Page 83 of City of Darkness

In the darkness, in that blue nothing, I feel hands wrap under my arms, and then I’m being pulled up from the depths.

My life flashes across my eyes, but I can’t grasp any of it. It’s like watching a movie in fast forward, just images and clips. Me and my father on the dock at the lake, me sitting on the floor after dance class crying. Me moving into my suite on a sunny day in Los Angeles, me walking through the portal with Rasmus. Me being thrown in an oubliette. Me growing wings in the middle of Inmost.

Me and Death in a restaurant bathroom.

Me and my father hugging on a snow-covered porch.

A tunnel collapsing.

A tie severed.

I open my mouth to scream as the memories come flooding back, just as the sea floods into my lungs again, and then I’m rushing to the surface and bursting through into the cold air.

“Breathe,” I hear a woman’s delicate voice at my ear. “You can breathe.”

I open my eyes, blinking wildly at the grey sky above just in time to see what looks like a bony pterodactyl fly overhead, disappearing into thicker clouds.

I gasp, my lungs burning, and water comes churning out. There’s a hand at my back, a fist pounding me, until I cough up all the swallowed sea.

“There,” the person says sweetly, and I look beside me to see a beautiful girl with long green hair and scales along her hairline.

Mermaid.

She’s a mermaid.

My brain feels so puny, it’s hard to put anything in the right order.

“It’s okay,” another voice says, this one achingly familiar.

I look down to see a doll-size mermaid with an iridescent white tail swimming in front of me.

Bell!I think.This is Bell.

“You’re looking at me like you don’t recognize me,” Bell says. “Don’t tell me you have another little mermaid friend. Do I need to worry about her? There can only be one.”

I can’t tell if she’s making a joke or not. Everything is movingsoslowly.

“Don’t worry,” Bell says. “Madra and I have you. When I heard someone was using the portal, I didn’t know what to expect. The last thing I thought I would see was you floating there. You gave me a heart attack. I got Madra to help you to the surface.”

I nod slowly, coughing again, and look around. We’re treading water maybe a hundred yards from a snow-covered shore, tall trees beyond it. It looks different somehow, and there’s something off-putting about it, but at least I know where I am.

Tuonela.

“What about Tuoni?” I manage to say, my voice hoarse. “My father? Did you see them?”

Both mermaids shake their heads.

“No,” says Bell. “They didn’t come through with you. We would have seen them if they did. They’re still on the other side. What happened?”

“There was a cave-in. The tunnel. They told me to run. I thought they were right behind me and then…”

Oh God, please let them be alright. I’m not as worried about Tuoni in the tunnel—I’m pretty sure that god can punch his way through a wall with his bare hands—but what about my father? If he was hurt, if something happened to him…

But he can’t die. Even if he was hurt, he couldn’t die.

I let out a shaking breath. At least there’s that. As long as Tuoni remains on that side, no one on Earth is dying. That means they’ll both have Eero and Noora to deal with, but I have no doubt Tuoni will deal with them in a most gruesome way.

“I am sure they are fine. There are always other portals,” Bell says in a soothing voice. “They’ll find their way back.” Then, her expression turns crestfallen. “Though I’m not sure they’ll want to come back to this world.”