by Kyle Shultz
“I really can’t,” said Molly, shaking her head sadly. “I’m sorry.”
“All right, ‘Unqueen,’” I said, “I’m talking to you now. You found a host, and you decided to start up your big revenge plan again. Following you so far. Here’s what I don’t understand. If you wanted to finally get back at the humans, then why didn’t you just summon your army of skeletons—which, based on what I saw yesterday, you’re clearly capable of doing—and overrun Caledon right then and there?”
“She wants more than just revenge on humanity now,” said Molly. “Her own people turned against her. She wants to make them suffer as well.”
“I thought the Undine were gone,” said Cordelia.
“They’re still out there. They’ve just moved further away from land, deeper into the ocean. I know where they are, so now the Unqueen does too.” Molly held up the scroll in her hands. “She needs the last two verses of the Witch’s song to carry out her plan. A verse that controls the living, and a verse that suppresses magic. The Witch never gave the queen the entire lullaby, even before her betrayal. She was too afraid of handing over that much power. That’s why we’re here—to complete the song.”
“That only explains why you’re here,” I argued. “It doesn’t explain the rest of us being here at all. You’ve got an army of skeletons; why couldn’t you just use them to get everything you needed?”
“She tried using the skeletons to attack the polyps,” said Molly. “But it didn’t work. Overwhelming them with numbers wasn’t enough; they were too powerful. They just took the skeletons apart. The queen needed living people to help, preferably enchanters who could use magic to fight the polyps.” Molly held up the scroll. “And because she didn’t have the last verses of the song yet, she couldn’t control the living. So when you three showed up, wanting to find the Sea Witch’s tomb, her problem was solved. The queen arranged yesterday’s attack so I could pretend to rescue you and get you to trust me.”
“But there were two songs then,” I argued. “Coming from two different directions. The song controlling the skeletons, and whatever you used to pretend to defeat them.”
“I’m part-Undine,” said Molly. “I have the power to control all sound. Singing multiple songs at once is child’s play for me. Especially with the power of the Unqueen’s voice joined to mine.”
“And the Nautilus?” asked Cordelia. “Where did that come in?”
“It was the most expedient way to get you all here. And she has a further use for it as well.”
“You!” Crispin pointed at Molly, his eyes blazing. “Mermaid-queen…thingie! I’m getting you out of her head if it’s the last thing I do!”
“No, Crispin,” said Molly, as music filled the vault. “You’re going to do exactly as I say.”
The melody was all too familiar. Molly’s lips never moved to sing the lyrics, but I heard them all the same—strange Undine words in the background, along with Logrish phrases:
Listen, my darling, hear none but me
Let my sweet song enfold thee
Listen and fight for me, my love
To my defense I call thee
“Oh, no you don’t!” I kicked towards her.
Cordelia cried out in pain from behind me. I spun around to see that the polyp was squeezing her more tightly.
“That’s the last time she’s going to let me warn you,” said Molly. “Please don’t try to stop me again. I need to concentrate. Controlling the living is hard. The dead are easy; there’s nothing to resist the song. But I can only command one living soul at a time.”
Crispin’s eyes were wide and unblinking. He floated limply in the water, entranced by the music all around him.
“Look,” I pleaded. “I’ll do you whatever you—whatever she wants.”
“She wants you to die,” said Molly patiently.
“Let him go. Take me instead.”
“She can’t,” said Molly. “Your curse fights back against her song.” She focused on Crispin. “Crispin, the queen wants you to pick up that big knife from the shelf.”
Crispin reached for the blade.
“Crispin, please,” I whispered, watching in horror as he brandished the weapon.
“Now,” said Molly, “the queen says she needs you to kill your brother.”
“No!” Cordelia shouted, straining against her bonds.
“Do it, Crispin,” said Molly. “I know he’s nearly invulnerable, but if he’s got a weakness, I’m sure you know about it. Use that weakness to kill him. Then Cordelia, then yourself. And please hurry. The queen needs me to sing to Kiran next.”
Crispin turned toward me, his expression completely blank. Slowly, he advanced on me with the knife.
“Don’t be afraid, Crispin,” said Molly. “The Unqueen says he won’t hurt you. He loves you far too much for that.”
“I swear, Unqueen,” I hissed, backing away from Crispin, “somehow, I am going to make you suffer.”
“The only person you could do that to is me, not her,” said Molly. “And you wouldn’t do that. You’d just be hurting Crispin further.”
“Molly, please!” Cordelia shouted. “There must be something you can do!”
“I truly wish there were,” said Molly. “I wish she’d at least let me express how truly sorry I am. Inside, I’m screaming for all of this stop. I can’t stand watching Crispin be hurt like this. It’s breaking my heart.”
“Why don’t you just use that verse for suppressing magic, then?” Cordelia taunted, as Crispin continued to advance on me. “That way, our breathing enchantments would stop working and we’d all just drown! Much simpler!”
I directed a withering glare at her. “Do you have to give her advice on how to murder us more efficiently?”
“The queen doesn’t want it to be quick,” said Molly. “You’re humans. She wants you all to suffer.”
”I’m not human!” I protested, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.
At first, I thought I would be able to find some way of holding Crispin back without seriously injuring him. If I could just knock him out or something, then it would be all right. I raised my fist, but Molly waved her hand at the same time, and a rush of water threw me against the opposite wall. My head struck stone, and stars swam before my eyes.
“Crispin,” I said, reaching up to grab his wrist as gently as I could, “try to…”
He made a quick motion with his hand, and bolts of lightning crackled across my fingers. I cried out in pain and drew back. Crispin might not know a lot of magic, but he was going to use everything he had to fight me until I was finally dead.
Another blast of water from Molly sent me sprawling, and my back hit the floor. I felt my fingers touch some small object lying next to me.
The enchanted dagger Cordelia had dropped earlier.
Words rose up in my mind as my hand closed around the weapon. Random things people had said over the past several days, coming together to form a plan. A really, really terrible plan, but still a plan.
”Your curse fights back against her songs.”
”I’m protecting you.”
”She knew that Undine minds were immune to being controlled by song-magic.”
”Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, you’ll have a chance to see things from Cordelia’s point of view.”
I reached up and slashed Crispin’s arm with the dagger. His blank expression wavered, and he grunted in pain. Blood rose from his skin in a red cloud, but the cut I had made healed within seconds.
Cordelia stared at me in astonishment. “Nick, please tell me you didn’t just do what I think you just did.”
“I’m afraid I did.”
“What’s going on?” Molly exclaimed. “What did you—”
Crispin cried out in surprise as runes spun around him. Armor like Molly’s spread across his upper body, reaching down to his thighs, and his legs fused together to become a fish-tail. His scales were orange with black-and-white stripes—the markings of a clownfish.
“Oh my God,” said Cordelia.
As the magic faded, Crispin clutched at the nearby shelf to steady himself, breathing heavily. “Wh-what happened?” he stammered. “I thought—wait, why do my legs feel so—?”
He looked down. His jaw fell.
His only remark was “Guh.” Or something like that.
I rushed towards him and grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t-scream-don’t-panic-you-can-do-that-later-just-fight-the-psychopathic-mermaid-before-she-kills-us-all,” I said, in one breath. I gave him a shove from behind, sending him drifting towards Molly.
“B-but—” Crispin stammered, completely bewildered.
“I wish she would be kinder to you now that you’re an Undine,” said Molly. “But I’m afraid she hates you even more now. To her, you’re an abomination. Just like Prince Niall.”
She held up her hands and blasted Crispin backward. He flailed his arms and fins, trying to regain his balance. I caught him just before he could bash his head against a shelf.
“All right,” he said, shrugging off my grip. “You know what, Molly? I realize this isn’t actually your fault and that it’s all some kind of magic thing and that I shouldn’t hold it against you. But I’ve just fought off an army of tentacle-things, had my mind controlled, nearly skewered my brother, and on top of all of that, I’ve just been turned into a fish-man. So quite frankly, at this point, I’m not in the mood to split hairs. Even if it doesn’t make sense, I’m angry with you. You personally. I admit it. And if you try to knock me over with your water powers again, I’m going to—”
She raised her arms and blasted him again. He gripped the sarcophagus to keep from being thrown into the wall.
“I did warn you,” he said, in a quiet, even tone.
Crispin threw his hands out in front of him and let out a long, furious scream. There were some musical notes mixed into it, so I assumed it was a rough version of Undine song. Whatever it was, it turned out to be very effective. Molly was thrown back, and the whole wall of the mausoleum went with her—along with several of the pillars outside. In a few seconds, Crispin had demolished the entire front area of the tomb.
“Good!” I slapped him on the back. “Very, very good. Nice work.”
“You turned me into a merman,” he said, sounding more confused than angry.
“Yes. I did. We can discuss that later.” I hurried to Cordelia’s side and slashed with my claws at the tentacles around her. She broke free and promptly blew the polyp to bits with a spell.
“Nick, are you out of your mind?” she demanded.
“I don’t know why you’re criticizing me. I just took a page from your book.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not out of your mind!”
“She’s coming back!” shouted Crispin.
“And as if things weren’t bad enough,” said Cordelia, “I think the water-breathing spell is wearing off.” She began to cough.
I checked to see if I could still breathe. Oddly enough, I didn’t seem to be having a problem in that area. “All right, Crispin,” I said. “New plan.”
He cast a glance down at his scales. “Really hoping it’s better than your last one.”
“It’s very simple. First, do that screaming thing again, but aim it at the ceiling.”
He obeyed, and the roofs of both the mausoleum and the pavilion above were blasted to smithereens. Through the rippling surface of the ocean far above us, I could see the fading light of the evening sky.
“Good job.” I grabbed Crispin’s arm. “Now, you’ll need to swim up. As fast as you can. Cordelia, hold on to Crispin’s arm.”
She did so, gasping and choking for breath.
“Swim!” I shouted at Crispin. “Swim with everything you’ve got!”
Crispin set his jaw and flipped his tail.
We rocketed upwards as if we had been shot out of a cannon. The polyps shot tentacles toward us as far as they could reach, but eventually, they were forced to give up. We shot through the water, the darkening sky above growing clearer every second. Then, at last, our heads broke the surface, and we took huge gulps of fresh air.
Or at least, Cordelia did. Crispin obviously didn’t need to, and oddly enough, neither did I. I had actually taken another gulp of water and still gotten oxygen from it.
“I can breathe underwater,” I announced as we bobbed up and down in the waves. “Without the water-breathing spell.” A memory of something the Beast had said—or started to say—returned to me. “Come to think of it, he was probably trying to tell me that in the dream, only I wasn’t listening at the time.”
Cordelia spat out a lungful of seawater. “Who?” she croaked. “What dream?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Well,” said Crispin, moving his tail to keep his head above water, “here we are. A beast, a merman, and a soggy enchantress. Now what?” He gazed up at the sky overhead. The stars were just beginning to come out, and the last light of the sunset was dwindling on the horizon.
Treading water, I looked around. That internal compass the Beast had mentioned in my dream told me which direction Warrengate was in, but I couldn’t see any lights on the horizon. “I’m don’t know how we’re going to get back.”
“Should be easy,” said Crispin. “You can swim, and Cordelia can hold on to me. We’ll be there in no time.”
“I can’t swim as fast as you.”
“Then you can both hold on to me.”
“Crispin, even if that didn’t tire you out long before we reached the mainland, who knows we’ll run into? We know there are homicidal skeletons in this ocean. Probably plenty of sharks, too.”
He combed his dripping hair out of his face. “Great. So, since we’re stuck out here, and we have plenty of time on our hands, do you think now we could get around to talking about the fact that you turned me into a merman?!” Crispin shouted.
“You’ve certainly changed your tune!” I shot back. “You seemed just fine with Undine when you found out that Molly was one of them!”
“I never said I wanted to be one!” Crispin snapped. “How am I supposed to ride my unicorn now?”
“Sidesaddle?”
“Oh, for the love of heaven, stop bickering!” yelled Cordelia. “We’re marooned in the middle of the ocean. And, just our luck, we don’t even have an island to be marooned on. Meanwhile, Molly is down there, doing who-knows-what to Kiran, and preparing to do who-knows-what to the rest of the world!”
“Right,” I said. “We need a plan B. Or are we on C or D by now? I can’t remember.”
Overhead, a vast black shadow suddenly blotted out the stars.
I grimaced. “Oh, what now? Is that Molly again?”
“It’s a big flying shadow,” said Crispin. “How could it possibly be Molly?”
“At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
The shape swooped closer. Beating the air with scaly wings, it fixed a pair of glowing eyes on us.
“Well, well,” said Malcolm. “What have we here?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Second War of Land and Sea
Riding a dragon is extremely uncomfortable. Try as you might to shift into a better position, there will always be various and sundry lumps and scales and spines working against you. I’m sure some sort of saddle would make it easier, but I’m also sure that anyone who ever tried putting a saddle on a dragon probably lived just long enough to regret it.
Cordelia and I struggled to keep our balance on Malcolm’s broad back as he soared through the air, making unexpected swerves now and then to avoid clouds and birds. Crispin looked miserable. He’d tried and failed repeatedly to shapeshift back into human form the same way Molly did. Now he was flopping around like a beached tuna, trying in vain to get comfortable. In the end, he gave up and lay flat on his back across the dragon’s scales, frowning up at the night sky.
“How did you find us?” Cordelia asked Malcolm.
“I followed you.”
�
�You were worried about us?”
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to make the Undine situation worse,” he said gruffly. “My only concern was for the school.”
“You were worried about us,” said Cordelia in amazement.
Malcolm was silent for a moment. “I’ll only go so far as to say I was worried about you, Cordelia. I haven’t made up my mind about Nick and Crispy yet.”
“Crispin,” said Crispin.
Cordelia patted the dragon’s scales. “Thank you, Malcolm.”
“Hrmph,” he grunted. “Now, I want to hear your story, but judging from the fact that one of you is now a merman, it’s obviously a long one. So do try to give me the abridged version, if you would be so kind.”
“Molly turned out to be possessed by an evil mermaid and tried to kill us and Nick turned me into a merman so I could fight her off.” Crispin spoke in a dull monotone, looking thoroughly miserable.
Malcolm bobbed his head. “Well done, lad. Good storytelling.”
“Thanks.”
“So Molly’s possessed, eh?” Malcolm made a pensive, rumbling noise. “That explains a lot. She’s always been a strange girl.”
“She’s only been possessed for about a week,” said Cordelia.
“Ah. Then it doesn’t explain as much as I thought.”
“She—or rather, the vengeful ghost of the Little Mermaid working through her—is planning some kind of attack on both humans and Undine,” I said.
“Delightful. What happened to Kiran, by the way?”
“We don’t know, exactly,” said Crispin. “We’re assuming Molly has him. And the Nautilus.”
At that moment, we heard strains of music on the wind. “Oh, no, not the singing,” I groaned. “Not again.” I twitched an ear toward the sound, trying to pick out the words I could understand.
Quiet your spells and lay down your runes
Magic will always fail thee
Only I shall to thee be true
And thou shalt be true to me
“Oh, no,” said Cordelia. “It’s a different verse. One of the ones she got from the Tomb.” She held out her hand, trying to cast runes. Nothing happened. “I was afraid of this. My magic’s gone.”