Squinting one eye open, her heart leapt into her throat. It looked as though the Clan soldiers were swimming directly into some kind of invisible wall in the water. When they touched it, their skin seemed to boil and disintegrate right off their bones. Aazuria looked around to try to process what was happening, and she saw that the Sisters of Sedna all had their mouths open, and they were emitting some kind of sound—or substance—or lack thereof. Aazuria’s mind was reeling, as though this was some kind of fantastical dream.
Mother Melusina had said that she would have unusual dreams while she slept in the Arcanite Chamber. Perhaps that was what this was? Just some weird, trippy dream induced by the strange drugs used by the sisters? But as she looked at the open mouths of the women, she could see, feel, and hear the power of the frequency they were emitting. It was some kind of extremely high-pitched noise—so high pitched that she could not hear anything at all. Usually in the water, one could hear all sorts of muffled, watery sounds. It was a silence, but an imperfect one. But now, this artificial silence seemed to overpower the natural tranquility of the water, filling her ears with the barrenness of death.
Aazuria watched the petrified soldiers being boiled alive before her, and she shivered violently in horror, wondering why the same thing was not happening to her. Why was she immune to the sound—if it really was a sound? She could feel the horrendous vibration in her bones, and it was so chilling that it took her a moment to realize that what was happening was actually a good thing. Fighting the urge to rip her hands away from the sisters on either side of her and bolt back to Adlivun as fast as she could swim, she forced herself to stare into the faces of the dying men. She watched as their skin became reddened before simmering into the water and dissipating. She watched in disbelief as the men literally melted into nothingness.
She had never seen anything like this before, and yet she knew what it was. For hundreds of years, she had been raised on the stories of sirens; divine sea-dwelling women who had the power to create havoc and destruction with only their voices. As she looked around her at the sisters, she could not determine what exactly they were doing—were they singing or chanting? What could they possibly be emitting from their mouths to create such an effect? Was it possible to cause water to boil with only sound waves?
When the last man had fallen, Aazuria found herself still staring speechlessly at the scene before her. A messy marine graveyard of scattered bones and clothing was all that remained of the impending attack. She felt the sisters on either side of her release her hands, and she felt her body descending into the sea, immobilized with shock. When soft arms slipped around her waist, helping her up, she realized that it was not only the emotional trauma of the situation that had rendered her so astonished and weakened, but some kind of physical toll had been taken on her.
“Thank you for trusting us, my queen,” said the beautiful blonde sister. “We could not have invoked the wrath of Sedna without the blessings of the pure Sapphire.”
Aazuria’s brow furrowed deeply; she could not seem to grasp any morsel of understanding. Her mind was fuzzy from the effect of the sound, and her body was drained. “Please take me back to Adlivun,” she told the women who were holding her body afloat in the water. They nodded and dutifully began to swim home. Aazuria found it extremely unsettling to glimpse the powers held by the Sisters of Sedna and Mother Melusina—she had never imagined that such things had existed in her country, right under her nose. She had believed that it was all hearsay and folklore to scare children and enchant land-dwellers. In a few seconds, her whole understanding of the world she knew and loved had been completely overturned. This is not my Adlivun, she realized. I do not know this place.
She thought of Trevain, realizing that this must have been how he felt when he had first discovered the truth about mermaids. His knowledge of the seas he had fished for decades had been expanded to unnerving proportions quite suddenly, and he had been forced to accept the changes. She understood now, more than ever, why he had been so unsettled and acted with such violent alarm. She now felt much the same way, and was struggling to cope with the new information. It should not have surprised her that there was truth behind the mythology of sirens, for every legend was based on reality. But it did surprise her. It shook her to the core, for she had been the queen of this nation without truly knowing what resided in the veins of the Adlivun’s underbelly.
It was ironic that she had needed to be deposed and removed from her official position in order to gain this new understanding. Although she was too weak to move, she found the energy to be grateful for this knowledge; she could surely find a way to capitalize on it and use it to Adlivun’s benefit. Was that not what she had already done? Was that the appropriate way to think—to wish to exploit something sacred as soon as it was discovered? She shuddered when her train of thought reminded her of her father. She tried to think of something else as the women carried her limp body through the sea, but her thoughts wandered to Trevain. She involuntarily wished that she could tell him about what she had seen. It seemed an inane thing to wish for, considering she had been unable to share anything with him in what felt like an insurmountable expanse of time. Why should he still be the first one she wanted to share everything with?
This thought weakened her even further as she was carried through the water in a lightheaded daze, closely guarded by the Sisters of Sedna. When a large metal vehicle intercepted their path, Aazuria blinked rapidly to try to focus her vision and sort out her jumbled thoughts. When people began to exit the submarine, she struggled to pull herself out of her confused state. She released the sister who was holding her, and used her own limbs to hover in the water. She prayed that the submarine belonged to Adlivun, and yet she was scared to know who was inside the cabin.
Aazuria was startled when she saw her cousin swim toward the sisters, followed closely by Callder. She found herself backing away, and trying to hide herself within the group of women. She reached up to nervously touch her dark wig to make sure that it was still securely in place.
“Greetings, sisters,” Naclana signed politely. “We saw a group of swimmers approaching Adlivun on the sonar, and we came to check their identities. But there was a disturbance in our equipment and the sonar went haywire—the signals all disappeared. Do you know what happened to them?”
The blonde sister who seemed to most often take a leadership role was about to respond when Callder swam forward rapidly. “There’s been a fight here,” he signed to the other Adluvian men. “There are bones and debris. What the hell happened?”
Aazuria peered curiously at Trevain’s brother, noticing that he seemed to be more comfortable communicating with the Adluvians than he had been when she had first met him on land. Being in the water evidently suited the man—he had once been a parasite to Trevain, barely pulling his own weight when they had lived on Alaskan soil, but now in Adlivun, he was a father and a warrior. His spirit seemed to come alive, his blood singing and resonating with the world of his ancestors.
“The men you detected with your technology were scouts of the Clan of Zalcan,” responded the blonde sister. “We killed every last one of them.”
Exiting the submarine and traveling towards them was King Trevain himself, and he hovered near Naclana and his brother in confusion. “There were over a hundred men on our sonar. How did you manage that?” the king asked.
The women immediately all swept their torsos forward, bowing deeply to their king. Aazuria, who was not used to bowing to anyone, was frozen for a panicked millisecond of delay before she echoed their movement. It felt awkward and unnatural to bow to her husband, but it was an essential part of her disguise.
“We have our methods,” the sister responded.
Trevain frowned. “Would you care to share your methods? I don’t intend to interfere with your rights to practice whatever religion you choose, but when a hundred men magically disappear off a sonar map, we need to know exactly what happened.”
The woman smiled
cryptically. “Just examine their armor and insignia, King Trevain. They were doing reconnaissance for the Clan of Zalcan. That is all you need to know.”
“Actually, he needs to know quite a bit more than that,” Naclana said, moving forward menacingly. Aazuria’s cousin glared at the sisters suspiciously. “We’ve been hearing a lot of strange rumors at the palace about your mysterious activities. As long as you don’t cause harm to anyone, we intended to let you alone, but now…”
“Egads!” Callder signed, causing most of the onlookers to be puzzled by the unfamiliar word. “Can you guys just relax? No one really believes all that hocus pocus mumbo-jumbo about voodoo, witches, and zombies. Except the kiddies, of course. Whatever these ladies were doing—they obviously did it to our benefit. We weren’t exactly prepared to take on a squadron of enemy warriors, so we should be thanking them instead of grilling them.”
“Be quiet, Callder,” Trevain signed angrily. “We need to sort this out here and now. First of all, I have some important questions I want to ask the sisters about the woman they’re calling ‘The Sapphire.’”
“We cannot share any information about our prophesized savior,” the leader responded. “She does not wish to be revealed in the public eye.”
“It doesn’t have to be public,” Trevain responded quickly. “You can tell me, personally, in private. I need to know her identity.”
Peering around one of the spiritual women, Aazuria could not help feeling a blush of pleasure in her cheeks to know that Trevain was so curious about the rumors. Had Vachlan not dispelled the myths to everyone in the palace? It meant a lot to her that he was still asking.
“Hey, more importantly, do you ladies abstain from having sex?” Callder asked with a huge grin. “I’m just curious about whether you’re like our land-nuns. ’Cause that would suck.”
Trevain turned to his brother with a scowl. “Seriously, man! They managed to make a hundred men disappear into thin air without weapons, and you’re asking about their chastity?”
“Somehow, abstinence seems more challenging to me,” Callder said earnestly.
Aazuria felt her lips curling upward at this exchange, and she could see that not as much had changed as she had believed. She was startled when Trevain turned back to scan the crowd and seemed to fixate his stare directly on her. She immediately lowered her face to conceal her features, but just enough so that she could still read his hands and lips.
“Well, one of these women does have a rifle,” he noticed. “Ladies, we’re going to have to ask you to come back to the palace with us and answer some questions about the disturbance on the sonar. If you can confirm that we were really being scouted by the Clan, it would be a great help to us.” He gestured directly at Aazuria. “You there—I’m going to have to confiscate that gun.”
She felt a shiver of dread run through her, and she was grateful when all the sisters immediately swam closer together to conceal her from view. She looked around frantically for an escape route, knowing that she could not allow herself to be trapped in the same submarine with Trevain. She pulled the rifle off her back and handed it to the nearest sister before bolting for the kelp forest. She inhaled lungful after lungful of water as she stroked for dear life, not turning to glance behind her to ruin her streamlined shape. She saw bullets ripping through the water close to her body, but this did not give her too much concern; she had already been shot on two separate occasions and it was growing old.
When she reached the giant, swaying forest of kelp, she glanced back furtively and saw that Trevain was swimming after her. She gasped, pushing herself backwards into the seaweed. Why is he following me? she thought in frustration. It doesn’t matter. He will never find me in here. She turned and pushed herself forward into the densest part of the forest, navigating rapidly between stalks of kelp.
She pushed the muscles in her chest and arms to their limit as she burrowed deeper into the thicket, rapidly stroking through the water and yet trying not to leave an obvious trail of damaged plants behind her. Although she swam until her lungs ached, she acknowledged that in some deep part of her, she actually did want him to find her. I will be safe in here, she told herself, somewhat reassuringly. This green dress is the perfect camouflage for…
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt strong arms clamp around her waist. She felt the breath knocked out of her as she was clamped in an iron restraint. She began to struggle viciously, but she was surprised when she was abruptly released by her captor. She turned around slowly, her eyes widening when she came face to face with her husband. Her mind was blank for a moment as she stared at his grey hair gently waving in the water, and the all too familiar sparkle of his jade eyes. He was too close. Only inches away from her face, like she had dreamed him to be so many times. She felt oddly compelled to lift her fingers and touch some part of his flesh, and unexpectedly inclined to inch forward—but her body functioned correctly and began reflexively moving backward instead.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he signed before holding up both of his hands in a gesture of peace. He held this posture until she stopped moving, paused at a distance of several feet away. She seemed uneasy and shifty-eyed, and ready to dash away within a fraction of a second.
“I have seen you before, haven’t I?” he asked her in sign language. “You were in my hospital room. I didn’t realize you were one of the Sisters of Sedna. Did you come to pray for me?”
Her false black hair drifted up around her face, casting shadows in the already dark water. “Yes,” she answered, with shaking hands. “I prayed to Sedna for your health.”
“Thanks for your concern,” he told her. He moved closer, trying to peer beneath her dark hair. “Who are you?”
“I am no one,” she responded, propelling her body backwards as she spoke. She tried to place clusters of seaweed between them, but she could still see him clearly through the green stalks which separated them like organic prison bars.
Trevain screwed his face up with a sly smile. “That’s what Odysseus told the Cyclops. Do I seem like a brainless, blundering giant to you?”
Although she tried to resist it, her lips were already betraying her pleasure at the reference. “That Cyclops was the son of Poseidon,” she reminded him, “but me—I am truly no one of consequence.” Twirling in the water, her green dress spun around her as she dove into the growth of kelp and deftly slipped away. As she escaped, focusing on delving into the slimy seaweed forest, she did not know that he remained there, staring after her. She did not know that he remained hovering in the water and staring after her fleeing figure for several minutes after he could no longer see any sign of her.
Chapter 18: The Other Ramaris Girl
The new bridge between Alaska and the Diomede Islands was simply a pleasure to drive on. Marshal Landou could not wait until it was completed all the way to Russia. Handing his passport to the border agent as he crossed into the Diomede Islands, he glanced into his rearview mirror at the moonrise over the Bering Strait. The sun was setting before him while the moon was rising behind him, and he could think of no better way to spend a Friday evening than driving to the house of a woman he was becoming rather enamored with. He knew that it was not wise to get genuinely attached to an Adluvian, but he saw no reason not to enjoy his work.
Once the border agent asked him a few simple, routine questions, his passport was handed back to him. He began driving again, enjoying the scenery more than he was actually focusing on the road. The Diomede Islands were quite small, and within fifteen minutes he was pulling up before the Ramaris house. Upon parking in the driveway, he reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a spearmint breath-spray. He used his index finger to purposefully direct three doses of the vapor into his mouth. Pulling down his visor, he checked his reflection in the mirror, running a hand over his smooth head.
Pulling a bottle of ice-wine and a bouquet of flowers from his passenger seat, he exited his vehicle and kicked the door closed. He moved toward the fro
nt door and rang the doorbell as he shifted the items in his arms. When he saw the woman answering the door, he nearly dropped everything in his arms. The doctor had her red hair styled in large, soft waves, and was clad in a tiny satin nightgown.
“Um… Visola?” he said awkwardly. “Sorry to intrude, General Ramaris, but I was looking for your sister.”
A smile spread over the woman’s features as she leaned against the doorframe seductively. “It is me. I gather you like the look?”
“I—I just, well—if this is some game, General,” he said, stumbling over his words clumsily.
“It’s not a game, and I’m not the general,” Sionna said softly, reaching out to tug the man’s sleeve. She pulled him inside, quickly relieving him of the wine and roses. Giving the flowers a quick sniff, she cast them aside carefully. “Roses? I prefer oleander.”
“Okay, now I believe that you’re Sionna,” he said with a smile. “Impossible to impress.”
The red-haired woman was already examining the label on the bottle of wine. She made a face. “Hm. This was a really bad year for Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley. You should have researched it better.”
“You’re definitely Sionna.”
She placed the wine down beside the flowers and took a deep breath. “Gaston, I think you’ll find I’m a bit easier to please today. I’ve had a very rough week and I’ve actually been looking forward to seeing you—for the first time ever.”
“Oh?” he said hopefully, moving toward her. “I’m shocked. Is this the moment of weakness I’ve been waiting to capitalize on?”
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