CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Meela
Back in the Bering
While I tied Nestor around the neck and wrists, Lysi and Spio wrapped our unconscious victims snugly in the fishing net and left them to drift.
My insides fluttered at our good luck. Finally, we had an inside source to take us to Adaro. Yes, there were risks if we got close to the king. At the same time, he had not ordered Lysi dead. He’d wanted her alive so he could question her, which meant what I knew about Kori Maru and the serpent would be my protection. Not that I would tell him about either.
“If you try anything, you’ll get your ass kicked by all three of us,” I said, pressing the blade against Nestor’s throat for emphasis.
He gave a pathetic squeak.
I returned the black longblade to Lysi, and we each took an end of rope.
“Lead the way, Nestor,” said Lysi.
With a sour glance at this reversal of fortune, he led us south.
Now, to figure out the timing. We had to get to Adaro before it was too late—but we couldn’t be early, because every moment we were near him while he was a merman, we would be in danger. We had to get this right.
“Thanks for saving me,” said Lysi.
“Yeah,” I said distractedly. “Hey, what day is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? Can’t you track the tides and moon?”
“It’s harder up north.”
I huffed.
“Well don’t get mad about it,” she said. “When we’re farther south I’ll be able to see the moon phase.”
When I said nothing, she added, “I don’t see you offering insight over there.”
I glared. I was perfectly aware of my ineptitude as a mermaid without her reminding me.
“Why do you need the moon phase?” said Nestor.
“Shut up,” I snapped.
Would Adaro’s transition happen the moment king tide started, or would it happen at the apex of the tide’s pull? I guessed the latter, but what if I was wrong? We would have to tail him in secret as soon as we found him, to be sure we didn’t arrive too late.
I was dimly aware of Lysi and Spio talking. I caught the words “attack belugas” and “baitball” and “whale whisperer”. I ignored them, thinking through various scenarios.
We travelled across the North Pole with Nestor in tow, taking shifts when we needed sleep. He rarely spoke, and only once made a feeble escape attempt while Lysi was on watch. I woke up to find Lysi clubbing him on the head and telling him not to be such a cod. We tied his ropes tighter.
When we got to the Bering Strait, no one was there to block our passage—much to Nestor’s dismay—as the army was under orders to meet Adaro at Steller Point. We travelled beneath the ice and entered the Bering Sea. The trip south was as stormy as it had been on the way up, the waves overhead white and choppy.
I thought about what I would do first once I had control of the serpent. More enticingly, what would I do once the war was over? The possibilities were endless. With Eriana’s spirit bound to mine, I would reach a near-goddess status.
I could command her to stay near Eriana Kwai, or at least return to my first home often, to keep my people safe. I would be a true warrior of Eriana Kwai—more of a warrior than anyone else had been on any Massacre.
Then, once my time in this world was up, I could pass the honour to my children—assuming I had any. Did I want to? I hadn’t thought much about it. But if I wanted to keep the Host of Eriana alive and under the control of a descendant, I would have to pass it down my bloodline.
A goddess. The very thought sent a thrill up my spine.
Soon, I would be more powerful than Medusa. Was any woman in history more powerful than her?
This was how legends were formed. I would carry on the story of Eriana as no one else could. I would be Metlaa Gaela, descendant of Eriana, master of the leviathan.
“If you’re hoping to stay hidden, we should stop here,” said Nestor.
The water was clear of ice, the landscape reminding me more of the Gulf of Alaska. The floor sloped towards two volcanic islands that sat close together, an unfathomably deep trench some distance ahead. We must have been back in the Aleutian Islands.
I searched for the serpent’s massive presence but felt nothing. No matter. We would find her soon. I flexed my fingers, then raised and lowered my arms a little, imagining how it was going to feel to control the serpent. How had Dani done it, before she died? Was it thoughts or actions that controlled Eriana?
“Where do we go?” said Lysi.
“If you don’t mind land, there are caves along the beach,” said Nestor. “We can wait there until he comes.”
“As long as we don’t have to take out any Kodiak bears,” said Spio.
I let them discuss it. It occurred to me that I hadn’t spoken once since that morning, but I had no words to offer. The prospect of finally killing Adaro, of inheriting Eriana’s most powerful secret, drove me into a silence too precious to share.
I trailed behind the three of them as they started towards the beach.
Abruptly, Lysi’s scream cut through my thoughts like a knife.
I snapped my head up, looking for the danger, and not until a wisp of blood appeared in the water did I notice something protruding from Spio’s neck.
A bubble left his mouth. Lysi dashed forwards and grabbed his shoulders.
Coldness spread through my body. I watched blankly as everything slowed down.
Spio’s mouth opened and closed. Lysi screamed for him to keep his eyes open.
My jaw opened in dim surprise. Where had that weapon come from?
I belatedly turned to Nestor and caught the cruel smile curling up his face. I was the only one still holding his ropes.
“Lysi,” I said, voice hollow and distant. “Get away—”
Something whooshed through the water behind me, and Lysi’s screams were cut short.
My body went numb.
I met Lysi’s gaze—those vibrant, unimaginably beautiful sapphire eyes. Their precise shape and colour had never left my memory as long as I’d known her. They were the first thing I’d fallen in love with, all those years ago on the beach. They were the first thing to appear in my mind whenever I thought of her, and the shade of blue that had haunted my dreams over the years we spent apart.
Those eyes were wide with fear.
Her mouth was open. Those soft lips, and those teeth like pearls—her smile had been the second thing I’d fallen in love with. Back on the Bloodhound, floating in the middle of violent waves and wind, that was the smile that gave me hope. Those were the lips I thought I’d never be able to kiss.
A bubble escaped those lips as Lysi gave a soft, “Oh.”
She looked down at her chest. Something protruded from it—right over her heart.
Her heart: the part of her I’d fallen so deeply, so permanently in love with.
I wanted to scream, but no sound would come.
Her eyes rolled back. For a moment, she just hung in place.
“Lysi!”
The entire world ground to a stop. This wasn’t happening. It had to be a nightmare. The world could not dispose of something so pure.
I started forwards, but something closed tight around my arm. I spun around, fists swinging—
“You make it so simple, Meela.”
I froze. A small sound caught in my throat, like a gasp for air that didn’t exist.
I had to be imagining that face. He couldn’t be here. I hadn’t felt the serpent. We were supposed to be hunting him, not the other way around.
But there he was, reptilian face close to mine, a snarl revealing his pointed teeth. That black crown topped his head, seeming to grow from matted hair that was just as dark, and framed his face like a lion’s mane.
A roar burst from deep in my chest, so loud and furious I wasn’t sure it even came from me. Nothing seemed connected. My senses, my body, the screams coming from my mouth, all of it was a part of something scattered, a universe I was not a part of.
My reactions were too slow. Adaro’s arm came up, a stone mace in his hand.
He swung it at my head. My teeth cut into my lip as I threw one last punch.
There was a sickening crack as the mace hit my skull.