For the first time in her life, Serafina blessed her court and the hard lessons it had taught her. She fell back on those lessons now. Hiding her fear behind a mask, she forced herself to meet Traho’s gaze.
“I can’t answer a question I don’t understand,” she said coolly. “You didn’t summon me, you kidnapped me.”
Traho swam to the campaign table, where a map lay, etched in squid ink on kelp parchment. He pushed tiny shell soldiers across it and as he did, he recited four lines:
Daughter of Merrow, leave your sleep,
The ways of childhood no more to keep.
The dream will die, a nightmare rise,
Sleep no more, child, open your eyes.
Serafina’s heart hammered in her chest, but her face betrayed nothing. Those lines were from the Iele’s chant. But how does he know them? she wondered. It’s not possible. She’d only told her mother about the nightmare, and she hadn’t told anyone about the chant.
Serafina didn’t know why Traho had recited the lines, but a small voice inside warned her that she must not tell him anything.
“It is time to stop playing games,” he said now.
He took a conch from the campaign table and placed it on the arm of her chair. Sera realized he was going to record his interrogation.
“The Iele summoned you, daughter of Merrow. We know they have. We’ve heard their chant, too. We also know that they summoned Princess Neela—the one who keeps the light. They mentioned four others in the chant. We want to know who they are. And we want to know where the talismans are.”
Serafina laughed in disbelief, bluffing. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“My forces destroyed Cerulea to take you and the Matali princess. We’ll destroy every city in every realm if that’s what it takes to get the talismans. You can prevent that.”
“You’re insane. The Iele are make-believe. They aren’t real.”
“No? Then why did you reach out to Vrăja when she appeared in your mirror?”
Serafina’s heart lurched. How did he know? No one else had been in the room when she’d had that vision of the witch, and the terragogg with the black eyes.
Traho waited. A minute went by. Then two. Then he pulled out his knife again. Serafina steeled herself. She would not scream. He wouldn’t take her courage and he wouldn’t take her pride. She was Serafina, principessa di Miromara, and he was sea scum.
As Traho came closer, a tiny bubble floated past Serafina’s face. She barely noticed it. Until it popped, softly, right inside her ear.
Lie, child.
Thalassa had regained consciousness, though she hadn’t revealed it. Then she’d cast a bolla spell. Her magic was so powerful, she didn’t have to sing. All she had to do was whisper, and tuck that whisper into a bubble.
“Who are they? Where do they live? I won’t ask again,” Traho said.
Serafina looked down. She hoped it looked like she was struggling with her conscience, when really she was struggling to make up four names.
“Mitsuko…” she whispered.
“Louder, please. Speak into the conch.”
“Mitsuko Takahashi. From Shiroi Nami in the East Sea. Alice Strongtail from Cod Shoals in Atlantica. Natalya Kovalenko from the Volga. Lara Jonsdottir from Villtur Sjó.”
“Good. Very good,” Traho said nodding. He picked up the conch shell and listened to it, making sure everything she’d said had been captured. Then he looked at Serafina again. “Now,” he said, “where are the talismans hidden?”
“I don’t know where they are. I don’t even know what they are.”
“Vrăja, the witch—”
“Told me nothing,” Serafina said. She held out her hands, spreading her fingers wide. “Go ahead. Cut them off. When you’re finished, I’ll say the same thing.”
Traho weighed her words, then turned to the two soldiers stationed by the doorway. “Take them both to the prisoners’ tent,” he said.
He bought it, Serafina thought. Relief washed over her. “Let Thalassa go,” she said. “I gave you what you wanted. I told you what I know. Let her go.”
“Not yet,” Traho said. “Her powers will be useful to us. Yours, too, Principessa. But it’s late now and you must rest. Good night. Sleep well.”
A guard handed Thalassa a rag to wrap around her hand and led her out of the tent. Another now led Serafina toward the doorway.
“Oh, and Principessa?”
Serafina stopped. She turned around.
Traho smiled. “Gods help you if you’ve lied to me.”
SERAFINA STRUGGLED when she saw the collar.
She flailed and tried to break away, but one of the guards grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, immobilizing her. All she could do was blink, eyes wild, as another guard closed the collar around her neck and padlocked it. Like the cuffs and gag used on her earlier, the collar was made of iron, and iron repelled magic. While it touched her throat, she could not songcast.
As soon as the guard released her, she thrashed about, stirring up silt from the tent’s floor. The collar was heavy and cruel, and attached by a chain to a wooden post. She leaned forward and pulled against the chain with all her might. Slapped her tail against the pole. Threw her shoulder into it. But she only succeeded in hurting herself.
“Stop, child. It’s no use.”
Serafina swam back to the wooden post. Thalassa had been chained to it also. She looked at her beloved teacher’s face, mottled by violence. At her maimed hand, swaddled in a blood-soaked rag. “Magistra,” she said brokenly, “why? Why did he do that to you?”
“Because he believes the Iele are real. And he thinks that I might have some connection with them.”
“Sera?”
Serafina whirled around at the sound of the voice. “Neela!” she said tearfully.
In the dim light of a single lantern, she saw her friend, curled up on the ground. She was chained to another pole only a few feet away. Her eye was swollen and bruised. Her skin was a sickly gray-blue. Serafina rushed toward her instinctively but was brought up short by her own chain.
Neela sat up and reached for Sera, but she was too far away to touch her. Serafina flattened herself on the seafloor and stretched herself out as far as the chain would allow. She patted Neela’s tail fin with her own. Neela patted back.
“Did Traho do that to your face?” Sera asked.
“A soldier did it when I tried to escape.”
“Quiet in there!” a harsh voice ordered.
All three mermaids looked at the tent’s door. A guard stationed outside was silhouetted against the flap.
Thalassa held a finger to her lips. Sera and Neela nodded. “Traho will question you both tomorrow,” she whispered. “Prepare yourself. Have something to tell him. There’s no reasoning with him. He’s a madman.” She shook her head. “Attacking Cerulea over make-believe witches…brutalizing us over dreams and chants…it makes no sense.”
Neela stiffened. “What dream? What chant?” she asked.
“A dream I had about the Iele. In it, they sang a chant. Traho knows about it. I have no idea how,” Serafina said.
“Sera,” Neela said urgently, “what happened in your dream?”
“The Iele were chanting in a circle. And there was a monster in a cage. It wanted to get out. It almost did get out—”
“Abbadon,” Neela said. “The monster’s name is Abbadon. There’s an older witch. She’s the leader. Her name is Vrăja.”
Serafina shook her head. “No way. No. Way. How do you know that?”
Neela, glowing a bright, electric blue, said, “Because I had the very same dream.”
“YOU COULDN’T HAVE. It’s not possible,” Serafina said.
“Except that it is,” Neela said. “Because I did. Remember when I told you—in the reggia—that I’d had bad dreams during the trip from Matali?”
“Yes, but you said you couldn’t remember them.”
“I was too embarrassed to tell you that I was scared of make-belie
ve witches.”
“How does the chant go, child?” Thalassa asked.
“Daughter of Light, chosen one…” Neela began to quietly sing.
Serafina stopped her. “Mine was different. It started like this: Daughter of Merrow, chosen one…”
Neela joined her and they sang the rest of the chant together. Except for a few lines, the words were exactly the same.
“For me, when the chant gets to the find the five part, instead of One whose heart will hold the light, the Iele sing One who will rule from Merrow’s right,” Neela said. “That’s you, Sera. You’re descended from Merrow and the heiress to the Miromaran throne. You’re one of the five the witches were telling me to find.”
“And you’re one of the five they were telling me to find. I’m supposed to look for One who keeps the light,” said Serafina. “That’s you, with the blue light you give off.”
“Um, right,” Neela said. “Except for one thing—the Iele don’t want us to find anyone, because the Iele aren’t real. They don’t exist.”
Serafina was silent for a few seconds, then she said, “What if they do?”
“The invaders think they do,” Thalassa said. “Because of this chant, they’ve destroyed Cerulea and killed countless of its citizens. They’ll kill more. You heard Traho, Serafina. He said they’d destroy every city in every realm if that’s what it took to get the talismans.”
Dread gripped Sera. It was all starting to make sickening sense.
“You’re right, Magistra,” she said grimly. “And I think I know why. Kolfinn wants to free the monster. That’s what’s behind all of this. Remember the lines about the talismans? These pieces must not be united / Not in anger, greed, or rage / They were scattered by brave Merrow / Lest they unlock destruction’s cage. He’s trying to find them. He wants to harness Abbadon’s power.”
A cold rage flared inside her. The destruction, the bloodshed, the terrible suffering of her parents and so many innocent people…they were all because of one merman’s insane quest for power.
“Did you tell Traho anything, Sera?” Neela asked.
Sera shook her head. “I lied. I gave him made-up names.”
“What about the talismans?” Thalassa asked. “Do you know what they are?”
“I have no idea,” Serafina said.
“In the morning, when Traho questions you, make something up, or gods only know what he’ll do to you,” Thalassa said worriedly. “There’s no other way.”
“There is another way. We escape,” Neela said.
“How? We can’t get out of these collars. We need keys to unlock them. Which we haven’t got,” Serafina said.
“Keys,” Neela said thoughtfully, “or a pick.”
“Which we also haven’t got,” Serafina said.
But Neela didn’t hear her; she was busy undoing her belt. It had a jeweled buckle with a long prong. The buckle had been hidden by the folds of her sari. Baco Goga’s eels had missed it when they’d robbed her.
“Once, when we were little, Yazeed locked Mahdi in a trunk,” Neela said. “Then he lost the key. Aunt Ahadi was beside herself. The royal locksmith came. We watched him. He said locks have pins inside them. All you have to do is push the right ones.”
Stabilizing the prong between her thumb and forefinger, Neela inserted it into the lock on her collar and started twisting. Nothing happened.
“Neels, it’ll never work. You’re a princess, not a safecracker,” Serafina said.
“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” Neela said, adjusting the angle of the prong. She twisted it again, and they all heard a metallic click. Sera glanced nervously at the door, but the sound hadn’t carried to the guard.
“It worked!” Neela said excitedly. She threw the padlock down and pulled her collar off. “Never underestimate the power of accessories!”
“Go, Neela, get out of here!” Serafina said.
“And leave you to Commander Sea Scum?”
“The guard could come in at any moment. You have to go!”
Neela ignored Serafina’s words and focused on her padlock. After a few minutes, she got it open too.
“Work on Thalassa’s. I’ll see if there’s a way out of here,” Serafina said, throwing off her collar. “Maybe one of the tent pegs is loose.”
She started to push on the canvas, hoping they could pull up a section and swim under it. Neela applied herself to Thalassa’s collar. The lock on it was bigger and harder to pick.
“You must go, both of you. Leave me,” Thalassa said.
“We’re not leaving you,” said Neela. “I can do this.”
She pulled the prong out of the lock and held up her hand. Her skin was glowing brightly, as it did when her emotions were running high. She used the blue light it gave off to illuminate the keyhole and saw that a tiny pebble was stuck inside. She dislodged it, then tried again. A few seconds later, Thalassa was free.
“Ha! Yes. We’re so gone,” Neela said, but her triumph was short-lived.
“Shh!” said Thalassa.
They heard the sounds of fins in the water. Someone was coming.
“I can’t find a way out!” Serafina said frantically.
“Put the collars back on! Pretend you’re asleep!” Thalassa hissed.
The three mermaids quickly fumbled their restraints back around their necks and threaded the locks’ hasps through the collars without engaging them. Then they lay on the ground, letting their hair fall over the padlocks.
“Everything good?” a voice asked.
“They were noisy at first, but they’ve quieted down,” the guard at the door replied.
The flap opened. Two guards swam in. One shone a lantern over the mermaids. The other stayed in the doorway. Sera was sure they could hear her heart pounding.
“Getting their beauty sleep,” one guard said.
“They’ll need it,” the other said. “Traho’s getting impatient, and when Traho gets impatient, he stops cutting off fingers and starts cutting off heads.”
The guards laughed and left the tent. One continued on his rounds, the other resumed his position by the door.
The mermaids sat up and removed their collars. “Swim to the top of the tent,” Thalassa said. “Maybe there’s a vent, a hole, something you can rip—”
She was silenced by a short, sharp noise outside the tent, as if a shout had been cut off. It was followed by a soft pattering, like raindrops on sailcloth. Before Sera’s mind could process what the sounds were, the flap was flung open, and a merman swam inside—dragging a guard behind him. The guard’s throat had been cut. He was arching his back, flailing his tail. His eyes, pleading and desperate, found Sera’s. She gasped and backed away.
The merman dragging the guard was tall and bronzed, with short blond hair and a blue tail. He was followed by two more. One had red hair and a green tail. Another gray eyes and a gray tail. They all had daggers in scabbards on their hips.
Neela lunged at the dying guard. She grabbed the sword from his belt and held it out in front of her.
“Get away from us,” she said. Her voice was steady, but her hand was trembling.
“You need to come with us. Right now,” one of the mermen said.
“Who are you?” Neela demanded.
“I’m Blu,” the blond said after a second. “This is Verde and Grigio.”
“Yeah, those are some real convincing names,” Neela said. “Why are you here? What do you want?”
“To get you out of here,” Verde said.
“Who sent you?”
“A friend. We’ll explain later.”
Suddenly shouts were heard from the other end of the camp. Orders were yelled. A rush of fins churned the water.
Grigio swore. “Time to move, kids.”
Neela made her decision. She threw her sword down and swam to the mermen. Thalassa joined her. Sera, her eyes on the dying guard, did not. His lips formed a final word: Please. And then he was gone.
“Let’s go!” Grigio hissed.
Sera, traumatized, didn’t move.
Blu swam to her. He took her chin in his hand and turned her face to his. “Look at me…look at me, not him.”
Sera met his eyes. “H-he needed help. He reached for me,” she said, her voice breaking.
“And he would have killed you, too, if he was told to,” Blu said. “Traho’s coming. We’ve spooked him, so he won’t wait until tomorrow morning to get his answers. He’ll force you to tell him right now. Right here. And then he’ll kill you. That’s what he’s doing in Cerulea. Either you come with us or you stay with him.”
“Please, child. We have no choice,” Thalassa said.
Sera nodded woodenly. Blu offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her out of the tent and through the blood-dark water.
“FIVE MINUTES,” Verde said, pointing to a cave. “That’s it.”
“She needs more than five minutes! Look at her!” Serafina said. “She can’t breathe!”
“Five minutes.”
The cave was on top of a seamount. Serafina and Neela swam inside. Blu and Grigio followed, each with one of Thalassa’s arms around his neck. They lowered her to the floor, eased her against a wall, then left to keep watch. Thalassa’s face was gray. Her chest was heaving. There was quite a bit of bioluminescent plankton in the cave. Neela sang a quick illuminata and it started to glow.
“Stay with her,” Serafina said to Neela. “I’ll be right back.”
Serafina found Verde hovering at the cave’s mouth, scanning the seabed below for movement. “We shouldn’t have stopped,” he said. “Dawn’s only a few hours away. We need to keep moving while it’s still dark.”
There were five other mermen with him, including Blu and Grigio. One of them shook his head. “Had to, boss. The old lady’s in bad shape.”
“Who are you?” Serafina said. At last there was time to ask.
“Friends,” Verde replied.
“Why are you helping us?”
Verde turned away without answering. He signaled to the others and all but one followed him, fanning out across the face of the seamount. Blu stayed by the cave, a lone sentry.
Serafina sat down in the cave’s mouth. She didn’t know how she was going to get up and swim again in five minutes—or how Thalassa would. She was tired and hungry. The bite on her tail fin was bleeding again. She’d been swimming flat out ever since she’d left Traho’s camp, over an hour ago. They were heading north. Verde had navigated through the night waters.
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