A second figure arose from the waves. This ketoi was also a woman, her pearlescent skin marked in a different pattern than Persephone’s. But they had the same, striking eyes.
Persephone grabbed my hand and turned to the other ketoi. “This is Maggie. Maggie, this is my mother, Speaker of Stories.”
The feel of Persephone’s fingers wrapping around mine distracted me, so it was a moment before I realized what she’d said. “Mrs. Whyborne?” I gasped.
I couldn’t stop staring at her. She’d been married to one of the richest men in America, at the very pinnacle of society. Now she emerged from beneath the ocean with a mouth filled with shark’s teeth, dressed only in a knotted skirt of seaweed and gold netting, her neck and arms laden with jewelry.
She approached with the same, awkward gait as any ketoi on land. “I no longer use that name. You may call me Heliabel,” she said with a close-lipped smile. No doubt she knew firsthand how unsettling the sight of their teeth could be on humans. “I’ve heard a great deal about you, Maggie.”
It took a moment to realize what she’d said. “You h-have?”
She glanced at Persephone. “Oh, yes. Percival spoke of you quite fondly.”
Persephone’s tentacle hair lashed around her shoulders. “Did he?” she asked. Her grip on my hand tightened.
I blinked. “You mean…Dr. Whyborne?” The idea that Dr. Whyborne might be fond of me would have made me giddy not so long ago. But now it was a sense of awkwardness that brought a blush to my cheeks.
“Oh yes,” Heliabel said. “He says he’s come to rely on you in many ways.”
“Percival is stupid,” Persephone muttered. “And he has stupid hair.” She glanced at me. “Not like your hair, Maggie.”
“Well, then,” Heliabel said. I had the strangest impression she was trying not to laugh at us. “I’ll leave you two ladies alone.”
“No!” I exclaimed, then blushed again, this time at my own rudeness. “I’m so sorry. I mean, you can go, of course you can, but I summoned you here for a reason. Not you, that is, I was hoping to speak to Persephone, but you might be able to help, too.” Oh dear, I sounded like a babbling idiot.
Persephone let go of my hand. “You need my help? What’s happened?”
“Irene Vale is missing.” I struggled to keep any sour note from my voice. “It was her stone I used to summon you, so I assume you know who that is.”
Heliabel shot me a curious glance, as if I’d given away more than I intended. “Sings Above the Waves?” she asked, using her daughter’s sea name. “Do you know this Miss Vale?”
Persephone’s features settled into a serious expression, such as I seldom saw on her face. “Of course,” she said. “Irene is one of ours. A hybrid.”
~ * ~
“A ketoi hybrid, you mean?” I asked, shocked. “But she seemed so…normal.”
“So did I, once upon a time,” Heliabel said dryly. “And I imagine you didn’t think Percival a monster, when you first met him.”
“Of course not.” Dr. Whyborne was shy and gentle, kind and brave. “I mean, I don’t. He isn’t…there’s nothing monstrous about him.”
Heliabel arched a brow, then glanced at Persephone. “Even some among the ketoi fear the twins.”
“Fools,” Persephone said dismissively. “Maggie, Irene was sent to guard you.”
“Wait. Guard…me?” I stared at her blankly.
Persephone looked down at her feet. Her long toes flicked a stone away. “The rat creature attacked you in July. I didn’t wish anything to happen to you, and I couldn’t watch over you myself, so…”
“Oh.” I wasn’t entirely certain what I thought about that. “And neither of you bothered to tell me?”
“The hybrids—those who are even aware of their heritage—are instructed from birth not to tell anyone who isn’t of our blood themselves,” Heliabel said. “I doubt it ever crossed Irene’s mind to confess to you. She knew only that her chieftess had told her to keep you safe.”
“So she wasn’t really my friend at all.” My shoulders sank beneath the revelation. “It was just an act.”
“No!” Persephone put a hand to my arm. “She liked you—she said she did, when I spoke with her. I…I should have told you. Or let her tell you. I was afraid you’d argue, try to send her away, and there wouldn’t be anyone there to protect you.”
“Considering she’s the one who’s vanished, it seems Irene needed the bodyguard,” I snapped. “I know I’m just a-a secretary, that I can’t cast spells, or shoot guns, or read dead languages. But that doesn’t mean I appreciate being deceived.”
Persephone glanced down, then back at me. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
I wanted to stay angry, but it was impossible when she looked at me like that. “Just don’t do it again,” I muttered.
“Irene wouldn’t have simply left, not without letting us know.” Persephone let her hand fall away from my arm. “Tell me everything that happened.”
I related all I knew or guessed. Heliabel sat on the rock I’d used earlier, and Persephone crouched on the sand, the fins of her arms and legs jutting out. When I was done, she stood up again in a single, smooth motion. “Burton was also one of ours,” she said.
“Oh no.” This didn’t sound good at all. “So two people with ketoi blood became ill at the same performance, and then disappeared later that night.”
Heliabel frowned. “Was there anything else? Anything which might provide a clue?”
“No.” I tried to think. “Just that Irene had a nightmare before she disappeared, but I can’t see how that’s relevant.”
Persephone idly tapped a claw against her chin. “Did she say what it was about?”
“No. But when I came in to wake her, she was talking in her sleep. She said something about a song, calling to her.” I glanced between them. “Do you…do you think that meant something?”
“Yes,” Persephone said, without hesitation.
I frowned up at her. “How can you be so sure?”
Her hair curled and writhed. “The summoning stones sing to us. The god sings to us.”
I had the feeling whatever god she referenced had never been spoken of in the churches I attended. “The god?”
“The dweller in the deeps.” Persephone paced a few steps away, leaving tracks in the sand that would no doubt confuse any beachcombers who saw them. “It sings in our dreams, sometimes. Then I dive, deep, deep. To the temple, to stand before the god, where it sings its wishes to me.” She turned back to us. “It sang to Percival once. Fanned the sleeping ember into a flame.”
“I don’t understand,” I confessed. “Dr. Whyborne doesn’t really confide in me.”
Heliabel took pity on me. “The dweller in the deeps is a…well, calling it a creature seems inadequate, somehow. An immortal being whose guidance has directed the ketoi throughout their history. Or I should say ‘their’ guidance.”
The thought of some immortal creature living beneath the ocean was hardly comforting. “There’s more than one?”
“The ketoi span the globe,” Heliabel said matter-of-factly. “There are…not many gods, certainly, but more than one.”
I stared out at the ocean, at the waves heaving beneath the moon. Somehow I’d thought of the ketoi as some quirk of Widdershins. Just one more strange thing about a strange town. But if they lived beneath the seas across the planet, then nothing was as I’d believed. It wasn’t just Widdershins that was strange, but the whole world.
“Could this…god…have sung to Irene?” I shifted uneasily. “Lured her away, somehow?”
“No,” Heliabel said. “Normally hybrids can’t hear the dweller in the deeps if they haven’t taken to the water.” She winced, as though recalling something unpleasant. “Except under unusual circumstances. I don’t think it was the god. But I also don’t think that the fact she had a dream about something singing to her was unrelated.”
“Perhaps it had something to do with the theater, then.” The wind
had grown stronger, and I tugged my coat tighter about me. “She fainted at the siren’s song, as did Mr. Burton. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Agreed.” Heliabel put a hand to one of her necklaces, absently stroking a pearl the size of my thumbnail. “This doesn’t bode well.”
“No. It doesn’t.” Persephone folded her hands behind her back and stared in the direction of Widdershins, as if she could somehow see across the miles to the theater. “I can’t ask our kin on the land to risk going there. If there is some sorcery aimed at them, whatever happened to Irene and Burton could happen to them as well.”
“That’s true,” I agreed, heart sinking.
“So I’ll have to go alone,” Persephone concluded.
“What?” I reached for her, but let my hand drop. “You can’t! It’s too dangerous.”
“What choice do I have?” Her hair thrashed around her shoulders. “If this theater is indeed the source of the attack, we must find out. We must know what magics they have, and how they can be fought. And, if Irene and Burton yet live, I cannot leave our kin in the hands of those who mean us no good.”
The moonlight glittered from her jewelry. She stood tall, and proud, and indomitable. She was a queen, a goddess, and I’d been mad to ever think she might kiss the likes of me.
I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “Then I-I’ll go with you.”
Persephone frowned. “There’s no need.”
“I don’t want you to go alone.” I clenched the folds of my coat between my fingers. “If Dr. Whyborne was here, or even Dr. Putnam-Barnett…but they aren’t. So I’ll go.”
Concern softened the contours of her face. “It’s not safe. You could be hurt.”
“At least I’m not susceptible to whatever sorcery is aimed at the ketoi,” I pointed out. “And I can pick locks. If we wait until the troupe leaves for the night, I can open the stage door quietly, without alerting any guards who might remain behind.”
“Brave girl,” Heliabel said approvingly.
“I’m not.” I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. “I’m scared to death. But it gives us the best chance, doesn’t it?”
Persephone crossed the sand to me and rested her hands on my shoulders. My throat constricted at her nearness, and I looked up at her. There was an odd sort of sadness in her eyes. “Thank you, Maggie,” she said, her words almost lost beneath the sigh of the waves. “This isn’t your fight, but I’m glad to have your help. I knew, when I saw you…well, it doesn’t matter.” Her hands fell away. “I’ll meet you outside the theater tomorrow night.”
“I’ll see you then,” I said, even as she turned and made for the incoming surf. Heliabel gave me a smile, before following her daughter into the waves. In a few moments, I was alone on the beach, with only their footprints in the sand to show they’d ever been there at all.
Chapter 5
I fought not to betray my nervousness during dinner with Oliver. Most of my nerves came from my plan to sneak into the Undertow with Persephone. What if we were caught? Or couldn’t find Irene once we got inside? What if Irene was already dead?
As for the rest of my nerves…I’d assumed Oliver meant to take me somewhere like Marsh’s restaurant. Instead, he’d announced he had reservations at Le Calmar. Widdershins’s finest establishment.
It was the sort of place one might go to mark a special occasion. When I’d protested at the expense, he’d only smiled and said I was worth it. So I hastily changed into my best dress and told myself the special occasion was simply our renewed friendship.
“The broiled bluefish is delicious,” Oliver said with a smile from across the table. “How is your halibut?”
“It’s wonderful,” I said honestly. We sat near the back of the restaurant, not far from the kitchen. Already I’d spotted several members of the old families here tonight. “I didn’t expect such a treat.”
Oliver smiled at me. He looked rather handsome, dressed in a suit of far better quality than he’d ever owned back in New Bedford. He’d done well for himself, and I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of pride on his behalf.
“I wanted tonight to be something special,” he said. “You know I spoke to your mother before I came here. She expressed certain…hopes.”
The halibut turned to lead in my stomach. I set aside my fork and picked up my wine glass. Of course she had. It was what I’d feared from the start.
“At the time, I kept my response to her vague,” Oliver went on. “Before the Bedlam went down, I think our families half expected us to wed when we grew old enough. After…”
“Everything changed,” I said numbly. No doubt Oliver was right, and Papa would have encouraged us to unite our families even more closely than they already were.
But he died in the cold sea, alongside Mr. Young, and took all his hopes for the future with him. We lost our comfortable house, forced into a series of increasingly shabby lodgings. My brothers found what employ they could; in factories or on ships. I had been fortunate enough to have the skills to take clerical work. The pay was poor, so I’d come to Widdershins, hoping to find a better position.
Failed to return Dottie’s kiss, when I had the chance.
“Everything changed,” he agreed. “I’ve enjoyed our correspondence over the years, of course. But it isn’t the same as actually seeing someone. Hearing her sweet voice.”
I stared fixedly at my half-eaten fish. I wished I could stop time, or make Oliver stop speaking. Beg him to at least wait until we were somewhere private. But I felt frozen; unable to move or speak.
“I know this is rather sudden,” he went on. His voice was gentle, as if he knew my thoughts. “And I won’t press you for an answer tonight. But my life has been lonely, and to know I had a darling wife waiting for me in New Bedford at the end of all my travels…it would mean everything to me.”
My heart flinched from the thought of marrying Oliver. He was handsome, and a good man, but I felt no passion for him.
When I met Persephone, feelings had crashed down over me like a wave. An irresistible force, a riptide dragging me out to sea, away from everything safe I’d ever known.
So what was I to do about it? Wait, in the vain hope she might feel the same? I wasn’t anyone to inspire passion. Certainly not in someone like her.
I’d waited years for Dr. Whyborne to speak, and I’d end up waiting a lifetime for Persephone. Oliver was here, now. I didn’t have to wait for him to act. If I took up his offer, I’d have a good life. An actual home, not just a room in a boarding house. A friend to spend the evenings with. Children.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I need time to think.”
“Of course.” Oliver sat back. “I won’t mention it again, until you’re ready. But at least say you’ll return to New Bedford. This town is no place for you.”
I looked up in surprise at the dark tone that had entered his voice. “But my job at the Ladysmith…”
“I’ve heard too much about that place in the few days since I arrived.” Oliver’s smile was gone now, his expression grim.
“What’s wrong with the Ladysmith? It’s a fine museum. The best museum in America,” I added staunchly.
Oliver’s mouth tightened. “I know you want to think the best of everyone, Maggie. You always did. But my encounter with that librarian made me wonder what other sorts of people you might be exposed to there. So I asked around.” He shook his head. “The man you’re secretary for. Dr. Whyborne. I’ve heard some very unsavory rumors about him.”
“Then they’re lies.” What Oliver had heard, I couldn’t fathom. Certainly it couldn’t be anywhere near the truth of the matter, that he was a half-human sorcerer. “Dr. Whyborne has always behaved as a perfect gentleman for as long as I’ve known him.”
“I appreciate that you have a loyal heart,” Oliver said, but I could tell he didn’t believe me. “Ordinarily, I would think it a good thing, but in this case I fear it’s made you naïve. But even if I’m mistaken about him, this t
own…surely you can’t be happy here.”
I had to force my hands to relax and not crease my skirt. “And what is wrong with Widdershins?”
“The people are unpleasant.”
“Eccentric,” I corrected him.
“This morning’s newspaper contained a mention of grave-robbing, as though it were as commonplace as a stolen pocketbook.”
“These things happen,” I temporized.
“I found out exactly how many people have died in that museum of yours.”
“I…oh.” That was much harder to argue with. The Ladysmith did seem to average more than its share of violent deaths. “Please, Oliver, don’t tell Mother. She’d worry, and it really isn’t necessary.”
“I can’t make such promises.” He leaned across the table and took my hand. “This is no place for a sweet girl like you, Maggie.”
Widdershins knows its own. But surely that meant important people, like Dr. Putnam-Barnett or Mr. Flaherty. Not lowly secretaries.
“Just give me time to think, Oliver,” I said. “Please.”
“A few days,” he agreed. “Just…your father would never have wanted this for you. I know that without question, and I think you do, too.”
The waiter approached with the dessert menu, ending the conversation. But as I tried to savor my slice of chocolate torte, Oliver’s words lay heavy on me. Because I knew, about the last at least, that he was absolutely right.
~ * ~
Thanks to Oliver’s insistence on lingering over dinner, then escorting me home, it was almost midnight by the time I met Persephone outside the Undertow. I hadn’t even had time to change into the sensible dress I’d planned.
Fog rolled in with nightfall, something for which I was grateful as I slipped around the side of the theater. I’d nearly reached the stage door, when a heavy body dropped from above, landing in the alley beside me.
I let out an undignified squeak, before realizing it was only Persephone, holding a short spear tipped with stone. “Wretch,” I said.
She grinned. “You like it.” The grin faded slightly, became something else as her eyes swept over my form. “Land women wear far too much clothing. But the blue is pretty with your eyes.”
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