Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(56)

“Lena, please. We really need your help,” Serafina said.

“Why should I help you?” Lena asked.

“Oh, no reason,” Neela said. “It’s not like the fate of the oceans rests in our hands or anything.”

Sera nudged her with her tail fin. “Because mermen are after us. Bad mermen,” she said.

Lena lowered her hockey stick. She was no longer making any attempt to hide her fear. It was written plainly on her face. “The same ones who took the folk?” she asked.

“What folk?” Neela asked, casting a nervous glance over her shoulder. The death riders were coming closer every second.

“The ones from Aquaba, a village near the Dun?rea’s mouth. It happened three days ago. More than four hundred disappeared. They just vanished. I’ve been afraid that whoever did it would come for me.”

“I don’t know about that,” Neela said. “But they’re coming for the three of us, for sure.” She told Lena what Traho and the death riders had done to Cerulea, to Sera’s family, and her own.

Lena’s eyes widened. “You think they’d take my kitties?”

Serafina shook her head. “I don’t—” she started to say.

She was about to say I don’t think Traho wants catfish. Neela was sure of it. She was also sure the only way to get Lena’s help was to make her think that Traho was a common enemy.

“—I don’t doubt it for a minute,” Neela cut in. “Traho totally wants those kitties. They are so…so incredibly…” She paused, at a loss for words.

“Beautiful?” Ling prompted.

“Yes! They are so beautiful he’d surely want them all.”

Lena nodded, her mouth set in a grim line. “Well, I’d like to see him try. I have more, you know. A lot more. And they don’t take kindly to bullies.”

She put her fingers in her mouth and blew a piercing whistle. Catfish materialized from behind rocks and downed trees. They came out of eddies and pools. There were at least fifty of them.

“Whoa,” Ling said.

“Thank you for warning me,” Lena said. “This Traho might think twice when he sees how many I’ve got.” She frowned. “I guess I owe you one for that. You can hide here until the soldiers pass. Better be quick about it. I hear hippokamps.”

The mermaids started toward her house.

“Not there. That’s the first place they’ll look. Hide with Anica.”

“Where is she?” Neela asked.

“In the nursery. Over there,” Lena said, pointing to a ramshackle shed made out of old tires. “Don’t come out till I tell you.”

They opened the door, expecting a mermaid named Anica to greet them. Instead a dozen baby catfish charged out. One swam up to Neela and licked her face.

“Oh, yuck! Gross!” she said, batting the baby away.

A low, rumbling growl shook the walls of the nursery. The baby’s mother, all three hundred pounds of her, rose menacingly from her nest. She made the catfish outside look like minnows.

“I think that’s Anica,” Ling said.

Neela grabbed the baby back. “Mwah!” she cried, kissing its nose. “Oh, you little oodgie-woodgie! Aren’t you the cutest? Come and see your Auntie Neela!”

The baby gurgled happily. Anica’s growl turned into a purr, and she settled herself back on her nest. The three mermaids swam around the back of it and ducked down behind her.

Only minutes later, the door to the nursery opened. A soldier dressed in black swam inside. Anica growled ferociously at the sight of his spear.

“More of the same, sir!” he called out. “This one’s bigger than the others. Uglier, too, if you can believe it.”

Another merman swam into the shed. Neela’s blood turned to ice when she saw who it was. Traho.

“So it is,” he said, making a face. “Only a lunatic would keep these things. Gods, how I hate the Freshwaters. Let’s go. The faster we find those merls, the faster we get back to civilization.”

“Should we take the mermaid Lena with us, sir?”

“No, it’s too dangerous. There are only ten of us, and many more of these things,” Traho said, nodding at Anica. “They might attack. We don’t need her. Mfeme has plenty of new captives….” His voice trailed off as he and his underling swam away.

A few minutes later, the door opened again. “They’re gone,” Lena said. “You can come out now.”

Neela swam out from behind Anica’s nest. Ling was right behind her.

Lena’s expression was troubled. “They’ve got a cage with them. For you,” she said. “You shouldn’t put mer in a cage. You shouldn’t put anything in a cage.”

“Thank you for hiding us, Lena,” Neela said. “You took a big risk on our account. We’ll be going now.”

“You can’t go,” Lena said in a resigned voice. “They only just left, and they’re heading up river. Same as you. Much as I hate to say it, you’d better stay here for the night. I’ve got a pot of salvinia stew I was fixing to eat all by myself. Now I’ll have to share it.” She nodded at Ling. “I’ll take a look at her wrist, too. Long as she doesn’t howl.”

Neela blinked at her. “Um, thanks. I think,” she said. She turned to talk to Serafina, but only Ling was there. “Sera?” she called out. “Where are you?” Her friend was still behind Anica’s nest. She was staring straight ahead, motionless. “What’s wrong? You’re as white as a spookfish. It’s okay. They’re gone. And Lena’s letting us stay the night.”