Rising

  ***

  Sara awoke. Her stomach churned and grumbled, hunger twisting it painfully. She needed food. She peeled her eyes open to darkness. Obviously, it was now night. Those deceitful Dagonian women had drugged her. How much time had passed? Xanthus had to be frantic. She needed to get to him.

  Looking around, Sara tried to get her bearings. She was still in the same room. It was quite spectacular at night. The walls had a luminescent quality. A faint green glow came from the walls, illuminating the room. There was cloth covering the windows. The sheen of the cloth had the appearance of crushed pearls. They were held in place by rods at the top and the bottom of the windows.

  Something covered Sara’s body from her tail fin up to her neck. She looked around and realized she was sandwiched in soft, plush fabric stretched across two intricately carved pillars. The cloth brushed her body gently as she swam, easing out of the fabric. This must be the Dagonian version of a bed. They didn’t need anything to cushion their sleep; they just needed something to keep from floating about the room.

  Sara swam to the open door and peered out into a hallway. She couldn’t see anyone out there. She did see that at the end of the hallway, the floor sloped downward. She must be upstairs. She swam out of the room, then down, following the slope. The stone along the slope was carved to resemble interlocking tentacles. This must be a Dagonian version of a staircase.

  Sara hurried; she needed to get out. She felt a bit guilty about leaving so abruptly. She hadn’t even had a chance to thank them. But she had to get back to dry land. She couldn’t waste any more time. If the Dagonians were smart, they’d be glad to be rid of her.

  Sara reached the lower level and jerked to a stop when she heard a voice. “Going somewhere?” The words were clear and well spoken.

  Sara turned to see the black-haired sister. “I… Well… I’m sorry. I do have to be going. I thank you for all you and your sister have done for me.”

  “Sister?” She swam toward Sara and, with a swish of her tail, stopped just in front of her. “Oh, you mean my mother.”

  “She’s your mother? But you both look the same age.” The Dagonian smiled at her. “I forget how humans age. We Dagonians don’t age after adulthood.”

  Sara drifted back a bit, nervous at being so close to this Dagonian woman. She was stunning. Her eyes were dark, wide, and full of expression. She seemed to be tall or long, however they described it, and she was wafer thin.

  “I’m Adelpha, by the way. And my mother is Chara. She’s been the one caring for you.” She glanced around, nervously. “She’s worried about me being around a half-human.” She said this as if Sara should know what she meant. After spending so much time with Xanthus, she kind of did.

  “I’m Sara.”

  “Are you a princess then?” Adelpha’s eyebrows rose.

  Sara smiled in surprise and shook her head. “No, I’m not. Why would you think I’m a princess?”

  “Sara means princess in Atlantian. So you really grew up among them? The humans? Are they as terrible as everyone says? Are humans all murdering, filthy creatures? You look so normal. You must have strong Dagonian genes. But I have to say your eyes are very strange.” Adelpha looked at Sara as if she were some supernatural being.

  Sara nervously moved to tuck her hair behind her ear, which was pointless underwater. Her fingers brushed over a small, floating braid. Adelpha didn’t seem to notice her silly action.

  “Humans, for the most part, are loving and caring people,” Sara said. “There are some that murder and do other terrible things, but we put them in prisons to keep the rest of us safe.”

  Adelpha’s jaw dropped. “That’s just what we do. Are all humans as beautiful as you are? I was told they were vile and ugly. But I must say you would turn quite a few heads down here.”

  “Well, thank you. And yes, there are many more beautiful women than me. My mother is human and very beautiful. I’m told I’m the exact image of her.”

  “Wow, it makes me wonder if all the tales I hear about humans are false.” Adelpha shook her head, the braids floating around her head waved with the movement.

  “I would think most are,” Sara said, “but from what I see of you and your sister, Dagonian women are stunning. Just look at your tail fins. Mine is so plain compared to yours.”

  Adelpha’s brows crinkled in confusion and then her eyes lightened in understanding. She laughed. “These are not our natural fins. They are coverings, something like human clothing. Our true fins look just like yours.”

  “What beautiful clothing,” Sara said.

  “Are you not happy with yours? I could get you something else to wear.” Adelpha looked Sara up and down.

  Sara followed her eyes down and gasped. She was dressed just as beautifully as Adelpha. Her tail seemed to be made of shiny silver scales that reflected rainbow colors and sparkled like magic. The fabric covered her breasts, hugged her waist, and covered her all the way to end of her fin. Her fin fanned out and looked like mist. “Oh, wow,” Sara said. She’d never worn anything so amazing.

  “I hope you don’t mind your stomach being covered. I didn’t think you’d wanted anyone to see your wound. If you don’t like your covering I could…”

  “Oh no, I love it, Adelpha. It’s so beautiful.”

  Adelpha looked pleased with her response.

  Sara wished that Xanthus could see her. At that thought, she frowned. “Listen, Adelpha, I appreciate everything you and your mother have done for me. I mean if it weren’t for you, I’d be dead. I could never repay you, but I have to get back to the surface. My fiancé has to be worried sick. He probably thinks I’m dead.”

  “You’re getting married to a human? But you can’t. Oh dear, I didn’t even think of all the complications in your life.”

  Oh dear was right. How was Sara ever going to explain to Adelpha that she was marrying a Dagonian that was now living on dry land and that he was going to bring her back down here where she didn’t belong? She didn’t belong anywhere, did she?

  “Regardless of how complicated it is,” Sara said, “my fiancé loves me for who I am and I love him, too, more than my own life.”

  Adelpha’s face softened and she shrugged. “How can I argue with that? But getting to the surface is not as easy as it seems. If anyone sees you… Well, it wouldn’t be good for you. I’m just glad my brothers aren’t here. I don’t want to scare you, but if either one of them were to find you, they’d arrest you and take you to the counsel. You could even get executed.

  “You see, our kind has no tolerance for interbreeding with humans. My mom and I debated whether to keep helping you after we found out you were human. But ultimately, we decided we had no choice. We couldn’t just let you die. Besides, you looked so sweet and helpless.” She smiled, “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure my youngest brother would take you to be killed. You are such a pretty thing and he may seem tough on the outside, but inside he’s quite sweet.”

  “I have question for you,” Sara said. “Where did you learn to speak English so well?”

  Adelpha smiled, a sly glimmer in her eyes. “My brother is fascinated with humans. He knows many human languages—funny how humans need more than one. But he said that English is the most universal language, so he taught us. I took to it more quickly than my mother did. She still struggles with it.”

  “Do many other Dagonians…”

  “Adelpha, breakfast please.” Sara looked up and saw Adelpha’s mother, Chara. She didn’t look too pleased with their conversation.

  “Yes, Mother,” Adelpha said. She swam through a nearby doorway.

  “You feel well?” Chara spoke in chopped, halting words.

  Sara hadn’t even thought about it. Her injury didn’t seem to be bothering her anymore. “I feel fine. How long have I been here?”

  “Three days,” Chara said.

  “What? How could I?”

  “You sleep.”

  “Did you drug me the whole time?” Sara asked
, incensed.

  “Drug?”

  “The drink that makes me sleeps.”

  “Oh no, only yesterday, First two days you sleep. You heal well. Nearly…” she couldn’t seem to find the word, “done healing.”

  Three days. Sara was sick, thinking about how long she had been missing. Still, it wasn’t this Dagonian’s fault. “Thank you Chara, for your help. But I must be going. I have to get back to the surface.”

  “You live with humans?”

  Here we go again. “Yes, and I need to return.”

  “Eat first.”

  Sara’s stomach screamed for food, but still she hesitated. She desperately needed to get to Xanthus. However, she would need her strength for the journey ahead. “Okay,” she said. “But then I must go.”

  Chara nodded. “Then you go.”

  Chara led Sara to a room that she guessed served as the dining area. In the middle of a large, warmly lit room, there sat a very wide, cylinder aquarium with dozens of colorful fish swimming around inside. The top of the case shimmered like there was some sort of force field. When a little blue fish swam at it, it bulged for a moment, but the fish was deflected.

  “Sara, I hope these fish are to your liking. I don’t know what kind you’re used to, so I brought in a wide variety.”

  Oh my goodness. What was she supposed to do with them? Sara looked at Adelpha and Chara, expectantly. She’d reasoned that she could just watch them and do what they did. But they looked to her as if she needed to go first.

  She guessed it would be easiest just to be honest. “I have to tell you that I have no idea how to catch and eat fish.”

  They both gasped. Adelpha spoke, “Oh, my goodness. Do you eat land animals?” She looked a bit green as she considered the possibility.

  “I do eat fish also, but only after someone else catches them for me.” Sara reached out to brush her fingers over the force field. It felt like soft Jell-O.

  Adelpha sighed in relief. “Oh. Now that I can do. Which one would you like?”

  Sara looked at the variety, but none of the fish looked anything like what she’d gotten in the grocer’s case. Sara didn’t want Adelpha to feel as if she’d worked for nothing, so she picked one.

  Sara pointed to a small, rounded fish with blue stripes. “This one looks good.”

  “Oh, yes. The blue ring angel fish is one of my favorite too.” As the fish swam near Adelpha, she snapped out her hand and snagged it. The fish squirmed in her hand just before she broke its neck, twisted off the head, and placed the severed head back in the tank. The other fish darted over to the floating head and began to nibble. Now she knew where Xanthus got his table manners.

  Adelpha handed the headless body to Sara and smiled.

  “Thank you,” Sara said. Okay, no fillets. She could deal with it. Not wanting to offend them, Sara took a bite into its side. The scales felt strange but as soon as her teeth reached flesh, the delicious flavor exploded in her mouth. This fish tasted much better than anything she’d ever eaten before. Maybe it was because she was so hungry, but Sara couldn’t imagine anything could taste so amazing. She had to force herself not to devour the thing like an animal, so she concentrated on chewing slowly.

  “This is very good,” Sara said after she swallowed.

  Adelpha smiled wide. “They are, aren’t they? I also love the hermit crabs,” she said as she reached deep in the tank and picked up a shell from the bottom, extracting a small crab and popping it whole into her mouth. She threw the empty shell back into the tank.

  Sara looked over to Chara and saw her breaking off the head of a small moray eel. Wow, were all Dagonians super strong? Chara was not careful at all as she took large bites out of the side of the eel and chomped on the meat.

  “Which one would you like next?” Adelpha took the flesh-stripped carcass from Sara’s hands and lowered it into the tank.

  “Why don’t you let me try to catch one?” Sara asked.

  Adelpha smiled. “Sure, but don’t be disappointed if you cannot. Our young take several years to master fish catching.”

  Sara looked around the tank. Let’s see, what she needed was an extremely slow fish. Around the other side of the tank, she saw a jellyfish. It moved slowly enough for her. Sara saw Chara move to another side of the tank and snatch a tiny fish. She guessed she didn’t need to stay put, so she moved over to the jellyfish.

  “Be careful…” Adelpha said.

  Before she could finish her warning, Sara reached in and grabbed the slow moving jellyfish around its tentacles. It felt as if she’d grabbed a hot curling iron. She screeched and jerked her hand out of the tank. She held her burning hand close to her chest, careful not to touch the singed flesh.

  “Oh, Sara, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you… Mom?”

  Sara hadn’t even realized Chara had left, but as she turned toward her, she saw her swimming back into the room carrying a green blob of jelly in a sheer bag. She looked at Sara as Atlantian rolled off her tongue like an avalanche. Sara had a feeling Chara was saying something about what an idiot she was.

  Even so, Chara took Sara’s hand and smeared the jelly across her palm. The relief was instantaneous. It felt cool and soothing. “Thank you,” she said.

  A bump came from the front of the house. It sounded like a door opening. Chara and Adelpha looked at each other with eyes wide and then they looked at Sara.

  Chara barked out orders in Atlantian to Adelpha. Adelpha grabbed Sara by the arm and led her toward a small door. She opened it and shoved Sara inside. “Don’t say a word,” Adelpha whispered. “Keep completely quiet.” She eased the door shut. Sara was left inside a small closet. She was only too willing to do as Adelpha asked. The last thing she needed was to end up in prison, or worse, dead.

  Sara eased over to the door and pressed her ear against it. She heard another door closing, and then she couldn’t hear a thing. She sat in silence, listening to her own watery breaths. Something soft and slimy brushed against her arm. She jumped, knocking into who knows what and making a loud clatter. Oh shoot.

  She heard the door to the dining room slam open. “Why are you lying to me? Who are you hiding? I can smell her, Adelpha.” Xanthus. It sounded just like Xanthus.

  “Come now, brother, it’s only a friend of mine who’s just left,” Adelpha said.

  “And pray tell me why a female would be traveling around visiting friends during her time.” Could it really be Xanthus? Maybe all Dagonian men sounded like him.

  “She didn’t know,” Adelpha said. “She must not have realized it was her time,” Adelpha remarked again, “and you know we couldn’t have told her. Only males can recognize when it’s a female’s time.”

  The door to Sara’s closet swished opened and she found herself face to face with an angry, ferocious warrior.