Dark Waters

Chapter 10

Aelaria’s family mourned quietly for their lost daughter, sitting in the living room and relying on each other’s strength. I floated off the side, desperate to hide in the shadows. Although I had done nothing, I still felt responsible and intrusive. I hung my head and wished for privacy, to weep for my friend and my brother.

 

Looking over her husband’s head, Aelaria’s mother help a slender, pale hand out to me. I approached her cautiously and placed my own palm in hers. She squeezed it gently and pulled me down on the bench next to her.

 

“You lost someone today, too,” she whispered in my ear. “You loved Aelaria, and your brother. We all feel the same pain.”

 

I bit my lip and nodded. “I’m going to fix this. Whatever it is, whatever is happening, I have to stop it.” She looked at me with a gaze that looked straight into my heart.

 

“I know you will. And I know you can.”

 

With her blessing, I knew I was ready to take on any monster.

 

~~~~~

 

As I went about the rest of the day, I rolled my thoughts around in my head. I knew that all the kidnappings were occurring at night, with little struggle, and no noises. No one, no group, had yet been exempted. No matter how long I chewed on the issue, I had no hypothesis on what was happening. When the twins and I lay down in our dimly lit room that night, I lay awake, staring at the hole-ridden ceiling without moving.

 

Without warning, a quiet fwit! noise sounded in the room, and Minkaa gave a small twitch. Seconds later, the noise came again, and Soonalar twitched as well. I didn’t move a muscle, but turned my eyes to watch them. The twins rose in perfect synch, and I saw a short spine poking out of Minkaa’s arm; the kind of sharp point that you see on various species spiny fish. Another was pricking Soonalar’s neck. In unison they swam directly out of one of the larger holes in the wall. I waited for a count of five before I seized Aelaria’s knife off the floor by her pallet and followed them, tying the belt around my waist.

 

They were swimming single file over the houses, away from the tiny town. I followed them as fast as I could, but found that keeping up with them was not hard. They were moving slowly, with hypnotic sways of their identical inky-blue tails. I swam underneath them until I was a short ways ahead, then squinted to see their faces. I could make out slack expressions, open mouths, and glassy eyes.

 

This is it, I thought. Whatever everyone else is getting, whatever Ra’loreh was on, the twins just got a giant dose of it. They’ve been poisoned.

 

I followed stealthily until the houses ended, and I could hide no longer. I got close to Minkaa and inspected her face, her unseeing eyes. I pinched her fingers and slapped her cheeks gently to no avail. She was like a sleepwalker. Suddenly they began to descend. I looked down and was stunned by where we were; the Garden of Pearls, the very place where I had kissed Lanntryns just over a week ago. The memory of him sent a wave of grief over my heart.

 

The girls swam the length of the garden until they reached the immense boulder that marked the end of the merpeople’s world. I hid behind a significantly smaller rock and looked on in amazement as the twins threw their weight against the monolith of stone and moved it about two yards to the left, revealing a small, irregularly shaped gap in the sea floor. They entered it one after the other, and I darted forward to follow them as the rock shifted back to its original position. Just as I cleared the mouth of the tunnel, the boulder settled back into place. A second later and I would’ve lost the toes on my right foot.

 

The tunnel was hewn of rough stone, just like the houses above, and just large enough to not be claustrophobic. It would’ve been pitch black, but it was softly lit by luminescent fish, glowing and floating around. I stared at them in wonder for a moment, then continued down the winding passage.

 

The twins entered the chamber just as I was rounding the last bend. Again, I could only sit back in awe, this time for a different reason. The room was the size of a school gymnasium, lit by similar fish, and it’s walls were lined with cells. They looked like glass tanks, but instead of glass, they had bubbl, and where there should have been metal, there was rough stone. The twins drifted into cells without walls, and as soon as they entered, the bubble restraints glided up over their tanks. As soon as they were sealed in they seemed to come to their senses, pounding on the walls and screaming muffled cries for help. As I looked around, I saw that nine cells contained withered old men with stars tattooed on their brows. Several held small children or young adults. I saw Aelaria’s brother in one, and her grandmother in another. Then, in cells side by side on the right side of the room, I spotted Aelaria herself and Tyler, and felt my eyes fill. Unlike many of the other captives, they were awake and watching me. I swam over to them as fast as I could, tears pouring down my face, and pounded on their bubble walls, trying to break through.

 

Aelaria looked calm and serene, but I could just see her own tears. She shook her head with a rueful expression, and mouthed to me, “You can’t break it.” I turned to my brother and found him staring at me with that contemplative little face of his. He splayed his fingers against the wall and I pressed my palm to his through the bubble. A movement to my left caught my eye, and I saw Ra’loreh in the cell next to the two of them. He looked into my eyes like he was already mourning for my demise, and pointed to the front of the room with a single finger.

Leading up to the far wall was an aisle of pearls. At the end of that aisle was a dais. On that dais was a throne. And on that throne, with a handsome smile on his face and a sharkish gleam in his eyes, was Lanntryns.