Atlantis Riptide: Lost Daughters of Atlantis Book 1 Read online

  “I know.” My gaze shifted away.

  “Do you have something else to share?”

  I licked my suddenly dry lips. What to shut up about and what to share? “I’m not proud of what I did in my past.”

  “Anything illegal?”

  “No.” Except running away and lying about my age. Working in a circus wasn’t illegal, just embarrassing. Yes, I was dancing around the truth. I wanted to tell him, really I did, but what would he think of me?

  And, my past wasn’t all that important.

  “Then, I guess it doesn’t matter to me.” He took hold of my hand again and squeezed.

  Not the normal inquisitive-reporter-keep-pushing-until-he-gets-answers Chase, but a willing-to-wait-until-I-was-ready Chase.

  I wanted to melt against him, feel his strength. “You’re sure?” Our connection seemed to be solid even without all the facts.

  “Someday, when you’re ready you’ll tell me. I can wait until then.” Scanning the busy marina, he stayed silent.

  So, he knew I had more to tell. I bit my lip. Indecision swelled up and down like the waves. If I told him everything, would he think I was strange? A freak like everyone else who knew? I wasn’t willing to take that chance.

  “Don’t you think Finn coming across us in the middle of the ocean was a little too coincidental?”

  I smiled, glad the previous subject was closed. I loved how Chase’s mind always returned to a puzzle. Stretching my neck, I was unwilling to admit my own doubts. “Possibly.”

  “He confirmed Atlas Island was where the Royalists lived.”

  “Yes.”

  “And Finn is against the Royalists.” Chase chipped away at the coincidence theory.

  I squirmed in my chair. “He was.”

  Chase turned facing me. His sharp gaze cut like diamonds. “Did you ever think maybe he caused the problems on the ferry? Maybe he’s not your friend? Maybe he’s dangerous?”

  Each question dropped in my mind and plopped in my stomach. Even though I wasn’t sure of Finn’s loyalties, I trusted him. I think. “He showed me others like me. He might’ve blindfolded me to take me to the base, but he returned me home.” With an argument. “He helped us today.”

  Chase ran a light finger down my cheek sending tingles across my skin. “I worry about you. Even with your super abilities, you’re vulnerable.” His tone went from soft to hard. “I don’t want Finn taking advantage of you.”

  “He won’t.” I would never let anyone take advantage of me again. “It’s just, I’ll always be grateful to him for introducing me to Atlanteans.”

  “Grateful enough to blindly follow him?”

  “Follow him where?”

  “Into battle without knowing the facts.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Distressed Damsel

  Did Chase mean a battle between him and Finn?

  The way they argued I wouldn’t be surprised. I was not a contest. Chase and I were together. Finn knew that. “What battle?”

  Chase squeezed my hand tighter. “Finn’s talking about a war.”

  “A war that doesn’t involve me.”

  Chase leaned forward. “You know about their world now. They know about you.” His soft, warm voice showed his concern. “You’re bound to be affected.”

  “Pearl.”

  “And there’s Finn’s battle cry now.” A know-it-all-disgust filled Chase’s voice.

  “Pearl.” Finn rushed toward us waving his hands. His bathing suit dripped and his hair flipped back. An expression of urgency covered his face.

  Probably similar to the look I wore when I’d been holding the anchor and he’d showed up. Something was wrong.

  Chase stood and placed his hands on his hips, his stance like a warrior.

  I stood, too. Could Chase be right? What was Finn’s problem? And was I obliged to help?

  “Pearl, you have to come with me.” Finn puffed out the words, bending at the waist as if not used to running on land.

  “Come with you where?”

  “The Royalists are on emergency alert.” He straightened, still huffing between breaths. “We need to find out if they’re preparing to attack the Free Atlantis base first before—”

  “Before you attack them?” Chase’s smug expression changed when I glared.

  “You shouldn’t know any of this.” Finn’s lips protruded from his face in an angry pout. “How much more does he know?”

  “Enough to warn her not to go.” Chase took hold of my hand to show Finn we were united.

  I was glad Chase was on my side, that he wanted to protect me, but I had to hear Finn out. Guilt twirled in my belly for betraying Atlantean secrets. The knowledge might put Chase in danger. Tiptoeing around Finn wouldn’t help. “What could I possibly do?”

  “We need to sneak into the palace and see what’s going on. Find out what their plan is. Then, one of us can stay and lookout while the other reports back to base.” Finn kept glancing around as if afraid of being caught.

  “Why do you need me to help? Surely, there’s someone else you can ask?”

  Finn seemed to consider my question. His pupils moved up and down and then connected with mine. “I don’t trust anyone else.”

  “What?” My mouth hung open.

  His gaze shifted to Chase and then back to me. “I can’t trust a Free Atlantean with this task. And no Royalist would trust me.”

  “Everyone’s chosen sides?” There was no Switzerland in this war.

  “Everyone.”

  Except me. Finn didn’t need to say it. Like I was missing an essential game piece so I couldn’t play. But because I wasn’t in the game I’d be fair.

  “Why should Pearl help you?” Chase’s hand tightened around mine. “It sounds dangerous.”

  “Just information gathering.”

  “I’m not a spy.” And I wasn’t ready to choose sides.

  “I helped you with the ferry. You can help me now. Please.” His normally firm voice pleaded. He sounded desperate.

  His desperation pulled at my heart. Finn had been good to me. He trusted me. He wanted my help.

  I huffed out a breath not wanting to follow him blindly like Chase mentioned. It was like I had an internal battle going on inside of me, similar to the one being fought under the ocean, and I didn’t know which side to choose internally, either.

  “All were doing is seeing what’s going on, right? You’re not going to tell the captain about this?”

  “Not unless they’re planning an immediate attack. The base is completely unprepared for that. Many people would die.”

  I didn’t want that on my conscious. “Only if Chase agrees to come with us.”

  “What?” Both guys said together but with different intonations like an off-key boys’ choir.

  “Are you willing, Chase?” I didn’t want to force him to endanger himself again.

  He raked over Finn before turning back to face me. “If you’re going, I’m going.”

  “But he’s an air-breather,” Finn protested. “He shouldn’t even know about us. He shouldn’t get involved.”

  Chase angled his chin. “I’m already involved.”

  With me, I hope. “Take both of us, or neither.”

  * * *

  Chase and I followed Finn as he scrambled around the rocks at the far end of the marina. Surf pounded and sprayed water into the air like a natural fountain. He dove into the waves and then surfaced a few yards away.

  I took Chase’s hand and we climbed down into the ocean taking one rock at a time. I worried about exposing him even more to this underwater world, especially the way Free Atlanteans thought about air-breathers. But I was glad he was going to be by my side. “Ready, Chase?”

  His confidant nod showed he trusted me and wanted to protect me. A happy warmth settled in my soul.

  I placed my mouth over his and breathed my special breath into him. When I emptied my lungs, I moved away. “Go under.”

  Chase let his body sink into the
ocean like an anchor.

  Finn watched us, an expression of bewilderment and fascination on his face. He might be an underwater breather but he appeared frightened by my abilities.

  My happy warmth chilled. I shivered. Even in this world of water breathers, I’d be different.

  Chase tugged my ankle and I slid under the water to meet him. He held out his hand, and I put mine in his. Together, as a team, we swam to where Finn waited.

  An unsmiling Finn led us into the mouth of an underwater cave. I watched his every reaction. Because of Chase’s suspicions and my thoughts that didn’t add up about Finn, I had to wonder whether this was a trap. But it was too late now. I’d agreed and we were here.

  The strong rock had been cut down by even stronger waves rushing in and out for eons. The sight made me and my powers feel insignificant, like the shells and algae clinging to the rock.

  Going deeper into the tunnel, my eyes automatically adjusted to the darkness. Clams settled at the bottom of the cave, next to a dull-orange anemone and green moss. A black sea hare darted past.

  “This is awesome.” Chase pointed at a large school of rainbow fish. “I can see in the dark.”

  “Do your other abilities transfer with the gift of your breath?” Finn’s amazement reconfirmed my worst fears.

  I was different. Strange. An anomaly.

  “Chase doesn’t get cold. He can swim fast and has super strength underwater like us.”

  Finn studied me and then switched to Chase. “Can he breathe into an air-breather and change them?”

  Chase choked out a laugh. “I’ve never tried.”

  “If that were possible wouldn’t there be hundreds of turned air-breathers? I turn two friends and you turn two friends, etc.” I remembered how shocked Finn was when I’d told him that Chase wasn’t one of us. “Didn’t you say you’ve never met any Atlanteans who can breathe into other people?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “But I can make air-breathers breathe underwater. Why can’t others?” The princess myth crossed my mind again. I immediately doused any royal thoughts. Every isolated, friend-less girl in the world dreamed of discovering she was special.

  I wasn’t special. I was a freak.

  And just because Finn hadn’t met anyone exactly like me didn’t mean they weren’t out there.

  “You’re…” He turned his head to study me. “Different.”

  Freak.

  “Special.” Chase jumped in like we were having a completely normal conversation.

  “You mean she didn’t tell you about the princess myth?” The accusation that I’d told Chase everything was clear in Finn’s tone.

  “No.”

  Finn quickly summarized the princess tale. “The regents were supposed to return to the new Atlantis after the princesses came out of their protective cocoons so they could unite and rule together.”

  “How long have you waited?” Chase asked.

  “Centuries.”

  “Why did your people suddenly get impatient?” Chase’s curiosity and a little distrust showed in his tone. “If Atlanteans had waited centuries, what’s one more?”

  “You wouldn’t understand air-breather.” Finn swam a bit faster.

  “Then explain it to me. I’m a willing student. I’m sure Pearl would like to know, too.”

  Finn spread his fingers wide and let water trail between them. “The regent in residence has become more and more power hungry while the ocean has become more and more polluted. The regent refuses to confront the air-breathers. If we don’t do something soon, our homeland—all the oceans—will be permanently damaged.”

  I let Finn’s message sink in. It was more than about the legend. “Do you believe in the princesses or not?”

  “I believe Cordelia is a princess.” He gave me another intense stare. “About the other two… I don’t know.”

  The cave narrowed and grew darker. Places on my bathing suit snagged on the wall. Several tunnels branched off in all directions like an underwater maze. A chill settled over me. I didn’t know if I could find my way out.

  As if Chase and I were on the same wavelength, he asked, “How’d you find this place? How do you know your way around these tunnels?”

  “I played here as a kid.” Finn sounded less grim. “Until the revolt, I lived under Atlas Island with my father.”

  Bewilderment fuzzed my brain. “You said it was light where the Royalists live.”

  “It is, but it’s always dark in the tunnels. That’s what made it fun.” Finn flapped his feet. “The palace and homestead are lighted by electric eels that have been harnessed.”

  “Cool.” Chase swam ahead of me and caught up to Finn. “What were you doing by the ferry this morning?”

  Finn shook his head like he couldn’t believe he was going to explain. “I was swimming to Atlas Island when I saw Pearl in trouble.”

  “Quite a coincidence.” Chase countered.

  Finn swung his head and hit a rock jutting out of the wall. “Darn.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Rubbing his head, he kept moving as if he didn’t want a simple injury, or Chase’s questions, slowing us down.

  “Why were you heading to Atlas? Aren’t they your enemy?” Chase sounded like a good prosecutor, making his case. Or a good reporter digging for facts.

  “I was following a hunch. I didn’t know Pearl would be on the ferry.” Finn glared at Chase. “She has no need to take a ferry.”

  A shiver ran down my spine. Not from Finn and Chase’s exchange but the deeper we went, the darker it became. No plants grew in this area. The shells clinging to the wall appeared ancient and vulnerable. I never would’ve thought this fun.

  Chase let go of my hand and broke off a strange shell I’d never seen before. “Souvenir.”

  “Tourist.”

  I laughed at the sound of disgust in Finn’s tone.

  We took another passage heading further down. The walls here were smooth as if they’d been scraped with a tool. And the current didn’t seem to flow in any specific direction.

  “We’re almost near the castle entrance. Keep your voice down.” Finn instructed.

  “How far away can people hear us?” On land, everyone knew how far a whisper carried. This whole communicating without actual sound confused me.

  Finn moved his head back and forth. “Same distance as a normal conversation. Unless you’re shouting in your mind.”

  “Is there a reason for me to shout or scream?”

  “Only if you’re caught and tortured by Royal Guards.” Finn’s answer was unexpected. He sounded like he spoke from experience, like he’d been tortured by Royal Guards.

  “Are we going to meet Royal Guards?” Maybe my attitude had been too cavalier, agreeing to this journey.

  Chase swam in front of me in a protective way. “Why haven’t we come across any guards? This is a palace and there’s a war going on.”

  “Most of these passages are secret. Only a few of the kids who played in the palace knew about them.”

  So, Finn played in the palace. What rank did his family have before switching sides?

  * * *

  After another ten minutes, the passage we traveled grew narrower and narrower. The tunnel ended in a small hole, like a porthole on a ship. I squeezed between Finn and Chase and peered into a previously unknown world.

  I gasped. Bubbles escaped my mouth. The palace was bright, sun filtering through the water. Those eels must put off a lot of electricity.

  The grand hallway was sculpted out of coral. Not brownish, dull coral but vibrant white and pastel pink coral. The walls were fine filigree carvings with fancy cuts and curlicues. Lavender, bright orange and turquoise anemone made patterns on the ground like they’d been planted to replicate a design.

  Starfish evenly spaced apart, clung to the wall. Coral polyps, with their sac-shaped bodies, spread out tentacles in search of food. A crystal chandelier made of glass and shells hung from the coral ceiling and swa
yed with the water instead of a breeze.

  “Epic.” Chase’s expression must’ve mirrored my own awe-struck-ness.

  Exotic fish, ones normally not living off the California coast, swam past. Like an over-sized aquarium, orange-striped clownfish, bump-headed parrot fish and long-nosed butterfly fish darted right and left. A lion fish floated right in front of our noses. The three of us leaned back to avoid its poisonous spine.

  A seaweed door swished open and two similarly-dressed men emerged. Blue with gold stripes down the side, their swim trunks looked like a uniform.

  “Royal Guard.” Finn answered my unspoken question.

  Stiffening, I held my breath.

  As the men approached, their conversation became clear.

  “What areas have been searched?” The man with four stripes on his suit asked.

  “My men have searched the dungeons, the open passages, and the ocean immediately surrounding the castle.” The guard with only two stripes answered.

  “Did anyone see her leave?”

  “No.”

  “Have you questioned those around her about whatever crazy plans she may have made?” The first guard continued questioning.

  The second guard nodded. “No one seems to know anything.”

  “Alert all the troops. With discretion, send men to search the beach and marina above.” He pounded his fist into his other hand. “We can’t let her escape.”

  The two guards moved further away and we couldn’t hear anymore.

  “Who are they searching for?” Sorrow for this unknown girl wove into me, braiding with my own feelings of fear and rejection. An entire army searched for her. “Why is she so important?”

  “I don’t know.” Finn’s serious face appeared deep in thought. “I thought they were planning an attack but it seems like they’re trying to locate someone. Guess this little mission was unnecessary.”

  “Should we help the guards find whoever she is or help her get away?” For some reason I wanted to help this unknown girl.

  Chase peered out the hole. “These tunnels make a great escape route.”

  “Excellent point.” It was the first time Finn had ever complimented Chase. I wanted to write it in the history books.