Chapter 27
“Ready to go?” Selena asked.
I nodded, pretending as though my stomach hadn’t tied in ribbons. I’d tried to nap earlier, as Selena had suggested. But just like my last night spent on the islands, sleep had been hard to find.
Selena waited for me to enter the coach first. Hands braced on either side, I ambled in, ignoring the feeling of curious eyes at my back. Since arriving, I hadn’t spoken to a single person besides Selena and the royal tailor—and technically the coward who had brought me—but the palace residents seemed to know why I was there. Gossip must travel faster here than in Leihani, because they’d circled me like vultures looking for a meal as I’d descended the main stairs and wandered outside.
I was grateful when the driver slammed the door shut.
It was my second time in a coach, though I’d barely paid attention the night before. I sat in the back seat, facing the horses, mesmerized as I watched their ears flick like little birds that twitched their heads in all directions, investigating every noise and current of air.
Just before the coach turned onto the main road, canopied by a thicket of pine, Selena turned in her seat, sliding the little window open.
“Pike, could you pull over please?”
She shut it smoothly before he could respond, though I’m not sure he would have anyway. The coach wheels rolled and bobbed to a stop. Selena lifted a brow at me. “We’ll need to sing to him before we can go to the beach.”
“Sing to him?”
“So he doesn’t remember taking us.”
The carriage lifted as he slid off his bench in the front, making his way toward the door to see what we needed.
“You’re going to do it,” she added.
“Me?” I breathed, utterly bewildered.
“Before he has a chance to speak.”
“What do I—”
The door opened, and a young man appeared.
My thoughts evaporated.
The people of Leihani don’t really sing. We chant, we tell stories, but melodies were things I’d only heard from sailors, leaning off the edge of docks and ships with a harmonica or mandolin.
So, when I opened my mouth to sing, no song came to mind that could’ve been recorded on paper. The string of notes that left my mouth were eerie even to my own ears. Hollow and haunting; ethereally sad.
“Keep singing,” Selena murmured, watching the man.
I did.
And I watched him change.
My eyes only flickered over him at first, thinking we were finally finished and ready to dismiss him, but then I paused at the look on his face. The warmth in his eyes had been replaced with emptiness. He looked tired, or drunk, or perhaps concussed. His pupils dilated and unfocused, he gazed at me, devoid of any consciousness at all.
Unnerved, I snapped my mouth shut.
A strange, acrid smell flowed from him, rousing a memory of a merchant ship hauling dyed fabrics that had caught fire, leaving the island laced with the sharp odors of burning chemicals.
“Tell him we’ve had a change in plan,” Selena said. “He needs to take us to Venusian Beach.”
I repeated the words in varying degrees of awe. Pike nodded, and I couldn’t help but think of an empty shell as he closed the coach door and returned to his bench as if drifting off into water.
We traveled in relative quiet, though I knew Selena watched me. I wasn’t sure what she wanted. I told myself I didn’t care.
But as I began to squirm, my pride slowly popped and deflated. Irritated at my own nervousness, I pulled my feet onto the seat next to me.
“Is that how they lured the sailors?” I asked. Irah’s boyish face flashed in my mind.
“Most likely,” she said softly.
“Will he be alright?”
“He’ll be fine. We’ll stop again thirty minutes before we reach the palace and you’ll release him. He’ll likely think he fell asleep and be too embarrassed to mention anything amiss, if he even notices. In most cases, they don’t realize they’ve lost time at all, though if they do realize it they often grow paranoid.”
“Aren’t we staying overnight?” Losing a few hours might be one thing, but we were leaving at dusk and not returning until morning.
Selena shrugged a narrow shoulder.
We sat in silence for a long time. Long enough for the sun to shrink down over the sea, setting the sky ablaze with pink and orange.
I tried not to think about what waited for me. The pain I’d felt a week ago when Nori and Olinne had let me escape to the surface. Or about the fact that I’d been given no option but to transition—either by them then or Selena now.
It is time, creature. To claim that which you seek.
“Will I be different?”
Staring out the window, Selena’s mouth twitched. “Not really.”
“What will change, then?”
Selena clicked her tongue. “Your hearing will grow sharper. Especially underwater. You’ll be able to listen to conversations through walls. Try to avoid falling into the trap of eavesdropping. Inevitably, you’ll hear hurtful things about yourself. And sometimes sound can hurt when it’s too loud or too close.
“Your sense of smell will improve, too, sometimes to your detriment when passing the alleys behind taverns or the kennels in the palace courtyard.” Her nose wrinkled elegantly, and I smiled. “But often you’ll find it helpful. Creatures, humans especially, release pheromones through their skin that will help you understand them. Their moods, their emotions. You”ll find yourself sniffing a room as soon as you enter to gauge the temperaments in the air.”
She tilted her head, thinking of more. “You’ll be more susceptible to the cold. Never leave without warmth on your shoulders. If you injure a bone, you’ll take longer to heal. If you injure skin or muscle, you’ll heal almost twice as fast. Either way, wounds demand a great deal of sleep from us. Don”t hurt yourself and expect to keep your energy.”
“Is that all?” I asked, having hoped for more.
Selena chuckled under her breath, eyes on the fading sun. “In only a matter of hours, you’ll be able to see for yourself.”
I slumped against the backrest of my seat, crossing my arms over my stomach, my knee jiggling in a dance I had no control over.
“Maren,” Selena finally said, resting her fingers gently on my knee and gazing into my eyes. “You won’t be alone. I’ll be with you. I won’t leave.”
I nodded stiffly, unable to decide if her touch put me at ease or added to my anxiousness.
“Do you want to play a game?” she offered.
I shook my head. I barely had room to think and talk. “Will I regret it?”
“Transitioning?”
“Yes.”
Selena smiled. “Never.”