Ice Crypt (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai Book 2) Read online

She lifted a shoulder, still not saying anything. The house was dead quiet.

  I tried to peer around her. “Can I come in?”

  Adette seemed to have a momentary, inward struggle. Then she stood aside and let me in.

  The house felt like a roaring fireplace. I couldn’t tell if I was just cold from being outside all day, or if they kept it abnormally warm.

  “Where’s your father?”

  “Sleeping.”

  The weakness in her voice added to her air of exhaustion. I glanced around the empty kitchen. The clock showed just past 9:30. I decided to keep this short in case she wanted to go to bed.

  “Adette, I need to ask you about the symbol on Dani’s wrist.”

  Her face showed no sign of emotion. I continued.

  “Do you remember what it looks like? You said it was a snake head, right?”

  She nodded.

  Watching her expression, I showed her the bone dagger, pointing to the animal head on the hilt.

  “Does it look like this?”

  Her eyes widened. At last, I seemed to have caught her interest.

  “That’s the one?” I said.

  She met my eye, nodding once.

  “How do you know it’s a snake?”

  “She said so.”

  It couldn’t have been coincidence that it was a serpent. We didn’t even have serpents on Eriana Kwai. This had to be related to the leviathan. But how?

  “Do you know what it means?” I said, my heart beating faster.

  She hesitated, seeming to contemplate something.

  “One sec,” she said, and left the room.

  Her soft footsteps carried all the way down the hall. The clock ticked, soft and loud on alternating beats.

  I pocketed the dagger and sat at the table, relieving my aching feet.

  Sitting on someone’s jacket, with nowhere to rest my arms on the cluttered table, I noticed how messy the house was. Dirty dishes were piled high in the sink, and I became aware of the smell coming off them. Fat, black flies buzzed around the kitchen. The floor was covered in mud. I checked the bottom of my boots, sure I’d just dragged more across the linoleum on my way to the table.

  I checked the clock again. It struck me as odd that Anyo would have gone to bed already when his daughter was still awake, and the sun hadn’t even set.

  After a couple of minutes, Adette returned with the book Anyo had shown us.

  “It’s in here, too,” she said. “Papa told me it’s an ancient symbol once used by hunters to show their remorse for killing.”

  She flipped through the pages, searching for it.

  “Is it to do with Eriana’s punishment?” I said. “For betraying the Gaela?”

  Adette glanced up at me with raised eyebrows.

  “Your father told me the story of Eriana,” I said. “How she used her abilities to kill all those caribou.”

  “Yes,” said Adette. “The symbol is supposed to show the Gaela that the hunters remember what happened, and that they won’t abuse the natural order of things the way Eriana did. It’s a promise that they’ll only take what they need—enough to keep themselves from going hungry.”

  She landed on a page towards the end. There was the fanged animal head.

  But how much did Dani know?

  “Is that it? It’s just a symbol to remember the Aanil Uusha’s punishment?”

  Adette looked taken aback. “That ice storm was a huge tragedy. It killed all of Eriana’s people.”

  “I know,” I said quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”

  A loud snore and a cough came from the living room behind us. Adette’s face drained of colour. She whirled around, dropping the book on the table.

  I started to ask what was wrong, but Adette had already dashed to the couch. Its back was to the kitchen so I couldn’t see the occupant, but a wave of understanding crashed over me.

  I rose from my chair. “Adette, is your father all right?”

  “He’s just tired,” she said.

  “He’s not. Or you wouldn’t look so worried.”

  She adjusted a woollen blanket over him.

  “Do you need help?”

  “No. He just … he had a lot to drink.”

  I joined her at the couch, surprised. I’d never known Anyo to be a drinker. He was lying on his back, one arm dangling to the side, as though he were simply taking a nap.

  “How long has this been going on?”

  Adette didn’t answer. She adjusted her father’s arms over the blanket.

  “I had no idea,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. Have you told anyone?”

  She shook her head once, not meeting my eye.

  “You don’t have to take on this responsibility alone. My family can help.”

  I couldn’t let her deal with this by herself—not when she already had so much to worry about.

  She watched her father’s chest rise and fall, keeping her face turned away from me.

  “Here, let me help you clean up,” I said. “This place could use …”

  I scanned the floor. Despite the mess, I didn’t see a single bottle of liquor or beer, or anything else that might have indicated that Adette’s father had been drinking himself into a stupor.

  A single teacup sat on the coffee table. It was tipped on its side, the bottom rimmed with the remnants of a dark tea.

  I picked it up. The dregs were thick, almost black.

  “Adette.”

  She saw what I’d found and jumped.

  “He hasn’t been drinking,” I said. “This is Ravendust powder!”

  “It’s not—it’s just a little—he needed to—” said Adette, stammering.

  “You slipped it to him!”

  Though I’d meant for my tone to be scolding, it came out more surprised and awed.

  Her mouth opened and closed.

  “I needed to help him,” she said, voice high.

  “Why?”

  “He hasn’t been sleeping. He’s been having …”

  Her voice broke. She began tucking the blanket around Anyo again.

  “Anxiety?” I said.

  She hesitated, and then nodded.

  “My mother had anxiety, too,” I said. “For years after my brother died. She still gets it sometimes.”

  Adette’s watery eyes met mine.

  “He panics,” she said in a shaky voice. “I’m all he has.”

  Behind the exhaustion, her face was youthful and pure. She had so many responsibilities already.

  Anyo must have felt some sense of control over his daughter’s fate when he’d been training master. Now that he’d lost the title, reality must have hit him full force.

  “We can get him help from a doctor,” I said.

  Adette took the teacup from me. When she looked down, a tear fell from her face and landed in the cup. She nodded.

  “Just promise me you won’t keep knocking him out,” I said.

  She almost smiled.

  “Where did you even hear about using Ravendust powder?”

  Very few knew of its power as a sedative. I’d learned about it from Annith on the Massacre, and she’d been the only one who’d known, then.

  Adette lifted one shoulder. “Things get around.”

  I frowned. One of the girls from my Massacre must have shared the knowledge. I hoped it had been for First Aid purposes. Either way, now all the trainees knew a pinch of Ravendust could knock a person out for hours.

  “I want you to take him to a doctor, all right?” I said. “I’m going to check in on you. No more knocking him out. That’ll only make him sick.”

  She nodded.

  Together, we cleaned up the piles of clothes and garbage, washed dishes, and swept the floor. By then, Adette seemed less distraught—though she looked ready to collapse. My own body felt slow and heavy.

  “Do you want me to stay the night?”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine. I’ll go to bed and Papa will be awake in a few hours.”

  I hugged
her, smoothing her hair away from her tired face.

  “Call my house if you ever need anything. You know my mother would be happy to make you dinner, right?”

  “Thanks, Meela.”

  It was well past midnight when I left.

  As I stepped into the night, reality rippled through me with a violent shiver. The Massacre departure was mere hours away.

  How many others were still awake? Were Tanuu, Annith, and Blacktail in their warm beds, sleeping soundly, resigned to the fate of those girls?

  The bone dagger sat heavy in my jeans. A hunting symbol.

  Even knowing this, I was no closer to finding the crypt. I was alone, one of thousands of civilians who would watch helplessly as the warriors departed tomorrow.

  Time had run out. Had I really thought I could stop the Massacre—a tradition that had been ongoing since my father was a kid? It was ingrained in our society. Why had I deluded myself into thinking I could single-handedly change that?

  Hunched against the cold breeze, I began the long walk home.

  My time as a Massacre warrior was up. Now I was supposed to sit back and watch—and root for those girls to slay every last demon.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Harpoon of Death and Teeth and Stuff

  “Let me get this straight,” said Pontus. “We’re going to lure an entire shoal of sharks into the target’s path—”

  “Yep.”

  “—surround him—”

  “Yep.”

  “—then impale him with iron?”

  “If the sharks don’t kill him first.”

  Spio wrapped his bag with rope. He’d stuffed it full. With what, I didn’t know. But it smelled like death.

  We were back at the Moonless City military base. Commander Strymon and his officers had taken a day to regroup, planning to move south again that afternoon. Spio, Nobeard, Pontus, and I had ducked inside the weapons cave, masked by a calculated eruption of panic outside. Junior had yet to arrive.

  “You never explained how we’re getting the sharks,” said Nobeard.

  “Lysi and I will do it,” said Spio.

  Bubbles flew out of my mouth. “We will?”

  “Yes.”

  I stared.

  He turned to the group. “We have experience in this area.”

  I supposed it was true.

  He told them about the time we managed to separate a baby orca from its pod. I drifted to the cave entrance to check for eavesdroppers and signs of Junior.

  Chaos roiled as the loose great white snapped at anything made of meat. The decoy worked better than expected. The shark had not been fed breakfast yet, and Spio had gotten carried away by “accidentally” spilling dead fish everywhere after we set her free.

  I smirked as Strymon shouted at the trainers to hurry up and tame it.

  Meeting hadn’t been possible since we got back, with Strymon and his officers tailing us like suckerfish. This meant Spio had been unable to tell us the full extent of his plan.

  It would have been ideal to spend time plotting the attack, but that wasn’t an option. A group from the Moonless City had come to deliver weapons at dawn, and we overheard them tell Strymon that Adaro left for his trip back to Utopia.

  We had to act before he got too far ahead.

  I twirled my weapon in my fists—a longblade of wood, slate, and whalebone. It was no Iron Hook of Doom, but at least it was easier to swing. Plus, it would float if I dropped it.

  Spio’s two remaining iron weapons, his own hook and the trident, were now in Strymon’s sleeping quarters. One of Strymon’s first actions as commander had been to confiscate them.

  Across the military base, the shark knocked over a pile of supplies. Broken ropes dangled from her jaw. Bodies darted through the tumult, weapons and ropes flying between streams of bubbles. The dolphins cackled, spinning in their enclosure.

  Satisfied everyone was still occupied, I sank back into the darkness.

  “… taught it to roll over on command,” said Spio. “It was awesome. But then the mom found us.”

  “There was also the time you lured that salmon shark to school,” I said, before he could get to the part where we had to swim for our lives and ended up trapped under a reef.

  Pontus and Nobeard studied us. I got the impression they were trying to decide whether to take us seriously.

  “How do you plan to find a shoal of sharks?” said Pontus.

  Spio lifted his bag in answer.

  When Pontus still projected confusion, I said, “We’ll feel for signs of a feeding frenzy. Then we’ll lure them away from it with … whatever dead things Spio has in that bag.”

  “It could be days until we find a frenzy close enough!” said Pontus.

  “With a wide enough range, we’ll find one,” I said. “We’ll keep an eye for gulls above the surface. That’ll give us a league in all directions, no matter what else we sense on the current.”

  Nobeard hummed thoughtfully. “Didn’t consider the birds. Sharp idea, mates.”

  “Of course it is,” I said. “Spio and I thought of it.”

  Spio raised a hand, which I met with an enthusiastic high-five.

  “So keep your eyes and feelers awake,” said Spio.

  He pulled his bag over his chest and gripped his weapon, a spear of serrated stone. I glimpsed a deep gash on the inside of his arm. I hadn’t noticed it before, and hoped it wasn’t iron-made from the explosion.

  I glanced back, wishing Junior would hurry.

  The finality of the plan wrapped thickly around us. Last time, we had left on an order from the commander. This time, we were officially committing desertion.

  At this point, I was ready for it. I couldn’t serve under Adaro’s rule any longer—especially not with Strymon as commander.

  Outside was still complete bedlam. What was keeping Junior? My nerves tightened. We couldn’t miss our chance. The shark would only be a diversion for so long. Plus, we couldn’t let Adaro get too far north—

  I slapped my forehead. “The military line!”

  For a moment, the guys stared at me in confusion. Then Pontus emitted a wave of distress.

  “We’re going north,” he said. “The border.”

  Spio and Nobeard caught on.

  “We can fight them,” said Spio.

  “We can go around,” said Nobeard.

  “No,” said Pontus. “They would slay us if we fought, and going around would add a day to the journey and make us lose the target.”

  “We could sneak across,” said Spio. “We’ll find a group of travellers—”

  The cave darkened. A presence had appeared at the entrance, dimming the outside light and blocking the current.

  Junior. He raised his arms in triumph. Spio’s iron hook and trident were clenched in his fists.

  “Ha!” I said.

  “Nice job, little bro,” said Pontus.

  Junior glanced back. “They’ve got ropes over the great white.”

  Requiring no encouragement, we bolted for the exit. I snatched a sheet of rawhide off a work surface before ducking outside; I had a plan for the military line.

  We rose, sticking to the ridge like crabs. The rocks did little to hide us.

  “Pull hard!” someone shouted across the way.

  We didn’t stop to discuss a route. If there was a lull in the commotion, anyone would be able to feel our movement.

  We scrambled from the water. The rocks grazed the surface on this side, causing violent waves. Any soldier who might have been lounging would do so on the other side, where it was calm. I hoped no one would look over and see us.

  The spray crashed over me, noisy and disorienting. I held my breath against it. Each swell pushed my body in a different direction. I locked my fingers and the hilt of my blade around whatever I could find, dragging myself forwards. I recalled Spio saying something about being “a jelly in a propeller” up here. He hadn’t been wrong.

  My ears rang as I plunged back into the water. The guys
dropped beside me in an explosion of bubbles.

  We spun to face the ridge, weapons up, waiting to see if anyone had followed.

  The world was silent. The current pushed at us from the northeast, steady and calm.

  “Let’s go,” said Pontus.

  We swam hard, following the plankton to the strongest current we could find.

  After some time, Pontus said, “I’m concerned about our numbers. Even with Coho, there weren’t many of us.”

  “Mate, we’ll have about a million sharks on our side,” said Nobeard.

  “Sharks don’t pick sides,” said Pontus.

  He did have a point. Controlling the shoal would take effort, and even if that went smoothly, we’d be five against the ten soldiers Adaro had taken.

  “The Moonless City had a rebel group,” I said.

  “Yes,” said Pontus, “but they’re dead.”

  “There might be more.”

  “How do we find out?”

  No one answered.

  I thought back to the group at the mine. That one mermaid had swum by me and whispered something. What was it?

  “Para la reina,” I said.

  The guys stared at me like I’d grown legs.

  “I saw a mermaid before the explosion happened at the mine. She was one of the rebels. She said those words.”

  “What does it mean?” said Pontus.

  “I don’t know. I think it was a code. She was seeing if we were in on the plan. When I didn’t respond, she disappeared.”

  We shared a moment of unease. Did we have time to find help? Would the risk be worth it? Even if there were other merpeople who wanted Adaro dead, most of them would see treason as a crime worthy of its punishment.

  “I say we go back to the Moonless City and start yelling those words,” said Spio. “See who comes forwards.”

  I didn’t need to threaten him out of that plan. The guys knew as well as I did that we didn’t have time to look for help. We had to keep going or the king would get too far ahead.

  After a long silence, Nobeard said, “I want to make sure something’s known. Last time, if it all went belly up—and it did—we were hidden. This time is different. Once we attack him, his whole crew will see us. We’re open mutineers.”

  Though I knew this already, a knot twisted in my stomach. Best case, we would still have to deal with those loyal to Adaro after his death. Worst case, we’d be executed for treason.