Reunion (20 page)

Unable to help himself, Corwin tried to sense its presence, but couldn't.

“That's why you had visions, Corwin,” Nia said. “But also why you couldn't control them. It's possible that—well, Ma'el said something to me about experiments he did. That's how I have the oculus, and how Cephan did. Something similar could have happened to you.”

“So
that's
why Ma'el wanted me alive along with you!” His heart grew heavy. “And why I've spent my life cursed . . . always bringing people sadness,” he went on. “Maybe I should have let Ma'el remove my oculus, as he wanted.”

No no no no no no—

“I know, Gobaith, I know.” Corwin kept looking at his hands, his skin, his feet, for some clue that any mermyd blood ran in him. He felt very strange, having thought of himself one way for all of his sixteen years and now, just a few moments before, having his entire life turned topsy-turvy. Everything he'd ever done or experienced had to be looked at in a new light. “This is going to take me some time to accept,” he said slowly. “Maybe I should hope Ma'el is still alive, so he can tell me more, if he was in fact involved.”

“I'd rather not hope that,” Nia said, “but he probably is. If so, I'm sure he went back to Atlantis.” Again, her face became somber.

Corwin could hold the question from his tongue no longer. “Nia . . . do you . . . do you have any plans? As to when you might . . . go back to the sea . . . for good?” It hurt him to even ask.

Nia gazed back at him and he thought her aquamarine eyes were lovelier than ever. “I'm afraid it will have to happen soon. It's not that I don't like your land kingdom, Corwin. There are many strange and wondrous things here. But I can't enjoy myself while my people suffer. If any of them are still alive. I am the last Avatar . . . one of the last Avatars,” she corrected herself, smiling at him. “It's Gobaith's duty to return as the last Farworlder king, and he's aware of this. He feels ready, although I hope it's not just his youth and spirit that make him so certain. It's also my duty, especially since I . . .” her voice wavered for a moment. “Since I was the one who brought disaster to my people,” she finished.

Corwin reached over and took her hand in his. “You couldn't have known that Cephan was lying to you. You couldn't have known that the prophecy your family believed in was wrong.”

“But it was
right
,” Nia said. “They were just wrong about the
way
in which it would be right.”

“Don't try to confuse me with logic,” Corwin said, trying to soothe her, even though he knew it was pointless. “It wasn't your fault.”

“Even so,” Nia said, gazing down at the tide-pool at her feet, “I'm responsible. I must go.”

Corwin sighed. “But what can you, or even Gobaith, do against Ma'el? We only barely defeated him here, on dry land. He'll be much more powerful in the sea, won't he?”

Nia nodded. “Yes, but we can interfere with his power. Just as a small rock in the right place can sink a ship. I might prevent him from doing more harm, at least. And there is another thing. . . .”

“Why is there always another thing?” Corwin asked, rolling his eyes.

Nia splashed him. “Be serious,” she said, but she was smiling. “There is one other oculus that Ma'el probably doesn't know about. My father showed me a sword, a ceremonial sword that had been made with an oculus in the hilt. It was to be a gift to the first land-dweller king that might bring peace to the land-dwelling world. But Atlantis hid below the waves before the sword could be given. It was strange, but I could feel the magical power in the sword when others couldn't. I think I know where that sword might be. With its help, we might have enough power to overcome Ma'el, not just interfere.”

“I see.” Corwin nodded, unsure what else to say. But he could already feel the hole in his heart that would grow large when she left him.

Gobaith slapped his tentacles on the surface of the water. Corwin sensed that the Farworlder was gently chastising Nia about something.

Suddenly, her eyes opened wide. “Oh, I'm so sorry!” She took his hand in both of hers. “I wasn't listening well to your feelings—you've been worrying that I'd abandon you, but I just thought you were sad at the thought of leaving your homeland.”

Corwin blinked, trying to make sense of what she'd said.

“But no, you're wrong,” she went on. “Gobaith and I aren't leaving you here, Corwin. You have to come with us. We can't succeed without your power to help us.”

“Me? How can I come with you?” Corwin asked in surprise. “Even if it's true that I'm part mermyd, I don't have gills. I can hold my breath for long minutes, but that doesn't mean I can swim all the way down to Atlantis and live there. Even Ma'el said I might drown on the way, and a dry room doesn't sound like a very comfortable place.”

Gobaith blew air out of the siphons on either side of his head, making the water bubble. Corwin had come to learn that this was his way of expressing exasperation.

Nia smiled. “Corwin, sometimes I think the unis flows in one of your ears and out the other. Don't you remember the transformation that Ma'el was able to do to himself? Now that we're strong and well again, Gobaith can help you make these.” She fluttered the gills on her neck. “That was how he saved you when you nearly drowned in the castle.”

“He . . . he can? He did? I could?” Suddenly the world, and the future, looked very different to Corwin.

Nia laughed. “He can. He did. You could. Will you come with us, Corwin? Will you help me save my people?”

Since meeting you
, Corwin thought,
being with you has been the most important thing in my life.

Nia blushed.

Corwin blushed, too. “Since you know my thoughts, you have to know that I couldn't do anything else.”

Enjoy all three books in the
Trilogy:

#1 Ascension
#2 Reunion
#3 Transformation

Cover art © 2002 by Dan Craig

Cover design © 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

REUNION
. Copyright © 2002 by 17th Street Productions, an Alloy, Inc. company. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition APRIL 2002 ISBN: 9780061757495

First Avon edition, 2002

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