Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(79)

“You watching, son? Keep watching. We’ll see who’s weak.”

Ling swam away from the waterfire and threw the halberd down. The others were waiting for her.

“There you are!” It was Magdalena, breathless. “I’m to lead you out of here and into the tunnel. Baba Vr?ja’s orders. All of us are to go except the incanti. If we hurry, we can make the Dun?rea by nightfall.”

The mermaids ignored her. Serafina pulled her dagger from a pocket.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Magdalena said. “We’ve got to go!”

Serafina held the dagger in her right hand and turned her left palm up. Without flinching, she drew the blade across her flesh. Her blood spiraled through the water. As it did, she sang. Clearly. Loudly. With everything inside her.

Abbadon, your end has come.

This we vow, as chosen ones:

Drop by drop, our blood is binding,

Forever lives and fates entwining.

Abbadon growled menacingly. More hands appeared. Sera knew they could have struck at her easily. But they didn’t. Abbadon wanted to see what the merls were doing. So it could tell its master. Good, Serafina thought.

Neela took the dagger next, and sliced her own palm. Her blood rose in the water. As she covered Serafina’s hand with her own, she sang.

Our spell is strong, and soon our blood

Will turn the tide and stem the flood

Of Orfeo’s evil, dark and dread,

That wakes now from its icy bed.

Becca followed Neela. Abbadon shrieked. It shook the bars of the Carceron.

Together, we’ll find the magic pieces

Belonging to the six who ruled,

Hidden under treacherous waters

After light and darkness dueled.

Ava was next.

These talismans won’t be united

In anger, greed, or deadly rage,

But with boldness, trust, and courage

As we unlock destruction’s cage.

Ling was last. She winced as she gripped the dagger with her bad hand, then cut the palm of her good one. As her blood rose in the water, and she covered Ava’s hand, she sang the end of the bloodbind.

We’ve gathered here from sea and river,

With a purpose brave and true,

We vow to drive an ancient evil

From our home, the vast deep blue.

As the last notes of the songspell rose, the blood of all five mermaids spiraled together into a crimson helix and wrapped itself around their hands. Like the sea pulling the tide back to itself, their flesh summoned the blood’s return. It came, flowing back through the water, back through the wounds. The slashed edges of their palms closed and healed. A scar was left on each hand, a livid reminder that each carried the blood of the others now.

Sera felt that blood inside her. She heard it singing in her veins and thundering through her heart, making her stronger and braver than ever before. Neela, Ling, Becca, Ava—they were more than her friends now, they were her sisters, bloodbound forever.

It wasn’t over, this quest that Vr?ja had given them; it had only just begun. Sera had no idea if any of them would survive the darkness and danger that lay ahead, but she knew they’d give everything they were, and everything they had—even their lives—to defeat the evil in the Southern Sea.

She could see their determination in Ling’s challenging gaze, in the defiant tilt of Ava’s head, in the way Becca held herself so straight and true, and in brilliance of Neela’s glow.

Ling left the group now and swam to the waterfire. Abbadon moved closer to the bars. “Did you get a good look, monster man? Did you see the blood bind?” she asked it. “Go. Call for your master. You have lots to tell him now.”

But Abbadon didn’t move.

Becca joined Ling. She sang a powerful fl?c?ri. The waterfire flared high and hot, surging through the bars of the Carceron. Abbadon roared. It flailed madly at the flames, then ran back into the prison’s depths. They heard its voice grow fainter and fainter, until they couldn’t hear it at all.

“You finished?” Magdalena asked. “Because you’ve got to get out of here. We’re running out of time.”

“They cannot. The tunnels are sealed now. The caves are empty. Everyone is gone except those of us in this room.” It was Vr?ja. She had a satchel slung over her back and was bolting the doors to the Incantarium. “In the gods’ names, why are you still here? You were told to leave.”

“We cast a bloodbind. In front of Abbadon. We vowed we would find the talismans, unlock the Carceron, and kill it. The bind can only be broken by death,” Serafina said.

“Which may happen sooner than you think if you don’t go now,” Vr?ja said.

“How? You just locked the doors!” Becca said.

Vr?ja swam to the far end of the room. A tall object rested against one wall, draped in black cloth. Serafina hadn’t noticed it before. Vr?ja yanked the cloth. It fell away to reveal a looking glass.

“I cast a baricad?, a strong blocking spell. It’ll hold them off until you escape through the mirror.”

The obar?ie had just finished speaking when a massive explosion came from above. Shock waves tore through the water.

“They’re here,” Vr?ja said.

For the first time, Serafina saw fear in her eyes.

“But they were at the mouth of the Olt only minutes ago,” Becca said, casting a frightened glance at the door. “It takes longer than a few minutes to get to these caves.”