She’d come home from the Southern Sea to find him sitting up and conscious. It was the happiest day of her life. She’d hugged him and kissed him and cried tears of joy.
But he wasn’t out of the kelp forest yet. He still had a long current ahead of him. His recovery had been slow and full of setbacks, but now, nine months later, he was up and about most of the day, though his doctors insisted that he rest after lunch. He would return to Matali to rule soon, when he was stronger.
They continued on their way out of the palace and into the town, with Alítheia following them—until they arrived at the scuola superiore.
Sera wasn’t wearing a fine gown, or any sumptuous garments of state today. Instead she was dressed in plain robes of black sea silk—scholar’s robes. This morning, for a few hours, she could forget that she was the regina and be just another seventeen-year-old mermaid who was about to be a proud graduate, along with the hundred-odd other students in her class.
Sera’s schooling had been interrupted by an invasion of her realm, and by bloody battles against Vallerio, Orfeo, and Abbadon, but ever since she’d returned home from the Southern Sea, she’d made her studies a priority.
Mahdi swam with her to the front rows of the school’s auditorium.
“I’m so proud of you, and I’ll be clapping the loudest when your name’s called,” he said, kissing her cheek. Then he went to sit with Thalassa, Fossegrim, Desiderio, and Astrid.
Serafina found her seat between two of her classmates. The ceremony started. Music was played, speeches were given, and then the diplomas were handed out.
“Serafina di Merrovingia!” the dean called. “Summa cum laude, with Distinction in History!”
Sera swam up to the dais, shook the dean’s hand, and accepted her diploma. It was written on kelp parchment and signed with squid ink. As she swam back to her seat, she hugged it to her chest.
Summa cum laude. Latin for with highest honors.
She’d worked her tail fins off to get good grades. In a few months, she would enter the kolegio, and begin her undergraduate degree. If all went well, she would defend her doctoral dissertation in ancient Atlantean history in six years. She knew it wouldn’t be easy to rule her realm and pursue her degree at the same time, but she’d faced harder things.
They all had.
A stab of longing pierced her heart. She wished that Neela, Ling, Becca, and Ava could be here with her today. They’d all returned to Cerulea with her to recover from their ordeal in the Southern Sea, but all of them except Astrid had gone their ways a few weeks later. Sera missed them terribly, but understood they had their own obligations.
Ling had been made an international ambassador by the Elder of Qin. She spent all her time traveling between the mer realms and addressing any disputes or conflicts between them. Her father had survived the terrible labor camp where he and Ling had been imprisoned. He’d been weak and sick when troops liberated the camp, but he’d made it home, where he was recovering. Ling’s mother and brothers had been overjoyed to see him.
Becca had decided to hand in her resignation at Baudel’s, and go to college to study political science. She’d applied to a school in the Lagoon, off the city of Venice. She was spending the summer there with Marco, trying to figure things out.
Astrid was living in Cerulea. Ragnar Kolfinnsson, Ondalina’s admiral, and Serafina had abolished the permutavi—an ancient decree between Miromara and Ondalina that stipulated the exchange of a Miromaran royal child for an Ondalinian one. If they hadn’t, Desiderio would have been required to go to Ondalina, and Astrid to Cerulea, and they never would have been allowed to be together. Astrid had chosen to come to the city because of her own free will. And because of her heart. She’d fallen in love with Des, and he with her. In another year, they’d be Promised to one another.
Ava was back in Macapá, in the Amazon River, with her parents. She’d found a job working with visually impaired children and loved it. The other mermaids had bought her a present before she’d left Cerulea—a new seeing-eye piranha named Sweetie. When they let him out of the little bamboo cage he’d arrived in, he’d promptly bitten Sera, barked at Neela and Ling, ripped a hole in Becca’s skirt, and growled at Astrid. Ava adored him, though she knew she would never forget Baby.
Neela had returned home to Matali, where she had been reunited with her pet blowfish, Ooda, and had opened up the hottest clothing boutique in Matali City. It featured her own designs, plus the edgiest creations from a cadre of international designers. She was never again seen wearing pink.
Yazeed had been appointed head of the Praedatori by Duca Marco and was currently in an undisclosed location, working with his fellow fighters and the Wave Warriors to try to clean up the catastrophic garbage island in the Pacific.
Thalassa had been rescued from Shadow Manse and had returned to Cerulea. She gave Serafina songcasting lessons three times a week. Fossegrim was happily ensconced in his beloved Ostrokon, overseeing plans to repair the damage that had been inflicted upon it. Manon Laveau, together with her ghosts and her alligators, had returned to the Mississippi. She’d enjoyed her sojourn in Miromara, she’d told Sera, but it wasn’t wise to leave the swamp mer unsupervised for too long.
The remaining five talismans had been safely stowed away in a specially constructed vault. Sera looked at them sometimes to make sure she never forgot what had been sacrificed in their pursuit. Determined to preside over a more open age, she had decreed that the ruins of Atlantis must be accessible to all peoples of the sea so they might learn from past mistakes and never repeat them. She was personally overseeing the construction of a learning center there, and had negotiated a peace treaty with the Opafago. Sera believed that if she didn’t teach her people the truth about their past, she could not lead them into their future.
A chill ran through her as she remembered how close she’d come to not regaining her throne. If she hadn’t been able to convince Alítheia not to eat her, if her Black Fins hadn’t staged their attack so flawlessly…well, that wasn’t worth thinking about.
She had regained her throne. The Feuerkumpel had paid for their treachery. And so had Vallerio and Portia.
Lucia had escaped the city, and seemingly, the realm. She had not been seen or heard of since the night of the Black Fins’ attack on Cerulea. Sera had declared her an outlaw and had put a bounty on her head. She was optimistic that Lucia would be caught soon.
The first notes of the recessional rang out, pulling Sera out of her thoughts. She rose with the other graduates and filed out of the auditorium. Mahdi was throwing a party for all the graduates back at the palace, in the Regina’s Courtyard. As Sera swam out of the school and into the current, someone raced up and threw her arms around her waist.
“Congratulations!” Coco shouted. She handed Sera the bouquet of sea roses she was carrying, and then Coco’s parents congratulated Sera, too.
Sera had had every prison camp searched for them, and for Coco’s sister, Ellie. To her immense relief, all three were found and the family was reunited.
The graduates and their families slowly made their way up the hill to the palace. Bells were ringing through the town. Ceruleans were crowding the current and hanging out of the windows of the houses along it, throwing kisses and sea flowers, cheering and waving and wishing them well.
Mahdi leaned over to her. “I think they love you almost as much as I do,” he said.
Sera smiled and squeezed his arm. As she did, a shimmer caught her eye. It was the little shell ring he’d once carved for her. After Lucia had handed it to him as proof of Sera’s death, Mahdi had kept it. He’d given it to Sera when she returned from the Southern Sea. Mērē dila, mērī ātmā, he’d whispered as he put the ring on her finger once more.
They would be married, she and Mahdi. Just as it had been decided years ago. One day, but not now. They both had realms to rule and much to learn. He would have to return to Matali soon, and it would be so hard to let him go. But it wouldn’t be forever.
Sera swam to it and made a deep curtsey. She missed them both profoundly and wished that they were here today, to celebrate with her. Tears threatened, but she held them back. She had lost so much. Everyone had. But she was thankful, too, for all that remained.
Love lives on, Horok had told her.
Sera swept her eyes over her people, happy and safe; she looked at her brother and her friends, and then she gazed at the merman she loved with all her heart.
“Yes,” she whispered. “It does.”
IN A STONE CAVE, deep under the dark waters of a wild and ancient river, the witches sang.
Hand in hand, they swam in a circle, chanting their timeless spells.
The world believed they were dead, killed by a brutal merman and his soldiers. Their names were slowly fading from memory, even from the memories of the ones who’d been summoned.
Which was exactly what they wanted. Their work needed secrecy and stealth. The fewer who knew about them, the better.
The elder sat on her throne of antlers, her black eyes bright and alert, listening to the incantas, nodding at their song. On her hands, three eyes, set in three amber rings, swiveled in their settings, wary and watchful.
If anyone, mer or human, had been close enough, they might’ve heard her singing with the others.
Daughters six, your task is done,
You’ve defeated the monster Abbadon.
He and his maker are now at rest,
And so ends your dangerous quest.
But the Iele’s work will never cease
Until all waters live in peace.
Serafina now rules wisely and well,
But far away, another dwells.
A soulless mermaid prowls the seas
Who once Miromara’s throne did seize.
In a cave of darkness, deep and black,
She plots and plans her next attack.
Sheltered by Kharis, with Morsa’s favor,
She waits till revenge is hers to savor.
Like her parents, in their time,
With wicked humans, she aligns.
Finners, trawlers, criminals all,
They listen to her siren’s call,
And give her gold to grant their wish:
The whereabouts of sharks and fish.
Using slyness, wiles, and stealth,
She builds reserves of power and wealth.
Daughters six, take heed, take care
Of her maliciousness beware.
Guard against her, stalwart friends,
Help those she sells for her own ends.
Protect the creatures of the deep,
In hidden chasms, on seamounts steep.
Guard the dolphins and the whales,
Guard the ones with fins and scales.
Save the osprey, tern, and gull,
Save the harp seal from the cull.
One quest has ended, another begins,
Only time will tell who wins.
In depths below, or waters above.
Fight hard, my children, for what you love.
ABBADON an immense monster, created by Orfeo, then defeated and caged in the Antarctic waters
ABELARD Coco’s sand shark
AIRFIRE flames created by humans outside of water
ALÍTHEIA a twelve-foot, venomous sea spider made out of bronze combined with drops of Merrow’s blood. Bellogrim, the blacksmith god, forged her, and the sea goddess, Neria, breathed life into her to protect the throne of Miromara from any pretenders.
ALLEGRA a Miromaran farmer who is a courier of secret message conchs for Mahdi
ALMA the woman Orfeo loved; when she died, he went mad with grief
AMPLIO a songspell used to amplify sound
ANARACHNA Miromaran for spider
APĂ PIATRĂ an old Romanian protection songspell that raises water and hardens it into a shield
ARTEMESIA Sera’s grandmother, a regina of Miromara who considered the Volnero family tainted and decreed that there would be no alliance with their bloodline
ASKARI members of Kora’s personal guard in Kandina (ASKARA, sing.)
ASTRID a teenage mermaid from the realm of Ondalina; one of the six summoned by the Iele to destroy Abbadon; descendant of the mage Orfeo; Ragnar’s sister and Kolfinn’s daughter
ATLANTICA the mer domain in the Atlantic Ocean; Becca’s home
ATLANTIS an ancient island paradise in the Mediterranean peopled with the ancestors of the mer. Six mages ruled the island wisely and well: Orfeo, Merrow, Sycorax, Navi, Pyrrha, and Nyx. When the island was destroyed, Merrow saved the Atlanteans by calling on Neria to give them fins and tails.
AVA a teenage mermaid from the Amazon River; one of the six summoned by the Iele to destroy Abbadon; descendant of the mage Nyx; she is blind but able to sense things
BABA VRĂJA the elder leader—or obârsie—of the Iele, river witches
BABY Ava’s guide piranha
BACO GOGA an eel-like merman; spy for Vallerio and Portia Volnero
BECCA a teenage mermaid from the realm of Atlantica; one of the six summoned by the Iele to destroy Abbadon; descendant of the mage Pyrrha
BELLOGRIM the god of fire
BIOLUMINESCENT a sea creature that emits its own glow
BLACK FINS members of a Cerulean resistance group
BLACK PEARL Orfeo’s talisman, given to him by Morsa
BLACKCLAW DRAGON one of the many types of dragons that breed in Matali and are the main source of the realm’s wealth; huge and powerful and used by the military
BLOODBIND a spell in which blood from different mages is combined to form an unbreakable bond and allow them to share abilities
BLOODSONG blood drawn from one’s heart that contains memories and allows them to become visible to others
BUBBLER a goblin tool for releasing just a little lava from a seam
CABALLABONG a game involving hippokamps, similar to the human game water polo
CADAVRU living human corpses, devoid of a soul (see also ROTTER)
CAMO a songspell used to change appearance
CANTA MAGUS one of the Miromaran magi, a keeper of magic (magi, pl.)
CANTA MALUS darksong, a poisonous gift to the mer from Morsa, in mockery of Neria’s gifts
CARCERON the prison of Atlantis. The lock could only be opened by all six talismans. It is now located somewhere in the Southern Sea.
CERULEA the royal city in Miromara, where Serafina lived before it was attacked
CETO leader of the Clan Rorqual, humpback whales
CLIO Serafina’s hippokamp
COMMODORA second-in-command to Ondalina’s admiral; spymaster and in charge of the realm’s military
CONCH a shell in which recorded information is stored
CONVOCA a songspell that can be used for summoning and communicating with others
COSIMA a young girl from Serafina’s court; nickname: Coco
CREOLE descendants of the colonial settlers of Louisiana, especially those of French, Spanish, African, and/or Native American origin
CURRENSEA mer money; gold trocii (trocus, sing.), silver drupes, copper cowries; gold doubloons are black market currensea
DANKLING a person’s deepest fears; Rorrim Drol feeds on them
DARKSONG a powerful canta malus spell that causes harm, legal to use against enemies during wartime
DEATH RIDERS Traho’s soldiers, who ride on black hippokamps
DESIDERIO a merman from Miromara; a Black Fin; Serafina’s older brother
DEVIL’S TAIL a protective thorn thicket that floats above Cerulea
DIRGECASTER one who sings after someone’s death
DOKIMÍ Greek for trial; a ceremony in which the heir to the Miromaran throne has to prove that she is a true descendant of Merrow by spilling blood for Alítheia, the sea spider. She must then songcast,
make her betrothal vows, and swear to one day give the realm a daughter.
DUCA DI VENEZIA an ancient title conferred on a terragogg by Merrow, the first leader of the mer; the duca’s duty is to protect the mer
EISGEISTS murderous spirits that dwell in cold water; created by Morsa, they are neither alive nor dead; they drag their victims behind them until the flesh rots away and then eat the bones
ELISABETTA a terragogg who, together with her brother, Marco, helped Becca after she was attacked by the Williwaw
ESMÉ, COUNTESS the ghost of a Creole countess; one of three ghosts who keep Manon Laveau company
EVEKSION the god of healing
FABRA the marketplace and workers’ quarter of Cerulea, where the city artisans live
FEUERKUMPEL goblin miners, one of the Kolbold tribes, who channel magma from deep seams under the North Sea in order to obtain lava for lighting and heating; they allied themselves with Vallerio
FOSSEGRIM one of the Miromaran magi, the liber magus, the keeper of knowledge
FRAGOR LUX a songspell to cast a light bomb (frag, abbr.)
FRESHWATERS the mer domain that encompasses rivers, lakes, and ponds
FRYST a clan of giant ice trolls that protects Ondalina’s Citadel
FYR goblin word for the underworld
GALLOWS DIRGE the final rite used to return the soul of a condemned criminal to the sea
GOLD COIN Pyrrha’s talisman, with an image of Neria on it
GREAT ABYSS a deep chasm in Qin where Sycorax’s talisman, a puzzle ball, was found
GRIS-GRIS a pouch of ingredients combined by a practitioner of voodoo in order to help its owner achieve a certain end
GULDEMAR the Meerteufel sea goblin tribe’s chieftain
HAFGUFA the kraken; according to legend, Meerteufel chieftains can call the creature forth in times of trouble
HAGARLA queen of the Razormouth dragons
HALL OF SIGHS a long corridor in Vadus, the mirror realm, whose walls are covered in mirrors; every mirror has a corresponding one in the terragogg world
HIPPOKAMPS creatures that are half horse, half serpent, with snakelike eyes
HOROK the great coelacanth, Keeper of Souls, who takes the dead to the underworld, holding each soul in a white pearl
Waterfire Saga (4 Book Series) Page 29