World of Aluvia 2 (27 page)

The enormity of the situation struck, and Phoebe hung her head. The passion and desperation that had been pushing her gave way to a cold gloom. She wanted to cry but couldn’t. She looked down at the sandy ocean floor, struggling to compose herself.

Sierra started to scoff but then stopped. She lifted Phoebe’s head and looked deeply into her eyes.

“They hurt your feelings.” Sierra’s voice was flat.

Phoebe couldn’t force any words out.

“I’ll kill them. Every last one of those ungrateful merfolk―”

“Stop it, no. It’s not their fault. Don’t you see? They were slaves for generations. They’re afraid of what I can do to them.
I’m
afraid of what I can do to them. They think I’ll turn into some sort of slave driver. You know how your fairies used to fight you? I think this is sort of like that, but worse. They don’t want me around.”

At least the merfolk didn’t leave physical wounds like Sierra’s fairies had. Just emotional ones.

“Even Tristan?” Sierra asked with a raised eyebrow, lightening the moment a bit, pushing her shoulder against Phoebe’s

If only Phoebe could laugh at the situation.

“His response is the most confusing of all. He seems to sense magic from me more easily than others―so effortless, it’s frightening―but I have no idea what he’s really feeling. I’m not sure how we could ever be bondmates now, not with my power over him like this. It’s not fair to either of us.” She shook her head sadly.

Sierra sighed. “Do you remember the day we got home from Bentwood’s? After I thought I would die in that earthquake?”

“How could I forget?”

“You asked me to me promise I’d never leave you. And I won’t. I won’t leave you behind anymore, Phoebe. Find a way to come home! You don’t need those ungrateful merfolk. How can I live up to my promise if you do this? Surely we can find some way to reverse this spell or whatever it is!”

“You haven’t broken your promise. You’ve never really left me, not where it counts. We can still visit, and I’ll miss you terribly. But I’ve made another promise, Sierra. And I’ve got to keep it. I’m not a child anymore.”

Sierra didn’t reply while the current played with her hair like Phoebe used to do as a child. Phoebe willed her big sister to understand. This had to be done.

All at once, Sierra folded Phoebe in her arms and held on tightly. They floated in the water, silent, because there was no need for words to express the love they shared.

When Sierra finally spoke, her voice was husky. “I’m proud of you, Phoebe. I hate that you’re risking yourself, but you’re right you aren’t a little girl anymore. You never really were a child again after Bentwood took you. You’re the same age I was when I went searching for Queenie. I guess it’s time I started treating you like that. I know you love magical creatures, and you’ve loved merfolk since the day you first laid eyes on one. And that particular merman seems to feel the same way about you. I hope they appreciate that you would do anything for them. You were always the better caretaker of the two of us.”

Phoebe’s eyes stung again. She summoned a weak smile. “Thank you.” She sniffed and added, “Tell everyone I love them.”

“Of course. Though Nell is going to kick my rear over this. Corbin, too.”

Phoebe thought back to the moment when Nell spoke the prophecy. She remembered Corbin’s sad, gentle smile.

“I think they’ll understand.”

“You could bring me with you. I’ll help you fight!” Sierra’s hands were like vises on her shoulder. Desperation edged her words.

Phoebe slowly shook her head. “Where I’m going, sweet sister, you cannot follow. Not this time. You have your role out there, on land, and with Donovan and others raising trouble, you and Queenie have to fight back. Don’t let them make you lose ground. Queenie and I can communicate, so I’ll call you through her when it’s all done, okay?”

Sierra grumbled, Sierra argued, but eventually Sierra gave in. She backed out of the water, and Phoebe waved one final time. Sierra stood on the sand, teeth chattering slightly from the water that felt like a warm robe bundled around Phoebe now.

Saying goodbye to her sister was like a giant door shutting on one part of her life. Now Phoebe, not Sierra, was the protector. And it was time to get going.

Phoebe blew her sister a kiss and dove into the water, flipping her fin in a farewell salute. Then she headed back to the merfolk. She knew just where they were. They glowed like a city on a hill in her mind’s eye, a beacon drawing her closer, closer, closer.

To home.

s Phoebe swam toward her new people, she pondered the situation. She wished she had used a little less bravado in the conclave meeting. What if she couldn’t help the others use magic as she did? Maybe only her two best friends were close enough to connect to her that way. What if she wasn’t really able to fight the wraiths herself? Her plan was full of holes.

As she approached the village, Tristan and Odessa were waiting. Before Phoebe could find a way to confess to him that she didn’t really know what to do next, he sped over to her with anguish written on every line of his face. His pain slammed into her like a physical force.

She gasped. “What is it?”

“Mina’s gone!”

“What? Mina’s missing?”

“She went out searching for Liam, we think, but she’s not returned at all. Mother thinks the wraiths have taken her.”

Odessa swam up next to Tristan, and took charge of the conversation. “Phoebe Quinn, this changes our plans. You must put your powers to work in a new way, sooner than I had hoped. You should both brace yourselves.”

Phoebe glanced at Tristan, wishing he would reach over and take her hand. But he didn’t.

“You must use your magic to find my daughter and to fight the beast that has her.”

Dread filled Phoebe, leaving her heavy and exhausted.

Tristan snapped, “You don’t know Baleros has her, or that the wraiths even took her. She was here during the convocation; she knew we had a plan.”

“When does Mina ever wait for plans?” Odessa snapped right back.

He groaned, covering his ashen face with both hands.

“Yes, the wraiths took her, I’m sure of it. She went out looking for that foolish seawee who is most likely dead, and now she’s gone, too,” Odessa said. For the first time, agony pulsed through the older mermaid’s voice.

“The wraiths took her? Did you see them?” Phoebe asked.

“I don’t need to see them to smell their foul stench,” Odessa said scornfully. “She went out, on her own, to the last place Liam was seen. And never came back. If Tristan hadn’t been so upset about you, moping about his room, he’d have known her plan and kept her from being so foolish.”

Phoebe cut her eyes to him, but he was too busy glaring at his mother to notice.

“Phoebe’s not a tool to use, Mother.” Tristan’s voice vibrated with warning.

Odessa lifted both eyebrows. “I believe she wants to help, don’t you?”

They both turned to look at Phoebe at the same time. Now that she knew their relationship, she could easily see the mother’s dark green eyes mirrored in Tristan’s. Her hair was streaked with silver now but had stripes of sable as black as Mina’s.

Tristan sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“How can I help?” was all Phoebe said.

“Tell me about your experiences with magic. How did you sense Tristan? You need to find Mina, even though she might be far away.”

“I can do one better than that,” Phoebe said, thinking quickly. “The wraiths descended into the midnight realm. Maybe they took Mina there. Once I sense her, and we plan exactly where to go―if you’ll help me―I’ll draw them away with my magic. Then, you all could have a team sneak in and take back Mina.”

“We’ll have to convince the elders,” Tristan said.

“No, not really,” said Odessa slowly. “Phoebe just has to tell them. They’ll come. They’ll have to. I can feel her call so strongly now. She can force them to agree with her.”

Phoebe was shocked. The very suggestion was abhorrent. “But I can’t do that!”

“Even to save Mina’s life?”

Tristan looked miserably at his mother then turned haunted eyes to Phoebe.

This was no kind of choice. If she forced them all to do her bidding, she was worse than Bentwood ever had been. Such an action would destroy any hope she had of showing Tristan she’d never abuse her power. Yet if Mina died because of Phoebe’s inaction, she’d never be able to forgive herself.

“Let me talk to the elders. Let me show them there’s a chance to save her.”

“Tristan, go gather them. Tell them to assemble at the next tide, for the young mermaid to plead her case.”

Now it was up to Phoebe to sway them―without unfairly using her magic. She’d better figure out what she was going to say. And fast.

Alone in Mina’s room, Phoebe tried to focus. How would she find her friend before the tide changed? It was one thing to feel all the merfolk in the chamber with her. But if Mina were in the midnight realm, she was so far away. Maybe too far away to sense. Besides, there were many deep trenches along the ocean floor. Mina could be in any of them.

Right now, Phoebe sensed the merfolk as a giant group―like a pod of dolphins in dark waters. She couldn’t distinguish one from another. Finding a single mermaid would be like trying to focus on one lute out of an entire minstrel band. She hoped that being in Mina’s room and holding her belongings would somehow help distinguish her particular energy from the others.

Phoebe ran her hands over the knick-knacks Mina kept in her room. Baskets of woven sea grass held all her favorite things, hanging from the walls of the cave.

Phoebe smiled sorrowfully as her gaze landed on a small pile of items next to Mina’s bed. The knitted scarf Phoebe made―a totally useless item for a mermaid but something Phoebe wanted to make anyway―floated gently in the currents, held down by a heavy brass candlestick holder also given by Phoebe. Mina had loved every item from land, saying they reminded her of their friendship.

Mina’s comb lay on the rock by the bed, made of spiny sea shells. Phoebe picked it up and held it against her chest.
Mina, Mina
, she whispered in her mind.
Where are you?
Trying to find Mina’s voice among the cacophony of merfolk was impossible.