Trap Page 12

  I swallowed hard as we looked into each other’s eyes. I was unable to ignore his words or our solid connection anymore. “I don’t want to die,” I admitted, “but I know it’s a possibility. I know how dangerous it is, what I’m doing. But I also know I can’t live like this. Ollie and Allie didn’t sacrifice everything so I could have a life where I was afraid to go to sleep.”

  “And what would they say now if they could see you going off on your own to fight the man who put your sister in a coma?”

  I examined the curves of his face, his hard cheekbones that made him look forbidding. I didn’t mean to fixate on his full lips. I touched his short sandy hair that never dared to obscure his handsome face. His green eyes seemed to glow with intensity as he watched me study him. My shivering finally calmed down in his warm embrace under the covers of our own little haven in the middle of the ocean. “Ollie will be mad, but he’d expect nothing less. No one messes with Allie and gets away with it. She’s a good person, and the world doesn’t have enough of those. He’d do the same thing in my position.”

  Finn’s adoring expression made me debate between looking away and leaning closer. “It’s your fire that made me fall for you the first time. That very first council meeting where you put us all in our place.”

  I glanced around the room I’d spent many nights in, swallowing hard. “I swore I wouldn’t come back here.”

  “But you keep coming back to my bed. I admit, I haven’t had much reason to come home. I sleep mostly on the mainland. It’s hard to sleep in my bed without you in it. I don’t like the feel of my house without you to come home to.”

  I knew when my mouth opened, I’d choose the wrong words. “I didn’t want to miss you. I try to never think about us at all.” I cleared my throat, my tone sharpening. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

  “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you came back.” I wrestled with my two selves until he whispered, “The suns will be up in a couple hours. How about we get a little sleep before we start our journey?”

  I shook my head, bracing myself on my hands and knees over his body so I wasn’t laying on him anymore. “No. Pack what you need, and let’s get out of here. If I sleep now, I’ll dreamwalk with either Von or Sama. Sama’s probably pissed I’m taking so long to get to him, and I don’t think I can keep this a secret from Von in our dream space.”

  Finn met my eyes, saying too many things that I knew would only be more complicated if he actually opened his mouth. My cheeks felt hot, and I was very aware of how close our bodies were. When he finally spoke, the sultry words were delivered right into the crook of my neck, his lips toying with my body. “You’re not wearing your engagement ring.”

  I shouldn’t have shivered, but my neck was my sweet spot, and Finn was playing me like a fiddle. “I didn’t think Sama would be too thrilled about me spending a week with him while still clinging to Von. I took it off so Sama didn’t suspect I wasn’t giving our little trial run a fair shot.”

  “Very clever. Let me see the map again.” His fingers were stretching under my nightgown, lifting slowly as I swallowed hard.

  Clarity came to me just in time. “No. You already saw it. You don’t need a map to pack a bag, which is what you’re supposed to be doing.” I climbed off of him and stood in the center of his room. “I’m engaged to Von. Ring or not, that’s not going to change. Von’s never done a thing to you. He doesn’t deserve this.”

  Finn took his time rising from the bed, puffing out his chest as he towered over me with an unreadable expression. “We both know he’s not enough for you. You’re a conqueror, like me. It’s in our bones. He’s a joker. Utterly useless.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Finn and kept my voice deadly quiet. “Do not insult Von in front of me ever again. I’m here for work. Your opinions on my personal life are of no use to me right now. Let me make myself perfectly clear; I don’t care about our past. I don’t care about my engagement. I don’t care about global warming, puppies, kitties, or anything except for killing Philip. All I can think about is putting my knife through his chest. Anything else is white noise.”

  Finn stood and returned my glare for a solid five seconds before he backed down, throwing clothes and food into his pack so we could get going. “I’ve got a small boat out back. I could swim myself maybe halfway there, but towing you and our packs, I might not make it even that far. It’ll be slower, but it’s safer this way.”

  “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just end him.”

  Twenty-Three.

  Bakunawa and Begging for It

  The world was quiet out in the middle of the ocean. Finn alternated between paddling and propelling us forward by swimming behind the boat and kicking his legs like a motor. When he exhausted himself, I took over the paddling, letting him sleep curled up in a ball in the small rowboat like a puppy. The nighttime lights in the sky glittered off his sandy hair, illuminating him only in parts and making him look positively precious.

  I paddled us toward a small mound I could see in the far distance. I’d only just saw it after Finn drifted off, and I guessed that was where Sama’s lair was hiding.

  There was too much quiet, too much time to think about my life and all the mistakes I’d made. I wondered if Von and Mason had woken yet, and if they’d found my note with Ezra. I wondered if Von had finally reached his statute of limitations with me, and if he was finally tired of it all enough to leave me for good.

  I know I was tired of me.

  At this hour, I was just plain tired. I knew the suns would be rising soon, and I had nothing but adrenaline and a healthy fear of being mind-raped keeping me awake. My heart broke for Allie, who’d had to go through all of this alone. Sama never taught her anything about reaping; she hadn’t even been awakened. He had a second Omen locked and loaded, and he let Terraway suffer anyway so they would have to rely on his rations. Then he’d made Allie suffer. I wonder how long she resisted him, or if she’d been gullible like I was, believing the dream to be just that until he turned on her.

  I needed my sister. I needed one of my sisters to be alive, but they were both stuck in some horrible in between. Allie was unconscious, and Mariang was a flicker of who she once was, off with Danny, who was reaping the disaster he’d sown.

  I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was still aiming for the small mound in the distance. I frowned, course-correcting when the mound was much farther to my right than I realized. I paddled in long strokes, wondering if it was such a good idea to exhaust myself so early on in the trip.

  I put the paddles up for a minute to give my arms a rest and stretch out my back. I couldn’t even see Finn’s village anymore. In fact, there hadn’t been anything around for hours except for the small mound. I turned to examine it for signs of life, but it wasn’t in the right place again. This time it was yards to the left of where I’d been aiming the boat. My eyebrows drew together as I watched the island in confusion. My mouth fell open as the perimeter slowly began to widen, making the mound appear to be the beginnings of a larger island. I’d heard of optical illusions, but this was too much a shift to be shoved in that bag of logic. I studied the island, gasping when it went completely under the water.

  “Finn?” I squeaked out, not wanting to disrupt his sleep, but too confused to let the weirdness go unaddressed.

  When he didn’t stir, I carefully got down on my knees, swallowing the scream in my throat as the small movement rocked the boat slightly. “Finn? Something’s weird out there. I need you.” I placed my hand on his leg, squeezing his calf to wake him.

  “Huh?” He’d been drooling, and his eyes were barely open when he gripped the side of the boat to sit up. “What’s wrong?”

  “The island keeps moving, and now it’s disappeared!” I whispered, afraid that somehow if the ocean heard me tattle, it might retaliate with brute force. “Come look.”

  Finn ran his fingers over his face, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he moved to his seat across from me. “Okay, what now?�
�

  I pointed to the nothingness in accusation. “There was just an island there. It was small, then it got bigger, and now it’s gone! What is it? Is it some sort of magical Terraway thing?”

  “I don’t see anything, and we’re nowhere near the island. Whatever you thought you saw, you didn’t. Trick of the light maybe.”

  I frowned, but didn’t bother arguing. I knew what I saw. Or at least, was pretty sure I knew what I saw. As if in vindication, the mound rose again, only this time, it was a fair bit closer than I remembered it being. “There! You see that? It was bigger last time, but that thing there. What is it?”

  Finn squinted, tilted his head and then stood. “I’m not sure. Hold on a second.” I don’t understand how he dismounted from the boat with barely a splash into the water, but my favorite surfer dove down to get a look at the island or whatever from under the surface.

  I didn’t expect him to reappear in the next second, climb into the boat with terror on his face and grab the oars. “It’s the Bakunawa! We’re headed straight for the Bakunawa! I’m turning us around. We’ll head the rest of the way on foot. I don’t care if it takes longer.”

  “Wait, what’s the Bakalama?”

  He rowed like a man possessed, his muscles rippling and straining without tiring as he moved us eastward instead of westward. He was too into rowing to explain, so I respected the struggle he had with the oars moving through the sea, as if it were as dense as pea soup.

  I kept my eyes on the mound that kept going down beneath the choppy surface and reappearing yards closer each time. “Finn? I think it’s following us. What is it?”

  Finn swore and put his whole body into the effort of rowing with renewed vigor. “It’s a sea monster. You remember the sigbins from Sakuna?”

  I nodded, recalling my favorite sweet little monster, Edward Scissorteeth. He’d been a terror to the civilians of Sakuna, but he was my puppy. Well, he was a mini dragon of sorts, with small back legs, a scaly goat head and sharp teeth a weapon like him needed. “You’re saying a sigbin swam all the way out here?”

  “Sigbins are tiny, like dogs. Bakunawa is bigger than anything you can imagine. Big as some of your tall Topsider buildings. He’s a water serpent with a head like a sigbin. That island? It’s part of Bakunawa’s tail.”

  “Get out,” I remarked, incredulous.

  “I don’t know what he’s doing in our waters. We have charms in place that’ve kept him out for decades. That he’s breached our walls? It’s bad, sinta. It’s real bad.”

  “Like, we’re about to die because of a sea monster bad?”

  “Like all the Mer people need to get out of here now, bad.”

  “Where are we going?” I had no sense of direction anymore with no landmarks, but I had a sneaking suspicion we were going back the way we came.

  “I’ll call Kabayo through the council link. He can take you to Sama after I draw out the map for him. I’ll deal with the dreams of the map my whole life, if I have to. I have to get back to my people and warn them.”

  I wanted to whine that killing Sama wasn’t really something that should be put on hold, but I held my tongue, knowing a whole race of people deserved to live. “Okay. I don’t need Kabayo, though. Just draw out the map for me, and I can go by myself. Is there a point of land you can drop me at along the way?”

  “No, we’re going straight back to my people. We don’t have any time for side stops. You have no idea how enormous Bakunawa is.”

  “Ah, man! You know Ezra’s going to find me if I don’t get a move on.”

  “I’m not arguing with you on this! Kabayo’s going with you, and that’s the best you’ll get. Otherwise I’ll take you right back to Ezra myself and let him deal with your terrible plan. Honestly, sometimes I don’t get you, and other times I’m afraid I completely understand you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He grunted through a long stroke, gritting his teeth as he spoke. “It means that you’re just like Sama! You have a goal, and you’ll sacrifice anything to get there, even yourself. I used to think it was one of the things I loved about you – your eternal focus. Now I see that you’re just insane. I fell in love with your insanity, thinking it was honorable.”

  “Are you joking right now? I’m trying to end your bad guy! I’m about to hand myself over to someone who makes my skin crawl so your world can survive. What’s not honorable about that?”

  “You’re ready to throw a whole race of people to the bottom of the ocean so you don’t have to be patient. It’s impractical, this manic plotting you do. Even now, I know you’re furious that I’m taking you back to my house instead of bringing you to the lion’s den. Hundreds of thousands of people, October! It’s more important than your plan being put off a day or two.”

  “Two? Are you serious? You think I have two days I can kill just waiting around sipping tea? Every time I go to sleep without Von, I’m afraid I might not wake up, that I’ll end up like Allie. Then your whole world dies. Philip’s mind games are exhausting to stay on top of! I’m afraid I’ll say one wrong thing, and he’ll turn on me, like he did Allie. Suck on that, you jag. I’m set on my timeline because it’s also a countdown clock for Terraway. And that’s millions of people, not hundreds of thousands.”

  “I’m not discussing this with you. I’m trying to get us there.” He gave a few more vigorous strokes with the paddles and then lifted them into the vessel. “It’s not worth the effort of keeping the boat. Come on, I’ll swim us there.” Sweat was pouring down his body as he shook his arms out. They looked heavy and not sturdy enough for rowing.

  “I’ll row us for a bit while you catch your breath. Take a second. If you pass out halfway there, Dagat dies too, you know. Rushing this is dangerous. Take a breath.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Shut up and breathe.”

  Finn did a deliberate spluttery breath of exasperation in my face. “I’m all better now. You cured me. Let’s go.”

  “Would you stop being so stubborn? You’re barely upright! I’m not going to die in the middle of the ocean so you can be a big man!”

  Finn stood like a surfer, perfectly balanced and ready for action, though his hands were twitching from overuse. He hitched my pack and his over his shoulder and lifted me up, gripping the front of my hoodie and yanking me to him. His arm wrapped around the small of my back, pressing my body to his like friggin’ Scarlet O’Hara, my hair blowing out behind me in the slight breeze. “Don’t you know by now?” He thumbed my lip just to toy with me. “I am a big man.”

  He leaned in, closing his eyes for the kiss he’d said I’d have to beg for first. I don’t know why I leaned in. I can’t explain why I rose up on my toes as the small boat rocked on the waves that were starting to grow choppier. When my mouth met Finn’s, my lips moved on instinct, nipping at his lower one that always seemed to tease me like a forbidden treat.

  Finn’s body melted around me, but he didn’t kiss me back. His jaw went slack as he let me suck on his bottom lip, inviting but not participating. It took me five whole seconds of making love to his lip before I realized there was no music or colors dancing for us. My cheeks flushed pink, and my breathing grew uneven. I pulled back, horrified at the thrill of triumph that flooded his face. He held up one hand in innocence. “I was going to breathe for you, nothing more. I told you the next time we kissed, it would be because you wanted it.” He leaned in and whispered low in my ear, “And boy, do you want it.”

  “I... I... It was an accident. I thought you were... so I...” I buried my face in my hands. “Oh, just let the sea monster eat me already! I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry, Finn.”

  “I’m sorry you can’t admit what everyone knows. You love me, and if there wasn’t a world to save, I’d take you right here and make love to you until you forgot every other man’s name. But for now, we have to go.” He held me tight in his arms, preparing with too much smugness to jump us overboard.

  We were about to take the lea
p that would terrify any non-swimmer to her very soul when the boat was bumped by something underneath the wood. I shrieked and clung to Finn as the small boat lifted off the surface of the water. My stomach leapt into my throat, strangling the scream that surely saw no end when we kept rising. A rubbery, gray tentacle the thickness of the length of a car brought us higher, suspending us twenty, thirty, and then forty feet in the air.

  Twenty-Four.

  No Place I’d Rather Be

  The rowboat cocooned us as best it could, but it wobbled slightly on the arm of the sea monster, the size of which I’d vastly underestimated. Finn knelt us down in the boat, his shaking arms giving me zero hope that we’d actually survive this. “We have to jump and take our chances swimming.”

  “Won’t it see us? Won’t it catch us? Won’t it eat us?”

  “Yes to all of it, but what choice do we have? Wouldn’t you rather to go out swinging?”

  I didn’t have time to sort through my regrets, knowing each second we were still alive was a luxury. “Leave the backpacks here, then. They’ll only slow us down.”

  It was the best plan we could come up with, but it didn’t matter. The sea monster started moving west, carrying us on our precarious perch. The tentacle lowered a little when the boat moved unsteadily from side to side, so that now we were only twenty feet above the ocean’s surface. Finn and I were on our knees at the base of the boat, clinging to each other like children who’d once thought themselves warriors. We’d been fighting like plastic toy Army guys, facing foes of equal size. This was unlike anything either of us could stand up against.