What truth could be so crucial that Cordelia would go to such lengths to keep it hidden? And, more importantly, how will it affect our journey?
There's a tension in the air, thick with anticipation. Whatever Mirella's about to reveal, it's clear it's not just some trivial tidbit. It's something big, something that could change everything.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts.
Cordelia controls the Dark Tides
Danica
62
"Holdup, Cordelia's pulling the strings with the Dark Tides?" I ask, my eyebrows shooting up so high they practically hit my hairline. "I thought Calypso was supposed to be the resident sea witch with a monopoly on all things aquatic."
Mirella shakes her head as she dips her pen back into the ink. With a few quick strokes, she scribbles out a response.
The stone Cordeliapocespossesses control the waters.
"The Aquanite stone." I muse, my mind racing to connect the dots. "So that's the secret behind the Dark Tides? But why? And more importantly, why let Calypso take the fall? And what curse?"
Mirella takes a deep breath, frustrated. "It is easier to show you than try to tell you."
"Okay, how do you show me?"
"The Atlantean Ruins has the answers. There's a book down there written by a mermaid scribe—a seer named Nixie."
Nixie?
That name hits me like a ton of bricks. "Nixie? As in the Gypsy on Captain's Haven?"
Mirella's eyes light up like she just won the underwater lottery. "You know Nixie?"
"I met her once," I confirm, my brow furrowing as I try to piece together this mind-bending puzzle. "She read my cards to me..." I squint my eyes shut, shakingmy head. "Are you sure we're talking about the same person here? Because I'm pretty sure the Nixie I met had legs, not fins."
Mirella nods her head so frantically I'm half-worried it might fall off. "Yes, that's her... It's..." She struggles again, her words getting caught in her throat like a fish in a net. I point to the paper, silently urging her to write it down before she pops a blood vessel.
I can't blame her—if I couldn't speak my mind freely, I'd be pretty pissed off, too. She quickly scribbles again, her quill flying across the parchment…
Nixiescibedscribed hervicionvision. She was a mermaid before she traded her fins for legs topermenetlypermaneescpescape the sea and the curse
Holy shit. If someone had told me that Nixie, of all people, would be tangled up in this underwater shit show, I would've laughed in their face. But here we are, and apparently, the Gypsy who read my fortune is a former mermaid with a direct line to the secrets of Atlantis.
Go figure.
And this curse she's talking about? I'm willing to bet my left tit that it's got everything to do with Mirella's magical gag order and Cordelia.
I turn to Mirella, my mind already racing ahead. "Okay, so the next order of business is for us to get our hands on that book and see what it says. I want to know everything."
Because let's face it, knowledge is power. And in a world where Mirella can't even voice what the hell is going on without choking on her own words, this book might just be our golden ticket to the truth.
Mirella nods her head in agreement, a determined glint in her eye. "I can go retrieve it; I know exactly where they are," she says, and I don't doubt her for a second.
"What about the Siren's Lyre?" Erik asks, "We need to get that first, don't you think?"
Erik has a valid point; I shouldn't be deterred from questing to the Atlantean Ruins right now. Maybe Cordelia will throw another tantrum, trying to drown us.
"Okay, let's divide and conquer," I offer. "Mirella, you grab the scrolls, book, or whatever, and we will stay the course and head to Tempest Isle."
"Whoa, whoa, hold your seahorses there, Princess," Lucian cuts in, his smartassery dialed up to eleven. "You're seriously thinking about sending little mermaid here, who's got strings pulled by some sea queen with a throne lodged up her ass, on a solo mission to Indiana Jones her way through ancient ruins and bring back some magical paperwork unscathed? Really? Are we in the same movie here?"
