“Kylle, have you happened to see a seal skin anywhere?”
The siren gapes at me. Not all sirens can live underwater. Some have merfolk in their ancestry and actually have tails and appear like merfolk in the water, the magic in their voices distinguishing them as sirens. Kylle, though, has gills in her neck but otherwise appears as a human in the water.
She treads the water, her arms and legs moving a bit more than they need to, probably because she’s in shock over what I just asked.
“No, I haven’t seen a seal skin. Why are you asking?” She gasps, and a hand covers her mouth. “You don’t mean that someone stole a skin, do you?”
Grimly, I nod. “None of the selkies have come around, have they?”
Kylle shakes her head. “It’s awful nice of you to help them look for it.”
If she only knew.
She narrows her eyes. “Why do you look so unhappy? Did you really think that a siren would’ve taken it?”
“Of course I don’t think that. I just… I’m worried.”
“Worried why? Do you know the selkie whose skin was taken? Is it someone we know?”
“No. Err, I don’t know who the selkie is or if it’s a boy or girl. What I do know is that the selkies are furious, and they’re… they’re raging over it.”
Kylle tilts her head to the side. “There’s something you aren’t telling me.”
I exhale. “You don’t need to worry about it. Just… will you let me know if you hear anything about a seal skin?”
“Of course.” She hesitates. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
“Because it’s a terrible thing for a selkie’s skin to be taken, and you’re an empath.”
“I am not a true empath,” she protests.
“Maybe not, but you do care deeply about anyone and everyone.” I grin. She’s the most perfect siren for me to have spoken with. Out of all of them, she will comb every inch of Symphonia. If the seal skin is the realm of the selkies, she’ll be the one to find it.
But I don’t think it’s there.
I don’t know where it could be. The witch not locating it makes me very confused, but the missing seal skin is missing has to be somewhere. It’s not as if it could have been destroyed. I’m pretty sure that a selkie can’t survive if the seal skin is destroyed. If anything had happened to the selkie, the others would have been ready to murder everything and everyone in its path.
I shouldn’t even consider it. Why am I even thinking about it? But there’s another kingdom down here. Quarigon, the waves of the sea dragons. Maybe it’s because I’m part sea dragon, but I almost want to check out their domain too.
Don’t, Rillia. It’s a foolish idea.
But is it? I mean, it’s too far to reach their kingdom, since I would have to cross the Grand Divide, but there is another area of the ocean where sea dragons tend to congregate, almost like a second, smaller kingdom that is much closer, one I can reach in a matter of hours. It has a name, too. Gondra, I think.
Hmm. If I go as my sea dragon, they shouldn’t see me as a threat. My friend Branden didn’t realize he was a siren until he was much older. Maybe I can convince them that I just realized I’m a sea dragon. It would. Be the truth after all, and hopefully, I won’t even have to talk to any of them in the first place. I’ll just swim about, unnoticed, and have a look around.
I swim ever so slowly in the direction of their waters. Once the waves turn hotter, I transform into my sea dragon. Each time I shift, it’s becoming both easier and faster. It’s also almost a pleasant feeling. There’s no pain associated with it. Maybe I’m accepting that part of myself a little after all.
I’ve never been this far to the west before. The waters here are so much warmer, which strikes me as odd. Dragons breathe fire, yes, but sea dragons shouldn’t, right? I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t make sense for them to, not while underwater, and I don’t think sea dragons can leave the sea so… I don’t know enough about sea dragons. Maybe it’s just as well that I’m going to see the sea dragons. If I can find out more about them, I’ll find out more about myself. Even Dad can’t be upset about that. He said I have to accept that part of myself. Well, understanding will go a long way toward accepting.
The warmth of the water is soothing, and I realize I’m smiling. It’s a subconscious smile. It’s strange, but I feel happy, and I don’t understand why.
Two massive boulders act as pillars, and I cross between them. Somehow, it feels as if I’m entering another world. Everything here seems so much larger, from the rocks to the patches of coral. There are massive holes in the ground and along the walls. Caves. They must be where the sea dragons rest. The holes aren’t large enough to serve as houses. Maybe they don’t have any homes and just go to the caves to sleep and nothing else.
So far, I haven’t seen a single sea dragon. It’s almost eerie how empty this place is. Where are the sea dragons?
Don’t worry about that and get to searching.
I enter some of the caves. Most of them are bigger than I am, but a few are almost too small. Maybe they’re meant for babies and young sea dragons. It’s strange to think about the sea dragons as being that small, but their babies can’t be all that massive right from birth.
I fit perfectly inside one cave, and I yawn. How long has this day been? I’ve been going nonstop for hours. My head bobs. Somehow, this cave is so very warm and inviting…
My head bobbing causes me to jerk awake. What am I doing? I can’t risk falling asleep here! I don’t want to be seen, and if the owner of this cave returns, I’ll be screwed.
Okay, no more climbing into caves. I peer into each one I pass, but there’s nothing there, nothing in any of them. There’s not even seaweed or moss or anything to lie on. The rocks and sand here are much warmer than those back in Hydria, so the caves are just as comfortable a bed as the one I sleep in every night as a mermaid.
As I turn and head to the east, I notice a large group of sea dragons. They’re long-necked creatures with massive fins. Each one could crush any sea creature with relative ease. Thankfully, they aren’t the swiftest marine creatures, or else none would be able to stand up against them.
Most are various shades of green or blue, the same hues the sea can be. Their tails are long, and some have barbs. They lack hair, but then again, a dragon with hair would be a comical sight.
The lot of them seem to be talking and laughing. Why are they so happy? Because they stole a seal skin? Why would they want to? Why would any of the paranormal marine creatures wish to? I’m so very baffled by the thief’s action. A human stealing the skin to have a spouse is terrible, but at least it’s a motive. To swipe a skin without reason is just plain despicable. Is that the case here? Did the thief not truly want the skin so much as to cause dissent beneath the waves? That’s so very terrible. I wish none in the ocean would stoop to such a level, but clearly, someone has.
I watch the sea dragons. They will bump into each other and rub their tails on each other’s backs. Two bump noses. I can’t tell why.
Too curious for my own good, I swim a little closer, staying lower than the height of the sea dragons. None notice my approach, and I don’t move any closer than I have to in order to hear them.
They’re talking about the weather, the temperature of the water. Although I think it warm, apparently they disagree. It is winter above the waves, so it makes sense for the water to be cooler than other times of the year.
Then they start to talk about who has laid eggs and how many. Honestly, they seem to be talking about rather mundane topics, nothing overly interesting. It’s a little boring and kind of disappointing too. I almost wish for the sea dragons to be more compelling.
I look from one to the other, noticing the subtle differences between them, and I find myself wishing I had a mirror large enough for me to see myself.
Hmm. I have no idea why, but that one sea dragon with black scales and hooded eyes looks familiar.
Before she or the other
sea dragons can look my way, I decide I’ve looked around enough, and I flee before I can be discovered. I didn’t see anything to suggest that the sea dragons have the skin. They aren’t acting suspiciously, and they aren’t acting evil, either. In fact, they seem almost peaceful as they’re minding their own business.
Or maybe they’re so laid back because they’re waiting for their dastardly plan to come to fruition. What if they were the ones to steal the skin, but they left behind evidence to pin the crime on the merfolk? What if they are the ones who want a war between the merfolk and the selkies? They might be playing the new queen of the selkies as a puppet.
No. I don’t think so. That’s just the prejudice of my people speaking through me. I can’t think that badly about the sea dragons. Can’t or won’t. Whichever. Unless I see something to suggest they are thieves, I will believe they’re innocent. How can I not?
I hadn’t seen much of their kingdom, but if they don’t have the skin and the sirens don’t, where can the accursed item be?
Chapter 12
There are three other smaller kingdoms in the ocean. There is a singular kraken who lives beneath the waves, but there’s no way I’m going to go see him. No way. He sticks to himself, for the most part, living deep within the depths of the Grand Divide. It’s not often that he sticks his giant head out from his hiding spot. Honestly, he’s probably lonely, but he’s more likely to eat me than talk to me. I think there are other kraken in the other ocean. If there’s to be more of them, eventually he’ll have to go and find a female.
Then, there are the kelpies. They’re water spirits that tend to take on the form of horses. For the most part, they’re evil. I’m not sure why so many aquatic paranormal creatures want to drown people, but kelpies do. Yes, merfolk of old did that, but we’ve evolved, most likely because we can pass as humans if we wish to. A fair number of unions of humans and merfolk have come about as a result.
Although I don’t think it’s likely at all that the kelpies have taken the sealskin, I seek out their territory. I won’t leave a sea rock unturned.
For the most part, kelpies prefer rivers and streams, but that doesn’t stop them from coming out to the ocean and having their kingdom here. To my surprise, there aren’t many at all here.
One swims up to me. Instead of having four horse legs, the kelpie has a massive tail that flicks toward me. So much for being able to have a look around without being spotted. The merfolk and the kelpies tend to stay away from each other. It’s not that we’re at odds, but we have different life goals, and are those human bones? Do they eat them? I never thought too deeply about why they would kill humans. Do they eat them? I gulp.
“Why are you here, mermaid?” he asks in a strange kind of way. I understand his words completely, but he’s almost but not quite neighing them.
“Have you not heard—”
“If you wish to have the kelpies enter the war brewing between the likes of you and the selkies, you can turn right back around and swim away as fast as you can.”
I narrow my eyes. “Or else…”
He flicks his head back in such a horse-like move. I hadn’t been certain what form I would find the shapeshifting kelpies in, but they do prefer their horses above all.
“I do not want war with you or the selkies or anyone at all,” I assure him. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“No? Tell me now, mermaid.”
“I have a name,” I say dryly.
“One I do not wish to learn.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you for yours anyhow,” I grumble. “Do not worry.”
“It is you who should be worrying.”
I scowl and cross my arms. “Have any of you seen a seal skin?”
The kelpie begins to laugh. “Is that what this is about? One of you stole a skin, and now you feel remorseful about the coming war and wish to return it only you lost it in the waves?”
“You can’t lose something you never had!” I say hotly. “Now, have you seen one or not?”
“Not,” the kelpie says, lifting his head high in the water, his hair flipping from one side of his neck to the other.
I eye him critically. “How can I trust you?” Suspicious undertones color my question.
“You’re welcome to look around. Look but not touch. You won’t find it, though.” With his fin, he kicks up a skull and taps it in the water a few times as if the bone were a ball.
Another threat that isn’t quite a threat?
I skirt around the kelpie and do look around the kingdom but only briefly. When I realize that their buildings—essentially stables with stalls—are made from bones, I’m too squeamish to linger in their waves any longer. There’s only the one kelpie that I can see, but I don’t like him. I don’t trust him either, but I do doubt the kelpies would have taken the skin. It just doesn’t seem like something the water spirits would do.
Which brings me to another kingdom comprised of another kind of water spirits. The nixes are much like the kelpies in that they like to tease and even torment humans. Some, though, are more foolish, but even they are not quite harmless. One of the nixes at the academy told me about how a few years ago, the nixes had some humans over for one of their grand celebrations. Nixes love to party and sing and dance. The nixes, unfortunately, forgot to continue to kiss the humans so they could share breath, the water spirits too caught up in the celebration, and the humans ended up drowning.
The nixes can change their height, shape, and size, but they tend to like to be fairy size when in the water, about the size of my hand. They swim up to me, going in tight circles around my person, and I can’t help laughing.
One stills before my face and tilts her head. She has long green hair and resembles a tiny human except her hands and feet are webbed.
“Have you come to play, mermaid?” she asks in a giddy-sounding voice.
“I wish,” I say. I squint. “You aren’t… You aren’t Maya, are you?”
“No.” She giggles. “I’m Naya, her younger sister. Wait. Are you Rillia?”
“I am. It’s nice to meet you, Naya.”
“Maya used to talk about a mermaid she played with. That was you?”
“Yes. That was a long time ago. I was… five, I think?”
“Why did you stop coming around?” Naya asks.
“My dad was becoming too upset about my disappearances. I didn’t want him to be angry with me. He was already so sad all the time.”
“Why was he so sad?”
“Because of my mom. He never got over her death. I’m not sure if he has yet to this day.” I grimace.
“Maya was so sad herself after you stopped visiting and playing with her.”
“I’m sorry. I did sneak away a few weeks after the last time we played, but she wasn’t there.” I rub the back of my neck.
It’s been so long since I befriended the water spirit that I almost forgot about her. I feel terribly guilty over it.
“Is she nearby?”
“She’s a little busy right now,” Naya says. “She just gave birth to triplets a few weeks ago.”
“Gave birth to triplets? Wow. That’s amazing. I’m so happy for her.”
Naya beams. “We can sing and dance and offer that up for her,” she suggests.
“One song, one dance.”
I don’t know the words to the song, but I hum along to the melody as the nixes dance. Once alters his size to dance with me, him turning his body to almost resemble a merman’s, which makes me think of Ezra.
The song, in typical nix fashion, lasts a solid ten minutes, and if I weren’t in the ocean, I would be sweating from all of the dancing.
“Did you come to have fun?” Naya asks.
She waves off the others. The male—whose name I never did learn—glances back a few times, but I remain focused on Naya.
“Have you seen a seal skin?” I ask her.
“Of course.”
“Where? Where?” I clap my hands together.
“Every time
I see a selkie.” She giggles.
I groan. “So, you haven’t seen a seal skin without anyone wearing it?”
“No.” She wrinkles her nose. “I could try to turn into one if you want. A seal, I mean.”
“No, no. That’s not… Do you think any of the others might know where a seal skin is?”
“I doubt it,” she says. “We talk about anything and everything. We don’t really have secrets. So I would’ve heard about it if there had been something.”
I nod slowly. “I didn’t think it would be here.”
“I’m sorry. We can sing and dance some more. That’ll make you smile again.”
I shake my head. “I should be going, but thank you. It was nice seeing you. Maybe I’ll come back during my next break.”
“Next break? Oh, you go to an academy, don’t you?”
“Magical Hunters Academy, yes. Why aren’t there many nixes who attend?”
“We have a school down here. Most of us like the singings and dancing and partying too much to leave for so long.”
“Ah. That makes sense. Please give Maya my congratulations and tell her that I’ll see her soon. If she wants to—”
“She’ll want to. I used to tease her that you weren’t real.” Naya glances around and then leans in close and whispers, “I thought you weren’t real, that she made you up.”
I almost smile. “I’m very real.”
“I know! And you’re just as fun as she said! Please come back soon!”
“I will. I promise.”
“Goodbye, Rillia! Oh, and if I learn anything about a seal skin, I’ll let you know!”
“Thank you!”
I swim away and take a short pause to find myself some fish to eat. I’m weary, so ready to just fall over and sleep, but I can’t. There’s another kingdom to check yet, that of Delphran, the waters of the leviathans.
It’s another few hours swim to reach Delphran, and the leviathans, for the most part, ignore me entirely as I swim past them. I’m hoping that I’ll see a certain one.
Finally, I swim up to a leviathan that doesn’t look quite as terrifying as some. After all, leviathans are sea monsters.
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