I jerked awake in the dark, drenched in a cold sheet of sweat. Another nightmare. When would I be done with them? Turning on my side, I listened to the house — to the soft hum of the generator and air purifiers. That helped slow my heart. I got out of bed and pressed my forehead to the cold window. Nothing suspicious lurked in the kelp field. Suddenly a splash one level down broke the silence. A familiar enough noise, but not one that I often heard in the middle of the night. Who would be climbing in or out of the moon pool at this hour?
I hurried down the stairs, noting that the wet room lights were off. Worry dug into me. I swung around the center pole of the staircase and landed with a soft slap of bare feet on the lower level. The only light illuminating the wet room was from the boundary lamps surrounding the property and they were set on dim. Still, I could see Gemma across the room, digging through the contents of a locker—probably looking for her diveskin since she was wearing Zoe’s too-short nightgown again. The minisub bobbed in the center of the moon pool, which relieved me. Using the clamp to pluck up a minisub, swing it over the moon pool, and drop it directly into the water was tricky enough in a bright room. But as far as I could tell, she hadn’t scraped up its side or cracked its viewport on the hard edge.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I flicked on the lights at the bottom of the stairs.
She whirled, looking guilty and bedraggled.
“You’re running away again,” I said. Seeing her duffel bag by the moon pool hollowed out my chest.
“I was just borrowing your sub,” she stammered. “I couldn’t think of any other way to get to the Trade Station. I was going to leave it there.”
“What would that get you?”
“I’ll hitch a ride to the mainland on some wingship or houseboat. Or stow away.”
“Don’t stop at the Trade Station,” I said, wishing I could control the catch in my voice. “You could run into Grimes. Go all the way to Paramus and then leave the sub at the Seaguard pier. We’ll pick it up there.”
“You’re going to let me take your sub?” she asked, confused.
“How can I stop you? I’m not going to shoot you.”
“You could wake up your parents.”
“Right. Zoe, too. Then all four of us can sit on you until the Maritime Rangers show up.”
She relaxed. “That doesn’t sound fun for any of us.”
I nudged her duffel bag with my foot. “Did you take food?”
When she shook her head, I scooped up a sea grass basket inside the greenhouse door and tossed it to her. Then I plucked two apples from the nearest tree and flipped those to her as well. “I’m really sorry about your brother.”
She nodded but didn’t meet my gaze. As she dropped the apples into the basket, she murmured, “You’re a lot like him—the way you look out for people. Richard did that. Not just for me but for the boys in his dorm. He’d stand up for them even if it meant getting himself into trouble.” She looked up with sudden inspiration. “Come with me.”
“To the mainland?”
“No, farther. You don’t want to be stuck living Topside. Let’s buy a boat with the money Richard sent me and sail away.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere. How about the Colorado Islands?”
My ears grew hot at the thought of us together on a boat. “I can’t.”
Her eyes drifted to the window behind me. “Ty …”
I braced myself. I didn’t know how else to say “no” when the idea was so appealing.
“You said the outside lights never turn off all the way.” She pointed over my shoulder. All around the homestead, the boundary lamps flicked off, one by one. I bolted for the window. The last lamp cut out and the fields went dark. Gemma pressed in next to me. “What’s happening?”
The kelp close to the house was still illuminated by the light from inside. Except for one dark patch, I noticed, which was the house’s shadow. No, that wasn’t possible. The house was the light source, so it wouldn’t cast a shadow. Something else was out there, one story up. The shadow grew darker and wider. Whatever it was, it was descending.
I pressed my face to the window, trying to see upward, but nothing dropped into view. Too bad I couldn’t use sonar through the thick flexiglass. Whatever was one story up now maintained its position. I backed away from the window. Whales didn’t hover and sharks didn’t come in that size of big.
“Ty?” Gemma followed my gaze. Then, as she leaned in for a closer look, something enormous and dark plunged past the window. She jerked back with a gasp.
My heart kicked into high gear as I grabbed hold of her hand.
“What was —” she asked as I dragged her through the fruit trees.
“Outlaws.” I yanked open the greenhouse door and we ran for the stairs only to skid to a stop in the center of the wet room as the shadow glided by another window — this time close enough to blot out all else. Faster and faster, the Specter circled. Like a shark closing in on its prey. Pulled by the swirling water, the house twisted on its anchor chains, making us stagger to keep our balance.
“Go!” I shouted, steering her toward the stairs while I raced for the house speaker and punched the button. “Pa, wake up!”
“Ty? What’s going on?” My father’s voice was alert. No doubt he’d been shaken awake when the house started moving.
In the background Ma cried, “John, the boundary lamps are out!”
“The Specter is circling us,” I told them. “I think the outlaws just shut off the exterior power, but I don’t know how.”
Pa’s response was a curse that would have made a miner blush. “Where are y —” His voice cut out, along with every noise in the house. And every light.
“Ty!” Gemma was only halfway up the stairs.
“It’s okay.” The backup generator would kick on in an instant. Even though it hadn’t at the Peaveys’, it would be different here. This was my home and I knew how every inch of it operated. But seconds passed and all I heard were my parents’ frantic footsteps on the floor above. Finally a strip of red emergency lights flickered on around the moon pool while outside tiny green lights outlined the struts of the house. My tension eased as I waited for the air purifier’s familiar hum to start up. Then I remembered all the emergency lights ran off a battery pack. The backup generator remained as silent as a corpse.
Dread sloshed in my gut. It was the same nightmare all over again. Like Shurl and Lars, we were going to lose our livestock, our crops, and our house within thirty minutes. I tore off my T-shirt, tossing it into the changing room as I ran past.
“What are you doing?” Gemma leaned over the railing, her face pale in the scant light.
I paused below her. “Everything will be okay. The outlaws will steal a few things like they did at Hewitt’s. Then they’ll leave.” At least I hoped so anyway. But part of me wondered if I’d brought this upon us. Shade had threatened to kill me if I told anyone else about him, and I had. What if he was here for me?
“Ty!” Pa shouted from above.
“Down here!” I called back. “Go wake Zoe,” I told Gemma. “Then lock yourselves in her bedroom. Don’t open the door until you hear me on the other side.” Without waiting for her reply, I ran to the far side of the room, threw open my gear locker, and grabbed my diveskin.
My parents pounded down the stairs, both sealing their diveskins as they squeezed by Gemma, who was finally headed up.
“The Specter is coming around the starboard side,” I told them as I shucked off my sweatpants and stepped into my diveskin.
The Specter shot by the window on the far side of the wet room, leaving a storm of bubbles in her wake. “They’re trying to scare us so we’ll stay inside,” Pa growled. “They’ll probably go for the equipment and supplies in the outerbuildings.”
“What do you want to do?” asked Ma as she holstered her speargun.
“I’ll tell you what we’re not going to do, and that’s give over anything without a fight,” Pa vowed.
r /> Ma gave a crisp nod as she pulled two Liquigen packs from the slots in the wall and tossed one to Pa.
When the Specter cruised by the closest window, I shrank back. She was circling so tight, it seemed like she would shear the acrylic skin right off the house. Somewhere inside that sub was Shade, a realization that sent an icy finger skimming down my spine.
Ma handed me a shockprod. “Join the girls upstairs.”
“No way. I’m as good a shot as both of you. And I’ve got sharper water eyes for sure.”
“Yes. But I mean to have you see sixteen!” Ma said in a low, fierce voice.
“We need him, Carolyn,” Pa cut in. “Guard the moon pool,” he told me. “Shoot anything or anyone who tries to surface.”
“Except you.”
Pa flashed a wry smile. “Except us.”
Ma caught my arm. “If too many are coming in, don’t play the hero. Especially if one of them is Shade. There’s no shame in hiding. You hear me?”
“If it’s Shade, I’m taking the shot.”
My mother didn’t argue. She followed Pa into the moon pool, speargun in hand. As they slipped under the water, a panicky chill spread through me. Soon sharks would come to feast on the dying livestock. My parents would be facing predators in the dark—both fish and human. But I wasn’t helping anybody standing here, stiff with fear. I rushed up the stairs to check that the girls were locked into Zoe’s bedroom, only to find them hovering at the top of the stairs in white nightgowns and anxious expressions.
“This is my fault,” Gemma whispered. “This wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t dragged you into the Saloon.”
“You went in the Saloon?” Zoe asked in a voice so loud I flinched.
“You didn’t drag Hewitt into the Saloon and they attacked his homestead,” I pointed out. If it turned out to be anyone’s fault, most likely it would be mine. “Go.” I waved them back toward the bedrooms. “Lock yourselves in.”
“No.” Gemma held up her jade knife. “I want to help you.”
“Keeping Zoe safe helps me.”
Zoe gasped with indignation. “I can take care of myself!”
Gemma met my eyes over Zoe’s head and nodded in answer to my silent plea. “Ty just said that so I wouldn’t feel bad,” she told Zoe. “Really, he wants you to look out for me. I’m the dumb Topsider.” She put an arm around Zoe and gently tried to steer her back down the hall.
Zoe was having none of it and ducked under her arm. “I’m coming with you,” she told me. “I want to see an outlaw.” Darned if she didn’t sound excited.
“You’ll put Ma and Pa in danger,” I whispered angrily. “If an outlaw snatches you up, they’d die trying to save you.” Zoe actually looked frightened at that. I took full advantage of it. “Go to your room, bolt the door, and barricade it.” As the girls backed down the hall, I heard a splash in the wet room.
I crept down the stairs, shockprod up. It was dark in the wet room despite the emergency light strips in the floor. Still, I could see that an oval shadow floated in the moon pool. I sent out several clicks, hoping I was wrong. But no, my sonar confirmed what I’d already guessed. Next to the reaper bobbed the Slicky—hatch open. Instantly I knew how Shade had found me. It was sickeningly easy. He’d simply climbed into the Slicky and hit the HOME icon. Fear whispered through me. Shade was in the house. The Specter’s circling—that was just a diversion to get my parents outside. Now, somewhere in the dark, Shade was waiting to strike.
Thuds ran along the window to my left. I whirled to see a school of tuna thrashing against the glass. A hammerhead shark plowed through them and carried one off. Where were Ma and Pa?
I couldn’t think about it right now. Shade was close. That fact kicked everything else to the edge of my brain. I crept toward the equipment bay, clicking as I went. All I could make out were vehicles. Of course, sonar couldn’t tell me if something was hiding behind them. Taking another step, I put my bare foot into a puddle of cold water. The shocking chill of it shot through my body and sharpened all of my senses. My parents had made no splash when they slipped into the water. The puddle came from someone climbing out of the moon pool, dripping as he went.
I should be scared, knowing that Shade had come to kill me, but it was anger that surged through me, hot and sharp.
Why hadn’t I changed weapons before checking on the girls? To use the prod, I had to touch the tip to my target, and I had no intention of getting within arm’s reach of Shade. I cast out more clicks and sensed nothing but equipment. In the dim green light, the metal foam walls cast an eerie glow.
Summoning up my grit, I hurried toward the weapons rack, only to trip over something in my haste. Lifting the soft clump with the tip of the shockprod, I tried to make out what it was.
A sharkskin vest.
If I’d held a single doubt about Shade’s presence, this doused it. I shook off the vest like it was the shed skin of a reptile, holstered the prod, and ran for the weapons rack. There my fingers skipped over the standard-sized speargun and instead curled around the cold steel of the biggest harpoon gun Pa owned. With two hands, I hefted it from the rack. It was a man-sized gun, heavy and long. Pa kept it for the rare occasion a shark burst through our bubble net. I didn’t like the idea of shooting a human with it, but I had no choice. A small harpin might not stop Shade unless it hit him dead through the heart.
Edging into the center of the room, I sent my clicks out again. I listened for their echoes and saw the wet room in my mind as clear as if every light in the house was on high. And there was the intruder, emerging from behind a sub, pressed close to the wall. He was invisible to my eye. But in my mind, the shadow across the room was a three-dimensional outline of a man. A man so big and tall it could only be Shade. My sonar was so sharp, I could even tell from the echoes bouncing off him that his chest was bare: The outlaw’s flesh had a sharper echo than the fabric of his pants.
Shade flicked on a small flashlight, aiming it at the floor and then the walls to get a quick read on the room. My heartbeat slowed as I realized I had the advantage. Shade couldn’t see in the dark. So long as I stayed out of the flashlight’s beam and away from the emergency lights, he wouldn’t spot me.
I lifted the end of the harpoon gun, bracing the butt against my shoulder. The muscles in my arms trembled as I struggled to hold the heavy gun steady. I threw out another series of clicks, then took aim with my mind’s eye. It was going to be hard because Shade was moving quickly along the wall. But if I didn’t hurry, in another minute, he’d be at the stairs. It would be much harder to find him, let alone get a clear shot, on the second floor with its many rooms. I inhaled, clicked once more, found my target, and pulled the trigger.
The gun’s kick sent me flying backward as the harpoon launched. The instant I landed on the floor, there was a crack of steel puncturing acrylic accompanied by a strangled cry. The harpoon had hit its mark. Had I killed him? The thought made me shudder.
Scrambling up, I saw Shade’s flashlight roll across the floor. Clicking, I gagged over the picture formed in my mind: Shade thrown back against the wall. Pinned there. The harpoon jutted from his left arm, just below the shoulder. His breath came out in pants as his struggling stilled. My sonar couldn’t tell me why Shade had stopped moving. Was he passed out? Or just faking it to lure me closer? Whirling, I ran for the other side of the wet room, slipping in the puddle of seawater along the way. I needed to know how much of a threat Shade was at this point. Snatching an emergency lantern from its hook, I unholstered my shockprod.
I set the lantern on the rim of the moon pool, where it would illuminate the whole room. Facing the wall where Shade was pinned, I flipped on the lantern. The sight that met my eyes froze me into place. Every inch of his flesh was red. So were his eyes. Blood? I tried to make sense of the terrifying vision in front of me. Too shocked to register that Shade had wrapped his hands around the harpoon until, with a pained yell, he yanked its pointed tip out of the wall behind him. Pressing his palms to the
butt of the harpoon, he pushed its length through his arm, screaming as he did.
The sound of the harpoon hitting the floor jolted me back to reality — Shade was free. And coming for me.
I lifted the shockprod. But I’d missed my chance. Shade raced toward me, turning from red to black until he was nearly invisible again. I should have cut the light to give myself the advantage, but he was nearly on top of me before I had a chance.
I spun, aiming the prod at the outlaw circling me, but with the moon pool at my back, I had nowhere to go. Closing in, Shade wrenched the shockprod from my grip, throwing it across the room where it clattered against the gear lockers. I went for my knife, but Shade was too quick. He ripped my knife from my belt and flung it into the moon pool. Before I could slip into the moon pool as well, he threw me down so hard that white-hot pain flashed through my brain as my head thumped onto the floor.
I forced myself to stay conscious. The glow from the lantern played over Shade’s skin, black and slick. As I scuttled backward through the puddle, his eyes reddened until his pupils were slits of fire. Stomping on my chest, he pinned me to the floor with his bare foot. “Where’s the girl?” he snarled.
I shook my head. He’d have to kill me before I gave up Gemma and Zoe. A drop of Shade’s blood spattered onto my cheek. As I whipped my face aside to escape his dripping wound, a movement caught my eye. Through Shade’s legs I saw Zoe peering through the spindles of the staircase.
Gemma grabbed Zoe by the arm and tried to pull her back up the stairs. Zoe twisted and tugged but Gemma hauled her up, step by step, almost out of sight until … Zoe bit her wrist. Hard. When Gemma’s hand sprang open and she fell back, Zoe tore downstairs. Shade turned at the noise. Clawing at his leg, I tried to free myself, only to have him grind his foot down harder.