The Blue Divide

Chapter 40

Mellusine's blood erupted into the water, mingling with that of her slaughtered victims. Eko was invincible. He didn't flinch when the merrow soldiers surrounded him.

"How dare you touch the Heart of Poseidon, fish herder," said one. "Give it to me and I will return it to the vault where it belongs."

Despite everything, Eko couldn't help smiling. They used the term fish herder to be demeaning. Little did they know that fish herding was the key to accessing the power of Poseidon. Was that why fish herders weren't allowed to live in the city? Was the Nyxus afraid they might figure this out? "I refuse to take The Heart back to Atlys." Power was what divided the city. Perhaps the children born without it would change the way they were ruled, but it couldn't fall into the hands of the humans either. Could he hide it somewhere no one would ever find it?

The soldiers couldn't touch someone filled with so much power. They shied away as he swam through their rank toward Lainey's boat.

"You're a traitor Ekrios!" The merrowman screamed. "The Nyxus will not let you live."

Eko said nothing. He pushed the back of Lainey's boat and directed it towards the far off shore.

"Eko, is that you?" whispered Lainey, her voice hoarse and her body shuddering with cold.

"I'm here," he said. "You're going to be safe now."

"What about them?" She pointed to where Mr. Leventis and Douglas were clinging to broken pieces of the Aeolus, struggling to make it to Lainey's boat. He wouldn't let them succeed. He gripped the Heart and swam towards them.

A shockwave halted him in place. The Heart's command took Eko by surprise. He wanted to ignore it. Of all the men who had died that day, surely these deserved it the most, and yet the command was so strong he couldn't bring himself to disobey. He continued to push Lainey's boat.

"They're stranded here," he said. "They'll die before they make it to land."

The two men called after Lainey, begging her to come help them, promising her anything she wanted. She curled up in the bottom of the boat and covered her ears until there was nothing left but the sound of the waves.

A gray dawn arrived by the time they reached the shore. Eko took Lainey to the little beach below her cottage. She had fallen asleep, only to wake when the boat knocked against one of the rocks near the shore.

She leaned out of the boat and looked down at him.

"Go home," he said. "Get warm."

"What about you?" Her face looked so sad he couldn't help reaching out to it.

"I'll be here." He knew he couldn't wait in the waves forever, but he couldn't bear to say goodbye yet.

Eventually he would have to make some sort of life for himself away from Atlys. The Nyxus would find him, he was sure of it. It didn't matter that Eko had the Heart. He barely knew how to use its power while the Nyxus knew every facet of its capabilities. The land would be the only place he could be safe, and yet to leave the water twice was death. Nerine had said so.

Nerine. Thinking of her pained him as if he was the one with the bullet in his chest. She had given him her heart and he had never fully given his back. Not in the way she had deserved. He felt terrible about that. He couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if he had never gone to the Upperworld. Never met Lainey. Never been given the time to fall in love with someone else.