“Ling? Ling, are you all right? Ling!” she shouted.
Ling opened her eyes. “Astrid, if I…if I don’t make it, sing my dirges,” she rasped.
“No,” Astrid said, panicking. “You’ll be okay, Ling.”
“Astrid, please….”
“No!” Astrid shouted, anger pushing aside fear. So many mer had died because of Orfeo and his madness. She didn’t want to lose one more. “I’m not singing your dirges, Ling! Nobody’s singing anybody’s dirges. You’re going to make it. I swear to the gods you are….”
Her voice trailed off. She felt as if the eye of a hurricane had just passed over her.
“Dirges,” she whispered. “Oh, my gods. Dirges.”
How do you kill an immortal soul? Sera had asked.
“You don’t,” Astrid whispered aloud. “You free it. Just like Orfeo had hoped to free Alma.”
“Astrid, what are you talking about?” Ling asked.
“Dirges. That’s how we do this. Ling, you’re a genius!”
“True, but what do dirges have to do—”
Astrid sheathed her sword. She swam out of the overhang. “Abbadon!” she shouted. “Hey, monster man!”
“Astrid, what are you doing?” Ling called after her.
“I don’t know!” Astrid shouted back. “I’ve never done it before!”
How do you sing a dirge? she wondered desperately.
She cast her mind back to the Hall of Elders, in the Citadel, when she and Desiderio were trying to escape from Rylka. That’s when she’d heard her father’s dirges being sung. The songspell was a simple and beautiful old Ondalinian melody. She would borrow it, add her own lyrics, and hope that her magic was strong enough.
“Abbadon!” she shouted, swimming right toward the monster. “Abbadon, hear me!”
“Astrid, no!” Sera cried.
She started to swim toward her, but Neela stopped her. “Wait, Sera!” she said. “Listen!”
They all listened as Astrid’s voice—strong and expressive—rose in the water. She’d cast a few frantic spells when she’d fought Orfeo, but this was the first time they’d really heard her sing.
Abbadon had been advancing on Becca, but as Astrid’s voice grew louder, it stopped, then slowly turned toward her. It seemed spellbound by her song, and the beauty of her voice. Its hands stretched toward her. One by one, they opened. The eyes stared at Astrid, unblinking.
“Oh, gods, no. It’s going to tear her in two,” Becca said.
As if acting on Becca’s words, Abbadon charged at Astrid, roaring.
“No!” Neela screamed.
Astrid’s own hands were knotted into fists, but she didn’t flinch. The monster stopped only yards away from her, its chest heaving. It threw its head back and roared so loudly that the mermaids had to press their hands over their ears. The entire prison shook. A section of wall behind Sera cracked and tumbled into the courtyard.
“Dirges,” Sera said excitedly. “She’s singing the souls back to the sea.”
The tides of life ceased long ago
For those sacrificed by Orfeo.
But no eternal rest for them,
No rites, no graves, no requiem.
Denied a place of final peace,
Their grief and anger cannot cease.
In endless torment they go on,
Imprisoned inside Abbadon.
Horok, come at our bequest,
Take the stolen to their rest.
Astrid kept singing. The monster clutched its head, then dropped to its knees. As it did, a thin crack opened up in its side. Light, pure and white, shot out of it. The water inside the courtyard started to whirl.
“Ava, what do you see?” Sera shouted.
“Souls! Thousands of them!” Ava shouted back. “They want to get out!”
Abbadon roared again. It sounded like a creature in torment.
“It’s working, Astrid!” Neela shouted. “Keep it up!”
Abbadon was breaking apart. More souls were pushing their way out. Their light was swirling through the courtyard. Their energy was fearsome.
They’re going to destroy the Carceron, Astrid thought. And everyone in it.
Another section of wall caved in. Sera grabbed Ava and Neela and swam with them into the center. Becca lifted up Ling, who was still under the overhang, and joined them. Only seconds later, the overhang split off from the rest of the ice and crashed to the ground.
“They have nowhere to go!” Neela shouted. “They want to go to the underworld, but they can’t!”
“They need pearls!” Ava yelled.
“Astrid!” Neela shouted. “Use your—”
But her words were cut off when a chunk of the glass ceiling fell in, narrowly missing Astrid.
“THE PEARLS!” Neela yelled as the water cleared, frantically pointing at her neck.
Astrid didn’t understand what she was trying to say. Her hand came up to her own neck. And then she felt it. Alma’s necklace! she thought. It was made of thousands of pearls. They were small, though. Would they work?
Still singing, she unhooked the necklace and swam to Abbadon. The monster’s roars had risen to shrieks now. Its body was riven with cracks. The light pouring from them was so bright, it was blinding.
“Hurry, Astrid!” Sera urged, as another section of wall came down.
Astrid ripped the necklace apart and scattered the pearls in a circle around Abbadon.
As the mermaids all watched, rays of light swirled out of the monster and disappeared into the pearls. One by one, the freed souls found their refuge.
Abbadon took a few last breaths, then with a deep groan, toppled onto the icy courtyard floor. As Astrid and the others watched, its chest sank. The eyes in its hands became sightless and dull. Its body, nothing but a hollow shell now, crumpled.
“You did it!” Sera said, throwing her arms around Astrid.
“We did it,” Astrid said, hugging her back. “All of us together.”
Becca and Neela slapped tails. Ling, pale as a sand dollar, managed to squeeze Ava’s hand.
And then the Carceron shuddered. A noise like a gunshot was heard overhead, as a crack opened in the roof’s glass.
“We’ve got to get out of here before the whole places crashes in on us,” Becca said.
“We can’t leave them,” Neela said, nodding at the pearls. “They need to go home. If the Carceron falls, we’ll never be able to find them again.”
“Ling needs a doctor,” Sera said, grimacing at the blood seeping out between Ling’s fingers. “Becca, can you get her back to camp?”
Becca nodded. “We’ll swim through the hole in the ceiling,” she said. “We don’t have time to deal with the maze, or the ghosts.”
“Good idea,” Sera said. “Everyone else, let’s move.” She cast an anxious glance at the ceiling.
Sera’s jacket, which Ling had pressed against her wound, was soaked with blood. Becca took off her own jacket and tied it around Ling’s torso. She looped one of Ling’s arms over her neck, then swam for the ceiling.
Astrid, Neela, Ava, and Sera swooped down to the bottom of the courtyard and picked up the pearls as quickly as they could. Ava felt for them with her hands. Astrid and Sera tore fabric from their dresses and made pouches out of it. Neela and Ava used their jackets. They all had to swim for cover when another crack snaked across the ceiling, but miraculously the glass held and they were able to resume their task.
“Ava, can you sense any that we missed?” Sera asked when they were done.
Ava shook her head. “We got them all; I’m sure of it.”
“Then let’s go.” Astrid gathered the corners of her pouch and knotted them. The others secured their pouches, too. Sera knotted Ava’s for her. Taking Ava’s hand, she swam toward the hole in the ceiling. Neela and Astrid followed.
The four made it through the jagged hole without any injuries and were turning toward the camp when another crack ripped through the ceiling. This one was too much for the a
ncient glass to bear. It imploded, lethal shards raining down over the courtyard and what was left of Orfeo’s tragic creature.
“We got out just in time,” Astrid said, leading the way back to camp.
The mermaids swam on in silence, then Sera said, “Will he come?”
“It depends how strong my magic was,” Astrid said.
“He’ll come. I know he heard you,” Sera said.
Astrid nodded. “I hope so,” she said. “Come on. We’ve got one more pearl to gather.”
SERA COULD SEE the anxious, upturned faces, mer and goblin, searching the waters over the Carceron.
Yazeed spotted them. He broke into a wide grin. “There they are!” he shouted, pointing.
Sera, Astrid, Neela, and Ava cleared the prison, then dropped down into the camp. As they placed the pouches of pearls down, their fellow fighters rushed to them.
“Did you—” Yazeed started to ask.
“We did,” Neela answered.
Yazeed’s whole body sagged with relief. He hugged his sister tightly. “I was so scared that you wouldn’t make it.”
“Really, Yaz?” Neela asked, clearly touched.
Yazeed immediately backstroked. “Well, um…what I meant is, I would’ve been scared. If I wasn’t so tough and cool.”
Neela laughed.
“Please tell me Ling’s okay,” Sera said, worry in her voice.
“She is,” said Ling, swimming up to the group. Lena was helping her. “I’m really sore, but I’m okay.” She lifted the clean shirt she was wearing. Black stitches ran in a jagged line across the bottom of her rib cage. “Twenty-two,” she said. “Lena did a great job.”
Lena smiled shyly, pleased by the praise. The two giant catfish behind her purred.
Kora and two of her Askari were nearby. “That will leave a beautiful scar,” Kora said enviously. She turned to Sera. “The monster…it’s really dead?”
“It is,” Sera replied.
Kora threw her head back and uttered a piercing, joyous victory cry.
She took her coral armband—notched for every Razormouth she’d killed—and put it on Sera’s arm. “Well done, sister Askara,” she said. She touched her forehead to Sera’s, then pulled her into a tight embrace.
Sera hugged Kora back, drawing strength from the fearless warrior. “Thank you,” she finally said. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
She released Kora. Thousands of weary, battered faces were looking at her. They’d formed a semicircle in front of the Carceron.
Sera swam before them. “Abbadon is dead!” she shouted, raising her fist high into the water.
A roiling, thunderous cheer went up from the fighters. They lifted their spears and swords, and threw their helmets into the water. The cheer carried on, long and loud, for minute after minute, until Sera raised her hands for silence.
“A great evil threatened our world!” she shouted, her voice ringing out. “Because of you, that evil is no more. Mer, goblin, sea creatures, and even the humans fought together and died together for this victory. Because of your bravery and your strength, Orfeo and Abbadon have been defeated. Because of your love for the seas and the freshwaters, their creatures have been saved from destruction. You have my gratitude, my respect, and my love. We will care for our wounded, and our dead, and then, we will care for one another. Always and forever, from this day on. Miromara, Matali, Ondalina, Atlantica, Qin, and the Freshwaters, together with our goblin allies, the troll clans, and sea creatures great and small, the Praedatori and the Wave Warriors, will never forget how greed and the hunger for power nearly destroyed our world. I promise you, on my life, that I will work with leaders from all realms to ensure peace and harmony between us. Our future, and the future of our home, depends on it.”
Cheers rose once again. Fighters hugged one another, and then returned to the difficult tasks of tending the injured and collecting the bodies. As they did, Ceto Rorqual and humpbacks swam overhead. They dipped down in the water and started butting their great heads into the walls of the Carceron. The old stones creaked and groaned before giving way and crashing to the seafloor.
“It’s over,” Garstig said. “At last.”
“Almost, but not quite,” Sera said.
She turned to Ava, but Ava answered her question before Sera could ask it.
“Yes, he’s coming,” she said. “I can feel him.”
A moment later, a majestic coelacanth, his long gray body mottled with splotches of silver, swam into the clearing. A hushed, reverent silence fell over the group. Everyone bowed his or her head.
The giant fish regarded them all, then, in a voice as ancient as time itself, said, “You summoned me, Astrid Kolfinnsdottir. Where is the soul you wish to commend?”
“We have many souls to commend, great Horok,” Astrid replied. “Stolen souls who’ve longed for centuries to find refuge with you.”
“I will receive them,” Horok said.
Astrid and Neela picked up the four pouches of pearls, then swam to Horok. They placed the pouches on the seafloor before him and opened them. The pearls were glowing softly.
Horok gently took them all into his broad mouth. No matter how many disappeared into his jaws, his mouth never filled. There was room for them all.
“They’re happy now,” Ava whispered.
“There’s one more,” Astrid said.
Horok nodded. “This one has refused me for centuries, but it is finally his time to make the journey.”
Astrid swam to where Orfeo’s corpse lay. She put out the waterfire she’d cast and bent down to the body. Taking great care not to touch the black pearl, she took the leather string from around Orfeo’s neck, then carried it to Horok. Holding one end of the string, she let the pearl slide off the other. Horok caught it as it fell, then readied himself to leave.
“Horok, wait….” Astrid said.
The coelacanth stopped. He turned back to her.
“Kolfinn…I—I didn’t have the time…” Astrid said, with tears in her eyes.
Sera joined her. “My mother and father…” she said, her voice breaking. “I never got to say good-bye. I never got to tell them—”
“They know, children,” Horok said. He turned his gaze to Becca. “Abigail and Matthew know, too. Only the body dies. Love lives on.”
And then, with a slow swish of his powerful tail, he swam away.
“Abigail and Matthew?” Ling asked, taking Becca’s hand. “Your parents?”
Becca nodded. Ava put an arm around her. Astrid joined them, taking Becca’s hand. Sera put an arm around Astrid. Neela took Sera’s hand and looped her arm around Ava. They were bloodied and scarred, but the circle of their sisterhood was unbroken.
“Orfeo got what he wanted in the end,” Astrid said, as they all watched Horok disappear. “He’ll finally be reunited with his beloved Alma.”
Sera wanted to thank her friends, to tell them what they meant to her, and how much she loved them, but her heart was so full of emotion, she couldn’t speak. Instead, she took a deep breath and began to sing.
How can I tell you, mages’ daughters,
My bloodbound sisters of the water,
Noble, brave, true as the seas,
Exactly what you mean to me?
Remember when it all began?
The call insistent, waves on sand
Summoned in a night’s dark dream,
By one who wasn’t what she seemed.
Fierce in aspect, kind of heart,
She showed us Orfeo’s dark art:
A monster made of fear and rage,
Now buried in an icy cage.
She told us one would set it free,
Then made a bold, impassioned plea:
Fight this evil, save the waters,
Work together, mages’ daughters.
Become as one, then save the seas?
Both seemed impossible to me.
Be brave, said she. Be smart, be swift,
But with this burden came a
gift:
Five other mermaids, true and strong,
Who sometimes didn’t get along.
Back in those caves, we didn’t know,
How much we’d help one another grow.
We’d suffered losses, cried bitter tears.
We’d hidden hurts, and hopes, and fears.
But slowly we began to trust,
In ourselves, one another, all of us.
What doesn’t kill you, leaves you broken.
Like loss and anger, grief unspoken.
But the spell of friendship, deep and real,
Can help a battered heart to heal.
Friendships forged when times are bright,
Will not withstand a sea-fret slight,
But bonds that form through strife and pain,
Will weather gales and hurricanes,
Only the gods can truly say
What happens when each goes her way,
But I know until my own life’s end,
I’ll call you sister, fighter, friend.
One heart, one mind, one soul are we,
My bloodbound sisters of the sea.
The last notes of Sera’s sea spell rose in the water.
Clear and bright.
Perfect and true.
Shining and real.
Then gone.
“YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL. Are you ready?”
Sera nodded. She smiled at Mahdi, so handsome in his jacket of light blue sea silk, and took his arm.
He led her through the Grand Hall and out of the palace. “Nervous?” he asked.
“About the ceremony? No. About your breathing, yes.”
She’d heard a hitch in his chest. She was sure of it.
“I’m fine,” Mahdi said. “The doctors said I could do this. Don’t worry so much, Sera.”
“How can I not?”
“Because I’m not in a coma anymore!” he replied, cheerfully exasperated with her.
Sera bit her lip. He tended to get frustrated if she, or anyone else, fussed over him too much. He was eager to be up and about. To resume his duties. He was getting stronger every day, but still—she worried. She couldn’t help it. She’d come so close to losing him that everything scared her now. She was worried if he was pale, or flushed. If he looked tired. If he didn’t eat enough. If he sneezed or coughed.