Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue (A Waterfire Saga Novel)

by Jennifer Donnelly

  “Great Neria, what are you doing?” an incanta shouted. “You’ll get yourself killed!”

  “It’s a strong possibility,” Ling said. She peered at the Carceron’s gates. There was only darkness behind them. “Hey! Are you listening, you sorry sack of silt?” she shouted. “Then listen to this! We’re doing a bind. A bloodbind. You hear that? I said, a BLOODBIND, monster man! Tell that to your boss!”

  She backed away from the waterfire and waited. Serafina felt her heart slamming in her chest. At first there was only silence, but then they could hear a low growl. A few seconds later, something moved in the darkness. An arm shot out from between the bars, and then two more. They pushed through the ochi, through the water, and into the Incantarium. Hands opened like dark, sinister sea flowers; the eyes in the center of their palms stared.

  “You watching, son? Keep watching. We’ll see who’s weak.”

  Ling swam away from the waterfire and threw the halberd down. The others were waiting for her.

  “There you are!” It was Magdalena, breathless. “I’m to lead you out of here and into the tunnel. Baba Vrăja’s orders. All of us are to go except the incanti. If we hurry, we can make the Dunărea by nightfall.”

  The mermaids ignored her. Serafina pulled her dagger from a pocket.

  “Didn’t you hear me?” Magdalena said. “We’ve got to go!”

  Serafina held the dagger in her right hand and turned her left palm up. Without flinching, she drew the blade across her flesh. Her blood spiraled through the water. As it did, she sang. Clearly. Loudly. With everything inside her.

  Abbadon, your end has come.

  This we vow, as chosen ones:

  Drop by drop, our blood is binding,

  Forever lives and fates entwining.

  Abbadon growled menacingly. More hands appeared. Sera knew they could have struck at her easily. But they didn’t. Abbadon wanted to see what the merls were doing. So it could tell its master. Good, Serafina thought.

  Neela took the dagger next, and sliced her own palm. Her blood rose in the water. As she covered Serafina’s hand with her own, she sang.

  Our spell is strong, and soon our blood

  Will turn the tide and stem the flood

  Of Orfeo’s evil, dark and dread,

  That wakes now from its icy bed.

  Becca followed Neela. Abbadon shrieked. It shook the bars of the Carceron.

  Together, we’ll find the magic pieces

  Belonging to the six who ruled,

  Hidden under treacherous waters

  After light and darkness dueled.

  Ava was next.

  These talismans won’t be united

  In anger, greed, or deadly rage,

  But with boldness, trust, and courage

  As we unlock destruction’s cage.

  Ling was last. She winced as she gripped the dagger with her bad hand, then cut the palm of her good one. As her blood rose in the water, and she covered Ava’s hand, she sang the end of the bloodbind.

  We’ve gathered here from sea and river,

  With a purpose brave and true,

  We vow to drive an ancient evil

  From our home, the vast deep blue.

  As the last notes of the songspell rose, the blood of all five mermaids spiraled together into a crimson helix and wrapped itself around their hands. Like the sea pulling the tide back to itself, their flesh summoned the blood’s return. It came, flowing back through the water, back through the wounds. The slashed edges of their palms closed and healed. A scar was left on each hand, a livid reminder that each carried the blood of the others now.

  Sera felt that blood inside her. She heard it singing in her veins and thundering through her heart, making her stronger and braver than ever before. Neela, Ling, Becca, Ava—they were more than her friends now, they were her sisters, bloodbound forever.

  It wasn’t over, this quest that Vrăja had given them; it had only just begun. Sera had no idea if any of them would survive the darkness and danger that lay ahead, but she knew they’d give everything they were, and everything they had—even their lives—to defeat the evil in the Southern Sea.

  She could see their determination in Ling’s challenging gaze, in the defiant tilt of Ava’s head, in the way Becca held herself so straight and true, and in brilliance of Neela’s glow.

  Ling left the group now and swam to the waterfire. Abbadon moved closer to the bars. “Did you get a good look, monster man? Did you see the blood bind?” she asked it. “Go. Call for your master. You have lots to tell him now.”

  But Abbadon didn’t move.

  Becca joined Ling. She sang a powerful flăcări. The waterfire flared high and hot, surging through the bars of the Carceron. Abbadon roared. It flailed madly at the flames, then ran back into the prison’s depths. They heard its voice grow fainter and fainter, until they couldn’t hear it at all.

  “You finished?” Magdalena asked. “Because you’ve got to get out of here. We’re running out of time.”

  “They cannot. The tunnels are sealed now. The caves are empty. Everyone is gone except those of us in this room.” It was Vrăja. She had a satchel slung over her back and was bolting the doors to the Incantarium. “In the gods’ names, why are you still here? You were told to leave.”

  “We cast a bloodbind. In front of Abbadon. We vowed we would find the talismans, unlock the Carceron, and kill it. The bind can only be broken by death,” Serafina said.

  “Which may happen sooner than you think if you don’t go now,” Vrăja said.

  “How? You just locked the doors!” Becca said.

  Vrăja swam to the far end of the room. A tall object rested against one wall, draped in black cloth. Serafina hadn’t noticed it before. Vrăja yanked the cloth. It fell away to reveal a looking glass.

  “I cast a baricadă, a strong blocking spell. It’ll hold them off until you escape through the mirror.”

  The obârşie had just finished speaking when a massive explosion came from above. Shock waves tore through the water.

  “They’re here,” Vrăja said.

  For the first time, Serafina saw fear in her eyes.

  “But they were at the mouth of the Olt only minutes ago,” Becca said, casting a frightened glance at the door. “It takes longer than a few minutes to get to these caves.”

  “I daresay this Traho knows how to cast a velo. Most military mermen know how to speed their troops. Into the mirror with you. Hurry.”

  “Let’s go in together,” Neela said. “There’s strength in numbers.”

  “No, you mustn’t travel together. We cannot afford for all five of you to be taken,” Vrăja said.

  There was a pounding, sudden and loud. Traho was on the other side of the door.

  Serafina knew it was iron, and impervious to magic. He was trying to batter it down.

  “Take these,” Vrăja said. She dug in her satchel, pulled out vials of liquid, and handed them around. “It’s Moses potion, from the Moses sole in the Red Sea. Sharks hate it. Maybe death riders do, too. Here are some quartz pebbles charmed with transparensea spells. And some ink bombs. They are crude, but effective. They’ve gotten me out of more scrapes than I care to remember.”

  Vrăja dug once more, pulled out a handful of dead beetles, and gave some to each mermaid. “I had hoped to teach you the secrets of mirror travel, but there’s no time. As soon as you’re in the silver, rattle these beetles. There are silverfish in the mirror—large, fast creatures who love to eat them. One will come to you. Tell it where you need to go and it will take you. Hopefully you’ll be out of Rorrim’s realm before he knows you were in. Neela, you first.”

  “But Baba Vrăja, I’m not ready for this!” she said, pocketing her beetles.

  The battering grew louder.

  “Go, child!” Vrăja said.

  “How will we contact each other?” Neela asked.

  “A convoca. The mirror. A pelican, if you must.”

  Sera threw her arms around Neela and
hugged her good-bye. “Don’t be scared, Neels,” she said. “Nothing, and no one, is more invincible than you.”

  Becca was next, then Ava with Baby, then Ling. Sera felt as if each was taking a piece of her heart with them. The iron door groaned under the pounding of Traho’s troops. She could hear their voices coming from the other side. A hinge came loose with a wrenching screech.

  “It’s your turn, Sera. Go now,” Vrăja said. She held her close and kissed her. “I may not see you again. Not in this life.”

  “No, Baba Vrăja, don’t say that, please.”

  “Godspeed, child. The hopes of all the waters of the world lie with you now. Find the talismans. Kill the monster. Before the dream dies and the nightmare rises.”

  Another hinge gave way. The door crashed into the room.

  “Go!” Vrăja cried.

  Serafina leapt into the mirror and the liquid silver closed around her. She looked back, with tears in her eyes, in time to see death riders flood into the Incantarium. In time to see Traho break the circle.

  In time to see Vrăja pick up a rock and smash the mirror.

  MY HEARTFELT THANKS to Stephanie Lurie, Suzanne Murphy, Jeanne Mosure, and the whole Disney team for introducing me to Sera and the gang; to Steve Malk for being the most wonderful agent an author could ask for; and to my mother, Wilfriede; my husband, Doug; and my daughter, Daisy, for their love and encouragement, and for always, always being there for me.

  ABBADON an immense monster, created by Orfeo, then defeated and caged in the Antarctic waters

  ACQUA BELLA a village off the coast of Sardinia

  ACQUA GUERRIERI Miromaran soldiers

  AHADI, EMPRESS the female ruler of Matali; Mahdi’s mother

  ALÍTHEIA a twelve-foot, venomous sea spider made out of bronze, combined with drops of Merrow’s blood. Bellogrim, the blacksmith god, forged her, and the sea goddess Neria breathed life into her to protect the throne of Miromara from any pretenders.

  AMĂGITOR Romanian word for deceiver

  AMPHOBOS the language spoken by amphibians

  ANARACHNA Miromaran word for spider

  APĂ PIATRĂ an old Romanian protection songspell that raises water ten feet high and then hardens it into a shield

  ĀPARĀDHIKA Matali word for criminals

  APATEÓN Greek word for deceiver

  AQUABA a mer village near the mouth of the Dunărea river

  ARATA a spell that allows its caster to manifest in a chosen location

  ARMANDO CONTORINI duca di Venezia, leader of the Praedatori (a.k.a. Karkharias, the Shark)

  ASTRID teenage daughter of Kolfinn, ruler of Ondalina

  ATLANTICA the mer domain in the Atlantic Ocean

  ATLANTIS an ancient island paradise in the Mediterranean peopled with the ancestors of the mer. Six mages ruled the island wisely and well: Orfeo, Merrow, Sycorax, Navi, Pyrra, and Nyx. When the island was destroyed, Merrow saved the Atlanteans by calling on Neria to give them fins and tails.

  AVA teenage mermaid from the Amazon River; she is blind but able to sense things

  AVARUS Lucia Volerno’s pet scorpion fish

  BABA VRĂJA the elder leader—or obârşie—of the Iele, river witches

  BABY Ava’s guide piranha

  BACO GOGA captor of Serafina and Neela, in league with Traho

  BARICADĂ a strong blocking spell

  BARRENS OF THIRA the waters around Atlantis, where the Opafago live

  BARTOLOMEO, CONTE the oldest and wisest of Regina Isabella’s ministers

  BASTIAAN, PRINCIPE CONSORTE Regina Isabella’s husband and Serafina’s father; a son of the noble House of Kaden from the Sea of Marmara

  BAUDEL’S the songpearl shop where Becca works as a spellbinder

  BECCA a teenage mermaid from Atlantica

  BEDRIEËR one of three trawlers that Rafe Mfeme owns

  BIANCA DI REMORA one of Serafina’s ladies-in-waiting

  BIBIC Romanian word for darling

  BILAAL, EMPEROR the male ruler of Matali; Mahdi’s father

  BING-BANG a Matalin candy

  BIOLUMINESCENT a sea creature that emits its own glow

  BLOODBIND a spell in which blood from different mages is combined to form an unbreakable bond and allow them to share abilities

  BLOODSONG blood drawn from one’s heart that contains memories and allows them to become visible to others

  BLU, GRIGIO, AND VERDE three Praedatori who help Neela and Serafina escape Traho

  BORU long, thin herald trumpets

  CABALLABONG a game involving hippokamps, similar to the human game polo

  CADAVRU living human corpses, devoid of a soul (see also ROTTERS). The Iele use them as sentries.

  CANTA MAGUS one of the Miromaran magi, the keeper of magic (MAGI, pl.)

  CANTA MALUS darksong, a poisonous gift to the mer from Morsa, in mockery of Neria’s gifts

  CANTA MIRUS special song

  CANTA PRAX a plainsong spell

  CARCERON the prison on Atlantis. The lock could only be opened by all six talismans. It is now located somewhere in the Southern Sea.

  CASSIO god of the skies

  CERULEA the royal city in Miromara, where Serafina lives

  CHILLAWONDA a Matalin candy

  CIRCE a witch who lived in ancient Greece

  CLEPIO a malus spell used for stealing

  CLIO Serafina’s hippokamp

  CONCH a shell in which recorded information is stored

  CONFUTO a canta prax spell that makes humans sound insane when they talk about seeing merpeople

  CONTE ORSINO Miromara’s minister of defense

  CONVOCA a songspell that can be used for summoning and communicating with people

  COSIMA a young girl from Serafina’s court; nickname: Coco

  CURRENSEA mer money; gold trocii (trocus, sing.), silver drupe, copper cowries; gold doubloons are black market currensea

  DAÍMONAS TIS MORSA demon of Morsa

  DAVUL bass drums made out of giant clamshells, played with whalebone sticks

  DEATH RIDERS Traho’s soldiers, who ride on black water horses

  DEFLECTO a songspell that casts a protective shield

  DEMETER the ship that Maria Theresa, an infanta of Spain, was sailing on when it was lost in 1582 en route to France

  DEPULSIO a songspell that moves objects

  DESIDERIO Serafina’s older brother

  DEVIL’S TAIL a protective thorn thicket that floats above Cerulea

  DOKIMÍ Greek word for trial; a ceremony in which the heir to the Miromaran throne has to prove that she is a true descendant of Merrow by spilling blood for Alítheia, the sea spider. She must then songcast, make her betrothal vows, and swear to one day give the realm a daughter.

  DOLPHEEN the language spoken by dolphins

  DRACDEMARA the language spoken by catfish

  DUCHI OF VENEZIA created by Merrow to protect the seas and its creatures from terragoggs

  EJDERHA Turkish for dragon

  FEUERKUMPEL goblin miners, one of the Kobold tribes, who channel magma from deep seams under the North Sea in order to obtain lava for lighting and heating

  FILOMENA Duca Armando’s cook

  FLĂCĂRI a songspell to summon waterfire

  FOSSEGRIM one of the Miromaran magi, the liber magus, the keeper of knowledge

  FRAGOR the storm god

  FRAGOR LUX a songspell to cast a light bomb

  FRESHWATERS the mer domain in rivers, lakes, and ponds

  GNDAC a bug that is planted near a person or thing that a songcaster wants to observe; it catches and holds the ochi spell

  HABEO a malus spell used to take control of another’s mind or body

  HIPPOKAMPS creatures that are half horse, half serpent, with snake-like eyes

  HÖLLEBLÄSER goblin glassblowers, one of the Kobold tribes

  IELE river witches

  ILLUMINATA a songspell to create light

  ILLUSIO a spell to create a disguise

  INCA
NTA (INCANTI, pl.) river witch

  INCANTARIUM the room where the incanta—river witches—keep Abbadon at bay through chanting and waterfire

  IRON repels magic

  ISABELLA, LA SERENISSIMA REGINA Miromara’s ruler; Serafina’s mother

  JANIÇARI Regina Isabella’s personal guard

  JANTEESHAPTA a Matalin candy

  KALUMNUS a member of the Volnero family who tried to assassinate Merrow

  KANJAYWOOHOO a Matalin candy

  KARKHARIAS “the Shark,” or leader of the Praedatori

  KOBOLD North Sea goblin tribes

  KOLEGIO the mer equivalent of college

  KOLFINN Admiral of the artic region, Ondalina

  KOLISSEO a huge open-water stone theater in Miromara that dates back to Merrow’s time

  LAGOON the waters off the human city of Venice, forbidden to merfolk

  LAVA GLOBE a light source, lit by magma mined and refined into white lava by the Feuerkumpel

  LENA a freshwater mermaid—and the owner of several catfish—who hides Serafina, Neela, and Ling from Traho

  LIBER MAGUS one of the Miromaran magi; the keeper of knowledge

  LING a teenage mermaid from the realm of Qin; she is an omnivoxa

  LIQUESCO a songspell that liquefies objects

  LOQUORO a songspell that enables a mer to temporarily understand another creature’s language

  LUCIA VOLNERO one of Serafina’s ladies-in-waiting; a member of the Volnero, a noble family as old—and nearly as powerful—as the Merrovingia

  MAGDALENA one of the Iele, or river witches, who helps the mermaids master their magic

  MAGNITIS a songspell that allows the caster to attract something like a magnet

  MAHDI crown prince of Matali; Serafina’s betrothed; cousin of Yazeed and Neela

  MALACOSTRACA huge crayfish that guard the entrance to the Iele’s caves

  MARKUS TRAHO, CAPTAIN leader of the Death Riders

  MATALI the mer realm in the Indian Ocean. It started as a small outpost off the Seychelle Islands and grew into an empire that stretches west to the African waters, north to the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, and east to the shores of Malaysia and Australia.

  MATALIN from Matali

  MEHTERBAŞI leader of the Janiçari

  MERL Mermish equivalent of girl

  MERMISH the common language of the sea people