Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(50)

The mermaids were swimming across a sandy shoal. It was early evening. They’d left Radneva two days ago and had been on the move ever since, stopping only to sleep at night. They’d sang velo spells to speed them along at first, but stopped when they realized that velos, difficult enough to cast in salt water, required even more magic in freshwater. Using back currents, they’d worked their way north, up the coast of Bulgaria toward Romania and the mouth of the Dun?rea.

“A chillawonda would be nice, too. Or a zee-zee. Gods, I’d love a zee-zee. I’d like a cup of sargassa tea, too. Clean clothes. Pretty hair combs. A massage. A soft bed. And a crisp, blue water apple,” Neela said.

“Here, have some shriveled-up reef olives and stale walrus cheese instead,” Serafina said, handing her the bag of food they’d bought at the Radneva market.

“Olives and cheese again?”

“It’s all we have left. We better hope we hit a village soon.”

“We will. Aquaba’s at the mouth of the Dun?rea,” Ling said. “I’m sure we’re close.”

It had been hard going on the currents, riding them—and sometimes fighting them—to get to where they were now. Neela was tired, dirty, hungry, and longing for home and its comforts. And though they were getting closer to the Dun?rea, they still had leagues to go to reach the Olt.

“Did we go west around that sandbar off Burgas? Or East?” Serafina asked, looking around. She was holding a kelp parchment map in her hand. It belonged to Ling.

“West. Definitely west,” Ling said. “That was the shortcut we took. Remember?”

Ling was a good navigator. She’d led the way out of Radneva to a back current and had found them a roomy cave to hole up in for their first night together. They’d avoided death riders and bounty hunters, and at Ling’s urging, had changed the color of their hair and clothing with illusio spells. The only problem was that an illusio, like any spell, eventually wore off. Maintaining it took effort and energy—energy that was going into the constant swimming they were doing. Ling was always reminding them to recast it. Neela was grateful when night fell and she could revert to her true appearance. She knew that she and Sera would have to come up with more permanent solutions, but that would require another village, where they could buy some clothes.

It felt strange to Neela to be three instead of two, and she wasn’t always comfortable around Ling, as the merl could be blunt. She also had a disconcerting way of abruptly stopping a conversation to listen to a passing shoal of blennies, or interrupting it to say something like, “Have you ever noticed the amazing overlap of sibilant clickatives in Dolpheen and Porpoisha?” Neela never really knew if Ling was listening to her or to a sea creature that happened to be swimming by.

Ling was smart and tough, though, and she’d saved them from being captured. She was also the one who knew the route to the River Olt, so Neela had no choice but to accept her.

The three mermaids had talked as they’d made their way north. Serafina and Neela had shared their backgrounds, and Ling had told them that she was from a large clan, most of whom lived in her village.

“Actually, we are the village,” she’d said with a laugh. “Every house contains a relative of mine.”

“How big is your family?” Neela had asked.

“My extended family? There are over five hundred of us. My immediate family—my mother, sisters, and brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins—we’re fifty-three. Maybe fifty-four by now. One of my aunts…” She paused, listening, then said, “The size of the sea horse lexicon is incredible, don’t you think?”

“Oh, totally,” Neela had replied.

“So, as I was saying, one of my aunts was expecting when I left.”

“And you all live in one house?” Serafina had asked.

“A very big house,” Ling had said, her smile fading. “All of us but my father. We lost him a year ago. He went out to explore in the Great Abyss, as he loved to do, and he didn’t come back. My mother has barely said two words since he disappeared.”

“I’m so sorry, Ling,” Serafina had said.

“What happened?” Neela had asked.

“I don’t know,” Ling had replied. “The entire village searched for him. For days and days. But he was never found. Maybe he went too deep and something attacked him. Or maybe he blacked out. All I know is that I miss him.”

“It must’ve been hard for your mother to let you go so far away from her,” Serafina had said. “Especially after losing your father.”

“She didn’t exactly let me go. In fact, she didn’t want me to. But the legend of the Iele is very strong in my culture. My grandmother, Wen, is also our clan’s shaman. She’s very wise and a keeper of the clan’s traditions. When I told her my dream, she said I must go. So I went. And here I am,” she said. “I’ve been on the currents for two months. A few days ago, I started to think I was crazy for coming. And then I met you two—”

“—and now you know you are,” Neela had joked.

But Ling hadn’t laughed. “—and I knew I wasn’t. The things you told me about the attack and Traho, the fact that we’ve all had the same dream…the Iele are real. We’ve been called for a reason.”