“I know, but Sarai is in danger. She will deal with worse under Sitario’s rule. I can’t let her slip out of my grasp. You’re the only one who can help me.”
She looked at me with wide pity-filled eyes. "Love can be cruel.” She patted my hand. “I will help you save our princess. Just tell me what it is I need to do.”
We waited for the party to end and everyone to return to their rooms. Xiomara went to Sarai’s while I hid behind a statute covered in marble roses.
I held her mother’s ring in my hand and a piece of bleached coral in the other. Making a xanbi wasn’t hard to do. Making one that could pass as real was where the difficulty lay. The item used to make the vessel affected the quality of the spell. Kelp was quick and inexpensive. Dead coral still held power, the once living now petrified.
I placed the coral on the statue and sat the ring on top. The familiar prick of magic spread across my skin and down my arms. When I called on the essence of the one who had once owned the ring, a tall woman with elegant features and sad golden eyes materialized from the coral. She looked down at me, and it felt as if she could see through me.
“I do this for your daughter.” I bowed before her. “I mean your memory no disrespect.”
As if she understood, the xanbi nodded and stared at the exact balcony that led to Sarai’s room.
“Draw her out,” I softly sang.
The woman began to sing. Her voice wasn’t grand, like her daughters, but it was comforting. It was the love between mother and child. It was unconditional love that could be shaken but never broken, pure and beautiful.
A shadow moved on the balcony, and I quickly slid behind the statue, making sure I was completely hidden from view.
Sarai swam out, her eyes bright and searching. “Mother?” she called and sobbed. “Oh, Mother.”
I crept around the statue and watched as she clung to the xanbi’s arm like a lost child. She looked fragile, as if one harsh word would break her into pieces.
“Mother, help me,” I heard her cry. “I don’t know what’s going on. I am not myself.”
She and the xanbi drifted down to the sand. Her fake mother wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.
“Sarai,” I said in a gentle tone as I left my hiding place and slowly approached. “Your mother wants the locket. Don’t you, my queen?”
“Yes,” the xanbi replied and placed a hand on her head. “My little fish, it is time to go.”
“No.” Sarai curled into herself. “I can’t go.”
“Sarai, we have to leave. I need you to come with me.” I tried to coax her from the xanbi’s arms.
Sarai turned and faced me with cold, calculating eyes. “I know what you are, and I will tell everyone you are a walker.” Her claim hit me like a lightning strike.
“No, you won’t.” I snapped my fingers. “Hold her.”
The xanbi wrapped her hands around Sarai’s wrists. Sarai struggled, but it was no use.
“Let me go!”
“Just give me the locket.” I gathered light in my hand and slowly approached. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Get away from me.” Her voice was a soft caress, at odds with the ferocious look in her eyes.
I ignored her pleas, placed my hand over the locket, and tried to pull out the magic that was attached to it. Sarai smiled and began to hum. Her compelling gaze openly invited me in. I stared at her lips and found myself frozen. I wasn’t worried. There was no need. She was perfect. She was the ocean and the sky, my sun and moon.
I could see the wind stirred waves in her eyes. They searched for one brave enough to venture into their depths, willing to give any and everything to have a taste of the love she had to offer.
Anything. Anything. Anything.
The word bounced around my mind until it was all I could think of. I would do anything for her. I would give my heart, my spirit, my life to her if she only asked.
Something hit my side, and burning pain brought me crashing back to reality.
I held out my hands and stared in shock. Crimson tinged my fingertips and streaked the water around me. I applied pressure to the wound, but the blood continued to flow between my fingers. I tried to call on my magic and hit a wall. My connection to the light was blocked by an unknown force.
My sight grew hazy, and black spots filled my vision. I felt myself growing cold, the weight of the ocean too much for my body.
“I see through you, Etan.” Sarai’s gentle voice filled my mind. “I know what you truly are. Tread lightly."
A wave of ice crashed over me and sent me plummeting into the cold jaws of unconsciousness.
Chapter Eleven
Etan
“Etan,” someone called from afar. Too far to worry about. “Wake up. You have to wake up before the ghosts rise!”
Ghosts? Had Kamryn opened the gates? Was I dead? I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a moss-covered ceiling. I turned my head and sighed in relief when I saw Xiomara holding onto a rusted set of bars.
“Etan.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. “What happened? The castle is in an uproar.”
I groaned. I felt as if I had been beaten, whipped, and set on fire. “Where is Sarai?" I rasped through a swollen throat.
“She is under guard at the castle. No one but the queen mother and the king can see her now.”
I’d messed up the perfect opportunity to get away. Sarai knew I was a walker, which meant her family would know. My disguise was useless.
I turned my head and groaned. “What happened?”
“Sitario claims he found you forcing yourself on the princess. He told the king you were trying to enchant her with a xanbi that resembled the queen. He is furious. He has ordered that you be fed to the kraken.”
“She put me under a trance.” I closed my eyes and slammed my fists against the floor. “I’m so stupid.”
I’d walked right into a trap of my own making. How could I believe removing the locket would be as simple as that?
“I have to get out.” I pushed myself up by the elbows. Pain, sharp and hot, shot from my side and up my spine. I groaned and rolled onto the opposite side.
“I tried to stitch it closed, but the supplies I can take from the castle are limited.” Her knuckles were white from gripping the bars.
I slowly rose and studied the wooden planks that made up the wall and the small circular porthole. I knew where I was. I knew this ship like one knows their own body. She had been a gift from the Icarian king on my eighth birthday. The figurehead was carved in the princess’s likeness, the same princess he hoped would one day be my wife.
I’d spent many years on her steady deck, sailing the seas, discovering things no man, or merman for that matter, had ever seen. I had made many friends, but where I found friendships, I also made enemies. I’d lost track of my ship after the horrible storm and found myself in an enchanted cove with pink sands, cradled in the arms of a sorceress.
She’d nursed me back to health, but it hadn’t come without a price.
She asked for one thing in return: that I find the princess with the power to soothe multitudes with just her voice. After months of searching both land and sea, I’d heard rumors of five princesses with unimaginable power. All were beautiful and their voices equally so, but it was Sarai who called to me. Her presence seemed to fill every inch of my being. I felt invincible when she sang.
“Go to that far wall.” I pointed at the spot where a bookcase once stood. I was suddenly thankful I decided to keep a spare key hidden in case the first was lost. “There should be a small hole you can fit a finger through. Pull out the drawer and bring me the key.”
Xiomara did as she was told and brought the heavy bronze key back with trembling hands. She unlocked the cell and pulled the door open.
I swam to my desk, dug in the drawers, and pulled out a jar full of purple sand. “Can you help me pack the cut with this?”
She filled the wound with the sand and placed the half-empty jar b
ack on the desk. My pain immediately faded and was replaced by the itch of mending skin.
“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Sand from the spring of life.” Her eyes shined. “It is impossible to find.”
“Difficult. Not impossible.”
“This ship was once yours.” Her eyes landed on my tail, and her eyes narrowed. “Gifted or traded?”
“Both. It depends on how you look at it.”
“You’re a walker.”
“I am.” I closed the jar and tucked it under my arm. “Let’s go. I have much to do with little time.”
∞∞∞
Sing for me, she had asked. I will give you anything if you sing.
I thought she had been playing games. Such a simple request when she could have asked for the stars in the sky, and I would have done anything in my power to accomplish such a feat.
All I had to do was sing, and I’d deliberately brushed her off like one brushes dirt off clothing.
After I left the sunken ship, I spent a week planning, and now time was up. Sitario had proposed, and their wedding was set for tomorrow. I had everything ready, and by the same time tomorrow night, I hoped to be far from this ocean and its folk.
“I have a message for my mother.” The hag rocked in her seat. “You tell her that the next time we meet, she will have great need of me. Tell her I look forward to that day.”
“I cannot say I am looking forward to that reunion.” I shoved three glass vials into my sack. “But I will be sure to tell her.”
“It’s a good thing you will not be there.” She cackled and exposed her missing side tooth. “Fate comes whether or not we want it to. The wheel of fortune turns whether or not we wish it to. I asked her. I told her…She wouldn’t let go...” Her sentences blurred together, and she began to ramble.
I shook my head and finished packing. I pitied the hag. Her mind was that of a child’s. Simple and unbothered by what happened around her. She was nothing like her mother.
I laid down on my makeshift pallet and stared at the roof of the cave. I yearned for a soft bed and a warm breeze against my skin. I couldn’t wait to feel sweat running down my brow during training or taste the delicious spice of food.
I’d enjoyed my time here to an extent, but I would never willingly stay. I would be home soon, and all I had worked for would fall in place. My dreams would be made reality, and I would forever live in bliss.
Chapter Twelve
Etan
I waited in the depths of the kelp forest and watched as the guards slowly passed. They would be trading shifts soon, and I would have to move fast.
I studied the vest I had taken from the merman who was supposed to replace the current. It was covered in gold coins with the face of the Sea Goddess Sclena.
The deep base of a drum reverberated around me. I left my hiding place and swam to the small entrance that led to the guard tower. I kept my head down and my eyes low, as if I had done it a thousand times, and swam to the tower that overlooked the castle interior.
I leaned against the coral wall and looked up. Pods of dolphins swam closer than usual, most likely drawn by the commotion. They played for hours before finally swimming off. The day dragged by, and I watched the party unfold from my spot.
Guests began to arrive, and the castle buzzed with gossip. There were many oohs and ahhs as they swam into the courtyard. The king had outdone himself with the décor. Every surface was covered in gold, the servants dripped in diamonds, and immense flower hat jellies added a regal ambiance to the courtyard.
Xiomara swam near the stone altar while everyone took their seats. Naga patiently waited behind a star-fish-covered pillar.
A soft bell chimed, and six young mermaids rose from their seats and began to sing. Their euphonious voices filled the auditorium.
The groom swam in with his head held high and an obnoxious smile on his face. He wore so many chains that his thick neck was barely visible. The mermaidens singing rose as he made his way to the altar. The song tapered off, and the courtyard went silent. The doors opened, and Sarai entered.
Her gold-clasped plaits were piled high on her head, and she wore a simple white bandeau and dozens of gold bracelets on her arms. Golden swirls were painted on her skin. They dipped and swirled along her stomach, shoulders, and down her back. She still wore the locket, and her eyes were as hollow as her cheeks. She had deep purple bags beneath blank eyes that were glued to her groom.
Her grandmother and father waited beside Sitario, but there was something off about the king. Like he was there but not. His body seemed to shift in the bleak lighting.
Sarai arrived at the altar and bowed to her father before taking her place behind Sitario. I shrugged the vest off and leaned back against the wall. No one would notice me now that the dead-eyed bride and barnacle-encrusted groom had made an appearance.
“We welcome you all to this glorious union.” The king’s voice was as flat as his daughter’s expression. “Today is a day that will change history as we know it. Today we join two grand families.”
Boom. The walls shook, and screams rang out from the courtyard.
I shot out from my tower while everyone was focused on Naga, who had swum onto the altar and burst into a ball of light. Sitario and the queen threw their hands over their eyes. Before they knew what was happening, I grabbed Sarai by her waist and pulled her from the altar.
“Naga!” I yelled over my shoulder. He was beside me in seconds. His small glowing body glided through the water as if it was air. “Light it up.”
He swam in a half-circle and turned toward our pursuers. My vision went red, and screams echoed around us.
I opened my eyes and frantically searched for Xiomara. She was supposed to be waiting right—
“Etan!” Sarai’s blue-eyed servant held Xiomara by her hair, a silver dagger at her throat. “Release the princess and you may have the Silenda.”
My stomach sank to my tail. I knew the look in those cold, calculating eyes. She looked nothing like her mother, but when I looked in those eyes, all I could see was Isabis. Why was Nikita here? What did she want with Sarai?
“I won’t get in between you and your mother.” I pulled Sarai tightly against my side. Her body was frozen by the pin-sized prick on her arm. “But I can’t leave either.” I adjusted my grip and freed my left hand. “Make this easy on both of us and let us go. She will not know.”
Her eyes flashed, and when she smiled, she exposed sharp black teeth and an ugly moss-green tongue. “No, she won’t.” She dug her fingers into Xiomara’s throat. “You won’t be leaving either, cursed prince.”
My hands shook as my magic gathered. Fire, hot and bright as any on land, sprouted from my fingertips. I swept out my arm, and the magic fueled flames lashed out at the guards who were slowly circling in on us from all sides.
“Let her go Nikita.” I warned for the last time.
The water around the fire whip bubbled. The white-haired mermaid’s eyes narrowed, and the blade dug deeper. Xiomara whimpered, the pain evident in her wide eyes.
“Naga,” I called once again.
Naga burst in between us and the woman. I closed my eyes and waited. My vision went red, every thin purple vein in my eyelid made visible by the concentrated light.
I opened my eyes at the same time Xiomara threw her head back and slipped from Nikita’s hold. She raced toward us and grabbed one of Sarai’s arms.
“Sorry. I didn’t close my eyes in ti— Watch out!” She barreled into me, and the three of us tumbled into the powdery sand. I watched as a blue light passed over our heads. I released Sarai and turned to face our attacker.
Sitario stared at me with murder-filled eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he growled.
“Naga!” I yelled, and it was as if a cannon had been shot. The water around us shook, and guards were thrown back, many dazed by the light and the loud blast.
I shot forward and dove around and beneath the dazed guards. Th
eir sight would be gone for days, if not longer. I looped my arm around Xiomara's elbow. “Your vision, is it affected?”
“No. I closed my eyes in time.” She looked around at the frightened merfolk and turned green.
“Good. We don’t have long.” I looked around at the addled mermen. Many cried out to the goddess, begging for their vision while others pulled on their hair and swam in circles. “Let’s go. They aren’t worried about us anymore.”
She gave me a curt nod and looked down at the princess. Her eyes widened. “The locket.”
It was gone, but a deep green bruise bloomed where the necklace once sat. “We don’t have time to search for it. We have to get to the cove.”
I held Sarai in one arm and pulled Xiomara along with the other. We got to the cove in no time. The feeling that came with the change began as soon as I broke through the water’s surface. My bones were jelly, and it felt like ants were crawling on every inch of my too-tight skin. I dropped to my knees and waited for the pain to fade.
Once it became bearable, I took in a gulp of the salty night air and stood on unsteady legs. It was always like this when I changed. It took too much energy and drained my magic. My mortal body was too weak. It was a reminder of why I was doing all this. I had to be stronger.
“Etan,” I heard Xiomara call from the beach. “Will she be okay?”
Sarai was on her back, her long iridescent tail the only part of her in the water. She was unconscious, but her eyes danced behind her eyelids.
“She will wake in a few hours. Will you be okay out there? You know you can come with us.”
Intelligence was a luxury you rarely crossed. She knew more about the oceans than my scholars. It would be best if I kept her close in case I needed her later on.
Xiomara took in a deep breath. “I can’t go with you. I know almost nothing of your world.”
“Our world. We just come from different parts of it. You know you can’t go back. They will feed you to the kraken after torturing you for information you don’t have. Come with us. Your presence may help the princess adapt. You will see things no other Silenda has ever seen before.”
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