We zigzagged, breaking apart and convening at random, trying to throw it off. The marlin was solid, streamlined, with snake-like agility. The sail on its back waved as its powerful body swung back and forth. Its focus was absolute.
Out of nowhere, another marlin darted at us. Meela and Deiopea screamed. We scattered. For a moment, the fish didn’t seem to know who to chase. It twisted around and found the closest target, firing towards me like an iron bolt. I flipped over its dorsal fin, the rigid flesh brushing my waist. It whirled around.
Meela was several lengths ahead. Its focus landed on Deiopea.
Deiopea and I locked eyes over the marlin’s sail. If that fish had been the only one, she would have had time to escape. She opened her mouth—to speak, maybe—and the first marlin slammed into her side. I hadn’t felt it coming.
The pointed beak caught her arm. Deiopea grunted and rolled away. Blood seeped from the gash.
“Deiopea!” I shouted.
The second marlin lunged. It struck her dead-on.
“No,” I sobbed.
The marlin’s beak sank into her body. Her mouth gaped, and she hung as though suspended by rope in the water.
A lump rose in my throat. Meela and I had convinced her to come with us. Were we so selfish to risk Deiopea’s life?
I wanted to say I was sorry. I wanted to take back every thought I’d had that she’d been stubborn or difficult. I wanted her to know her death meant something.
I couldn’t get the words out.
Before the life left her eyes, before the blood spilled from her mouth like a ribbon, she met my gaze and said, “Kori Maru.”
I had no time to consider it. A hand grabbed my arm.
“Come on!” said Meela.
The marlins were closing in on Deiopea.
With a last glance at her lifeless body, I fled with Meela.
The marlins did not follow. Sickened, I tried not to think about them feeding on Deiopea.
Kori Maru.I repeated the words in my mind, trying to place them.
Meela and I kept swimming, not saying a word. The chaos faded into the distance. We were alone.
Kori Maru. It was the name of a ship, I was sure.
We travelled at depth, following the fastest current back northwards. Sadness overcame me—and then guilt. If Deiopea hadn’t come with us, she would still be alive—and those marlins might have gotten me or Meela instead. I hated myself for feeling relieved.
We swam for a long time at top speed. I wanted to make certain we hadn’t been followed.
Meela whimpered. “My lungs are going to collapse.”
I swore. A dull pain had been growing under my own ribs for a while. I should have let Meela breach long ago.
“All right. I think it’s safe,” I said weakly.
We grazed the surface, taking a quick breath with each stroke.
As I sucked life back into my lungs, I became certain Kori Maru was a shipwreck. We’d learned about hundreds of them in school. They were useful for navigating—for those who could remember all of them.
Of course the Reinas would meet at a place like that. It was perfect. Adaro’s armies wouldn’t go near that kind of ‘human filth’.
“They’re in a shipwreck,” I said to Meela. “Kori Maru.”
