Chapter Twenty-Nine

MER

Water was a curious thing.

It could be soft and gentle. Or hard and cruel.

This time, it chose to be hard.

Mer crashed through the water, her legs taking the impact.

She screamed in pain as her injured arm was jerked away from her body. Her gills flared open, forcing the rest of the air out of her lungs. Mer clutched her wounded arm to her chest as she sank in the water, eyes stinging with pain.

Her brows furrowed as the scent of salt filtered through her gills. It wasn’t strong enough to be seawater, but there was no mistaking the salty taste of the ocean. And... the water wasn’t cold. It was almost as warm as bathwater.

Just what was this place?

Mer glanced toward the surface, floating in the water, her hair twisting like small snakes around her head.

She needed to return to the palace before someone noticed she was gone.

But there was something curious about the lake that called to her.

If she managed her time well, she would be able to explore, seek a healer and shelter, and sneak back to the palace before she was missed.

Just a few minutes.

With care, she swam toward the bottom of the clear lake using one arm, the pain agonizing.

It was deeper than she expected. The lake was circular in shape, and all the sides sloped toward the middle like a gigantic crater.

Mer swam around a large boulder, startling a school of multicolored fish.

She gasped, smiling as they scattered at the sight of her.

It wasn’t uncommon to discover something new in the sea.

The ocean had its secrets, and if someone was curious enough, they’d reveal a few.

A sense of giddiness filled her stomach, and she smiled at the few fish who were hovering uncertainly just out of range. There were always friends to be found if one was willing to look.

Mer moved extremely slowly toward the boulder and sat upon its surface.

She ran her hand over the light purple algae that softened the rock’s rough exterior.

She crisscrossed her legs and waited patiently for her finned friend to come and investigate as she took in the foreign landscape of the lake.

A bed of deep blue seagrass stretched out before her, only broken up by round rocks. A forest of chartreuse seaweed waved in the distance like pagan dancers reaching greedily toward the surface. Small clusters of spiny white flowers grew out of waterlogged trees, long forgotten.

Her eyes closed of their own accord, and Mer inhaled slowly and then exhaled. For the first time in months, she felt the smallest seed of peace. She’d found a refuge. An escape that would see her through the coming years.

If you last that long.

Opening her eyes, she froze as a little red guppy edged closer, his large black eyes seeming almost comically wide.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, holding her pointer finger out. She wiggled her fingers through the water, beckoning the little fish to come closer. The little guppy approached cautiously, touching her finger before darting back.

“I won’t hurt you,” she crooned and wiggled her fingers in invitation once more.

The brave little fish swam up to her hand and bumped the tip of her finger. Mer held still as he investigated her. She held in a laugh as the guppy soon became comfortable, running his side against her finger as if he had an itch.

“Brave wee thing you are,” she hummed, massaging his translucent fin.

The fish swirled through her fingers once more as if to say goodbye and then returned to his school, which had gone back to nibbling on the blue seagrass. It always amazed her how all creatures craved connection. One just had to be willing to meet on their terms.

She slipped off the side of the large boulder and floated down to the bottom of the lake. Sand and dirt swirled through the water until she reached the seagrass. The fine strands of plant life tickled the bottoms of her feet while more fish came to greet her.

Mer savored the experience.

The light ahead shifted, reminding her of the passing of time, but Mer ignored it. What was the worst that could happen if they discovered her missing?

Reaching the forest of seaweed, she stepped inside.

Mer wove through the stalks, lazily touching the large fronds and bulbs along the winding spindles.

This felt like home.

Her arm throbbed in pain, reminding her of its presence, but Mer ignored it. All she wanted was to savor this moment. The forest thinned out, and she stopped in her tracks.

An ancient-looking structure sat in the dead center of the lake.

Excitement bubbled inside her, and she abandoned walking to swim toward the structure.

It appeared to be an amphitheater in the shape of a birdcage.

A large chunk was missing, as if a giant fist had punched through the roof, damaging one of the walls.

Narrow winding broken stairs led to the bottom floor.

Three stories of columns held up the soaring roof that were so white they looked to be whalebone.

Benches lined the upper stories as if awaiting guests.

Mer softly dropped to the top of the stairs at the entrance and took her first step into the amphitheater.

A thrill went through her as she ran her hand over a thick column.

The smooth marble was slick beneath her palm despite cracks here and there.

Little plants grew out of the fissures, which made her smile widen.

Life would find a way.

It was utterly perfect in its imperfection.

“Who built you?” she asked, her question swallowed up by the silence of the lake.

Mer pushed away from the entrance, making her way toward the center of the pavilion. Her brows slashed together as she noticed that the algae on the floor grew in peculiar patterns. She bent low and ran her finger over it, and it wiped away, revealing markings carved into the floor.

Her eyes rounded.

Constellations . . . but why?

Mer spun slowly in a circle, her hair fanning out as she tried to take in the grandeur of the space.

It was ancient, to be sure, but not Sirenidae.

She didn’t know who had built the structure, but it wasn’t her people.

No shell, bone, sparkly stones, precious corals, or gold decorated the amphitheater.

Each line was clean, simple, and elegant. .. very human.

She tapped her chin as she considered the building. How had the Methians built such a thing underwater? And most importantly, why?

Tilting her head back, she squinted up toward the surface of the water. There were secrets here, and she wanted to discover them.

Mer explored the entire structure and continued on. She startled a little eel, who blinked at her with large eyes and a mouth gaping from its crevice.

“Sorry, my friend,” she whispered before moving on.

To her knowledge, eels didn’t live in freshwater. Then what was that one doing here? Perhaps there were freshwater eels as well? Mer hadn’t spent enough time in fresh water to know.

The water warmed, and large pink flowers grew from the rocky bottom, the lime-and-pale-pink leaves swaying lightly in the current.

Her nose wrinkled. A current... there wasn’t supposed to be a current in lakes, was there? She’d have to do research when she returned to the palace.

She followed the source of it, the ground tilting slightly upward. A blast of cold water hit her, causing her scales to rise and then it dissipated. She blinked and smacked her lips, tasting the water. That had been pure saltwater.

Chasing the source, she swam faster and halted as a massive stone wall rose from the lake bottom.

It was black, porous, and pockmarked. Some holes were large enough that she could have stood inside.

Movement caught her eye to the left. Mer squinted at the hole and drifted closer.

The water grew hotter until Mer stopped, watching as the sand roiled in front of the wall, glistening iridescent water rising upward.

Carefully, she reached toward the water and paused when she could get no closer.

Mer snatched her hand back, gaping at her reddened palm.

The water had burned her.

She blinked at the bubbling sand once more.

A natural hot spring.

Another blast of frigid saltwater made its way through the wave of hot acrid water, and she froze as a pair of gleaming eyes met hers from one of the holes in the porous rocks. She stiffened when a pair of black-and-blue striped lips turned up into a smile.

Mer blinked and it was gone. She rubbed her eyes and squinted harder. Mer drifted as close as she could to the boiling water, searching the rock face for any sign of life.

Nothing.

She pushed back, feeling a little queasy from the heat, and shook her head.

Perhaps she’d imagined it all. Her attention moved to her arm, which still throbbed in pain. Perhaps her injury was causing her to hallucinate. She couldn’t ignore her dislocated shoulder anymore.

Mer turned her back to the wall and swam back toward the pavilion.

Her skin crawled, and a chill ran down her spine. She whipped around and scanned the wall once more. Someone was watching her, and it felt... sinister.