by Aaron Galvin
Henry plucked a torch free of its mounted holding beside the door to ward off the dark. “Come, Chidi.”
She obeyed, stepping into the shack, fearing Henry’s wrath more than the shadows cast by the flickering orange flames. Henry’s torch revealed the outer siding as a ruse to what truly lay inside. No mere shed for storing tools, nets, or the like. The cavern walls were shaped like hourglasses leading to a winding tunnel.
“How did you know this was here?” Chidi asked.
“I didn’t.” Henry ventured further in. “I needed only a place to hide you away until after the auction tomorrow. I’ll not have some savage Nomad take my Chidi.”
Chidi took in her surroundings with greater interest. So this will be my prison. The walls here were unlike those outside the shack. These were rougher, unsmoothed by time and pressure.
It’s a mining tunnel! Chidi realized. But where are all the tools?
Henry continued deeper into the tunnel. “A shack would have done nicely. I like this better.”
They followed the winding path until it branched in a Y.
Left or right? Chidi wondered.
Henry chose to go right. The walls sloped inward the further they went and soon Chidi found herself forced to turn sideways to fit. She thanked the Ancients when the side tunnel dead-ended near thirty yards later in a pool, its waters so still Chidi thought it a black mirror.
Henry thrust the torch at her. Only after she took it did he don his hood and transform into his Salt form.
Chidi shivered as the Leopard Seal slipped into the pool, then circle the perimeter as if in wait of a predator below. Henry dove so suddenly that she thought a Nomad or something more sinister still had caught him. She backed away from the edge, torch quivering in her sweaty grip.
Henry’s seal head breached a moment later, swam for the edge, and slipped out of the pool. He clacked at Chidi for her to free him.
Chidi did, reaching for his seal snout and peeling the skin back. She retreated as the changes took hold. “What was down there?” she asked when Henry stood before her once more.
“Nothing I require now.” Henry snatched the torch from her.
She followed him back to the Y and into the tunnel branching left off the main. Unlike the previous passageway, these walls widened as they went. The rock face of them was chipped, this tunnel handcrafted.
Henry stopped, cursed before continuing.
Chidi followed warily. She heard shuffling ahead and not from Henry. Her pulse quickened as the low ceiling opened into a larger room and Henry’s shadow cast across the far wall. Hesitantly, she stepped through the threshold and looked on what had made Henry curse.
Chidi gasped as Marisa Bourgeois stood tall in the iron cage she’d been locked away in.
Henry approached the cage. “What are you doing here, slave?”
“Waiting for you,” said Marisa. “Aye, and someone else also.”
Henry spat. “Lies.”
Marisa taunted him with a grin. “The Lord Crayfish ordered me hidden away the moment my presence was made known to him.”
“Why?”
“Why have you brought Chidi?” Marisa asked. “To keep others from seeing her.”
“You know nothing of my reasons,” said Henry.
“I know many things.” Marisa replied with a calmness that prickled Chidi’s arms anew. “Most of them secrets. Would you like me to share yours, Henry Boucher?”
When Henry scoffed at her claim, Marisa’s head cocked to the side.
“Should I tell Chidi why you will never let any harm befall her?” Marisa asked. “How you loathe the very sight of her, but cannot bring yourself to end your suffering?”
Henry’s face paled.
Marisa smirked. “Should I tell her about—”
“Stop.” Henry choked, then wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. “Stop . . .”
Chidi sighed, not realizing she’d been holding her breath. What was that about? Her gaze flickered to her owner. What does she know of him?
Henry grabbed Chidi by her bicep and led her to the iron cage opposite Marisa’s. In moments, he picked the lock with his coral dagger, then ushered her inside. “It’s only for a little while, my Chidi.” Henry closed the gate and locked it again. “Till tomorrow when I collect what’s owed. We will leave this place after, I promise you. Off for home, far from this miserable den of liars and thieves.”
Chidi looked into his eyes. Normally hard and unforgiving, now she saw them weary and concerned.
“My Chidi,” Henry said softly. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
I’m not yours. Chidi thought, backing to the furthest reaches of her cage. Never yours.
Henry frowned. He turned to leave, then seemed to think better of it. Kneeling, he pushed the bottom end of the torch through the slat openings enough to support the weight. “A gift for you.” He stood and looked on Chidi again. “I know how you despise the dark.”
Chidi saw his shoulders sag as he left the cage, almost as if he expected a thank you, or for her to beg him not to go. He never bothered to address Marisa again, did not even glance at her, as he vanished back through the tunnel the way they came. For a moment, Chidi thought to call out to him as a test to see if Henry yet lingered in the shadows.
She didn’t. Instead, Chidi looked on the torch’s flame. All that fought off the darkness Henry rightly surmised she hated. Chidi shifted away from the flame and lost herself in the gaze of Marisa Bourgeois. “What do you know of Henry? I’ve never seen him look like that before. What did you say to scare him so?”
Marisa smirked. “I know many things about many faces. I would wrong them by spilling their secrets. Even one as wretched as he deserves his secrets kept. What I said feared him . . . isn’t that what you wanted, Chidi? For him to feel some small measure of what you live with in his shadow every day?”
Chidi shook her head. “I want to be rid of him.”
Marisa’s eyes searched the empty cavern around them. “And so we are.”
“For now. He’ll be back . . .” Chidi knew. “Henry always comes back.”
“Perhaps,” said Marisa. “But I gave you what you wanted, Chidi Etienne, now give me something in return. That day we met at the Shedd Aquarium, you hesitated to deliver my messages to Lenny Dolan. Why?”
Chidi debated whether to be honest or no. Given all she had seen from Marisa, Chidi saw no point in lying. “You sounded so sure of yourself,” said Chidi quietly. “I wanted to know what that felt like. I-I thought . . .”
“That we might run together?” Marisa asked.
Chidi nodded.
Marisa grinned. “We will,” she said. “Someday the pair of us will run and swim together in common cause, Chidi. The Ancients sang it to me.”
“The Ancients are all but forgotten.”
Marisa nodded. “It is as you say. But there are still a few who believe.”
Chidi wanted to believe, but could not bring herself to dream of such a vision. “I’ve heard the Ancients’ songs many times, but never once did they sing words.” She sat down in her cage, her back against the bars.
“Yes,” said Marisa. “But you sense them, no? Feel their power stir something in you?”
Chidi tried recalling the last time she’d seen an Ancient. Massive beyond compare, the shades of a mystic world forgotten and neglected. Their long, haunting melodies the sole reminder of the wisdom and goodness lost once their legacy passed to Salt Children.
“All I feel is sadness,” said Chidi.
Marisa sat down in her cage. “I too know of grief,” she said. “Such overpowering sadness. It near drove me to make an end of myself.”
Chidi leaned her face between the bars. “Why didn’t you?”
“Why let sadness win?” Marisa answered.
Chidi wiped her eyes. “Did the Ancients teach you that?”
“No. I learned that truth for myself. As you will. Just as you will teach the only truth that matt
ers to others also.”
“I don’t understand,” said Chidi. “What truth?”
Marisa smiled. “Daar is altyd ‘n keuse.”
There is always a choice, Chidi translated. She shook her head. “You’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.” Chidi tapped the bars of her cage. “We have no choice in this.”
Marisa shook her head. “Our choices led us here, Chidi, just as those we have yet to make will lead us out again.”
Chidi sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
“We are in the waiting time,” said Marisa. “With harder currents still to swim.”
“How do you know?”
“The Ancients have sung me countless songs, one loudest of all. In that melody, I heard many voices.” Marisa smiled. “Yours is my favorite.”
“Why?”
“Can you not know?” Marisa mocked playfully. “Your spirit, Chidi. A goodly one that brings hope to others.”
“Hope?” Chidi shook her head. “There is no hope in this world. And my spirit is broken.”
“It will not always be so. You swim a different current than the others.” Marisa’s voice cracked. “Theirs is littered with much pain and death.”
Chidi hesitated to ask her next question. “And mine? What do you see for me?”
Marisa grinned broadly, her eyes glazed. “Tears, Chidi,” she said softly. “Tears beyond counting.”
7
SYDNEY
Sydney gazed up at the stars as the boat she rode in skipped over the waves. She could not remember a time when the stars looked so near to her, closer even than they appeared in her backyard. Here, she felt as though she could reach out and take one of the stars for her own, their seeming proximity like the way mountains looked to a traveler from afar – always closer than they appeared.
Sydney glanced over her shoulder as the boat slowed beneath her. The coastline had long since vanished, Brutus maintaining the high speed all six engines could muster to escape the Selkie catchers who had stalked them upon the docks. How long have we been asea now? she wondered. A couple hours? More?
Sydney could not say.
Across from her, Owens had wrapped his arm around Amelia’s shoulders, his massive body shuttering her from the wet and the cold that sprayed over the boat side with every skipped wave. Each of them looked toward the captain’s quarters when the engines quieted. The boat drifted then, rocking back and forth at the ocean’s whims.
Brutus stepped out of the captain’s quarters and made a grand show of taking a deep sniff of salty sea air. “Smell that, friends?” he asked. “That’s true freedom, it is. You’ll find no sweeter scent than that.”
Sydney grinned in agreement. “So what now?” she asked. “Why have we stopped?”
Brutus nodded toward the water. “You lot have been so anxious to get here, thought might be you want to take your first dip in the Salt. Nothing like a nightly swim, dear.”
“What? Here?” she asked. “Now?”
“Aye, lass.” Brutus craned his neck back to look up at the sky. “Clear night like this? Wait till you see the moonlight striking through the water. Almost like a picture of heaven itself, it is.”
Sydney shuddered when glancing over the side at the black, gleaming ocean. I thought heaven would look a bit brighter.
Brutus clapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth. “So! Who’s ready for a swim?”
“Not me, man,” said Owens. “Jumping in there at night? Way out here? I’ll pass.”
“Suit yourself, lad. Me, I might be awhile,” he said, donning his hood as he stepped to the back of the boat. “Been dreaming of this far longer than I care to say. So, come on, swim with me if you will. Or don’t. Makes no nevermind to me, just so long as one of you turns me back when I’m done.”
Sydney snorted when Brutus jumped in, cannonballing a plume of water as he did.
Amelia was on her feet before Sydney, both girls racing toward the back to see where Brutus would surface. When he did, it was in his walrus form. The walrus whistled at them, then turned and dove again, its hindflippers splashing above the surface before vanishing below.
“Come on!” Amelia clapped Sydney on the shoulder before she too dove in.
“Amelia, wait!” Sydney called too late. She watched her friend’s legs shift into a dolphin tail before Amelia vanished beneath the waves. Seconds later, Amelia shot out of the water. She performed a perfect double somersault, then expertly opened up and dove back into the below with a tiny splash.
Sydney gripped the boat sides, leaning over the edge.
Amelia popped back up, smiling at her in turn. “Jump in!” She waved. “What are you waiting for?”
Sydney glanced back at Owens. “You coming?”
“Nah,” he said, eying the water. “I’m gonna sit tight for now. Keep watch of the boat.”
“Suit yourself,” said Sydney. Then she too was diving in.
The ocean’s cold punched her in the gut as she sunk five feet beneath the surface. Sydney pictured her dolphin form, welcoming the changes and the warmth it brought her. Amelia darted in front of Sydney, her long blonde hair and the silvery sheen of her tail making her look like a ghost when cutting through a shaft of moonlight.
Sydney swam after her, her primal instincts urging her to give chase and play. Her spirit soared as she did, glimpsing nothing but dark all around her with no hint of where the bottom might be. Amelia! She called. Where are you?
Over here jumping waves! Come on. Try with me!
Sydney found her thirty yards away from the boat. She joined her friend, the pair of them jumping in tandem as they raced, hopping over and again from the Salt and then diving back into the below. Owens! You’re missing out! They taunted him endlessly as they continued to play, swimming further and further out.
Sydney slowed, then peeked her head above the surface to survey the watery landscape. It’s like Mom said . . . it doesn’t matter where you look. There’s no end in sight.
Her dolphin mind was at her again, bidding her to duck underwater again and continue swimming alongside Amelia. Perhaps to find a new game they could both play at together. Meanwhile, her conscience warned her to turn back and not venture too far from the boat. Sydney had already decided to head back when Owens spoke to her mind.
Hey! You guys need to hurry up and get back here. There’s some kind of beeping on this computer screen. Don’t know what it means, but it won’t quit.
Okay, said Sydney, finding Amelia already returning too. We’re on our way.
Race you again! Amelia chirped at her.
Sydney relished the challenge, the pair of them neck and neck as they approached. Amelia pushed ahead at the last, narrowly beating Sydney to touch the back of the boat, zooming on around it as she did.
Amelia laughed in Sydney’s mind. Beat you!
Whatever, Sydney grumbled. I want a rematch.
Have your rematch later, Owens was saying from the boat deck. Brutus says we need to leave. Now.
Sydney’s brow furrowed. Why? What’s wrong?
He thinks those Selkies from the city are following us again . . .
How? Sydney asked. We’re in the middle of the ocean.
I dunno, said Owens. Must be some kind of tracer on the boat or something. Either way, Brutus don’t look happy. Hurry up!
The urgency in his voice had Sydney hurrying toward the boat rear and the ladder there. She shifted her tail back into human legs as she swam, her momentum carrying her forward at the end. Climbing, she heard a splash behind her as Amelia erupted from the water. The blonde Merrow shifted in mid-air as she leapt over Sydney’s head. The landing did not come so easily, however, Amelia sliding and slipping before regaining her balance.
Sydney frowned as she came up into the boat. “Show-off!”
Amelia laughed and was giving her a little bow in acknowledgement when the boat engines started anew, all six of them roaring to life. The boat pulled forward,
Amelia slipping and falling toward Sydney at the suddenness of it.
After helping Amelia regain her balance, Sydney strode toward the cabin’s quarters.
Inside, Brutus was at the captain’s wheel, his hood Salt-soaked and draped down his broad back, a puddle of water gathered at his feet. He wasted no time in throttling up, driving them forward again to bounce over the waves. Mounted on the counter beside him, a radio crackled with someone’s scrabbled voice cutting in and out on the other end.
Brutus sneered and turned the radio off. “It’s them again,” he said, focused on the endless dark ahead as Sydney and Amelia entered behind him. “The Selkies from before. Got a boat now, it seems. Fast one too.” He nodded toward a navigational monitor that looked like technology out of the eighties. The background was black with neon green compass lines around it and a big dot at the center, which Sydney assumed was meant to be their boat.
Another dot worried her more. The beeping Owens had mentioned came from the monitor, the noise sounding for every blip of the other dot on the screen.
Sydney stared at the monitor for several minutes. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Owens and Amelia give each other a nervous glance. “It’s getting closer,” she voiced her thoughts when the blip on the screen crossed over from one compass zone and into another.
“Aye, they are,” said Brutus.
Which means they’re faster than we are. Sydney inferred from his tone. “Well, what do we do?”
“Pray they run out of fuel before we do.” Brutus frowned as he looked down at the control panels. “And it’s not looking likely.”
“What if they don’t?”
Brutus looked away from the window, passed over Sydney and focused on Owens instead. “Then I’ll need you to stand with me, lad. Fend them off, long as we can. Long enough to give these two a chance of escape.”
Amelia huddled closer to Owens. “Escape?”
“Aye, lass,” said Brutus. “If it comes to it. You make a swim for it, fast and deep as you can. Unless you’d rather fight alongside us.”
Fight? Sydney wondered, looking to Owens and finding him nodding at the prospect. Can’t we try talking to them first?