by Jade Kerrion
Another merman fired a harpoon from his spear gun. Ashe yanked the air molecules together so tightly that not even a sliver of a breeze would have made it through. The harpoon bounced off the impenetrable wall of air before drifting down into the depths.
The Beltiamatu refused to give up.
She had to go where they would not—to places only she knew well.
And pray they had not changed in the two hundred and ninety-seven years she had been away.
She darted into a sea ravine. The walls rose high on both sides, their features scarcely noticeable as she raced past them. The ravine narrowed as walls squeezed out the space between them until it was reduced to almost nothing.
Look out! Varun shouted as she blasted straight up, skimming the wall so closely that Varun almost slammed against it. Beneath them, the granite shook as an unlucky merman swam straight into it. Cracks, small and large, pockmarked the sheer wall of rock. The moment she chanced upon an opening large enough to fit Varun, she shoved him through, then glanced back. Three of the four mermen still followed.
She carried Varun through the deep-sea caverns, some as wide as football fields, others so narrow that Varun scraped his skin as she propelled him forward. The caverns wound downward into ever deeper darkness.
The currents that warned of pursuit rippled into nothingness.
The area was haunted. Even the merfolk knew that.
Are we safe? Varun asked. His voice was a little unsteady.
She lowered him gently to the seafloor then focused her astral energies.
Air molecules clustered, coalesced, and took form.
Varun stared at her for an instant before looking away.
Right. Her clothes did not magically reappear.
She relaxed her astral energy enough to fade into a semi-translucent form. Oddly, her less-human appearance seemed to set him more at ease. He did not want to think of her as human; that much was clear.
In that respect, he was not all that different from his ancestor, the prince.
Ashe did not bother to examine the reasons for the ache in her chest. It did not matter. What Varun thought of her did not matter. He was just an assignment, after all, and the sooner she got him out of the water, the safer it would be for him.
She swallowed through the tightness in her throat and stepped away from him.
Where are we? Varun asked again. He peered out of the cavern. They’ve stopped following us. Should we be worried?
You’ve been watching too many thrillers.
Is this the part where the monster jumps out at us?
Don’t be ridiculous. She waved his concern away. The monster is still at least two caverns away.
He froze. There’s a monster?
Did you think the Beltiamatu were the scariest things in the ocean?
Exactly what kind of monster are we talking about here?
If you’re looking for a genus and species name, it doesn’t have one.
He stopped short and grabbed her wrist, staring at his hand in a befuddled way when his fingers passed right through her.
She rolled her eyes at him. You can’t have it both ways, Varun. Either I’m here and you deal with my nudity, or I’m not and you deal with not being able to touch me.
No having my cake and eating it too?
That is a ludicrously human concept. Everyone else knows that you can’t hold on to two opposing forces. You can’t have things that were never meant to be.
And I suppose you understood that too, right? Flawlessly.
She spun to face him. How dare you?
Just piecing the facts together. The mer-king wants a soul.
Ashe frowned. How did you know? I didn’t translate that part for you.
Random facts. Leaps of logic. Sometimes they’re right. That’s why you left the ocean. You wanted a soul, and my great-grandfather was the means to getting it.
She shook her head. You don’t know everything.
But do I know enough?
She glanced out of the cave. This way, before the mermen work up their nerve to follow us in here.
Ashe, you’re evading the question.
I’m not evading it. I’m flat out not answering it.
Why? Varun asked. It’s in the past.
She drew a deep shuddering breath. Because the mistakes of the past resonate into the present, and they can destroy the future.
You mean what the mer-king is doing?
This way. Quiet now. It’s got very sharp hearing, and sound travels farther and faster in water than in air. She stared at Varun. On second thought… She coaxed air into a bubble around him.
He reached out, his hand passing through air instead of water. Did you literally just enclose me in a bubble?
You don’t like bubble wrap?
Their gazes met. He grinned; she laughed. Come on. Before it wakes.
So, it’s sleeping?
Actually, that’s a figurative term. It doesn’t really sleep.
Varun rolled his eyes. Great.
She led them deeper into the cavern and deliberately dimmed the pale glow of her astral form. The farthest reaches of the cave was lost to darkness, and the top of it soared so high that she could scarcely sense it, her elemental powers notwithstanding.
How far does this go? Varun asked after a half hour or more of winding past the curved paths.
Not quite halfway. She pressed her head against the wall. We haven’t reached its digestive system yet.
Varun jerked. Its… He stepped back and stared up at the cave wall—or what he thought had been the cave wall. Suddenly, as if his mind pieced together the sheer vastness of it, he staggered back. That’s its body. The cavern wall—we’ve been walking alongside its body.
She nodded.
What is it?
She struggled for a moment to translate the ancient language into English. Big Thing.
What?
Big Thing. That’s what it means, literally, in Beltiamatu.
What about not as literally?
She shrugged. You can think about it as an ancient, or a titan. Whatever makes you happier.
I’d be happiest knowing it’s asleep.
It doesn’t quite sleep, but we may be able to pass quietly.
Does it eat people?
Not humans, usually—since they don’t venture this deep—but Beltiamatu, nymphs, sirens, and the like, certainly. You probably don’t taste that much different from a Beltiamatu, so I wouldn’t count on it hesitating while it wonders why you have legs instead of a tail.
You don’t have anything to worry about, do you? Varun’s peevish tone made her chuckle. You just turn into air and dart away.
Ashe nodded. Plus eating you will slow it down long enough for me to get away. She closed her eyes to focus on the shifting water currents around her. Hurry, this way.
Are we being pursued?
She nodded again. The Beltiamatu may turn back when they figure out where we are, but in case they don’t, we have to get out of here. Big Thing doesn’t differentiate between the squishy thing with good intentions and the squishy thing with bad intentions. She layered solidity into her astral form, grabbed his wrist, and continued down the cavern.
Light gleamed ahead, growing brighter as they approached a grotto. A single crystal, as large as a man, filled the grotto with its pale yellow radiance.
They ducked under the low overhang and entered the cave. Varun stared around, blinked hard, but only murmured into her mind. Where are we?
A quavering voice emerged from the light. “Welcome back, Asherah.”
Chapter 19
Darkness emerged from the heart of the light. Water parted before an ancient mermaid, her pale skin layered like a shriveled orange, and her long gray hair swirling around her face. Her eyes, however, glittered like diamonds—sharp, shrewd, and colorless.
Ashe inclined her head, instinctively deferring to wisdom and old age. Medea.
“You’ve finally returned. Changed.” The old mer
maid spoke Beltiamatu, her words accented just differently enough to remind Ashe that Medea had lived for several mermaid-lifetimes. Medea’s glance flicked to Varun. “And this one? Surely not the one you sought.”
Varun was staring at the witch, his eyes wide with awe. She’s not the one…the sea witch from the story, is she?
Yes, she is, Ashe said in English before looking back at Medea and responding in Beltiamatu. He’s not the one I sought. He’s one of his descendants, several generations later.
“Ah, humans and their short lifespans.” The sea witch looked back at Ashe. “Where is the dagger your half-sisters asked from me?”
On Earth. At his home.
“It must be returned to the sea. Does he know what it can do?”
Unlikely, seeing how Ashe hardly knew what the dagger could do. My sisters told me that if I killed the prince with the dagger, I would be allowed to return to my life in the sea.
“They were correct. You had left the sea for one reason—to find a soul for your son. If you had struck the prince, it would have stolen his soul—for your son.”
She shook her head. I didn’t like him enough to want his soul for Zamir.
“It wasn’t love, then, that held your hand.”
Yes, it was. Just not the love most people imagined. He wasn’t good enough for my son. Ashe shrugged. The motion belied the deep ache in her chest. She would have paced the short length of the grotto except that pacing in slow motion underwater did not have the same satisfying peevish snap that it had on land. It didn’t work out, Medea. Everything went wrong. And what’s happening now…it’s not hard to trace it back to all the bad decisions I made.
“You are to blame for your own decisions, not for the decisions of others. You may have left the sea, but Zamir was raised with care. He was cherished, even without you, perhaps more so because you had left.”
Do you know what Zamir is doing?
“Yes. He is turning death into everlasting life. The ocean’s death is feeding his soul.”
He has a soul?
“Not yet, but he will soon. As darkness spreads, the astral threads that weave into a soul strengthen. Soon, no matter what you do, you will not be able to kill him—not in the way that matters most.”
But that’s crazy, Ashe fumed. What is the point? What good is a soul?
“Some people put value in it. You once did, or have you forgotten?”
I was young and stupid.
The witch disagreed. “You saw things differently, not wrongly. Zamir sees as you did, as you still do.”
I don’t.
“Then why have you slaved away as a Daughter of Air for three hundred years if not for a soul.”
What else was there to do? It seemed like a better plan than dying and becoming sea foam.
Medea smiled without humor. “You will have to seek answers, Asherah, before this is over. It’s easier to find them if you are not deliberately blinded to the truth.”
Ashe drew a deep breath she did not actually need. How can I stop Zamir?
“The same way you would stop anyone.”
Her heart stuttered, her mind reeling. How could she possibly kill her son? Will it undo what is happening to the ocean?
“No. You will stop the expansion of the darkness by stopping Zamir, but it will not reverse the damage done.”
Is there any way to reverse it?
“The life of the ocean is woven into his nascent soul.”
So I have to take his soul.
Medea nodded. “Or replace it.”
With what?
“With another soul. One untainted by darkness.”
Ashe snorted. There is no such thing. No one’s innocent.
“I didn’t say innocent. I said untainted by self-glory, by proud ambition, by vengeance—the traits that have brought Zamir to this point. Can you think of no one?”
Ashe’s thoughts stuttered. Varun…
Medea stared intently at Ashe. “Do you know what you have to do?”
Her hands trembled. She could not drag any air past the tightness in her throat. Yes, I do. And if I do this…thing, will the ocean heal?
“Air cannot heal water. Only water can restore its own.”
The nymphs—the Nereids and Oceanids. Ashe stifled a snarl. They won’t fight.
“Then you must seize the weapon they choose not to wield.”
Ashe tilted her head. What’s that in a non-witchy turn of phrase that I actually understand?
“Air and water must unite to defeat the Beltiamatu. Allied with darkness, the merfolk are too powerful for the Daughters of Air or for the Daughters of Poseidon to defeat without aid from the other.”
And this weapon that the Nereids won’t wield—you don’t mean an actual physical weapon. You mean their elemental power. But— Ashe shook her head. How?
“Power can be transferred willingly or seized from the unwilling. Even the Nereids know this.”
The water vibrated around them. Medea looked toward the entrance of the grotto. “The creature has been awakened. No one else has your talent for sneaking past him. You must leave.”
Is there another way out of here?
“Of course. A witch is never trapped.” Medea pointed a finger toward the far corner of the grotto. “Take care, Asherah. Even a witch’s safe paths are fraught with danger.”
Ashe nodded and reached out to Varun, who took her hand and followed her toward the indicated path. She threw her thoughts out in English. Be careful here.
He nodded.
She refilled his breathing bubble with air, then brushed aside the heavy drape of seaweed to reveal a small tunnel. She had to crouch to crawl through, and it was no doubt, an even tighter fit for Varun, but he followed her without hesitation. What did she tell you?
That the titan is stirring. We are being pursued.
No, the other thing you talking about—that got you agitated.
I wasn’t—
The lights inside you were swirling like crazy.
She glanced down at her semi-translucent astral form. The lights were something of a giveaway. Irritated, she concentrated her form into solidness.
Varun inhaled sharply.
Deal with it, she snapped at him. Just remind yourself I’m not really human.
But if you can become solid, can’t you just create a tongue and speak?
What makes you think I gave up my tongue?
Uh… He hesitated. I just thought…
Does Medea look like she collects tongues? What would she do with them? Eat them for breakfast?
So if you have a tongue, but can’t speak—what exactly did you give up?
My voice.
Your vocal box?
She huffed at him. Really, Varun. Do you just deal with the real world? If you cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch something, it doesn’t count?
I’m having alternate worldviews thrust on me recently. I’m trying to wrap my mind around them. So, what exactly did you lose?
Think, Varun. I told you how the Beltiamatu communicate.
Through song…so by giving up your voice, you were symbolically giving up your life with them.
Yes.
But it also kept you from communicating with my great-grandfather.
He wasn’t much of a communicator to begin with, but even if he was, keeping my voice might not have helped anyway.
What do you mean?
For their songs to travel great distances, the Beltiamatu create sounds at higher frequencies. I doubt he would have heard me even if he wanted to.
What was he like? Varun asked.
Ashe stared at him. Not good enough.
Privacy enclosed her mind and kept him from hearing her next words: But you…you might be.
Chapter 20
Varun had not expected the morning to be more than a dive into the waters in which he had swum for most of his life. As an infant, he had splashed in ankle-deep waves lapping gently on the beach. As a child, he had leapt off the rock
s for his first of many deep dives.
Yet, as deep as he had gone, he had never found anything. The strong riptides had always kept him away.
Finally, he understood why.
He would never have known or imagined that the island of Kalymnos was located that close to the Oceans Court. The merfolk. The Beltiamatu.
He had many questions, but he suspected Ashe was not in the mood for them. She casually dropped facts, as if they were statements he should have known from the cradle.
Atlantis. Nymphs. Poseidon. Sirens. An ancient sea witch. Monsters without names. Technology that staggered his mind; glowing panels, powered by an invisible energy source; vast archives of knowledge at the touch of a fingertip. A weapon powered by the Earth’s core. An underwater city more sleek and sophisticated than anything anyone had conjured in science fiction.
What were the Beltiamatu?
We came from the stars.
He looked sharply at Ashe. Apparently, his thoughts had not been as private as he had imagined.
She shrugged. At least that’s what the old legends say. It was long before my time, obviously.
Why Earth? And why live in the oceans?
Because when we arrived, the land wasn’t habitable yet.
His jaw dropped. How long have the Beltiamatu been here?
Millennia, I suppose. Long enough to watch humanity grow up from infants into squabbling, bullying teenagers.
Where did you come from?
If you’re expecting a name of a planet or a galaxy, you’ll be disappointed. I have no idea. Besides, it doesn’t matter where we’re from, Varun. If we don’t solve the problem we have right here, right now, your people—and mine—are going to have to find a new home among the stars, and I don’t think we’re ready for a mass evacuation just yet.
Varun shook his head. We can’t fix this problem—not just the two of us. Look, there are resources out there. Up there. Let’s get back to Kalymnos. There are people I can call. People who understand the sea.
Scientists like you? We need warriors, not Ph.Ds.
Knowledge is a weapon, Ashe. Isn’t that why you went to the archives?
She glared at him.