by Orchid Leigh
Through a curtain of raining water, I peered into a room I recognized. It was the same room I had been in before—the dome with a matching round pool in its center and where we met on our first trip to Glacia. And like before, there was a meeting taking place.
Dozens of merfolk crowded around inside. They were arguing. I listened carefully, straining to hear their muffled voices through the water. But their voices were songs again. I didn’t understand . . . not at first. I continued to listen, and like the words on the tablet before, the meanings of the strange melodious language began to become clear in my mind. It took only a few seconds, and I was understanding and listening in secret beside the window.
“We will let him go,” demanded a male voice. It was Levvi. He was standing near the pool in front of the crowd.
“We will not,” bellowed another merman in a low baritone voice. He was the same large merman who I had spoken with—just last night. But it hadn’t been last night for them, had it?
“This will not work. You fools!” said Levvi. “What were you thinking? Release him now! You are all but sealing our fate with this move.”
“It is our last hope, Levvi. We have tried rallying forces from the other mercities. No one will join our side. They are too afraid. They do not want to come under Razora’s wrath. They have seen the destruction she can cause.
“The princess has forced our hands and now we wait. It is far better than doing nothing. Do you see what doing nothing has done to our city? We are shrinking! It is only a matter of time before they all leave. And we will be destroyed just as Razora wants.”
“He has already been here too long. You know that, Strom!” Levvi’s voice shook. “And you have hidden this from Starla and me. Do we not consult the council anymore when making such fatal decisions?”
“The council was informed,” said a shrill female. “It was voted upon.”
“We took no part in this vote,” a soft voice said, and Starla rose to stand beside Levvi.
“What can I say?” said the shrill female. “If you were not part of the meeting, then it cannot be our fault.”
“But you knew we were attending to matters outside the city!” yelled Levvi.
“We needed a foolproof plan to get her back,” said the large merman named Strom. “She is likely on her way right now as we speak. And besides, it’s not like we went out of our way to capture him. He came to us.”
“He’s just a boy,” pleaded Levvi.
At those words, I felt the burning sting of fury like I had never known. There was no containing it. It bubbled and boiled, shooting lava painfully up to scorch my throat, and the ashy taste it left in my mouth was foul.
They had Peter!
I made a move to pull myself through the window. I would get Peter and we were going. We would leave this place forever.
My fingers grasped at the window frame. I pushed up onto the ledge, pulling my body through. Just as I managed a sitting position on the stone sill, a large bony hand reached around my waist and grasped me tightly, dragging me back into the water.
“Levvi!” I yelled. My voice escaped just before I was completely immersed again. Levvi looked my way, but it was too late.
The hand dragged me up along the length of a tall tower. I tried to scream, but my words were gurgles now. I writhed and kicked, but like the current before, this hand was too strong. It pulled me higher and higher up the side of the tower. A long tendril of violet hair floated in front of my eyes, and I knew who it was that had captured me.
~
Razora jetted up to a lone window at the top of a high tower. She threw me at the water-paned glass, and I came crashing down onto a wet stone floor. I slid across the slippery surface, slamming my head into a wall before stopping.
Ouch! Pain throbbed where it hit. I inhaled the air around me and felt the change. The mermaid tail had disappeared, and my wet denim legs were back.
I glanced around the room. It was cold and dark, like a dungeon in the watery sky. I could faintly make out a circular stone wall in front of me. The floor was covered in a layer of shallow water, and the dark stone walls held on to the chill. A shiver ran through me, but I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the fear that had me shaking.
The wall I had hit was smooth glass. I pressed myself against it, keeping my eyes locked on the window I had come through. Long bony fingers clawed through the water and wrapped around the edge of the stone frame.
Razora pulled herself in.
29
The tall mermaid took slow, bony steps, sloshing through the water toward me. I stared up at her from the wet floor, helpless and weak.
“Oh, Ellie, I thought that was you,” she oozed sweetly. A pleased smile stretched her lips thin and wide. The pointed ends directed me to vicious and scheming eyes that glowered in my direction. “It’s so very nice to see you again. And what an exciting time, with you getting your tail and all. It seems you are becoming quite the little mermaid, aren’t you?”
She stopped in front of me, fixing her evil eyes on mine. I tried to move away, but pain shot through my head again. I winced.
“Are you hurt, dear? I am oh so sorry,” she said with mock sympathy. “It really is a shame that it had to come to this, my child.”
“Razora, please,” I said weakly. I had no fight in me this time. Whatever power that was in me before was gone. “I am not a threat to you. Just let me go.”
“Let you go?” She cocked her head.
“Yes,” I cried.
“Now why would I do that?”
“I just want to get out of here. I won’t come back. I promise.” Then I whispered a promise to myself. “I’m never coming back.”
Razora studied me with curiosity. “Hmm . . . well, I may be inclined to believe you. After all, I can understand why you might feel at odds with these silly merfolk.” She laughed. “I agree they have been quite foolish, though I think, this time, their foolhearted act is going to prove quite beneficial to me.”
Her evil eyes brightened, then darted sideways as a door boomed open.
In stormed Levvi and Midnight, accompanied by a dozen more merfolk at their heels. Midnight’s light beamed brightly from his horn. It lit the room, reflecting off the shiny, wet walls.
Starla broke from the group and ran to my side. She helped me off the watery floor, and we stood trembling together in front of Razora.
Razora eyed the newcomers with glee. “Welcome, Levvi and friends,” she said. “We were just discussing your generosity, for you have been so kind as to wrap up this sweet gift for me.” She waved her arms and gestured behind me.
I turned around.
The light from Midnight’s horn shone brightly around the room, lighting the wall that I had been pressed against. I took a step back.
The smooth glass wall was just one side of a dark and massive glass cube that sat in the center of the circular room.
I turned questioning eyes to Razora, then to Levvi. His grief-stricken eyes met mine with sorrow.
“What’s going on, Levvi? Where’s Peter?”
Levvi was quiet. I silently beseeched Starla by my side. Neither of them answered.
“Tell her,” said Razora. “Or should I?”
Levvi looked at me with sad eyes. “He is here,” he said finally.
“Here?” I twisted, searching for Peter. He was nowhere among the group of merfolk that had arrived. “Where?” I asked desperately. He wasn’t answering quickly enough. “Where is Peter, Levvi?”
Then Levvi nodded to the box behind me, and the realization hit—it was a cage.
“Is he in there?” I asked.
Levvi nodded.
“Let him out!”
“I do not think that would be wise, my princess.”
My patience broke. “I am not your princess!” I seethed. I looked around at the merfolk in the room. “You will let him go!”
I glared at them, my eyes hot with tears. No one moved. I stared at them blankly. “Have you really c
aptured him?” They didn’t answer. “I am not believing this,” I said, shaking my head. “I have been wrestling with whether or not to come here. I do not owe you anything, yet I had all the desire in my heart to help you, and now I don’t know why.” My eyes were hard with disbelief. “Release him!” I demanded. “Now!”
Levvi stepped forward—tears streamed down his face.
“I would, Ellie,” he whispered. “But I do not think we should right now.” He glanced at Razora in fear and then back to the prison that held Peter.
Razora stepped forward. “Oh, come now,” she said. “Let’s let him out, shall we?”
She strode over to the wall and pressed an invisible button. A dim glow circled around her finger. The cube lit brightly, and the insides behind the clear glass were revealed.
It was a cell, a glass room with a single bed in the center, and from under a blanket, Peter’s dirt-clad sneakers dangled off the end of the mattress.
“Peter!” I screamed.
He didn’t stir.
“Open this at once!” I demanded.
“Of course,” said Razora. She pressed the button again, and a door turned to vapor in front of me. Water splashed into the room, flooding the floor of the prison.
I rushed to Peter’s side. “Peter!” I cried. I tugged at his shirt, but there was no response. “What’s wrong with him? What did you do?”
Levvi stepped into the room and stood beside me.
“The room has the magic to pause,” said Levvi. “It was suggested so too much time did not pass for him here.”
“How long has he been here?”
Levvi hesitated. “He has been here for nearly eight months.”
I gasped. “Eight months?”
Levvi knelt beside me. “I was not aware of it, Ellie. I promise,” he whispered.
“Will he be okay?” Peter was pale and his eyes were dusty circles.
“I do not know, for he has been a long time in two worlds. I think so, though.”
“Why isn’t he moving?”
“It will take a moment for him to wake up,” said Levvi.
I put my hand on Peter’s forehead. His head shifted under my touch.
“Peter,” I whispered. He stirred again.
“Ellie?” He spoke in a stupor.
“Yeah, I’m here. It’s okay. We’re going to go home. It’s going to be al—”
A hand was tapping my shoulder. I turned to Levvi, who was trying to get my attention. Behind us, he fixed scared eyes on Razora, who was standing at the entrance of the enclosure.
I swiftly moved to the door, blocking her way. “Don’t you dare!” I raged.
Suddenly, there was power running through my veins again. Where it was coming from and why it was there, I didn’t know. But it was a part of me—natural, real, and all mine. And a steady courage, intermixed with this power, turned my resolve to iron; she would be no match for me now. “You stay away from him,” I demanded.
With the rise of my voice, the ground vibrated and small waves rippled in the water beneath us. Razora felt it, too, and took a step back. A tinge of fear swept across her pale face, turning it ashen and dry, but she was quick and pulled the mask back up.
“Oh!” she said sweetly, giving no indication she feared anything at all. “Do we have ourselves a little boyfriend here?”
She peered over my shoulder and into the room. I stood my ground in front of the door.
“You leave him alone!” I roared. Again, the floor rumbled—stronger this time—and the water splashed violently, hitting the walls with heavy waves. “Get out of here, Razora!” I pointed at the window she had crawled through.
She seethed and took another step back, sneering at me ferociously. “Why must you always be in my way?” she hissed.
“I gave you a chance to let me go,” I shot back at her. “This was your choice.”
“So you have decided now to stay?” She tilted her head in confusion. “Even after all they have done?”
“They are acting out of fear, Razora. That is all your power brings, fear and destruction. Even the purest of hearts struggle against it. How dare you lead them astray! I won’t stand by and watch it any longer!”
Razora stared at me, bewildered. She cocked her head again, and now sprinkled with the hatred, a look of pity adorned her face. “Oh, Ellie. But surely you must know by now,” she said.
“Know what?” I asked.
She sighed wearily and continued. “That the seed I watered was planted long before me.”
I peered at her, puzzled.
“Yes, these merfolk hide it well, but alas, their true colors are coming to light.” She stopped to glance around the room. “For this isn’t the first time that these merfolk of Glacia are finding it difficult to accept a human, especially these human boys that, oh so easily, steal our mermaid hearts. Sadly, it is history repeating itself.” She cast her eyes down disappointedly and shook her head.
“What do you mean, Razora?” I asked. Her efforts to reel me in had worked, and I bit at the line with piqued interest.
“Ah . . . so it is what I thought. You have not been informed of their true history, have you?”
I looked to Levvi, who met my eyes with hesitation. His gaze faltered and fell to his feet.
“Time for a quick history lesson, I suppose,” said Razora. “So where should I start? How about from the time poor Queen Leira was cast out of her city for mere love? That seems like a good place to begin. Don’t you think, Levvi?” She shot a mocking smile toward Levvi, who remained quiet and sullen.
“Cast out?” I asked. “I thought she left.”
Razora laughed. “Oh, that is the story they would have told, isn’t it? But no.” She paused and smiled up at the room gleefully. She turned back to me with delighted eyes. “I’d be happy to clear things up a bit,” she said. “Let me tell you how I remember the events.
“Back when I lived here in Glacia, as a young mermaid not much older than you are, I had a best friend. Her name was Leira.
“Leira was a loyal and devoted friend and princess and became a great queen who loved her city. Her heart was pure—the purest of them all—and it was no surprise she easily loved humans as though they were our equals. She, in fact, found humans and the world above fascinating and spent much of her time fixated on them.”
Razora’s eyes turned down as she continued.
“I suffered heartache when she fell in love with the man that lived above, for I loved Leira. But I learned to accept it because I saw that she was happy. But they could not.
“The fools cast him out of the city, despite her pleading, despite her loyalty.
“Leira remained in Glacia, but she was heartbroken and torn and was never the same after that day. She tried her best to be a devoted queen, but with a broken and distraught soul, she found it hard to continue with her duties.
“The fools of Glacia would not have it. Carrying out their greatest mistake, they cast out their weak and vulnerable queen, banishing her to the shore, demanding she never return. And with heartache and despair, poor Leira obliged. She stayed away as they requested and built her home and life above—apart from us all.”
Razora stopped and looked up, wiping a lone tear from her eye. And for a split second, the sad young mermaid from the past was standing before me. She glared at me, and her eyes devolved back to darkness, back to the present-day evil she had let herself become.
“Did they not tell you this part?” she asked. Her voice held on to the pain and it came out faint with markings of her grief—I felt pity for her.
I stared at the merfolk standing around in the room, then turned to Levvi, who had taken his place beside me at the door. His eyes met mine with trepidation.
“Is this true?” I asked.
“What she says is true,” he said. “We were scared and acted out of fear. I am sorry I have kept this from you, Ellie. It is part of our shameful past, and I only wanted to forget it.”
“You only wanted
to hide it from me.” I shook my head at him. “I needed to know this, Levvi. You can’t run from your past. Look what’s happened here.”
Levvi nodded solemnly.
Razora turned dark eyes to him. “So, I am curious, Levvi,” she said. “What was the plan here? Were you to take this boy, forever holding him hostage so she can be your little princess?”
A small and distraught Levvi left her unanswered as he studied the ground at his feet. “It seems they are bigger fools than even I realized, my dear,” Razora said to me. “Oh, such fools.” She smiled wickedly. “Do you really not see the error in your plan here?”
The room was silent.
Razora gazed upon Levvi with pity and disdain. “I suppose I will go on,” she said, turning back to me and continuing her story. “And so, you see . . . these fools cast out their own queen. It wasn’t long after that they realized the sheer folly of their actions, for in those days our own Tablet Laws were hidden away for only the most noble to read. It had been many years since anyone had looked upon them, so in fairness, the poor fools of Glacia had no way of knowing. No one knew what the true consequences of our actions would be. But we soon found out, didn’t we?”
She sneered at the room, then continued. “Once Leira was gone, they tried to exalt others to the throne as queen, but it was no use. When Leira left, she took with her the power she possessed as queen, and there was no way to transfer that power to another.”
“Then how is it that you have power?” I asked.
“I am getting to that part, my dear,” she said impatiently. “You see, there is one other way to gain the power of a queen . . .” She trailed off and looked at the quiet room, which stared back, dumbfounded. “It was never recorded or known because the ancient magic had been lost to us. In fact, it was my dear Leira who made the discovery.
“When Leira was cast out, we remained dear friends. She confided in me about her misery and heartache over losing her city. It was she herself who realized that as the true queen she could bestow the power of the queen to another. And so, she did. She handed her power to me . . . so I could rule this city in greatness, since she could not.”
