CHLOE

The guards set off and I followed with Zeke and Niall joining me on either side. It was easier to keep up with them today, and as the hours continued on, I didn’t have to slow down once. Past underwater valleys and hills we swam, weaving our way along a path the guards seemed to know without question.

And gradually, a realization spread over me.

I was aware of the hills and valleys before I saw them.

My brow furrowed. The gloom beyond us looked impenetrable, and yet, if I focused, I knew there was a valley inside it. Likewise, an array of hills lay to our right, with a smattering of caves midway up on this side, though their other side was a mystery.

I knew it all. I just couldn’t see any of it.

“You okay?” Zeke asked.

I blinked and turned to him. “I, um… is there a valley ahead of us? I mean… can you, like, feel that it’s there?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I stared at him.

Sympathy touched his face. “It’s just how we are, Chloe. It’s fine. You probably just didn’t notice yesterday because you’re still adjusting to all this.”

“But how is that even possible?”

He shrugged. “Combination of hearing, sight, smell… your skin is pretty sensitive too. That’s part of why air burns if you’re above water and you don’t change it a bit. But yeah, all of that. Our sight’s really good, but it’s not the only way we navigate.”

I looked down as the valley I’d felt emerged from the gloom.

“It’ll get easier,” Zeke assured me. “Just give it time.”

I nodded, hoping he was right.

We swam onward, the miles passing below us in the form of small plains, rolling hills, and little valleys. Invisible in the water far overhead, a pod of whales drifted by, their cries barely reaching my ears.

A sense of blackness and cold prickled my skin. I looked down as the plains gave way to a canyon so deep, I couldn’t feel its end.

I shivered, suddenly feeling so tiny as we continued over the trench.

“Nyciena ahead,” Niall commented.

I pulled my gaze from the valley, my eyes searching the featureless water and seeing nothing.

And then I blinked. I could feel it, past the gloom, rising up from the depths of the canyon.

It felt like a mountain.

One of the guards slowed and lifted his hand, wordlessly signaling the rest. My brow furrowed as Zeke and Niall pulled up.

“Someone’s coming,” Zeke explained quietly.

NOAH

“What the hell were you thinking, Noah?”

“Dad, I–”

He crossed the room and put his arms around me. I blinked, taken back by the gesture.

Releasing a breath, he pushed me away again. “What happened?”

I struggled for words, still floundering with shock. “I-I went after Chloe, and while I was gone they came to the cabin.”

“They knew about us?”

A short scoff escaped me, not quite a laugh since nothing was funny. “Dad, you sent one of them through a window and nearly put the other through the wall. I think they figured out we weren’t human.”

He gave me a dark look and my sarcasm died.

“And then you brought her here.”

“I had to. They’d injected her with something. It was killing her. Forcing her to change into one of them even though she wasn’t in the water. If I hadn’t gotten her to the ocean…”

Dad sighed, turning away and pacing across the room. “Will she come back?”

I paused. “The other ones said she couldn’t. Not till that drug was gone.”

“Other ones?”

The grimace tried to return. “Dehaians. They met us on the beach. I think they were looking for her.”

He ran a hand over his hair. “Noah…”

“I didn’t know they’d be there! I…”

Frustrated, I looked down, not sure what I was attempting to say. I’d been trying to save her life. I couldn’t let her die.

A breath escaped me. She’d just been Baylie’s friend. The beautiful, kind-of-shy girl who avoided me when I visited Kansas on holidays, though I’d never been able to figure out why. I’d always hoped to talk to her, and when she’d finally come to Santa Lucina and I had the chance…

My fists curled against the memory of my last moments with her. Of kissing her and feeling her against me. I’d wanted to do that for weeks, ever since that first night on the beach. She’d looked amazing by the water, silhouetted by the moonlight, and everything about her fascinated me. I’d held back, though, thinking what I was would make things difficult. Thinking she was human.

I’d never expected this.