The Savage Blue

by Zoraida Cordova

  “My love,” she says, and he walks right back to her and takes her hands. “It was never the king’s wish to deny you. It was your mother’s. The affair would’ve broken her husband’s heart. One day soon, you will ask the king yourself. Until then, I will show you what will happen if you do not claim your birthright.”

  She takes his face and turns it to the mirror on the wall. My heart jumps when their eyes fall on me. But they can’t see me. I wave at them and then they vanish, replaced by a watery image. It starts off like an oil slick, then becomes clear as day. The sky bleeds with lightning. It pours over Toliss Island. The trees are on fire. The waves threaten to swallow it whole.

  The image shifts to the Glass Castle. Merrows and mermen alike tear at the structure and it shatters. Mermaids and tadpoles float, dead, then dissipate into surf. Even the elders vanish painfully into nothing. Then it’s me, lying on the beach. I choke. The crown falls off my head, washes away in the tide.

  “Stop it!” The image disappears when Kurt pulls out of her hold. “You’re making that up.”

  While he’s turned away, Lucine still stares at the mirror, right at me. She can see me. She wanted me to see.

  Turning back to Kurt, she says, “You know very well that I can’t make it up. Really, love, I fear you’ve been around humans far too long. The fortnight is nearly over. The trident has been found. You must take it back to your father.”

  He hesitates. Suddenly it makes sense, the way the nautilus maid greeted both of us as champions. The same curious eyes Sarabell gave Kurt when she called him the “odd one out” in his bunch. The reason why my grandfather singled him out as the best warrior.

  “The sea witch approaches.” Lucine takes the fork of the trident from her pool. It hovers just over her palms. An offering. “You will need this to stop her.”

  He stares at it the way I stare at the scepter, like it’s calling to me.

  The trident is calling to him.

  It’s an electric hum, a whisper.

  I can hear it too.

  Kurt, son of the king, steps forward and takes the trident. And when he does, I flip both switches and make it rain.

  When I trigger the alarm, I make a run for it.

  I trip over a devil girl carrying a tray full of champagne flutes, then the dessert cart rolling down the hall. The floor trembles as heavy boots run behind me. When I look over my shoulder, the same friendly werewolves that lovingly chucked me out the first time are coming for me.

  They growl and snap at the air, teeth crunching like the grind of a bear trap. Yellow eyes and snouts elongating from their faces. I pull my scepter from between my shoulder blades. The light of the quartz fills the dark and doorless hallway. Their howl turns into a laugh, and I wonder if I’m heading out the right direction. I have a vision of two gnarly wolves tearing me to pieces, and I point the quartz over my head.

  The charge comes quickly, from my chest, up my arms. The blast hits the ceiling, illuminating the falling debris. The bouncers howl and curse at me. A small fire builds quickly in the narrow hall. Smoke fills my lungs and the sprinklers rain down. I can see the red exit sign, and I push harder and harder until I’m out on the street.

  I don’t know how big the Second Circle is, but I’m not where I started.

  It takes me a second to orient myself.

  Despite the familiar buildings, the area doesn’t look right without the usual crowds. I stand in the middle of the street. The lights change from green to yellow to red. There are no cars. No sirens. No passersby.

  Instead, there are dozens and dozens of birds all along the fence that marks the New York Aquarium.

  Ravens and golden eagles and even bats are beating their wings against the drizzle. Their cries form a united melody, a warning in song. I head straight for the aquarium, but I ram against an invisible barrier. I press my hands on the barrier, and every time I hit it, a tiny shock of electricity jolts me.

  One of the ravens turns into a girl no taller than my chest. Her arms are wings and her hair is as black as her feathers. “Announce yourself.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  The steely black look in her eyes tells me she isn’t.

  “I’m Tristan Hart,” I say. I hold the scepter in my hand. The crystal emits a soft glow.

  The raven girl dips into a short bow and opens her wing to the side. The force field opens. I can’t see it, but I can feel the temperature difference, like a line of heat separating the aquarium from the outside world.

  When I take a single step forward, someone screams my name. Gwen is running down the street, soaked through and through.

  I take her by her shoulders, concerned about the fear in her eyes. Gwen is never scared. “Are you okay?”

  She nods and attempts to smile. There is no way she would ever admit to being nervous, so I take her hand and try to step through the doorway. But the raven girl closes it again and a sharp caw flies from her throat. “Frederik says only the Sea Prince is to enter.”

  “She’s with me,” I growl.

  The girl becomes a raven again and pecks at my hair before lining up with the others on the fence. But she does not stop us. We cross through the gate, where the cold, wet night doesn’t follow.

  “Where were you?” I ask.

  We sprint across the parking lot, cutting across to the entrance to the aquarium.

  “The princesses,” she says. “They’ve all gone.”

  The guard at the door doesn’t stop us. I don’t know what he is—human, android, ghost—and I don’t care. He nods at me once and opens the door.

  This leads to the reef portion of the aquarium. Tanks are backlit with white and blue light. The ceilings are so low to the ground that I feel like I’m swimming through a tunnel. I look into the glass of the contained ecosystem. My breath fogs. The giant turtle swims directly at me. He presses his nose to the glass. There’s something in his eyes that is old and so eternal. A creature of the past. How do you survive, I wonder. How are you still here?

  I snap around to see Gwen. It makes me laugh. She’s twisting her fingers with her own hands. She refuses to look at me. She’s staring at the tank of jellyfish. They bloom and glow like shimmering ghosts across the water.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I tell her.

  “Tristan.” She touches my face. Her hands are so cold. I’m not ready to talk about what I’ve just seen, and whatever is on her mind, she isn’t going to tell me. We stand in the quiet blue darkness of the aquatic house. “I—”

  I take a step back to give her some space. I can’t have her trying to kiss me again. Not now. Not here. Not ever. I need her strong and I need her present. “What is it?”

  “We should find your friends.”

  I lead us through the tiny maze of giant tanks. The fish follow us with their open mouths pressed against the glass until I push on the double doors out onto the main road that divides the aquarium houses. True to Frederik’s word, the Thorne Hill Alliance is here. I feel like I’m at the Vanishing Cove all over again. In the middle of the plaza, weapons are being exchanged.

  I scan the crowds but don’t see the faces I’m looking for.

  “Tristan!” Thalia shouts from above. She’s on the observation deck, waving us over.

  We race up the flight of steps, under the canopy. Layla stands beside Thalia. They’re sweating and out of breath, holding swords in each hand. I’m filled with a need to drop everything and pick her up in my arms. But the thunder and rain break against the barrier, and all I can do is squeeze her hand.

  Frederik and Marty are conferring with Rachel. She’s got a bigger crossbow. They’re pointing at the gray line of the horizon. A thick fog is settling over the shore.

  When they see me, they stop. Rachel’s bow vanishes to smoke.

  With my scepter in hand, I stand before my friends. They’re staring and searching. They can see that I don’t have the trident and I don’t have Kurt.

  “It’s almost sunset,” I say.
/>   “What happened, man?” Marty takes off his cap and scratches his head. “Where’s your new pitchfork?”

  “Where’s my brother?” Thalia asks.

  My mouth is full of saliva. I turn to the side and spit.

  “Frederik,” I say, “fill me in.”

  Frederik hesitates, taking stock of the tension I’m giving off in waves. “I have a group of valkyries who will stay behind, led by Rachel. The first line is on the beach right now—vampires and werewolves. They won’t go in the water so we know they’ll make sure nothing gets past.”

  “Good.” I’m nodding too hard. “Good.”

  “What about other mermen?” Frederik asks. “The other champion?”

  I level my turquoise eyes to his black ones. “Adaro isn’t fighting with us.”

  “I see.”

  “When it comes to merrows, you have to cut off their heads or stab their hearts. Otherwise, they won’t die.”

  “I’m familiar with the method.” Frederik flashes a yellow smile, then turns to whisper something to Rachel. She smiles at me, and the action is so bizarre that, in that moment, I realize she thinks I’m a dead man.

  “In case of a retreat—” Frederik begins.

  “Way to put a damper on such a sunny day, Freddy,” Marty says.

  “It is my duty to be prepared,” Frederik responds coolly. “If we must retreat, we return here. The reef house has a floor latch that leads down to our tunnels and back out onto the boardwalk.”

  “Good.” I’m still nodding too hard. “Good.”

  “Tristan,” Thalia says forcefully. “Where is my brother?”

  “He’s still down there,” I say, turning away from her and readjusting the harness across my chest. “In the Second Circle.”

  Marty mutters darkly. “I told you guys.”

  “Did something happen?” Layla asks.

  “Did the oracle not have the trident?” Gwen asks.

  “Tristan,” Frederik says. “The others are dividing weapons if you’d like to further arm yourself.”

  “I’ve got weapons,” I say.

  But Frederik grabs my arm and gives me a push in the direction of the steps. “Just in case.”

  I realize he’s giving me a way out and I take it. I can’t be the one to break the news to Thalia. How will she take it? Surely, nothing’s changed between them. They’re still siblings. They still grew up together. It shouldn’t matter.

  I head toward the weapons and immediately recognize a face. “Penny,” I say, surprised. “What are you doing here?” She’s holding a sword in her hand.

  “Do you know how to use that?”

  “I’m not just a waitress,” she says, pointing it at my heart. “What about Jesse?” I say. “And the others?”

  “The landlocked are free to make their own choices.” She motions to a small group of people I saw at the meeting. There isn’t anything threatening about them. Their skin is slightly green and blue. One hacks at the air, grasping a steel club with webbed hands. “That is the one thing that binds us. I want to show my son that he has the freedom to do anything he wants.”

  “Where is Timmy?”

  She holds the blade to her eyes so she can see her own reflection. “With his father.”

  “What happened?” Layla runs up to us. “Where’s Kurt? How did you and Gwen get here?”

  My thoughts are racing, trampling over each other. I place my hands on her shoulders and look right into her eyes. “Kurt is still with the oracle.”

  I pause for effect.

  Her eyes widen. “You mean with her?”

  I nod. “I’m sure he’ll find us.”

  “And she didn’t have the trident?”

  “She did.”

  “Then where is it?”

  I can’t breathe. Something is happening to me, weaving its way through my thoughts. Kurt is my uncle. Kurt is the son of the king. Kurt has the Trident of the Seas. Wind and rain whip against our invisible force field. The giant birds’ song is a terrible wail pounding against my temples.

  I try to shut it out, but I realize it’s not the birds. Someone is screaming.

  “It’s starting,” I say.

  The guard I passed at the entrance marches up to me. “It’s a girl. She came alone.”

  “We’ll go check it out,” I say. “The rest of you stay here.”

  I follow the guard back through the reef house.

  Marty marches alongside me. “I was getting claustrophobic in there.”

  Under the arc of the aquarium where the boardwalk meets cement, Sarabell pounds wet fists against our shield.

  “Let me in,” she cries.

  “So you can kill me?” I point my dagger at her.

  “No, Lord Sea.” She shakes her head wildly. Her black curls are matted to her face. “No, Lord Sea. I wouldn’t—Adaro—Adaro—” Her cries are hysterical. She tries to stand but falls back down.

  I turn around but her scream rips through me. I fight against my own reason. But with the encroaching darkness, can I really leave her out there alone?

  “Adaro is what, Sarabell?”

  Her eyes are red, tears mixing with rain. “Adaro is dead.”

  A fire explodes in the distance where Adaro’s ship was hidden. Hundreds of voices scream in the darkness. The shadow of our first line of defense is a wall cutting across the sand. They’re standing, waiting.

  Sarabell presses her hand on the invisible wall. “Please, she’s going to kill me too.”

  I keep my dagger level to her face. “Tell me what happened.”

  She cries and looks back at the dark horizon. “Please…”

  “Let her pass,” Marty says. The avians rustle their feathers, and a breeze blows in as the invisible fortress opens.

  I pick Sarabell up off the ground. Her legs give out. I kneel to be at eye level with her.

  “Look at me. Sarabell, look at me. What happened to Adaro?”

  A torrent of rain beats against the barrier. A fat drop falls onto my shoulder.

  “The avians were supposed to be weatherproof,” Marty says, shielding his eyes from the drizzle.

  Then the ravens caw, flapping foot-long black wings. The avians leave their posts and take off into the sky where they blow up like lightbulbs, shattering sparks down on us. Their highpitched screams become a chorus as feathers scatter and fall like helicopter leaves.

  The barrier is gone and the rain beats down.

  Frederik jumps from the observation deck down to where we stand. He grabs one of the guards by his shirt and seethes into his face. “What. Happened?”

  Confusion spreads through our army. No one answers. The guard shakes his head, uselessly attempting to cover his eyes from Frederik’s black glare. “I-I don’t know, Fred. They were fine a second ago.”

  “Get back to the plaza,” Frederik says. “Now.”

  I grab Sarabell by her arm and lead her back in with the others. I sit her down on the bench. “Thalia, stay with Sarabell. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

  “What happened to the birds?” Layla asks.

  Up on the observation deck, the valkyries line up with their crossbows. Down here in the plaza, we ready our weapons. I push Layla behind me, smelling the stupidly brave smoke she’s giving off. I search for Gwen in the crowd, but there are so many of us.

  “We’ve been breached.” Frederik’s face is calm but I pick up the tension in his voice. “The barrier is external. Only someone inside can break it. I want everyone to form ranks at the entrance!”

  I grab Sarabell by the arm. “Did you do this?”

  She shakes her head, crying. I scream at her. I shake her. She’s a wet doll in my hands. Someone screams my name, over and over again, but my ears are popped, like I’m in a channel leagues and leagues beneath the sea.

  There’s something else weaving in the air, beneath Sarabell’s frantic sobs and the pouring rain. My dagger hums. My scepter glows. I can feel it. Energy. Crackling static. It pulses like a ring around th
e reef house. Stronger and stronger.

  “Get down!”

  I say it too late.

  The reef house erupts. Sends us flying backward. My ears ring. A warm trickle snakes from my forehead to my chin. The observation deck is now a hole. The animals in the tanks gasp for breath on the floor. Rachel and her troupe reappear as smoke around us.

  “Don’t look so happy to see me,” she says.

  I get up from the ground. “Is everyone okay?”

  Layla wipes my face with shaking hands. “You’re bleeding.”

  “You too.” There’s a cut on her cheek. The skin mends instantly.

  “It’s a good thing I’m already dead.” Frederik pulls a long piece of glass from his collarbone.

  Marty groans, “Do you know how hard it is to get blood off corduroy?”

  “It’s black.” Layla rolls her eyes. She winces when she arcs to crack her back. “You can’t even see it.”

  Thalia picks up Sarabell and sits her between two rows of bushes. Everyone raises their weapons toward the crumbled reef house. At first we only see shadows breaking through the settling dust.

  Jesse emerges from what’s left of the building, trailed by more than a dozen of his faithful landlocked. His clothes are shredded. Under the rain, a thin layer of crushed sheetrock and brick clumps on his skin. He peels back his raw, red mouth around buck-sharp teeth. Rachel shoots, but Jesse holds his hand up and the arrow turns into sand.

  I step forward. Jesse picked the wrong day. He smiles with his fat, raw lips.

  “All this time on land,” I tell him. “And you never thought to get braces?”

  We charge each other at the same time. Arrows whiz by. The wet slick of swords piercing flesh fills my ears.

  I can’t see anyone but Jesse. I punch him across the face, but his head snaps right back. His nails bite into me as we tumble across the debris. His scaly knuckles tear at the thin skin of my temple. I jab a fist once, twice in his gut and a knee to his groin. Jesse chokes, and in the moment it takes for him to cradle himself, I take my dagger, hot in my hands, and drive it straight through his chest.