“Come on,” Sera said, hoping against hope that their plan would work.
The blades made several revolutions—and sliced through the net effortlessly. Serafina’s heart sank.
“Time to make wake,” she said.
“No, Sera, it’s working! Look!”
As the mermaids watched, the shredded filament wound itself around the propeller’s shaft and jammed it. The shaft strained, turned a few more time, then quit.
“We stopped him,” Neela said.
Serafina shook her head. “We’ve only slowed him. He followed us here. He knows where we’re going. As soon as he fixes his propeller, he’ll come after us again.”
“Sera,” Neela said, “Mfeme transports death riders for Kolfinn. The duca said so. What if they’re on board right now? What if they come out to see why the propeller stopped?”
“If they were on the ship, Mfeme would have sent them out to get us by now. But that doesn’t mean they’re not patrolling nearby. We need to get moving.” She glanced at the dead once more. “Before we end up like them.”
“HI, KITTY! NICE KITTY! Please let us pass, nice little kitty-witty!” Neela said nervously to the catfish circling around her.
There were eight of them in the dusky water, and they were monsters. Six feet long, they had speckled gray backs and fleshy pink undersides. Long barbels stood out like whiskers on either side of their broad, flat faces. Their mouths were over a foot wide. Big enough to down a duck in one gulp, a mermaid in two or three. Neela reached out her hand to pet one.
“Um, Neela? I wouldn’t do that,” Ling said.
“It’s okay. He’s purring,” Neela said.
“He’s not purring. He’s growling.”
The catfish snapped. Neela jerked her hand back.
“We don’t have time for this,” Serafina said, casting a worried glance over her shoulder.
“Tell him!” Neela said, checking her fingers.
Death riders were on their tails. The mermaids had reached the Dunărea and had put a league or so between themselves and Mfeme’s ship when they heard the soldiers coming. They’d been trying to find a place to hide. Instead, they found themselves surrounded by giant catfish.
“Get off my river,” a voice brusquely said.
Neela looked up. A freshwater mermaid floated nearby, brandishing a hockey stick. She was dark gray with beige stripes and spots. A spiky fin ran down her back. She wore dangly earrings made out of bottle caps and a necklace the likes of which Neela had never seen before. All sorts of goggish things dangled from it: a doll’s head, a pacifier, a bottle opener, a lighter, a small flashlight, and a golf ball. Her hair, bound into two hippokamp tails that stuck up on either side of her head, was dyed an alarming shade of red. Her mouth was painted a matching shade. She hadn’t exactly colored inside the lines.
“Perfect. Just what we need. A crazy lady with too many catfish,” Ling whispered.
The mermaid had come out of a house—kind of. Neela had never seen anything like that, either. It appeared to be made out of old, rusting car parts—doors, hoods, chrome bumpers. The windows were bicycle wheels. An old black umbrella, its edges hung with forks, knives, and spoons that clattered and chimed, was stuck at the very top. It twisted in the river’s current like a weather vane.
“Zi bună, doamnă,” Ling said in Romanian, trying to smile as she held her broken arm to her chest. Good day, madam.
“Don’t madam me, merl,” the freshwater retorted, in Mermish. “Leave the way you came. Now.”
“We can’t do that, Miss…Miss…”
“Lena,” the freshwater said. “This section of the river,” she added, pointing with her hockey stick, “from that rock all the way up to the next bend, is mine. And I don’t like trespassers. Trespassers upset the kitties. Can’t you see the line of pebbles I put out? You aren’t supposed to cross it!”
Neela knew that freshwater merfolk were very territorial. They liked to be left alone, too. But this mermaid’s behavior…there was more to it than a dislike of strangers. Under the brusque words and aggressive posturing, there was fear. Neela could sense it.
“Could we please cross, Lena?” she asked. “We’ll swim right through and keep on going.”
Lena crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what the mermaid who wanted to cross yesterday said!”
“Do you know who she was? Did you get her name?” Serafina asked.
“Sava or Plava or Tava…something like that,” Lena said.
Neela traded glances with Serafina and Ling. She could see they were thinking the same thing she was: Could Sava, Plava, or Tava be one of theirs?
“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 Dunărea’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.”
Serafina turned to her. “I know why Rafe Mfeme didn’t want the coast guard to board his ship. I know what he’s carrying in the hold of his trawler and it’s not shad,” she said.
“What is it?” Neela asked.
“The stolen villagers of Aquaba.”
“MFEME’S BEEN BEHIND it all along,” Serafina said. “He carries Traho’s soldiers in his ships to the waters over the targeted villages. They descend, force the villagers into the ships, and then Mfeme carries them away. That’s why it always looks as if they’ve vanished without a trace. And that’s why he wanted jellyfish, not shad. Remember when he said that? Just after he caught Ling? Jellies are mer food. He needed them to feed to his prisoners.”
She was swimming to and fro in Lena’s kitchen, angry and upset. Neela leaned against a wall, watching her. Ling was sitting at the table, cradling her arm.
“But these raids have happened in all the waters, not just Miromara’s. Thousands of merpeople have been taken. Mfeme can’t keep them all in his trawlers. So what’s he doing with them?” Neela asked.
“I think he’s taking them to Ondalina. So Kolfinn can use them as hostages. No one will attack Ondalina if doing so means killing their own people,” Serafina said. “We have to do something. We have to stop him.”
“How?” Neela asked.
“I don’t know. We could go to your father. After we find the Iele. He’s emperor now. We can tell him what’s happening. He’ll stop it. He’ll get a message to the other rulers of the water realms—”
Ling cut her off. “Um, Sera? You are a ruler of a water realm,” she said.
Serafina looked away. No one spoke. The tension between the two mermaids was palpable, and just as prickly as it had been before Serafina had swum off to join the shoal.
Sera had apologized and Ling had said it was not her fault, but none of that changed what had led to the disaster—the fact that Sera couldn’t accept that her mother was likely dead, or that she was now the ruler of Miromara.
Lena was the one who broke the tension. She came into the kitchen carrying sea flax bandages, pieces of a Styrofoam cooler, scissors, and several fronds of gracilaria weed, a painkiller. She dumped it all on the table.
“It’s going to hurt bad. Real bad. You’ll probably scream your head off, wet yourself, and pass out,” she said.
“Hey, Lena, ever hear of something called a little white lie?” Ling asked.
Lena didn’t reply. She was looking down at a sickly kit who was swimming around her. “What’s the matter, Radu?” she said, scratching the creature’s head. “Still not feeling well? Hang on, little one. I’ll get you your medicine in a minute.”
Ling looked at the heap of supplies on the table. “Have you ever done this before?” she asked.
“No, but I’ve set more duck wings than I care to remember,” Lena said cheerfully.
“Duck, mermaid…same thing,” Ling said. She lifted her arm away from her chest. Her wrist flopped. “At least it’s not my sword hand.”
Lena let out a low whistle. “Looks like both bones are broken,” she said. “Neela, take hold of her forearm and hold it still.”
Neela was horrified. “Me? Why me? I can’t do that!”
“You have to,” Lena said.
Neela held her hands up. “Wait…I need a zee-zee. I won’t get through this without one.”
“You? What about Ling?” Serafina asked.
“Ladies, can we please just do this?” Ling said, through gritted teeth.
“Neela, steady Ling’s arm. Serafina, when I say so, pull her hand. Straight out. Slowly and gently,” Lena said. “We’ve got to separate the broken edges.”
“Did you have to say that?” Neela asked, turning green. “The bit about the broken edges?”
Serafina took Ling’s hand. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry,” she said softly.
“Just do it,” Ling said.
“Neela, you ready?” Lena asked.
Neela nodded. Lena placed a frond of gracilaria weed on the table in front of Ling. Neela stuffed it into her mouth and swallowed it.
“That was for Ling,” Lena said.
“Oh,” Neela said. “Sorry.”
Lena handed Ling another frond; Ling chewed it.
“Okay, Serafina, go,” Lena said.
As Serafina stretched Ling’s arm, and Neela supported it, Lena worked on the break. With sure but gentle fingers, she found the edges of each bone and fit them together. Neela gasped as she did. Ling, however, didn’t make a peep. Furrowed lines on her forehead were the only signs of the terrible pain she was in.
“You are one tough merl,” Lena said admiringly.
When Ling’s arm was straight again, Lena splinted it with the Styrofoam, then secured the splint with lengths of sea flax. Next she made a sling out of an old scarf. When she was finished, she gave Ling another frond of gracilaria.
“Thank you,” Ling said, her voice ragged with pain.
“Are we through here? Because I am really light-headed, people. I need to sit down,” Neela said.
Ling rolled her eyes. Serafina cleaned up Lena’s supplies. And Lena asked if anyone was hungry. They all were. She complained how they’d eat her out of house and home, then served them heaping bowls of stew thick with salvinia leaves, frogspawn, and river root. Darkness had fallen, but Lena had turned up the lava globes on her wall. It was cozy in her overstuffed kitchen, and Neela felt immensely grateful to be inside it. She shuddered to think of what would have happened if they hadn’t found her.
After the dinner was eaten and the dishes cleared away, Lena sat in a rocking chair she’d made out of an old terragogg baby carriage, scooped Radu into her lap, and crooned to him. The kit was obviously in pain.
“What’s the matter, bibic?” she said worriedly. “Is it your stomach? Why don’t you eat?”
The kit mewled piteously. Ling, watching
him, waggled her fingers in the water and caught his attention. Then she started making a strange series of clicking and popping sounds. The kit clicked and popped back at her.
“It’s not his stomach. It’s his left gill. He’s not eating because the pain’s so bad, it’s put him off his food,” Ling said.
Lena, wide-eyed, stopped rocking. “How do you know that?” she asked.
“I just asked him. I speak Dracdemara, his language. I’m an omnivoxa.”
Lena gently folded back the kit’s gill. “Oh, my. He has a stagnala leech!” She hurried to get a pair of tweezers and in no time had removed the parasite. Almost instantly, the little kit perked up and spoke to Ling.
Ling smiled. “He says he feels much better and he’s hungry,” she told Lena.
Lena fixed Radu his dinner, and when he was done, she kissed his nose and put him to bed in a crate lined with marsh grass by the lavaplace. “There, bibic. There, my sweet boy. Sleep now.”
She turned to Ling “You saved him,” she said. “I have something for you. A gift. To say thank you. All I have to do is find it,” she said.
“Lena, it’s okay, really,” Ling said. “You’ve done so much for me, for all of us. I’m glad I could help you out.”
“No, I insist. It’s a game the goggs play. A word game. You’re an omni and omnis like words,” Lena said. She took down a box from a shelf, and started rifling through it. She pulled out a dress, a coat, a mixing bowl, a necklace, and an eggbeater. “I’ve seen them playing this when they have picnics on the riverbank.” She dug some more. Out came a bicycle horn. A brass lantern. A plastic dinosaur. “One got really mad once when he lost—I saw him. He chucked the game into the river. That’s how I got it. Where is it?”
She got up, leaving the mess she’d made, and took down another box. A raincoat came out of it. A trumpet. A steering wheel. As she pulled out more stuff, Neela remembered the difficulties she and Sera had in keeping their illusio spells going.
She got up and started to sort through the things Lena was strewing around. She picked up a dress and a tunic. A bolt of cloth. A jacket. Some jewelry. A messenger bag. A packet of fishhooks. There were possibilities here. That cloth—it was just the right color. And that dress—how would it look with the sleeves cut off? Neela started to feel tingly and excited, as she always did when she had fabric in her hands and ideas in her head.