“Should have met him a few months back,” Barnabas said. “Wouldn’t have pictured him running toward danger voluntarily.”
Muireann turned her eyes toward the crow’s nest.
“Artem feels conflicted. Like heroism comes naturally to him, but also that he’s trying to prove something.”
“Doesn’t take a psychoanalyst to figure that one out.”
“But there’s something else there, isn’t there?” she asked. “He lost someone recently, am I right?”
Barnabas winced visibly at her words.
“That’s a longer story,” he said. “But this whole endeavor started out as revenge for him, and I think it turned into a purpose. Whether that’s healthy or not is beyond me, but the world’s better for having someone like him decide to dedicate himself to saving it.”
“And then there’s you,” Muireann said. She stared at Barnabas, who tried to match her gaze, but turned away.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said. “Don’t try to magic a magician, lady. I can spot a spell when I see one.”
“That wasn’t a spell. It was, well, what I do,” she said. “I read people, and everything I read about you says you shouldn’t be here.”
“That’s because I’m good at what I do,” he said.
“You have no reason to tell me,” Muireann said. “But I’m curious, and I hope you would. Why are you with this crew? What do you gain from it?”
“Money and fame and fortune, kid.”
“You’re so much better at lying when you put effort into it,” Muireann said.
Barnabas sighed, looking at each of his crew one at a time.
“I don’t believe in anything,” he said. “Or I didn’t, before. I was a mercenary and a scoundrel and I liked it. But I was hired for a few years to look out for Echo and her mother, and I was there, watching over this family from a distance, making sure they were safe. Except nothing ever came for them. Nothing ever threatened them. They were so wondrously mundane, you understand? Echo’s special. Her mother lived an unusual life. Yuri’s become something bigger. But when I was just a young idiot sent to spy on them for some bigshot in Atlantis? They were just regular people.”
Muireann listened, not interrupting. Barnabas’ tone felt unexpectedly confessional. He made no eye contact, looking mostly at his feet, at the deck.
“But I failed them. Maybe I couldn’t have succeeded. The things that happened—they were more than anyone anticipated. I wasn’t enough to stop it alone. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is I failed them, and Echo’s mother died, and Echo and Yuri lost their normal lives, and they didn’t deserve that, and you know what else? I lost the normal life I had watching over them. I knew Meredith. She’d offer me coffee sometimes when she’d catch me. You see, she’d always had a protector, from the time Echo was born onward. We all got caught at some point. I was just the last one she spotted. But she knew why we were there, and she was kind to me in ways people were rarely, if ever, kind to me.”
Barnabas rubbed his palm across his stubble-covered head absently. He pointed at Artem.
“And that poor bastard. That’s my fault too, you know. Not maliciously. I was trying to protect Echo, and that’s how Artem lost the man he cared most about in this world. Blame’s a funny thing—it’s almost never direct. I’m the first step in the blame, but there’s those who committed the acts of violence I couldn’t stop, there’s those who wanted those acts of violence to happen, there’s the stupid drama at the very core of it all that caused it all in the first place. There’s so much blame to go around,” Barnabas said. “I don’t stay out of guilt.”
Muireann lifted one eyebrow slightly. Barnabas caught the gesture.
“It’s okay, doubt the truth in that. But when Artem was on that revenge dirge, when Echo wanted to avenge her mother… I had my own reasons, y’know? You can’t make things right. You can’t fix what’s happened. But you can contribute to what happens next,” Barnabas said. “Did you cast a spell on me? Why am I telling you all of this?”
“Because I’m not them,” Muireann said. “Because I wasn’t there.”
Barnabas closed his eyes for a moment, clearly struggling with words and thoughts. He swallowed hard, then spoke.
“So, no, I don’t have an Atlantis or a tribe of Amazons to fight for,” he said. “I only have them. And I don’t believe in anything anymore. But I’ll be the instrument they need to help make what happens next better than it could be. That’s why I’m here. What about you, Muireann the ondine? Why are you here?”
Muireann smiled softly and joined Barnabas where he stood against the railing on the quarter deck. She took a deep breath, felt the wind rushing through her dark hair.
“Because you’re the ones who found me,” she said. “And I think that means something.”
“By way of things to believe in, we’re not a good bet,” Barnabas said.
“I think you’re wrong,” Muireann said. “And I’m willing to stay long enough for you to prove it.”
Chapter 27: Seeing the world through a blurred window
No matter how many times we do this, Echo thought, I’m never going to like it.
Yuri once referred to their ability to travel through places where time and distance worked differently as the equivalent of “fast travel” in a video game. It worked, really, because it was a weird, but useful, time-saving method. They weren’t teleporting across the globe, but Barnabas and the ghost crew of the Endless could navigate these weird, warped faerie pathways safely to turn days of travel into hours, weeks into days. Yuri told Echo numerous times he wanted to ask Barnabas if the Bermuda Triangle worked like this, but never remembered to bring it up.
Useful, helpful, but also terrifying to cross hundreds of miles of ocean in a sort of mystical fast-forward state. If time weren’t such a limited commodity in their current mission, Echo would have preferred to sail the normal way. I’m seeing the world through a blurry window, she thought, always wondering what sights had passed by unnoticed.
This time, the journey took them to the mouth of the Amazon River, which, Echo had to admit, looked nothing like she expected. She said so.
“I should’ve known the Amazon wouldn’t just empty into the ocean,” she said. She felt annoyingly ignorant not realizing that there would be a whole ecosystem at the mouth of the river. That she was caught off-guard there was an entire estuary there called the Marajó várzea. To her untrained eye, it looked far more like a series of large islands and canals than the mouth of a mighty river visible from space.
“I am so confused,” Yuri said beside her.
“Oh, what, you didn’t know this is what the mouth of the Amazon River looked like?” Echo said.
“Like you knew.”
“I totally knew.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am totally lying,” she said.
Artem, climbing down from the crow’s next, hit the deck cursing.
“I know this is something we should have asked before we left, but,” Artem said, “how the hell are we supposed to find an underwater city here?”
“I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question,” Yuri said.
“We didn’t think this through,” Echo said. “At all. We’re idiots.”
“We’re not idiots,” Yuri said. “We’ve never thought anything through all the way and look at us. We’re fine.”
“We can’t search the entire Amazon,” Artem said, a note of desperation, almost panic, rising in his voice. “We can’t! Why did we think we could do this?”
“Because we’ve literally waltzed into every other adventure we’ve ever had with zero forethought and it’s always worked out fine,” Yuri said.
“I’m not a crier, but I honestly feel like I’m going to cry,” Echo said.
“I do too,” Artem said. “My gods, we really are idiots.”
“I forgot how big this place is,” Barnabas said, joining them on the deck. Muireann followed directly behind him, and Echo
caught herself eyeing the pair suspiciously and not knowing why. Something about the mystery woman and the smuggler becoming cozy raised an alarm in the back of her mind.
“You’ve been here before?” Artem said.
“Oh, sure,” Barnabas said. “Sort of.”
“What do you mean, sort of?” Echo said.
“Long story,” the magician said.
“No, no you don’t,” Echo said. “You don’t get to ‘long story’ this one.”
“I mean I’ve been here, in the estuary,” Barnabas said. “I’ve only been up river by astral projection, so I’m not sure it counts.”
“We nearly died together, as a team, and I still hate you with every fiber of my being,” Yuri said.
Barnabas ignored him, walked up to the railing, and whistled.
“Man, this place is huge,” he said.
“Have you been here before?” Echo asked Muireann.
The ondine shook her head.
“I’ve never been to the Americas at all,” she said. “This is all new to me.”
“We’re screwed,” Yuri said.
Barnabas held up his hands in a calming motion.
“Now, come on, gang. You have me,” he said.
“It is a daily struggle, Barnabas, a daily struggle, to not cut your throat when you sleep,” Artem said.
“Love you too,” Barnabas said. “I’m telling you, don’t worry about it.”
“Finding an underwater city in one of the biggest rivers in the world?” Echo said. “I’m worried. I’m worrying right now. This is my worrying face.”
“You guys need to stop thinking so literally,” Barnabas said. “This is magic, right? Does magic ever make sense? Let me answer that for you. No, magic never makes sense. You’re on a ship manned by ghosts. Roll with it.”
“Less snark, more explanation please,” Echo said.
“First of all, while you were all sleeping or chatting up the residents of New Scythia, I was talking with Clio, the Athena-worshipping librarian, which was not a particularly easy task, mind you, because someone has said some terrible things about me to her and she has decided she hates me,” Barnabas said.
Yuri, Echo and Artem all exchanged looks back and forth as if to assess or attribute blame.
“Wasn’t me,” Yuri said.
“Whatever,” Barnabas said. “But despite the fact she hates me, or possibly because she likes all of you, she gave me some information on these yacuruna beings we’re looking for.”
“Gods, I hate when you’re useful,” Artem said. “It makes hating you just slightly more difficult.”
“Maybe the Cliff Notes version,” Echo said.
“I have no idea what that means,” Barnabas said.
“Please, please, tell us what she told you already,” Echo said.
Barnabas nodded, ignoring everyone’s building frustration.
“First of all, the yacuruna build their cities in the mouths of rivers, not the rivers themselves. And if we’re looking for their biggest city…”
“It’s here somewhere,” Muireann said. “This is where the Amazon ends, correct?”
“Biggest city, most likely location would be here,” Artem said. “But what if it’s in a different city?”
“Then we sail up river and try again,” Barnabas said.
“Okay, stupid question, but can we sail… sail, specifically, up river? Like, can you sail against the flow of a river?” Yuri said. Everyone except Muireann looked at him in shock.
“Did your time apart from us include lessons on seamanship?” Barnabas said. “Last time we were together you didn’t know the difference between a boat and a ship.”
“It’s basic physics, you nitwit,” Yuri said. “How much wind needs to be at our backs to push us up the river?”
Barnabas lifted a finger, pointed at Yuri as if to correct him, then dropped his hand to his side.
“Y’know, you’re actually right,” he said. “But we’ll be fine. The Endless looks like a sailing vessel, but it’s propelled through more arcane means. The sails are honestly mostly for show.”
“You’re just mentioning this now?” Artem said.
“Nobody ever asked,” Barnabas said.
“Guys! Focus!” Echo said. “So, we’re probably not far from the yacuruna city. How do we find it? How do we get there?”
“Easiest way would be to get a yacuruna’s attention,” Barnabas said. “Best case scenario, plead our case, convince them to help.”
“Worst case scenario?” Artem said.
“The yacuruna have a tradition of abducting beautiful people,” Barnabas said. “We could, y’know, put out a trap, I guess.”
“That is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Echo said.
“I do not volunteer,” Yuri said.
“I said they abduct beautiful people,” Barnabas said.
“I hate you,” Yuri said.
“Hey, I wouldn’t put myself on the volunteer list either,” Barnabas said. “We need to be honest with ourselves and each other, Yuri. We’re not pretty.”
“I volunteer,” Muireann said.
All four of her crewmates said “no” simultaneously.
“I’m almost afraid to ask if this has something to with my looks,” the ondine said.
“It’s not your fight,” Echo said, her tone apologetic. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I just don’t want you risking your life for us.”
Muireann shrugged.
“I can’t drown. I’m not human. Barnabas told me a bit about what Clio said—the yacuruna eventually transform their captives into yacuruna themselves. I’m already a water spirit. I have to assume that means I’m immune to the transformation.”
“I hate that she has a point,” Artem said.
“Regardless, we have options,” Barnabas said. “And in the end, they’re not a violent type of spirit. The yacuruna are known as healers.”
“Healers who kidnap people,” Yuri said.
“Everyone has flaws,” Barnabas said.
Echo clapped her hands.
“Okay, aside from bait, what are our other options?” she said.
“It’s believed they can transform into the creatures of the Amazon,” Barnabas said. “Clio’s research said they prefer to explore in the form of the pink dolphin. Alternately, they are sometimes seen riding giant crocodiles.”
“I hate everything about this,” Yuri said.
“Y’know what? Fine. Let’s just try it,” Echo said. “Where do we start?”
Chapter 28: Splitting up always works so well
The Endless dropped anchor in a canal enabling Echo and her friends to take a dinghy to shore. The enormity of this place overwhelmed Echo’s senses in a way the deep ocean hadn’t. The explosiveness of life here, the vegetation, the almost deafening sound of it all, it was breathtaking.
It also had a certain raggedness to it, too, which Echo knew had to do with humanity’s damage, dirty water from uncontrolled agriculture and worse. Everywhere we go, we poison the world, she thought. No wonder my Atlantean relatives wanted to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth.
When they reached land, Yuri and Artem dragged the boat onto the sand, both men grimacing at the heat.
“Let’s make this a short trip,” Yuri said. “This is miserable.”
“How are we going to play this?” Artem said matter-of-factly. “We can’t seriously be planning on just walking up river in the hopes we find these yacuruna.”
“I had a thought,” Muireann said. She had shed her heavier sweater and the knit hat she’d worn most of the time since they found her, tying her jet-black hair back in a rough ponytail. The dark sleeveless Atlantean top she’d taken to wearing beneath the sweater revealed swirling blue-green tattoos down both arms, almost like scales. Echo caught Barnabas eyeing the tattoos, but she could tell it wasn’t lascivious—his own ink contained spells and magic wards, and Echo knew the magician was looking for clues to their new companion’s own mystical abilities.
“Go on,” Artem said. “I’ve got nothing to add. Curious what you think.”
“Well,” Muireann said. “As a… mythical creature myself, I will tell you that I’d never approach a group like ours. I want to encounter a human alone.”
“That is so reassuring,” Yuri said.
“No, she’s got a point,” Barnabas said. “The stories about yacuruna indicate they usually abduct people they find isolated so no one sees the kidnapping.”
“Because splitting up always works so well,” Artem said.
“On the upside, I think we’re all pretty capable of defending ourselves,” Echo said. “My only question is if one of us is approached by the yacuruna, how do we let the others know?”
“I can help with that,” Barnabas said. “It’s an easy spell. If one of us is in danger or distress, we’ll each feel a slight tug in their direction, like an alarm.”
“Magic motion sensor,” Yuri said. Barnabas shrugged but didn’t argue.
“All right then,” Echo said. “We split up, I guess?”
“I could take the dinghy up river a bit,” Barnabas said. “Kind of act as an outrider from the water.”
“Also, you’re not pretty, so they’re not going to steal you,” Yuri said.
“Speaking of not pretty, what are you going to do?” Barnabas said.
“Oh, for the love of… will you two knock it off already?” Artem said. “This joke is getting old.”
“So is Barnabas,” Yuri said. Barnabas shot him a dirty look, but Yuri stuck his tongue out at him, taunting.
“You could be our scout underwater,” Barnabas said.
“What now?” Yuri said.
“Transform into your shark-man form and swim up river,” Barnabas said. “I’ll watch from above, you from below.”
“I hate to say it, but that’s not a bad idea,” Echo said. “Can you breathe fresh water when you’re a shark though?”
Yuri opened his mouth to speak, stopped, started again, stopped, then threw his arms up in the air.
“I have no idea,” he said. “This is not something I ever had to think about before.”
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