Into the Void (The Godhunter, Book 10) Read online

  I changed into my wetsuit or at least tried to. My long hair was already braided and secured into a bun at the back of my head so it wouldn't get in the way, but that was the only positive to the whole wetsuit situation. Putting on a wetsuit is like putting on very tight, very thick pantyhose... all over your body... and I've never enjoyed putting on pantyhose. Generally I opt for stockings- the loose kind that need a garter belt, so I don't even have to worry about the tight band at the top of thigh highs. Well, a wetsuit is entirely that tight band.

  I yanked and twisted, jumped up and down, peeled it off and then back on again, all to the squeaky sound of the evil wetsuit material, which I swear was laughing at me. It took me forever to get it placed perfectly, and by that I mean not pinching my goodies, and when I did, I ended up just staring morosely at myself for a few minutes in the mirror. I looked like the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man. If someone tried to zap me with a proton pack, I was going to be really pissed.

  I took the gigantic pearl out of my tote and looked it over. I didn't exactly know how it worked. The pixies gave it to me and told me they all had smaller versions they used to breathe underwater but no one thought to tell me how to use it. Did I just need to have it on me? Did I need to activate it somehow? Rub it like a magic lamp and ask for underwater breathing as my wish? Why didn't gigantic pearls come with instructions?

  I walked out of the bathroom still regarding the pearl and almost ran straight into Gruach.

  “Oh, Queen Vervain,” she steadied me.

  “Sorry, I was trying to figure this thing out,” I held up the pearl and then I got a good look at her. She looked fabulous in her wetsuit, the tight fabric just accentuating her perfect body. Damn mermaid.

  “The breathing pearl?” She looked like she thought I might be teasing her. “It just needs to be next to your skin when you go underwater. The water will activate it and you will be able to breathe as if it were air.”

  “As if it were air?” I frowned, thinking of a movie where they'd made liquid oxygen for people to breathe at extreme depths. It hadn't looked like a comfortable experience. “It's not going to feel like I'm drowning, is it? I really don't like that feeling.”

  “Not at all,” she walked with me back to the living room. “I've never used one but I'm told it actually changes the water you inhale into air, or rather it removes everything but the oxygen.”

  “So kind of like a filter,” I pulled out the neck of my wetsuit and shoved the pearl down into it, working it down between my breasts. There was no way I was unzipping it to get the pearl in. “Sweet, thanks for setting my mind at ease.”

  “My pleasure, Queen Vervain,” she nodded and went to stand beside Kanaloa.

  Everyone else got into their suits pretty quickly and I frowned at Trevor when he came out of the bathroom in just ten minutes.

  “What the hell?” I huffed. “It took me forever to get this damn thing on.”

  “You need to slather on a layer of hair conditioner first,” he pulled a little bottle out of his duffel bag and shook it at me. “I thought you knew that.”

  “Why would I know that?” I growled at him. “When do I ever go into the water, much less in a wetsuit?”

  “But you were raised in Hawaii,” Trevor put the conditioner back into his bag and pulled out his fins. He tossed the bag behind Kanaloa's couch, beside mine.

  “And I don't go into the water,” I punched his shoulder. “Because I'm afraid of it, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah,” he grimaced. “Sorry, I just assumed.”

  “And made an ass of you and ume.” I nodded and grabbed my own fins out of my bag.

  “Come on, Minn Elska,” Trevor chased after me as I headed out to the group waiting for us in Kanaloa's back yard.

  “You're an ass,” I shook my head.

  “What's the problem?” Darius asked.

  “She didn't know she was supposed to use hair conditioner to make the wetsuit go on easier,” Trevor gave a little laugh.

  “How do you not know that?” Darius frowned at me. “Weren't you born in Hawaii?”

  “Exactly,” Trevor waved his hands out defensively.

  “You're both assholes.” I declared as they laughed.

  Kirill joined us, the last to get changed, he had his long hair braided down his back and he looked fabulous, just like everyone else there, besides me. I sighed as we headed out to the beach, too bad becoming a goddess hadn't improved my body like it had improved my looks.

  We jumped over the low wall and shuffled through the soft sand down to the shoreline, pulling on our swimming goggles as we went. I slid my feet into my fins, the waves sliding up the shore to lick at them. That's when I stopped and just stared at the crashing waves, my breathing starting to come faster. I felt Trevor come up beside me and take my hand but I couldn't take my eyes off the water.

  I'd gone into the fey ocean using a stone like Trevor was going to use. It enveloped the wearer in a thin layer of air and the experience had been as comfortable as possible for someone with a paranoia of the ocean. I'd done okay then, even though there had been some terrifying creatures in the fey ocean that I would rather not ever see again but things had happened since that little adventure. Mainly, I'd been drowned and left on the bottom of a grubby lake in Kaneohe.

  I got better.

  My immortality kicked in and brought me back to life. Then I had to swim to shore and hack up what seemed like gallons of nasty lake water from my lungs. It was painful and scary and I never wanted to drown again. It made going back into the water difficult, even with the knowledge that I wouldn't die. I may not be able to drown but coming back to life with water in your lungs is not fun and the mere prospect had me quaking in my fins.

  “We're all here with you,” Trevor murmured. “We won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise”

  “Okay,” I whispered and walked forward into the surf with him, following Kanaloa. Honestly, I didn't really believe him but what else could I do?

  Although the sun was warm on my face, the water was cold by comparison and I immediately thought of the Ice Blocks in Hell. Not exactly the best thoughts to be having before submerging myself again but oddly appropriate. This was my version of Hell and I was walking right into it. Well, flopping right into it, fins weren't easy to walk in. At least Pinhead wouldn't be there.

  When the water covered my head, I had a moments panic and my body just refused to breathe in. Finally, I forced myself to give up and take a breath. The pearl warmed against my skin and the water rushed in but all I inhaled was air, sweet breathable air. My whole body shuddered in relief.

  Next to me, Trevor's skin became coated in a thin layer of air and there was a slight cushion of it between our hands. I let go of his hand with a smile and started to swim after Kanaloa. I was still able to walk on the sandy bottom but it was easier and faster to just start swimming. Kanaloa and Gruach already had a head start on me and my gang so I had to put an extra burst of speed just so I could catch up with him and motion at him to slow down.

  He gave me a big grin and slowed his pace enough that everyone could catch up. Torrent was really having a hard go of it and I realized that he'd probably never been in the ocean before. I looked him over and sure enough, his eyes were round behind the plastic lenses of his goggles, peering around him in fascination. I couldn't blame him though. It was beautiful down there, even my paranoia couldn't deny that. In the relatively shallow waters the view was still bright and we had no need of the underwater lights we'd brought with us.

  We passed over a coral reef, bright schools of fish swam past and colorful eels poked their heads out of holes to bare their sharp teeth at us. The rocks were teeming with life, octopus hid in little nooks and delicate anemones waved in the currents like feathers in the air. Crabs crawled over the rocks, scurrying out of the path of hungry Humuhumunukunukuapua'as(it's Hawaii's state fish, try saying it three times fast, I dare you. Hell, just try and say it).

  There was so much color beneath th
e surface of the water, vibrant fish were clad in bright yellow, blue, and even purple. Turtles added greens and browns to the mix, floating by in pairs like sea blimps. Corals were muted backdrops in soft lavender, rose, and smoky blues, setting off the bright spiky urchins and spotted moray eels nestled within them. Torrent started to wander too close and I grabbed his hand. It's best to steer clear of the eels.

  Not only was there an abundance of color but sound as well. It was surprisingly loud underwater. I'd expected a peaceful monotone, like when I dipped my head below the bathwater, but no, the ocean was full of life and that life was loud. Everything seemed magnified, a deeper, thicker quality to the sound, as if you were inside the sound itself. There was a constant crunching that drove me a little crazy until I realized it was the fish chewing on coral and I could hear the sand washing up against the sides of the coral as well.

  We got to the deeper waters and things started to dim but the sound of things still carried to us. It was a little disconcerting, hearing things that you couldn't see, but that was better than when a boat passed over us. The roar of it actually hurt my ears. The temperature dropped significantly but I had a core of fire to depend on so as soon as I focused on it, I was warmer. I worried for my boys though and I looked over at them with concern. They all gave me happy grins, I guess the wetsuits would be enough for them.

  Slipper lobsters and seaweed coasted over the sand, looking similar in coloring. They scurried, or in the case of the seaweed, were caught on the coral that became more and more prevalent the further out we went. Above us were gliding shadows of canoes and surfboards that seemed ominous and out of place. Down there, in the peaceful blue tinted depths, the echoing calls of frolicking humans were abrasive and humanity itself felt like a threat.

  Very soon we got deep enough that we had to turn on the floodlights. It was such a different world from the shallower waters nearer the shore. In the deep the water wasn't translucent, light seemed to have weight there, penetrating the dark with effort. The shadows of humans faded with the light and we were lost to this other world completely. I admit I was scared and that was before the first sharks swam by.

  I jolted back as a large tiger shark swam across my path and Trevor steadied me with a hand on my arm. I gave him an embarrassed smile and swam on but the sight of the sharks continued to haunt me. One of the big reasons I was afraid of the ocean was sharks. Sharks are not predictable. They attack in shallow water and deep, at all times of the year, as well as times of day, and I think that's the worst quality to have in a predator. Well that and the fact that they will attack humans.

  With a jolt I realized that my opinion of sharks was very similar to what the angels thought of me. I hadn't thought unpredictability to be such a big deal when it was referenced to me but put it in predator terms and it became terrifying. Was that how they saw me? As a predator? I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I'd earned the title of Godhunter after all. Calling me a predator wasn't exactly wrong. Maybe that's why sharks scared me so much, I saw a piece of myself in them. Nah, sharks are just really scary.

  We swam for quite awhile. If I hadn't been immortal, with enhanced stamina, I wouldn't have made it. As it was, with my paranoia riding me, I was getting antsy. Then I heard the whale song. I stopped and so did everyone else. You couldn't help but be affected by it, it was so beautiful. Haunting, almost mournful and yet uplifting at the same time. It vibrated through me, the song actually becoming a part of me. I hung suspended in the water, suspended in awe, as two of the gigantic mammals swam by.

  Huge black eyes surveyed us and looking into them was like looking into the eyes of a child who had wisdom beyond its years. It was like looking into Torrent's eyes, I realized. It made you profoundly happy to know that such goodness exists and yet terribly sad for the loss of it in the rest of us.

  They hovered before us and called out again. From behind us came a reply, something similar in feel but so different in sound that we all turned quickly to find the source. There was a wall of coral behind us, with a small opening at the bottom. The song was coming from there, from the dark within it. It was so beautiful, haunting and drawn out like the whale song but with a very human quality to it, like an alien opera singer. It was a sound I'd imagine sirens to make as they lured sailors to their deaths and hearing it, I understood exactly why the sailors went.

  Kanaloa tapped my arm and nodded toward the opening. He led us inside and we all followed him through a small tunnel, our lights catching scurrying sea life on the tunnel walls, until we came out into a cave. There was a patch of pristine sand surrounded by walls of multicolored coral. We sent our lights scanning over the surface of the coral, finding several nooks and crevices. Within the dark of these nooks, eyes caught our light and reflected it back to us, like the eyes of a cat.

  I flinched but Kanaloa motioned that it was okay. He made some hand gestures and merfolk started swimming out of their hiding spots. They came out fast and as one group, moving with the coordination of a school of fish. They gathered near Kanaloa, eying us with obvious distrust. Powerful tails swished beneath them, keeping them in upright positions as they began to emit whistles and pulses of sound that Kanaloa seemed able to interpret. He nodded and made some hand gestures to them, then waved to me, indicating that I should come forward.

  I did so warily, eying them as they were me, and stopped next to Kanaloa. The male beside him(I determined sex only because some of them had breasts and he did not) lifted his huge webbed hand, palm up in between us. I frowned at it and Kanaloa nudged me, gesturing that I should place my hand on the merman's.

  I gave the merman a little smile and put my hand over his. His hand was slick, like there was a layer of something coating his skin. A jolt of electricity shot through his palm and into mine, startling me enough to cause me to try to pull away but his fingers closed over mine and held me fast. I was on the verge of panicking when images started to fill my head.

  I saw their homes, hidden deep within undersea caverns and protected by monstrous squid. Beautiful buildings of coral and carved stone. Thousands of merfolk lived in these communities, surviving on algae and fish. The feeling I had from the vision was that they'd lived this way for a very long time. Then the Navy had started to use sonar.

  At first the blasts of sound were not so bad but they got progressively louder until they reached the point where they caused physical damage to any merfolk or mammal who happened to be in range. I was shown images of merfolk convulsing, blood pouring from their ears and noses. Some just got confused and would lash out violently at other merfolk or take off swimming in odd directions. Some of those were never seen again.

  The merfolk had retreated, none of the young were allowed to leave the protection of the communities, but it had gone on so long that now they were getting angry. Merfolk had returned after beaching themselves and told tales of landfolk approaching them in threatening manners. They were scared and very close to becoming desperate.

  I wanted to convey my sympathies to the merman, express how much I wanted to help stop this from happening to his people, but I didn't know how. I tapped my heart, trying to motion to him that I sympathized with him but I wanted to say more, I was so frustrated. I grimaced, not knowing what else to do and the merman smiled, revealing a row of pointed teeth, before he tapped our joined hands with his free one.

  Duh, I just had to project the images back to him. But what to show him? Pictures said a thousand words but I had to find the right one for the job first. I ended up sending him an image of Pride Palace, of all my lions who lived there and the God Squad who would help me find out who was behind the amped up sonar. I showed him what I intended to do, infiltrate the naval ships to discover exactly what was happening. I showed him images of me standing between his people and the ships, trying to convey to him that I would do everything I could to protect the merfolk.

  After a few moments, he nodded and released his grip on my hand. I pulled my hand back with a slight tingle and rubbed my
fingers together experimentally. There was a gel-like residue left. Merman slime, how lovely.

  The merman whistled and clicked through another conversation with Kanaloa until Kanaloa nodded. That's when I noticed Gruach. She had given up her human glamor and was out in all her fey glory. Her pearly skin practically glowed in the dark water and her matching hair shimmered with its opalescent highlights. Her blue eyes were huge, almost as large as the merfolk's, and when she swam among them, they looked on her like she was a goddess.

  Webbed hands reached out and she reached back to them but what really surprised me was when she started making noises like they had, like their song. It seemed more haunting when she did it, more beautiful, but they understood her perfectly, if their demeanor was any indication. They swarmed her, the water filled with the pulsing sound of their communication.

  I saw her hand sweep out toward me and the merfolk all looked in my direction. I swallowed hard, wondering what that was all about. It didn't take long though, Gruach spoke a little more with them and then they simply left, swimming away into the tunnel with such speed that it was almost like they had turned invisible.

  Kanaloa smiled at Gruach and then motioned us forward. He started leading us back to shore and we raced after him. I was more than happy to get out of there, more than ready to be on dry land again, but it all seemed a little anti-climatic to me. Why did I even have to be there? Kanaloa could have told me what was going on without me having to face my fears of the water or do the slimy imagery exchange.

  Yes, I was bitter.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “They needed to meet you themselves,” Kanaloa explained. We were back in his airy(and boy was I enjoying the air) beachfront home. “To see who was championing their cause. As you saw yourself, the merfolk are a hands-on type of people. They have some light telepathic abilities, which was how you were able to communicate with them.”