Nereid Secrets
Several others lunged for the longblade on the floor in a scuffle. I squeezed through the crowd and shot towards the gap in the rocks, determined to finish this before lives could be lost.
“Don’t let them get to Evagore,” shouted Guenevere.
I cursed. They knew, then, why we were here.
The tunnel was short and pitch black. I followed it into a massive cavern, too big to feel how far it reached. Above the surface, the smooth walls converged in a dome. A hole at the apex let in a beam of daylight. The only other light was a soft blue glow cast by tiny bioluminescent creatures. They brightened at the wave of activity.
Where were the prison cells? This would take searching.
Dione’s army and the Nereid guards swarmed in behind me. Based on numbers, Dione and her army would get to Evagore before I did. I had to find Dione.
A merman blasted up to me, sending a whirl of bubbles in my face.
“Where’s Meela?”
I dropped my fists. “Nilus!”
His eyes were wide, aura clouded in panic. “Why isn’t she with you?”
“She’s taking the serpent to find humans,” I said, stomach knotting.
“Serpent? How—she killed him?”
“Yes.” I hesitated. She had to have done it. It was the only outcome I would accept. I repeated it more firmly. “Yes. She did. We split up so—”
Fingers closed around my tail. I screeched, whirling. My fist made contact with the mermaid’s temple at the same moment as Nilus punched her in the stomach. She toppled away, dazed. Nilus pulled me closer to the rock wall.
“Where is she now?”
“East. She told me to meet her at Eriana Kwai.”
“Eriana Kwai,” he breathed.
“I have to bring the queen—”
He was gone.
I had half a mind to call after him, to tell him not to try and chase her, but I had more pressing matters. Dione was shoving through the crowd a short distance away, scanning the cavern. I raced over and grabbed her arm.
“We have to meet Meela at Eriana Kwai with Queen Evagore.”
She looked at me sharply. “The queen needs to secure her throne in Utopia.”
“I know, but first we need to make a peace pact with humans.”
From the black tunnel, her army continued flooding into the cavern. The Nereid guards fought to stop them, but they were outnumbered. Weapons and fists collided everywhere I looked.
“Queen Evagore has spent years imprisoned,” said Dione. “She will not be in a state to go make bargains with humans.”
“Dione, the humans are stalking the serpent, waiting for the moment to drop an explosive. They’ve already tried some kind of sound explosion below the surface. If we don’t negotiate something as soon as—”
Two bodies somersaulted into us in a storm of bubbles. One hooked an arm around the other’s neck. They stopped brawling. It was Galene, holding a guard in a chokehold.
“Lysithea’s right, Dione.”
Dione looked affronted. “If you understood the state of the Pacific Kingdom as I do, then you would know Her Majesty needs to go directly to Utopia.”
