CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Meela
Daughter of Eriana
The pain didn’t come. The serpent’s breath continued to bathe me, warm and sticky.
I opened my eyes, trembling, and saw fangs the length of my arms hovering above me.
The serpent had stopped with her jaws open over my head.
In the silence, the purring waves returned to my attention. The groan of the distant helicopter pulsed in my ears.
Through the serpent’s fangs, I could see Adaro lying on the rocky beach inside the broken hull. Blood pooled from both the bolt and the rock embedded in his ribs. His eyes were wide. He was perfectly still.
The sky lightened as the serpent’s heads arched away from me, bobbing in the air and hissing—perhaps tasting Adaro’s blood on the wind.
A presence consumed me, as though my body gained a second soul. I gasped, feeling her in my mind and spirit, a goddess greater than myself.
“Eriana,” I whispered.
Her reply came to the front of my mind, the thoughts forming as though my own.
Daughter. It is a relief to share a mind with someone pure.
Slowly, heart pounding, I turned my back to the island and Adaro. From the frothy waves, two massive heads stared down at me. In those deep blue pupils, glassy and vertical, I saw no threat. She gazed expectantly at me. The vastness of the ocean lay beneath her expression, filled with millennia of wisdom.
Is the serpent mine? I thought, heart beating faster yet.
Yes, daughter.
My throat constricted. I was grateful to have no need to speak aloud, because I would not have managed it.
Help me, I thought. Our island has been at war, and now the rest of the world is, too. I need to stop it.
A forked tongue emerged from each head, tasting the air. Behind her, the ship fire consumed ocean and sky, multicoloured flames and black smoke billowing. The sun was on its descent to the horizon.
If you are concerned about war, we can force others to leave our island alone. With the leviathan Sisiutl as your guardian, you will never be defeated.
I don’t want to use aggression. I want peace.
The sea gurgled as the ship took its last breaths. There must have been at least one crew member left to rescue, because the helicopter still hovered, dodging flames and smoke.
As long as the leviathan exists, there will always be those seeking to control it, said Eriana. You will never have peace as long as others see potential to control the world’s most powerful weapon.
I shook my head. It is the most powerful force, then? Nothing can defeat it?
Nothing in this world is stronger than Sisiutl.
I considered what this meant. If nothing could defeat the serpent by strength, did that mean I had to defeat it by wit or logic?
Where did the serpent come from? I thought. Help me understand.
Sisiutl was born from the volcano that created our island. She swam free for millennia, fearing nothing and driven by hunger.
Skaaw Beach came to mind—the black swells of lava rock that marked Eriana Kwai’s most remarkable section of shoreline.
I’ve been told the legend of how you came to control the serpent, I thought. Now your soul is bound to her body. If I kill the leviathan, you’ll be free, right?
Yes. I will ascend to the stars and will protect our island as the Gaela intended. It pains me to know the suffering my children have endured in my absence.
But how do I kill it?
Fae could kill other fae, Lysi had said. What about a creature who had no equal?
For a moment, no further thoughts came to me. I scanned the sparkling waves, feeling like the world met my senses with new clarity.
Then Eriana said, Nothing can destroy the leviathan. With the presence of two heads, there is also nothing the leviathan cannot destroy.
I considered her words. The leviathan can destroy anything in the world?
Yes, daughter.
My gaze drifted to the burning ship. It disappeared beneath the surface, leaving behind a smouldering chemical slick and scattered debris. The helicopter rose and came towards us. They must have rescued the last of the crew—or had given them up for dead—and were now free to drop explosives on the serpent without worrying about endangering human lives.
We had to get away from here.
In my most private thoughts I’d wondered how it would feel to command the serpent, and whether I would know what to do when she came to me.
Now I understood. She was a part of me. There was no command to give.
Let’s fix this, I thought.
The serpent submerged. A wave crashed over her, and she became no more than a black shape in the water.
Reluctantly, I took a last look at Adaro. I didn’t care to ever see him again—even if he was dead—but I wanted to be sure.
He lay in the hull where I’d shot him, blood pooling under his twisted limbs. It had splattered over the rocks and was still oozing from his ribs. One side of his face was crushed against the ground. His eyes were open but I could see, even from here, that they had grown glassy and vacant.
Only the black crown remained unspoiled. It had not moved, rooted in its nest of black hair.
I left my crossbow on the beach.
I dragged myself to the water, following Eriana. We passed beneath the helicopter on its way to the island. It was looking for her.
Though I knew I was safe, I fought the instinct to flee from the serpent. Every encounter with her since the moment she’d woken had involved her trying to eat me. To swim as equals—as her master, even—was hard to comprehend.
When we drew near enough to the sinking ship that the chemicals burned my nose and skin, I let Eriana continue on. My stomach flipped at the feel of the massive structure sinking to the vast depths.
The wall of smoke blocked our view of the helicopter. I heard it circling back. They knew the serpent was here—but they didn’t know exactly where.
The serpent moved gracefully around the ship, spiralling through the inky water. She opened both mouths and began to swallow the chemicals and flames. The waste disappeared inside her massive body until only the ship itself remained, rapidly disappearing into the void.
The sky was dark with smoke, but the flames had gone. A few pockets of oil remained. Eriana had swallowed most of it, but there was no time to get the rest. We needed to leave before we were seen.
I commanded Eriana to dive to the bottom.
You wish to find humans, she said.
Yes. We have something to discuss.
Eriana fell silent for a moment. She swam at my pace, far below.
Follow me, she said. I will take you to a ship.