by Kyle Shultz
I blinked. “Er…more or less.”
“Friends!” Niall swept forward and scooped me and Crispin into a bone-crushing bear hug, causing us to gasp for breath. Fortunately, his spiny fins were folded safely against his sides. I wasn’t sure if he was venomous like his fish counterpart.
“Sorry,” he said at length, releasing us. “I never meet anyone who understands what it’s like.”
“Oh, we’re not bringing that up again, are we?” complained Saoirse.
“Just think,” Crispin whispered in my ear. “This is you and Cordelia in about two thousand years.”
I pushed him away. “Shut up. The point is, Your Majesties, we need your help to defeat the Unqueen. Again.”
“It would be really helpful if we knew how you did it the first time,” said Crispin.
Niall made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, that’s easy.” Then he paused. “I mean, it’s easy to explain, more or less. It wasn’t easy to do.”
“I did all the work,” Saoirse pointed out.
He squeezed her hand. “Yes, my darling, I realize that, and I’m sure we’re all very grateful. Would you mind telling our guests how you did it?”
“I took her voice,” said Saoirse.
I nodded. “Ah. So that’s where that part of the fairy tale came from.”
“I created a spell that could permanently remove the voice of an Undine. The victim is still able to cast spells with runes, but Undine song-magic becomes impossible for them. The tricky part is, the spell requires an object enchanted beforehand to store the voice.” She reached for the snail shell around her husband’s neck and yanked it free.
“Pardon me,” he said, annoyed.
“Oh, you don’t need it.” She held it up to the light. “We used one of these translator shells. It fit the spell perfectly.”
Realization dawned on me. “We’ve seen one of those before. In the artifacts that Kiran found.”
“Who’s Kiran?” asked Niall.
“A bloke with a submarine. He stumbled across a lot of Aegirian artifacts in some trench. That’s pretty much how all of this got started.”
Niall wrinkled his nose. “Oh, him. He’s always poking around down here. My men have had a dickens of a time keeping him from finding Aegiris. We’ve had to use every illusion spell in the book.”
“Molly must have touched the shell,” I surmised, “or tried to use it, or something. That’s how she got possessed.”
Crispin looked dubious. “But that still doesn’t make sense. Saoirse, you said you took the queen’s voice. How could a voice possess someone?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” said Saoirse. “But the queen did die immediately after I cast the spell. I was never sure why that happened; the enchantment certainly wasn’t lethal. But perhaps she allowed more of herself than just her voice to be drawn into that shell.”
“You mean her soul,” I mused. “Or her consciousness. Not sure what word applies best here.”
“Possibly just her anger,” said Saoirse, her face grave. “A primal force of pure hatred and revenge. That’s what ‘ghosts’ usually are. Lingering echoes of emotion, so strong that they have some semblance of personality.”
“Molly said that the Unqueen became one with that song,” said Crispin. “‘Her fury preserved in living music.’ I guess this is what she meant. And then once she got possessed, the Unqueen made her destroy the shell so it couldn’t be used to take away her power again. Kiran was wrong; she didn’t smash it by accident.”
“But I’m surprised Molly fiddled with an ancient translator shell if she knew the story of what happened to the queen.” I turned to Saoirse and Niall. “I mean, after all, you must have told her the story. I’d have expected her to be more careful.”
Saoirse shook her head. “She never would have expected the Unqueen’s voice to be lying in a trench. She knew that I stored the shell in my vault, along with all the other magic I didn’t want falling into the wrong hands.”
“Your vault,” Crispin repeated. “You mean your tomb.”
Saoirse gave a wry chuckle. “Obviously it’s not my tomb.”
“Yes, I was meaning to ask about that,” I said.
“After The End came and the peace between the humans and Undine broke down, we allowed everyone to think our race had gone extinct. Convincing them I had died and was buried in that abandoned vault was easy enough. Many of our descendants lived among the humans, so they were able to spread the rumors of my demise. And thanks to my polyps, no one could get close enough to make sure I was actually in the tomb. Until recently, that is.”
“The question is,” said Niall, rubbing his chin in thought, “how did the shell get out of your vault? Doesn’t make any sense.”
“That’s a question we’ll have to leave for later,” I said. “Right now, we need to focus on figuring out what the Unqueen is really after and stopping her.”
Just then, someone burst through the doors and swam inside. The young man didn’t appear to be an Undine at all—his torso was joined to the body of a seal instead of a fish. He was bare-chested, with intricate blue tattoos covering most of his torso, and wore a sort of kilt around his middle. As he came to a stop, he sagged against a chair, looking out of breath. He picked up a canteen slung over his shoulder and took a long swig from it. Watching bubbles rise from the vessel, I realized that it held air, not liquid.
He’s a selkie, I thought. I’d seen frequent mentions of the seal-creatures in Caledonian mythology. I’d even investigated sightings of one a few years back.
“What is it, Conall?” asked the queen, looking concerned.
“Your majesty,” he gasped, speaking in a thick Caledonian brogue, “I’ve just come from the Kraken Cage. The wards around it are down thanks to that song, and there are skeletons attacking it. We can’t fight them off; we don’t have any magic and there are just too many of them. They’ve nearly broken through!” He hesitated. “And…it looks like Princess Molly is leading them.”
“Oh, no,” said the King, his face grave. “She couldn’t be—”
“What’s the Kraken?” asked Crispin. “I mean, I know it’s a kind of sea monster, but why is it significant?”
“You’re aware that all spells require a living source, I presume,” said Saoirse.
I nodded. “Oh yes. Well aware.”
“The Kraken is the source of the spells most vital to Undine civilization. It’s the power behind all of our songs. If anything happens to it, our whole system of magic will be destroyed. The spells we use to sustain our cities, to defend our borders, to tame our great sea-monsters—all of them will be broken forever. The chaos could kill thousands.”
“She must be planning to disenchant it.” The King let out a mirthless laugh. “I’ll end up being human again. After all this time, now that I don’t even want it anymore—”
“But if that’s true,” Crispin reasoned, “if all the songs will be destroyed, won’t the Unqueen be destroying herself by killing the Kraken?”
“Possibly,” said Saoirse. “Possibly not. She may not care either way. Revenge is the only thing on her mind.” She shook her head. “But she can’t possibly disenchant the Kraken by herself. She’d need at least one other powerful enchanter to help; otherwise she’d be destroyed by the effort before she could finish.”
“There is someone,” said Conall. “A young human woman. With blonde hair—”
“Dear God,” I breathed. “She’s got Cordelia.”
“Our soldiers are trying to stop them,” said Conall, “but that strange underwater ship is there, and it has weapons now. The explosives it fires have wounded many of our warriors. We can’t even get inside the cage.”
“So she has Cordelia, Kiran, the Nautilus, the Kraken…” Crispin counted off each one on his fingers. “Brilliant. What have we got?”
“Do you still have that spell?” I asked the queen. The one to take an Undine’s voice?”
“Yes,” said Saoirse. “I thought it best to hang o
nto it instead of locking it away in my vault. But it’s useless without something to store the voice.”
“I doubt we can fool her with a shell again,” said Niall. “She won’t fall for the same trick twice.”
My mind raced. “No,” I said slowly. “She won’t.” I wanted to pace, but couldn’t. Swimming back and forth just wasn’t the same. “Something that fits the spell, something that can store her voice…”
“You’ve got an idea, haven’t you?” Crispin grinned. “I can tell. You’re making that ‘I've got an idea’ face.”
“I'm not making a face. Now, pay close attention, everyone; this could get very tricky.” I glanced at Saoirse. “Your Majesty, I don’t suppose you have any chalk?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
To the Death
There’s nothing quite like watching a vast crowd of skeletons marching along the seafloor. Especially when you know they’re getting ready to destroy an entire civilization, and you and your merman brother are the only ones who might be able to stop them.
Saoirse and Niall swam beside me and Crispin as we headed towards the Kraken Cage. Nerys tagged along behind, nipping playfully at Crispin’s fins. A legion of Undine soldiers in gleaming armor followed in our wake, brandishing spears and shields. Most of them were half-shark, lionfish and swordfish, but there was an entire squadron of selkies as well, wearing only kilts and blue tattoos and carrying no weapons.
Niall looked down at the undead horde and whistled in amazement. (Don’t ask me how whistling is even possible underwater; I’ve got no idea.)
“There’s a lot more of them than last time,” he said.
“The Sea Witch’s Lullaby is a popular song,” I remarked.
“And apparently,” said Saoirse, “even the melody, with Logrish lyrics instead of Undine phrases, is enough to create a potential soldier in the Unqueen’s army.” She shuddered. “I never understood why that song survived in the human realm. I wish I’d never created it.”
“You were different back then,” said Niall, squeezing her hand. “You changed. We both did.”
“Speaking of changing,” said Crispin, “perhaps when all this is over, you two could teach me how to shapeshift back into a human. The way Molly does.”
The silence from the King and Queen caused both me and Crispin to stop and look at them with concern. “You can teach him that, right?” I pressed.
“Crispin,” said Saoirse hesitantly, “you and Molly are…different.”
“Different how, exactly?” Worry flickered in Crispin’s eyes.
“The spell that makes me an Undine was passed on to our children,” said Niall. “Over generations, it became less powerful. Because of the human blood they got from my side of the family, our descendants were then able to switch between human and Undine forms at will. That’s why Molly can change. For centuries now, she and her family have lived in two worlds, freely moving between the human and Undine realms.” He sighed. “But the original spell—the one Saoirse put on me with the same dagger Nick used on you—is so strong that I can’t change back.”
“Which means I can’t either,” Crispin said slowly. He glanced down at his fins, a stunned expression on his face.
I swallowed hard, repressing the urge to blurt out “I’m sorry” again. That would be utterly useless. “But…it’s not like my curse,” I argued. “I’m the source of my spell, so mine can’t be broken without killing me. Crispin doesn’t have that problem.”
“The Kraken is the source of Crispin’s spell,” said Saoirse sadly. “The only way to break it would be to disenchant the Kraken—thereby killing it, and destroying the rest of Undine magic in the bargain.”
“So we’re on our way to stop someone from doing the very thing that would prevent me having to spend the rest of my life under the sea. Brilliant.” There was no anger in Crispin’s voice, just weary resignation. He flipped his tail and swam forward again with Nerys close to his side. I followed after him, keeping my mouth shut. Silently, I resolved to find some way of fixing this. True, Crispin wasn’t as bad off as me—he wasn’t ugly, and he had a girlfriend and an entire civilization who were the same species as him—but I still had no intention of leaving him in this condition.
The Kraken Cage wasn’t a cage as such. It was more of a vast, underwater nature preserve for the creature, surrounded by a dome of powerful warding spells. By the time we arrived, however, the song had mostly dismantled these wards. Blue runes sputtered and died all around us as we approached. Skeletons patrolled the barrier, battling any Undine who drew too close. In the center of the cage, I could see the Kraken, slowly rising toward the surface. It wasn’t quite what I had expected from storybook illustrations—not so much a giant octopus as a humpback whale with tentacles instead of a tail. It gave a mournful, haunting cry as it drifted upward. as if it knew it was heading toward its doom. And all the while, the Unqueen’s song hummed in the background, stifling all magic and spurring the skeletons to hold back the Undine forces.
“We have to help it,” said Crispin, grimacing in compassion.
“Yes,” I agreed, “we will. But don’t you dare adopt it as one of your pets.”
Saoirse and Niall swam up behind us. “We’re too late,” said Saoirse. “Molly must be calling the Kraken to her.”
“We can still stop her,” I insisted.
Even as I spoke, a missile roared towards us through the water. “Look out!” I shouted.
Crispin grabbed my arm and whisked me out of the way just before the torpedo could hit. Fire blazed through the water as Undine cried out in alarm and pain. Nerys gave a squeak of fear and swam a safe distance away.
“Your Majesties!” I shouted through the fog. “You all right?”
“Yes,” Saoirse called out. She and Niall swam toward us. There was a small gash on the King’s arm, but the two were otherwise unhurt. It appeared that the blast had caused nothing more than minor injuries among the Undine—everyone had moved out of the torpedo’s path just in time.
“Those things are going to tear us to pieces!” shouted Edda, who was swimming at the head of the company.
“All of you are only here for backup,” I told the soldiers and the monarchs. “Only Crispin and I are going to get close. No matter what happens, everybody else needs to stay back. Understood?”
There was a murmur of assent. Deep down, I hated the fact that I had to involve Crispin in this plan. I’d intended to recruit a different Undine, but he would have none of it. I needed somebody to help me dodge the torpedoes from the Nautilus, and to carry out the more magical end of my plan. Saoirse would have been the most obvious choice, but her presence would make the Unqueen far too suspicious. We needed to be very careful if we were going to succeed in this deception.
Crispin and I headed toward the Nautilus. Within seconds, another torpedo came hurtling towards us. Crispin pulled me out of its path, then dodged yet another one. We eluded five in all before finally reaching the ship. As we moved through the shattered runes at the edge of the Kraken Cage, the ever-present lullaby suddenly grew much quieter. I could only hear one verse repeating over and over, an altered version of the one Molly had used to control Crispin:
Listen, O Kraken, hear none but me
Let my sweet song enfold thee
Rise, and let all Aegiris fall
Unto thine end I call thee
When we reached the surface, Crispin gave me a shove, propelling me up out of the water. I extended my claws as I landed on the hull of the Nautilus, digging them into the scaly surface. He remained in the sea, floating beside the ship.
Sunrise was just beginning to glow on the horizon. The Kraken had surfaced, its arrival sending waves rippling across the ocean. Molly, in human form, stood on the Nautilus, with Cordelia by her side. As I watched in horror, they both extended their hands toward the Kraken.
“Stop!” I shouted, scrambling to my feet. “Don’t do this, Cordelia! You’re too strong to let her control you!”
Molly an
d Cordelia both lowered their hands and turned to look at me. Cordelia’s eyes weren’t blank like Crispin’s had been when Molly used the song on him. Instead, they were full of sadness. “She’s not controlling me, Nick. Not like that. She has to reserve all her concentration for summoning the Kraken. Kiran and I are helping her now because we have to.”
“But why?”
“The skeletons overtook Warrengate. Even Malcolm wasn’t powerful enough to stop them.”
“Oh, no,” I moaned, envisioning what might have happened to the Mythfits.
“No one’s been killed yet, but they’ll all be slaughtered in seconds if Kiran and I don’t do this. I can’t let that happen.”
“But they’re all back at the school. Surely she can’t use that song to control the skeletons from miles away!”
“I told you,” said Molly, “I can control sound in all sorts of ways. And with the Unqueen increasing my power, I can control it from a great distance. I can even block magic outside the Kraken Cage and leave us able to use it inside. That way, Cordelia can still help me disenchant the Kraken.”
“And even if I refuse to do as she asks,” said Cordelia bitterly, “she’ll just kill me and force someone else to help her.” Cordelia reached toward the massive creature. “At least I can try to make sure the poor thing suffers as little pain as possible.”
“Molly,” said Crispin, “if you can hear me at all—”
“Of course I can hear you,” said Molly, still with that horrible, artificial calm. “I wish so much that I could help. It’s agony for me to even think of killing this beautiful animal. But I can’t do anything. I’m trapped.”
“Not for long,” said Crispin. “Ready, Nick?”
I held up the shell necklace. “Ready.”
Cordelia looked puzzled. “What are you doing?”
Crispin raised his arms out of the water, runes flickering to life around his hands. “Ending this,” he replied.
Molly’s gaze went from the necklace to the runes Crispin had conjured, then back to the necklace. “That’s very clever,” she said, with a hint of sadness. “It might even have worked—only the Unqueen’s just figured it out.” She raised her arm, summoning a ring of red runes. “I have to stop you now.”