Waterfire Saga, Book Three: Dark Tide: A Deep Blue Novel (36 page)

She made her way back to the kitchen, selected foods that would travel well, and loaded them into her backpack. Next she opened her family’s medicine cabinet and searched for something
that would heal her. She found creams for cuts and rashes, tonics for fatigue, syrups for coughs and sore throats, but nothing to counteract venom. Moving bottles aside, she spotted her grandmother
Wen’s special elixir. Ling had no idea what was in it—Wen guarded the recipe closely—but it always made her feel better when she was sick. She uncapped the bottle, took a slug,
recapped it, and put it in her pack. Leaving her pack on the counter, she swam to her mother’s room, patting her father’s ring in her pocket.

Zhu was sleeping, but she stirred as Ling opened her door.

“Mom? Mom, wake up, it’s me,” she whispered.

Zhu’s eyes opened, then widened. She sat bolt upright in her bed, pulled Ling to her, and held her tightly. Ling could feel her crying. Ling’s anger toward her mother had drained
from her heart in the Abyss. There she had experienced what it felt like to be frightened and weak, to have to rely on others. Even the strongest needed help sometimes.

Ling was glad the anger was gone. It made room for other things. Better things.

“It’s okay, Mom,” she said. “I’m here. I’m fine. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. Sorry for yelling. Sorry for being angry. I didn’t understand, but now I do. I think you stopped talking because no one would listen. I have something for you, Mom.”

Her mother released her and Ling pulled her father’s wedding ring out of her pocket. She placed it in her mother’s hand.

Her mother blinked at it.

“He’s alive, Mom.”

Zhu looked at Ling uncomprehendingly.

“Dad. He’s alive. He’s in a prison camp at the edge of the Abyss.”

Zhu’s eyes grew large with fear.

“Do you know about the death riders?” asked Ling. “Have you seen them?”

Zhu shook her head.

“They’re soldiers, Mom, working for a terrible man. They’re stealing villagers and forcing them to search for a very important object.” Ling lowered her voice
instinctively. “Dad found that object and refused to hand it over. When they tried to take it, he chucked it back into the Abyss.”

Ling wasn’t sure, but it sounded as though her mother might have laughed a little.

“I ran afoul of them, too. Big-time. And I ended up in the same camp. Dad got me out. He gave this to me and told me to bring it to you.”

Zhu’s hand trembled as she gingerly picked up the ring.

“He says he wants you to keep it safe until he gets home. Then you can put it on his hand again, just as you did on the day of your Promising.”

Fresh tears welled in her mother’s eyes. She shook her head, overcome.

“This all started with the dreams I was having. About the river witches. Do you remember when I told you about them? You thought they were just nightmares.”

Zhu nodded slowly.

“Grandma Wen told me that the Iele were summoning me and I needed to go. I found out that things are really bad, Mom. These prison camps, they’re horrible places, but they’re
only the beginning. There’s a great evil threatening us. The river witches have called on me—and five others—to fight it.”

Zhu pulled on Ling’s arm, as if to hold her back.

“There’s a reason I was called, Mom. I can’t tell you any more, because I want to keep you and the family safe. The death riders will come searching for me. If they do, no one
can know I was here. They can’t find out about Dad, either. Hide his wedding ring in case the death riders search the house. I’ve got to go now.”

Zhu shook her head vehemently and started to get out of bed.

Ling held her back and hugged her again. “The longer I stay, the more dangerous it is—for me, you, everyone.”

Zhu wiped her eyes and coughed.

At least, Ling thought it was a cough. But no, it was a word, spoken in a voice raspy from disuse.

“Ling,” her mother said.

Ling was overwhelmed by the sound. She longed to stay and talk with her forever.

“I…I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Mom. You don’t need to apologize. I understand now,” Ling said. “Just don’t give up on us, okay?”

“I love you,” her mother croaked. “Please…be careful.”

“I love you, too, Mom. I’ll be back. And Dad will, too. One day, we’ll all be together again.”

Ling kissed her mother’s cheek. Then, before she could change her mind, she went to the kitchen, grabbed her backpack, and swam out of her house, wishing she could believe her own
words.

“A
RE YOU
SURE
you have enough food?” Elisabetta asked Becca.

Becca looked at her over the top of her eyeglasses. “Are you
serious
? You’ve packed so much for me, I can barely carry it. And if I run out, which I
won’t
, I
have currensea.”

The
Marlin
was bobbing in the gray waters of the North Sea. It had been three days since Becca, Marco, and Elisabetta had evaded Mfeme’s boats.

“We’re five leagues west of the camp,” Elisabetta said. “We don’t dare drop you any closer. The Meerteufel subscribe to the shoot-first-ask-questions-later school
of defense,” she added wryly. “Approach the camp from the seafloor, and you won’t spook them. You have transparensea pearls in case of death riders, and—”

Becca threw her arms around Elisabetta, cutting her off. “Stop worrying, El. I’ll be fine. I’m almost there,” she said, hugging her tightly.

Elisabetta hugged her back, then held her by the shoulders. “Be careful,” she said.

“I will. Thank you, El. I’d be chum if it wasn’t for you and Marco. And who knows what would’ve become of the talisman. I owe you everything.”

“No, Becca, we owe
you
everything,” said Elisabetta. “You and your friends. Stop them—Vallerio, Traho, Mfeme. Stop them before it’s too late.”

Marco came belowdecks. He handed Elisabetta a pair of binoculars. “An oil tanker and two shipping vessels. That’s all. No sign of Mfeme’s goons.”

“Good. The sooner we get out of here, the better,” Elisabetta said.

She glanced at her brother as she took the binoculars from him. She could see, as Becca could, that his mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not.

“I’ll…uh, say my final good-bye now, Becca. Because I…um…I need to check…the engine,” Elisabetta said awkwardly. She gave Becca a final wave, then climbed up the
ladder.

“That was strange,” Becca said as she watched her go.

Marco looked at the floor. “No, not really,” he said. “She knows.”

“Knows what?” Becca asked.

He raised his eyes to hers. “That I have feelings for you.”

Becca caught her breath. She thought she’d only imagined Marco’s interest in her. She’d put her feelings for him aside. It was so much safer that way. Falling for a terragogg
was
never
part of the plan.

“I kind of lied the other day,” Marco continued, all in a rush. “When you asked me what I was going to tell you before Mfeme’s men chased us. I lost my nerve, I guess.
What I wanted to say was that I…I think I’ve fallen in love with you, Becca.”

“Marco, you know I’m a mermaid, right?”

He smiled. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“And you’re a human. And no matter what we feel—”

“So you feel the same way?” he asked hopefully.

Becca didn’t answer the question. She finished her sentence. “It’s impossible.”

“Everything’s impossible, Becca,” Marco said, taking her hand. “Getting the talismans is impossible. Defeating Abbadon is impossible. Stopping finners and super trawlers
and polluters is impossible. Our feelings are impossible—”

“Marco, I—”

“What? You don’t have feelings for me? Just tell me so and I’ll shut up.”

Becca averted her eyes and didn’t say a word.

“A lot of things in this world are impossible until someone
makes
them possible,” Marco finished softly.

Becca couldn’t speak. Her practical head was warring with her rebel heart.

“We’re very stupid, Marco,” she finally said.

He winced. “Love is never stupid, Becca.”

“Then I must be.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Marco said, clearly wounded by her words.

“I didn’t mean to be harsh. But this hurts,” Becca said. “As wonderful as the last days have been, I almost wish they’d never happened, because it’s so hard
to let go of them now. And of you.”

“Then don’t.”

“How can I not? I’m
leaving
, Marco. I’m joining my friends to take on death riders, dictators, and a homicidal monster. The odds aren’t in my favor, you know?
Chances are, I’m not coming back.”

Becca’s meaning lay heavily in the air between them.

Marco fell silent. Becca did, too. She didn’t know what else to say.

Becca was an expert at making things work. As an orphan, she’d had to be. She’d had to make lousy foster homes work. Meager meals. Secondhand clothing. But no matter how many times
she turned her feelings for Marco over in her head, looking at them from different angles, trying to make
them
work, she couldn’t.

“Marco, I—I’ve got to go,” she said, picking up her traveling case.

Marco nodded. “I’ll see you again someday,” he said. “In another place. A better one…I—I love you, Becca.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Don’t
say
that. Not now. It’s not
fair
!”

“No, it’s not,” Marco agreed. “But it’s true.”

Becca hit the button that allowed her to enter the water lock. The hatch opened. She glanced back once before leaving.

“Good-bye, Marco,” she said.

And then she was gone. She buttoned her jacket up around her neck as she descended, unused to the cold after spending a week in the saltwater tank.

Marco’s words rang in her ears…
I love you, Becca.

She hadn’t responded, because there’d been no point. It was over before it had even started. It was time to be practical, just as she’d always been. It was time to listen to
her head.

But as she swam away, deeper and deeper into the sea, she stopped and looked back. She could just make out the tapered hull of the
Marlin
, silhouetted on the surface of the water. She
thought she saw something else, too—on the starboard bow. A shadow. Marco’s shadow.

Becca’s heart clenched, and she confessed to the sea what she could not say to him.

“I love you, too, Marco. I wish to the gods I didn’t.”

S
ERA HELD UP her crossbow and took aim.

The conger eel was magnificent. She guessed it was about seven feet long and weighed close to two hundred pounds. She didn’t want to shoot it, but she had no choice. The goblins were
watching.

She prayed to the gods for a clean kill, then let her arrow fly. The eel never knew what hit it. It died instantly, sinking slowly to the mud.

Sera wanted to cry. Instead, she turned around to face the goblins, smiling triumphantly. “Tonight my brave warriors will feast!” she shouted in the goblins’ own tongue.

A cheer went up, loud and guttural. The Meerteufel were pleased with the kill and Sera was relieved. She’d told Antonio, the cook, that she would address the food shortage and she had. Not
only did the hunts bring much-needed food to the camp, they channeled the goblins’ energy in a constructive way.

That was one problem solved, but there were always more. They were still short on weapons and barracks space, as well as food. Not all the fighters that Guldemar had promised her had arrived
yet, but even when they did, her military would still be much smaller than her uncle’s.

The thing that worried her most of all, however, was her friends. Was Mahdi safe? Was his ruse still working? Had Astrid and Desiderio encountered death riders at the Qanikkaaq? What had
happened to Becca and Ava? Sera had heard nothing from either of them since she’d warned them that Vallerio’s troops were heading for Cape Horn and the Mississippi. The goblin fighters
she’d sent to protect them couldn’t cast convocas, so Sera had no idea if they’d been able to carry out their task.

And then there was Ling. Sera’s heart ached when she thought of her. She was still optimistic that the others were okay and were making their ways to the Karg, but her hopes for Ling were
fading.