The Deep (22 page)

I haven’t told him yet about Mum and Roger going to Australia, and Conor and me staying back here. It seems a bit…risky. Faro would be very glad to know that there were no adults to stand in my way. There’d be no limit to his plans for us.

Ingo is so close. With Mum away and no Roger, there’ll be no one to stop us when the sea calls. And there’ll be no need to hurry home, in case Mum’s waiting and getting frightened for us.

Granny Carne says that I could become Mer. One day I could find that my body had changed, just as my mind has changed.

I look down. There are my feet, wavering through the
water. I can see why the Mer think toes look ridiculous, but I still quite like mine.

“All right, then,” says Faro, twisting through the water so that his hair swirls and his tail glistens in the light filtering down to us through ten meters of water. “All right, then, you and me and Conor. And my sister, to balance it. The four of us will travel together. We’ll swim past the Lost Islands and take the first of the great currents.

“I’ve heard such stories, Sapphire, from those who have made the crossing. Some have dived under icebergs and met ice bears with claws like the hooks you humans drop for fish, but a hundred times more powerful. Strong enough to rip out your spine if you turn your back to them. Some have fought killer whales and either won or left their bones drifting to the Deep. Some have come close to islands where the trees drop down into the water and there are beautiful humans singing and calling to the Mer, trying to tempt us out to drown in Air.

“There are fish that fly and fish like rainbows and fish that walk on the floor of the sea and whales bigger than any we see in these waters. There are lost cities, too, Sapphire, which were in the Air once and which sank down into Ingo long before our great-great-great-grandmothers went to Limina. Think of it, little sister! We are going to the bottom of the world.”

Faro’s eyes blaze with excitement. He catches hold of my wrist. I remember how I dug my fingers into his wrist
long ago, the first time he took me into Ingo. I was so scared then that I didn’t care if my grip hurt Faro. I knew nothing except that I couldn’t breathe underwater. And then Ingo opened and let me in.

There’s still so much I don’t know. But if Faro and I make the Crossing of Ingo side by side, then we’ll be equal at last. Faro and I, Conor and Elvira.

“You will be truly my sister then,” says Faro. “And once I have made the Crossing of Ingo, no one will dare to say that I am not truly Mer.”

“No one else can tell you what you are!” I say hotly. “Not Saldowr, not Ervys, not anyone. You’re the only one who knows. The only one, Faro!”

Faro laughs. “Such wisdom!” he mocks me. “Saldowr will take you for his
scolhyk
instead of me.”

The shadow of pain doesn’t leave his face, even when he’s laughing. Faro hasn’t begun to come to terms with his human blood yet. How cruel Ervys was to taunt Faro, as if having human blood were some kind of curse—or a contamination. Perhaps that’s what all the Mer think. I hope not—

Faro waves his hand in front of my face. “Come back, little sister,” he says. “Listen, you may be so wise that Saldowr will be coming to you for advice soon, but can you do somersaults like me?” He flips over, churning the water, his tail driving him faster and faster until his body is a perfect circle bound by his flying hair.

“It’s not a fair competition. You’ve got a tail,” I point out, once the display is over and he’s facing me again. Faro just looks at me with bright eyes and raised eyebrows, teasing, questioning.

“No, Faro,” I say firmly. “Don’t look at me like that.
No.
It’s not going to happen. Not ever.”

“Never say never,” murmurs Faro. “Who would think that water could grind a rock to sand, or wear away a cliff, unless they’d seen it with their own eyes? Never say never, little sister. Who can tell what the future will bring?”