Waterfire Saga, Book Three: Dark Tide: A Deep Blue Novel (11 page)

As Becca sat, eyes closed, waiting, Astrid appeared in her head, then Ava. Becca felt as if all of them were right next to her, floating in a circle. Happiness flooded through her, but it was
quickly replaced by worry when she realized one of them was missing.

“Where’s Ling?” she asked.

“I can’t reach her….I’ve tried and tried,” Sera said anxiously. “Something’s wrong. She’d answer if she could. I know she would.”

“You’ve got everyone else now. Talk quickly, Sera, before the songspell fades,” Neela urged.

“Becca, Ava, you still there?” Sera asked.

“Yes!”

“Right here,
querida
!” said Ava.

“Okay, got you!” Sera exclaimed. “
Astrid?
Is that
you
? I thought I felt you with Becca, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Yeah. Hey, Sera. I met up with Becca and—”

“Does that mean you’re with us now?” Neela asked hopefully.

Astrid’s eyes widened. “What?
No!
I’m not. I just—”

“Got to interrupt, sorry,” Sera said urgently. “This convoca’s not very strong. I could lose you at any second.” She took a deep breath, then continued.
“I’ve got news. Lots of it. Neela and I found our talismans.”

“No way!” Becca said. “Sera, that’s amazing!”

“I also found out
where
the rest of the talismans are and
what
they are.”

“That’s
huge
! Good work,
mina
!” Ava said.

“It’s a start,” Sera allowed. “But I’m not going to celebrate until we have all six in our hands. Becs, Pyrrha’s talisman is a gold coin with the image of
Neria on it. It’s at Cape Horn, with a wind spirit called—”

“The Williwaw,” Becca said grimly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Astrid said.

“Be extremely careful approaching it,” Sera cautioned. “It can stir up a raging storm in seconds.”

“Or don’t approach it all,” Astrid said. “Just a thought.”

Sera ignored her. “Ava, Nyx’s talisman is a ruby ring in a gold setting. It’s in the swamps of the Mississippi, guarded by water spirits called the Okwa Naholo,” she
said. “They are serious bad news.”

“Bad news?”
Astrid scoffed. “They’re worse than EisGeists! You
know
they are. Everyone does!”

“What about Sycorax’s talisman?” Becca asked, dread gnawing at her. “And what about Ling?”

“Sycorax’s is a puzzle ball. It’s in the Great Abyss.”

“Which is only, like, a million miles deep,” Astrid pointed out.

“I’m really worried about Ling,” Sera continued. “She’s in trouble. I know it. Ava, can you feel her?”

Ava went quiet for a moment, then shook her head. “I can’t. I’m trying, but I’m getting nothing.”

Sera heaved a troubled sigh.

“There might be a reason, though,” Ava quickly added. “She might be sheltering in a wrecked ship, one with an iron hull. Or she might be in a place with a lot of mer, where
it’s not safe to answer.”

Astrid swore, startling everyone. Becca could feel Astrid’s anger growing, and the tension building between her and Sera. She remembered how they’d clashed in the Iele’s caves,
several times. They couldn’t even talk, it seemed—not then and not now—without fighting.

“She’s
dead
. Face it. The death riders probably got her,” Astrid said. “I
told
you this would happen, Sera. Back in the River Olt. You’re asking
too much of them. Will Ling’s death stop you? Or are you going to keep on with the insanity until Becca’s dead, too? And Ava? And Neela?”

“I’m going to keep on until
Abbadon’s
dead,” Sera replied, her voice steely and determined. Then she said, “I’m glad you’re part of this
convoca, Astrid. Even if you’re still not part of our group. Because I owe you an apology.”

“For what? For getting Ling killed?” Astrid asked. “Not accepted. Because I liked her. A lot.”

“For accusing Ondalina of attacking Miromara. It wasn’t your father; it was my own uncle, Vallerio, who did it in league with one of Miromara’s duchessas—Portia Volnero.
He sold out his realm and assassinated his regina—his own sister, my mother. He killed my father, too. Maybe my brother as well. No one’s seen Desiderio since he left to guard our
borders.”

“Meu Deus!”
Ava exclaimed.

“I didn’t know any of this when we met in the Iele’s caves, but I do now,” said Sera. “I shouldn’t have made the accusations against your realm. I’m
sorry.”

Astrid nodded curtly, and it struck Becca how one might think the balance of power had just tipped in her favor, but it hadn’t. Sera had owned a wrong and apologized for it, and she seemed
stronger for having done so, not weaker.

“I’m fighting back against my uncle with the help of some brave Miromarans,” Sera continued. “It’s hard. Vallerio wants us dead. We’re going to have to leave
Miromara, and look for safe haven…” She hesistated, wary, then said, “Somewhere else. Vallerio’s taken over Matali as well as Miromara.”

“And you’re telling me this why?” Astrid asked.

“My uncle’s searching for the talismans, too. He and Rafe Mfeme are behind the raids on the villages. They’re forcing the stolen mer into labor camps and making them search for
the talismans. If Vallerio gets them, he’ll give them to the one who wants to unleash Abbadon. I still don’t know who that person is, but I’m trying to find out. In return, that
person will help my uncle take over the other realms.
All
of them, Astrid.”

Sera paused here, to let the weight of her words sink in. Then she said, “When I was in Cerulea, I spied on Vallerio and Portia and overheard Portia say that the person who wants to free
Abbadon has two of the talismans—Merrow’s and Orfeo’s.”

“But I thought
you
had Merrow’s talisman,” Ava countered.

“I do. Vallerio has what he
thinks
is Merrow’s blue diamond, but it’s only a fake. I have the real one,” Sera explained. “Orfeo’s talisman is a black
pearl that Morsa gave him. I’m praying that the pearl Portia mentioned is also a fake, and hoping that the real one is still where Merrow hid it—in a maelstrom off the coast of
Greenland.”

Astrid laughed harshly. “Good luck trying to get it. That maelstrom? It’s called the Qanikkaaq. It swallows trawlers whole.”

“I don’t need luck, Astrid. I need
you
,” Sera said. “I need you to go to the maelstrom, find out if the real pearl’s still inside it, and get it out if it
is.”

Astrid looked trapped. “I told you, Sera…I can’t. I just
can’t
,” she said.

Becca knew why. She wished she could tell the others, but she couldn’t. It was for Astrid to do, not her.

Sera nodded stoically, but her eyes told a different story. Becca saw the desperation in them. The convoca started to weaken. The image blurred. Voices rose as everyone tried to talk at once,
then they faded. Becca heard broken pleas, warnings, and good-byes.

“…anything from Ling, get word to me…”

“…don’t go alone…”

“…careful! Those waters…”

“…love you, merl…”

And then Sera, Neela, and Ava were gone, and it was just Becca and Astrid again. Astrid rose, angrily slapped her tail fin against the cave’s wall, then swam outside and stared into the
darkness.

Becca joined her. “I’m not going home,” she said. “Not now. I’m going straight to Cape Horn. I’ve
got
to get that talisman from the Williwaw.”
She was quiet for a bit, then added, “You want to help her, too. I know you do. I saw it in your eyes.”

“I don’t know what I want,” Astrid said miserably.

“Then it’s a good thing I do,” said Becca.

She swam back to where she’d been sitting, picked up the object she’d been working on, and handed it to Astrid. In Becca’s clever hands, the whalebone had become a slim,
graceful pipe. It had a tapered mouthpiece and several stops.

Astrid looked at it uncertainly. “It’s beautiful, Becs. It’s more than beautiful—it’s amazing.” She raised her eyes to Becca’s. “But what am I
supposed to do with it?”

Becca smiled. “Make magic.”

A
STRID EYED THE slender whalebone pipe.

A few minutes ago, there had been anger in her eyes. Now they were filled with a mixture of hope and fear.

Becca wasn’t surprised to see those emotions together. She knew that sometimes hope was the scariest feeling of all.

“Is this some weird Atlantean custom?” Astrid asked. “Giving mer instruments they don’t know how to play?”

Becca didn’t answer. Instead, she hummed a simple canta prax melody—one of the first taught to mer children. It was a camouflage songspell, used by mer to turn themselves bright
green so they could blend in with algae or kelp.

“I learned that when I was little. Did you? When you could still sing?” she asked.

Astrid nodded.

“Try it,” Becca said. “It’s not hard to play.”

Astrid shrugged. “If it’ll make you happy.”

She touched the mouthpiece to her lips, placed her fingers over the stops, and sounded a few notes. After a few minutes, she had most of the melody figured out. Taking a deep breath, she played
it through, with only a few mistakes.

“Okay, there it is,” she said, glancing at Becca. “Hey, what’s with you?”

Becca was grinning from ear to ear. “Look at your arms!” she squealed.

Astrid did. They’d turned a muddy shade of olive. So had the rest of her body. It wasn’t the bright green of a kelp thicket, but it was a start.

“Oh, my gods!” she yelped, nearly dropping the pipe. “Did that…did I…”

“Make magic?” Becca trilled.
“Yes!”

“But I don’t…I can’t…”

“You
do
and you
can
. Remember how jumpy you were at the whalefall? And ever since? You thought you were hearing EisGeists, but it was Sera trying to convoca us. You might
have lost your singing voice, but you still have magic in you, Astrid. You just needed a way to get it out.”

Astrid looked down at the pipe as if she was holding a moray eel in her hands.

She’s scared,
Becca thought.
Scared that she’ll try again and nothing will happen, that this was all a fluke.

Becca swam to her friend and took her by the shoulders. “Listen to me. Back in the Incantarium, you were brave for all of us. You saved us from Abbadon. I’m asking you to be brave
for yourself now.”

Astrid lifted her eyes to Becca’s. The look in them was heartbreakingly vulnerable.

“You can
do
this,” Becca said. She hummed another easy canta prax spell.

Astrid lifted the pipe to her lips and played the tune after only two tries.

“Not bad!” Becca cheered. “You were supposed to turn purple, but blue’s good. Keep going!”

Astrid did. Over the next hour, she turned rocks orange, her hair pink, and put polka dots on a swordfish. She turned Becca’s face bright yellow, her tail silver, and made tentacles sprout
from her head.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” Becca finally said. “It’s late. I’ve got to get some sleep.”

“I’ll stay outside the cave so I don’t disturb you,” Astrid said. “I
can’t
sleep, Becca. I might never sleep again!” She looked down at the
ground, suddenly awkward. “Thank you for this,” she said, with a shy smile. “Thank you
so
much.”

Becca waved her thanks away. “It’s nothing.”

“Becca, you’re
so
wrong,” Astrid said. “It’s
everything
.”

Astrid was so excited, and so agreeable for once, that Becca decided to take a chance. “Will you join us now?” she asked. “Will you try to get the black pearl?”

Astrid’s smile faded.

“I know, Astrid,” Becca said in a rush. “You’re scared. Scared you won’t be able to songcast. Scared you’ll put us in danger. But we’re
all
scared. I’m supposed to be a whiz with waterfire. Sometimes I can call up enough to light up a whole town. Other times, the flames are so tiny they wouldn’t heat a pot of sargasso tea.
I wonder all the time if my magic will be there when I need it the most.”

“Becca, I can’t even turn myself the right shade of green.”

“Yet,”
Becca said.

Astrid shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but Becca cut her off.

“Don’t say yes, but don’t say no. Can you give me that much?”

Astrid nodded. “I can.”

Then she swam outside the cave to practice. Becca put her tools away in her travel case, then burrowed down into the pile of seaweed she’d carried in earlier. She was exhausted.

As she closed her eyes, the music Astrid was making floated into the cave. Occasional flashes of light or color played against its walls. Becca heard her friend whooping and giggling, but she
didn’t mind.

This is the first time I’ve ever heard Astrid laugh…
really
laugh,
she thought.
Happiness. What a lovely sound.

Becca’s eyes closed. As sleep stole over her, she felt pleased that the first part of her plan had worked—that she’d found a way to help Astrid. If only the second part would
work now—if only Astrid would help
them
.

Becca drifted off hoping that friendship, some of the most powerful magic there was, had cast its spell over Astrid.