The Wild Mermaid Read online

  “I regret to confess that I was the one who realized how these magics could make us immortal.”

  Cora tried to react, to feel repulsed by Maestro, but everything he said seemed more like a story than truth. He’d always been kind to her, and she struggled to see him any other way.

  “The Queen and I developed the plan to serenade the humans, providing Atlanteans with plentiful labor and infinite lifespans. It was a plan that enabled our vengeance, for none of our rivals had powers over the sea. I had once believed this was our kismet, our fortune rising from their smite.

  “I wish I could say I resisted, that I protested the use of slavery or murder…but I did not. I was single-minded, viewing humans as inferior beings. And because others thought like me, Atlantis was reborn, greater than it had been before.”

  He sat down beside Cora and handed her the bubblet of milk. She took it greedily.

  “You need to understand that when Melusine met me, I wasn’t Maestro as you know me. She was introduced to me as the Great Architect, the Queen’s right-hand companion and source of the city’s genius. And while the ballad was true—we did meet at the Gates of Atlantis—it wasn’t quite the eccentric scene of the song.

  “Melusine was magnificent and not only did she captivate me—She charmed everyone, even the Queen! We entertained her in the castle for nearly a month. Suitors vied for her hand, and by some fortune, she fell in love with me.” Maestro’s face was bright with the recollection. Maybe he smiled.

  Cora discovered her mouth was open and shut it. To think that the Atlanteans had admired Melusine. Loved, even. The idea shocked her.

  “The ballad is a lie!” she realized.

  “You’re catching on. This is a deceptive world, this city I built with her Majesty. We had every intention of Atlantis lasting forever, and many of the songs you know were written for a purpose. While it was written later, The Ballad of Melusine is no exception.”

  Cora shivered. “What happened next?”

  “The time came for Melusine to attend her first recital. She…didn’t know how the spell of immortality worked. Truth be told, I’d hidden the nature of it from her. I was afraid that she could never love me if she knew. Maybe, even then, I felt a trickling of shame.

  “For by that time, the last of the wars had been ages ago, and Atlantis was several millennia old. There had been time to witness the consequences of my inventions.

  “The Queen honored Melusine, inviting her to sit in her seashell box. And there, Melusine learned the cost of immortality. Once she realized the truth, Melusine made a show of her disgust. She swam to the ocean above the recital hall, publicly rejecting the gift and disgracing the Queen.

  “In her anger, the Queen ordered for Melusine’s capture. The guards chased after her, and while Melusine was a capable enchantress, she wasn’t a warrior. They were about to capture her—when I intervened.”

  “Before the Queen and all the city?” Cora gasped. “The Architect’s Gaffe?” It was a fast pace, ironic ditty that told of the Great Architect’s death in an overconfident bid for power.

  “Ah, yes.” Maestro chuckled, but the joy didn’t touch his eyes.

  “Did you make it out?”

  “We did. Together, we lived in the wild sea and even enjoyed a few years of love. We migrated and explored. In our time away, she showed me many things, taught me lessons an immortal comes to overlook.

  “But in time, even love wasn’t enough to keep her by my side. Melusine believed she had a duty to the mortals of Atlantis and convinced me to join her crusade. Together we made a plan, hoping to use the underground market for physic. Her vision was to put physic in mortal hands. And so, we settled into the Caves of Tetheris.”

  “The caves are home to outlaws and outcasts, but even they had no interest in helping mortals. And so, as we tried to settle, we were found out. Our faces were well known, and soon the Queen learned where we were. She ordered her spies to capture us.

  “They acted as sympathizers, and desperate as we were for assistance, we trusted them. They cornered and captured us. They paraded our return to the Queen.

  “In her anger, the Queen ordered Melusine to retire.” Maestro clenched his fist. “I fought, Cora, please trust me that I fought for her. I even escaped from my prison cell, but I was caught trying to free Melusine. That’s when they first clipped my fin.”

  “Were you at—her retirement?” Cora asked. The story was now completely different from the one she knew.

  Maestro nodded. “Melusine took the physic, one pill a day for a week, choosing to sing instead of being ran through the machine. If she had to die, she’d do so with the power of her lungs.

  “The night of her solo, the Queen had me carried to her seashell box. They had clipped me so recently that my tail was still bleeding. The Queen was determined to make a spectacle.

  “Even in her deathsong, Melusine was like a force of nature. She wielded her power with presence of mind only years of training could’ve taught her. And when she imbued her might into the song…” Maestro’s gaze grew distant.

  Cora clutched the empty bubblet in her fist.

  “There is a way, when performing a deathsong, to give all of one’s lifeforce to a single individual. I’ve seen it happen before, maybe a dozen times.”

  “And Melusine did that for you?”

  “She did. All of her lifeforce was given to me…” He toyed with his bubblet. “And when someone manages this, the effect is tremendous.”

  “Triton wanted all of me,” Cora said.

  Maestro nodded. “It would’ve made him incredibly powerful. Now consider all the amplification in the recital hall, it is enough to keep all Atlanteans immortal. So as Melusine vanished, her body giving way to water, my fin was healed.”

  Cora gasped.

  “But when Queen Mari realized what was done, she ordered the guards to hold me down, and there—She called for a knife, shouting she would rip my fin anew.

  “She cut me as the city watched below, witnessing as the pact between their Queen and her Architect was torn in two.” Maestro rubbed his fin where it had been cut, torn so Queen Mari could make her point, its jagged scarring a reminder to its origin.

  “I spent years in the dungeons after that, penance for the time I had wandered the seas with Melusine. And when the Queen finally brought me before her, she gave me a new name and role. That was when I became Maestro.

  “At first, I resisted. I searched for sympathizers and brainstormed ways to continue Melusine’s fight. But nothing worked. Nothing happened and nothing changed. Over the centuries, I stopped trying.”

  Maestro frowned and rubbed his palm against his scales. “Cora, can’t you see what a shroud of my former self I’ve become? I’m alive and yet I no longer live. I’ve accepted this role of Maestro, day in and day out. I’m broken, and that defeat has kept me from doing anything important.”

  “You said I inspire you,” Cora said after a time. “And you’ve been true to your word to me. You’ve protected me as no one else has done. If you can learn to do that for me, I believe you can do a whole lot more.”

  He smiled a little.

  “What’s your name?” Cora asked. “Since it’s not Maestro.”

  Now he really laughed. It wasn’t merry, but it was something. “I’m Meryn. Mighty Meryn Met the Merry Queen. Not all the songs are lies.”

  Cora began to laugh with him. Meryn was the name she’d given to her companion squid during the migration. It was a name that already gave her joy.

  “What’s so funny?” Sarina swam from the bathing room. When neither of them replied, Sarina turned to Cora. “Well, I’m glad you’re awake. I want to teach you deathbreath before our next venture into the castle. It might come in handy.”

  Maestro—no, Meryn—was frowning again, but he didn’t object to Sarina’s idea. While Cora allowed Sarina to tug at her shoulder and lead her into the bathing room, she studied Maestro the whole way.

  Chapter Twelve:
r />   Frightened Fish

  The bathing room was similar to the one she’d used while staying in the choir room. Bright rocklights that mimicked daylight shone from the ceiling, giving life to the coral reef within the room.

  A large mirror covered one entire wall, while all the others—including the floor—were covered with seaweed and reef. Starfish and smaller octopi skirted the bottom while little fish brushed through the reef, chasing one another. A sitting stone stood in the center of the room.

  Even though it was closed like an aquarium, bathing rooms were the closest Cora had to the open ocean. It wasn’t a great comparison, but it was what she had.

  Braided vines formed a barrier at the far wall, separating a space where heavy current flowed from ceiling to floor, it rushed through the side chamber, pushing clean water from the ceiling and dirtied water into a drain.

  After hogging the room for so long, Sarina’s tail was incredibly shiny… Wait, did Sarina’s tail have more gray and white scales than before? Yes. More evidence that this curse came with a cost.

  Sarina pinched a small fish between her fingertips, one that only moments ago had enjoyed the reef.

  “What’s that?” Cora asked.

  “Practice.”

  “You mean, you want me to use deathbreath on—the fish? To kill it?” Though she ate fish, this felt so much worse. This was killing for…practice.

  “It’s how I learned,” Sarina said. “A courtier was assassinated, and I learned of deathbreath from rumors. Physic allows its consumers to handle lifeforce. As soloists, we know how to move it from one form to another, but it enables other spells as well.

  “I listened to the gossip, gleaning what information I could. I practiced night after night in the privacy of the bathing room, unsure what I was even doing. Eventually, either by luck or persistence, I killed my first fish.”

  “We don’t have months.”

  “Fortunately, you’ve got me as a teacher.”

  Cora wasn’t sure she wanted to learn from Sarina. The mermaid had betrayed her before rescuing her. It wasn’t exactly the foundation of a promising relationship.

  “I understand if you don’t trust me,” Sarina continued. “I’m not sure I would’ve trusted someone like me either. But right now, we want the same thing: to get out. If our fates are tied, I’d rather have you trained than not.”

  Cora nodded. She understood—even respected—Sarina’s cold logic, knew she should want to learn this curse. But she wasn’t ready to kill.

  “Watch me.” Sarina lifted the fish to her lips and emptied her sealungs with a long ooof. Pause. Then she made the terrible screeching sound. It lasted only a moment, but that was long enough for Cora’s ears to bleed.

  Long enough for the fish to die.

  Sarina released it, and the body began to drift. It followed the currents of the room, slowly approaching the drains behind the vines.

  “Your turn.” Sarina already had the fin of a second fish seized between her fingers.

  “Won’t Davit mind that we’re killing his fish?” Cora didn’t want to do this. “I’ve seen it done. That’s enough. You can just tell me how to do it.”

  “It’s just a fish! You eat them all the time. And by now, I hope you’ve realized that magic takes finesse. You need to practice.”

  Even as she hated the knowledge, Cora knew it was true. So she would do this. If it helped their escape, she could learn. “How did you do it?”

  “Let’s make it a game, shall we? I figured it out and so can you.”

  Cora didn’t want to play this type of game—one that invited Sarina to lord her knowledge over her—but she did as Sarina instructed.

  “Eee!” Cora cried, mimicking the sound Sarina had made.

  Nothing happened. Of course nothing happened. While the tone had been similar, it had contained none of the power that Sarina’s had held. It had been nothing like the songs she’d already performed. Just noise.

  “Eee! Eee! Eee!” Cora felt stupid. What did Sarina expect from her? Sarina had taken months to figure this out, yet she thought Cora could learn it quickly.

  “Eee!” The fish continued to flit with life.

  “You sound absolutely ridiculous,” Sarina complained.

  “You said this took you months to learn. Is this how you ruined your voice?”

  Sarina ignored her jab. Clearly, she thought Cora had some sort of advantage Sarina hadn’t. Was it because Cora had seen it done before? When Sarina had cast deathbreath, she had always begun with a deep exhalation.

  Cora hissed out the last of her water, arching her back to press the last of it out. She paused with aching, empty sealungs, hesitant of what to do next, leaving her body begging for water.

  Gasping, she sucked in water, and as it made a sickening, sucking sound, she had an idea. Cora attempted to sing through the inhale, the sound it created was somewhat screechy. She continued the sound.

  Cora had to act before her opportunity was gone. She imagined the lifeforce of the fish, visualizing a small glow to its body. As she screeched, she pulled that power away from it, yanking its strength aside.

  And the fish stopped moving.

  Cora either felt or imagined its lifeforce drifting away, spent and useless, a splinter of her own lifeforce vanishing with it.

  She’d killed the fish, and a part of her had died in the exchange. Deathbreath came at a cost.

  “Good. You’re observant.” Sarina released the fish, allowing it to float lazily in the slow current. “Well, I’m going to go lie down for a bit. Do feel free to practice a little bit more, kill a few more fish. I need to know you can kill a guard if you need to.”

  Sarina picked up her clutch of physic and swam from the bathing room, closing the door behind her.

  Cora stared at the dead fish.

  “Mari mermaid made my memories,” she sang, addressing the fish. It didn’t make her feel better. “Frightened fish fled the fancy farm.” Cora chewed her lip.

  Then she gathered her lifeforce at her core as she had done as the soloist. Then she tried to transfer it into the fish, just as she had done at the recital. She wanted to return something of what she’d stolen. She sang her energy to the fish.

  The fish flapped as the lifeforce hit it, and Cora grew hopeful. Yet after a moment passed, the fish remained limp with one of its vacant eyes staring at Cora.

  Of course she couldn’t raise the dead. It had been a waste for her to try.

  Cora sighed and grabbed its tail between two of her fingers. She cupped it with her other hand and carried the body past the vines, to the place where the current moved quicker.

  Cora released the fish and watched as it drifted, disappearing down the drain.

  She looked up, feeling the incoming water push against her body. It pulled at the water in her eyes, pressing away tears before they could finish forming.

  She didn’t want to kill a fish…let alone another mer, even an immortal. Sarina made it seem easy, but if it came to it, Cora questioned her ability to use deathbreath.

  Maybe it would never come to that. If everything went according to plan, she’d never need to use the spell. She could leave Atlantis and disappear and then…

  …She still didn’t know what would happen next.

  But that was a problem she could consider later. For now, Sarina had finally left the bathing room, and Cora wanted to feel clean.

  Cora swam to the reef, inviting the remaining fish to help clean her scales. She grabbed a brush and ran it against the grooves in her fin. The effort was little more than a distraction, but she’d enjoy it while she could.

  ✽✽✽

  By the time Cora left the bathing room, her scales glinting with splendor, the others were gathered around the table. Davit had returned with fresh fish.

  Cora swam for the table, her stomach rumbling despite the events of the bathing room. Choosing to feed her body, she cast away memories of the fish she had killed.

  Maestro smiled at her. “You
look good.”

  “Thank you. I feel better too.”

  She didn’t continue, so Davit and Maestro picked up their prior conversation. Now that she knew what to look for, Cora saw the way Davit looked at Maestro and was glad to find admiration in his expression. Maybe in time, Maestro could learn to see the good others saw in him.

  Sarina added an occasional comment, but despite her best efforts, she could never entirely break into the conversation. The two immortals had more in common with each other than either of them might with Sarina.

  Cora was glad to listen as Phoebe was discussed. She asked after her former friend and learned she was acclimating to the choir. She had new friends.

  It was strange to imagine that Phoebe could feel safe and happy here… It made Cora both jealous and furious, and she snatched at the last of her food.

  Sarina pointed to her now-empty plate. “Guess I didn’t ruin your appetite,” she sneered.

  Cora chewed her lip. “Apparently not.”

  “I guess that means you’re doing okay.” It was almost a question, Sarina’s way of checking in with Cora.

  “I’m—trying,” Cora admitted.

  “Aren’t we all.” Sarina tried to soften. “I can’t promise you it’s going to be okay…but well, I’m still fighting, and so should you.”

  Cora smiled and nodded. “I can do that.

  As dinner ended, Sarina reached into her satchel and handed her a droplet of physic. “I already took mine,” she said.

  Cora hadn’t taken a dose all day, and she knew it was time. She didn’t check with Maestro before consuming it; she could choose this herself.

  Cora swallowed the medication and darkness rounded her vision. Grateful that she could succumb, Cora rose from the table and made her way to the corner she had claimed. She settled herself and waited for sleep.

  ✽✽✽

  Kyla stirred on the dreamlike beach. Awareness came to her slowly, as it had done the first time she’d awoken. She tried to keep her eyes wide and awake, but drifted in and out of sleepiness instead…