Ice Kingdom Read online

  “Don’t,” I said. Her sadness was as bad as the pain.

  “This is my fault—”

  “How could it possibly be?”

  “I failed you. It’s my job to protect you.”

  I grabbed her wrists. “Lysi, it’s not. I know I’m new to all of this, but you can’t possibly think it’s your responsibility to keep anything from happening to me.”

  She gazed down at the clay with puffy eyes. “I’m trying to understand everything Adaro has taken from you. I get it. I should have been more sensitive to that.”

  “That wouldn’t have made a difference. This is my own doing. I haven’t been thinking clearly.”

  Lysi drew a shaky breath and wiped an arm over her face. “I don’t think anyone has. Adaro is bringing out the worst in all of us.”

  My face felt hot and swollen, temples throbbing in the early stages of a splitting headache. Neither of us could stop crying, the hitched sounds whispering against the cave walls.

  “This is not the scene I hoped to pop in on.” Spio hoisted himself onto the clay and shook his hair like a wet dog. “Either way, it’s good to see both of you alive.”

  He tossed my crossbow and quiver onto the floor beside us. “I only managed to save one bolt. He’s gone, though.”

  “Spio, do you have that kelp pus?” said Lysi thickly.

  Spio’s face fell. “Don’t tell me that lumpsucker …”

  At Lysi’s expression, he hastily opened his bag and pulled out a squishy canteen. She asked me to turn around.

  I flinched as she smeared the paste over the wound, gritting my teeth.

  “Damn,” said Spio. “Was he trying to drill a hole right through you?”

  “Spio!” said Lysi.

  The paste had a cooling, soothing effect. Though it didn’t mask the pain completely, it eased the persistent burning.

  Once it was done, the three of us sat side-by-side and stared at the pulsing surface. I curled my tail up and wrapped my arms around it like I still had knees. If this was a weird thing to do, Lysi or Spio didn’t show it.

  “Why didn’t he chase us?” said Lysi.

  “He’s going to Utopia,” I said.

  “How do you know?”

  “The Reinas succeeded. The government’s fallen.”

  Lysi and Spio exchanged a look of surprise.

  “We have to follow him,” I said.

  When they gaped at me, I added, “We’ve got him. He’s within reach. We can’t lose track of him.”

  “Mee, let yourself rest.”

  “We don’t have time. I—”

  I winced as a wave of pain coursed through my body. The last time I’d been in agony like this was on the Massacre. It felt a lifetime ago.

  Then, too, I’d been determined for revenge, hunting sea demons to avenge Nilus. Was I going to let hatred keep consuming me?

  My heart gave a squeeze as I thought of Nilus, who would be in Utopia right now with the Reinas.

  “We have to stop Adaro before he gets there. This is our last chance to kill him.”

  Kill. How many times had I said that word? How much more of my life would be dedicated to the act?

  Medusa had said Adaro was out for revenge on humans because of his father. What had that reduced him to?

  “He won’t make it,” said Lysi. “Feel the way the tide is pulling. It’s almost here. It’ll take longer than that to get to Utopia.”

  Indeed, all of the currents seemed to be shifting towards land—and there was an inexplicable pull building inside me. I recalled what Lysi had said about king tides and imagined the moon trying to pick me up, to pull me closer.

  “All the more reason to follow him,” I said, voice stronger. “Besides, his armies are on the way to help fight. This is it, Lysi. It’s king tide, and we need to make sure we don’t lose him.”

  But something was breaking inside me. Battle after battle, I kept joining the fight, an obedient warrior. I was raised to massacre—to act on hatred. But what had gotten us safely home from the Massacre? My feelings for Lysi had been the driving force, not my need for revenge. Then, when we’d returned home, my blood had been the way to free the serpent—the blood of Eriana, the goddess dedicated to protecting the flora and fauna of my island.

  I understood what Lysi had been trying to tell me. I understood what Spio meant after our encounter with the whale.

  I couldn’t keep chasing revenge—not when compassion was so obviously my guide.

  A deep, rhythmic thrumming sounded outside the cave. It grew louder, a mechanical groan pounding my eardrums.

  It was the sound of a helicopter, large and low-flying.

  “Do you think it’s looking for the serpent?” said Spio.

  “Yes, and Adaro knows it,” I said. “He was keeping the serpent low in the water.”

  The sound grew louder until it was directly over our heads, and then faded into the distance.

  “We need to guarantee lasting peace,” I said. “Both underwater and with humans.”

  “But how?” said Lysi.

  Like she’d been trying to tell me, this had to be about more than killing Adaro. We had to take care of the Pacific Kingdom, especially with the world fighting against it.

  “We can't get rid of him and then leave the kingdom in anarchy. His armies will still be on the move, his civilians still living under his shadow. We need a new king or queen to take his place, someone the kingdom will follow and respect, and who’s willing to negotiate peace with humans.”

  “What about Queen Medusa?” said Spio.

  “No,” said Lysi and I together.

  Spio raised his hands in surrender.

  “Evagore,” said Lysi. “I agree with the Reinas. She’s the rightful queen of the Pacific. Don’t you think? She ruled long before Adaro came. She’s the one we need on the throne.”

  I nodded slowly. “Ideally. But we don’t know if she’s even alive.”

  Lysi sat taller. “Oh, I haven’t been able to tell you. She is. Nestor and Thetis were talking about her.”

  “She’s back on the South Pacific throne?”

  “No. Held captive somewhere. They wouldn’t tell me where.”

  That was a start. Theoretically, we had a queen. We just had to find her. The prospect was daunting—but at least she was alive. Maybe the Reinas had an idea where she was now that they had overthrown Utopia.

  “Right,” I said. “A monarch is one thing, but we need to make sure Utopia holds an election to decide on the government. Everyone should be able to vote.”

  Lysi and Spio looked surprised.

  Heat rushed into my face. “Oh. Is that not—? I’m sorry. I don’t know how merpeople—”

  “No, it’s a great idea,” said Lysi. “It’s not something we’ve ever had.”

  “Think everyone will go for it?”

  “Of course they will,” said Spio.

  A ray of hope passed between us. I felt calmer than I had in weeks. We had a plan. Now, could we find Evagore? Where would Adaro keep someone like her captive?

  The water in the cave pulsed higher, trickling over the clay at our tails. The tide was pulling. We didn’t have long.

  “We should go, buddies, if we want to track him,” said Spio.

  No one moved. They both seemed to be waiting for me to go first. I wondered if they thought I was too weak to keep moving. The hole in my lower back seared, but my mind, for once, was clearer than ever.

  I grabbed my crossbow and the single bolt. It would have to do.

  Neither Lysi nor Spio had weapons.

  “We’ll steal some, first chance we get,” said Lysi, reading my expression.

  I took her hand. Her pulse beat a rhythm of fear—but there was something else in her aura. Excitement.

  I gave her a tremulous smile.

  We slid into the water and eased into the open, checking for signs of life and finding we were alone.

 
In the distance, headed towards Utopia, was the serpent’s immense presence. Adaro kept her long body undulating at depth, hidden.

  My stomach churned to think what would happen if that helicopter knew exactly where the serpent was.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Lysi

  Plan in Flames

  “Found one.”

  Spio returned with the end of a fishing net. It trailed so far into the distance that I lost track of it. He’d cut off most of the buoys so it bobbed below the surface.

  We helped him reel it in. I tried not to let Meela catch me stealing glances at her. She acted as though she wasn’t in pain, but I knew from experience how debilitating an iron burn was.

  Meela growled. “Who do people think they are, leaving litter like this?”

  “It was technically still in use,” said Spio.

  I cast my senses into the distance, searching for the other end. “Were they trying to catch every fish in the Pacific?”

  “Possibly. I had to rescue a dolphin from it.”

  Meela pursed her lips.

  Catching a flare of red in her eyes, I grabbed an end and started swimming. “You can wage war on fishing nets later. Come on.”

  We dragged it along. It weighed more than I’d anticipated.

  My rescue in the Ice Channel had inspired us. Maybe there was nothing big enough to snag the serpent, but a trap of this size would at least slow her down.

  “How do we make sure the serpent goes towards it?” I said, still unsure of the details of Spio’s plan.

  “Remember that time you acted as bait to lure the sharks away from the frenzy?”

  I looked at him sharply. “What, you want me to be the bait that lures the serpent away from Adaro?”

  “Bait?” said Meela, voice rising in pitch.

  Spio gave her a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, buddy. She’s done worse.”

  “Has she?”

  “Well, no. But covering yourself in blood while you’re beside a bunch of sharks in the middle of a feeding frenzy counts for something.”

  “Sure, but—”

  I raised a hand, deciding Spio had a point. “I’d like to mention I’ve also avoided being eaten by the serpent twice.”

  Meela groaned. “So you think this is a good idea?”

  A good idea? No. But it was an idea.

  Before I could come up with a reassuring response, Spio said, “It’s something we’ve had practice with.”

  Meela eyed him.

  “So,” said Spio, turning back to me, “while you keep after the snake monster to make sure we don’t lose it, Meela and I set up the net. When it’s go time, you get its attention, I help steer it into the Ropey Trap of Terror, and Meela slips away to where Adaro’s hiding.”

  He mimed shooting a crossbow.

  Meela looked desperately between us. “Does anyone need to be bait, though?”

  “You need the serpent out of your way,” I said. “This will do it.”

  My courage was mostly feigned, fed by Spio’s confidence in his plan, but Meela didn’t need to know that.

  She considered for a long moment. “Have you two always been this insane?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Never,” said Spio.

  We continued in the serpent’s wake, waiting for Adaro to veer towards land. He kept the serpent at the bottom. For easy breaching while dragging the heavy net, we stayed close to the surface. The pace was quick. We dropped further behind, the net making it hard to keep up.

  I hadn’t said it aloud, but I was terrified Adaro wouldn’t transition. Maybe I’d counted the days wrong and had missed our chance, or king tide wouldn’t happen for another tidecycle. Maybe he was already on land and had sent the serpent swimming by herself as a false trail. Too many things could go wrong.

  As Utopia drew nearer, Meela kept touching her crossbow and remaining bolt, like she was afraid they would disappear. Twice, something dark eclipsed the daylight, and we looked up to see a helicopter zoom by.

  The question that kept popping up was how we were going to find Evagore. I’d been so close to knowing where she was; if only I’d tried harder.

  “I should have made Thetis and Nestor tell me where the high security prison is,” I said.

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” said Meela. “You were in no place to pry for information.”

  But the knowledge was right there, I thought. My insides roiled with frustration.

  “The Reinas are in Utopia,” she said. “Maybe they already figured out where she is. Maybe they already have her.”

  “I doubt it. The way they were talking, the high-security prison is an entirely different direction from Utopia.”

  “Which direction?”

  I closed my eyes, trying to remember Thetis and Nestor’s conversation. “They said it was on a different current.”

  Another dark shape passed overhead, low in the sky. We looked at each other, none of us voicing our fear. The floor had begun to grow shallow. Could they see the serpent from up there?

  The rising floor also meant we were close to Utopia. What if we couldn’t find Evagore before Adaro got there, or before the humans did something drastic?

  Meela’s aura was so taut I could have snapped it.

  “Lysi, are you sure it’s king tide?”

  Swallowing back the fear that my senses and intuition were all wrong, I said, “Positive.”

  “This current’s going the wrong way,” said Spio. “If he was going to Utopia, he would have hopped streams back there.”

  He was right. A flutter of anticipation went down my spine. If Adaro wasn’t going straight to Utopia, then he was going somewhere else, first—and what could be more pressing than what was happening in Utopia?

  My ribcage seemed to compress. Whatever happened, we were about to confront Adaro for the last time.

  Meela met my gaze. I could see in her eyes she wanted to say a thousand things but couldn’t.

  The helicopter passed overhead again, a mechanical thrum beyond the surface. For the amount of times it kept passing, I was sure—

  A sudden pain ripped through my head, pressing from every direction. I cried out. My hands shot to my ears. Every cell in my body was vibrating. What was happening?

  I couldn’t see. My brain seemed to swell, pressing against my skull. My eardrums were going to burst.

  My ears. The pain was coming from sound. A barge of sound, impossibly loud, was pulsing towards us. I couldn’t tell which direction it came from. I couldn’t think.

  Meela and Spio were covering their ears, too, agony twisting their faces. The net floated away.

  Spio caught my eye and jerked his elbow skywards. Moving in a fog, I followed him to the surface.

  At once, the pain stopped. We bobbed in the waves, gasping for breath and staring at each other in stunned silence. The sound was still in the waves, buzzing over my skin like toxic jellyfish.

  “What is it?” said Meela. My ears were still ringing. A moment passed before I understood what she’d said.

  I shook my head. Spio, too, was uncharacteristically silent. I’d heard plenty of strange noises in my life—the distant rumble of earthquakes, shifting ice, huge creatures from the deep sea—but never had I experienced anything like this.

  We turned in the direction we had last sensed the serpent. I could no longer feel her. The sound interfered too much.

  By sight, she was invisible, hidden beneath the waves. But something else had broken the flat horizon, coming towards us.

  “A ship,” whispered Meela. “That’s what’s doing it.”

  “You think?” I said.

  Was the noise intentional? Was this another attack by the humans?

  I looked around. We were alone except for the ship and the helicopter.

  The ship coasted towards us, hazy through the mist. It was enormous and blocky, like a tanker. For a long moment, we stared at it. I didn’t know what to do. We could
continue swimming with our heads above water—but then what?

  No sooner had these thoughts crossed my mind when a black giant rose from the water and towered over the ship. I watched it happen as though in a dream. The serpent’s massive jaws parted.

  She had not yet struck when the ship crumbled from below. It was like the hull had popped, tipping the ship sideways. It shuddered. Then her upper head curved to meet the deck. Her body writhed, her jaws biting everything she could reach without restraint.

  Meela cried out. “The crew!”

  The painful vibrations against my skin stopped abruptly. Whatever had been making that sound, the serpent had destroyed it.

  My relief was overshadowed when Meela dove. I shot after her.

  “Mee, wait!”

  A pungent smell hit me as I submerged, poisonous and chemical.

  Spio was close behind. “Right. I guess we’re moving towards the toxic pool of death, then.”

  From the ship, a thick, black cloud flooded towards us like lava. Meela stopped some distance away, looking on in horror.

  Over and over, the serpent’s fangs pierced the hull, tearing the frame. Oil and chemicals spilled from every hole. It flowed around the serpent, clouding the water and obscuring her black scales.

  “We need to get out of here,” said Spio. “Don’t let that crap get on you.”

  The helicopter circled. It tried to hover over the sinking ship, but one of the serpent’s heads followed it, and it was forced to keep moving to stay out of striking range.

  It had found its target—but it couldn’t drop anything now. Not over their own ship, with the crew still aboard.

  “For someone who hates humans so much, he sure understands a lot about them,” said Spio.

  It was true. Adaro must have known the helicopter would stop pursuing him if he put the crew in danger.

  Through all of this, it occurred to me Adaro could have been anywhere.

  “We need to get around this,” I said. “We’re losing—”

  A blast of heat hit my face. The chemicals had ignited.

  Fire engulfed the ship. Shouts filled my ears from the deck.

  The chemicals swelled towards us, reaching, billowing. I tasted poison on the water.

  We had no option but to flee. Flames and toxins blocked every forward direction.