A dozen more vibrant merfolk shops, a few dolphin rides, and far too many plates of fried crab later, the four of us returned to the coral forest with a well-rested shark. Though a jolt of panic surged through me when I noticed the sky above the waves turning an ominous shade of blue.
“Just how long did we spend there?” I blurted, almost dropping the pink cloud of spun sugar that Adriana had gifted us all with before we left.
The mermaid took a bite out of her own sweet cloud stick. “A few hours maybe.” She shrugged, chewing.
“But it’s almost dawn!” I panicked.
“Relax, human.” Arenn stepped closer to my side, his human glamour long gone as he brought tufts of sweet cloud to his lips. “I can always whisk you back to the beach with my magic once we’ve found the cure.”
“You can do that?” Raena’s eyes turned starry.
“I can do many things,” Arenn gloated, flourishing his arms. “Faery magic is far superior to that of other kinds, especially the magic of my family. My sisters can wield fire. My father can manipulate minds. And my mother’s potions can slow ageing, cure sickness—” His bragging was cut short when Sweetie dove forward, chomped down on Arenn’s cloud stick, and devoured the entire thing in one ferocious bite. Only the clean stick remained.
“Why you little…” Arenn fumed while the rest of us exploded with laughter.
“Here.” Adriana swooped in to give Arenn the remainder of her cloud stick before turning to the rather pleased-looking shark. “I need to get him ready for riding, anyway. Just don’t wave that one around so much.”
Arenn grumbled something that sounded like a ‘thank you’ before drawing back to sulk by a coral tree. Both Raena and I swallowed down our giggles as we helped Adriana with her shark’s ropes.
It wasn’t long before we were once again chargingthrough the vibrant ocean forest. The coral trees and anemone shrubs seemed different with the sunlight pouring down from above the waves. Brighter, somehow. As if each plant and sea creature had swam through a rainbow just moments ago.
But the colours began to shift as the sand below us sloped deeper towards the cave. Peachy orange fish became dull and harder to spot behind the indigo eels that now weaved through the much taller trees. Coral branches became gnarled and twisted, painting sinister shadows along the sand when the occasional fish would flash by.
“How far are we now?” I hugged Sweetie’s side as he swam past a shark only slightly smaller than he was.
“Very close,” Adriana said from behind me.
“Is this what you meant by dangerous?” Raena’s voice cracked.
A nervous laugh sounded over my shoulder. “I suppose this partisdangerous, but…”
“What is it?” Arenn huffed. “You’re hiding something. You told us we’d just find the cure in the cave and leave. Is there something else in there we should be concerned about?”
“Well…” Adriana’s mumbles trailed off as Sweetie pulled to a halt outside a large cave opening. Dark coral trees stretched up impossibly high around the cave. We were so deep now that above us was nothing but a murky gloom.
A terrible, ominous murky gloom that extended far out into the cave ahead.
“We’re here,” Adriana chimed, sounding far too confident.
“That looks…” Raena’s voice hitched.
“Terrifying,” I answered for her.
Arenn charged around Sweetie, marching straight towards Adriana. “You need to tell us right now what’s so dangerous about this cave,” he hissed. “Otherwise I’m taking Naria and her friend, and whisking us all back to the beach.”
“Wait a moment.” The mermaid held up her palms. “I never meant to lie to you all. And to be honest, I didsaythis would be dangerous back on the beach – before I thought better of it…”
“What are you talking about?” I drew closer.
Her bright eyes darted around. “It’s…” Then she shook her head, shuddering. “I’ll just show you.” Plunging her hands into Sweetie’s saddlebags, she fished out a few large pearls fastened to strings.
“These are basically lanterns,” she explained, rubbing her fingers over one until it glowed like the moon. “You wear them like a necklace.” She passed the pearls around until we each had one glowing against our chests. Then, she took a spare and ventured towards the cave opening.
“Wait,” I whispered, suddenly feeling like leaving might be a better idea. But before I could say another word, Adriana took a spare glowing pearl and tossed it inside the cave.
I could almost hear my heartbeat as it rolled along the stone floor. To my relief, the cave must not have been as deep as it looked. The rolling pearl soon came to a stop when it hit something that appeared to be a simple branch of coral, or perhaps a colourful rock.
“Oh.” I chuckled, but then the pearl grew brighter, illuminating more of the murky cave.
