Waking Storms Read Online Free

still sharp, but Luce could tell that her heart wasn’t in it anymore. She was forcing herself to act angrier than she really felt. Still, the question made tears start up in Luce’s eyes, and she turned her face away. “Luce? Actually, that was what we all thought at first. That you and Cat had just gone off together. Even if it seemed weird after how bad you two had been fighting...”
    “I wanted to go with her. She wouldn’t let me.” She looked back at Dana, whose face had gone blank with disbelief.
    “She wouldn’t what? No way, Luce! There’s no way any of us would just swim off alone like that. Not if there was any choice! I mean, with how dangerous it is ... and not having anyone to help you...”
    “Catarina did, though.” Luce could hear how bitter her voice sounded. Dana was right; she had changed a lot in the months since Miriam’s suicide and Catarina’s near-murder. “She even tricked me. She waited until I went out to look for food and then sneaked off. To stop me from following her. Because she knew I would.”
    “Crazy! You didn’t think of chasing after her?” Dana wasn’t asking it to be cruel, Luce knew, but the question still grabbed her stomach in a knot of shame. The fact was she couldn’t completely explain to herself why she hadn’t done exactly what Dana suggested. Catarina had been battered and terribly weak when she’d disappeared. If Luce had rushed south after her, searching all the caves she’d passed, there was a good chance she could have caught up with the wounded ex-queen.
    Something heavy and sad and secret had urged her to let Cat slip away, to linger where she was. In her darker moments Luce accused herself of disgusting cowardice. But, if she was completely honest with herself, the truth was something even worse than that. Luce suddenly realized that her own silvery green tail had started swishing nervously without her being aware of it.
    “Luce? I guess I should admit I was kind of lying before. Saying that Anais would come after you. I was mostly trying to scare you.” Luce looked up, smiling in sheer relief that Dana wasn’t pursuing the question of why Catarina had left alone. “I mean, Anais would practically cut off her own fins to see you dead, like killing you would be the most amazing thing that ever happened to her, but the thing is ... there are probably only a handful of girls who’d go along with it now. And she knows that.” Luce noticed that Dana refrained from mentioning that one of those girls was almost certainly Jenna. “The tribe is barely holding together, and if Anais pushed everyone to kill you for no reason ... I don’t know, a lot of us might just leave her, or fight on your side. She’s not going to risk it unless she can come up with some really good excuse.”
    Luce watched Dana’s wide brown eyes staring off into a corner of the cave. Delicate curls of blue light flickered across Dana’s irises, and Luce had a sudden flash of insight: more than anything else, Dana was afraid that she’d wind up fighting her own twin sister, maybe even killing her. Dana must know that if Luce challenged Anais there would almost certainly be a battle, mermaid blood unraveling through the water. And Dana was prepared for that, ready to face her own worst fears for the sake of the tribe. It was stunningly brave of her to come here and to say these things. Luce almost felt ashamed of herself, but she still wasn’t ready to give in.
    “It’s wonderful to see you, Dana. I really missed you.” Luce was startled to hear herself say it, and just as surprised to see Dana suddenly grinning back at her with the same open-hearted warmth she’d had before everything in their tribe had gone so hideously wrong.
    “You know I’m not going to stop bugging you, Luce. About the whole queen thing. Now, you just know you want to take that screwy blond bitch down! Admit it!”
    Luce burst out laughing. Then she realized with a hard jolt of sorrow that it was