“Serena.”
“A lovely name. It’s old Atlantian, you know. Very regal. It suits you.”
“Thank you. It’s very nice to meet you, Casius.”
She held out her hand out of habit and then started to pull it back with an embarrassed smile, but he wrapped a tentacle gently around her half-outstretched hand and shook it. The white suckers on the underside of his tentacle pulled ever so gently against her skin as he withdrew it.
“Very nice to meet you too, Serena. It’s not every day you meet one so beautiful as you.”
“You’re very kind,” said Serena with a weak smile, casting down her eyes.
“You don’t look as if you believe me. I didn’t say it to be kind. I said it because it’s true.”
Serena raised her head and looked into Casius’ eyes. They were a milky, glassy white, like a pearl encased in one of her mother’s floating light orbs. A long, black slit served as his pupil. His pearly eyes looked back into her brown ones, and she could see no mockery there. His look was direct, calm, and serious. His eyes did not wander off her face absentmindedly. He was not going through the motions of politeness. She could detect no false flattery, and that made her feel better than the compliment itself. A genuine smile lit her face this time, despite the still-present pain in her chest.
“That’s much better,” said Casius. His mouth was a beak hidden under his body at the very center of his tentacles, so he could not truly smile, but his smile dwelt in his voice nonetheless. “Now please tell me what’s wrong, dear. Perhaps I can be of help.”
“Thank you, but you cannot,” said Serena. She hung her head, and her hair whipped around in a sudden strong current and obscured her face. Serena was grateful, for tears were burning in her eyes again. There was a tremor in her voice as she said, “No one can. I cannot change who I am.”
“And why should you?”
Casius wrapped one tentacle around Serena’s shoulders, and with a swift movement of his other seven tentacles, he was at her side instead of in front of her. Serena welcomed the comforting gesture, though she felt a little embarrassed at accepting it from a stranger. Suddenly, she was furious with Moira.
I should be able to go to my own mother for comfort, she thought, but instead of running home when I’m upset, I flee the city and accept a comforting tentacle from a stranger.
But already Casius didn’t really feel like a stranger to her. With just a simple gesture, he had shown her more affection than her mother ever had. When Moira put an arm around you, she was trying to get something from you. The comforting arm always pushed you steadily towards whatever it was she wanted from you. With Serena, it was the cauldron in the living room. She would hold Serena to her with an inked arm, crooning nice things in her ear, and eventually Serena would feel the stone cauldron bump against her tail.
“Because I’m not good enough for him,” she said. It was something she never would have told her mother or Hazel. Both would have mocked her: Moira with a cruel look of disgust in her eyes, and Hazel with absolute glee.
“Nonsense,” said Casius, and his dignified voice suggested the idea could be nothing but. “I’m sure it’s quite the opposite.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Well perhaps you could help me.”
“Prince Triton,” she said, staring at her hands, her cheeks burning with an embarrassed blush. Casius gave a soft “ah” of understanding. “I…I love him. I love him so much I can hardly stand it, and he doesn’t even notice me. I thought he finally did, just yesterday, but I was wrong. I was a fool for thinking he could actually want me. Why should he? I’m his maid. I’m a piece of palace furniture that he’s been trained to overlook.”
“Just because you are a maid doesn’t mean the two of you could never be,” said Casius. “There is no law in Adamar that says the prince must marry a mermaid of station. If you truly love him, fight for him.”
“But I’m not just a maid,” said Serena, fiddling with her fingernails. The shame she’d kept bottled up for so long was leaking out into her voice. Amphitrite’s words had jostled it loose, and Casius’ kindness had set it free. “I’m the daughter of Moira the Sea Witch. I’m a witch too. I have powers.”
“I’ve heard of your mother.”
“Yes, well so has Queen Amphitrite. Her decree has made my mother a criminal, and I can’t say I disagree. The prince can’t marry the daughter of a criminal.”
“Why not? Your mother’s name should not mar yours. From what I know of your mother, she is a very powerful mermaid, very gifted.” Serena felt a jolt of surprise. No one had ever referred to her mother as gifted. Moira’s name was usually whispered like a dark secret, her powers just as feared as they were sought after. “You say you have powers too. If yours are anything like your mother’s, that makes you a very special mermaid. Yes, your mother has a reputation of dabbling in the blacker side of magic, it’s true, but you can use your powers however you like. You could build up your own brighter reputation.”
Casius looked sidelong at Serena with something like awe growing inside him. Just underneath his tentacle, draped across the young mermaid’s shoulder, thrummed incredible power.
“Yes, but then I’d be a criminal too,” said Serena with a small, dry laugh. “Amphitrite’s decree didn’t specify between good sea witches and bad ones.”
“I’m sure if she knew you were a good witch providing good services to Adamar she would make an exception.”
“Not after today, she wouldn’t.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
Serena hesitated. She had told him so much already, and she hardly knew him. She looked away, out over the drop into Deep Ocean, out into the endless blue.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” said Casius. “I didn’t mean to pry. I’m sorry.”
He began to pull his tentacle away from her shoulders, the suction cups tugging gently. The water felt cold where his tentacle had once been, and her stomach twisted at the loss of his comforting touch. She realized his tentacle had seemed to take away some of the ache in her chest—her heart hadn’t felt so completely shattered—and she wanted it back.
“Please, don’t apologize. Don’t go,” she said, hearing the desperation in her voice and not caring. She reached behind her head and grasped his tentacle as it pulled away from her back and replaced it gently.
“I’ll stay as long as you like, Serena. But still, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Thank you,” she said, trying to convey her gratitude in her voice and her eyes as she looked over at him and smiled.
They sat on the outcropping side by side in silence, looking out into the blue. After a few minutes had passed, Serena took a big breathe.
“I told Prince Triton that he should take me to tomorrow night’s dinner party. In front of a bunch of other mermaids—thin, wealthy, gorgeous ones that he lets hang on his arms all the time. He…he laughed.” Her heart throbbed when she said it, but it didn’t hurt quite as much as before. “It wasn’t a mean laugh. He wasn’t making fun of me. He honestly thought it was a joke—that I was being funny. It was terrible. I can’t stop hearing it.” Casius squeezed her a little tighter, but he did not interrupt. He seemed to know that if he interrupted her, she wouldn’t be able to continue. “The other mermaids started making fun of me, of course, but that didn’t really bother me. They’ve got brains the size of a krill.” Casius couldn’t hold in a deep, rumbling laugh, and Serena smiled a little. “Then Queen Amphitrite swam down. She had seen the whole thing. She basically told me never to look at her son again. That just my looking at him would taint him because I’m no good and my family’s no good, and if I didn’t get back to my rightful place scrubbing floors I would never set fins in the palace again.”
Casius was quiet for a moment. Serena nursed her wounded heart and pride.
&nb
sp; “You know, Serena,” he finally said, “the royal family has a reputation of responding cruelly to things that threaten their sense of superiority. The queen is well aware that sea witches’ powers are hereditary, passed from mother to daughter. She knows you have magic in your veins. The power your family has is rare. With spells and potions and raw magic, your family can do almost anything the Trident can do—except undo the magic of the Trident, of course.
“The Trident is what makes the royal family unique, and the power your family has rivals it. The queen didn’t say all of those things because she truly believes you are inferior. Your power is inside you. You carry it with you always, and it cannot be stolen from you. Queen Amphitrite treated you so cruelly because she is threatened by you.”
Serena didn’t say anything. It sounded so logical, and it was a somewhat comforting thought because it meant that she could still be worthy of Triton’s love, but it couldn’t be true. The queen was not jealous of her like Hazel was. The queen hated her mother. She was disgusted by the idea of her only child marrying a lowly maid and the daughter of a criminal she personally hated.
Serena sighed heavily, sending bubbles towards the surface from her mouth, and said, “I find that very hard to believe.”
“And I won’t tell you what to believe, but I stand by what I said.”
They sat in slightly awkward silence for a moment. Casius’ tentacle slid off her shoulder, and this time she let it. Her need for comfort was no longer desperate. Her breathing had returned to normal. The agonized pain in her chest had dulled to a steady throb. But now she felt confused, lost, and strangely empty.
“What will you do now?” said Casius, anticipating her thoughts.
“I don’t know,” she said, sorrow in her voice. “I just don’t know.”
She did not want to go home. Just thinking about Moira made her angry. She didn’t think she could face working in the palace anymore. She dreaded crossing paths with Amphitrite. And each time Triton saw her scrubbing or scraping or fetching he would notice her now, but not in the way she wanted. He would be reminded of his mother’s words. He would look at her and think, Unworthy, and that was far worse than not being noticed at all.
“I think I can help you,” said Casius.
“Oh, but you’ve already helped me,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for any more.”
“It will cost me nothing, my dear. In fact, I will gain a companion on my trip home.”
“What do you mean?”
“You see, though I am from Adamar, I do not live here anymore. I live in another city not far from here. It is called Arcanus. I think you would find solace there. Have you heard of it?”
Serena shook her head.
“Well, it is a city of outcasts, comprised of those who were either banished from Adamar or found it disagreeable.”
“You mean a city of criminals?” said Serena. Her nose wrinkled in distaste and her eyes narrowed angrily. “I thought you said I shouldn’t let my mother’s reputation mar mine, and now you tell me I would fit in well in a city of criminals?”
“I did not say you would fit in. You are a rare creature, Serena. I doubt you would completely fit in anywhere—and why should you want to?
“I said you would find solace. Yes, Arcanus is comprised of those the royal family has branded criminals, but it is a peaceful place. The merfolk and other sea creatures there respect each other’s differences, each other’s freedoms. It is a place to start fresh without judgement. And I think you will find that many there who have been labeled criminals are actually victims of the royal family’s pride, greed, and vanity, just like you.”
Serena looked at Casius uneasily. To her, the royal family was a golden pinnacle to look up to. They were noble. They were just. They were the protectors of the city. Just yesterday (and many days before that) she had imagined herself one of them, ruling fairly and being loved by all. She did not feel like she was a victim of the royal family. If anything, she felt like she was the victim of her own mother. She was also the victim of her station, which was why she did not swim away from Casius with a swift, “No thank you.” The idea of a new beginning was unbelievably tempting. She could learn a good, reputable trade in a place where her mother’s name was not floating over her. Perhaps she could even procure a little wealth. Then Triton would see her as much more than just a maid—she could be a potential bride.
“I see no harm in going with you to see Arcanus,” she said after a long pause. “If I like it there, I’ll stay. At least for a while.”
“Excellent! I assure you, you won’t regret it.”
“I have one condition.”
“What is that?”
“Don’t tell anyone I’m Moira’s daughter. No going on about how I have a rare and wonderful power either. If I’m going to start new, I want it to be as a regular mermaid.”
“Oh, but regular is so boring. You are not boring, Serena.”
She arched an eyebrow at him, and he sighed and said, “Oh, alright then. Deal. You’re definitely not boring, but you are stubborn.”
She smiled at him and said, “Oh, I think you’ll find I can be dreadfully boring. In fact, I think I’ll discuss the anatomy of mollusks for the entire journey there. Or perhaps the many uses of seaweed. Ooo, I’ve got it! I’ll talk about the enchanting lives of sea slugs. How does that sound?”
“You can talk about whatever you like, but don’t be surprised if you suddenly find one of my tentacles wrapped around your mouth,” he said, that smile in his voice again, “or you get a face full of ink. That usually shuts merpeople up. There’s lots of coughing and sputtering, but at least no more babbling.”
Serena laughed. It felt wonderful. She launched herself off the outcropping, stretched her arms towards the surface, and then, still laughing, bent gracefully backwards at the waist, flicking her tail to propel her all the way around in a backflip. Then she pumped her tail and shot like a sailfish into the Deep Ocean. She flipped over, swimming on her back so she could look at Casius, and called, “What are you waiting for? Lead the way.”
Casius swam toward her, his rumbling laugh carried to her on the current. His movements were both graceful and alien. First, his tentacles and the webbed skin at the top that connected them blossomed out around him like a flower in full bloom. Then he pumped them all behind him at once, his oblong head out in front of him so that he was perfectly streamlined. Just before he reached her, he caught a current, and two of his tentacles bowed out beside him while the other six laid flat against each other, three on top of three. He looked like a strange gull in flight. He glided past her this way, and she followed him, flicking her tail for momentum until she caught the same current.
“So what do you do in Arcanus? Anything?” she said as they glided along side-by-side.
Most sea creatures simply struggled to survive, fighting the food chain and the toils of ocean life rather than having an occupation, but Casius seemed too smart to be content with just that.
“I’m an outpost guard,” he said. “I take shifts keeping a lookout at the edges of the city, deterring troublemakers and sounding the alarm if anything comes along that’s too big for me to handle alone. That doesn’t happen often.”
“I suppose not,” she said, thinking again how very large he was.
“I’m also a recruiter of sorts,” he said, not looking at her. “You see, I am one of the few Arcanus residents who isn’t banned from Adamar, so sometimes the leaders of Arcanus send me to seek out others who have been banished. Usually, when merfolk are banished, they simply wander around the city limits, unsure what to do with themselves. Other sea creatures are usually more resilient, or they get eaten very quickly outside the protection of the coral reef and kelp forest. I also go into the city sometimes, looking for those who are…disillusioned with life in Adamar.”
Serena chewed her bottom lip,
mulling this over.
“So I’m your new recruit?” she said.
“No, Serena, you are my new friend.”
Serena’s smile lit up her face and pushed the last bit of her pain aside, at least for the time being.
“Good.”
Chapter 3
City of Whale Bones
Had Casius not been with her, Serena would have found the vastness of the Deep Ocean unsettling. There was only blue. When neither she nor Casius was speaking, there was only the faint, steady sound of moving water. The only other life they saw on the way to Arcanus was a school of sardines that passed quickly without stopping, though there was an eerie chorus of “Hello” that came from thousands of mouths all at once. Sardines did everything as one when they were in schools. They were not afraid of Casius while they were in such strong numbers, especially since he didn’t seem to be hungry. Serena stuck close to Casius, though it would have been impossible to lose him in such a wide open place. The sound of his tentacles moving in the water beside her was comforting. They tried to keep up a steady conversation to banish the silence.
Serena told Casius more about her life than she’d ever told anyone—the good and the bad—and at first, she didn’t know why. She told him of her dreams to make a difference. Her dreams of romance with her handsome prince. She told him about Moira’s manipulation, always pushing Serena to be something she didn’t want to be and tearing Hazel down for trying to be want Moira wanted but falling short of expectations.
“It sounds as though your sister should have come with us too,” said Casius.
As Serena looked over at him, intending so say, “I’ll come back for her if I decide to stay in Arcanus,” it struck her that she hadn’t had a real friend to turn to since she was a child. The thought made her want to cry, but at the same time, she felt a bubble of joy expand in her chest at having finally found one. The sudden swell of emotion cut off her words.
The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) Page 4