The Deepest Blue(48)

When the spirits were gone, Mayara and Roe continued. Mayara heard the rhythmic crash of waves grow louder. She felt calmer as they drew closer, whereas Roe seemed to be more and more anxious.

“My grandfather didn’t want anyone to teach me to swim, but I didn’t want to learn either,” Roe said, out of the blue. “I hate the idea of all that water beneath me. I mean, not the water itself so much, but all the things in the water that you can’t see.”

“Then open your eyes.”

“But that stings.”

“You get used to it,” Mayara said. “And a little stinging is better than being blind.” She shook her head. “I can’t remember not swimming. I think my mother taught me while I was in the womb. She said I could swim before I could walk. Why didn’t your grandfather want you to learn?”

“Scared for me, I guess. He thought . . . There are more spirits in the sea, and he thought if I was exposed to them, I’d manifest an affinity for spirits and be taken away like my mother was. He didn’t want to lose me too.”

“Your mother died on the island?”

“Oh no, she didn’t die,” Roe said grimly. “Worse.”

“What’s worse?”

“She became queen.”

Mayara stopped walking. She stared at her friend.

Roe gave her a weak smile. “Yes, it’s a secret. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but really who are you going to tell? The spirits? I haven’t seen her since she was crowned. Our whole family was taken to the Neran Stronghold. For our protection, they said. And for hers.”

“Your mother sent her own daughter here?” Mayara thought of her parents and how they’d mourned Elorna and were undoubtedly mourning their younger daughter too. If they’d had the power to stop this and end the tests . . .

“She doesn’t know I’m here,” Roe said. “How would she? She isn’t allowed any contact with us.” She said it so matter-of-factly, but it had to have torn her up inside to be without her mother for so many years.

Mayara knew how badly it hurt when her own mother had withdrawn after Elorna’s death. Families on the islands were supposed to be close, with everyone staying in everyone else’s business even after you were grown up and on your own. You weren’t supposed to lose such a vital piece of your family. When Elorna was ripped away, it nearly destroyed us. “Did you ever try to contact her?”

Roe laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Only a thousand times. And failed a thousand times. That’s why I’m here. If I can become an heir, I’ll be with her again.”

The words hit Mayara hard, because what Roe was really saying was that she was willing to risk death just to be able to talk to her mother again.

Quietly she asked, “Did your mother ever try to contact you?”

“Just once. And the Families had my father taken away in retaliation. So far as I know, she never tried again.” At this, a hint of bitterness crept into her voice. Roe wasn’t as unruffled as she seemed. And . . . They took Roe’s father? Does she mean “killed”? No one had ever mentioned Queen Asana having a husband. Or a daughter, for that matter. Maybe he still lives, somewhere. “Do you know where they took him?”

Roe shook her head. “When I’m reunited with my mother, we’ll find him. And then we can all be together again.” She spoke with so much fierceness and sorrow that she sounded far older than she was.

Mayara wished she’d called Lord Maarte worse things than vile for separating Roe from both her parents and forcing her to grow up too fast. She shouldn’t have to face Akena Island just to be with her family. And neither should I.

But there wasn’t any time to discuss it further—they’d reached the shore.

“Uh, Mayara, there are a lot of spirits out there.”

“Under the water or on the surface?” Mayara sent her own mind probing outward. She had to slow to do it—unlike Roe, she couldn’t walk over uneven rocks and pay attention to distant spirits at the same time. Roe had either practiced more or was naturally stronger than she was. Either way, Mayara was glad to have her with her.

“Mostly under . . . Actually mostly under the islands. Or . . . within? Can you feel that?”

Mayara sent her mind directly beneath them, through the rocks and into the island itself, and she felt spirits moving through the island. “Earth spirits?” But that didn’t seem right. She didn’t get the sense that they were tunneling. “Odd.”

So much about this island was odd.

Ahead was the shore. As they came out from between the rocks and coconut trees, banana trees, and suka trees, they saw the ocean spread before them, turquoise blue, with clear blue sky above and distant purple-blue islands on the horizon.

Mayara made her way quickly to the water’s edge. Roe followed more slowly. “You can wait here if you want,” Mayara told her. “I’ll look for a cave. . . .” There were cliffs on either side of the tiny stretch of shore. Perfect for caves.

“Yeah, not staying behind. That’s how I get eaten.” Joining Mayara, she eyed the water with obvious dislike. “Maybe we’d be safer in the trees?”

“You were trapped by vines,” Mayara pointed out.

As she’d hoped, the cliffs were riddled with holes. One of them has to work. It needed to be accessible, ideally with a sheltered route they could take to the shore so the spirits wouldn’t see them coming in and out. . . .