Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and deceit. I’d had to hide from the selkies because they wanted to kill me. Now I was part selkie, and I felt a fierce and protective loyalty to him.
    That same instinct burned inside of me for every sea creature: merfolk, selkies, sirens, gorgons, even Sage.
    When I first discovered a snake attached to my head I was horrified, but it didn’t take long for me to grow fond of her. Sometimes I heard whispers in my mind and wondered if Sage communicated like the rest of us did underwater, or if I was just imagining she had a voice. I never could have predicted I would become so attached to a serpent—literally and emotionally. Feeling my affection for her, Sage rubbed against my neck.
    My love for Rathe and its creatures, even those I hadn’t met yet, was almost overwhelming at times. Medusa told me I would inherit her instincts, but had I also inherited her love for this realm and everything in it?
    I didn’t want to fight with Rownan or Nixie. I was terrified to enter Harte, but I couldn’t sit back and wave goodbye and good luck as Rownan went on an eternal vacation to hell.
    You can’t go like this , I told Rownan, swimming closer to him. Let me take you to the Violets so they can heal you.
    I’m fine. I’m going now. If the three of you want to try to stop me, then so be it, but you’ll have to kill me because I won’t give up.
    Damn it, Rownan, Treygan said. You’re injured. Don’t you want to give yourself the best chance of surviving? You need to be as healthy and strong as possible.
    Heartbreak makes me invincible. No amount of physical pain can stop me from getting to Vienna as soon as possible.
    I flashed a worried glance at Treygan, knowing we would never win this argument. Treygan wouldn’t hurt Rownan badly enough to stop him from going into Harte. Neither would I.
    Fine, Treygan said. Be stubborn. We’ll go now.
    I took a deep breath. We were really doing this. My eyes locked with Rownan’s. I nodded in agreement with Treygan. But when you can’t keep up and we have to carry you, expect a resentful I-told-you-so.
    Don’t worry your pearly little head. I’ll keep up.
    You are mad! Insane! Nixie mentally shouted at me. You are throwing away your new position and your entire life.
    You know my philosophy, Nixie. Love until it kills you, because there’s nothing better worth dying for.
    Stheno and Euryale were right, she hissed. You’re not nearly intelligent enough to take Medusa’s place.
    I flinched. I would expect Stheno and Euryale to say something like that, but it hurt to hear Nixie agree with them. We’ll see about that.
    I turned and swam away. Rownan and Treygan followed. I heard Nixie break through the surface. I didn’t know if she would travel to the gate with us or desert me, but it didn’t matter.
    Treygan, Rownan, and I didn’t say anything else to each other as we swam closer to the dark border of Rathe. I had so many things I wanted to discuss with Rownan. I wanted to thank him for helping me on the Triple Eighteen, for enduring torture from Jack so that Treygan and I could be together, and for protecting me from being sacrificed by the selkies. I wanted to tell him his father truly did love him and was proud of him. But everything I had rehearsed in my head didn’t feel adequate. We all stared ahead and swam in silence.
    Rownan was first to spot Poseidon’s marker. The rocks were taller than I pictured, but there was no mistaking the black mountain made to look like a trident. That alone should have been a severe enough warning to stay away from it.
    “Never cross Poseidon’s trident,” Treygan recited.
    A legendary proverb we were foolishly choosing to disobey. I realized everything had gone still and quiet. There had been no plant life for miles. No creatures in the sea or air except for us. Even the waves crashing against the rocks made no sound.
    My hands were shaking. I looked at Treygan. His jaw was tense, and he was breathing hard. I glanced at Rownan. I had