“After Katriona married me off, Starlet started having visions in public. Katriona sent her to a religious convent, to prevent her getting herself put to death. You know how our people are about the devil.” Orion suddenly looks startled at my candour, it’s the first time I’ve used our mother’s name in centuries.
“I should have known. I should have gone back for you two. I should have…”
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda. If you spend your life worrying about what you should’ve done, you’ll be topping yourself before you know it. Don’t worry about Starlet. If she didn’t tell you, then there has to be a reason.”
“Maybe she was ashamed,” he muses.
“Maybe those nuns had a bigger impact than I thought. These rituals are so damn non-descript. Either way, we’ll definitely never know if we don’t get her out of there. We have to save her, Orion,” I plead with him, for the only thing I really want. The safety of my sister.
“I know, we will,” he comforts me, but something behind his eyes tells me he doesn’t know whether it’s possible. I wonder if it actually is possible, saving Starlet, or if it’s too late.
After all, we are so very far away from home.
CALLIE
The chill has grown, morphing silently into an invisible enemy that is making a clutch, bone deep, for all the energy in my body. I should have brought a blanket or something… why didn’t I think to do that?
“God… I’m f-f-f-f-rreeezing…” Skye complains, but I can’t even scold her for whining, it’s cold enough to send the devil ice skating.
“I know. It’ll take time for your inner thermostats to adjust. Just remember, you can’t be killed by the cold,” Orion comforts the women, not making eye contact with me.
“I can still feel it though!” Alannah complains through chattering teeth.
“You will acclimatise. Stop being such a baby. Some of us lived here for YEARS before,” Azure reminds them, rolling her eyes, unamused.
“How far to the city?” I ask, Orion turns away from me, not answering.
Great.
Cole comes to my aid, scowling slightly in disapproval of Orion’s attitude, which makes our surroundings feel positively tropical by comparison.
“It moves. We’ll need to track it down,” Cole explains and I scowl, rubbing my hands against the skin of my arms.
“Moves? How can an entire city move?” I ask incredulously.
“You’ll see. We need to keep moving. I don’t like us being out in the open like this,” Cole hurries the group forward, encouraging us to keep moving.
I can see what he means about being in the open. The humpbacks still surround us, but the ocean floor has fallen away, leaving us hanging above a cold emptiness.
The waters are silent. You wouldn’t think it, but I now realise that tropical waters are loud, the movement of tiny creatures, shifting rock, and blowing bubbles of air that rise steadily to the surface. The pacific has its own rhythm, its own heartbeat - like the most unique sound you’ve ever heard, but you hardly notice when you’re among it so long. I know I’ll always notice it now, because I have been here. In utter and completely deafening silence. The waters are barren, bare and empty. No life except us existing for miles. The pack ice on the surface of the water blocks out the sunlight, leaving frosty shadow to fall into the nothingness below. The sparseness here is eerie and quiet.
The arctic water’s peace is broken suddenly, a flock of penguins diving from the ice above, searching for fish. They look so amazingly energetic for such a cold climate, leaving me awestruck. The humpbacks swim upward toward them, taking a gasp of air at the ice hole they’re diving into.
“Wow. Look at that,” Sophia sighs, smiling. I love her appreciation of the natural world, and I hope when I’m as old as she that I’m still awestruck by the raw power and elegance of the ocean.
“There!” Orion points to a hulking mass of shadow, far away. Cole nods and smiles slightly, but I wonder how they can be so sure.
“How can you tell from just a shadow?” I ask Cole as the blue sheen of his black facial scales reflect back at me coldly. He doesn’t reply, but moves forward, pushing himself to the front of the group. Azure is riding Philippe at a steady canter and Orion is beside her, his back to me and the maidens. The trident is strapped to Orion’s spine, and I immediately feel naked without a weapon. Almost as though eyes are watching me that I cannot see once again.
As we near the shadow I begin to understand what they mean about it being mobile. It’s a giant iceberg and apparently the only one among the pack ice for miles.
“It’s an iceberg,” I say, confused slightly. A hand grasps mine.
The city is inside, Callie.
It’s Ghazi’s voice, travelling across my consciousness like a lone ship in a stormy sea.
Oh. Is all I can reply, slightly dumbstruck. A city inside an iceberg? It seems ridiculous, but then I remember that everything about my life seems somewhat ridiculous.
I catch up to Orion and he passively moves to the other side of his steed. Azure glances between us and rolls her eyes. I assume he’s told her what happened between Vex and I.
I’m not going to apologise. I needed it. I don’t know how to regret something that showed me so much. I feel my heart start to close, but I stop myself. I need to keep myself open if I ever hope to fix things with Orion. I can’t run away from what I’ve done. I just have to work through things with him. When he finishes being angry that is.
I ignore the fact that Orion isn’t talking to me. After all, there are bigger issues here. I am grateful that the journey is almost at an end, but more grateful of the fact that there have been no demons in the waters we have travelled. The mermaids clutch their weapons to their chests, holding them like stuffed animals for comfort. The mermen have them strapped to their waists or their backs, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. I look between the men and the maidens and I wonder why I’m so different from the mermaids. I guess that must be pretty difficult for Orion, seeing all his male counterparts with women who are so very much damsels in distress. Then there’s me, not quite a bulky, muscle clad man, but not a helpless maiden either. Is it any wonder he’s confused? I just don’t fit.
Rose breaks my internal monologue as she poses an interesting question.
“How do we get inside?”
“There is a single entrance tunnel on one of the sides of the ice structure. It’s good for defence that way if I recall - like a bottle neck effect,” Orion answers her quickly, his tone clipped and clearly still angry. Rose looks annoyed at his briskness, frowning in distaste. I hear a call to me in the distance.
“Wait here,” I make the order, not caring if anyone follows it or not, flexing my tailfin and gliding through the icy water, which is making my mind clear and sharply aware. I approach Big Blue, her giant eye following my path through the water toward her.
Go.
The single syllable is uttered between us and I nod slightly.
“Thank you so much. For everything,” I whisper, placing a hand on the humpback’s face and letting it gently slide across its skin. I would never forget this animal.
See you again.
I blink. Wondering if that really is true. The whale calls out a song to the rest of its pod and they turn to leave. I return to my own pod slightly sad.
“Let’s go,” I say, feeling my heart break at the animal’s departure. I hope they won’t forget me.
“I’m glad we have your approval,” Orion snorts. Swimming off. God, he’s being such a diva. He should really wiggle his hips more. I laugh slightly to myself and Rose is looking at me weird, staring at me like I’m insane. I poke my tongue out at her and then watch as her eyes follow Orion, glazing over in a dreamy haze. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was checking him out.
We rise through the too clear water, moving across the iceberg’s massive surface vertically. The water, if it’s possible, is even colder close to the ice, but I try to toughen up and ignore
it, curious as to the city inside. We find the entrance quickly and journey into the heart of the iceberg in single file. I can see what Orion means about the bottle neck effect, and wonder if the Occulta Mirum would still be standing if such an entrance to the city had existed. I sigh, missing the warmth of my home, the glinting bottle tops and spires of sea glass.
Skye is right in front of me, and all I can see is her lemon scaled backside until suddenly the tunnel ends and the hollow of the iceberg implodes in a panoramic view that’s enough to make me inhale.
The iceberg is massive in volume and the city itself is bathed in pale sunlight from a lake on the surface, enclosed on all sides by thick white ice. I shiver, letting the cold seep into my bones. The city itself is dead and silent.
Spiralling shards of ice rise from the basin of the construct, shimmering like fresh frost and cut through the water with the definitive sharpness of a knife-edge. I am astounded as always at the intricacy of the buildings, some of which are adorned with balconies and sweeping staircases, swirling around their exteriors. Others are made up of spherical structures; like someone’s blown bubbles and they’ve frozen on top of icy pedestals. At the centre of the city is an ice palace. I don’t know why I’m surprised, after all the mer built this, so it only makes sense that features of it remind me of the Occulta Mirum.
I’m so busy gawping I don’t even realise what’s going on until a pair of angry silver eyes rise into my field of vision and I feel someone at my back. I look around, suddenly confused. There’s no noise, only silence and yet we are surrounded by strange and angry people.
“We’re not enemies! We seek sanctuary!” I can hear Orion’s suddenly urgent tone as the strange looking mer raise their harpoons and angle them in on us. We are surrounded from all sides.
“Drop the weapons,” the woman with the angry silver eyes that interrupted my admiration of the icy city barks. Her teeth look razor sharp and I’m stunned at her pallor. Who are these people? Is all I can wonder as she inches closer to me, jabbing her harpoon under my chin and causing my head to turn. It’s like she’s examining me.
“What kind of demon can disguise themselves to look like one of us?” The woman barks this question to her left; I dare not peek to see who she is talking to.
“We’re not demons! We’re here to seek sanctuary!” I can hear Orion repeat. I can also hear Azure behind me muttering.
“They want to see a freaking demon, I’ll show them…” I watch the silver eyes of my captor flick to her.
“Azure… shut up,” I whisper urgently, feeling the cold of the harpoon’s blade jerk against my skin.
“Azure? What kind of demon is-”
“We’re not demons!” I repeat, trying to get her to lock eyes with me as I examine her face. They have odd half eye masks that climb to just under their pale eyebrows and frame eyes of pale irises and white eyelashes, but the skin under their eyes is bare of scale. She catches my gaze finally and something odd happens.
“You have the same eyes as…” She begins but is cut off by a man.
“If you’re not dangerous then why do you have weapons?” His voice is deep and threatening.
“Drop your weapons!” I hear Cole call out to us. I hear a clatter of weaponry being handed over.
“And the horse! We want the horse!” I hear another male voice demand. I feel the water stir behind me, and assume Azure is handing over the Equinox. Poor Philippe.
“Take us to your ruler. I can straighten this out. We are no threat to you. We’ve given you all our weapons.” I want to turn, to see what’s going on behind me, but the only thing I can do is stare down the handle of the harpoon at my throat and into the increasingly curious silver eyes of a woman with jagged teeth and long silvery blue hair. I smile, trying to seem harmless, she loosens her grip slightly, but her expression remains the same. My heart hammers, fearful in my chest. I am at least grateful for the increased circulation, and find myself almost sweating with panic.
“We cannot take them to the chief. What if they plan to harm him?” The woman says to the man with the deep voice.
“The chief can handle himself. They have no weapons.”
“But what of magic?” She says, whipping her hair sideways and hissing slightly. She is beautiful, so much so that her sharp features are bordering on cruel.
“The chief will decide what to do with these intruders, stand down Nika.” The man’s tone sounds bored, and I can tell there’s some kind of rivalry between them. I gulp, feeling my gills open against the sharp edge of the harpoon at my throat. It’s more than a little uncomfortable, and I feel myself relax as she pulls back on the long handle and gives me a cold stare.
“Well go on then! Move!” She demands, jabbing her harpoon my way. Orion overtakes me, looking sideways at me out of the corner of his eye. I want to mouth what the hell is going on here? But then I remember we’re in a fight, so instead I press my lips into a cold hard line.
“Where are we going?” I hear Rose ask; brave I’ll give her that. I bet she immediately regrets it as the one they call Nika turns, pivoting faster than any animal I’ve ever seen.
“We’re taking you to see the chief. So you better respect him, and us. Or I’ll have your pretty head as a flotation device,” she snarls the words, curling her lips around them.
I look at Orion and notice he’s not even paying attention; he’s too busy staring over one of the other strange women leading us into the city. She’s got long flowing lilac hair and a curvaceous physique, her breasts hang heavy as she swims, clad with ice blue scales and her tailfin is hypnotic in its motion, though not ethereal like our maiden’s, it reeks of raw power, of strength; and he can’t keep his eyes off of her. I want to pull back my teeth and snarl, feral and pissed, but I remember I have no power here and swallow my fury as I feel my heart shatter.
I look away, back to where Rose cowers before Nika, the cruelly beautiful temptress.
“I’m… I’m sorry….” Rose’s resolve snaps like a twig under the scrutiny and Nika’s top lip curls into a self-satisfied, sharp smile. She whips her tail in front of Rose’s face, startling her and making her jump slightly, interrupting the stroke of her swim and moving back to the front of our pod to lead us.
We move through the streets of the city, and I can feel eyes on me. I look up, around at the buildings and realise now that it’s not even slightly empty. The strange people are watching me from their frozen bubbles, from their icy glazed windows with pale, cruel eyes. I feel like I’m swimming to my death, being watched like some kind of criminal headed for public execution. I can hear the mermaids start to whisper behind me and I cringe internally as I watch Nika’s ears prick.
“Quiet back there!” She barks like a drill sergeant as hush immediately falls.
We reach the staggering height of the ice palace and I see now that it is covered in staircases, twisting around each of the shard like towers and all likeness to the Alcazar Oceania at home is lost.
The strangers climb, herding us like cattle up the winding coolness of the staircase. I wince as my tail touches the icy hardness of a step, the cold sending a sharp jolt up my spine, almost like I’ve been burned. This place is so much more than frozen; it’s practically glacial in temperature.
We reach the top of the staircase and icy double doors greet us. Nika and the man with the deep voice go inside and the other’s turn on us, watching with narrow eyes. Orion is still staring at the lilac haired woman, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. It’s sickening how obvious it is that he finds her attractive, and I wonder if he ogles me like that and I just haven’t noticed.
“What are we waiting for?” He asks her.
“You don’t just go into a meeting with the chief unannounced. Nika and Cain will present the situation. He will decide if he wants to address you, or if he’d rather us just kill you.”
“Oh, thank you for clearing that up…” Orion searches for her name and the woman with lilac hair looks like she might blush.
>
“Sirenia,” she corrects him, actually blushing now. It’s hideously obvious with her pale skin and I wonder what it must be like to touch someone who looks that pale, I bet her skin is like that of a cold fish.
A man behind her with an icy blue tailfin and mint green eyes looks like he might punch Orion.
“Best not talk to the prisoners, Sirenia,” he says, pulling on her shoulder so she has to turn and stare at him.
“Cage, you realise they haven’t actually done anything wrong…” She begins, but as she breathes in to say something else the double doors behind her swing open, revealing Nika and Cain.
“This way please.” Nika’s expression doesn’t reveal anything and I exhale slightly, feeling weary after so much drama. We have come here for sanctuary, but at this rate I’d say we’ll be lucky if we aren’t beheaded.
I think of my father, of how I’d had some dream that I might find him here. That seems impossible now. If he hadn’t been murdered by these pale savages then it seems likely he isn’t here, and there’s an awful lot of ocean to search. I close my eyes for a moment, slowing as the other mermaids overtake me. I feel weak. I feel tired. The mer no longer have a permanent place to call home, and the nomadic life that seemed so incredible a few months ago seems terrifying now. I miss having a home. I miss having a family too.
“Move,” the stranger with mint green eyes shoves into me, his abs rock hard against my spine.
“Alright I’m going! Geez!” I exclaim, annoyed. He looks surprised. His expression starts to develop into an angry one, but I stop him. “Sorry. It’s been a long trip,” I sigh out and he looks taken aback once more. I wonder if he’s shocked that I’m melancholy, that I’m perhaps a little more human than he had first thought. He shrugs and I hurry forward. The corridor is long behind the double doors and the architecture inside is elaborate, as icicles hang and the ice that makes up the walls sweeps in arching swirls and fleur-de-lis. My tail sweeps through the cold water, propelling me in quick time as I catch up to the crowd. They’re gathered before another set of icy double doors, which I wonder how they can bear to touch.
The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Page 37
