Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
The rest of our group had left the mating area after only a few minutes of us kissing, fortunately, so we hadn’t had an audience for our educational session.
Breese, reclining against the wall, grinned at us lazily when we finally left the building. “Fun?” he signed.
Aiden flushed. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” I signed. “Learn lots.”
Breese laughed. “Come. Child school next.”
He led our group to one of the schools that were in the center of the town. It wasn’t like our own schools, with rows of desks. Here, the mer children learned their language, but they also learned how to take care of the sea creatures around them, how to grow and make food, and how to work with others.
We swam into the large room when they were in the middle of a singing lesson, the sounds more like whale song than human song.
When they were done, we all signed our applause, the water rippling with our movements.
The children in this class were all smaller than Merle, the child of the queen, but they greeted us eagerly, swimming circles around us until I felt a little dizzy.
Breese shooed them back over to their teacher. “Show what school like. Can’t if you play.”
The teacher smiled. “Normally, science now. But groom buildings today. Help?”
I had no idea what she meant, but nodded eagerly. “If you show, we help.”
We were led onto the roof of the school building, where the coral was thick with anemones.
“How science underwater?” I asked the teacher as I swam along beside her. “Chemistry? Physics?”
“Biology same as land,” the teacher replied. “Physics same. Buoyancy included. Chemistry how two things react.” She shrugged. “Same. Maybe different to you.”
We were each paired with a small child, who showed us how to avoid the stinging fronds of the anemones and pull out loose rocks or human pollution that had filtered down to this level.
I was almost embarrassed by my species when I saw how much pollution had managed to make it through the protections surrounding Atlantis. It was mostly smaller objects, like bottle caps and plastic lids. I found a pull-tab from a pop can, which my kid pounced on and held over their head with a sharp ululation declaring a prize.
“Why excitement?” I asked after she had tucked it away in her sling bag.
“Make necklace like queen!” was signed quickly, eyes sparkling with joy. “Look beautiful.”
I smiled. “When I child, I do, too,” I signed in reply. I had forgotten that I had done that. “Find often?”
They shook their head sadly. “Only three. Big sister have thirty!”
“Wow!” I responded appropriately, wondering how much older the big sister was.
After grooming the building, our group said goodbye to the children, and Breese led us back to the palace.
“Feast tonight,” he said, rubbing his tummy eagerly in anticipation. “Everyone come.”
I looked around the large room wonderingly. “How whole town fit?”
Breese laughed. “Take turns. You see.”
Aquilia took over from the leaders of the various groups and brought us to a separate, smaller room. She looked grave. “We talk,” she said. “Magic weak for you.”
“Our tails?” I asked, concerned.
“On land,” she clarified. “Not problem here.”
“What?”
Professor Akhtar nodded. He had stayed with the queen to attend various meetings. This must have come up at one point.
“There’s magic here?” asked a boy from my class, signing eagerly. “I haven’t seen any magic.”
Our professor raised an eyebrow and gestured at his fin.
The boy flushed. “Meant spells.”
“Fields used spells to help seed and give nutrients,” volunteered a girl.
“We don’t use magic like land dwellers,” signed Queen Aquilia. “Not needed. I worried if magic weak here, too.”
“I did sight spell,” Professor Akhtar signed. “Magic strong. You look. Theories.”
The sight spell to see magic was a quick one, involving drawing a sigil over my eyelids. I opened my eyes slowly, to avoid being overwhelmed by magic.
The green of growing things was bright all around us, which I had expected. Each of my classmates were a vivid spot in my vision. But when I saw the ley lines intersecting below the seafloor, I gasped. It was like a river of magic. No wonder I felt so much more alert once we’d arrived. I’d thought it was the excitement of being somewhere new. If I’d had to guess, I would have said that the spell we ate that gave us our tails changed our metabolic rate or something.
It hadn’t occurred to me that the ley lines were present.
“Theories,” Professor Akhtar signed again, making a gesture to get us to focus.
I removed the sight spell and raised my hand. “Other side world,” I signed when he nodded at me. “Maybe not drained here because drained to here?”
“Why not balance?” Professor Akhtar mused.
“Block, like dam?” I said.
His eyebrows rose. “Why not see it?”
“This side world?”
“How to find?”
Aiden raised his hand. “Math. Find three point, triangulate, calculate.”
“Good thought.”
Queen Aquilia smiled. “Tell us what solution. Will help where possible.”
“Thank you.”
“Time for feast,” the queen told us. “You will stay?”
“Yes,” Professor Akhtar signed. “Magic dam waited two moons, can wait two days.”
I gripped Aiden’s hand excitedly. We had a plan of action! After two months of stagnating ideas with no answers, we could finally do something!
The main hall had been transformed during our conference, many Atlanteans having entered and transformed the orangey coral into a riot of color from their various fin colors. We were greeted happily and pulled into conversations.
I recognized many of the faces from our day visiting the town, from the teacher, to the farmers, to Rhea, the leaders, the kids with their parents… It was really nice to see everyone again and a beautiful way of saying goodbye.
There were platters of food passed around from person to person, and if you wanted to eat something from it, it was easy to grab a bite and pass it on to the next person.
It wasn’t until the third platter came to me that I realized that food shouldn’t stay on it in water. When I asked Wade about it, he laughed. Minor magic to keep things in place was prevalent throughout the town. He was surprised I hadn’t noticed it.
When I explained that we had to use a spell in order to see or sense magic, he nodded thoughtfully. He thought it was interesting that we had powerful magical items—like my necklace of water breathing—but were so limited in our senses.
After thinking it over, I came to the decision that I’d rather be able to turn off the ability to see magic. On land, in the academy, it would constantly overload my senses. Here, when I’d used the magic sight spell, everything was muted. I wondered if it was an effect of the water or because the magic used was of lower intensity.
I asked Wade for his thoughts, and he looked at me admiringly. “You smart. Spells use the natural magic around us.”
Ah, ambient magic .
Wade swished his tail, bringing him closer to me. “Smart is attractive,” he signed. “Courting?”
I flushed at his attention. “Grateful,” I signed courteously. I did the sign for soulmate that I had been taught and pointed to Aiden. “Love,” I signed, to be clearer.
“Lucky,” Wade said, nodding. “Wish long love.” He swished his tail again, backing off. “But if not, come back.” He winked and I laughed.
It was sweet, but I don’t think a human could live down here for a long period of time. I wondered if there was a more permanent transformation that could be made if someone did want to move here. That felt like too complicated a question to sign, so I made a mental note to ask Professor Akhtar when we got home.
After the feast, we said our goodbyes to everyone, and then we were escorted back to the portal by the queen, the leaders, and Merle.
“Welcome back any moon,” the queen signed in parting. “Joy, community, grateful.”
Professor Akhtar made a sign of deep respect. “Many thanks,” he signed. “Return gesture.”
Merle flipped in the water. “Me first!”
Aquilia laughed. “More moons first, child. We will discuss.”
“We will prepare.”
The professor took the berry that Merle offered and ate it, transforming back into his two-legged form.
“Professor,” I signed. “Take magical measurements before leaving?”
“Already done.”
I ate my own berry. The cold was a shock that I had forgotten about. I felt denser, like it was harder to float. I was definitely ready to return home.
Professor Akhtar activated the portal, and we swam through after we had returned to our usual forms.
The warmth of the swimming pool was a relief. I swam quickly up to the surface, breaking through and taking a deep breath of fresh air.
Aiden was close behind me, and we pushed ourselves up onto the edge of the pool.
I felt waterlogged, shaky, and my magic pulling on my bones. “Is this normal?” I gasped, rubbing my hands together.
Professor Puddlemoan surfaced not too long after us. “You’ll feel the call of the water for a few hours,” he said sympathetically, rubbing his hand over his bald spot. “You’ll also be dehydrated for a few days. Make sure you drink lots of water.”
“Dehydrated?” I repeated, chuckling. “It feels like the opposite right now!”
Even talking quietly, everything felt too loud after the silence of being underwater for the day.
“You’ll see what I mean in a few hours,” the professor said. “Run along now.”
I shook my head. “I need to talk to Professor Akhtar,” I insisted. “It’s important.”
“You need to get out of those wet things.” Professor Puddlemoan’s uncharacteristic sympathy vanished with a frown. He wasn’t used to students arguing with him.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to resist him for long. Professor Akhtar appeared, swimming with strong strokes to the pool’s edge nearby.
I got to my feet and took a few wobbly steps over to him. “We need to talk about Aiden’s idea!” I exclaimed excitedly. “Now that we know that the ley lines aren’t missing entirely, we can try to triangulate the position of the drain, or dam, or whatever the problem is!”
Professor Akhtar shook his shaggy head like a dog, spraying water everywhere. “Where do you suggest we go for the third data point?”
“Easter Island,” Aiden said immediately, coming to stand beside me. “I’d like to come, too, if you don’t mind.”
“We’re going to need your math skills,” I said.
“Good to know your limits,” Professor Akhtar said dryly. “We can go tomorrow.”
“Why not today?”
The professor raised one eyebrow. “Can you stand on your own two feet for longer than five minutes?”
I was already weakening. I could see his point.
“One more day isn’t going to make a difference,” he continued gently. “What have you got tomorrow?”
“Qualitative Spellcraft and Magical Creatures,” I said.
Professor Akhtar made a face. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind missing tomorrow afternoon’s class?” He phrased it like a question, and I wondered how much he knew about our pet.
“We are at your disposal,” Aiden said.
“Great.” Our teacher heaved himself out of the pool, water splashing around our feet. “I’ve got some measurements to do here before we go anyway.”
“Can I help?” I asked.
“You need to recover. I need your mind sharp tomorrow, not dehydrated and sluggish.”
“Excuse you, I have never been sluggish!” I pouted.
“Except for after the holidays when we needed to get used to the lack of ley lines,” Aiden pointed out.
“It shouldn’t be as bad this time,” the professor said reassuringly. “You weren’t using much magic in Atlantis, so there hasn’t been as much of a drain on your energy. However, you underwent a transformation and used muscles that you wouldn’t normally, on top of being surrounded by magic and then abruptly removed from the source. Rest, drink lots of water, and you’ll be fine by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thanks, Professor,” I said, chastened.
“Let’s go get changed,” Aiden said, tugging on my hand.
And check on Moonbeam, I added mentally.
“Yeah, I’m ready to never wear a wetsuit again.”
Aiden chuckled. “Right there with you, babe.”
We made our way up to our rooms. The wetsuit kept riding up my ass crack, making me miss my tail. Aiden peeled the top half off his body and wrapped the arms around his waist, which provided the nice distraction of his muscled shoulders until we had to separate into our different hallways.
Rhiannon knocked on my door not long after I’d managed to extricate myself from the clinging fabric. I wrapped myself in my fluffy robe and opened the door for her.
“How did it go, looking after Moonbeam?” I asked eagerly.
“She was fine,” Rhiannon said reassuringly. “As I’ve already told Aiden, she behaved perfectly for me. You didn’t have to worry.”
“That’s such a relief,” I said. Tension that I didn’t notice I was carrying left my shoulders. “Did he tell you that Professor Akhtar is taking us on an emergency trip to Easter Island tomorrow afternoon?”
“No, he didn’t mention that.” Rhiannon sat on my bed and chirped to Lilia’s dragons, who flew over for pets. “How is that an emergency?”
I pulled on comfy sweats and an oversized t-shirt, forgoing underclothing. I wanted, no, deserved to be comfortable, damn it! “Atlantis has ley lines,” I said dramatically.
Rhiannon’s jaw dropped. “No way.”
“Yes way. I saw them myself.”
“How is that possible?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” I said, brushing my hair. It was slow going, what with all the tangles from the water. “We had assumed that the ley lines vanished, but it seems that something is drawing on them instead.”
“Something in the southern hemisphere,” Rhiannon continued my trail of thought.
“Exactly. So we’re going to Easter Island to get another reading on the ley lines.”
“Will the fact that Atlantis is underwater have an effect?”
I made a face. “It might. We’ll have to see.” I got excited at the idea. “This is actually fascinating. We’re learning so much about the ley lines and how they are connected to each other. We thought they were like rivers into an ocean, in perfect balance. This is going to change how we interact with them!”
Rhiannon smiled at my excitement. “Is that how I look when I discover a new species?”
I laughed. “Possibly. You’re pretty enthusiastic about Moonbeam.”
“I’ve been taking notes,” Rhiannon confided. “Hidden, of course. I’ve been tracking her growth, both physically and magically, and recording her mannerisms. It’s so important to understand these creatures, even though it looks like we’re harboring one of the last of her species.”
“Don’t say that!” I begged. “I’m hoping that the rest of her species is safe, far away from us.”
Rhiannon winced. “We got news today from the Ministry. They found one.”
My stomach flipped. “Only one, right?”
“So far.”
“Where?”
“In Scotland.”
“I hope we can solve this riddle quickly and save these creatures from any more harm.”
“From your lips to the ears of the gods.”