Free The Vast and Brutal Sea: A Vicious Deep novel (The Vicious Deep) by Zoraida Cordova Page A

in—ages. You have to understand that to us, there isn’t a world outside here. There’s the outer ring where the beast lives. Then the inner ring, where we live. This is it.”
    Suddenly the warriors start marching past us. They form a circle around the border of the village where the tree lines start.
    I’m about to unsheathe my dagger, but Yara places a hand over mine. “It’s okay. It’s just our guard.”
    “Does this happen often?”
    The warriors of the clan ready themselves, facing the darkening forest.
    Yara nods. “The Naga doesn’t come here, but it’s a precaution.”
    “Then how does she take so many of your people?” I don’t realize how crass that sounds until after I say it.
    “The bigger game is on the outer ring. We have to hunt.”
    I stop when we’ve made a complete loop around the main village. The fire pit is lit and older women bring out trays of food. Kai and Brendan and Dylan emerge from their paradise getaways ready to stuff their faces.
    “If you knew Dylan was out there, why didn’t you get him before?”
    She walks past me, ignoring the question, but looking back to say, “Best eat and get some rest, Land Prince. You have no idea what you’ve agreed to.”
    The breeze brings a soft drizzle from the weeping trees, and I know why they call it the Vale of Tears. I shiver at Yara’s words, because I know she’s a hundred percent right.

“You aren’t going to help anyone if you can’t sleep,” Brendan says.
    His feet are at my head, and he’s wiggling his toes every ten minutes. It’s a mer thing.
    “You aren’t sleeping, either.”
    “Can you sleep with Dylan’s lion roars?” Brendan says.
    Dylan is on the other end of the tent beside Kai, who emits a whistling sound every time she breathes.
    “You’d think, with how big this place is, that they’d give us our own tents.”
    Brendan scoffs. “I don’t mind it so much.”
    “Surrounded by every girl in the tribe, including the old lady with the missing front teeth? Of course you don’t mind.”
    “Really, Cousin, you underestimate me. It’s part of my plan. They want us right where they can see us.”
    “Easy for them to say. They’re see-through piles of water.”
    We chuckle then listen to the white noise of foreign insects and waterfalls and rivers.
    “Karel wants to kill me.”
    “Did you tell him there’s a very long list?”
    I snort. “And that’s just my ex-girlfriends.”
    Brendan chuckles, but he’s fading fast.
    “And Yara is hiding something.”
    He mm-hmms. “They all are. Must keep”—he yawns—“eyes open.”
    A snap makes me sit straight up.
    Brendan follows suit. He presses a finger to his lips, and his turquoise eyes turn to the tent flap.
    I think I see a shadow walking past, but there are a million shadows in this place. I grab my dagger at my side. Brendan is on his feet. We lift the flap to peek outside. The fire pit is long gone. The weeping trees dance in the breeze. And then there’s Isi standing at the edge of the forest.
    There are no guards around her. She’s still, head bent to the ground. Then up to the purple moon. Her hair whips around her. Then she starts to fade, becoming water, moving in a rush where we can’t follow.
    “Is that a normal River Clan custom, praying alone in the woods?”
    “I’d say not,” Brendan says. “However, your presence has given them hope of being free of a monster they’ve known too long. You worry too much, Cousin Tristan. All will be smooth as the seas.”
    Except that he doesn’t worry enough, so I have to worry for both of us. Smooth seas means the storm has passed, or is only just arriving.
    •••
    Cold water to the face wakes me.
    I jolt up, grabbing my dagger. Karel is standing over me. I take a swing, and he ducks out of the way before I can follow through. He laughs and that makes me swing again. This time, he laughs when I miss, and we topple out of my tent.
    Where the hell are my friends? Oh, that’s right.