“THIS WAY, PLEASE, Your Graces,” Anna said, smiling.
Serafina and Neela followed her. They passed the canal-side doors through which they had entered the duca’s home and swam down a dimly lit hallway.
The underwater walls of the ancient palazzo were shaggy with algae. Fleshy orange starfish and spiky blue urchins—their bright colors a warning—clustered on the ceiling. Tube sponges dotted the floor, their bloated fingers brushing against the mermaids’ tails. Twining ribbon worms and tiny baglike salps, frightened by the bright light of Anna’s torch, wriggled into cracks and seams. Feather stars and sea whips—things with mouths but no eyes—strained toward the mermaids as they passed, drawn by their movements.
Serafina was so desperately tired, she could’ve slept on the floor. Her stomach was full, but her mind was foggy, and her body was bruised and sore. “Is the duca right?” she asked Neela as they swam. “Do we only think we had the same dream?”
“I don’t know, Sera. I’m so exhausted I can’t think at all. We’ll figure it out later. We’re safe. We’re alive. For now, that’s enough.”
“My quarters are just down the hall, should you need anything in the night,” Anna said, as she opened the door to Serafina’s room. “The Praedatori are also nearby. Sleep well. Princess Neela, your room is here. Just across the hallway.”
Serafina thanked Anna, then hugged Neela hard. Neela hugged her back. Neither mermaid let go of the other for quite some time. “Love you, merl,” she said. “Would never have made it here without you.”
“Love you, too,” said Neela.
Serafina entered her room, then closed the door. A canopied bed, carved from yellow amber and lined with blue anemones, greeted her. It looked so lush and inviting that it was all she could do not to flop down in it right away, but she didn’t. She wanted to find the grotto first and scrub herself clean. As she crossed the room, she glimpsed walls painted with colored squid inks, a gilt bamboo desk and chair, a tall looking glass in a corner, and a blue sea-silk dress hanging from a stand. A note on a table near the dress informed her that it was for her. She couldn’t believe how thoughtful the duca was.
The doorway to the grotto was on the far side of the room. Serafina swam through it. It was tiled in shimmering, ocean-hued mosaics. An ivory robe hung from a hook. On a marble table were glass jars filled with sand for scrubbing skin and scales. Serafina saw black sand from the shores of Hawaii, white from Bora Bora, and pink from the Seychelles. It seemed almost too much to ask for after all she’d been through—a good, long scrub and a soft robe to wear.
As she was about to undress, a movement in the grotto’s mirror caught her eye. She glanced at it and saw a figure looking back at her, wraithlike and haggard. A vitrina, she thought. But no. She swam closer and realized that she was looking at herself.
The left side of her face was mottled purple and black, thanks to Traho. Her hair was a tangled mess, her skin and scales filthy. Her once-beautiful gown was torn and bloodstained. As she stared at the blood, she started to shake. The images started coming at her, one after another. The arrow piercing her mother’s side. Her father’s body falling through the water. Dragons attacking the palace. Traho. The dying guard. Thalassa singing her last songspell. The refugee mother and her children.
She pulled off her gown and threw it on the floor. Naked and shivering, she grabbed a jar of black sand. She poured some into her hand, then scrubbed herself mercilessly until her skin was pink and her scales gleaming. Next, she took the robe from its hook and wrapped it around herself. Her body was stinging from the harsh scrubbing, but she didn’t care. She welcomed the pain. It kept the images at bay.
“Take a deep breath,” she told herself, swimming into the bedchamber. “It’s going to be okay.”
But it wasn’t.
A few strokes away from the bed, Serafina crumpled. With a cry of grief, she sank to the floor.
A second later, the door opened and Blu swam inside. “Serafina, what’s wrong? I heard a cry. Are you all right? Are you hurt?” he asked, kneeling by her.
“Yes,” she said through her sobs. She’d held herself together for so long, but she couldn’t do it anymore.
“Where? What happened? Show me,” Blu said, sitting her up.
“Here!” she said, pounding her hand against her heart. “Everything I loved is gone, my parents, my home, my city….” Her voice caught. The rest of her words were drowned in a torrent of tears.
Blu lifted her off the floor, pulled her to him, and held her silently. There was nothing he could say, nothing anyone could say, to make it better.
When there were no more tears left inside her, Serafina raised her head. “I’m sorry, Blu. I’m so, so sorry. Here I am crying and carrying on, and you lost your parents too.”
“It’s okay. You’re in shock. You’ve had no time to absorb what’s happened, and now it’s all hitting you,” Blu said. “You need to sleep. It’s the only way to get your strength back. Rest now. I’ll be right outside.”
Serafina clutched his hand. “No! Please don’t go. Talk to me. Tell me something. Anything.”
“If I do, will you get into bed?”
“Yes,” she said.
“You need to let go of my hand.”
“Okay,” Serafina said.
She climbed into the bed. The anemones caressed her weary body. Their touch was soft and lulling. She turned on her side, folding one arm under her head. Blu pulled a chair close to the bed. Having him near calmed her, but she was still desperate for distraction.
“Tell me the scariest thing that ever happened to you, Blu. Or the best thing. Or your favorite food. Do you have a sister?” she asked him.
“No,” Blu said.
“Do you have a merlfriend? Tell me about her.”
Blu hesitated.
“Oh, no. Oh gods, I’m sorry. I put my fin in my mouth, didn’t I? Please tell me she’s not dead.”
“No, she’s not dead. She’s not…well, she’s not my merlfriend anymore.”
“You split up?” Serafina asked.
“Yeah, I guess we did.”
“What happened?”
“Stuff.”
“Stuff?”
Blu looked at the ceiling. “Being in the Praedatori is tough. It demands a lot from you. Family, friends, merlfriends, you can’t tell them about it and they don’t understand the sacrifices you have to make, the double life you lead.”
“Maybe you’ll get her back.”
He shook his head. “Not likely.”
“What’s she like?”
“Smart. Beautiful. Good.” He paused, then said, “And brave. Really brave.”
“Sounds like you’re still in love with her,” Serafina said.
“Um, yeah. Guess I am.”
There was an awkward silence. Then Serafina said, “Tell me why you joined the Praedatori.”
“Why I joined the Praedatori…” Blu said thoughtfully.
“For fun and adventure? To see exotic places?” Serafina joked, desperate to keep him talking.
He looked at her then, with an expression of such intensity and passion, it made her catch her breath. “I joined the Praedatori because I love the sea more than my own life,” he said. “Bad things are happening. Oceans are being destroyed by the goggs. Sea creatures are being hunted to extinction. Mer are attacking mer. The duca says some mer are even aligning with the goggs now. I want to do everything I can to stop it. All of it.”
His eyes held Serafina’s, just as they had outside the cave, when he’d bandaged her tail. And once again, she found herself unable to look away from them, caught by their depths like a swimmer in a riptide. Who are you? she wondered. She forced herself to break his gaze and said quickly, “I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“Earlier, when you brought us here, I was certain you’d sold us to a terragogg. Now I see you would never do that. You’re a very upstanding outlaw, Blu. Thank you for rescuing us. We owe you our lives.�
�
Blu shook his head, embarrassed. “Anyone would have done it,” he said. “How about you? You have anyone?” he asked, obviously wanting to change the subject. “Wait…of course you do. You were about to be betrothed to the crown prince of Matali, weren’t you?”
“Before everything happened, yes,” Serafina said. “Before he disappeared.”
“I’m sure he’s trying to get back to you.”
Serafina smiled sadly. “He might be trying to get back to a nightclub. Or a siren. But not to me.”
“Why? What happened? Was he—”
“Just not that into me?”
“A beautiful princess? And kind of funny too? He’s totally into you. I’m sure of it,” Blu said.
“I thought he was. He made me believe he was. But he wasn’t. Parties, other merls…they all became more important to him. And now I just…I wish I knew why. The last time we talked…well, we didn’t talk, really. I swam off. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him. I guess I’ll never know now.”
“You don’t know that he’s dead.”
“Chances are good, though, aren’t they?”
“Maybe we should change the subject again.”
“To a topic that’s cheerful and uplifting,” Serafina said. “Too bad there isn’t one.” She propped herself up on one elbow.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be going to sleep,” Blu said. “If the duca finds out I’m in here keeping you awake…”
“Keep talking. Please,” she said.
“I don’t know what to talk about.”
“Tell me a story, then.”
Blu snorted. “Do I look like a nursery shoal teacher?”
“Tell me one about Trykel and Spume. You must know one about them. Everyone does.”
Trykel and Spume were the gods of tides, twin brothers who were always fighting over the beautiful goddess Neria. One lived on the shore, the other in the water. Many stories were told of their schemes to win her.
“All right. But I have a condition. You stop talking. Not—”
“—another word,” Serafina said.
“Once upon a time,” Blu began, “the sea goddess, Neria, fell in love with Cassio, god of the skies. She made a plan to steal away from her palace and meet him on the horizon. Trykel found out and was jealous. He went to Fragor, the storm god, and asked him to fill the sky with clouds so he could hide in them, pretend to be Cassio, and steal a kiss…”
Blu’s voice, rising and falling, lulled Serafina. She felt so safe here, with him nearby. He’s kind and brave and good. So different from Mahdi, she thought wistfully. The mermaid he loves is very lucky. I hope he gets her back someday.
Serafina continued to listen to Blu’s story and before she knew it, sleep was carrying her away like a gentle sea swell. Her eyes closed. Her breathing deepened. She was out.
Blu stayed where he was, remaining very still so as not to wake her. He gazed at her face for quite some time. When he was certain she was fast asleep, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
Daughter of Merrow, leave your sleep,
The ways of childhood no more to keep.
The dream will die, a nightmare rise,
Sleep no more, child, open your eyes….
IT WAS THE SAME NIGHTMARE. The same chant. Only the monster was stronger now. When it shook the bars of its cage, they groaned and cracked, and ice fell from them.
Suddenly, the elderly witch, Vrăja, stopped chanting. She turned and stared at Serafina, her eyes wide with fear.
He’s coming….
“No,” Serafina mumbled in her sleep.
He’s close, child—you must flee!
There was a booming crash then, so powerful that it shook the walls of the palazzo.
Serafina sat bolt upright and reached for Blu. He was gone, but she wasn’t alone. Someone else was here. She could feel it. She stared into the gray, early morning light, her eyes sweeping across the room, her heart pounding. It was there. In the corner. A dark, hooded figure.
“Who are you?” she asked, terrified. And then she realized the figure was not in the room; it was in the mirror. A pale hand was pressed against the inside of the glass. “Baba Vrăja!” she whispered. “Am I still dreaming?”
She got out of bed, swam to the mirror, and pressed her hand to Vrăja’s. The glass, cold and hard at first, shimmered, then gave way ever so slightly. Sera felt as if her hand was sinking into thick soft mud. She cried out as Vrăja grasped her hand. The witch’s skin was warm, her talons hard and sharp.
“Leave this place, child! Quickly! He’s coming, and even the Praedatori won’t be able to stop him.”
“Who? Who’s coming?”
“I must go. It’s too dangerous. He’s using me to find you. You must come to us. Both of you. Please, Serafina!”
“How? Where are you? How do I find you?”
“The River Olt. In the black mountains. Two leagues past the Maiden’s Leap, in the waters of the Malacostraca. Follow the bones.”
At that very second, the door to Serafina’s bedchamber burst open.
Blu swam inside. He had Neela with him. “Get dressed, Sera. Hurry,” he said.
“What is it? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Something’s going on topside. We may have to get you and Neela out of here. For now, stay here and lock the door. Don’t open it for anyone but me,” he said. Then he was gone.
“Sera, it happened again,” Neela said. “The nightmare. I saw her—Baba Vrăja.”
“I did too. In the nightmare and in my room. Inside the mirror.” She turned back to the glass, but it was empty.
“The duca’s wrong, Sera. It’s real. It has to be.”
Serafina remembered Vrăja’s sharp talons against her skin. “Yeah, Neela, it is,” she said softly.
Neela was already dressed. Sera shrugged out of her nightclothes, took the blue dress from its hanger, and pulled it over her head. A split second later, she and Neela both heard shouting.
“What’s going on?” Neela asked anxiously.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out,” Serafina said.
The mermaids left Sera’s room. They swam down the hallway, past the canal-side doors, and up to the pool. As they surfaced, they saw the duca, still in his robe and pajamas, shouting orders to a dozen Praedatori. Someone was trying to break down the palazzo doors, he was telling them. They were to take the princesses to safety. The makos were agitated, swimming to and fro. Leery of them, the mermaids hugged the edge of the pool. As they neared the pool’s steps, there was a shattering crash from the floor above, and a scream.
“Filomena?” the duca shouted. “Filomena!”
There was no answer, just the sound of feet on the stone steps. The duca ran to a table, grabbed a small cloth sack that was on it, and threw it to Serafina.
“There’s some currensea in there. Get to a safe house. The Praedatori will help you.”
“Duca Armando, what’s happening?” Serafina said.
“Go! Now! Get out of here!” the duca shouted.
Serafina and Neela were about to dive when four human men rushed into the room. Their leader’s face was obscured by sunglasses and the brim of a baseball cap, but the duca knew him.
“You! How dare you come into my home!” he shouted.
The man was carrying a speargun. As Serafina watched, he aimed it at the duca.
“No!” she screamed.
The man whipped around…and leveled the gun at her.
It happened so fast, she had no time to cast a deflecto spell. Luckily, the duca lunged at the man and grabbed his arm. The gun went off. Trailing a thin, nylon line, the spear hit a wall and fell into the water.
“Get them!” the man shouted. The duca threw a punch at him, but he deflected it, grabbed the duca, and hurled him against a wall. The duca crashed to the floor, motionless. The three other invaders, all armed with spearguns, dove into the pool.
Serafina felt hands on her, pulling h
er down through the water. It was Blu. Grigio had Neela. The attackers were in pursuit, but at a signal from Blu, high-pitched and piercing, the makos were on them. The sharks were fast, but not fast enough. All three men had time to get shots off. Two silver spears buried themselves deep into two makos, mortally wounding them. The third pierced Grigio’s tail. He was jerked backward by the nylon line. Serafina screamed as he thrashed against it. Blu swam to him, his knife drawn, and sliced through the line. There was a high, thin scream as a mako’s teeth sank into an attacker’s flesh.
“Cover us!” Blu shouted at the other Praedatori as he and Grigio pulled the mermaids down through the pool to the canal doors.
Grigio was about to slide the heavy iron bolt back and open them, when they all heard two deep voices say, “Qui vadit ibi?” Instead of answering, whoever was outside started battering on the doors. “Cavete! Cavete! Interpellatores!” the stone voices shouted. Beware! Intruders!
Grigio risked a quick look through a small barred window to the left of the door. He swore, then turned back to the others. “It’s Traho,” he said grimly.
“Go!” Blu shouted, pushing the mermaids down the hallway.
“Where?” Serafina shouted back.
“Into your room! Lock the door and stay there!”
Neela was already inside Sera’s room when the outside door crashed in and a spear came hurtling through the water. Sera looked back in time to see it hit Blu’s back with a sickening thuk and exit his body under his collarbone. His attacker yanked on the line attached to the spear, pulling the cruel, barbed head into his flesh. Blu thrashed madly against it. He twisted in the water, his knife in his hand, trying to cut the line. All Serafina could see was the blur of his powerful tail, frothing water, and blood.
Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue (A Waterfire Saga Novel) Page 13
