“You know you put everyone at risk, throwing around that knowledge,” I said.
“The promise of controlling the serpent was all the leverage we had. We’d have been stupid not to tell her.”
I huffed. “You’re lucky she decided not to act. It’s better than having her join the fight with the intention of getting the serpent.”
“Ugh, are you serious? You think it’s better she’s not helping us?”
Admittedly, it did bother me that Medusa had refused. If she was as great a queen as everyone said, she would have cared about the war in the Pacific. Sure, this war had yet to affect the Atlantic directly, but lives were in danger, and she had the power to save them. Adaro might have been her son, but he was out of control, and she owed the world as queen to place those thousands—millions—of lives over his.
“She’s a coward,” I said.
“She’s not a coward. She told us how to kill her son.”
“You’re defending her?”
“I’m saying she has to make hard decisions that we probably don’t understand.”
The groaning noise came again, filling my head, like a manifestation of my anger.
At least the queen had made one noble decision. With or without help, we had the information we needed.
Now I had a merman to kill.
The canyon widened, the glaciers on either side looming silently. They reminded me of running through towering sequoia trees, surrounded by the smell of dirt and pine and wildflowers.
A lump formed in my throat. I supposed no matter how much I loved the sea, I would always miss what it felt like to be human. And right now, when even Lysi’s company was lonely, I realised I was homesick.
There was another, louder groan. Lysi glanced around this time. She caught my eye and turned ahead, continuing resolutely.
I imagined thousands of Adaro’s followers making this trek all those years ago, leaving the Atlantic behind to build Utopia.
Lysi’s parents had been among them.
“Why did your parents follow?” I said.
She glanced back, brow still furrowed in anger. “What?”
“Your parents followed Adaro to the Pacific after all his anti-human messages.”
“It wasn’t that simple. My mom said Adaro made a lot of promises that sounded better than what Queen Medusa offered. Wealth and unity and—”
“But did they not care about his anti-human messages, or that he tried to assassinate the queen?”
“I know what you’re getting at, Meela. They aren’t anti-human—”
The groan swelled louder than ever. A wave of apprehension pulsed from Lysi.
“So they don’t care enough about humans to let that affect them,” I said.
“What? No. I think Adaro quieted down about those views for a time to gain more followers. Anyway, can we not talk about my mom and dad? It just gets me all worried about them, and…”
The noise grew into a long, low rumble. I couldn’t tell how far away it was, or even which direction it came from. I blamed that on my inexperience with my new senses.
“What’s doing that?” I said.
Lysi lifted her gaze to the wall of ice on our right.
It hit me. The rumbling wasn’t in the distance. It was all around us.
