The Deepest Blue(79)

“You are,” Elorna said. “I could see it in you, even when we were little. You were afraid and you’d do it anyway. I wanted to be more like you, my fearless little sister. I wanted you to be proud of me. But in the end, I failed you. You, though . . . you have a chance to do what I couldn’t do!”

“I don’t want to live the life you should have lived,” Mayara said. As she said it, she realized it was true. She’d tried that, for far too long. Now she just wanted this to end. She wanted to be back with Kelo, home in her village. That was a big enough world for her. She was making a third choice—not heir or Silent One, and not hero or dead.

“Mayara . . .”

“We won’t be running forever,” Mayara said. “We’re taking Roe to the queen in Yena. She’s Queen Asana’s daughter. Once they’re reunited, Roe will convince her mother to end the test. Women with power will be safe.”

That startled Elorna. “Her daughter! But how . . .”

“She was taken from her mother when Queen Asana was crowned. She’s been held against her will by the Families to ensure Queen Asana obeys them. That’s why the Families have so much power. That’s why they’re the ones who say where the heirs are sent and how the Silent Ones are used. If we can reunite Roe and her mother . . . it will reveal the truth. The queen will be able to take power away from the Families, end the test, and pardon us all. Maybe you could even come home.” Mayara didn’t dare blink out of fear that Elorna would vanish. This had to be a dream, a hallucination before she died from lack of oxygen. She’d imagined Elorna before. “Please, come home.”

“Mayara . . .” Her voice was full of wonder, and then she abruptly straightened. “They’re coming.”

Mayara saw Elorna’s face harden—it was a familiar expression, the look she got when she’d made a decision. Kelo had once told Mayara that her face looked the same, just before she was about to do something reckless.

“Listen to me, Mayara. The queen isn’t in Yena. She’s on a formal visit to the Neran Stronghold. If your friends go to Yena, they’ll be caught, and they’ll fail.”

“Then even more reason you have to let me go! Let me warn my friends.”

“You really think Queen Asana will change the world for her daughter?”

“I do. There’s a lot we’d do for the ones we love.” For Kelo, Mayara thought. For you. She’d changed herself for Elorna’s memory, risking herself in dives to feel the kind of wild joy that Elorna had shown her. And she was risking herself now for Kelo, for the chance of returning to him and reclaiming the life she’d planned.

“Then go,” Elorna said. She placed the mask back on her face. “I will delay my sisters.”

“I’m your sister.”

“Always,” Elorna said, and then she turned and rode the spirit back toward the shore. Mayara dived off the back of her spirit and swam beyond the reef into the storm.

THE SPIRIT STORM WAS CENTERED AROUND ROE.

Mayara felt it whirl and twist. Water rose in giant hands and then slapped down, creating twelve-foot swells that slammed into each other and erupted like geysers. And her friends were at the heart of it.

Rain was falling so hard that she felt as if she were underwater. The waves churned the sea so that it was all white foam. Dozens of wild spirits were both beneath and above her. Focusing on swimming, she kept her thoughts close to herself. Don’t notice me. Not that she had much to fear at the moment—all their attention was focused on the heart of the storm.

At the center was Roe, standing on the back of a whalelike spirit. Her arms were spread wide and her eyes were closed. Palia was huddled at her feet on the whale’s back. She was snarling at the waves and flinging spirits away with her mind.

Reaching them, Mayara climbed onto the slick back of the wild whale spirit. Its skin was shimmering black, as if it had absorbed the night sky, and its eyes were blue flame. “Roe! Palia!”

“Thank the Great Mother, you made it!” Palia cried. “We thought you were dead!”

“Can you stop the storm?” Mayara shouted to Roe over the howls of the wind and the crash of the waves. Beneath her, she felt the whale’s thoughts, sluggish and dark. They were an itch it wanted to be rid of, but Roe held its desires tight, as if in a net.

Face clenched in concentration, Roe didn’t answer.

“The queen is at the Neran Stronghold!” Mayara yelled. “We have to go to Olaku! And we have to go now, before the Silent Ones come to investigate this storm!”

Roe nodded, so Mayara knew that she was getting through. Roe held out her hands. Mayara grasped one, and Palia the other. They clung to one another.

“Where’s Lanei?” Mayara asked.

“Lost!” Palia shouted back.

Mayara felt a pang—she hadn’t liked Lanei, but she’d admired how she’d survived a year on the island. And then to die in something that was Mayara’s idea . . .

But this was neither the time nor the place for guilt.

“Hold on!” Roe called.

She dropped to her knees and so did Mayara and Palia, all of them flattening against the spirit’s back as it hurtled forward. They plowed through the other wild spirits.

“Send them away!” Roe called.

While Roe directed the whale spirit, Mayara and Palia concentrated on sending the wild spirits toward Akena Island. They didn’t target the Silent Ones this time; they aimed them at the island itself.