Above World

ALUNA TOOK A STEP toward him. “Hoku —”

He shoved the water safe into her hands. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, afraid that if he didn’t get away he might do something humiliating and unforgivable, like burst into tears.

He turned his back and headed off before she could stop him. Zorro started to follow him, but Hoku shook his head and said, “Zorro, no.” The raccoon sat back on his haunches immediately, eyes pulsing green. Hoku kept walking.

He wound his way along the edge of the cave wall, his brain a jumble. He wanted nothing more than to be back in his family’s nest with a big net of fresh clams, planning his next experiment and listening to his parents talk about their day.

A strange squeak invaded his thoughts. He looked around for its source and saw a wounded Deepfell lying on the sand. She squeaked again, louder, and looked straight at him. He headed for her pallet, careful not to kick sand in her face as he walked.

She couldn’t have been more than a few years older than he was. Most of her torso was wrapped in cloth spotted with blood. Even for a gray-skinned monster, she looked pale and frightened.

“Akkikoki,” she squeaked. “Okok kikka kikka.”

He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

She reached out a webbed hand, and he took it in his own. Her flesh was smooth and rubbery. It should have been firm and slick with water, but here in the cave, it was dry and soft. Almost frail. He never thought he’d say that about a Deepfell.

He dropped to his knees and stared at the wounded girl. Her eyes were wide and black, set farther apart on her face than his — probably so she could see in more directions while she swam. She didn’t try talking again. She sat there and held his hand. He watched her breathe. Her body jerked with each inhalation, as if even the act of drawing in air was painful to her.

He pictured his mother in the Deepfell’s place, pain contorting the lines around her eyes and mouth. He pictured Calli, her huge smile replaced by a grimace as she tried to be brave for him. He pictured Aluna, always so strong, barely able to keep her grip on his hand.

He dropped his head and cried.

The Deepfell girl did nothing. She just lay there, breathing slowly, her hand in his hand. Then, ever so softly, she started to whistle. The sound was high-pitched and faint, the melody haunting.

The Deepfell was singing to him.

He cried while she sang. All the danger and running and fear — it had all been building up inside him. The letter from Karl had made him sad. Sad for Karl and for Sarah Jennings and for their son, Tomias. He was worried about Calli, out there in the Above World all alone, because of him. He was scared, not just for himself, but for everyone he loved.

None of these things were terrible by themselves, but together, all at once? Crushing, as if he’d swum too far into deep ocean.

Eventually his tears stopped and only the Deepfell’s song remained. It was beautiful and melancholy, but there was a note at the end of each verse that lifted his spirits. A single note that offered hope. How could the whole song be redeemed by such a small moment?

He thought about Aluna and Dash, Calli and Zorro. They were just like that: small notes in a great big song of despair. The Above World felt vast and cruel and hopeless, but maybe their actions could change the tenor of the world’s song. Maybe they were those little notes of hope.

When the Deepfell finished her song, Hoku squeezed her hand gently.

“Thank you,” he said, looking into one of her deep, dark eyes. He’d never meant the words more.

Grandma Nani had always said that the Deepfell gave up their humanity to live in the deep ocean. Nani was wrong.

The Deepfell let go of his hand and smiled.

Thinking about his grandma sparked a memory. When she’d given him the water safe, she’d said, Maybe it holds her memories of the Above World. Maybe it holds far more.

The space inside the box should have held much more than just a letter and a picture and a wooden dolphin. What if those items were decoys? The whole water safe seemed designed to look sentimental: the silvery mermaid on the lid, the letter, the photo. Grandma Nani said Sarah Jennings was smart. Well, he was smart, too.

He waved good-bye to the wounded Deepfell girl and sprinted back to the others.





WHEN HOKU GOT BACK to the command center, he ignored Aluna and Dash and even Zorro and headed straight for the water safe.

“Are you okay?” Aluna asked. “Did something happen?”

He punched in the combination, popped open the box, and removed the letter, photo, and dolphin. Now that it was empty, he could easily see that the container part extended only halfway through the box’s depth. He ran his fingertip slowly along the smooth plastic bottom, feeling for anything unusual.

Then he found it. A small depression at the back, no bigger than a few grains of sand. A button? He pulled out an Extra Ear, straightened one of the wires, and poked the end into the hole.

A small square flap in the bottom of the box swung open, revealing a hidden compartment. He pulled out a thin black rectangle, no bigger than the palm of his hand and thick as a finger. He looked up at Aluna and Dash and grinned.

“I examined that box thoroughly,” Dash said. “How did you do that?”

“Because he’s Hoku,” Aluna replied, as if that explained everything. “What is it?”

“A piece of really old tech,” Hoku said. “Wait, I bet there’s a way to turn it on.”

He found a series of buttons along one edge and pressed them in succession. As soon as he hit the second, the tiny video screen filled with the glowing, spinning symbol of the Kampii seahorse. A moment later, it was replaced by the face of a familiar dark-skinned woman in a small domed room full of air. He recognized her high cheekbones and strong, tired eyes immediately.

Sarah Jennings. Moving as if she were still alive.

“Amazing,” Aluna whispered, and crowded closer. Hoku felt Dash on his other side and angled the device so they could both see.

On the device, Sarah looked over her shoulder, at something they couldn’t see, then forward again. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought she was looking right at them.

“Hello, Kampii descendant, whoever you may be,” Sarah said. Her accent twisted the words strangely, but she spoke with a slow, stately grace that helped him keep up. “I don’t have much time, so I will make this brief: I fear that my compatriots, the other men and women who will become the ruling council of our new society, have a different view of the world from mine.”

She looked down at something in her hand. He could just make out the dorsal fin of a small wooden dolphin.

“There were bound to be differing opinions,” she said. “I recruited strong men and women for this great experiment. It is the rare individual willing to give up everything he or she has — all material, emotional, and cultural ties to the world — and begin a new life, with a new identity, somewhere as dangerous and unforgiving as under the sea.”

Aluna snorted.

Sarah Jennings continued, “We need to hide, to stay safe, while the world is so broken. On that point, we are all agreed. But for how long? My fellow leaders would have us hide forever. They would have the City of Shifting Tides become our home, now and for all time. The coral reef would be forever the limits of our world.”

She leaned forward, her brown eyes intense. “The world is broken, but it will not always remain so. Eventually, it will be ready for us again. We have a duty — a responsibility — to help it heal. The world needs us, and we need each other. We must not hide forever.”

Sarah looked over her shoulder again. When she looked back at them through the screen, she tucked a rebellious twist of graying black hair behind her ear. Her voice came in whispers. “This outpost, Seahorse Alpha, houses information about the world — facts and figures and scientific data, but also the stories of its people. Art, literature, languages, cultures, TV archives, movies . . . every last bit of digital information I have been able to find and download and encrypt in the last few months. Let it be your window to the past . . . not so you repeat the mistakes we have made, but so that you learn from them.”

She pulled the mermaid box into view. “Because the people in power are the least likely to encourage change, I will give this recording and this box to my assistant, Christopher, for safekeeping. He’s smart and resourceful and has been a good, loyal friend. I have filled the remaining space on this device with information that HydroTek does not want me to have: passwords, formulas, schematics, and the like. They will be useless to you without the computers to interpret them, but I feel better knowing that someone else will have them.”

“And so farewell, descendant of mine,” Sarah Jennings said with a sad smile. “I wish you swift currents and Godspeed. And remember: we are not alone. We were not meant to be alone.” She reached forward, and the screen fell to blackness.

He didn’t understand everything Sarah Jennings had said, but he understood enough. Aluna had been right about the outpost holding secrets. The Elders had been wrong — so, so wrong — about what Sarah Jennings wanted for her people. But best of all, formulas! Schematics! Passwords! All hidden in an artifact so small he could shove it in a pocket.

“I need to see it again,” Aluna said. Quiet tears dripped down her cheeks. “Please.”

Dash stood quietly beside them, and said only, “A wondrous woman. She must come from a strong bloodline.”

A loud screech echoed through the cave, interrupting the spell Sarah Jennings had cast over them. Every Deepfell turned his or her head toward the sound, listening.

Eekikee pulled himself to the clearing while the alarm still blared. He had to gulp air before he could coax his throat to speak. “Cap-turrre,” he said finally. He leveraged himself onto his tail and held out his hand fin. A small pearled hair stick sat in his palm. Hoku had seen dozens like it worn by the Kampii women back home. In fact, Aluna’s sister —

“Daphine!” Aluna cried.

“No,” Hoku said quickly. “It could be anyone’s.”

“It’s hers. It’s my sister’s,” Aluna said. She snatched the hair stick from the prince and pointed to one of the shells. Her finger shook. “I borrowed it last year and broke it.”

Hoku squinted and saw a faint line where the shell had been snapped in half and glued back together with sticky jellyfish goo. “No,” he said. “It can’t be.”

Dash muttered a curse.

“What happened to her?” Aluna said, her voice cracking. “She was probably looking for me. This is all my fault. Did they kill her? Tell me!”

The prince looked surprised at her outburst. “No keeeel,” he said. He motioned to his neck and said, “Slaaave.”

The words hung in the air. Hoku had never seen Aluna both crying and ready to rip something’s heart out at the same time. Her fist closed around the jewelry. He could see her gritting her teeth, trying to calm herself down enough to speak.

“I’m going after her,” she said finally, her voice low and scary.

Hoku shuddered. She looked just like her father.

“But we have no army and no plan,” Dash said. “Your death will accomplish nothing.”

“I don’t need a plan,” Aluna said. “I’ve always trusted my instincts, and I’m trusting them now. There’s no time to squabble like Elders, discussing plans and never actually doing anything. I need to go. Now. I have to save Daphine, or I have to die trying.”

“Then let us go with you,” Hoku said. “Me and Dash and Zorro, we can help you! And maybe Calli —”

“No,” she said. “Daphine wouldn’t have been captured if it weren’t for me. I couldn’t bear it if you got captured, too. You have to stay safe, Hoku. Don’t you see?” She grabbed his arm and pointed to the video device in his hand. “You’re the one who has to save us. Sarah Jennings herself just told you so. And I can’t protect you when I’m trying to protect my sister.”

“But what if —?” Dash said.

“I said no,” Aluna shouted. “Do whatever you want, but you’re not coming with me. I catch either of you following me, and . . . and you know what I can do.”

She glared at Dash, then turned and glared at Hoku, daring either of them to disobey. Hoku wanted to, but she scared him. Aluna-his-best-friend would never hurt him, no matter what. But the Aluna in front of him now? He didn’t know her at all.

Aluna turned to the prince. “Thank you for saving us from the Upgraders,” she said. “I think our people make better allies than enemies. I hope we can meet as friends again after all of this is over.”

The prince bowed.

Aluna smiled grimly. “Can one of your people show me how to get inside the dome?”

Eekikee squeaked and a Deepfell dragged itself over. The prince called some orders, and the Deepfell took off toward the water.

“Stay here and be safe,” Aluna said to Hoku and Dash, half ordering them, and half begging. Then the steel returned to her eyes, and she raced after her guide.

As Hoku watched her go, his hands curled into fists. Again? She was leaving him again, after everything they’d been through? Dash still had a broken arm, Calli was out there somewhere on her own, probably afraid and in danger, the Kampii still needed to be saved, and he . . . he was supposed to be her best friend.

No. He was done taking orders.

Hoku turned back to Dash, Zorro, and the prince. “If we’re going after her, we’ll need a plan.”





ALUNA FORCED HERSELF to breathe slowly, despite the pounding in her chest. What was happening to Daphine? Were Fathom and his Upgraders hurting her? Was she really a slave? It was hard to think about anything else, and she needed to focus. A good hunter stays relaxed and ready, Anadar always said. Panic was making her stupid.

In the distance, the domed city of HydroTek floated on the water, looking like a giant gleaming jellyfish. Inside the huge translucent cap, buildings in shimmering silver twisted and flowed to amazing heights. She couldn’t make out any details, even when she and the Deepfell crested the water for a better look. Below water level, pipes and machinery and long, thin buildings swayed and churned like a mass of tendrils. She had no doubt that, just like a real jellyfish, those tendrils could sting.

A pod of three Deepfell approached. She thought they were a scouting party, but when her guide gripped his spear and pulled out a knife, Aluna looked closer. All three of the Deepfell wore collars around their necks. Slaves! They swam in a tight pattern, their spears raised. She didn’t understand Deepfell facial expressions very well, but something was definitely wrong with them. They looked dead.

“Can we rescue them?” she said. The Deepfell raised his spear and bared his sharp, sharklike teeth. He probably wanted to rescue them more than she did. But his grimace only widened into something dangerous, something feral.

“No can free. Only keeeel,” her guide said.

She grabbed his arm before he made his first throw. She couldn’t watch him murder his own kind, even if they were mindless slaves. The Deepfell twisted to break her grip, but she held on.

“HydroTek,” she said, pointing to the dome with her other hand. “I have to get there. I have to save my sister.”

They stared at each other. Aluna thought about all the horrible things she would do to whoever hurt Daphine. It wasn’t difficult to let the anger swell into something almost overwhelming. And then she let those emotions swim into her eyes. The Deepfell stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

Instead of fighting, they hid in an outcropping of kelp. As the patrol passed, she got a better look at the enslaved Deepfell’s faces. They looked as unthinking as fish. Even their mouths hung open. Whoever had enslaved their bodies had enslaved their minds as well.

As soon as they were gone, Aluna and her guide resumed their swim toward HydroTek. She tried not to imagine Daphine as a brainless slave, but the images assaulted her. Daphine with that same slack-jawed idiocy, Daphine with no spark in her eye and no smile on her perfect lips. She’d never forgive herself if that happened. Daphine was the Voice of the Kampii, irritatingly beautiful and graceful and eloquent and kind. No one was allowed to hurt her. No one.

HydroTek got bigger and bigger, until it loomed as large as Skyfeather’s Landing in front of her. The tendrils that floated below it didn’t undulate in the current as she had thought. No, they created the current. Pipes hissed, artifacts pumped up and down, and Deepfell slaves became more plentiful. She noticed dolphin and shark slaves, too. Even a few great whites were leashed and guarding some of the entrance holes.

But her guide avoided those areas and took her up, toward the surface of the ocean inside the lip of the dome. This close, the dome seemed impossibly large and intimidating. They squeezed into a narrow intake pipe and swam through the darkness. Aluna focused on the gentle swoosh of water around her body, on her heartbeat, and on the distant hum and clank of machinery.

Eventually, they emerged in a shallow pool inside the dome. Inside HydroTek.

“Thank you,” she said to her guide. And then she added, “May the currents always carry you to safety.”

He squeaked once, twice, and then dove beneath the water. He wouldn’t wait for her. That had never been part of the plan. When she needed to escape, she was on her own.

Aluna squinted in the sunlight. She had surfaced in a pool surrounded by a ring of dirt dotted with dead grass and matted with garbage. Maybe it had been a pretty garden once, but abuse and neglect had turned it ugly. The sloped curve of the dome loomed on one side, and tall, silvery buildings on the other.

She waded to the edge of the pool and hauled herself out. Something rustled. She peered into the shadow of a building and saw a short four-legged creature digging its nose through a pile of garbage. A dog! She’d seen animals like it at the Aviar stronghold, mostly begging near the eating tables or sleeping by the fires.

“What are you doing in this place, little one?” she asked him.

The dog paused in his hunt and looked up at her. A yellow stain covered the tip of his black-gray muzzle. His ears pointed straight up.

“Same as you,” the dog said. “Looking for munchies, dodging Gizmos.” He pointed to the pile of garbage with his snout. “This batch mine mine mine. Find your own.”

“Dogs talk?” Aluna said. None of the Aviar dogs had.

“Sure, yeah, dogs talk,” he said. “You been living under a rock, maybe?” He growled as he spoke, but it seemed more like a necessity of speech than a threat.

She shrugged. “Does under the ocean count?”

The dog’s tongue lolled out in a laugh. “Sure, yeah. Ocean even worse than a rock. Very wet. Very cold. Very bad.” Then he stopped and tilted his head to the side. “Wait. What Humans live in water?”

“I’m not Human. I’m a Kampii,” she said. “From the City of Shifting Tides.” And then, because he was still tilting his head, she added with disgust, “We’re mermaids.”

“Mermaids!” the dog said, his ears quivering. “Wait, no. What mermaid has legs?”

“We get our tails when we’re older,” Aluna said hastily. “You saw me come out of the water with your own eyes.”

The dog squinted at her, then bobbed its head once. “True, yeah. But no mermaids here. Not yet. You turn around and swim swim swim.” He motioned toward the pool with his snout. “Go now. Before he sees you and snatches you up.”

“No,” she said. “Fathom has my sister. I’m not leaving without her.”

The dog lowered his head and shook it sadly. “Many sorries,” he said. “My littermates all gone, too. Very sad. But Fathom is strong. Likes parts. All kinds of parts. Parts that make no sense. He takes and takes, even what he don’t need.”

“You know where he is? Can you take me to him?” Aluna asked.

The dog tilted his head again, thinking. It reminded her of Zorro.

“Sure, yeah,” said the dog, wagging his tail. His ears were perky again. “We goes now. Follow follow follow!”





HOKU DIDN’T WANT to enter HydroTek by the same route Aluna had chosen. He had no desire to confront Fathom head-on. That was Aluna’s way, not his. He and Dash and Zorro needed to find HydroTek’s nerve center, its technological core. Maybe restoring power to the Kampii’s breathing necklaces and defeating Fathom and his army would be as simple as pressing a button.

A boy could dream.

Prince Eekikee himself escorted them to the dome. A Deepfell warrior carried Dash so they could all swim faster. Hoku carried his satchel with the water safe. Zorro clung to his shoulder. The little guy didn’t need an air bubble and could swim well enough on his own, but not quickly. Besides, Hoku liked the feeling of Zorro’s small furry body clinging to his back. It made him feel less alone, and a tiny bit less scared.

Prince Eekikee hid them well in advance of patrols and killed a shark scout with only two thrusts from his spear. The Kampii hunters would do well to fear him; Hoku had never seen anyone so good with a weapon in his whole life. He was suddenly glad that Aluna wasn’t here to witness it as well, or she’d be talking about Eekikee’s prowess for the rest of their lives.

Eventually, they reached HydroTek, and Hoku’s heart soared like an Aviar. The very tip-top of the structure protruded from the water’s surface, but that glittery part didn’t interest him much. Not compared to what was happening underwater. There, HydroTek’s massive coils and artifacts pumped and hissed as if the great city itself were breathing. Intakes and outtakes moved water, creating a warm current that toyed with them as they got closer and closer to its maw.

But even as his chest swelled at the wonder, he had to ask: How could his ancestors build something so amazing when the Kampii could not? The city’s Elders knew how to maintain their artifacts, but they never made new ones. They could never build something like HydroTek, not even with all the Elders working together at once.

Unless . . . unless he found a way into the outpost and gained access to all the information Sarah Jennings had hidden. Then, maybe — if the Above World became a safer place — they could build something glorious.

“Alooooona,” Prince Eekikee said, and pointed toward the part of HydroTek above the surface. “You,” he said, pointing to the dome’s underwater innards.

Hoku grinned.

As they wove through HydroTek’s metal tendrils, Hoku touched everything within reach, marveling at how some metal was cold and some hot, how some artifacts vibrated and others seemed to hum. When they neared an intake tunnel barred with metal, Eekikee motioned everyone to stop.

The prince and the other Deepfell had little trouble bending the bars wide enough for Dash and Hoku to enter. They couldn’t get it wide enough for themselves, but that was fine. Hoku had never expected the Deepfell to enter HydroTek. Prince Eekikee had his own war to fight.

Hoku squeezed into the circular tunnel. Prince Eekikee helped Dash through the bars, careful not to break the breathing membrane over his face. Hoku nodded to Prince Eekikee and mouthed, “Thank you.” The prince smiled grimly in return. A moment later, he and the other Deepfell disappeared into the churning murk.

Without their guide, and confined in a dark metal tunnel, Dash seemed close to a panic attack.

Hoku pantomimed breathing slowly. If Dash’s breathing bubble popped, there’d be no one to make him a new one.

Dash swallowed and nodded, clearly trying to stay calm.

Hoku pointed to Dash’s eyes, then to his own feet. The horse-boy couldn’t hear him underwater, but he spoke anyway. “Focus on my feet, but don’t get too close. I don’t want to kick you in the head.”

Dash nodded and smiled weakly. A good sign.

Hoku started up the tunnel, using his hands to feel his way along the metal. It got darker as he swam, and soon even his Kampii eyes couldn’t find enough light to see the way.

“Zorro, make light,” Hoku said.

Crouched on his back, Zorro obeyed. His eyes glowed green to acknowledge the command and then yellow to illuminate the tunnel.

“Good boy,” he whispered. He had no idea how much of Zorro was animal and how much was machine, but he knew the little guy enjoyed a compliment and a good scruffle once in a while, so that’s what he got.

They made their way in silence. Hoku stayed focused on the tunnel in front of him. How many hours had they been swimming? Were the darkness and the cramped tunnel playing tricks on him? Were they heading straight for some kind of ancient industrial grinder?

Calm as Big Blue, he told himself. That’s what Aluna would say. She never panicked at times like these. She wasn’t here now, so it was his job to stay calm all by himself. Besides, Dash needed him. And somewhere out there, Aluna and Calli and all the Kampii needed him, too.

Eventually the narrow tunnel joined with three others into a larger waterway. The prince had drawn him a diagram of this intersection, and he started breathing easier. They were going the right way. Maybe he wasn’t going to get them both killed after all.

Not long after that, they emerged in a place the Deepfell had called the Moon Pool. The air in the small room felt pressurized — just like the ocean — which seemed to keep the ocean from filling up the tiny chamber.

Dash popped up beside him, looking pale and wild-eyed. The horse-boy popped his breathing bubble with obvious joy.

“I hope I never have to do that again,” Dash said, and paddled with one hand toward the edge of the pool.

The room was brightly lit and contained piles of equipment — lots of unmarked crates and weird clothes that looked way too big for a person to actually wear.

“Swimming clothes,” Dash said. “For people who can’t breathe water.”

Hoku swam over to the lip of the water and pulled himself out. Zorro, eyes still glowing, hopped down onto the metal walkway.

“Zorro, stop making light,” Hoku said, and the raccoon’s eyes flashed green before he obeyed.

Dash, who had been drying himself off with a piece of cloth he had found, suddenly stopped and lifted his head. The motion caught Hoku’s attention. It looked as if Dash were sniffing the air.

“I hear something coming,” Dash said. “Something with eight feet.”

“Eight legs?” Hoku asked. Dash nodded.

He hadn’t heard anything, but he had long since learned to trust Dash and his odd skills. The horse-boy disappeared behind a large suit of swimming clothes. Hoku was about to do the same when a round hatch dilated open behind him.