CHAPTER THIRTY - Meela
The Pacific Kingdom
I was left panting, alone on the lava rock, more exposed than I could ever recall feeling. Eriana’s disappearance from my body drove a sharp ache through my chest.
Overcome with loss, I wanted nothing more than to follow her into the sky. How could I possibly continue living without her?
I shook my head. My emotions were not making sense. Eriana had been part of me, but she was not my mother, or father, or brother. She was not Lysi. We had spent mere hours together.
This was how it had to be. Eriana was free to ascend to the stars—and her children, her island, her legacy, were free to live as the Gaela intended.
You’re better off without her, I thought. But the answering silence felt strange and lonesome.
A sound in the water made me gasp, and I spun around, heart still pounding a hummingbird’s rhythm.
Medusa rose from the waves, rage flaring behind eyes of deepest red.
“I had to,” I said. My voice was weak, like I’d just fought a hundred Massacres. I would not have the strength to fight her if she decided to attack.
She looked past me. A rumble carried on the wind. Voices, footsteps. My people were sprinting towards us.
Medusa said nothing. I couldn’t be sure what she was thinking. Was she angry? Did she understand, or did she think I’d made a huge mistake?
They stopped at the edge of the fresh layer of lava, black and bubbling between us.
Ben emerged from the crowd as the whirr of the second helicopter closed in overhead. I tensed, ready to dive, but it landed on the bank. An entire team waited in the open door, armed and wearing protective vests.
Two men leapt out as the rotor slowed. They ran towards us, hopping clumsily over logs and rocks on their way down the beach. One was dressed sharply in a suit; the other, a mustached man, in military uniform.
They had their eyes on the massive leviathan, lying motionless behind me, streams of cooling lava everywhere. Then the mustached man saw me.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done, demon?” he shouted. He strode towards me, but Ben lunged into his path and grabbed him.
Several of my people stepped forwards, putting another barrier between me and the men.
Everyone I loved—everything I loved about the island—was there. My parents, Annith, Tanuu, Blacktail, Fern, Blondie, and Anyo stood nearest me. They looked back at me, and I held each of their gazes in turn, trying to convey all the love and gratitude swelling in my chest. They were forever my allies, in battle and in life, and that meant more to me than they would ever know. Behind them were my classmates, teachers, neighbours—everyone I’d grown up with and fought for on the Massacre. They faced the men from the helicopter with their chins high.
“If you are any indication of what the serpent’s presence will do to our world, then we are better off without it,” said my father.
“You declare war on merpeople, you declare war on all of us,” said Anyo.
The suited man raised his hands. “I don’t intend to declare war on anyone, here.”
His tone was calm, drawling, his accent distinctly American.
“Then stay away from my daughter,” said my father. The men regarded him with open shock. “She was born and raised on this island. Don’t tell me her life is worth less than a human’s.”
Ben and the mustached man looked into each other’s faces. Too many emotions flew around for me to catch what passed between them.
“Officer Miller here tells me that this mermaid—I mean, your daughter—said the merman king is dead,” said the suited man. “With him gone, and now the serpent, we’d like to know what this means for the American peop—”
He faltered, attention caught by something out in the waves. The crowd turned to see Lysi surface with two other mermaids. I was so overcome with relief that it took me a moment to see that the mermaid between her and Dione was wearing a crown.
Lysi had done it. She’d found Queen Evagore. Most importantly, she was safe.
Queen Medusa stretched taller, like these new arrivals were the most interesting yet. She and Evagore locked eyes and gave slight nods of recognition.
“Gentlemen,” I said, gesturing, “I’d like to introduce Queen Medusa of the Atlantic, and Queen Evagore of the Pacific.”
The suited man glanced to each mermaid at the shoreline, and back to me, and then to the surf. His eyes moved rapidly, as if he was afraid to hold any of our gazes for long, lest we lure him.
“Right,” he said, smoothing his tie. “James York. I’m here on behalf of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and I’d like to know what the hell is going on. Are the American people in danger?”
“They are not, sir,” said Evagore. “I am here to offer humans free movement across the seas again.”
“Free movement? On what terms?”
“You agree not to destroy underwater cities.”
Next to Ben, Officer Miller drew himself up, as though ready to be outraged. But he seemed to find nothing to say as he considered her words.
“What about borders?” said James York.
“I do not wish to define borders or restrictions.”
“Then you guarantee not to attack,” he said.
“Of course,” said Evagore. “And if you are willing, we can negotiate a trade agreement that benefits us both.”
The two men stared. A wisp of triumph passed through both of them. They might as well have had dollar signs flashing in their eyes as they considered all the potential of deep-sea mining. After what Lysi had told me about Medusa’s trade agreements with humans and how rich and vibrant the Atlantic was, this sounded like a promising start to fixing the impoverished Pacific Kingdom.
James York straightened his coat. “Given our situation, I think we’re best to negotiate a ceasefire. Are you willing to meet with the White House about this, Your Highness?”
I rolled my eyes. Lysi gave me a half-shrug that said, Well, they got there eventually.
“If Queen Medusa agrees, I would like to model our treaty after that of the Atlantic,” said Evagore.
“I am willing to advise,” said Medusa.
During the exchange, Lysi quietly rushed over to me. In our short time apart, I’d missed her smile so much that it ached to see it again. She grasped my hand under the water.
Behind her, someone’s head popped through the surface, and I gasped. Nilus.
Automatically, I twisted around to look for my parents. They were trying to navigate around the lava without stepping in it.
“Stay there,” I called. “We’ll come to you.”
I waved Nilus over, and we swam around and rose to the beach to meet them.
My parents’ arms wrapped around me the moment I surfaced.
I tried to speak but my voice came out muffled.
After a long moment, I said, “Mama, Papa, there’s something you need to know.”
I glanced back to Nilus, who waited at a distance like he was afraid to come near. My parents followed my gaze.
I drew a breath. Part of me resented having to be the one to drop this bomb on our parents. But I knew how scared he must be to come here after all these years, and the other part of me felt a rush of sympathy for my big brother. I wanted to help him with this moment.
“Nilus didn’t die on the Massacre. He … he was transformed into a merman.”
They stared at me, and then at Nilus, for what felt like several minutes. I wondered if I’d forgotten to speak in Eriana.
Then Nilus drifted closer and said, “Hi Mama. Papa,” in a way that was so reminiscent of how he said it as a boy that my eyes sprung with tears. His appearance had changed since becoming a merman, but his voice seemed to trigger something that set time back in motion.
“Oh, Nilus!” said my mother, dissolving into sobs.
She ran forwards and threw herself at him. They splashed into the water. Nilus laughed, holding her above the surface.
My father advanced more haltingly, a dazed look on his face.
Then all four of us were hugging. I lost track of time as we held onto each other. I’d never thought this would happen again—my mother, father, me, and my big brother, together and whole.
The sun dipped past the horizon, casting the beach into a soft glow.
Behind us, I heard James York say, “We’ll be in contact, then.”
“Until then, you can always find me upon the throne in the Moonless City,” said Evagore.
“Er—right. Reeves, you coming?” said Officer Miller.
Ben looked furtively in the direction where he’d left the other helicopter.
He gestured vaguely. “Uh, I’ve got …”
“Well, then, get that thing back where it belongs before I have to write you up for stealing it.”
“Yes, sir.” For some reason he looked immensely relieved.
Without another word, the two men left for their helicopter, where their armed and vested team waited obediently.
Ben watched them for a moment, then looked around, seeming to process where he was and what had happened.
Blondie and Fern appeared out of nowhere on either side of him.
“Want to stay for tea?” said Blondie.
“We have strawberries,” said Fern.
Ben glanced from one to the other. He ran a hand over his short hair. Then he smiled. “Why not?”
Fern looped an arm through his and dragged him away.
I shook my head, turning to Evagore.
“Your Majesty,” I said, “what about all of Adaro’s supporters? What about the anti-human beliefs? Will a treaty be enough?”
“I believe that once his supporters realise the atrocities Adaro committed—from the labour camp to the Nereid prison—they will start to understand how misled they were under their former king. It will take work, but I am confident we can rebuild the Pacific Kingdom.”
Dione placed a hand on the queen’s shoulder.
“If you’ll excuse us, Meela and Lysithea. We have to get the queen into proper care.”
“Of course,” I said.
“Your Majesty,” said Lysi.
She cast us a gracious smile, looking more queen-like than ever beneath her pale blue crown.
Medusa was nowhere to be seen. She had gone. I wondered if we would ever meet again—and whether Lysi or I would ever be welcome in the Atlantic.
My parents and Nilus were deep in conversation, sitting in the retreating tide. Everyone else waited on the beach, chatting excitedly about the dead leviathan. My friends were climbing the lava rock, poking at the molten streams. By the looks of it, Tanuu had melted a shoe. He caught my eye and we exchanged a grin.
Lysi and I drifted a little ways away from everyone else, our tails brushing under the water. I looked with relief into her sapphire eyes, having been terrified of never seeing them again, and she leaned in and kissed me.
I drew back a moment later, eyes burning with tears.
“What is it?” she said.
“It’s … a lot.”
She gave a sad smile. “Tell me. What happened?”
I hesitated. Everything Adaro had said to me before I pulled the trigger was prickling in the back of my mind.
“Adaro told me something before he died.”
Lysi raised an eyebrow. Without meeting her eye, I told her what he had said about setting us up. I told her how the fishing net she’d gotten stuck in as a kid had been part of his plan, and Panopea had been an innocent victim, and worst of all, how this meant every piece of both our lives had been determined by Adaro. When I finished, I felt sick and angry all over again.
“Mee,” said Lysi.
She didn’t continue until I raised my eyes to meet hers.
“Mee, I don’t care whether we met because of him, or a random pull in the tides, or because I was being a cod and got stuck in a net, or—”
“I don’t want him to have anything to do with us!”
“Who cares? It doesn’t matter how we met. The point is that we did.”
“But—”
She covered my mouth with a pearl-white hand. “Think about it.”
I was silent for a moment. I supposed she was right. Adaro had steered my fate like a ship—my brother, the Massacre, my friends and enemies, and my relationship with Lysi. He was part of my past, whether I liked it or not, and I could choose to let that bother me, or I could accept it.
The beach was growing dark, but Lysi’s eyes were bright as the moon to me.
“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. “You need to understand that.”
“I do.”
I raised a hand, and she pressed her palm against mine. We looked at them for a moment—brown skin against white.
“I’ll introduce you to my family,” whispered Lysi. “My parents and brother will love to meet you.”
“I can’t wait.”
“And then we’re going on a date.”
I smiled. I plucked a piece of seaweed out of her hair, thinking of two kids who used to play on the beach and wear matching shell necklaces.
So much had happened since then, and so much had changed. Yet under the light of Lysi’s gaze and the laughter of friends and family echoing down the beach, I felt like today was the beginning of a lifetime together.