“Just a stitch,” Finn muttered, exhaling sharply. One hand waveddismissively while the other stayed pressed to his chest, his silver bracer glinting in the dim light.
My stomach dropped, heart thudding in my chest as I dragged my eyes to him. His face was pale and drawn in tight lines. When his eyes met mine, they were filled with fear.
50
Skye
Iwas shaking. What the hell was that thing with the tentacles? The Fisherman? First he had killed the Captain, and then Layla, and now he was chasing us. And he wasn’t even the true villain...
I didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to face Manannán, the one these monstrous Drowned served.
I scanned the dark tunnel, goosebumps prickling the bare patches of skin across my breasts and neck. It gave me the creeps.
“Let’s split ranks,” Pisceon commanded. “Who knows what long-forgotten evils lurk in such ancient places.”
With a flick of her obsidian tail, Glacies swam forward. “Aarna, the Siren girl, and I will take the front. The rest of you take the back.”
Aarna summoned a sphere of silvery light, gripping my arm, then pulled me after her. We moved cautiously, leading the way along with Glacies while the others followed with Pháos. We kept our pace slow enough for Edward to walk with us.
Tall walls of stone and packed mudbrick loomed on either side ofus, crumbling in places where time had taken its toll. Carvings of Mer, sphinxes, and crocodilian sea beasts watched us with jeweled eyes that flickered to life as the pearlescent light Aarna held aloft moved past them.
My eyes widened as I observed the glowing orb. “Your light is changing color.”
“The Indian Ocean is abundant in pearl farms. We draw this from them.” Aarna brought both hands to the ball, and it swirled between her fingers in shades of silver, rose gold, and pale blue, like a glowing pearl.
“Before the curse, what was your power like?” I asked.
“No living Mer was there to witness it, but the old accounts say the gods and sea creatures were once one. We held divine knowledge, shared immortality, and drew power not in fragments but as part of a great, unified whole. Gods, nature, magic, and even mankind were all connected. But man grew greedy, and that greed rippled through us. In time, everything changed.”
My throat constricted. “And this tunnel was built back then, in the Days of the Gods?”
“No one knows exactly.” Aarna blew out a breath. “But it was constructed long before the city of Thonis-Heracleion was built around it. It is a very ancient place.”
I reached out, my fingers trailing over a hieroglyph, which gleamed at my touch. A hollow note reverberated through the stone, and I snatched my hand back.
“Still think this place abandoned?” I asked, a cold chill snaking down my spine as I hurried back to swim alongside the two warrior mermaids and the glow ahead.
“We will soon find out,” Aarna muttered.
A lump formed in my throat. “I’m so sorry about Layla. She took meto the Thálassian village once. It was one of the best days I’ve ever had,” I gushed.
“Thank you for saying that.” Aarna sent a long sigh into the darkness. “I’m sorry I doubted your Siren’s magic.”
We fell into silence after that, each of us lost to our shadowed thoughts, the dark waters of the tunnel pressing in on either side of us. On and on we went, following the light of Aarna’s pearl.
Sometimes, the passage narrowed into a tightly packed mudbrick tunnel, then widened into expansive halls fit for kings. Statues of pharaohs loomed in the shadows, and hieroglyphs adorned every inch of stone. Fish darted between the effigies, and seaweed grew along the tunnel’s edges.
We passed through a room lined with square pillars, each of which was decorated with carvings. Aarna’s pearlescent light swept across more primordial paintings dotted with scum and corrosion. I could make out images of fish-bodied gods, winged Sirens, and a priestess wearing a seal-headed robe.
Glacies swam just ahead, silent, her tail a streak of obsidian in the gloom. Her fingers often returned to brush the hilt of the blade strapped across her back. “This darkness feels unnatural,” she murmured. “I will be glad to be free of this place.”
“I would rather be in this darkness with you than at the summit watching you andhimplay husband and wife.” Aarna jerked a thumb over her shoulder to where Finn drifted behind us.
“You know that’s how it has to be, and now is not the time to discuss it.” Glacies exhaled sharply, but her shoulders soon slackened. She slowed, letting her fingers interlock with Aarna’s.
“Layla and Porphura were so happy together. Why can’t you two be like that?” I blurted.
Glacies let out a furious huff, her gills flaring with irritation.
