by Tiana Warner
Finally, she lifted the crown. The instant it was placed over her pale, limp hair, she became radiant. The crown’s weight drew her body longer, prouder. Her shoulders squared. Her tired eyes brightened.
“My kingdom is built upon freedom,” she said, voice soft and clear. “You are free to live as you wish, to choose your future, to express your voice. We live without prejudice. You will not be sent to a war in which the gruesomeness of the battle is determined by your gender. You will not be put to death because of your affiliation with humans. Your loved ones will not be sent to suffer and perish in a labour camp.”
The words seemed to suck the air from my lungs.
“The labour camp,” I whispered. How many were still trapped there?
“We will free them next,” whispered Dione.
“What about everyone in these cells?” said Creon. “We need to free them, too.”
“Do we?” said the dreadlocked merman. “What if they’re here because they’re criminals?”
“They’re here because Adaro deemed them too important to send to the camp,” said Guenevere.
Queen Evagore nodded gravely. “We have much to fix.”
My eyes roamed desperately over the walls full of cells. So many urgencies competed for our attention. Every moment we spent here, merpeople could be dying in the camps. Every moment, they were working closer towards unleashing a fatal storm on the Pacific coast.
And Meela. She was at risk waiting for us to get to Eriana Kwai with the queen.
How were we supposed to do all of this at once?
The crowd was murmuring, getting louder.
It was not a noise of protest.
My heart pounded. The darkness itself seemed to lift.
“Free the labour camp,” a merman shouted.
His words were met with cheers. The mood seeped through the crowd like a burst of oxygen.
Queen Evagore nodded. “Dione, please assemble a team to go to the labour camp, and another to stay here and help free the prisoners.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The queen’s energy was rising. It would likely be brief, considering her condition, but her willingness to lead inspired hope in me.
“Your Majesty,” I said. “We’ve arranged to meet the humans at Eriana Kwai so we can come to an agreement.”
She studied me. I prepared to launch into an explanation of everything the humans had been doing, all the assaults we had faced and the threat of more damage—but she nodded.
“When?”
“We have to go now,” I said, breathless. “I’ll take you.”
Dione was watching us. Queen Evagore met her eye, and something passed between them.
“I require Dione and a few of my council to accompany us.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said.
It was reasonable. We could use a guard on the way there, and afterwards, they could take her back to Utopia.
Spio swam up behind me.
“Well, off to the labour camp,” he said, like he was telling me he was going for a jaunt to catch dinner.
“Wait, what? I didn’t mean you—”
“You’re right, buddy. We need to get to the labour camp before any more damage is done. For all we know, we’re hours away from that seismic crapstorm King Asshat wanted.”
“But Spio—”
“Besides, apparently Amathia is there. I have a maiden in misery to save.”
The thought of Spio travelling all the way there with this army, of fighting through more guards in the ocean’s most painful depths, constricted my throat.
He clapped me on the shoulder. “Lysi, it’s been weird. It was good to share it all with you. Next time I see you, it’ll be a new world.”
I had to trust his judgment. I had to let him do this. Maybe I would get to meet Amathia next time I saw him.
But one last hug. I threw myself at him.
Around us, the crowd took up the chant—more voices than ever joining in.
“Not my king! Not my war!”
When Spio and I broke apart, we shared a smile—the first real smile in what might have been a lifetime.
Victory pulsated through the cavern. I felt it in every part of me. Utopia was united, and we had the allegiance of the Nereid guards. Across the world, Medusa was taking down Adaro’s remaining armies. There would be no more labour camps, no more wars.
Spio was right—we were entering a new world. At long last, the sun had set on Adaro’s kingdom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - Meela
The Gaela’s Intention
Maybe Eriana’s homesickness amplified my own, because when my island materialised before us, the emotions crashing through me were too much to bear. Every time I breached and saw those familiar mountains, trees, and beaches, I ached.
I was returning home with Eriana in my possession—a true descendant, heir to the most powerful creature in the world. I’d never felt so proud to be a part of this island.
We arrived at the Welcome Centre, the port that had been unused my whole life. I made Eriana stay below surface while I waited half-submerged, feeling protected by the layer of water.
The totem poles scowled down at us, weathered and faded yet more alive than ever. I studied Sisiutl, wondering who had carved that totem, and whether the artist had known the real one rested so close by.
Had the beach always been so peaceful, or did my new senses make it this way? Waves purred against the rocks, seagulls chattered to each other, and the nearby forest whispered in the breeze. The smell of the woods summoned countless memories of running through those towering trees. Warmth spread through me, along with a new feeling of acceptance. I loved and cherished those memories, and at the same time, I cherished the ones I had yet to make. In a life that changed so rapidly as mine, I resolved to accept each day, and never to ache for the past again. My memories on Eriana Kwai were a beautiful part of me, but that era was now over. My future would be one of bright coral and kelp forests.
Something to look forward to, I thought, as the sun touched the horizon.
Someone is coming.
I frowned. She was referring to the sea, not the sky. A moment later, I felt the ripples at my tail.
Who?
I closed my eyes, trying to form a deeper connection with Eriana, to feel what she felt.
“Nilus?” I said aloud, my heart swelling.
The moment my brother surfaced beside me, we threw our arms around each other in a bone-crushing hug.
“You’re okay!” he said.
“Why are you here? Where’s Lysi?”
“I met her at the Nereids. She said you killed—well, I guess you succeeded.”
Words failed him as he looked back to where the serpent lay submerged. Then he looked past me, taking in where he was. His mouth hung open as he scanned the totems, the Welcome Center, beach, forests, and cliffs.
“Welcome home, brother,” I said.
If I were able to go back in time, to tell my past self that someday Nilus and I would return home together, in this state, under these conditions, I never would have believed it.
“Gaawhist,” he said. Home, sweet home.
The thrum of a helicopter met my ears. I lifted my gaze to see a dark shape break through the grey clouds.
Right on time, I thought.
“Nilus, I need you to hide below the surface, all right? I want them to see only me.”
He hesitated. “Okay. I’m here if you need anything.”
We shared a smile, and he ducked down.
The helicopter circled over the empty gravel lot, seeming to decide where to land. Finally, it sank. A hurricane blew at me from its massive rotor, pushing the waves back.
I expected a group of official men in suits. I’d pictured the face of the President of the United States.
Instead, a single figure stepped out, sweaty and wide-eyed. He looked to be in his twenties. I hadn’t pictured Officer
Miller so young. Based on his voice, I’d guessed him to be much older, maybe with a mustache.
Tentatively, I asked Eriana to raise her head so he would see us.
He balked when he saw the serpent, apparently frozen in fear. Then he squared his shoulders and ran towards us.
“Officer Miller?” I said, sitting taller.
The young man tore his eyes from the serpent and found me in the waves. He stopped, keeping several strides between us.
“No,” he said. He seemed uncertain whether or not he should look directly at me; his eyes kept skittering over the waves to my left. “I’m Ben Reeves. Officer Miller will be here any minute. I came to warn you. You have to stay away from them. They know.”
“What do you mean, they know?”
A second helicopter thrummed in the distance.
Ben paled. He whirled to examine the sky. The helicopter descended rapidly, this one darker and larger.
When he spun back around, his forehead glistened with fresh sweat. “I mean they’re going to kill you!”
“But—they can’t know. How did they find out?”
“It’s my fault. I told Miller. I thought it would make them go after the king instead of you. I mean—not you specifically, but—” He gestured broadly at the ocean.
The helicopter circled the lot, taking a wider swing than Ben had.
“Go!” said Ben.
I hesitated. Something needled at me, but before I could wonder, Eriana said, She is coming.
I faced the water, picking up her urgency.
“What’s wrong?” said Ben.
Nilus surfaced. “Meela—”
The next wave slapped the shore, and when it retreated, a mermaid was there on the rocks. The sinking sun glinted off her crown, which sat atop ropes of hair that hung heavy without the tide to lift them. Her orange-brown eyes glimmered. She spoke in a powerful voice that carried across the shore.
“Metlaa Gaela. I have come to collect what is mine.”
Medusa reached behind her to pull a bow from across her shoulders. She did not notch the arrow—but held it in her other hand, ready.
“I’m not going to pass control,” I said, knowing that even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to without sacrificing my life.
“Do not back out on your word! You promised me the serpent in exchange for my help.”
“You refused our offer.”
Medusa’s eyes reddened. “My armies have stopped Adaro’s across the globe. Without me, the war against Adaro’s regime would have been hopeless. I am the rightful master of the serpent.”
Eriana gave a low hiss.
“You’re not,” I said, feeling my own eyes redden. “I’m her descendant. This island is my home. Its legends are a part of me. I have the right to decide.”
Ben looked between us in alarm. It occurred to me that he had no idea what we were saying.
Medusa’s fingers, which gripped her bow and arrow more tightly, became webbed.
“I will have control, Metlaa Gaela. So unless you know a way that does not require blood, you leave me no choice.”
Before I could react, shouts carried on the wind. I snapped my head around to see people—my people—rushing towards us. They must have heard the helicopters.
My heart ached. Were my parents among them? Annith, Tanuu, and Blacktail?
Medusa raised her bow. The arrow was notched, its deadly tip pointing at me. “Metlaa Gaela, consider the arrangement you requested in the Atlantic. This is your final chance to give me what is mine.”
My ears pounded. The helicopter hovered lower, scalping back the shoreline. Eriana followed it with both heads. She could easily strike at my command—like a frog catching a fly.
A whizzing sound echoed in the air. My body reacted before my mind processed what happened, and suddenly I was in demon mode, lying flat in the sand, pulse racing. Had they just—?
Rat-tat-tat!
Sand and rock exploded across the beach. Eriana leant over Nilus, Ben, Medusa, and me, protecting us from the shower of bullets. A torrent of seawater rained on us from her head and horns.
The helicopter buzzed lower, groaning in a rhythm as the pilot tried to swerve into position.
Eriana’s second head rose to meet it, like a plume of smoke rising from a volcano.
“No!” I shouted.
Daughter, they are trying to kill you.
I don’t care. You’re not murdering anyone under my command.
And still my people sprinted closer. They shouted, waving at the helicopter. I couldn’t be sure if two figures at the front were my parents. I couldn’t be sure if the one next to them was Annith.
It was hard to breathe or focus.
From above, a male voice boomed over a speaker. “Everyone keep back! You are entering the line of fire!”
The time was now. Too many forces were after the serpent. Too many of my loved ones were in danger. If all had gone according to plan with Lysi, Queen Evagore would be on her way.
I needed to end this.
At my thought, Eriana lowered an enormous head towards me. Several people screamed as her jaws snapped closed over my body. Inside her mouth, she held me safely behind her pointed teeth.
Pitch darkness and her hot breath engulfed me. My stomach swooped as she lowered her head into the water.
Take us away from here.
We rushed forwards, the feeling in my stomach the only indication that we were moving.
Time passed in black, empty minutes before Eriana slowed. She opened her jaws, and seawater flooded in. I swam between her long fangs and back into the world.
Black lava rock spread below me, rising to the land in gradual swells. We had stopped at Skaaw Beach. The section of shoreline had formed when lava oozed through the earth a million years ago and rapidly cooled. Tides and earthquakes had since shaped the lava into sporadic patterns, full of holes and cracks.
I pulled myself from the waves and up onto the dry lava rock, glancing around.
You are safe here, said Eriana.
I faced her. Wind blew locks of hair around my face. Waves pushed my tail back and forth.
For a moment, I held the serpent’s gaze, level with those deep blue pupils that seemed to hold the entirety of the ocean. What a beautiful, magnificent animal. The thought of what I had to do next brought tears to my eyes.
In the distance, the helicopter thrummed. Eriana and I turned to watch its fast approach, a black hornet in the deepening sky. She tasted the air.
They would never surrender.
I considered how powerful I could be if I kept the serpent in my control. A treaty was one way to keep peace, yes, but signatures on a page were no guarantee.
But it was too dangerous. In the wrong hands, Eriana was apocalyptic. And, while she could protect me, someone desperate enough could fire an iron bolt through my chest and plunge the world into a worse state of war than ever.
Besides, there was Eriana, my people’s goddess, the soul and protector of our island, to consider. She was trapped inside this creature. I owed it to her to free her.
The serpent had served her purpose. She’d been the force that brought these leaders together. Without her, Medusa would not have come to claim her. The Americans would not be here to fight for her. Evagore would not be on her way here with Lysi.
The serpent had been vital to ending this war. But now she had to go.
I knew what I had to do. It was like Lysi had said about the law of fae. Fae could kill other fae. Maybe nothing could kill the leviathan—but the leviathan could also destroy anything.
My heart pounded as though it were my own life I was about to end. I wondered if the serpent could sense what was coming. Maybe it was her fear I felt, fluttering in my own chest. Or maybe she accepted death as readily as she had done anything in her time on earth.
Goodbye, Eriana.
She looked at me with both heads, the power of the oceans in
those blue pupils. I saw knowledge of everything that had happened in the world since the day she was born.
Perhaps that birthplace was in the volcano whose lava still spilled across the beach beneath me, cooled and hardened and chiselled over time.
The two enormous heads faced each other, not a trace of protest in her thoughts. My mind was blank, peaceful.
Eriana obeyed the command as willingly as any other.
The heads recoiled. The jaws opened. Seawater and saliva dripped from those long fangs.
They lashed at each other, colliding with the sound of a thunderclap.
Gashes opened beneath her scales. A molten red torrent flooded onto the beach.
The moment it splashed onto the rocks, it blackened and thickened. It oozed over the land and into the water, slowing, pulsing like a dying heartbeat.
The serpent lashed again. The lava gurgled and spat as a fresh layer poured over top of the cooling one. The moment the waves touched it, it blackened and hardened, forming a new blanket of ripples and divots.
She continued to strike, opening gashes. The lava spewed widely, painting Skaaw Beach with the story of Sisiutl’s demise.
As I watched her energy drain and felt it weaken in my body, I thought the story was beautiful, in a way. From the same place this creature had been born, here she would meet her end. Her remains would be forever imprinted on the shores of Eriana Kwai.
At last, when it seemed there must be no blood left in her great body, she surrendered.
I gave a shuddering gasp as the presence left me, as though she had taken all the breath from my lungs before departing the earth.
Slowly, with the awe-inspiring grace of a toppling sequoia tree, she fell. One head hit the beach with a shattering rumble. The hardening lava hissed and gurgled, absorbing its mass. The other head splashed into the water, her body laid out like a bridge between two places. The subsequent tidal wave curled over the beach, cooling whatever lava was still flowing. A spray of mist erupted high into the air.
As Eriana’s soul departed its Host, my mind was cocooned in silence.
CHAPTER THIRTY - Meela
The Pacific Kingdom
I was left panting, alone on the lava rock, more exposed than I could ever recall feeling. Eriana’s disappearance from my body drove a sharp ache through my chest.
