by Amy Bearce
“If you won’t give me your magic, then you will call all the others. Maybe all of their pathetic amounts of magic combined will be enough to wake my body.”
“No.”
“You will call them,” the beast within the little seawee demanded, “and I will consume them all.”
“I can’t call them,” Phoebe said with a gasp, hoping Baleros couldn’t sense the lie. She focused on how impossible it would be for her to betray the trust of the merfolk, so any emotion he might pick up from her would match her words. She’d never turn her friends over to this beast.
Baleros narrowed his eyes. Then, nodding, the sea beast pressed its fingers into Phoebe’s chest, his nails pricking her skin and sinking through her, with no more effort than reaching through sea foam. Phoebe shrieked in agony.
The sea creature muttered an ancient word and then clapped his hands inside of her. A burst of blinding red light shot from them both, sending Phoebe into merciful blackness as the pain grew too huge to hold.
When she opened her eyes, she was on the floor of the temple, unbound, but so disoriented that escape would be impossible even if an opportunity arose. Baleros looked down with a smirk.
The pain from his evil touch had eased. Instead, inside Phoebe’s heart, she suddenly sensed each and every single merfolk in their village, one by one, vibrant and clear. No longer were they distant or muddled; instead, it was as if a great multitude of singing voices rang through her mind, each one in its own distinctive key.
“Now,” Baleros said, pointing at her. “You’re a liar. You can call the merfolk, because even this body I’ve borrowed wants to serve you, though of course I won’t let it. And you have called them here now, without a doubt. All of them will have felt that delicious pain and panic bursting out of you. There’s a reason the sea gifted you with tattoos of the merfolk. They’ll come to your distress call, your charming self. Then I’ll make them watch as you hand over all that beautiful power to me. They’ll know which way the current really flows around here.”
She glared at him and focused just enough to send blue light rocketing from her body, striking the monster right in the chest. He yelled, and light splintered all around him.
Maybe she could actually defeat him. Exhilaration replaced exhaustion, until Baleros laughed. This was not the reaction Phoebe had expected.
He smacked his lips. “Do that again, little girl. That magic tasted delicious. Can you feel my true form stirring?”
Dismayed, Phoebe stared at the monster, her nails digging half-moons into her palms. She could indeed feel the darkness reaching out to her from the hideous impossible lake outside the temple. His ancient body was so close to waking, but it couldn’t quite reach her yet. Though its mind roamed freely in Liam, the body of the beast remained trapped. For now.
She felt again the curious calmness that had touched her briefly, bringing her back to the moment. Don’t come, don’t come, she tried to tell the merfolk through the link that connected them. Their fear for her screamed through her senses, jangling her nerves, but she tried again: Don’t! Turn back! It’s a trap.
Their terror for her overrode every warning.
Tristan burst into the temple, glowing bright silver. “Phoebe! Phoebe!”
Mina was right behind him, Mina who had just been trapped in this dark nightmare. She had come back for her friend. Phoebe’s heart swelled with love. Their presence was a shining beacon. She felt the magical connection between them, and it was strong and complete.
“Go away!” she cried out. He’ll hurt you! Escape! She tried one final time to tell Tristan and Mina, specifically, focusing on their smiles, their laughter, all the years that united them, but their own panic blocked their communication.
The wraiths scurried up to the two young merfolk and grabbed them. Phoebe screamed in frustration.
The beast laughed.
“Leave her alone!” Tristan struggled in their arms. “Phoebe, are you okay?”
She met his eyes across the room. He had to live.
Baleros laughed and said, “I think it’s time for you to do what I asked. Don’t you?”
It was time to do something—that was for sure. Anger rose in Phoebe, anger at her inability to save her friends. They had suffered too much.
An idea came to her, simple and direct. It would mean giving up everything she’d ever wanted, but it could save Tristan and Mina and the others. She didn’t think twice.
“Okay,” she told Baleros.
Tristan moaned.
“Don’t do anything the lying monster says!” Mina called.
“I’ll help you, but you must promise not to hurt them.” She pointed to her friends.
The beast inside the seawee licked his lips, eyes still red with power. “They will remain unharmed, if you do as you have said.”
Tristan shouted, “Phoebe! Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
And she looked back to him. “You’re worth everything. Trust me.”
He looked stricken. Mina’s body wracked with sobs that produced no tears.
Phoebe knelt on the sand, splaying her hands against the grittiness. She closed her eyes and felt the power flowing out from the center of this deep fissure, like sap seeping from the trees back home. She still sensed each and every merfolk, like they were on a map in her head, and this time she knew their emotions, too. They were a chaotic surge of fear, hope, and fury. They would fight for her, this peaceful group of beings who should never have to go against their nature in such a way. The rest of the merfolk were almost here, racing to rescue her, but they’d be drained dry by the beast. Even if they managed to fight back, they’d never forgive themselves once the turmoil was past and they could think clearly. She had stolen their free will, or Baleros had, just as Elder Seamus warned she would. Phoebe couldn’t let them fight. Not like this.
She understood they were all connected through the very pulse of the ocean, the same magic she held. Here at the heart of the sea, a great reservoir of that magic had swelled over the last two hundred years, straining to be released. And Phoebe could reach it.
Lifting her cracked voice in song, she imagined weaving together the loose threads of magic in the water, building one strong rope. She sang of peace, of compassion, of unity. All anger, rage, and doubt disappeared as she let the music guide her. She used the song to pull the magic from the waters where it had been sleeping. No fairies had ever been able to come below the waves to draw the sea’s magic forth like they had on land, bringing healing to the magical creatures there, but now Phoebe could do that for the merfolk. The music boosted her magical strength until she knew she could release the source of power feeding into them all. She was more than a key to unlock the magic―she was the door itself. All she had to do was open up and let the magic through.
A fast current of magic sprang up, coiling all around her. As she linked herself to it, a shock raced through her like a bolt of lightning. Magic poured through her fingers, leaving trails of itself wherever she touched. She felt the wounds along her tail and shoulders heal closed as the power danced along them.
For a moment, she was tempted to keep it all. Such richness, such wealth, such glory. But she made her choice. It was a kind of surrender, she supposed, but it was the kind of surrender she could live with. She pulled the power up through herself in a snap, glowing a brilliant blue. The light flickered all around her, pulsing in time to her heartbeat.
Tristan and Mina’s eyes grew huge, shadows of her light playing over their faces.
Baleros whispered, “Yes, now touch my hands, Phoebe. Send me that power.”
Phoebe smiled sadly at the sea beast. “This magic belongs to everyone.”
With a clear, wordless shout, she lifted her arms and sent the magic back down and out through every single connection she had to all the merfolk, a sudden flood of energy that ripped through the magical world around her like a tsunami.
hoebe sensed the shock as magic filled one merfolk after another. Each of the
m lit up like a bonfire in her mind’s eye. Tristan and Mina cried out, stunned, blue light shooting from their skin, mixing with their silver luminescence. What was once a flickering candle now became a roaring fire. A new star being born, each time. One after another burst into life, drawing from Phoebe more of her magical strength, unraveling her, unspinning her, draining her. And still she kept giving.
Baleros roared, an impossibly loud sound, and tried to grab her, but the power pushed him back. The wraiths spun around like leaves in the wind.
The magic of the sea fed into her as her own magic depleted. She started to sing again, a song of hope and joy and love. Her voice trembled through the water, roughened from screaming, but the notes still rang true. Magic soaked into her from the water and refilled her, and she channeled shockwaves of energy into the merfolk over and over. The connections between her and the merfolk were incandescent, overflowing.
It wasn’t enough. The beast was getting some of this magic, as he was tied to Phoebe through Liam’s merfolk body, and Baleros was strong to start with. She needed to make sure that the merfolk could fight back.
So Phoebe smiled grimly and forced more power into them, until the links connecting her to each merfolk burned up like fuses, destroyed by the raw power rushing through, cutting her off from them, one by one. They were too strong to be held by her charms now. Each link sizzled out of her awareness with a small pop, leaving her emptier and emptier. Less and less light filled her.
Her magical charges. Her bonds. Her specialness. She was going to lose it all, give it all up, because if she didn’t, the merfolk would be enslaved, and that would kill them. And that would kill her.
It wasn’t just her connections to the merfolk that were disappearing like sea foam on the beach. Her mermaid body was disappearing, reverting to human. Baleros had foretold it. A burning sensation slid along her tail fin. She had given up too much magic, but it was too late now to try to stop. It belonged to the merfolk anyway. It was only fair. Besides, what was there left for her down here?
As empty as she felt, still magic poured from her, like blood flowing from a fatal wound. Her ankles throbbed like someone had snapped them in half. She gasped, and the light faltered.
But she wasn’t done yet. More, more, more, she sang to herself, seeking to rouse the last of her magic to share with every merfolk. Not many were still connected to her. Only three, in fact. Baleros. Mina. And Tristan.
Phoebe focused on Liam, the sweet boy trapped inside with the poisonous sea monster.
“Liam, come to me,” she beckoned with every ounce of persuasion a mer-charmer could ever have. “Don’t hide in the dark of your mind. You have the power now. This power is yours, not his.”
Baleros’s eyes flared bright red for one second. “No,” he shrieked, and then a flash of blue shuttered the red from his eyes. Liam’s sweet expression looked out of the young face.
He blinked, baffled. “What happened?” he whispered.
And just like that, the link between them broke. The wraiths shrieked and sped from the blue light, slithering off into the darkness.
“Phoebe, what are you doing?” Tristan called. “You’ve got to stop!”
Mina was crying, “Your legs! Phoebe, your legs!”
More power left her.
Suddenly, the link to Mina was gone, too.
Phoebe felt her legs now, water swirling between separated limbs. Her eyes snapped open, but all she could see was her wild hair in tangled knots against the brightness of the bonfire of light. Her skin ached with the sudden coldness of the water, the crushing pressure of the depths. A blistering fire filled her lungs before Tristan caught her hand. His magic flowed through her, soothing, giving her breath.
“You’ll be okay, Phoebe. You can stop now. Stop. We’re all okay.”
At the sound of Tristan’s voice, the bond that linked him to her snapped. She couldn’t feel him inside her mind anymore. It was a dark and lonely moment. But she had the tired satisfaction of knowing that with as much power as she had given the merfolk, Baleros could never terrorize them again. Even if he found another host, they could resist him.
Through Tristan’s magic, she still breathed, though she wasn’t quite sure why she’d want to. She’d given up everything she loved. The merfolk had no reason to love her, a human, now that their magical link was destroyed. By herself, of all people. She shook her head. Sierra would laugh at the irony here, if she ever got over being furious. Phoebe was so tired, though. She needed to sleep. Sleep.
Someone was caressing her hair, holding her hand. A familiar voice said, “My silly little songbird! I told you I wanted to hear you sing again one day, but I didn’t mean for you to nearly kill yourself doing it!”
“Tristan?” His voice roused her from her exhausted stupor. She was just aware enough to be thankful someone had covered her with a sea frond blanket.
“Right here, Phoebe. I’m at your side. And that’s where I’ll stay.”
She opened her eyes and stared right into Tristan’s. They were black once again, as he supported her underwater with his magic. That meant her power was truly gone, and he was freed from her charms. But he said he was going to stay right here…
“You mean you still want me around? After everything?” she whispered. Hope sang its first soft notes, hesitant but beautiful.
He traced the tattoos that still lined her arms and shoulders and smiled at her. “I think you’ll always be a part of the merfolk in some way, Phoebe Quinn. Nothing will change that.” He blushed, his eyes drifting shyly back to hers. “And nothing could make me happier.”
Suddenly, she felt like she was glowing incandescent blue again, but this time from pure joy.
“Though I have a feeling that many things are about to change.” He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. “I can feel the magic at work inside me, churning like a flood. I don’t know what will happen, but I know something is about to.”
She couldn’t wait to find out what.
“So, have you gotten used to standing on dry land yet? What’s it like?” Phoebe asked in hushed tones one month after her return home, astonished still at the sight of Tristan with long, muscular legs. The hollows under his eyes were gone, and his ribs no longer could be counted beneath his skin. The influx of magic had returned the merfolk to a full state of health.
His trousers clung to his wet skin, with the small bag for carrying his clam shucking tools at his waist. His chest remained bare. Habit, she supposed. He didn’t even wobble like she thought he would. The magic that had given him the ability to be a land walker appeared to take care of muscle memory, too.
“Like… magic,” he hesitantly replied. Beneath the wet ends of his trousers, his toes curled into the sand.
“I know what you mean.” She traced the new tattoos lining his arms and chest, images of songbirds in trees. His were the first tattoos to represent land among the merfolk, because, as he put it, the sea knew half of his heart dwelled among the humans, with his own little songbird. His eyes sparkled as he gazed at her. She leaned into his shoulder.
“What did Mina say about the birds?”
He laughed. “What do you think?”
“That it was about time?”
“You know my sister well.”
“Her sea flower tattoos are very beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” he murmured against her hair.
“Okay, break it up, you two,” a voice called out across the shore. They both turned to see Sierra picking her away across the slick rocks.
“I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell you, Tristan, that my friends and I would be honored if you’d travel with us to the next port. I’d like you to share with everyone there what has happened among your people, the way you built that shield to keep magic out of Baleros’s resting place, to prevent him from awakening. We could use your counsel as we discuss the new challenges we’re facing on land.” Her eyes moved to Phoebe. “Both of you, I mean.”
Pride
swelled in Phoebe, but she smothered a grin.
Tristan replied, “Of course. We’re investing much time rebuilding below, but I’ll explain to our people the importance of assisting your mission. Everyone should support such a thing, and work with you on land if they are capable. I’ll need to inform my mother, in particular. She is quite happy in her chosen home in the old city now that we can live there again, but she’s still coming to terms with some of us becoming land walkers and some of us not.”
‘Coming to terms with’ was a generous way of putting it. Odessa was beyond incensed that her own fin refused to turn to legs. Phoebe was secretly relieved.
She noticed that Tristan intended to inform Odessa, not ask permission. Yes, Odessa was finding life after Baleros to be quite different indeed. Maybe she’d grow to like it one day. If she hadn’t wanted to bring about change, she shouldn’t have involved Phoebe.
“We’ll leave tomorrow if you can join us. Besides, it would be good for certain humans to be reminded that our treaty with the merfolk is alive and well. I think it will quickly curtail the problems you’ve been having with humans breaching the treaty, now that you can talk to the fishermen on their turf. Hard to ignore your existence when you can walk right up to them.” She laughed, delighted, and Tristan joined in.
Sierra continued. “Can you come right back tonight and let us know? This message is urgent. Your new magic might well impact us all.”
Tristan nodded. He might not ask permission from the elders, but Phoebe knew the answer would be yes if he did. The other merfolk finally understood it was his decision that had led to their freedom, from the very beginning. They looked to him as their leader now, him and Phoebe both. They would never forget that she had given up her power for their lives. Their trust in her was unshakeable now.
The two sisters sat on Phoebe’s favorite rock and watched while Tristan strode out into the water and transformed into the mer-form she knew so well. He’d settled on tucking his pants into a little bag attached to his work belt, his clever way to deal with the practicalities of all the transforming he planned on doing. He gave a quick flip of his tail and dove with a showy splash that made Phoebe laugh.