World of Aluvia 2 (29 page)

Then, in her vision, darkness came, something slithering inside a thick soupy lake on the bottom of the ocean floor lined with clams opening and closing like hundreds of eyes staring… and the dark, dark shadow belonging to a many-armed beast, stirring like a waking giant.

Phoebe reeled back with a gasp. “Did you see that?”

Tristan shook his head.

“I saw Mina! She was in a ravine or a trench of some kind, and I think it was a temple to Baleros because there was a carving of a giant sea beast I’ve never seen. I think it’s the evil shadow from before. There’s a colossal amount of magic down there, and the strangest thing was there was a lake inside the ocean floor. How is that even possible?”

Tristan groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “She’s deep in the forbidden midnight realm. They took Mina to the Abyss, the most feared place in the sea.”

“Why is the Abyss so terrible?” Phoebe asked, shocked at how pale Tristan became.

“It’s the source of the worst legends of our people, stories of dark magic and certain death. My mother believes all the stories are true. Most merfolk don’t, but superstition has always been enough to keep everyone far away. Add in the very real, deadly creatures already known to live there, and no sane merfolk would venture near.”

“But what was that lake I saw? How could that be?”

“That had to be the Lake of Dragons. It continually separates itself from the rest of the ocean, sinking below it, and is deadly to most sea creatures. Our histories say that’s where the water wraiths and sea dragons hid during the golden age of the merfolk, drinking in the sulfur and brine, surrounded by boiling water vents.”

“That’s pretty bad.” Phoebe gulped.

“The legends also say that Baleros demanded sacrifices at his altar in the Abyss. Mina must be a planned sacrifice to Baleros, who must be rising very soon, as we feared.”

“We have to get her out of there!”

He shook his head, “You don’t understand. No merfolk in living memory has ever gone in there and come out alive. The merfolk do not fight.”

Resolve firmed inside Phoebe. “They will today. Take me to the elders.”

In the great hall once again, two hundred pairs of eyes had locked onto Phoebe and weren’t letting go. Her stomach quivered, full of flitting sea horses, but she kept her head high. Giving her testimony was intimidating. What if she was wrong? But the vision had come on so suddenly, the image so clear. No, she had to trust herself, or at least the magic inside her.

“So, let me see if I understand you, Phoebe Quinn,” Odessa’s voice rang out. “You had a vision of my daughter, trapped in a domed temple with a carving of Baleros in it, near a sulphurous lake beneath the ocean?”

Tristan said, “She saw the Abyss. Do you not believe her?” He looked mutinously at his mother, who glared back.

“I do. We must go there to rescue Mina.”

“The Abyss is forbidden for a reason! We’ll die! We will all die!” said someone from the gathered tribe in the great hall.

“Not if I lure the wraiths far away from there first,” Phoebe shouted, calling up her magic and letting it flow through her veins. Blue light shimmered from her scales, from her skin, even from her hair.

The crowd exclaimed and surged backward.

“They won’t be able to resist me when I call,” she said. She had to prove it to them. They were as stubborn as old tortoises, every one of them. Fine. So be it. She remembered what Odessa had said, about telling them, compelling them to do her bidding. It would certainly be convincing.

No. No matter what, she couldn’t force everyone to do her bidding. It would be hideously wrong, even if she could manage it. But she could force
one
of them if it meant proving that she had enough power to lead this mission safely. Even if Tristan never looked at her the same again. She squared her shoulders.

“You. Elder Seamus,” Phoebe said, beckoning to the angry merman.

His glower matched his aggressive shark tattoos. He’d certainly make her point best. If anyone here wanted to harm her as much as the wraiths, it’d be him.

“Come here.” She spoke simply, softly.

He shook his head, paling.

Phoebe pictured the blue lines she had seen swirling through the currents and pulled on one that ran alongside the merman. He wasn’t tied to it, but she could use its strength to force his movement. She imagined hauling it hand over hand, pulling the merman to her. She hummed a little tune to calm herself and then broke out in song, imagining him coming closer and closer. She used the power of her singing―something she had always felt inside―to boost the power of the magic, and it worked. His fin began to move―jerky and stiff at first―and he swam to her side, cursing all the way.

The crowd remained still and silent. Phoebe glanced at Tristan, who looked… Was that horror on his face? Shock? She almost cried out, “I take it back!” but it was too late now. And she had a job to do.

Phoebe shook her head. “While I would never call you somewhere you didn’t want to go, I believe I can and will call those water wraiths away from their guard duty. I can defend myself from them in a way that you cannot. If we can get to Mina before the dark shadow stirs again, we can figure out what to do about the beast later. Right now, we must save Mina!”

Tristan swam to her side and clasped her hand. “She has my trust.” His voice carried through the water, deep and sure, but his hand shook in hers. Whether or not he really did trust her after seeing such a display of power, he acted confident. Mina needed the merfolk to take action. He squeezed Phoebe’s hand, and she held on for dear life.

“Who will go with us?” she called out. Her voice echoed in the chamber like a bell. She let the magic release Seamus, pulling it back into herself so it wouldn’t charm the crowd. Yet hands rose, and a crowd of merfolk came to them, came to help, came to her. Came to Phoebe, because she had called. Whether they came because they respected her, feared her, or were compelled by her, she didn’t know. Maybe she’d never know.

he plan was simple, almost too simple. Phoebe would swim into the rift ahead of the merfolk and use her magic to charm the wraiths to her side and send them away like she did the sea dragons. In the meantime, the merfolk would descend into the Abyss to find Mina.

Odessa and other scholars poured over the ancient maps in her study before agreeing on the exact location and path to take. It would be easy to get lost once they entered the midnight realm, but they were as prepared as they could be.

The journey was a stilted, silent one. Phoebe led the merfolk, along with Odessa and Tristan. Phoebe barely noticed the kelp, the fish, or the colorful shellfish. Each flick of her fin brought her closer to when the ocean might very well claim her for the last time. Her pulse thundered in her ears like the surf she might never hear again. She said nothing and kept swimming. Mina needed her.

As the crowd of silent merfolk soared over the old city, their fins swished stronger, jerking up and down without their usual smooth flow. Some pointed at parts of the city below, in low conversation with each other. Did they long for the old ways, or was it just Odessa who wanted the old power back? Maybe they were just worried about the upcoming mission.

They moved quickly, their natural luminescence doused. Dread rose in Phoebe as they reached the far edge of the city, along the drop into the midnight realm where she and Tristan had seen the dark shadow slipping into the Abyss.

“That’s the place we saw it.” She pointed to the towering rock, trying to keep her finger from trembling. These merfolk needed to see a show of strength to follow her into such darkness.

“It went that way.”

The merfolk swam into forbidden territory.

Entering the waters of the midnight realm was like swimming into an ink-spill. Phoebe had to use her moonglow to even see where the trench might start. Those two wraiths couldn’t have dragged the beast far. The ground below her contained only grey powder, barren of any signs of life.

Despite how it felt to Phoebe, it wasn’t long until even the deep floor of the midnight realm opened like a gaping mouth. The trench was below them.

The waters near the trench faded to a black darker than a night sky devoid of stars. A clammy chill sifted through the currents. The Abyss had come by its name honestly. The water looked empty, but she knew it wasn’t.

Tristan kept his eyes roving, squinting into the cloak of blackness. “The creatures here hide from the few predators that lurk. There might not be many of them, but they’re worth hiding from.”

Gathering her courage and humming a quick tune beneath her breath, Phoebe swam to the fissure’s entrance. The crack was narrow at the top but opened wide along the way down to the depths. A temple below would easily fit. Phoebe shivered.

Tristan and their small crowd of merfolk hid among the strange orange coral that lined the opposite side of the fissure, but Phoebe swam openly. She called every bit of light she could. Her blue light flickered across the faces of the nearest merfolk still within her vision, their eyes wide with awe. They were too well-disciplined to murmur, but their unwavering attention weighed against her very skin.

“Come to me, water wraiths!” she called and began to sing without holding back. She sang a song of hope, of light, of dawn, of love. She imagined the blue light filling her and pulling the wraiths to her.

Things hissed, deep inside the channel, but Phoebe kept singing despite the darkness she felt drawing closer. The magic was amazingly rich here, a feast for her senses. It sang through her veins, intoxicating with its power. She gorged herself, fear making her take more than she might have otherwise.

“Come here, come forth, come to me!” she sang, louder and louder.

And they came.

Four water wraiths
, perfect in face except for those red eyes, slithered forth from the trench. She had been expecting two. Her heart stuttered in her chest. She couldn’t fight four. But she couldn’t admit that. If she did, the others might not risk their lives to fight with her.

The wraiths blinked in Phoebe’s blue light, their forked tongues flickering. She backed away and taunted them. “Surely you would like another prisoner for your sea beast?”