Descend (Awakened Fate Book 2) Read Free

faint hum quivered through the water, like the ocean was ever-so-slightly electrified.
    Niall said something, and I blinked. “What?”
    His lip twitched. “I said the change looks good on her. Or wouldn’t you agree?”
    I glanced back at her. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”
    “You guess ?” He looked from me to Chloe and then scoffed. “You feeling alright?”
    “Fine.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    I gave him an irritated look. “What?”
    “Oh, nothing. But if you’re not going to make a move on her, you better be sure I will.”
    “No, I–”
    I cut off the hurried response, uncertain what I’d planned to say. But Niall just paused.
    “Wait,” he said. “You’re not…”
    “Not what?” I asked when he trailed off.
    Niall cleared his throat. “You’re not like actually falling for her, are you?”
    “Huh?”
    He paused, a weird look on his face, and then he suddenly let out an incredulous chuckle. “Well, I… damn that’s, um…”
    “That’s what?” I demanded. “Niall, give me a break. I barely know the girl.”
    “Yeah, and yet you wanted all these guys to come to Santa Lucina to rescue her.”
    “You know it wasn’t like that.”
    His amusement grew. “Uh-huh.”
    “Oh for pity’s sake, Niall. Do you feel the water around us? Feel how it’s different with her in it?”
    “It’s different, huh?”
    “I will kick your ass, you keep this up.”
    Amusement still tweaked his expression, but it lessened. “Okay, the water.” He glanced around. “It’s… I mean…” His brow furrowed.
    “See what I’m talking about?”
    “Are you sure there’s not just a storm topside or something? I know you said strange things happened with the water when you saw her before, but maybe…”
    “You ever felt a storm do this?”
    “No,” he allowed. “But… come on. She can’t really be–”
    “It’s happened every time I’ve seen her. Something similar, anyway. And the second she leaves the water, it stops.”
    I looked back at Chloe. She gave a soft cry in her sleep and I hesitated, wondering if I should go wake her. But after a moment, she seemed to calm down.
    “Maybe it was a coincidence,” Niall tried.
    I met the words with a flat look. “ Every time? And that’s not the only thing. The second time I saw her, she was attacked. By water. Black, frigid water like you’d find deeper than Nyciena, but off the Santa Lucina coast.”
    He paused. “Okay, now you’re just making stuff up.”
    I shook my head.
    Niall’s brow drew down and he looked away. My gaze returned to Chloe.
    She seemed to be sleeping better now. And the strange feeling in the water remained. It wasn’t quite the same as when I’d first seen her – then, it’d been unmistakable for miles around. Now, it was fainter. Almost diluted, though that made little sense. It seemed like something was dampening it, keeping it from being as… clear … in the water as it had been before, to the point where if, like Niall, I hadn’t been waiting for it, I might’ve missed the feeling.
    I scowled. Maybe the difference was caused by the drug the Sylphaen had given her. Or something else I wasn’t aware of. Before Chloe had come along, I’d never felt anything like this. And now, anything was possible, since what she was doing shouldn’t have been.
    And she didn’t even seem to know it was happening.
    “So what do you want to tell Dad when we get home?” Niall asked. “Assuming he agrees to talk to us, I mean.”
    I turned back to him. “The truth?” I hazarded.
    “No, seriously.”
    “We have to tell him about the Sylphaen. And the best chance we have of keeping her safe from them means she stays nearby.”
    “She doesn’t have any family at all down here?”
    “None she seems to know of. She said she grew up on land. She wasn’t even aware dehaians existed until I told her.”
    “Wow.” Niall watched her a moment and then sighed. “Even so, he’ll want to put out a search. See if she has relatives to take her in.