Raging Sea (Undertow, #2)(77)

“You need to listen to us, Major. He’s right. This thing is called an Undine, and it is the real threat. This is just a baby,” my mother says, pointing at the dead mass of arms. “It’s one of ten million born on the same day.”

“Ten million?” Bex cries.

“Three days later, its mother gives birth to another ten million.”

“That’s not possible,” Jackson says. “We would have noticed these creatures if there were that many. One of them would have washed up onshore or gotten caught in a fishing net.”

“Undine have a way of keeping their own populations under control. When one is born, its hunger is insatiable. To survive, it turns on its brothers and sisters and eats them. One Undine can devour a hundred others in a single day, and normally it’s the feeding frenzy that keeps their numbers low.”

“Understood. So why is this a problem for us?” Kita asks.

“Undine babies rarely escape the birthing cave,” John adds. “If one is here, it’s because they are all being led here.”

“By what?” my father asks.

“The mother,” my mom says. “And trust me, the mother isn’t dumb. She’s as intelligent as any one of us.”

“Well, what does she want?” Jackson begs.

“Food,” Fathom says. “The prime has told her that there is plenty to eat here.”

He turns on his heel and rushes for the door.

“Where’s he going?” Jackson shouts.

I look to Arcade, fully expecting her to chase after him, but she shakes her head and lets him go. I throw up my hands and run after him myself.

“So we’re here and now you’re leaving?” I shout after him, once I get outside.

“I have to tell them,” he says, turning back to me.

I scowl. “You’ve got some serious daddy issues. Fine, go to your father, but if I have to kill you, then don’t be surprised when I do.”

“I’m not going to warn my father. I’m going to warn the other Alpha about the Undine. My uncle Braken and cousin Flyer wait with what is left of our people. Thousands strong. Ghost and Surf are among them. They must know that you have returned and a more dire enemy approaches.”

“Me?”

He takes a step toward me, but I flinch.

“You. My people cannot defeat the Rusalka on our own. We need you.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” I say, my voice rising in anger.

“Hey, you two, if you want to stay alive, you need to get off the beach!” a soldier shouts as he runs past us. “The Rusalka are hungry today.”

Fathom ignores him.

“There has been much I wished to explain to you, Lyric Walker, but you would not listen. Are you willing to hear me now?”

“If it makes sense, yes!” I cry.

“When we parted in the water, after the first attack, I went in search of Alpha survivors,” he says. “The Great Abyss had taken many, so I asked him to give me fortune in finding the rest. He was kind, and I discovered them before they went too far out to sea, where I would never find them. It took much convincing on my part to get them to stay. My father’s shame damaged my standings, and my dismissal of my royal obligations did not help. Most refused to listen to me, but my uncle and cousin demanded I be heard. I told them that there were good humans, people on the surface who were honorable and worthy, and that I was in love with one.”

I have to catch my breath.

“That probably didn’t help,” I say.

“No, it did not, but Ghost came to your defense.”

“Ghost? He hates me!”

“He is well respected among my people, and he was able to sway them to resume our fight. After a vote, they agreed, even though they believed we would be slaughtered. It was Ghost who gave us hope of victory. He believed that you would be captured eventually and taken to Tempest, where the children of Alpha were held. He also believed that those children would be able to hear the Voice the same as you. Rescuing you and the children could help us stop our enemies and give safety to the surface world. I returned to the beach, collecting as many gloves as I could among the dead, then gave myself to the soldiers. As Ghost predicted, they delivered me to Tempest, but you were not there. You had managed to elude capture, so I met with the ones they called Doyle and Spangler. I gave them the gloves and encouraged them to find you.

“I don’t think you understand what the word rescue means,” I snap. “You kept me from destroying that place, Fathom. I could have brought it all down on Spangler’s head. We could have gotten the children out and their parents, too. Don’t you realize what you did? There are Alpha back there in those tanks who would be free today if you had not gotten in my way.”

“Escape was never a question, Lyric Walker. For our plan to work you needed to train the children to use the Voice, and I needed to train you to stay alive.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” I cry. “Fathom, those kids back there aren’t warriors, and no amount of preparation is going to help. They’re babies and you may have killed them all.”

“No!” he shouts angrily. “They are not babies, Lyric Walker. They are hope. They can save us all, and you will lead them.”

“I’m seventeen!”