The Deepest Blue(102)

“That’s a terrible idea!” Roe cried. “If we start a spirit battle, it will destroy everyone.”

“The tsunami is coming!” Lanei said. “We’re out of options!”

“Not quite,” Garnah said. She then grabbed for Mayara’s pocket, stepped forward, and flung powder into Queen Lanei’s face. Lanei collapsed, and Garnah pried her mouth open and dumped a vial of purple liquid that sloshed out around her lips.

“What did you do? She’s the queen!” Mayara cried.

“She was.”

The two young women stared at her.

“You have ten minutes to reach the grove and fix this,” she told Roe and Mayara.

Pivoting, Mayara grabbed Roe’s hand. Together, they ran for the stairwell and flung open the door. If they could reach the grove in time . . .

But then the tsunami reached the shore. And there was no time at all.





Chapter Twenty-Six

The sea wanted to swallow the world. It swept toward the island. At first, it sounded like a continuously breaking wave. And then, as it reached the boats and the docks, it sounded like crunching gravel. And then louder, as it broke buildings.

Water rushed through the streets in great torrents, peeling shells from the walls. From high above, Mayara watched as the city flooded. She couldn’t hear the screams, but she could see the people, running from the water, fleeing into the palace, and climbing as high as they could on the islands.

“We have to help them!” Roe cried.

Mayara heard her commands echoed through the spirits. Roe was calling to any she could reach, ordering them to carry people up out of the floodwaters. But the spirits, so caught up in their glee in destroying Akena Island, didn’t respond.

Garnah grabbed her arm. “Forget the people. Get to the grove and stop the monsters.”

“It’s too late! It’s flooded!” Roe pointed out the window, and Mayara realized she was right. Directly below them, at the base of the palace, the grove was buried beneath water that already reached half the height of the tower. “All we can do is save as many islanders as we can. Without a grove, there can’t be a new queen. You’ve left us queenless, Garnah. And as soon as the spirits realize that . . .”

Mayara saw the queen’s adviser, for the first time, look afraid. And that frightened Mayara more than anything. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been relying on the strange poison-maker’s unflappability.

She looked down at Lanei. The queen was still breathing, but shallowly. She didn’t doubt that in a few minutes, those breaths would stop completely. And then, without a queen, against the monsters of the Deepest Blue—the people of Belene wouldn’t stand a chance. We will be wiped from the face of the world, like Akena Island.

“Do you have an antidote?” Roe asked.

“You want me to save her?” Garnah asked. “The woman who killed your mother? You want her to be queen, to have the power of life and death over you and everyone you care about? Think carefully on what you ask of me.”

“My revenge isn’t worth the life of everyone on the islands,” Roe said. “Save her. Let her be queen. Let her save us all.”

“And if she can’t? I didn’t go through the trouble of poisoning her because I thought she had a chance of success. I did it because our only chance is without her. We need a new queen.”

“You don’t understand,” Roe said. “We can’t reach the grove! Look how much water is between us and the grove! We can’t reach it! Please, I’m begging you. Use the antidote. Bring her back. I will accept her as my queen. I will forgive her. If that’s what it takes to save Belene.”

“You’re asking for something that may not—”

Mayara quietly said, “I know how you can reach it.”

Garnah stopped. “What did you say?”

She thought of her dive on her wedding day. “Summon an air spirit to give you air on the way down to the grove.”

“You know I can’t swim,” Roe said. “Much less dive.”

“I know,” Mayara said. “But I can. You bring the air, and I’ll get us down to the grove. Then you become queen and save all of us.”

Roe licked her lips. Looked at Queen Lanei. Looked out at the waters that were filling the city. The leviathans had nearly reached the shore. Once they came, the devastation would be beyond imagining. “You want me to be queen.”

“You can do this,” Mayara said firmly. “And I swear I can get you there.”

She held out her hand.

Out the window, the waters rose. The three leviathans were close enough to hear: their screams sounded like cracks of thunder.

Roe took her hand.

Together, they walked to the edge of the tower.

“Just jump,” Mayara told her and released her hand. “I’ll follow.”

“Are you sure . . . ?”

“Yes,” Mayara lied. She wasn’t sure about any of it. Except that Roe could do this. And I can help.

She emptied her lungs. Emptied her mind. Drew in air. She filled her lungs until they were ready to burst. The world narrowed to just her and the water below. She thought of Elorna and let that thought give her strength. Somewhere, her sister was out there, maybe fighting too.