I nodded. "This isn't a change that we'll be able to implement overnight. Shelly's pretty confident she can get a power plant of some kind up and running fairly fast. But getting the electricity into all the spires will be quite the project. We should probably temper expectations. This isn't a development that will change things overnight."
"I think most merfolk understand that," Agwe said. "Still, people are excited about it. They're quite thrilled with the job you're doing."
I shrugged. "Shelly deserves most of the praise for this."
"But you are the one who spotted her talent, who's giving her the resources to make it happen. Don't see yourself short. I don't think Conand would have ever had the vision to make all this happen."
"I really think this is going to be good for Fomoria," I said. "But you know, not everyone likes change. Another reason to roll all this out carefully and deliberately. Too much change, too fast, might make some people uneasy."
"It will require some finesse. Certainly, balance. On the one hand, there are those so eager for change that you can't give it to them fast enough. On the other hand, some will probably resist every new innovation."
"You're right," I said. "I think it's important that we communicate what's going on clearly and openly. We have to be transparent."
Agwe nodded. "You'll be fine. It's about listening to people, making sure they know they've been heard. And for all the things you do better than your predecessor, listening to the people is certainly on the top of the list."
I smiled. "I appreciate you saying that. Sometimes I never know, when I'm talking to the folks, if they're glad to see me or if they're sizing me up, trying to decide if they can trust me or not."
"The legion certainly trusts you. You've already achieved two of the greatest victories in Fomoria's long and storied history. I think most of the citizens realize that, too. Not to mention, you brought in the wyrms. The people have never felt safer than they do under your rule."
"You realize, though. Neither the voidbringer nor the whole zombie shark epidemic would have ever happened if I hadn't come to Fomoria."
"You don't know that for certain," Agwe said. "No one can know what would have happened if you weren't here."
"I think there are still those who see it that way, though. Yeah, they're happy about my victories. But they also see it more like me cleaning up my own mess than any real act of heroism."
Agwe shrugged. "There will always be critics. Every ruler in any kingdom that's ever existed has had nay-sayers. The fact that you're even aware of that, though, makes you're more in-tune to the people than most monarchs."
I nodded. "Well, that's enough talk over matters of state for one meal. How are you doing?"
Agwe shrugged. "That depends. Any progress on this whole adventure idea?"
I chuckled. "Yeah, actually. But I'm not spilling the beans, honey. I had one idea that didn't pan out. No loss, though. I have another plan that I think may be better than the first."
"I can't wait to find out what it is," Agwe said, tossing a hunk of shark meat into his eager mouth.
"You won't have to wait for long. If this idea works out like I'm hoping, I should know by this time tomorrow."
"Can I at least get a hint?"
I shook my head. "No hints. But I will say this. It may be a good idea to have the wyrmriders ready to go. What I have planned, I suspect, will involve more than you and me. We might need their help."
"Even the younglings?" Agwe asked.
"Hopefully not," I said. "But we'll certainly need Nammu, Ruach, and Tohu."
"So by the wyrmriders, you basically mean you, me, and Tahlia."
I shook my head. "Like I said, have them all prepared. Just in case."
"So long as whatever it is you have planned won't weaken our defenses," Agwe said. "You realize, Joni, that ship is still out there. If it shows up while we're in the middle of an adventure, we need to be able to rally back and mobilize."
I grabbed another hunk of shark and tossed it in my mouth. "That won't be something to worry about. Trust me on that."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"ALRIGHT, PAPA LEGBA. I'm ready!"
"Good!" Legba said, his voice echoing in my head. "I think you'll be pleased to hear that the Baron is intrigued by your proposal."
"Any idea what he wants from me?"
"None at all. He's pretty tight-lipped about things like that. But I'm sure he has something in mind. As reclusive as he's been in recent years, it's been a while since I've seen him so eager about anything."
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," I said, chuckling.
"We'll find out soon enough, I suppose."
"Indeed we will. Are you ready, La Sirene?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Remember to approach him confidently. No trepidation."
"Yup," I said. "I don't think that'll be a problem."
"Good," Legba said. "Prepare yourself."
"Prepare how?" I asked.
Legba didn't answer. The next thing I knew, a bright light flashed in my eyes. Everything around me went pitch black. The light flashed again. I blinked. When I opened my eyes, I was standing at the intersection of two gravel roads. They weren't real roads, of course. And the fact that I was standing, not floating, wasn't because I'd shapeshifted. This was a vision—I wasn't in a body at all, strictly speaking. It was sort of like when I went into the void. Things appeared according to however my mind projected my incorporeal situation. The crossroads appeared like two country roads with me in a human shape.
"Hello, La Sirene," the Baron's gravelly voice echoed from behind where I stood.
I turned and gasped. I didn't expect that reaction. I should have anticipated his presence. But as I stood there, staring up at the tall Baron, dressed in his tuxedo, the brim of his top hat capping off his skull-like face, a flood of memories poured through my mind.
Baron Samedi. A cigarette smoking between two fingers in one hand, a flask of rum in his other one. And his eyes... one green, the other red. Which Baron was I dealing with?
"Hello, Baron Samedi," I said.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" the Baron asked. "I've met with many Loa, arranged many agreements with my kin, but never in all my days have I had the chance to do the same with one who governs the sea."
"Agwe has never met with you?" I asked.
"Not in this manner. Your lesser half, I suppose, has never had occasion to desire a partnership. I can't say I don't blame him. But the sea covers most of the earth. Death is as much a reality in your domain as it is on land."
"Has Legba told you why I requested this meeting?"
Baron Samedi took a draw from his cigarette, turned his face, and blew a puff of smoke to his side. "He has. I must say, I'm intrigued. Never has there been a Loa such as you. One who belongs to the sea, but yet also to the land. And one who has been bitten by one of my vampires, one of my favorite vampires, no less."
"So you know what I can do. When I'm on land. I can see the dead."
Baron Samedi nodded. "When any possess my aspect, I can see all that they see. They are my eyes and ears in the world of the living."
"So I suppose, since you have no eyes and ears in the sea, you'd be inclined already to allow me to tap into your aspect as a mermaid, too."
Baron Samedi dropped his cigarette and snuffed it out with the toe of his wing-tipped shoe. Then he tipped his hat at me. "I must hand it to you. You're already attempting to set the table for our negotiation. You are not wrong. I would benefit from this arrangement."
"Sounds fair to me. You awaken your aspect in my mermaid form, and in turn, you have a new set of eyes and ears in our world. You'd be privy to everything that happens in Fomoria."
"This would be a fair and balanced arrangement."
"So you'll agree to it?"
"I didn't say that," Baron Samedi said. "Surely you know that I rarely engage in fair or equal bargains."
"Not with regular humans," I
said. "But I'm a Loa, too, you know. I think fairness is only proper. Since we're basically equals."
Baron Samedi narrowed his eyes. "But it was you who approached me. I've certainly managed without a representative in the seas for some time. I could undoubtedly wait longer. What you seek is more urgent."
I snorted. "Damn, you're good at this."
Baron Samedi laughed. "It's what I do, La Sirene. While the terms of what you propose are certainly fair and equal, it seems to me that you have reason to offer more if time is truly of the essence."
"What do you want, Samedi?" I asked.
"You realize, as a vampire, I already have a claim on your soul."
I shrugged my shoulders. "As a Loa, you'll never get it. My soul is as much La Sirene as it is Joni Campbell."
"Then I've been cheated of what is mine," Baron Samedi said.
"Not true," I said. "I was La Sirene before I was bitten."
"Be that as it may," the Baron continued, "there is another who has your unique abilities. Another female Campbell."
"The caplata, Nephtalie?" I asked.
"When you defeat her, you mustn't kill her. At least not completely. You must retake your vampire form and feed on her. Drain her of all her blood and heal her again that her soul might take the place of yours."
"What if I can't do it?" I asked. "What if I don't do it?"
"Then you will have reneged on our bargain, provided you accept the terms I propose. And you will have to suffer the consequences of our broken deal."
"And what would be the consequence you speak of?"
"If our deal is broken, you will divorce from your husband. You will thereby lose your divinity and leave me with sole claim to your soul."
"And if I refuse to do that?" I asked.
Baron Samedi shrugged. "When you accept the bargain, the terms will be in effect. If you should fail, the consequence agreed to will fall upon you regardless of your consent."
I bit my lip. It was too much. Sure, Netphtalie was an enemy of a sort. She was undoubtedly a threat. But she was my family. She'd been raised by bokors and caplatas, taught to believe what she was told to believe. I wanted to stop her. I had to stop her. But giving her soul to Baron Samedi? That was too steep a price to pay, a price that wasn't mine to pay at all, to simply gain an advantage over Nephtalie and the ghost ship.
"I think I'll have to pass," I said. "I can't agree to that."
"Then tell me, La Sirene, how else do you intend to stop Nephtalie and the pirates?"
I shrugged. "When they show, I suppose I'll figure it out."
"Let me show you something," Baron Samedi said. "Just watch."
Baron Samedi waved his hand through the air. When he did, he wiped the country rodes away from my sight as if he were cleaning a whiteboard. The sea raged all around us in its place.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Just wait," Baron Samedi said as we both floated over the surface of the waves. The Ghede Loa waved his hand again. This time a ship appeared. It was the pirate ship. Nephtalie sat, her legs crossed, on the deck. Several skeletal, translucent figures moved around her.
"So it's the ship. Where is it anyway?"
"Not far from the coast of Cuba," Baron Samedi said.
"Alright. So they're floating around doing absolutely nothing."
"All that power," Baron Samedi said. "The Fomorian magic you and Nephtalie siphoned from one another and amplified is still with her. Keep watching."
Nephtalie's eyes started to glow blue—she was using the magic—and a giant tidal wave formed out of nowhere and started moving toward the ghost ship. On the wave, there was a small fishing vessel.
"When is this happening?" I asked.
"Right now. Keep watching."
As the wave carried the fishing boat toward the ghost ship, all of the figures on the boat stood, lifted their arms into the air, snd started chanting Nephtalie's name.
The glow emanating from the caplata's eyes intensified as the boat came closer. Then, the two boats—the fishing boat and the ghost ship—collided in a blast of blue magic that quickly turned to a swampy green. The fishing boat was gone.
"What the hell happened to it?" I asked.
"Your friend, here, has learned to siphon the power of human souls. She's given the power to her shipmates. With every vessel they take, every life they claim, they grow more powerful."
"How horrifying," I said, shaking my head. "How many boats like this have they taken?"
Baron Samedi shrugged. "Hundreds. Most of them of the coasts of places like Cuba or Haiti."
"We have to stop them! You have to help me stop them!"
"You can stop them," Baron Samedi said. "But they grow more powerful with every life they claim."
"How are you even seeing this?" I asked.
"The pirates are dead, La Sirene. The sea might be your domain, but they belong to mine."
"Then you could stop this on your own," I said. "Just take the dead, the pirates, send them to hell or wherever it is you send dead people. End this horror."
Baron Samedi shrugged. "I could. But what would be in it for me?"
"How about being a decent fricking person?" I asked.
"Come now, La Sirene. I'm not a person, strictly speaking. And decent? Please."
"I still don't like this," I said. "What you're asking from me..."
"How many souls do you think Nephtalie has already claimed?" Baron Samedi asked. "All I'm asking you to do is claim hers for me. She won't be able to hurt anyone else. And if you don't stop her soon, she may be too powerful to ever defeat. The choice is yours, La Sirene."
"Damnit," I said, shaking my head. "Alright. I'll do it. But I want to hear the terms of our agreement straightforward. None of this talking back and forth, making assumptions, or whatever. Speak the agreement clear as day."
"Alright," Baron Samedi said, waving his hand through the air and returning us to the crossroads. "I will grant you my aspect, in any form you might take, the same way I'd grant it to any vodouisant. With it, you will be able to see the dead. In exchange, you agree to bite and heal Nephtalie that I might have her soul. Should you fail, you will renounce your marriage and deity and give yourself to me in her stead."
"Fine," I said. "Nothing more. Nothing less."
"It is agreed," Baron Samedi said, unscrewing the top of his flask. "Let us drink together and ratify the bargain."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I CAUGHT MY reflection on one of the shimmering, mirrored walls of my quarters in the royal spire. My eyes were still blue. Thank God for that. I might have the Baron's aspect, but, apparently, my eyes would only turn red when it manifested in human shape as vampirism. That meant no one would be any wiser as to what I'd done.
I wasn't thrilled with the agreement. The whole idea of biting Nephtalie and drinking her blood, not to mention turning her into a vampire, repulsed me. But Baron Samedi was right. She was seizing souls already—not for the Baron, but for the ghost pirates and her ship. She was drawing on the power of human lives to gain more and more power until, presumably, she knew she'd be able to handle the wyrmriders and me. There was no way to know how strong they were already. All I knew was that we couldn't risk waiting for her to decide she was ready to attack. We had to bring the fight to them. And we had to stop her from killing innocent people.
Agwe was probably off training with the wyrmriders again. He usually rode Ruach. Tahlia rode Tohu. And, of course, I rode Nammu. Titus could sub in for Tahlia or Agwe in a pinch. Either way, if we were going to track down the ghost ship, we had to act fast. I could see it now. But I also, based on what the Baron showed me, had a general idea as to the ghost ship's location.
As I left the royal spire, something with a vague huge of green caught my eye. I turned but didn't get a good look at it before it moved behind another spire out of view.
Was Shelly running wires already? Surely not. She had to get the whole power plant set up first. There was no ready she'd worked that fast
.
I kicked my tail hard, swimming as fast as I could in the direction of whatever it was that I saw. I turned around one spire just in time to see the exact figure disappear again behind another one. It was larger than a human shape. It reminded me a little bit of the ghosts I'd seen before. Could it be? I didn't feel any different. Was this the Baron's aspect already at work?
I chased the specter of whatever it was around another spire, then around a third. I had it cornered at a dead end on the edge of the firmament.
I gasped. What I'd seen was the ghost of a wyrm, Enki, Nammu's son. And on his back, Cleo. Both of them had given their lives, willingly, to save Fomoria. They were both lauded as heroes. But neither of them had moved on, apparently, into the beyond.
"I can't believe it," I said.
"Can she see us?" Enki asked.
"I think so," Cleo said. "I sense she's changed."
I nodded. "I can see you! And changed? Sort of. Not really. I mean, I got this new ability from Baron Samedi."
"At what cost?" Cleo asked.
I shrugged. "Don't worry about that. I've got it handled. Oh my God! I can't believe you're here! Why are you here?"
"When I died," Cleo said, "Fomora was still under threat of the voidbringer. By the time you finished it off, I'd missed my chance. But I couldn't leave, not knowing if Fomoria was saved. Without seeing if my sacrifice had been worth it."
I nodded. "We wouldn't have saved Fomoria with you. What about you, Enki?"
"I could have returned to the void without my family. Or, I could have stayed here. I'd be alone either way. At least here, I figured, I'd get to see them even if they couldn't see me."
"And you can talk out loud now?"
"Not exactly," Enki said. "I speak to you as I always have. Only in this form, that's how all spirits speak. Not audibly, of course."
"You hear us," Cleo said, "according to the same magic that allows you to see us."
"Incredible," I said, shaking my head. "And since you're riding Enki, I'm guessing you can interact with each other?"
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