Undertow (Whyborne & Griffin #8.5)(12)

I related all I knew or guessed. Heliabel sat on the rock I’d used earlier, and Persephone crouched on the sand, the fins of her arms and legs jutting out. When I was done, she stood up again in a single, smooth motion. “Burton was also one of ours,” she said.

“Oh no.” This didn’t sound good at all. “So two people with ketoi blood became ill at the same performance, and then disappeared later that night.”

Heliabel frowned. “Was there anything else? Anything which might provide a clue?”

“No.” I tried to think. “Just that Irene had a nightmare before she disappeared, but I can’t see how that’s relevant.”

Persephone idly tapped a claw against her chin. “Did she say what it was about?”

“No. But when I came in to wake her, she was talking in her sleep. She said something about a song, calling to her.” I glanced between them. “Do you…do you think that meant something?”

“Yes,” Persephone said, without hesitation.

I frowned up at her. “How can you be so sure?”

Her hair curled and writhed. “The summoning stones sing to us. The god sings to us.”

I had the feeling whatever god she referenced had never been spoken of in the churches I attended. “The god?”

“The dweller in the deeps.” Persephone paced a few steps away, leaving tracks in the sand that would no doubt confuse any beachcombers who saw them. “It sings in our dreams, sometimes. Then I dive, deep, deep. To the temple, to stand before the god, where it sings its wishes to me.” She turned back to us. “It sang to Percival once. Fanned the sleeping ember into a flame.”

“I don’t understand,” I confessed. “Dr. Whyborne doesn’t really confide in me.”

Heliabel took pity on me. “The dweller in the deeps is a…well, calling it a creature seems inadequate, somehow. An immortal being whose guidance has directed the ketoi throughout their history. Or I should say ‘their’ guidance.”

The thought of some immortal creature living beneath the ocean was hardly comforting. “There’s more than one?”

“The ketoi span the globe,” Heliabel said matter-of-factly. “There are…not many gods, certainly, but more than one.”

I stared out at the ocean, at the waves heaving beneath the moon. Somehow I’d thought of the ketoi as some quirk of Widdershins. Just one more strange thing about a strange town. But if they lived beneath the seas across the planet, then nothing was as I’d believed. It wasn’t just Widdershins that was strange, but the whole world.

“Could this…god…have sung to Irene?” I shifted uneasily. “Lured her away, somehow?”

“No,” Heliabel said. “Normally hybrids can’t hear the dweller in the deeps if they haven’t taken to the water.” She winced, as though recalling something unpleasant. “Except under unusual circumstances. I don’t think it was the god. But I also don’t think that the fact she had a dream about something singing to her was unrelated.”

“Perhaps it had something to do with the theater, then.” The wind had grown stronger, and I tugged my coat tighter about me. “She fainted at the siren’s song, as did Mr. Burton. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Agreed.” Heliabel put a hand to one of her necklaces, absently stroking a pearl the size of my thumbnail. “This doesn’t bode well.”

“No. It doesn’t.” Persephone folded her hands behind her back and stared in the direction of Widdershins, as if she could somehow see across the miles to the theater. “I can’t ask our kin on the land to risk going there. If there is some sorcery aimed at them, whatever happened to Irene and Burton could happen to them as well.”

“That’s true,” I agreed, heart sinking.

“So I’ll have to go alone,” Persephone concluded.

“What?” I reached for her, but let my hand drop. “You can’t! It’s too dangerous.”

“What choice do I have?” Her hair thrashed around her shoulders. “If this theater is indeed the source of the attack, we must find out. We must know what magics they have, and how they can be fought. And, if Irene and Burton yet live, I cannot leave our kin in the hands of those who mean us no good.”

The moonlight glittered from her jewelry. She stood tall, and proud, and indomitable. She was a queen, a goddess, and I’d been mad to ever think she might kiss the likes of me.

I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “Then I-I’ll go with you.”

Persephone frowned. “There’s no need.”

“I don’t want you to go alone.” I clenched the folds of my coat between my fingers. “If Dr. Whyborne was here, or even Dr. Putnam-Barnett…but they aren’t. So I’ll go.”

Concern softened the contours of her face. “It’s not safe. You could be hurt.”

“At least I’m not susceptible to whatever sorcery is aimed at the ketoi,” I pointed out. “And I can pick locks. If we wait until the troupe leaves for the night, I can open the stage door quietly, without alerting any guards who might remain behind.”

“Brave girl,” Heliabel said approvingly.

“I’m not.” I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. “I’m scared to death. But it gives us the best chance, doesn’t it?”