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

  Before I could ask her to clarify that loaded statement, the serpent swiped and Lysi threw herself at Tanuu and me. We fell into the waves, briny water splashing up my nose. I made a conscious effort to keep my crossbow away from Lysi.

  I surfaced, coughing. Wood splinters rained down on us.

  “There!” said Tanuu.

  Blacktail and Annith were on their feet, crossbows pointed at Adaro. Someone else had joined them. Fern. Of everyone on the beach, they were closest to the half-submerged merman. They fired rapidly, their bolts hitting him in the chest, throat, and face.

  “You already tried iron?” I said. “When? Who’s we?”

  “Never mind,” said Lysi.

  Still, the impact of all the projectiles forced Adaro down. He turned as though to swim away, and stopped. Annith, Blacktail, and Fern had closed around him, trapping him between the boulder, their crossbows, and the rest of my people. From such close range, the girls’ bolts drew blood, sticking into Adaro’s flesh like darts.

  The serpent gave a low, breathy groan, shaking her heads again like a wet dog. She turned to her master, waiting for a command.

  I glanced back in search of my parents. They’d moved away from the safety of the trees.

  “Be right back,” said Tanuu.

  He took off, splashing up the beach.

  I fired at Adaro again, hitting him in the shoulder.

  Lysi scanned the beach, wide-eyed. I followed her gaze.

  Many people attacked the serpent, launching themselves at her indestructible body. At the treeline, the Massacre trainees fired at Adaro, along with anyone else with a crossbow or hunting bow. Not everyone had practiced aim, but enough did that a continuous stream of bolts and arrows pummelled him from every direction.

  Though nobody paid us any attention amid all the chaos, I was glad Lysi’s tail was masked beneath the waves.

  As I thought this, the heat returned, flaring in my thighs. I looked down. The debris-filled water reached my waist. I ran a hand over my legs. My thighs had merged—smooth and scaly, one solid tail. It stopped at the knees, where that bat-like skin knit them together. Even the vague sight of the scales and their broken feel beneath my fingers made my stomach flop.

  I had a tail. I would never have legs again. I would never walk or run again.

  Tanuu returned with a hunting bow.

  “Iron’s about as effective on him as wood, right? Least this way I’ll actually hit him.”

  “Sounds fair,” said Lysi.

  Tanuu let loose an arrow. It hit Adaro in the head.

  The leviathan groaned as though in frustration. All four eyes were trained on her master.

  Annith, Blacktail, and Fern had waded so close to the boulder that each shot had the force of a cannon fire. I was about to yell at the girls to be careful, because Adaro’s next command to the serpent would be to deal with them—

  Then it dawned on me.

  Adaro was too overwhelmed by the attack to command the serpent. She watched him, awaiting instruction.

  “Keep him busy!” I said. “Look at the heads.”

  As long as Adaro was occupied, we were safe from the serpent. She would not strike until her master told her to.

  I fired another bolt.

  “Then what?” said Lysi.

  Before I could consider this, Tanuu let out a bark of laughter.

  “He’s gonna have to run!”

  He was right. The answer seemed to be in numbers.

  People had taken advantage of the serpent’s immobility. They boldly splashed closer.

  When the next shower of bolts, garden tools, and a baseball hit Adaro, the sheer volume submerged him completely.

  Annith, Blacktail, and Fern leapt aside, aiming their weapons into the water.

  “Get out of there,” I shouted, but the girls didn’t need telling. Already they were boosting each other onto the boulder with trained speed.

  A burning sensation erupted in my palms. I gasped, dropping the crossbow. It landed on my thighs—on my tail—where the burning continued.

  I swiped it away in a panic, like a poisonous spider had landed on me.

  I couldn’t touch it anymore. I would never be able to touch it again. Not crossbows, bolts, or any other iron.

  A disturbance hit my tail. I flinched, expecting to see the Host advancing on us. But she wasn’t there. I’d felt the ripples from Adaro retreating.

  He had disappeared from sight, but I felt him. He was swimming away.

  The serpent gave a deep groan. I caught the scent of her breath, thick and briny, more powerful than ever.

  She followed. Her armour glistened in the feeble rays of sunlight. Whirlpools appeared and disappeared, each time further from the beach.

  The disturbance in the water dimmed as they retreated.

  “Yeah, you’d better run!” said Tanuu.

  His voice rang. His pulse changed as he said the words. He was excited.

  How did I know this?

  The crowd roared.

  I felt their elation. It bled through the air, thick and tangible, meeting my mind in the same way sweetness bursts across the tongue.

  I heard their feet splashing, and just as much, felt the vibrations in the water as they chased Adaro away from Eriana Kwai.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  A Journey Ended

  The serpent lingered in my senses long after she had disappeared. I waited several moments, until the horizon returned to emptiness and the currents revealed nothing but fish. Finally, I peeled my gaze away from the ocean.

  Though the commotion on the beach had faded, it looked as though a storm had blown through. Wooden splinters, broken trees, and weapons littered the rocks. Seawater drenched everything up to the treeline. Hundreds of humans nursed their injuries and hugged each other.

  They projected pain. Bones had been broken. Lives had been lost. The air reeked of blood.

  Then there was the girl on the highest boulder.

  Most stared, but no one approached the blood-soaked rock. The corpse had been in the line of fire. Her uniform was shredded, her body punctured with iron and wooden arrows.

  A thickset man stormed down the beach. Every thread of his focus pulled towards the girl on the rock. He waded in. His back and shoulders expanded and compressed rapidly.

  A long moment passed as he stared at Dani’s body.

  His emotions blended, hard to read, as the girl’s had been.

  The crowd fell so silent that I barely sensed them beneath the wind and waves.

  “Who did this?” shouted the man.

  A woman splashed in behind him. Her anguish hit me before she made a sound.

  “Dani! Baby!”

  The woman stumbled through the tide, trying to run faster than the water would allow. Her breaths rattled with sobs.

  The man didn’t turn. He stayed facing his daughter.

  Rage and grief drifted towards me on the wind.

  Beside me, Meela lifted a hand to her cheek. She caught the tear before it fell.

  Beneath the water, I grabbed her free hand and squeezed. She held on tightly.

  “Who’s responsible for this?” the man shouted.

  His eyes found Meela.

  I tensed, ready to dive if he realised what I was. But with my tail hidden beneath the surface, he didn’t notice.

  “Adaro,” said Meela, barely audible.

  “What?” said the man.

  Tanuu came to her rescue. “It was Adaro. The merman. He killed her so he could have control of the serpent.”

  “What do you—how would killing her—why does my daughter have to do with this?” he demanded, voice breaking on the last words.

  His wife clambered onto the boulder, kicking off her shoes for grip.

  “Dani had control to begin with,” said Annith. “She …”

  Annith faltered, glancing to Meela.

  “Dani finished freeing the Host of Eriana,” said Meela, finding strength in her voice. “She was going to
use it to save our people.”

  For a moment, the silence thickened. Then whispers broke out on the beach.

  That was all Meela said. She didn’t mention the part where Dani had used her as a sacrifice. Maybe she didn’t feel the need to share Dani’s final act with the island.

  The man closed his eyes, rubbing a hand across them. His wife threw herself over Dani’s body, shaking with sobs.

  Someone splashed up behind us. I let go of Meela’s hand and recoiled.

  “What happened? Are you all right?”

  It was Meela’s father. I’d seen him once before, when I was ten. It was hard to forget the face of the man who’d nearly killed me.

  “You look like you’re going to be sick,” he said. “Can you stand?”

  A soft, pretty woman who must have been her mother waded in behind him.

  “Honey, are you in shock?”

  “No. I … Mama, Papa, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “What didn’t you know?” said her father.

  “The blood needed to free Eriana’s Host was a sacrifice,” said Meela.

  Her mother cried out. She dropped to her knees, flinging a hand to her daughter’s forehead as though to check for a fever.

  “It’s okay,” said Meela. “I’m not going to die. We figured out—I mean, Tanuu realised—well …”

  Where Meela’s toes should have been, a tail flipped out of the water. It fluttered in the breeze before sinking back into the sea.

  My heart thrummed.

  I’d always loved Meela the way she was, and I wouldn’t have changed anything about her—but seeing her as a mermaid awoke something new inside me. We were the same, now. We could have a life together.

  I wanted to kiss Meela right there in front of everyone.

  “It was the only way I could survive,” she said.

  A stunned silence followed. Then, something shifted in the others around us.

  Annith grabbed the girl with the ponytail by the elbow, pointing out a young boy on the beach who’d been injured. The two of them waded over to help.

  Blacktail grabbed Tanuu’s hand.

  “You’re bleeding,” she said. “Let’s go get bandages.”

  He let her pull him away.

  Alone with Meela and her parents, I finally drew their attention. Her father’s gaze travelled from my hair, to my eyes, to the iron-made scar peeking out of the water.

  His aura shifted from shock, to mistrust, to fear.

  He recognised me—and he clearly thought he had killed me all those years ago.

  “Mama, Papa,” said Meela. “I want you to meet Lysi.”

  Her mother squeaked. “But I thought—”

  “I remember,” said her father, not taking his eyes off me. “Is she the one who changed you?”

  “Yes,” said Meela. “She saved my life.”

  Her parents scanned me up and down. I resisted the urge to sink below the surface, away from their appraising stares.

  Meela’s heart beat wildly enough for me to feel it. I wanted to grab her hand again, but I didn’t. As much as I wanted Meela’s parents to understand her feelings, I didn’t know much about them or how they would react. This was Meela’s territory.

  “A demon,” whispered her mother.

  She reached for her daughter, hesitated, then touched her arm gently.

  “Meela, you’re freezing. Do you feel—?”

  “I feel normal, Mama. I promise.”

  I wondered if she was lying. She must have felt stronger, quicker.

  Her father cast a wary glance at me. “How can we trust you, Metlaa Gaela? Your entire biology has changed. We have no way of knowing the effects on your mind.”

  “It’s not like that. I’m the same—”

  “And what about a demon’s instincts?” said her mother, recoiling as though Meela had threatened to bite her.

  Meela dropped her gaze, clearly hurt.

  Any elation I felt fizzled away. I had made a huge mistake.

  Would I be the reason for Meela’s rejection from her own family? I’d wanted to save her, but all I’d done was build a wall of ice between her and her parents.

  Meela tried again. “Mama, I …”

  She swallowed hard, eyes brimming with tears.

  I spoke up. “This is a lot to understand, I know. But mermaid or not, Meela is the same girl you raised—”

  The woman’s eyes snapped to me. “She is not the same. Look at her!”

  Anger flared in my chest. I closed my eyes before they could redden. This was exactly why Nilus had been afraid to tell his parents about his transformation.

  My eyelids flew open. Nilus.

  I opened my mouth—and hesitated. Meela’s lip trembled. Her parents were slumped, shivering, as though breaking apart in the waves.

  I couldn’t tell them about Nilus now. Not after all this. Their family had been through too much today.

  Plus, first they had to come to terms with Meela’s transformation.

  I drew a steadying breath. I couldn’t let her parents do this to her.

  “Her body has changed, but her mind and heart haven’t,” I said. “This is who she is. You can accept her, or you can dismiss her as a part of your family. The choice is yours. Decide what kind of parents you want to be.”

  Her mother’s eyes widened, as though really seeing me for the first time. I sat tall in the water, challenging her to see me for who I really was: a mermaid, capable of loving, driven by emotions, empathy, and morals. I was not a demon, and neither was her daughter.

  Finally, voice trembling, she said, “You don’t think I love Meela no matter what?”

  “Do you?” said Meela, barely audible. “Or am I just a sea rat, now?”

  There was a long pause.

  Then her mother burst into tears. She threw herself at Meela, hugging her tightly.

  “Of course I love you,” she said, sobbing. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

  Her father caught my eye, and there was something desperate behind those dark irises—sad, pleading.

  I nodded, a silent promise. I’d brought Meela irrevocably into my world, and I would do everything in my power to keep her safe.

  I backed off, letting them absorb the change that had come crashing down on their family like a tidal wave. Eventually, when her parents were ready, I would let Meela be the one to tell them about Nilus.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  A Journey Begun

  I sensed every cell in my mother’s body as she hugged me—the warm blood in her veins, the strong pulse of her heart, her soft, vulnerable flesh and muscles and bones.

  I flinched as my tail picked up a disturbance in the water. Would I ever get used to this? It was my father, leaning over so he could wrap his thick arms around the two of us. He held on as my mother sobbed and tears flooded from my eyes.

  “Honey, I never want you to feel that way,” said my mother. “We love you even as a … a mermaid.”

  I leaned back and pushed a lock of wet hair from her cheek. Though I believed in unconditional love, my parents’ acceptance of me in any form—with any biology—meant more than they would ever know.

  My mother drew a steadying breath. “This is it, then. You’re going to live in the ocean with … with Lysi, here.”

  I nodded. That thought kept me from panicking. I could never run through the forest again, never sleep in my bed again, but I would have Lysi. The entire ocean was ours to explore. The prospect sent a thrill through my veins.

  My mother dabbed at her eyes, seemed to realise she was using a shirt sleeve that was even wetter and saltier than her tears, and let her arm fall with a gentle splash.

  “I expected it would be hard the day my baby left the nest, but I always thought it would be …”

  “To marry a tall, dark, handsome man, and live in a house in the woods and have twelve children,” I said.

  My mother softened. “Maybe you can still find your dark and handsome man beneath the water. How are the m
ermen? Are they all like that one?”

  She nodded towards the horizon.

  “Uh, there’s something you need to understand,” I said.

  I glanced to Lysi. She had backed away, not meeting my eye.

  Though my heart pounded, I felt more certain about myself than I ever had. Lysi was a part of my life. The world could react however they wanted, and it wouldn’t affect how I felt about her.

  I reached for Lysi and grabbed her hand for them to see, pulling her back beside me.

  “I love Lysi. I’m in love with her.”

  Lysi’s pulse beat strong against my palm.

  My parents looked between us, unmasked shock on their faces.

  “Honey, you don’t think this is just because—”

  “No,” I said. “It’s real. I’ve loved her since the day we met.”

  My mother nodded slowly. I waited for the chill to settle between us, for the accusations to start all over again. But she smiled.

  “Meela, that’s wonderful.”

  I opened my mouth, made no sound, and closed it. After all her talk about wanting me to start a family, could she be serious?

  “But what about …”

  I tried to sense her, searching for disappointment.

  “Honey, if spending your life with Lysi is what makes you happy, then I’m happy.”

  Her pulse beat steadily. She was being truthful.

  “Didn’t we just establish that I love you no matter what?” she said.

  I threw myself at her, hugging her tightly.

  “I love you, Mama.”

  “I love you, too. Now relax your arms a little. You’re crushing me.”

  I let go. “Sorry.”

  Hesitantly, I turned to my father, who hadn’t said anything in a long while.

  He shrugged and said gruffly, “I think I’ve always known.”

  I stared at him, surprised. Then he smiled a little.

  “You are my daughter,” he said. “You always will be.”

  I bit my lip to stop it from trembling. I hugged him, this time carefully.

  When I let go, both of them turned to Lysi.

  “Take care of her,” said my mother. “Make her come visit once in a while.”

  “I promise,” said Lysi.