Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(52)

“You gave them something they needed,” Neela said. “You gave them hope.”

Serafina shook her head. “I gave them empty promises, that’s all.”

Ling turned to her. “Hey, Serafina?” she said, an edge to her voice. “Those mermen back there? They weren’t cheering for your uncle. Or your mother. They were cheering for you.”

“It’s a sign of respect for the crown, that’s all,” Serafina said.

A large shoal of shad passed overhead, blotting out the sun. The sudden darkness seemed ominous to Neela. It added to the tension building between Sera and Ling.

Ling took a deep breath, then said, “It’s all wishful thinking, Serafina. You know that, right? What people are saying about your uncle being in the north, I mean. He was in the palace when it fell. Your mother, too. That much we know. The rest is only hearsay. Another thing we know is that your mother was very badly wounded. You told me so yourself. She might not have survived—”

“Don’t,” Serafina said brokenly.

“I have to,” Ling said. “Omnivoxas speak all languages. My grandfather was one too, and he told me that with the gift of language comes a responsibility to speak not only words, but truth. Right now, we’ve only got one goal—to get to the Iele. But what happens afterward? When the witches tell us whatever it is they want to tell us? Are you going to hide out with them forever? Everywhere we go in this realm, your realm, people are suffering. They need hope. They need a leader.”

“They have a leader,” Serafina said angrily.

“Serafina, you have to face the—”

“You’re wrong. She’s alive. I know she is!” Serafina shouted.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Serafina was the one who broke it. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few days,” she said. “There’s a shoal above us. I’m going to join it. See you in a few.”

“You’re going shoaling? You? That’s so stupid only Yazeed would do it!” Neela said. “We’re near the mouth of a major river. There’s a harbor. With boats. And goggs. This is not a good idea.”

But it was too late. Serafina was already swimming away.

“Cerulea has fallen. Villages are being gutted. If she doesn’t lead Miromara, all of Miromara will fall,” Ling said. “Once that happens, what’s to stop Traho from taking Qin? Matali? The other waters?”

“Ling, being leader, at least in Miromara, means being regina. The one and only. There aren’t two,” Neela said, with an edge to her voice. “Do you understand?”

Ling nodded.

“Serafina can’t accept being the leader of her realm, because it means accepting that her mother is dead. It’s only been a few days. She’s lost everything. Everything, Ling. She needs time.”

“I can see that, Neela. But the thing is…we don’t have any.”





SLEEK, QUICKSILVER BODIES flashed by her. Smooth, cool scales brushed against her skin. There were bright looks and laughter. Serafina was in the shoal.

She sped up, stopped, then turned. She dove down into the dark, cool depths of the sea, then spiraled back up to its warm, sparkling surface. One with the shoal, she forgot everything and everyone. She forgot her losses and her grief. Forgot Mahdi and all that he wasn’t; Blu and all that he was. For a few precious moments, she forgot who she was.

The evening was soft and beautiful. The lengthening rays of the sun were playing over the water. Shad had moved up from the cool depths to feed on moon jellies floating on the warmer surface layers. Their movements exerted a powerful pull on Serafina—one that she, like most young mer, found hard to resist. It was magical, swimming with a shoal. It was wild and joyous, but dangerous, too. Predators followed shoals. A mermaid could be diving with thousands of sardines one minute only to find herself nose-to-nose with a shark the next. Mer parents repeatedly warned their children never to go shoaling.

But how could she resist? The shad called to her. Thousands of musical voices, like rain on water, beckoned. It was said that the goggs thought fish made no sound. Serafina wondered if it was because they listened only with their ears. She knew that those who truly loved the sea’s creatures listened to them with their hearts.

Sister, they called her. Seaswift. Come, coppertail. Come, beauty. Swim with us.

Serafina swam faster and faster, her sleek body arching and turning, cutting through the water like a knife. There was only the shoal. Only the sea. Nothing else.

And then, “Serafina!”

A voice from far away. Pulling at her. Dragging her back to a thousand questions she didn’t know how to answer. A thousand demands she couldn’t meet. Back to the fear and despair. To the broken voices asking her why, asking her for help, asking her to be something she could not.

“Serafina, come on!” It was Neela. She was close now.

“No,” she said, moving deeper into the shoal. “No, Neela. I can’t.”

A hand closed on her arm. It was Ling. “We’ve got to go! Now!” she said, alarm in her voice. Serafina shook her off.

“Sera!” Neela shouted. “There’s a fishing net! Get out of there! Hurry!”

Like a merl emerging from a trance, Serafina slowly stopped. She looked around and her eyes widened in terror. A web of filament surrounded her. It was being hauled up by a winch and cinched around the top like a sack. The shad were no longer laughing and calling. They were frantically yelling to one another to swim clear.