James and Olivia hadn’t been able to help loving her.

Violet had always come home, the only exception being the few occasions when she was afraid to. Those times, she’d run away because she knew she’d be in trouble for something she’d done. Violet hated punishment worst of all when she knew she deserved it. Then she’d hang around somewhere close - a fort in a neighbor’s yard, the little library down the street¬ - until she ran out of juice boxes or judged Olivia’s mood had sufficient time to soften. Even at five, she’d been eerily capable of gauging the moment her mother’s relief would outweigh her anger.

As annoyed as Olivia sometimes got at her rebelliousness, she’d been in awe of her daughter for knowing this.

Her gaze strayed again to the dome with the construction scaffolding. The newscaster for the original report on the missing sea dragons said they had the intelligence of four-year-olds. That didn’t necessarily mean the Meimeyo thought or felt in human ways, but what if some of their reactions were similar? What if they believed they’d be in trouble for running off? And what better spot to conceal themselves than someplace quiet that nonetheless felt like home?

Her grip on Anso’s hand tightened at the idea, causing him to falter in the middle of answering a question. He looked at her, but she gave her head a tiny shake and smiled.

When he smiled back, a soft fond glow entering his eyes, she just knew he was going to call an end to the Q and A. She was more important to him than any amount of positive PR.

* * *

“That was awesome,” Ty crowed.

“The way his voice broke,” James said.

“Olivia’s blush when he told her he felt lucky!”

“My favorite was her eyes turning red when he talked about love being a power in ‘our fair city.’ I knew she’d get emotional if he mentioned those little dragons. You should see her when commercials with puppies come on TV.” As Ty secured himself in a seat with half his attention, Anso heard Olivia mutter
sheesh
underneath her breath. Ty was too caught up in reliving their media coup to notice her reaction.

“The camera
loved
her,” he gushed, leaning across the aisle to James.

“Wherever she is, Ellice must be shitting clam shells. Olivia couldn’t have come off better if she’d been Joan of Arc.”

“Guys!” Olivia snapped. James and Ty turned to her with matching startled looks. “If you’re done discussing how predictable I am, I have an idea where we might look for the Meimeyo.”

“Really?” Ty said. “Where?”

“Yes,” James seconded. “Where?”

Anso rubbed the arm he held as she suddenly got self-conscious. “It’s only a guess, but I was remembering how Violet - our daughter - used to hide close by our house after she ran away.” Olivia’s mouth pulled into a rueful smile. “From the age of five until she was around eight, Violet made running away a regular hobby.”

“Really?” Ty said, this taking him by surprise. It took Anso by surprise as well. James and Olivia seemed like the kind of parents no child would want to leave.

“Violet was ... stubborn,” James explained.

“Really, really stubborn,” Olivia laughed. “We’d tell her she couldn’t wear her favorite outfit more than forty-eight hours nonstop and she’d go bonkers.”

“Remember when she wanted a pony?”

“A
pink
pony!”

“I think she lit out three separate times over that. Thank God she outgrew that stage, or she’d still be grounded.”

They sighed out a laugh together before Olivia went on. “Anyway, I wondered what if your cousenemy arranged for the Meimeyo to be let out but not taken to a specific location? Maybe the freedom went to their heads, and they had a little adventure, and now they’re afraid they’re going to be considered bad dragons.