31. Hidden Song
HIDDEN SONG
The mermaids and sirens lead Thomas and me to a large, cavernous entrance under the waves.
“What is this?” I ask.
“We’re here,” the three naiads say in unison.
“Some of the island used to be above the waves, but over time it has sunk lower,” one mermaid explains.
“We go through this tunnel, and it will take us to the place you seek,” says the second.
Thomas pauses, looking directly at me.
“He can’t fit through that entrance, and we are all going to go.”
I need Starla to break the curse. She can’t do it from inside a whale, and she can’t do it deep under the water, either.
“When we come out on the other side of the tunnel, there is a cave with air for anyone who requires it,” one of the mermaids volunteers.
“How long of a swim is the tunnel?”
They each give different answers, mostly measured in time instead of distance. I gather it will depend on how strongly and quickly my friends can swim.
“Would you please excuse me for a moment?” I say to the group, not waiting for a response before I swim up to Thomas’s mouth. I point up, and he surfaces once more.
“Knock, knock?” I joke.
The whale’s lips part just enough to let me slip through and past some bristles.
Jackal runs to me through the rush of water that skates across the whale’s tongue.
“Are you all right?”
I nod.
“Yes, there are five sirens out there, of the mermaid and naiad varieties. I had to prove my song was stronger than theirs before they would help us, so I’m not feeling spectacular.”
Jackal growls low in his throat, marching up to the front of Thomas’s mouth. I grab his wrist.
“It’s all right. We’ve come to a truce. They’re taking us to the location where Inktus’s bones are buried, and I think that’s where we can break the curse.”
“Why do I feel like there’s more to this?” he asks.
“Because there’s a catch. We need to swim through an underwater tunnel. It lets out into a cave where there will be air, but I’m not sure how to get you all there. Thomas is too big to fit like this.”
The others have been crowding around, listening in on our conversation.
“I can do it. I can spell some orbs of air around everyone so we can breathe long enough to get through. Another one of my handy new tricks. I figured it could come in handy at the Sea Wench, if any drunken patrons decide to go for a swim and get stuck in a rip tide or something.” Starla stands with her hands on her hips, the assured stance only slightly ruined by the way she wobbles while standing on a whale’s tongue.
Exos scowls.
“How much magic will that use up? What kind of state will it leave you in?”
I’m with the gargoyle, and I hate that I have to ask some additional questions that make me sound selfish.
“What about breaking the curse? We can’t say for sure how much energy that will require. You’re just now getting back to yourself after a day of resting.”
She laughs.
“I don’t know that I’d call sitting on a whale’s tongue resting. This experience is so unique I can’t even think of a good comparison.”
“Even so, Starla. I can’t let you—”
“Leena, you are my best friend in this whole wide world. As such, I know you’re already well aware that nobody lets me do anything.
I am getting us all in that cave. I’m not leaving you cursed.
And I’m not going in without backup, just in case those other sirens decide to pull a fast one on us.
Which means bringing the guys along. Pickles included.
I don’t think he’d like being stuck in here alone. ”
I shift on my feet, doing my best to keep my own balance.
“There’s not going to be any arguing with you, is there?”
“Sure isn’t! We’re wasting daylight the longer we stand here. Or moonlight. Or whatever time it is out there by now. Hard to tell from inside a whale. But we’ve got things to do and places to be.”
I throw my arms around my best friend.
“Your friendship is one of the best things to ever happen to me,” I tell her.
“Hear that, Jackal? I’m the favorite!” she teases.
“I said one of!” I protest.
Jackal just grins and flips Starla a good-natured middle finger.
They bicker more than Cannon and I ever did, but they love each other just as much. After meeting the councilman myself, I’m even more thankful than before that she had him by her side during her summer and holiday visits to England.
Pickles barks, and I kneel down.
“I didn’t forget you. You are the best dog anyone could have asked for. I will buy you so many toys and treats after this is all over. I promise.”
“All right, you lot. Line up!” Starla yells.
The guys get in a row in front of her. Pickles is in Jackal’s arms for the moment.
Starla rubs her hands together, eyes and fingertips glowing as small, bright orbs form around everyone’s heads. Pickles’s is comically small, and his ears wrinkle up to fit.
Once everyone is outfitted, we swim out. The naiads and mermaids are waiting, and they fixate almost immediately on the basset hound.
“What kind of dog is that?” demands the dark-haired naiad.
“He looks like a seal pup! But with longer ears,” adds the mermaid with shorter hair.
Pickles tries to swim over to them. I help him along, propelling him toward the others but ready to intervene if necessary.
I needn’t have worried. They’re crooning over him, giving him pats and utterly besotted within moments.
“If I’d have known all I needed was my dog, I might not have bothered singing at them,” I tell Jackal as he swims up to me.
“I know the idea of me offering to help you swim is silly, but if your song has depleted your strength, I’ll carry you if need be,” he offers. “It’s been hell, feeling like I’m not much help to you during all this. I want to be there for you.”
I’d kiss him if it weren’t for the air bubble surrounding his face.
“You are, in the most important way. You support me, and you uplift me. If I need help swimming, I’ll let you know. Thank you.”
Jackal smiles.
The water around us sways and shifts as Thomas shrinks down, transforming into a man. He gives me a thumbs-up once he’s back in his skin, his dark curls floating on the water.
“Ready for the cave!”
“You can still breathe in this form?” I ask him.
“Whale perk. Almost as good as a naiad, huh?”
“Better,” I admit. “I can’t transport more than myself.”
Technically not true. I did push several people to safety when Leon’s men blew up our boat earlier this year, but it took a toll.
Our group swims after the mermaids and naiads, who have taken it upon themselves to help Pickles along. Now that I’ve proven my worth—or more likely now that they have an adorable sidekick—they’re almost docile, if not overly friendly to the rest of us.
“I gather they don’t get a lot of guests this far out at sea,” Starla says as we descend into the tunnel.
“We’re not often this close to others,” the short-haired mermaid admits, clearly overhearing her.
I try to think of a way to ask what I’m curious about gently, but Starla beats me to it.
“Is that because you’re normally luring people to their dooms and don’t take time to get to know them?”
Queen of finesse, that one.
The mermaid actually chuckles.
“We’re not killers. Not generally. We just live more naturally. Sticking to long stints in the water and then short stops in port towns. We may sing to people for the purpose of getting certain supplies, but we send them away physically unharmed unless they approach us with ill intent first.”
“Modern-day pirates,” Starla muses.
She nods.
“Somewhat. We stopped the whale because we could feel the presence of Inktus’s descendant, I suppose. Not that we realized that’s what it was. We could just tell there was the presence of magic, and we wanted to know what was going on—and if you presented a threat.”
“Which you do.” The brown-eyed naiad has deep red scales shining up and down her arms and legs. She doesn’t sound malicious when she says it; more matter-of-fact.
Since discovering my song, I’ve worked hard to get stronger to help those I care about. Training with Never, facing Leon’s men, rescuing animals, and then squaring off with Leon himself.
But I haven’t considered myself a threat. I didn’t really spend any time thinking about how my abilities stacked up to others of my kind. It makes sense the ability would vary. Witches’ keys are of different strengths, and not all shifters are fast or strong or deadly to the same degree.
Still, realizing I’m the strongest siren they’ve ever come across still has my mind buzzing.
Starla is lagging, and Thomas helps her along, kicking until they’re both next to Jackal and me.
“Not that I’m not enjoying the underwater maze, but how much farther?” the witch questions.
“Soon,” the short-haired mermaid answers vaguely, flicking a tail covered in turquoise scales.
The tunnel curves, and we swim left at a cluster of dark rock and coral outcropping. Deep-sea coral is different from the varieties that require sunlight that I’d see closer to home. I’d be tempted to stop and look closer if this were any other situation.
“This is it,” says one of the naiads.
The last turn leads us to water that quickly grows shallow, and we are indeed in an underwater cavern with a vast ceiling of rock and a bar of sandy beach.
Jackal is first onto the sand, plopping Pickles down.
The basset hound looks no worse for wear as he gives himself a vigorous shake and then begins to sniff around.
He sneezes a few times, and smoke comes out of his nostrils.
Starla lets the bubbles around everyone’s heads drop, and she sits on the sand, taking deep breaths. Exos crouches by her, rubbing her shoulders.
Jackal gives Ji-hwan a hand as the Were steps gracefully from the water.
“Now what?” I ask the naiads as they walk up onto the sand with us. The mermaids stay in the water, tails swishing.
“Now, you use that,” says one, pointing to the shell necklace.
“Use it? I was told it’s for holding magic.” My insides give a twist. If I was meant to put a spell or something into the shell before arrival, then we’ve missed a crucial step.
“You place it there,” says the red-scaled naiad, pointing to a rectangular box made of stone. The edges of it are too precise to exist by chance. When I walk over to it, I see my great-great-grandmother’s name carved across the top like a gravestone. Above the name is a carved shell.
“It’s a key?” I ask.
“Be careful, love. It could be booby-trapped,” Jackal warns.
I nod.
“Either way, I have to open it. Will you stay with me?”
Selfish. I should be pushing him as far from harm as possible.
But after using my song, I feel more vulnerable than ever.
Tears form in my eyes when he takes my hand without question.
Getting through Councilman Taylor’s event without him by my side was trying, and while I’m glad I proved myself capable, I’m thankful for the hyena’s presence now.
I take off the necklace, pressing the shell into the matching indentions on the rock’s surface. There’s a faint click and then the slab of rock shifts.
When I pull it back, I don’t find bones.
Instead, there’s a piece of parchment with faded ink.