Chapter 9
I’ve been at it for hours, and still nothing. Caspian had to leave before the sun was even up, and there’s not much else to do on this hunk of rock. So I’ve been trying to solve the mystery of the ancient discs, to no avail. Tired of failing, I switch to examining the little harmonica things.
They don’t make music, that’s for sure. But clearly, they have value, since there were so many of them in that shop. I pry at one of them, attempting to pull it apart. Maybe if I can dissect it, I’ll figure it out. But try as I might, it won’t break. It seems to be all one piece.
We stare at each other for a long beat before she lets out a loud squeal and races straight for where I’m sitting on a rock overhang. I hurry to scoot back, but she’s on me before I can get away. She grabs my foot and yanks me all the way into the water.
“S-stop!” I sputter saltwater out of my mouth, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Who is this girl?
Her head is underwater now, and she’s touching my legs, pulling them apart and scrutinizing them as if she’s never seen anything so fascinating before.
When she breaks the surface again, she’s laughing and chittering away in that language of Caspian’s that I still don’t understand.
I really should have made him teach me more than just the word for the compass things they use to find their cities. I’xal isn’t very useful for me now.
The woman drags her hand up my inner thigh, and I slap it away as best I can in the water. “Okay, that’s enough. I’m not some anomaly to examine or a pet or something. I’m a person.”
I grab her shoulders, trying to keep her above the water.
It’s clear she’s stronger than me and could break away if she wanted to, but she doesn’t.
Now that I’m looking at her more closely, I can see slight resemblances to my mate.
She has Caspian’s eyes, though hers are lighter, the color of an ice floe.
Could she be related to him somehow? A sibling? A cousin?
I hold tight and look her straight on. “Who are you? Do you know Caspian?” I over-enunciate, even though that probably won’t help her understand. Then again, Caspian learned my language in a matter of days. And the queen somehow already spoke it. Maybe this girl does too?
She gives me a funny look, which is when I realize that Caspian’s not actually his name. It’s the name he chose for himself in my language. Shit, I don’t know what they call him down here.
“Mate.” I try a different tactic. “Do you know my mate? Could you bring him here?”
Maybe he’ll have an idea about how to work these discs.
I never had a chance to show him before we were snatched from the cave.
Plus, I miss him. It’s only been a few hours, judging by the position of the sun in the sky, but back at Woodhurst we spent every waking and sleeping moment together after we bonded.
The girl doesn’t answer my question. I let go of her shoulders, but she doesn’t leave. At least she’s not touching me anymore, though the gentle swish of her tail as she keeps herself afloat moves the water in a tickle over my legs. I swim back to the rock formation and climb up.
After squeezing the water from my hair and sitting down, I point to my chest. “I’m Madison.” I point at her. “What’s your name?”
She doesn’t respond. Okay, fine. Caspian didn’t say much at first either once he figured out we didn’t speak the same language. He learned by listening.
“I guess I’ll just have to do all the talking for both of us,” I say out loud. “You wouldn’t happen to know what either of these do?” I hold up the disc and the not-harmonica.
The girl tilts her head and grabs the harmonica, pulling it into the water.
“Yeah, I tried that. I thought it might be like the i’xal, something that only works in water, but it didn’t do anything.”
She drops under the water herself, but she’s still close enough to the surface that I can see her. She holds the device to her nose and sniffs, then brings it to her ear and shakes it. Next she tries to bite it. She grimaces when her teeth hit the metal.
I try not to laugh. It seemed pretty obvious to me that it’s not food, but maybe mermaids eat metal? I’d be surprised if that’s true, but I really don’t know much about them at all. I guess it kinda looks like a shell. If I squint really hard.
While I’m still lost in my head, wondering what else I don’t know about my mate and his people, the girl brings her lips to the device and blows.
Bubbles spill out of the small openings.
Still no music or anything, though. She keeps it held between her lips as her chest inflates. Her eyes go wide in surprise.
“What?” I ask.
Of course, she doesn’t answer, but before I can take any guesses about why she’s so intrigued, she’s tugging me into the water again.
I barely manage to get my mouth closed this time before water floods my nose.
When I try to kick to the surface, she holds me down.
I fight, wrestling and losing to a pre-teen, which is kind of embarrassing, but she’s at an advantage here.
She shoves the little harmonica-like thing in my mouth and points at my chest before over exaggerating the act of breathing, making her chest rise and fall in big movements.
Does she want me to breathe? Sucking water into my lungs seems like a really bad idea. I study her eager expression. She doesn’t seem worried, and I don’t think she wants to hurt me.
I tentatively take a small breath through my mouth. Water doesn’t rush in. Air does. Is that oxygen? How? It tastes a little off, but it feels like breathing through a snorkel or an oxygen tank.
No wonder there were so many of these things in Ocearus. This changes everything. With this I could stay under the water, go find Caspian, maybe even escape.
Except the rest of my body wasn’t made for swimming long distances. Even with this little breather thing, I’d fatigue long before finding land. I’d pass out and be unable to keep this thing in my mouth. Okay, so that’s not a viable option, but getting to Caspian might be.
I just need to be smart about it. It won’t do me any good to swim right into a mercity and be immediately re-captured by the queen’s guards. I need a plan. And maybe a little help.
Breather between my lips, I smile at the young girl in front of me. She grins back mischievously and pulls me back to the surface.
When we reach the top, I throw my arms around her and hug her. “Thank you. That was more helpful than you know.”
She takes my hands, spins us both in a circle, and laughs happily, like she knows exactly what this discovery means to me.
Now, if only I could tell Hunter and Phoenix what these do.
I have a feeling that knowledge would really come in handy for them, because wherever they are, whatever they’re doing, I know they’re searching for me.