Water Games

by Juliann Whicker

  “She has a good range although her tone isn’t…” I shook my head.

  “She’s singing multiple notes at one time. Multiple notes. Do you know what kind of possibilities this has?”

  “Maybe if she had better tone—”

  He cut me off with a slash of his hand. “You’re each going to replicate one voice. Find the instrument that closest represents it. We’re going to perform the Siren’s song together at the end of the week.”

  I picked an interesting voice that reminded me of rustling reeds when the wind blew sharply through them. Too bad the cookbook hadn’t described their tone. How could I identify the race that created that sound? Maybe I could ask Peter. If I nailed it on an instrument, I’d do that.

  I managed to get caught up on my college assignments over the next week, and then we had a Soremni marriage custom that Friday morning before the monster games. On top of my assignments, I’d been going over mine and Sean’s family lines with Spyguy every morning while we trained. He regaled me with family stories that were kind of shocking. Apparently, my ancestors had a strong sense of adventure and a small sense of sense.

  The Soremni custom was feeding the poor and needy. That was fine. Junie was there recording the whole thing with her associates who panned the crowd and had the best angles so they could get a shot with all of us, me, Sean, my mother, and his mother. Wasn’t that tender? I carried a tray of breaded Salvari that I’d actually helped prepare while my mother and the queen watched. Yep. Because I was the mother of monsters, so I could cook Soremni style. It was so weird. I fed Sean first, because he was needy? I don’t know, it’s just what we were doing, and then the group of fifty ‘needy’ who were all kind of neatly dressed and mucous scraped for people who lived in the ways. It felt fake. I glanced at Junie, but she directed the cameras with focus and drive like she didn’t notice the hypocrisy.

  I served the poor between my mother and fake mother-in-law while I channeled Petra and the ideal Soremni female. I greeted each person with a lilting voice and assured them that they were welcome and valued. It felt fake until a few looked at me, and I saw the desperation. I didn’t know their stories, but I wanted to. Soremni wasn’t an idyllic world, no more than any other place, but when they smiled tentative real smiles, I felt a little better for being there. Sean moved between the tables, talking and smiling, welcoming everyone the way he’d treated people in Terramore, the Soremni male in him. He glanced at me and I realized I’d been gazing adoringly. I probably blushed and focused on serving the next person in line. I swam with an empty tray back to the properly outfitted Soremni kitchen to get a new one. When I turned, the Queen was blocking my way.

  I stared at her. She stared back. I’d kidnapped her sister. She should be angry at me.

  “Hi.”

  She tilted her head slightly.

  “I mean, it’s nice that you came out here. You’re not Soremni or anything, so it was really thoughtful. Thank you.”

  “My son asked me to be civil. I prefer you pretending to be Soremni than Vashni. You aren’t welcome in my kingdom.”

  Okay. “That’s good to know. I’ll make a note of it.”

  “I’d prefer you to destroy Cierdeep than Weilorn. You should move aside.”

  Oh that’s what she was waiting for. Still. I had something to say to her. “I’m sorry about your sister.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I have no sister.” She pushed past me, crowding me against the pantry shelf. I went back into the serving hall kind of numb. She wasn’t acknowledging the kidnapping. She probably wouldn’t take her back then.

  I watched Sean move around, smiling and talking, making people laugh and relax. He was so good. I touched the back of my neck absently. I missed our Terramore life. Looking back, that was the simple life, the impossible normal.

  He met my eyes and looked at me for a long time before he got back to work.

  That look filled my heart the way that nothing could touch, not the Queen’s icy presence or my mother’s contemptuous glance. She was dressed so nicely, all sleek and professional, subtle makeup, hair in an elaborate chignon that must have taken hours to get her tentacles to cooperate. There wasn’t a stray tentacle the entire time. She’d be in full monster gear that night, taking on the king’s most famous gladiator. Sean wouldn’t be playing, so he’d watch the games with me. I was looking forward to it. More the longer I watched him.

  I dressed carefully, choosing a gown that showed off a lot of my back and neck. Mostly my neck. I put my hair up, and Sorsha fixed it for me while Hanne filled me in on the day’s performances. I’d carefully altered the instrument she’d used, and the recording of the whole thing was pretty good. Too bad I’d had to miss it, but I wasn’t going to let a double perform my wedding customs, even if they were fake.

  Sean kissed my hand when he walked into the bedroom, wearing a tuxedo that showed off the breadth of his shoulders and the narrowness of his hips. I sighed as I gazed at him, barely noticing Sorsha and Hanne slip away.

  The evening went like a dream, us dressed fancy for the monster games, sitting in the center where everyone could see us.

  I squeezed his hand while I watched my mother come out to a roar from the crowd. She was quickly becoming a favorite. Why? Because she was the most monstrous, vicious contender we had. She liked to toy with her opponents, wearing them out for ages until she went in for the final strike. I’d been worried she’d take a long time to adapt in training, but Haverre had assured me that she was perfectly capable of taking any monster in the wild and would have no problem handling herself in a controlled setting.

  This fight was no different than others. She faced Oliver’s top gladiator, a Soremni male with a bare chest who smiled at her and winked as they circled each other.

  She smiled back, tentacles waving threateningly. Those tentacles were serious. I resisted the urge to smooth my own hair. I glanced at Sean and he gave me a slight smile.

  “Your hair looks nice. Very calm.”

  I rolled my eyes and focused back on my mother. She was done circling and it was hand to hand sparring. She hit hard. How did she hit so hard? She matched the gladiator in force even if he had more body mass. She was faster, but after the fifth pass one of her tentacles accidentally brushed his wrist. His blood trailed in the water and the round was over before she’d really gotten into her game.

  I exchanged glances with Sean before we watched the next round. The winners of the previous week’s game had to fight more rounds than last time, which as the games went on meant that the winning team would fight all the rounds while the opponents would rest their fighters. So, last season when Sean had such a small team, he was fighting multiple rounds in each game, harder opponents, and he still kept it together. This year he had the luxury of watching some of the games instead of fighting in all of them.

  I leaned closer to him. “You’re getting soft.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I’m trying. How do you have time for training? Junie mentioned it. Spyguy didn’t. Why is that?”

  I shrugged. “We train in the Chromodome just past the big training arena. Haverre knows I’m in there. Maybe they think you’ll be distracted by my soft legs.”

  “That’s possible. You have very soft legs.”

  I elbowed him and he grunted like I’d actually made an impact. He had the loveliest ribs. He needed to sleep without a shirt tonight. Maybe he didn’t like me drooling on his bare chest. Maybe I should get a real pillow. It probably wasn’t great for my neck.

  Peter was up next. The crowd was strangely still as he came out without a shirt. Wow. His muscles branched across his chest when he lifted his arms in a salute to us. Sean nodded at him while I waved. His fight was beautiful. He hummed as he ducked and blocked the attack of the Queen’s fighter, Laser girl. She hissed at him and then he broke out in song.

  He could sing and fight. Man, what a mindless monster. And he did it beautifully, crab claws and all. He drew the fight out but laser girl spun on the ins
ide and slashed him across his pectoral. It barely bled because he didn’t have a lot of veins on the outside of his skin, but it was enough that it ended the round.

  I clapped for him anyway. He had done really well. I would have killed her.

  “I didn’t know Peter sang.”

  I glanced at Sean. “No? You should do a duet. Your voices would blend really well.”

  He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. The next fight was the king’s team against the Queen’s. I spent it holding Sean’s hand and thinking about monsters and music. Peter had performed in a particularly civilized manner. Is that what we were doing, showing how monstrous we weren’t to prove that we deserved the right to the life and safety everyone else took for granted? That would be a really good plan. It went right along with sending monsters to help rebuild Terramore.

  I squeezed Sean’s hand. During the last round it was the king’s monster against Lucien. Lucien looked so small and delicate compared to Peter, but he still had that lithe grace, the beautiful motion that made everyone else look clumsy. Except for my mom.

  Lucien treated the monster with respect, barely escaping its claws at the last moment so I buried my nails in Sean’s hand. He covered my hand with his other large palm, hanging onto me so I didn’t have to draw first blood on him.

  I shot him an apologetic look then focused back on the fight.

  It was nerve-wracking until that very last moment when I was sure Lucien would go down but instead turned and ripped through a scale in the monster’s joint. I exhaled while the crowd around us erupted. I stood and clapped while he bowed to us then turned to the crowd, flashed his charming pointed smile at all the ladies then headed back into the tunnels.

  “He’s sickeningly good,” Sean said beside me. “Between him and his mother, they have the games in the bag.”

  I shook my head slightly. “The price of success has never been so high.”

  He kissed my hand while gazing into my eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 32

  On the way back to his room, Sean stopped in the trainer’s lounge to talk to Haverre. I was in the hall outside when my mother came. She slapped my face before I knew what was happening. Ow. I crouched down ready to take her, but she lifted her chin and stood tall.

  She hummed the song Peter had sung, the monster ballad. When she was finished she let out a long hiss. “What games are you playing little one?” She looked like Morganagh, not a monster, with her hair tidy and her mottled skin makeup all cleaned up. So this was supposed to be some kind of mother daughter rumble in the eyes of onlookers.

  “Monster games. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? If you are uncomfortable with the way things are going, you can always go back to hiding.”

  “Hiding is often the only reason we survive.” She came closer, a look of almost concern on her face.

  I turned away from her with my stinging cheek. I was hiding behind so many roles, so many identities, hiding and hiding and hiding but survival wasn’t enough. I turned back to her. “Things will change. I will change them. If you have positive feedback, I’d love to hear it. Otherwise, stay out of my way.”

  I pushed past her and continued down the hall towards Sean’s room. He’d catch up. It took Sean a long time to get there. I was already in my pajamas and curled up on the couch in front of the mini volcano when he came in.

  He took off his jacket, draped it over the arm and then undid the buttons of his shirt. I smiled at him, but my cheek hurt and he’d want to know what happened. “Are you all right? Morganagh hits hard.”

  “It was just a slap. I can take a hit. I’m not a child, not a little one. She’s just annoyed that I’m living a life on my own, not that she gave me an option. I’m sorry, can we not talk about it?”

  He sat beside me and brushed my hands away so he could look at my face. He kissed my tender cheek, butterfly soft and silky. “Your mother isn’t the only one who’s frustrated. Spyguy wants to know what you’re doing so that he can anticipate you. We’re all concerned.”

  His hand was so gentle. I collapsed against his chest. “I go there to sing. That’s what I’m supposed to do. If a bunch of people show up wanting to do parts, I can’t exactly stop them, I mean, I could probably drown them all gills or no, but that wouldn’t be very civilized. We’re trying to be civilized.”

  “Peter did a very fine job.”

  “And Lucien. My mother didn’t, but that’s her: monstrous.”

  “The singing wasn’t quite up to your usual quality. Haverre just played it for me. There isn’t any visual, just audio. It’s impossible to match to the duet we sang in Terramore.”

  I sighed. “That’s lucky. My tone was terrible. Gerveeg has been making us work on it all week. I hoped it would go below your radar.”

  “Maybe it would have if Peter hadn’t sung the monster anthem.”

  “Ballad. It’s a monster ballad, not anthem.”

  He nudged my forehead with his chin. “You don’t think that they deserve an anthem, a country, an identity? I think it’s beautiful. Three kingdoms in civilized opposition.”

  “They don’t have a king.”

  “The Master of Deepness is close enough.”

  “He’s supposed to be an anarchist.”

  “That’s fitting.”

  I frowned at him. “Didn’t you say civilized opposition?”

  “He hasn’t done anything to antagonize our efforts at peace. There haven’t been any explosions or acts of destruction of any kind from that direction. Not that he could compete with you.”

  I flinched. That was true. “Sean, are we going home for Thanksgiving? I’m tired of being so many things.”

  “Of course. It’s the traditional Fielding Thanksgiving shooting. Before we leave, we’ll pass our lineage examination. Have you been working on it?”

  “I have some seriously inappropriate relatives. Yours are all extremely brilliant and respectable.”

  He kissed my lips, soft, sweet, before he brushed my chin with his hands. “We do need to address the monster issue. I’m sending an ambassador to Monster City with the funds taken from my winning suit against the examiner. He’ll give us a better idea what we’re dealing with.”

  “Is the ambassador anyone I know?”

  “Spyguy. It’s risky to send anyone to Monster City to contact the Master of Deepness, but when I asked him, he didn’t immediately agree which makes me feel better about it. He thinks that I should send Lucien. Lucien thinks Spyguy is the perfect candidate. I don’t know. Maybe I should send them both.”

  “So you’re actually giving tons of money to an anarchist who might use it to fund suicide bombers or something?”

  “Basically. I have to trust that he won’t do anything that irritates the Siren enough that she goes and wipes him out. Part of the funds will also go towards the Terramore rebuild.”

  “Why?”

  He smiled slightly. “My cut for arranging the deal. It’s how the legal process works in Soremni culture. Are you ready to go to bed? We’ll leave for Siren Rock first thing in the morning.”

  I was. I spent the night mostly not sleeping beside Sean. What was going on with the Master of Deepness? What did he want? I should torture Madd or something, get the truth out of him. Like I wouldn’t break before he did. He was somewhere around, watching me, but what would I even ask? ‘Are you going to blow people up with this money?’ and he’d say, ‘that’s right. I’m telling you because I’m an honest and upright anarchist psycho killer.’

  The next morning I felt groggy as we took Goldie on our usual route. Spyguy came over to sit beside me.

  “I’m an ambassador. Do I look the part?”

  I glanced at him and frowned. “You’re still blonde. Also wearing an assault suit. What’s the Master of Deepness like? How would I get in contact with him if I needed to?”

  “Don’t. He’s much too dangerous for you. He has more deception in his little finger than you have ever imagined exists.�
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  “So what we need to do is chop off his finger and I’ll keep it. That way I’ll absorb his deception and be able to use it in my daily life.”

  He gave me a flat look. “You think you could chop off his fingers?”

  “Water pressure. I’m going to work on it this weekend, like water bullets, force and density that can cut through any armor, metal, rock, anything.”

  He blinked. “Why is that?”

  I shrugged. “It’s cool. And I can chop off the Deepness Master’s fingers.”

  He rolled his eyes that time. “In that case, he’d better stay away from you. What do you think about giving all this money to him? What do you think that he should do with it?”

  “You’re asking me?”

  “At least you’ve been to Monster City. Your husband hasn’t.”

  “He’s not my…” I trailed off when Sean glanced at me over his shoulder. He was my fake Vashni husband, but this Soremni stuff, it felt more real. “I think that he should divide it among all the districts. That’s what they’re called, right? Like the district close to Terramore, and then Monster City and its surrounding waters, and there must be something close to Siren’s Rock or it wouldn’t have been so easy to have the concert last weekend. They won’t do that again, will they?”

  “You didn’t like it?”

  I touched my face. “My mom didn’t.”

  “You’re bringing all the monsters out of hiding. They’re in danger because they have hope that things will change. They have hope that you’ll lead them into a brighter future, one without the usual fear and pain. The Siren’s job is to protect the monsters. That’s why she’s the mother.”

  “Then why were they always getting executed on Siren’s Rock?”

  “Not always. Only when they went mad.”

  “It’s still harsh.”

  “Only Sirens who were a danger, like you, would be considered executable, and only after they’d had a daughter.”

  “One more reason to put off breeding. You know so much about it. You must have spent a lot of time down there.”