“What about Phylassos?” Sam inquired.
“He respects the gryphon and would likely honor a request of that sort from him. But why would Phylassos care about your father?” Vance posited, then added, “Look on the sunny side of things—at least you know your mom didn’t lie to you.”
“That’s true,” Sam said. He had to admit that knowing his mother hadn’t been lying to him this whole time was a huge relief. But there were even more questions that remained. Sam’s mind was in overdrive.
“It’s time to go,” Vantana announced.
“To see my father?” Iaira asked. Vance nodded.
“To see Ika-Tere, the father of all sea creatures.”
Despite having learned her true identity, Princess Iaira longed to return to her fake one. After all, things were so much simpler as Pearl Eklund. Not only simpler but fun, carefree, and comfortable. Ever since she’d touched the Atlantean crystal on Boca Chita Key, her world had turned upside down and inside out, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled with its new direction. Who would be? She had nearly died on more than one occasion, and she didn’t anticipate things getting any better. The know-it-all talking salmon had told her she was selfish, the golden wolf had said she was a traitor…and as far as she could remember, they were both right.
Knowing this, how could Iaira ever face her people again? Would they even forgive her? If the warnings were true and the kingdom was on the brink of war, was it already too late for her to make a difference? As the dvergen subway shuttled her and her new companions to the fourth sacred point, she kept to herself, lost in her thoughts. The fact that she was on her way to meet her “metaphorical” father, on top of everything else, was causing her anxiety level to soar and kick off this spiral of introspection. Fortunately, if there was any place in the world that could help assuage her unease, it was this destination.
“Welcome to the National Park of American Samoa,” Dr. Vantana announced as they emerged from the station. The falls that hid the dvergen subway station were a cascading stream of clear water that ran against a cliff of jagged black rocks inside a lush, tropical jungle. The sheer beauty of it made everyone reflexively smile. It was truly paradise.
“This is the Amalau Valley. And that’s one of the only stations behind an ephemeral waterfall,” Vance said as he led them down a narrow trail that ran against the steep cliff side. “The waterfall shows up only when there’s a lot of rain, but the dvergen felt its appearance was frequent enough to allow for a station,” he explained. “Plus, it’s pretty remote. They’ve got one here and also one behind a waterfall in O Le Pupu-Pu’e National Park on the island-nation of Samoa, which is a different country but all the same culture.”
“And this is American Samoa?” Sam clarified.
The doctor nodded. “That’s right. This park is the only U.S. national park south of the equator,” he added. “ ‘Samoa’ literally means ‘sacred earth,’ so it makes sense it would be a sacred point. The Samoan culture has a rich mythology, and the creature we are going to see is considered the father of fish. I’ve never met him, nor do I know anyone who has. He appears only to creatures of the sea. Word is, he can be found in Vai’ava Strait.”
The thirty-minute hike followed a coastline of sandy beaches and azure waters that ran adjacent to Vatia Bay. The Vai’ava Strait separated the Samoan island of Tutuila from Pola Island, a group of emerald-topped volcanic land masses with hundred-foot cliffs. When the travelers crossed the beach and reached the end of Tutuila, Dr. Vantana turned back to Iaira.
“This is as far as we go,” he said. “You’ll have to swim the rest of the way.”
“She has to go alone?” Sam asked. Iaira was just about to ask the same question and was appreciative that Sam was concerned for her. The thought of facing this Ika-Tere creature by herself was not at all appealing. Iaira hadn’t been separated from her new friends since she’d discovered her true nature, and what if Ika-Tere turned out to be as angry with her as that seal person in Antarctica? She might have just met Sam, the doctor, and Tashi, but she had grown to rely on them. The Guardian had even saved her life twice.
“It’s what’s required,” Dr. Vantana answered. “I wish there were another way.”
“What about those injections?” Sam reminded him.
“What injections?” Iaira asked.
“We were given injections so that we could grow gills and go underwater if it became necessary,” Sam explained, then added, “Long story, but it has to do with magic and blood. Sounds gross and it sorta is, but—”
“Just because we can have temporary gills doesn’t make us creatures of the sea.” Vantana cut Sam off with a stern look. “The last thing I want to do is upset him, especially when we need information. Iaira goes alone.”
“How do we know he will not harm her?” Tashi inquired.
“Everything I know about this guy tells me he won’t,” the doctor said. “He wouldn’t be in this park if he didn’t respect the gryphon and the gryphon’s law. Now, I can’t force you to go, Iaira, but there’s a heck of a lot on the line here, and I’m askin’—no, beggin’—you to go in there and find out where the final point is, so that we can get you home and prevent a war.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Iaira said.
“Excuse me?” replied the doctor.
“I will find out where the last point is, but I’m not going with you,” Iaira informed the group. “I think it’ll make things worse.” The princess had been contemplating not continuing on before she had arrived here. She’d even entertained the idea of running away back in Ireland, but that would have been rude, especially given how much these three strangers—and now friends—had sacrificed. However, this seemed like the perfect moment to separate herself from the journey.
“Now, Iaira, Maris was clear—” the doctor began.
“That’s my final decision,” she said firmly. “If I go in there and find out where the fifth point is, I get to go home to Miami. Deal?” Vantana sighed, then nodded.
“If that’s what you want,” he said.
“But, Iaira—” Sam started, but she put her hand up.
“We have shared quite an adventure since our time in that limo, Sam London. And I will miss all of you. But I betrayed my people. Millalobo was right—I’m not a princess. I don’t deserve to be.” And with that, Iaira walked into the crystal blue waters and dove beneath the surface.
She was quickly surrounded by brightly colored coral and schools of fish. Her legs transformed into a fin, and she moved swiftly toward Pola Island. She never thought she’d get completely used to this ability, but each time she changed, it grew easier and felt more natural. There had been a time when she was afraid of the water, but now it was her oxygen. Before Iaira knew her true form, she often wondered what it would be like to fly like a bird. She had imagined it would be freeing and thrilling at the same time…and that was the feeling she had when she swam. Up, down, sideways, looping, dropping, and twirling. She could do anything in an instant, and she loved the way the water slid across her skin, as if it were petting her, as if it cared for her. She wondered how she would handle this back home. She would have to find another outlet for her swimming, and a bathtub wouldn’t cut it.
She reminded herself that there were plenty of beautiful underwater sights to see off the coast of Florida, and she’d have the benefit of a rich and rewarding life on land as well. The truth was that she felt more like a princess as Pearl Eklund than she had thus far as Iaira. Her penthouse at the top of a skyscraper was like living in a modern-day castle of glass and steel, and she had millions of loyal subjects in the form of her gems. As she was thinking back on her life in Miami, something caught her eye. There were schools of fish now flanking her on both sides. She stopped for a moment to let the fish continue, but they also paused. Stranger still was that both schools appeared to be formed into the shape of arrows pointing
forward.
She knew this wasn’t some bizarre coincidence and kept swimming where they directed. They led her toward the end of the island. The fish shifted again, pushing in front of her and forming an arrow pointing left. She followed, and they swam ahead of her, re-forming into an arrow pointing down. Iaira gazed below and noticed an opening beneath the cliff wall where the rock face met the seafloor. It was an archway opening that both schools of fish were waiting in front of. They wiggled their bodies, creating a shimmering effect that made the arrows flash like neon signs. Iaira steeled herself and ventured into the darkness.
Diving beneath the rock, she found herself swimming blindly in a long narrow cave with no light. She continued forward, using her hands on the walls to guide her. Finally she spotted a faint light in the distance. It grew brighter and bigger, until she eventually found herself in an undersea cave filled with bioluminescence generated by a host of sea creatures. Glowing jellyfish, squid, and sea worms lit up the water. Iaira stopped and admired this wondrous sight. Suddenly there was a whoosh of water as the schools of fish who’d led her to this point swam speedily past her. They bunched together, and with the help of some of the other creatures, they formed a face. There were two glowing eel-like worms for lips, a squid nose, and luminous jellyfish eyes. Stunned by the visage, Iaira had never felt so nervous before. It was extraordinary to see and even more extraordinary when the face began to speak.
“Greetings, Princess Iaira,” the face said in an ancient voice that sent ripples through the water. She heard the sound, then felt it hit her body a moment later. Should I say something? she wondered. Could I even speak underwater? “You have yet to discover your voice beneath the sea, have you?” the face asked. Iaira shook her head. “Speak as you would above,” he told her. Iaira opened her mouth and gave it a shot.
“H-hello,” she said haltingly, her voice a gurgling whisper.
“Do you know who I am?” the face asked. Iaira nodded.
“You are the father of fish, the one they call Ika-Tere,” she replied, her voice growing stronger. The face nodded.
“I have followed your journey since the beginning,” he told her. “I have been there since your birth, as I am present wherever there are creatures of the sea.”
“Then you know why I’ve come,” Iaira said.
“Yes,” Ika-Tere said. “Yet you do not wish to complete your journey.”
“I don’t think I belong there anymore,” she told the creature.
“Is that the reason?” he asked skeptically.
“I gave up on them. They won’t accept me. They won’t trust me. And they shouldn’t. I abandoned them, and there is nothing I can do to change that. Now, please, tell me the location of Ta Cathair so that my friends can help my people.”
“I cannot,” Ika-Tere informed her. “Only when you wish to return home will you remember where home is. When you think and act as the princess you were born to be, a princess you will become.”
“But I’m not that person,” Iaira said. The face eyed Iaira for a long moment, as if studying her.
“You remind me of your namesake,” he told her.
“There was another Iaira?” she asked. Before Ika-Tere answered, Iaira had a wisp of a memory return. “Of course. The first Princess Iaira. My ancestor,” she suddenly recalled.
Ika-Tere nodded. “She was a young woman like yourself. Prideful. Willful. She lived a life of luxury, her every want provided,” Ika-Tere explained. “And then war came to her kingdom and threatened her way of life.”
“The finfolk. And what did she do?” Iaira asked, her memories still fuzzy.
“She sent her soldiers to fight and they suffered great losses. Her people looked to the palace and saw not leadership but fear. Fear of losing one’s power. But if you fear losing power, you never deserved to have it,” Ika-Tere said. “Do you know how the finfolk were defeated?”
“The mer-people joined forces with the selkies,” she answered.
“Yes, but do you know why these two enemies united?” Ika-Tere asked. Iaira had another fleeting memory.
“The…Leviathan?” she said.
“Yes, the Leviathan is a monstrous beast who killed thousands of mer-people and selkies. He was unleashed by the finfolk when they grew impatient with their progress. But the creature alone was not why these two sworn enemies joined together, defeated the finfolk, and made a lasting peace.”
“It was Iaira,” she realized.
“The finfolk offered her a life of continued luxury if she surrendered and helped them defeat the selkies,” he explained. “She was prepared to accept these terms to save herself and her people. And then, from her window she saw something that changed everything. A young mer-boy fighting alongside his father. The father was attempting to protect his son and family, until he was mortally wounded by the Leviathan. Undeterred, the boy took hold of his father’s weapon and—with tears flowing from his eyes—continued to fight against a creature he could not possibly defeat. So moved by the father’s sacrifice and the boy’s courage, Iaira rejected the finfolk’s offer. She climbed atop her prized sea horse and led the Leviathan into a cavern close to the city, and ordered her soldiers to cause a cave-in. They did as she demanded and trapped the creature for eternity…but Iaira did not escape in time. Inspired and humbled by the princess’s sacrifice, the selkies put aside their differences with the mer-people and united against their common foe. Without the Leviathan, the finfolk were soundly defeated and were sent retreating into obscurity, never to be heard from again.”
“This is the legend they tell schoolchildren,” Iaira said. “To make them proud.”
“It is not a legend, Iaira. It is the truth. I saw it happen.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t change what I’ve done.”
“You were a child when you left. Now you have a chance to return and show your people the woman you have become, to prove that you truly are of Iaira’s blood. A chance to show your people that you serve a purpose greater than yourself.”
“And if I don’t?” she asked him.
“Then you don’t. Only you can accept your calling,” Ika-Tere said. “But I wonder…what is it that stops you from accepting yours?”
“Like I told you, I betrayed them,” she said. “And now I am trying to protect them from the truth that their princess is not the one they deserve.”
“I’m far too old to be fooled so easily. You do this to protect yourself. To avoid facing the pain of your past. Your refusal is not altruistic. It is selfish. And isn’t selfishness what drove you to leave them in the first place?”
Iaira had often heard the phrase “The truth hurts,” and now she understood its meaning. Ika-Tere had found the truth inside her reasoning, and she felt the shame that came with it.
“They would be better off. Please just tell me where it is—”
“No. Your people shall simply have to go on believing you abandoned them. There will be no chance for redemption, no cowardly way out,” Ika-Tere told her.
“And what if there is a war?” she asked. “You are the father of fish. Don’t you care?”
“Of course, but even I cannot change the tides,” he said. “Or the creatures who swim against them. I’d hoped that you had changed, but I still see that scared child who swam away from her responsibilities. And perhaps you are right. Your people would be better off without that Iaira. Farewell.”
Before the princess could protest, the school of fish scattered and the other creatures that had made up Ika-Tere’s visage receded into the darkness of the cavern. The father of fish was gone. Iaira swam back through the opening with her failure weighing heavily on her mind. She had brought Sam, Dr. Vantana, and Tashi across vast distances, risking their lives, to what end?
Ika-Tere had told her that the only way she would recall the location of the final point was if she wished to retur
n, but she didn’t. She couldn’t fake something that wasn’t in her heart. She was fearful of facing her people, and terrified by the reality of her responsibility. How could she want to return to such an unknown when the known was so much easier, so much simpler, so much more gratifying? There was no need to seek validation from the people she’d abandoned. How could her presence make things better? Or stop a war, for that matter? It wouldn’t, she concluded confidently. It was time for her to return to Miami and say goodbye to Iaira forever.
When she reached the shore and climbed out of the water to tell her friends the bad news, she didn’t see them right away. Her legs transformed, and she began walking toward the sand, scanning the shore. She finally spotted Sam London waving his hands frantically, not as if he were saying hello but as if in warning. His mouth was moving, but Iaira couldn’t make out what he was saying. And then she felt a terrible pain in her torso. She peered down to see a bleeding wound and then felt a similar burning sensation on her back. She spun around to find a mass of creatures swarming her. Hundreds of flying fish attacking without mercy, biting her repeatedly. Overwhelmed, Iaira collapsed into the water.
There was heavier splashing nearby, and then she was quickly pulled out and carried to the sand. Through bleary eyes, she saw Dr. Vantana and Sam London holding her, and beyond them was Tashi, using her weapon to shoot at the fish. A shadow fell across her vision and she found ground underneath her again. They were now behind a group of rocks that covered them on three sides from the onslaught.
Iaira convulsed in agony, and Vance tried in vain to hold her steady. It felt like her blood was on fire—a wildfire that was spreading throughout her body, even to the very tips of her toes. Poison, she concluded, her head pounding. As her heart fluttered and the world dimmed around her, Iaira knew it would be only a matter of time before she lost this battle, and with it her life.
Unlike the moment when she’d touched the crystal in Biscayne National Park, it wasn’t the life she didn’t know that flashed before her eyes; rather, it was the life she did. The life she hoped to return to. The charmed life of Pearl Eklund. And when it passed in front of her, she saw that existence for what it was: fleeting and empty. Iaira instantly understood what her namesake had realized watching the young boy and his father so many ages ago. Her ancestor’s power had been an illusion, just like Pearl Eklund’s fame and status. If Iaira died on this beach, the world would go on spinning, unaffected by her absence. Having had no real impact on the world, she would be forgotten in time. All of the fame that Pearl enjoyed, all of the fans, all of the perks, all of the splendor, hadn’t made a difference in the world, and it certainly wouldn’t stop a war. Her life in Miami was shallow and superficial, and it would come to an end here on a remote island beach…for nothing. In that moment Iaira wanted to return home and fulfill her purpose more than anything she had ever wanted before. But if it was too late for her, perhaps Sam, Vance, and Tashi could make the difference on her behalf.
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