by James Bow
It could be worse, she told herself. My glasses could have been smashed instead of my watch. Then it wouldn’t matter how foggy it was. And one thing: something about her encounter with the sea creatures had blasted a bolt of clarity through her brain. The fog and the memories they contained seemed to be holding back warily. She could see far out to the lake, and even caught glimpses of the navy blue sky. She tested the dampness of her bra.
She told herself again that it could be worse as she shrugged on her cardigan and zipped up her windbreaker, but then she gave up. It was impossible to tell time in this perpetual twilight. She’d stopped to eat once, so she must have been here for hours. Progress made on finding Peter? Zilch.
She had food enough for six meals; two days, assuming she dared sleep. This shipwreck had provided her with firewood but nothing else. Going back for more food and Sterno meant braving the salamander piranhas. Going forward meant God-knew-what.
There was still the gully. That way led to defeat, but where else could she turn?
Exhausted, out of options, she leaned on a boulder, too tired to cry.
A splash brought her out of her daze.
She tensed against the stones, peering around. She caught sight of ripples on the water, far out into the lake, but closing in on the shore. As they approached, the ripples grew in clarity. The air above the water blew the fog forward like a shockwave.
She groped behind her and pulled a plank from the bonfire. The end of it burned in the breeze. She planted her feet and took a deep breath.
Then a man rose from the water.
Rosemary stumbled back.
He was the vision of Neptune, almost seven feet tall, with sea-glass skin, shoulder-length hair, and a thick, red beard. His eyes glowed glossy-black and there were hints of fins along the crest of his calves and forearms. He even carried a trident that sparkled and gleamed without sunlight.
He stopped at the sight of Rosemary, holding her plank like a firebrand.
She stared back.
In a lightning gesture, he flicked up his trident.
“Explain yourself!” His voice was deep.
Rosemary turned and ran.
The merman dropped his trident. “Wait! Come back!”
Rosemary didn’t listen. The stones clattered and splashed as she charged over the rises and through tide pools. She ran full tilt, not stopping until the water erupted before her.
She caught sight of a translucent creature with the head, torso, and arms of a woman. Below its stomach, the features bled together until it merged with the surface of the water. Its blue teeth were pointed and its wild hair blinded Rosemary with spray. Its hands ended in fearsome claws.
Rosemary swung her flaming plank. It passed through harmlessly, the flames vanishing with a hiss. The water-woman roared, and clamped a hand over Rosemary’s face. Rosemary’s scream sucked water into her lungs.
Then the creature blew a wind like cold fire in Rosemary’s face. The girl blinked crystals from her eyes.
The creature pulled back, its hand breaking off. A new one grew in its place immediately. Rosemary stumbled back, trying to breathe and wondering why her lungs weren’t working. She couldn’t open her mouth. She felt her face, and her fingers slipped across something cold, wet, and hard.
Her eyes widened in horror. Her heart raced. Ice encased the lower half of her face. Her lungs begged for air.
Rosemary toppled onto the wet stones, floundering. The creature raised its claws for the kill.
The bearded man leapt before her, spearing the creature with his trident. The metal glowed red, and the creature screamed, vanishing in a puff of steam.
Rosemary kicked and punched as the man hauled her into the air, but her struggles were feeble. The world grew blurry and slipped into black.
She blinked tears out of her eyes and found herself standing next to Peter on a ledge overlooking a deep ravine. The wind plucked at the fringes of her dress. She watched as the falling zeppelins cracked against the railway bridge and crumbled. Their burning metal skeletons rained on the valley floor.
Puck was in there. He’d killed himself to save them.
He …
She slumped to the ground.
Peter caught her. “We’ve got to keep going.”
She slapped at him. “Leave me alone!”
“We have to keep going,” he said, his voice level, firm. “Because he said so. Puck ....” He stumbled, and took a deep breath. “You’re the hero. He … he did what he did so that you could go on.”
“You go, then,” she said, shoving him away. “Just leave me alone!”
“No!” he shouted. “Not here, not now, not ever!
Being alone is the worst thing in the world and I’m not doing that to you. We’re in this together, and we’ve got to work together if we want to get out! I’m not leaving this spot until you get that!”
She blinked the tears from her eyes, then shook her head. Fresh air, like a breeze off a lake, filled her senses. “You’re wrong. I mean, you’re right, but … this isn’t real.”
Peter blinked at her, but said nothing. She slipped her wrists from his grip and stepped back. “I’ve got to keep going. Maybe I got dragged here, but I would have come anyway. You followed me into a crazy place to save me. Now it’s my turn!”
Movement made her look up. A flaming piece of fabric, skin from the zeppelin, fluttered down at her. She planted her feet, took a deep breath, and struck at it as it came close. “No! Wake up! I will wake up!”
The flames dodged her fists and fluttered before her eyes. Suddenly she saw that the fire was the bonfire reflected in the eyes of the merman who held her. She still couldn’t breathe. She swung a punch at his nose. She clawed at the ice encasing her face.
The man leaned close and breathed hard. A hot wind enveloped her. The ice over her mouth and nose melted. She choked and coughed up water.
He set her on the beach beside the bonfire, where she lay like a baby, coughing and gasping at the same time.
When she had regained her breath, the man spoke. “Have you recovered, child?”
Rosemary coughed the last droplets from her lungs. Then, still clutching her chest, she rolled onto her back and looked at him. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed.
The man raised his bushy red eyebrows. “That’s not what a rescuer expects to hear. Wherefore are you sorry, lass?”
“Because I thought you were going to kill me, just like everything else in this world. Instead, you saved me. Thank you.” Another coughing spell overtook her and she fell back.
The man chuckled and helped her sit up. “This is a dangerous place to those who don’t know where the dangers lie.”
Rosemary let out a sardonic laugh. “Yeah, I got that.”
The man patted her on the back. “I like your temperament, lass. You are made of stern stuff. What be your name?”
“Rosemary. Rosemary Watson.”
The man clasped her hand in his. His fingers extended past her wrist. “Welcome, Rosemary Watson.
You may call me Merius.”
He turned her hand over, revealing the blue-black birthmark in the centre of her palm. “Ah! I knew you were special. You have a mark.”
“A mark?”
“On your palm. Such marks carry great significance among my people.”
“This?” Rosemary held up her palm. “This isn’t a birthmark, it’s a … yes. Great significance. I’m very significant. Yes.”
Merius chuckled again. “Worry not, Rosemary. I would have rescued you, mark or no.”
“That’s great,” said Rosemary. “Wonderful.”
Relief swept through her. After hours on edge, fearing for her life, the lightness of her soul made her swoon. She lay before the bonfire and closed her eyes. Merius said nothing, but crouched down and stared out on guard over the water.
Rosemary lay in a daze, collecting her thoughts. The wind whistled and the surf roared. Finally, with her eyes still closed, she said, “I need your help,
Merius.”
“I thought as much. How came you to be here?”
Rosemary opened one eye. The right side of her body was hot from the fire; her left side still wanted to shiver. “I fell off a cliff.”
Merius raised his eyebrows. “How?”
“I was trying to keep a friend from falling off.”
Merius stared at her. The flames of the bonfire reflected off his eyes. “You did not come alone?”
“No. I’ve been looking for my friend ever since. His name’s Peter. Have you seen him?”
Merius looked away, deep in thought. Rosemary sat bolt upright. “You have seen him!”
“She said she brought him here alone,” Merius muttered.
“Brought him here?” she echoed, her voice rising. “You know about this? Who kidnapped him? What do these people want from him? Who are they?”
“These people are my friends and my family,” said Merius, not looking at her. “They are the people of my village.”
Rosemary shifted away from him. “You approve of this?”
“I’ve seen it happen,” said Merius. “A long time ago.
But never with a second person complicating things.”
“Complicating things?!”
“Yes. So, I have to ask, who is this Peter?” He looked at her. “What does he mean to you?”
“He’s my friend.” Rosemary stared as Merius’s gaze darkened. “What’s wrong?”
“How much of a friend?”
“A good friend! I went off a cliff for him? That sort of friend!”
“This is important!” Merius grabbed her by her shoulders, ignoring her squeak of fear. “How well do you know this Peter? Are you pair-bonded?”
“What?” she spluttered. “No! Look, what is going on here? All I want is to find Peter and bring him home. If you know where he is, then I demand you take me to him right now!”
“Why? What home does he have to go to? Why would you risk so much to bring him back when he is so alone?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Who is he to you, Rosemary Watson? If you are not pair-bonded, why are you here? I have to know!”
“I-I—”
He shook her. “Tell me!”
“I love him!” she shouted. “There, are you happy? I’ve loved him since we first met, but I was just too stupid to figure it out!”
Merius let go of her and Rosemary scrambled away. He stood up and stared over the rumbling water, shaking his head grimly. “Then she has overstepped her bounds.”
“‘She’? You mean that woman ...,” she started. “Her bounds? Oh, that’s good. That’s really good. It’s good to know that your bounds stop just short of kidnapping!”
Merius gave her a sad smile. “Do not judge us harshly, Rosemary Watson. We thought that Peter was a Lost Child.”
“A Lost Child?”
“We once took in dozens of Lost Children. Shipwrecked sailors, too; people who had cut their ties with the world around them and would have drowned if not for us.” He sighed. “We gave them a new life. But the sailors stopped coming. The children are all gone, too.”
They stood a moment. The wind tugged at Rosemary’s clothes and hair. Finally she said, “Whatever. Will you help me bring Peter back?”
He looked at her for another long moment. Then he nodded.
“Thanks,” said Rosemary. “How do we do it?”
“I will take you to my people. There, you will challenge the council’s claim on Peter.”
“A challenge? A simple ‘oops, I’m sorry, but we made a mistake’ won’t suffice?” Her heart fell as he shook his head. “Why not?”
“They will not take my word alone,” said Merius. “A powerful woman has taken Peter and I’m something of a … maverick among my village. The council will need additional convincing.”
“Peter will do that. I just have to talk to him.”
“Perhaps.”
Rosemary jumped to her feet. “Well, let’s not just stand here; get me across the lake so I can rescue Peter!”
Merius smiled at her burst of energy. “And how shall I do that, Rosemary Watson?”
“Umm … boat?”
“I have no boat.”
“We walk then. Along the beach?”
He chuckled. “You are at the edge of my world, lass. You could walk straight along this beach forever, and only come in a circle.”
She frowned as she tried to put this description together. She gave up quickly. “Well, you got here. Take me the way you came.”
“Do you trust me, Rosemary?”
She stepped back and stared at him. “Sure?” she said at last.
“Trust me.” He stepped forward and took her hand. Leading her to the water’s edge, he waited patiently while Rosemary hesitated. “Trust me.”
Rosemary took a deep breath and stepped into the water. She bit her lip at the cold. Merius tugged her forward. She walked until she was knee deep, then waist deep.
When she was chest deep, Merius stopped and gripped her shoulders. “You do trust me, Rosemary Watson?”
Rosemary swallowed hard. “I did before you kept asking me! Now, what do we do? Swim?”
“No. Breathe.”
He put his hand to her head and pulled her underwater.
Submerged, Rosemary could only look at the murky lake floor. Then she tried to stand up, but Merius pressed her down.
Realization struck her with a blast of bubbles. She tried to push back, to turn her head, get a breath, but Merius wouldn’t let her.
She screamed, wasting precious air. She became a flurry of arms, legs, and bubbles as she fought for her life. Her lungs ached, began to beg. She could feel the cold water on her tongue, in her sinuses, at the back of her throat.
“It’s not fair!” she cried. Then she gasped. She could yell. She wasn’t drowning. She was floundering on her back in water. Wasn’t she face-down a moment ago?
She looked around. She was in a shallow bay where the wind did not blow as strong or as cold. Cliffs rose ahead of her and a lake stretched behind her, reminding her of home.
Then she became aware of Merius crouching beside her, a hand on her shoulders, holding her steady. She raised spray scrambling to her feet. “You drowned me!”
Merius smiled darkly. “And yet you live.”
She batted his hand away. “No! You tried to drown me!”
Merius laughed. The bass quality of it resonated in her chest. “It was necessary.”
“Necessary?!” She clutched her chest. Her lungs were free of water; there wasn’t even a tickle in her throat. Except for being wet (again!), she was unharmed. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing instead of pulling me underwater like that?!”
“Rosemary, if I told you to stick your head underwater and take a deep breath, could you have done so?”
“Maybe, if you had told me!”
Merius just looked at her.
Rosemary looked away. “Okay. No.”
He shook his head. “You cannot just walk into our world. You must fall into it, or be pulled through.”
“Is that what happened to Peter?”
Merius nodded. “Do you forgive me?”
Rosemary gave him a long look. “What do we do now?”
“I take you to my village.”
“Fine. Where is your village?”
Merius pointed to the cliffs. Rosemary shook off his helping hand and splashed towards the shore. She trekked ahead of Merius along the beach. It was only when she reached the gully that she stopped, struck by the familiarity of it all. She stared over the cove, picking out all the landmarks of home.
Merius stepped beside her. “You are not mistaken, Rosemary. This world is a reflection. An echo, a memory.”
“Then where was I?”
“The halfway point. When you travel to your reflection, you must first pass through the glass of the mirror itself. A dangerous place.”
“Oh.” She shook away the strangeness. “Peter.”
They climbed the gully and emerged onto the plateau where Clarksbury would be, had it been there. Rosemary didn’t see Merius’s village until he abruptly pulled her behind the cover of a tree.
“A simple ‘quick, hide’ would do, you know!”
“Sorry.” Merius pointed. Rosemary looked ahead.
She frowned, trying to figure out what she was seeing. At first, she thought she was looking at another set of cliffs, or possibly a grouping of flowerpot islands — pillars of eroded brown stone with tufts of vegetation on top, of the sort that stuck out into Georgian Bay near her home. Then she saw caves and blob-like windows broken into the columns of stone, and sirens walking in between. She thought of a gigantic sandcastle that had been broken apart by waves. The walkways between the sandy columns wound like the synapses of a mind.
Merius eased her back. “It is important that you not be seen.”
Rosemary’s eyes narrowed. “I thought I was supposed to challenge their claim on Peter.”
“You will. When the time is right.”
“I’m not good with patience.”
“Then you shall have to practise.” He cast a quick glance at the village. “The one who brought Peter here will not take your challenge lightly. We must take her by surprise.”
“Mortal combat isn’t involved in this challenge, is it?”
“I’m not sure.”
Rosemary threw up her hands. “All right, I’ll follow your lead … so long as your plan to smuggle me into the village doesn’t involve me tied up in a sack.”
Merius blinked at her.
Rosemary gasped in amazed frustration. “That was your plan for smuggling me into the village, wasn’t it?” Her voice rose until Merius cast nervous glances around for potential eavesdroppers. “No, you find a better way. I’ve fallen off a cliff, nearly frozen to death, been attacked by salamander-piranhas, squid, and a woman who sealed my face in ice! And you tried to drown me! I am not having a good day! I will not cap it off with being tied into a sack and smuggled inside a hostile village. Think of something else!”
***
Merius strode into his village, a heavy sack hoisted over his shoulder.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” the sack muttered.
