CHAPTER TWO - Lysi
Curfew
Whoever this approaching group was, something about them was off. A darkness seemed to drift down the current.
I pulled Meela in the opposite direction.
“We need to move.”
After everything we’d done to try and kill King Adaro, I had no doubt we were wanted dead or alive. The question was how wide the news of us had spread.
“Lysi, who are they?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
I would have sooner drowned than let anything happen to Meela. I’d brought her into this civil war, and I owed her more than this.
“Army?” she whispered.
“I don’t think so. I feel both mermaids and mermen.” As I said it, I doubted myself. Adaro might have split his armies by gender in the past, but now that he had the serpent, I had no idea what his strategy was. I stopped. “Wait.”
The group was approaching from far behind us, but there was also someone lingering up ahead.
“This way.” I took off in another direction, dragging Meela with me.
“Couldn’t we just act casual and hope they pass?” she suggested half-heartedly.
“Mee, we’re enemies of the crown. If someone recognises us …” I shook my head. I had to keep us from being discovered. It was too dangerous. “Let’s dive.”
We plunged deeper into the blackness.
To my horror, the distant bodies followed. Several figures drew closer, and fast. Were they closing on us?
It was no question. When we turned, so did they. An icy feeling engulfed me.
“They’re tailing us,” I said. “Go.”
We put on a burst of speed. Meela kept pace, making long strokes like I’d taught her.
A landscape of coral sprawled ahead, breaking the emptiness. We plunged in, weaving through the peaks and valleys. The terrain would stop our pursuers from feeling us on the current. Unfortunately, it also prevented us from feeling them.
I listened, but the crackling reef muffled outside noise. Everything was a jumble of activity as the reef fish cleared out of our way.
“Lysi,” said Meela, voice breaking, “what are they going to do to us?”
My heart gave a painful squeeze. Fear had turned her eyes blood red. I wished I could tell her something other than the truth: that they probably had orders to take us to Adaro by any means, in any condition.
If we could find somewhere to hide—
We rounded a boulder and I expelled a breath in surprise. A square-set merman blocked our path, eyes blazing through the dim light. His reptilian mouth was creased in a snarl.
He raised his spear. There was a heartbeat of silence. Then, reacting on instinct, I shoved Meela aside.
The spear shot between us and embedded itself in the coral.
“Lysi!”
It was too late. A net had been attached to the spear. The merman had hold of the other end and jerked it across me with one flick of his wrist. I was trapped beneath it, beating my tail against the rocks in blind panic, sand and plants whirling around me.
“Go, Meela!”
She lunged for the merman and sank her teeth into his arm.
My scream was drowned out by his roar of pain. He swung a fist but Meela propelled herself backwards just in time.
I struggled against the net. The sight of the merman trying to attack Meela sent hot anger through me, a tight pressure building in my chest.
I found an opening and ripped myself free. My tail got caught and I spun to untangle it, hands trembling from the panic of being stuck. I wriggled loose and shot towards Meela, only to slam straight into another mermaid. She grinned, revealing a missing front tooth.
“What do you want?” I shouted, trying to yank free from her grasp. Had Adaro promised a reward for our capture?
In answer, the mermaid swung a mace at my head.
“Coral, Meela!” I said, dodging the weapon.
She would be no match for a merman in a battle of strength, but agility was another matter—even for a new mermaid like Meela. She could lose him in the maze below.
“You’ll follow?” she said.
“Yes!”
She dove, and at once the merman gave chase.
The mermaid with the missing tooth swung at me again. I grabbed the mace handle, stopping it before its jagged end could strike. I was a nose away from her snarling lips. She was so beaten and grimy, I wondered what had happened to her. Then I slammed my tail into her gut and knocked the air from her lungs.
I spun and took off after Meela.
They had vanished from sight, but faint ripples hit me as the merman crashed into walls of coral. I followed their wake, dipping and weaving between the rocks.
How could I have let this happen? I should have kept Meela safe instead of exposing her to this emptiness where anyone could sense us. She was still too inexperienced in her new body.
I slowed for a moment, casting my senses. My every fibre vibrated. I’d lost them.
Then a terrible scream echoed through the coral—not from ahead, but behind.
I whirled around and shot upwards, rising above the coral to scan the area. It was empty and silent, save for the crackling reef. Her scream dissipated on the current.
Suddenly Meela burst from the coral, panic on her face. When she saw me, her mouth opened in surprise. She was alone.
There was a laugh like grinding stone. “Aw, they did think it was each other. That’s so cute.”
The toothless mermaid rose behind her.
“Look out!” I shouted.
Meela darted upwards—a mistake she had not yet learned from. Toothless chased her to the surface and cornered her easily against it. In one fluid motion she grabbed Meela’s tail and slammed the mace into her stomach.
I streaked towards them, ready to break the mermaid’s arm, but Meela let loose a roar and spun, punching her face and neck with trained skill.
Something slammed into me from the side, knocking precious air from my lungs. My energy was draining, the exertion depleting the oxygen I had left. Before I could orient myself, a thick hand wrapped itself around my throat.
I thrashed wildly, but the merman squeezed tighter, pulling me into a headlock. I pried on his massive arm, his hand slowly crushing my windpipe.
I searched for Meela and found her still near the surface, a whirl of fists and teeth. Toothless was backing off, arms thrown up in defense.
Amid the chaos, a blonde mermaid who looked no older than fourteen snuck up behind them. She was tiny, scarred and beaten, but there was something fierce about her. Clenched in her webbed fist was a black blade.
I tried to shout to Meela, but the words came out as a croak.
The young mermaid dove into the fray and emerged soon after, dragging a roaring Meela by the hair.
“Sounded like you needed help over here,” she said in a high, youthful voice.
“We had them,” said Toothless, clutching her throat where Meela’s punch had landed.
The large group we’d felt approaching drew nearer. I sensed the presence of at least a hundred mermaids and mermen.
The young mermaid jerked Meela’s hair. “Who are you?”
My heart pounded. Did they not know? Why had they been after us, then?
Meela opened her mouth, but I choked out a couple of syllables before she could speak. The merman loosened his grip.
“What?”
“We’re in His Majesty’s army,” I coughed.
“Ha!” said Toothless. “Then what are you doing so close to Utopia?”
“We’re on our way back from the Battle for Eriana Kwai.”
The young mermaid pointed her blade at me. “I’ll skin your face for lying. That battle ended long ago.”
“Fleeing, no doubt,” said the merman, his voice loud in my ear. “Bet they’re former humans.”
The young mermaid studied us. Her eyes lingered on Meela. I wondered if they could tell by her aura.
Either way, we would be better off if they assumed we were fleeing because of that—and not because we were traitors to the crown.
“You had fair warning about breaking curfew,” said Toothless. “You’re coming with us.”
Curfew? Had I heard that right? Since when did Utopia have a curfew?
The approaching group finally closed in, engulfing us like the mouth of a blue whale. The merman released my throat and I rubbed at the tender skin, glancing around.
No, this was definitely not an army. The crowd was weaponless and had a fearful aura. They were mostly older merpeople. The weedy scent of ungroomed bodies wafted through the water.
Surrounding them were armed guards and at least a dozen black marlins. Wherever they were going, these merpeople were being moved against their will.
Meela eyed the marlins.
“Keep your distance,” I whispered. Twice the size of a mermaid, their solid, streamlined bodies and pointed beaks were made for hunting.
The merman who’d been strangling me sneered at Meela. “Not from around here?”
Meela shot him a blood-red glare.
Our captors fell into position among the surrounding guards. I glanced to their weapons, the marlins, and then to Meela. She gave me a meaningful look. I shook my head once to indicate it would be unwise to try and escape.
“Keep going,” barked the young mermaid.
The group travelled southwards, taking us with them. An elderly couple with silvery hair fell in behind us, watching us cautiously.
Heart still pounding, I seized Meela’s hand, determined not to be separated. She squeezed back, but her attention was elsewhere.
Her eyes flicked from guard to guard. We would have to find an opportunity somehow—maybe when we stopped to rest. But for now we were surrounded on all sides, trapped between shallow floor and sunlit surface.
After some time, a low chatter picked up among the guards, and I risked a small whisper to Meela.
“Are you all right? How’s your tail? Is anything sore?”
The merman on Meela’s other side overheard me and eyed her. “What’s wrong with your tail, ‘ey?”
He had sunken cheeks, long, grey hair, and a tremulous voice that cracked like driftwood.
“Nothing,” Meela snapped. “I’m fine.”
She went back to observing the group. I raked my senses over her and decided she was telling the truth.
I peered across her to the merman. He was casting an appraising glance over us.
“Why is there a curfew?” I said.
He glanced shiftily to me, then fixed his beady red eyes ahead as though he hadn’t heard me.
“We’ve been on the battlefront,” I said.
He didn’t respond. His shoulders were getting more hunched, making him look ancient and frail. I might have felt bad for him if I wasn’t so desperate to know what was going on.
When I kept staring, he said, “We have to be ready for anything, don’t we, ‘ey? What with His Majesty’s armies on the move.”
On the move?
“Has he started advancing on the Atlantic?”
“No.”
“Where is he now?”
The merman twisted his fingers, eyes darting as though searching for an escape.
“Come on,” I said. “We’re allowed to talk about what’s happening, aren’t we?”
He glanced at the guards, pressing his lips firmly together. Was any discussion of the king discouraged, then? So much had changed, even in the few tidecycles I’d been away from Utopia.
The silvery mermaid behind us spoke up. “Everything else is united under the crown. Now he’s using the, uh—serpent—to move humans away from the coast.”
She pronounced serpent as though speaking of the incarnation of death. I supposed the thing was even more terrible to those who didn’t know where it came from.
Then again, apart from witnessing its reawakening on Eriana Kwai, did I even know where it had come from? The real legend was as much a mystery as how it could be destroyed.
“The entire coast?” said Meela, her attention now on the conversation. She still hadn’t reverted to a normal state.
“That’s his plan, last we heard.” The mermaid looked to the merman next to her, presumably her husband. He offered a reassuring smile.
“And the Atlantic,” I said.
She nodded.
“When?”
She glanced to her husband again. He gave a feeble shrug.
How close was Adaro to ruling the seas? Had he really taken over everywhere below surface except the Atlantic? The day he decided to move in on the Atlantic would be a critical one. That was the last kingdom, and the largest. Queen Medusa was the remaining chance at stopping him.
“Where are we going, then?” said Meela.
I glanced at the miserable faces around us. The merman beside her finally spoke. “We’re helping His Majesty’s expansion.”
Meela looked around. “By doing what?”
“His Majesty needs a powerful force to get rid of all humans between here and the coast.”
“More powerful than the Host?”
The merman squinted at her. “‘ey? The what?”
“The serpent.”
“You called it a Host—”
“I meant to say serpent.”
“Why—?”
“Never mind,” I said. “What’s he doing with us?”
The merman puffed himself up—a less-than-impressive gesture. “Something to annihilate as many Pacific humans as possible.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “How?”
“Can you think of nothing that would span half an ocean with its power?”
Meela shuddered beside me. She was staring at the merman with an odd expression.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A tsunami,” said Meela.
I scoffed. “You can’t control a tsunami. They’re caused by earthquakes.”
“Yes, and what causes earthquakes?” said the merman.
“Shifting plates,” said Meela.
He nodded. “There’s a boundary near the Moonless City where plates converge. If we can shift the pressure by relocating the rock—”
“You can’t cause an earthquake!” I said.
“You forget, girl, how far into the crust the deep sea goes.”
My insides felt like ice. Adaro had growing armies, he had the serpent, and now he was planning to bend nature to his will. How many humans would die if a tsunami of that magnitude hit the Pacific shores? Would the humans retaliate? Could they?
“But this doesn’t explain where we’re going,” said Meela.
The answer dawned on me, and I stopped moving. The silvery mermaid crashed into me, setting off a chain reaction behind her.
“I’m sorry, love,” she said, smoothing my hair as if to repair damage. “Sorry,” she added to the line behind her.
Meela grabbed my hand and pulled me onwards.
The guards hollered at everyone to keep moving. Meela waited until they’d averted their attention again before speaking.
“Lysi, what?”
Her expression told me she felt my fear. I tried to calm myself. She didn’t need to know the extent of Adaro’s labour camp. It would only scare her.
“Nothing.”
“Not nothing!”
To my dismay, the silvery mermaid whispered, “I hear there’s magma. It keeps killing everyone, erupting in random places. Gets worse, the more they dig.”
“Dig? Who? You mean us?” said Meela.
“He gets non-military civilians to help,” I said. Now it made sense why most of these captives were older. “I knew about the camp, but—I never knew what they were doing.”
The silvery mermaid said, “I hear it’s so deep that the only light comes from those trench fish. You can’t eat those, obviously, so everyone’s starving.”
“Plus, the guards have tempers like tiger sharks,” said her husband. “The pressure and rationed air is enough to drive them mad. They’ll kill anyone who’s gotten too bloody to keep digging.”
I wanted to reassure Meela that these were just rumours. But when it came to Adaro, rumours usually turned out to be true. I recalled the stories of deaths and disappearances growing up—rumours that turned out to have disturbing patterns.
The situation was devastating. The labourers were miserable, the guards were miserable, yet all of them would keep obeying orders. They would stay down there until they died. Of course, if everyone revolted at once, there’d be no stopping them. But that would never happen. There was too much fear, too much uncertainty about whose side anyone was on. That was why the armies kept fighting. That was what kept everyone at the labour camp. That was what kept us fighting this war.
The merman beside Meela scoffed.
When we all turned to look at him, he said, “It might be a hagfeast down there, but we all know the reason, don’t we, ‘ey?”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Why is Utopia facing food shortages?” he said, seeming to find new energy. “Why are we losing lives every time we go near a beach? Who is brutally attacking us with iron? I’m ashamed I was ever one of them.”
Meela gaped. I wanted to cover her ears before they could spew more horrors at her, when the last thing he’d said sunk in.
“You’re a former human?”
The treatment of former humans had come up a lot lately. Under Adaro’s reign, the subject was taking a terrifying direction. Resistance to this had been what unified the guys who’d tried to assassinate Adaro with me. They’d all been related to former humans who had been mistreated. One of them was a former human himself.
My stomach twisted. I still had not told Meela about Nilus. The knowledge that her big brother was alive swelled in my conscience, growing worse with each passing day. After finding out days prior, I’d sworn I would tell her as soon as I got a chance. Now, several chances seemed to have come and gone, and still I couldn’t bring it up. All these years, Meela had assumed her brother was dead. I was the only one who knew he was alive and that he was a merman.
The problem was that I didn’t know where Nilus was, if he’d been captured, or worse. What if I told Meela he was alive and then we found out he’d been killed since I last saw him? I would be dropping a bomb on her for nothing. She had already been through so much in the last few days—forced to abandon everything she knew and everyone she loved. I couldn’t put more stress on her.
“We’re all former humans, aren’t we, ‘ey?” said the merman.
“You are—I mean—we are?” I said.
“Except maybe her.”
He nodded towards the end of the group, where a mermaid with a bright orange and blue tail swam a little apart from everyone else.
My heart leapt. That was a southern mermaid. She was like the ones I’d seen from the Moonless City. Like the Reinas.
“Wait,” said Meela, apparently struggling with her thoughts. “How can you … Sure, people are overfishing, but you said Adaro is keeping everyone in Utopia on a curfew. Food shortages in Utopia have nothing to do with humans—”
I jabbed her in the ribs. This wasn’t the time for anti-Adaro arguments. She waved me away and pressed on.
“The reason people are killing mermaids on beaches is because the mermaids are trying to eat them!”
“Meela,” I said sharply.
“What? You don’t think this is—?”
“We can talk about this later. Just shut up.”
She shot me a glare. I glared back. We didn’t need to get ourselves or anyone else in trouble for conspiracy. By the looks of it, these merpeople had already experienced brutal treatment. My heart ached for them. Soon, in the painful depths of the labour camp, things were about to get a hundred times worse.
We had to get away from here. We needed to find the Reinas before Adaro did irreversible damage.
Meela glanced at the silvery couple.
“A former human had best learn her place in Adaro’s kingdom,” said the merman beside her, who was now projecting thorough dislike.
A muscle flexed in Meela’s jaw.
“Mee.” I tilted my head towards the southern mermaid. “I think I know her. Come on.”
Our neighbours gave off a sense of relief as we drifted away. I couldn’t help watching Meela push her hands out adorably to balance against the current.
“Where do you know her from?”
“I don’t,” I whispered. “But she’s southern. An ally. I want to talk to her.”
Was I naive to think she was a Reina, just because of her appearance? The South Pacific Kingdom had been here long before Adaro arrived in the north. Surely they were united in their resistance. I hoped so—and thinking about the labour camp turned that hope into desperation.
We swam slowly, letting others pass, until we drew parallel with the southern mermaid.
Her body was lean, her bones sharp, her tail long—an evolutionary difference between south and north. Blue gems pierced her cheekbones, nose, and collarbone. Her brown hair was thick and dreadlocked. She must have been in her thirties, with several lifetimes of scars across her body.
She glanced at us sideways.
“You’re from the south,” I said.
“Nothing deceives you,” said the mermaid.
“Excuse me?”
“What would you like?”
I squinted, trying to get a read on her. Strange accent aside, her aura was hard to decipher.
“What’s your name?” said Meela, picking up the awkward silence.
“What is yours?”
“Meela. This is Lysi.”
“Deiopea.”
“Are you a former human?” I said.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Everyone else here is, so I wondered—”
“No.” She tossed a dreadlock over her shoulder. “I was not a human, nor am I descended from one.”
As I suspected, she was taken captive because she was southern. Did that mean Adaro was trying to dispose of anyone whose loyalty didn’t lie with him? I wondered who in Utopia was truly safe, and, given these prisoners’ opinions of humans, what lies they were being fed.
“What were you doing this far north?” I said.
“I was searching for a new place to live.”
Liar, I thought, feeling the skip in her pulse.
There was one explanation. A southern mermaid wouldn’t come this far north unless she was part of the Reinas. She could take us to them.
Meela was silent.
I chose my words carefully, aware there might be prying ears. “If you’re up north for the reason I think, we want to join you.”
I watched her closely, but Deiopea showed no sign of recognition. She fixed her gaze ahead. “You are speaking nonsense.”
“I met some southern merpeople a few days ago,” I persisted. “Right near Eriana Kwai. They helped me. I said para la rein—”
Deiopea clapped a hand over my mouth. “What is the matter with you?”
Triumphant, I pushed her away. “I knew it.”
Her eyes flashed red. “You do not just blurt such things!”
“So you believe us, then?” I whispered. “We’re on your side.”
Deiopea studied me for a long while before saying, “I cannot tell you what you wish to know.”
Despite her stubbornness, my heart jumped. She knew where they were.
I nodded towards Meela. “Do you know who this is?”
Meela glanced furtively at me.
“Please enlighten me,” said Deiopea flatly.
“This is Metlaa Gaela, descendant of Eriana. Do you know what Adaro has control of at this moment?”
Deiopea hesitated. She seemed interested despite herself. “They are saying it is the most fearsome being in the world, and it rivals the power of the original Medusa.”
“It’s true.”
I paused. An idea had been smouldering in the back of my mind, and at her words about rivalling the power of Medusa, it glowed a bit brighter. I pushed the thought aside for later.
“Deiopea, the serpent came from Eriana Kwai. Meela is a former human, and she knows more than any of us about it.”
Deiopea squinted at us. “You are making this up.”
“I’m not.”
“He tried to kill me to get it,” whispered Meela. “He tried to kill Lysi.”
After a moment, Deiopea said, “He has tried to kill many. It has not stopped any of you from fighting loyally for him.”
“Ever since Adaro came to the Pacific,” whispered Meela, “my people have been descending further into poverty. We can’t fish. We can’t leave by boat. We can’t go near the beach without getting attacked.”
Deiopea stared ahead, appearing disinterested.
“Every spring,” Meela continued, “my people send a ship to Utopia to try and win back our freedom. We call it the Massacre. Every spring, Adaro has killed our warriors. He killed my friends, my allies. My brother.”
My stomach clenched. A voice in my head scolded me, telling me I was a terrible friend and girlfriend, and dishonest, and a coward.
“He tried to kill you, too?” said Deiopea, turning to me. “Why?”
Because I tried to assassinate him twice, I thought.
I shook my head and muttered, “Not here.”
Deiopea narrowed her eyes, her lips tightening at the corners. I would need to do better if I wanted her to trust me.
I lowered my voice to barely a whisper. “There was a group of us. The first time was at the mine. You probably heard how that ended. The second time, we tailed him and tried to use iron. Several of our group were killed.”
Deiopea turned to look at me properly for the first time. The pain on her face betrayed so much more than her guise.
“I don’t know where my mom and dad are,” I said in a hollow voice. “Or my brother. Considering the crime I’m wanted for, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been captured.”
I had been trying not to think about my family. There was nothing I could do to help them.
I felt Meela’s gaze on me and looked away.
Matching my barely audible tones, Deiopea said, “When Adaro’s troops invaded the Moonless City and took the queen, we rallied against him with all we had. We barely had a military. There had been no need. Adaro took the city far too easily. My husband and son were killed the same day he invaded.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“That’s awful,” said Meela.
“I have nothing left to lose, now. When he imposed the curfew and forbade anyone to leave the city, I fought. When he reduced the food and supplies coming in, I fought. When we were ordered to report any former humans so they could undergo a screening—” She huffed, expelling a large bubble. “The Moonless City is sometimes called the City of Colour, did you know?”
I blinked at the change of subject, shaking my head.
“I’ve never seen it less colourful than it was before I left. Adaro’s occupation drained all life from the coral, the fish, the buildings. It was so quiet. No one knew what would happen to us. Would he force us to fight his war? Would he keep us there until we starved? Kill us all for resisting?”
She glared at the ocean floor. Rage and vengeance seemed to fill her like a pufferfish.
“I will not drift idly by while that happens. He cannot strip the colour from my city. He cannot take away my queen.”
“You’re right,” said Meela. “He can’t. That’s why we need to get to—to where we want to go.”
Deiopea looked at her sharply.
“Come with us,” I whispered. “When we …”
When we escape, I thought, letting it be implied. There were too many potential ears listening in.
Still, we must have given off an air of conspiracy because the nearest guard, a pale, dark-haired mermaid with an expression like someone had shoved a dead fish under her nose, shouted, “Enough whispering!”
She twirled her mace. All conversation died.
I raised my eyebrows meaningfully at Deiopea. She fixed her eyes ahead and swam in silence for a moment. When the guard finally turned away, Deiopea glanced at me, quickly, just long enough to nod once.