Secondhand Charm (15 page)

Chapter 31

He shivered with delight, reared up his head, and dove under the water. I rode the curve his body made, rising high over the water, then plunging in.

It was a shallow descent at first, then I felt him turn sharply downward. His muscles rippled under my body, and I held on for dear life, my eyes clamped shut, my ears ringing with the pressure. Water rushed past my face, pressing my cheeks into my teeth. With each powerful beat of my leviathan’s long body we went lower and lower into the black underworld of the sea, farther from the surface, and from air.

Then his pace slowed.

Open your eyes, Mistress.

What good would that do? It’s night at the bottom of the ocean. But I obliged him.

At first I saw only darkness. My leviathan’s body gleamed, and from that faint source of light I gradually made out more. My vision changed, and things became clearer, sharper. A small gray fish fluttered before me like a blowing leaf, and then another, chasing the first. Craggy rocks covered with moss descended below me, a mountain range beneath my feet. I felt a moment’s vertigo. Was this how eagles felt?

A school of fish swam past in perfect coordination, each one longer than my arm. They took no notice of us—except for the one that my leviathan snapped between his jaws and gulped down his great maw. Part of me—the schoolgirl—wanted to be revolted by the sight, but down here, in my watery home, I was glad he found a proper meal.

We descended until my toes skimmed the surface of the rocks, and I bent over to study their surface. They teemed with life and movement, with swaying fronds of undersea plants and small creatures I couldn’t name, crabs scuttling and tiny fishes darting through plants and crevices. I reached down my hand to touch a clamshell and saw tiny things retreat, close, and fold in on themselves. What a world! I would have to find a book about sea creatures, if there was one, perhaps at the university.

Annalise, riding on Bijou, swam into my view and waved to me. A pocket of air escaped from her lips and rose through the water.

That’s when I realized I hadn’t taken a breath in a while.

Air, please
,
I told my leviathan.
Quickly!

It’s all right, Mistress
,
he said.
I’ll take you up. Stay calm.

Slowly, leisurely, we drifted up in lazy circles, watching bubbles rise faster than we did. I fought back fear until I realized, I’m all right. I’m still all right.

The sea grew darker and more cloudy the higher we went. Pent-up air burst from my mouth, leaving me empty, utterly empty, and now truly afraid.

And then we were on top of the waves, filling our lungs with sweet air.

Annalise and Bijou surfaced too, and Annalise slipped off her serpentine mount. “Swim to me, Evie,” she said. “Kick and stroke, and be calm in the water. You’ll be fine.”

“No, wait, I … ”

But my leviathan wriggled out from under me, and I had no choice but kick and stroke or sink. I tried to mimic Annalise’s smooth strokes, but my arms were unused to this. At least I was able to keep my lungs filling with air now and then.

“Well done.”

I had reached Annalise, to my astonishment. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn, what a day this is for you!” she said. “And for me. I feel I’ve gained the sister I’ve wished for. I thought, when I left my native land, I would always be alone. But now you’re here, and there’s nothing we can’t do.”

I pumped my arms and legs, trying to keep my head up.

“You’re learning quickly. We’ll swim again soon. Let’s go to shore now, and talk.”

We swam to the shallows and walked up onto the sand. Annalise helped me into my robe, then put on her own. She gathered bits of dried driftwood and in no time had a small fire blazing. We sat in the sand, toasting our ankles, and watched the shifting light of the fire, while beyond, out over the dark waves, our leviathans frisked and fought mock battles in the shallows. I couldn’t stop thinking about the ocean world beneath the surface. Could I really go there and explore whenever I wished?

Annalise interrupted my thoughts. “Can you keep a secret, Evie?”

I nodded.

“Once I’m queen, things will change here in Pylander,” she said. “And wherever I go, you’ll be beside me.” She lifted a lock of my wet hair and twined it over her fingers. “You’ll have dukes and princes clamoring for your favor.”

“I’m not sure what I would do with that,” I said, pulling back. My hair slipped out of her fingers. “I came here to pursue my studies.”

“Of course,” she said. “All in good time. We’re young, Evelyn. There’s time for everything we want to do. If learning amuses you, by all means, you shall.”

I flexed my toes in the firelight. Out of the water, being wet made me cold.

“It doesn’t
amuse
me,” I said. “It inspires me. There’s so much I want to know. Especially about the body. I want to understand how it works. Like my father tried to do.”

Annalise tossed a bit of bark onto the fire.

“There’s so much I want to know about
you
, Evelyn,” she said. “Your background, your hopes. If it’s knowledge you want, then knowledge you shall have, more knowledge than mankind has ever comprehended. You don’t yet know all that a serpentina is, my love.”

I felt a flash of annoyance. I
knew
that I didn’t know, and I wished she’d stop reminding me. “What are they, then?”

“What are
we
, you mean,” she said. “Legend has it that our first ancestor was a Merlian princess who fell in love with a sea god. She sneaked out of her room each night to meet him in a cave near the sea, and they would swim together.”

I was glad that in the dark, Annalise couldn’t see my reaction. Who could believe such a preposterous tale?

Then again, who could believe in serpentinas?

“Her father forced her to marry a prince. From Pylander, as it happens. So she wed the prince, but refused to leave Merlia and her true love.”

A scandalous beginning. I leaned forward to hear more.

“The sea god was jealous of the prince, and the prince knew he did not own his wife’s affections. He followed her to the cave one night and challenged the sea god to a duel. Naturally, he was a fool.”

“Naturally?”

She laughed. “Men can be such fools, love. Especially jealous ones. The princess tried to stop the duel, for she felt no malice toward her husband, but neither the prince nor the sea god would listen. She threatened to leave them both if they didn’t desist.

“The prince stood no chance against his opponent. His body was found dashed in pieces against the rocks in the cave. But his sword was missing, and the legend has it that before he died he managed to get a disfiguring stroke in, destroying one of the sea god’s eyes.”

“How would that be possible?” I asked. “If any of this were possible. How could you hurt a sea god? If there were sea gods, which I don’t believe, wouldn’t they be beyond injury?”

“So you would suppose,” Annalise said. “Perhaps it had something to do with justice being on the prince’s side. I wasn’t there. This is only how the story is told.”

“Well, go on, then.”

“The princess returned and mourned her dead husband, even though she’d never loved him. She called to her sea god, but, ashamed of his disfigurement, he refused to appear before her.

“Soon it became known that the princess was carrying a child. Naturally everyone assumed the child’s father was the dead prince.”

Ocean breezes from the west—from Merlia—blew across my cold skin. Whether this myth had any truth to it or not, I took no pride in descending from such a dark, gruesome legacy.

“But of course, the prince wasn’t the child’s father.”

“The princess gave birth to a girl with hair as black as ink,” Annalise said. “When the child could barely walk, her mother took her to the beach to play in the waves. A leviathan appeared and wrapped itself around the girl. The princess ran to rescue her daughter, but the leviathan pulled the child out to sea. Instead of drowning, the little girl swam easily, and played with her serpent all afternoon while the helpless mother watched. The child returned to shore and asked for her dinner, and the leviathan swam back to its home in the depths. It was then that the princess realized that the creature was a gift from the sea god to his daughter. A protector. An eye, so to speak, symbolizing the one that was lost, to keep watch over his child.”

“So she was the first serpentina?”

Annalise nodded. “Wise as a serpent, cunning as a god, radiant as the moon. She grew to be queen of Merlia
and
queen of the sea. And so her daughters have been ever since.”

Driftwood on the fire hissed and sputtered.

“Surely you don’t believe that,” I said. “Does everyone in Merlia believe it?”

Annalise watched me from far away, as if she could see past me, and far out to sea.

“This is the legend of how we began, Evelyn,” she said. “And here we are now. It matters little whether the facts are facts.”

I turned away. If this was supposed to be my initiation, why did I feel more confused than before? I was a scientist. At least, that was how I tried to think.

I picked up a handful of sand and flung it out onto the sea. The grains sprinkled into the surf, sounding like rain on a rooftop.

“You can dispute the legend all you like, Evelyn. But how can you dispute your leviathan? Present knowledge forces you to think twice about strange old stories, doesn’t it?”

I felt sulky and cross then. “What present knowledge?” I said. “I still know nothing about serpentinas. Nothing!”

“Ah,” Annalise said. “And so, to business. For starters, serpentinas do not grow sick.”

“I’d pieced that one together.”

“You can speed healing where sickness is present, and your touch can help send the mortally ill or wounded to a swifter, sweeter death.”

I thought of Jeremy Thorndike, the coach driver, and felt again that bitter sadness. Send him to a swifter death? Had I killed him?

No. I remembered his wounds. It wasn’t I who killed him. It was that ruthless highwayman, may his gold canker and may rust corrode his soul.

“You possess, as your companion and protector, a wise and loyal and mighty creature, the king of the deep, a master of concealment, a creature whose bite can kill or revive, even from the brink of death, as he wishes and as you command.”

I’d seen that firsthand. Remembering that morning Aidan died gave me chills.

“You will have influence over things. Influence over others. In a room full of people, eyes will turn to you. Where decisions must be made, your advice will be sought.”

“That sounds like all sorts of people,” I said. “In Maundley, there’s a little widow woman who runs the entire town. Wives would scarcely change their stew recipes without consulting her first. And I’m quite sure she has no serpent.”

Annalise smiled. “You will remain young and beautiful for years past when most girls’ beauty fades. And your power over men will be legendary. Other women’s husbands will go to bed at night dreaming of you.”

I kicked at a falling stick, sending showers of sparks in the air. “No thank you! I don’t want a bit of that.”

“You can’t help it, Evie,” she said, “unless you hide in a cave.”

“Then perhaps I shall. I don’t believe you, anyway.” I didn’t, did I? “I’ve never been beautiful, anyhow.” Not that I cared. I felt petty for having spoken this out loud.

“The kind of beauty that truly captivates isn’t always apparent when you’re young,” she said. “It sneaks up on you, and on those who’ve known you for years, then suddenly they see you for the first time. This has already begun to happen for you, has it not?”

I moved closer to the fire. Behind us, behind the city, a pale glow crept into the sky, illuminating the tallest spires and buildings. Annalise noticed the change too.

“What does a serpentina do with all this power?” I asked.

“Whatever she wants,” Annalise replied. “A serpentina is free to direct her life. And she gains a long life in which to do so.”

“So, let me be sure I understand,” I said. “We have sea serpents. We swim naturally. Snakes like us. We’re good with sick people. And we stay beautiful and … influential. That’s what a serpentina is? That’s it?”

Annalise hugged her cloak around her. “What more did you want?”

I stared into the fire. “Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t want any of this. But you mentioned powers, and I thought of some sort of … magic, I suppose.”

Annalise rose and shook sand from her cloak. “Bijou! Bijou!” Her call was high and piercing. “You’re young, Evelyn. The young often think power must be measured like weapons and cannon fire. Ostentatious miracles, impossible displays. Someday you will learn that subtle power is the most potent. Influence is enough to turn the world from its course and align it to yours.” She winked at me. “And with beauty, you can own it.”

I rose and helped Annalise sprinkle seawater over her fire while our leviathans wound their way up the beach, shrinking themselves down in size, looking like disappointed puppies cheated out of a longer romp.