Fish Out of Water (16 page)

Fast as an electric eel strike, Lecanora’s brain flashed a warning at me.
Be careful, sister
.

And then, even in telepathy, she was whispering, as if to underline the warning.
They know? They discussed it with you? The disappearance?

Whoa. What was this? She knew too?
Okay, Norsha. From the beginning please
.

Lecanora’s face formed a thinking pose, trying to work out where to begin.
She’s missing, Imogen. Imogen’s missing. Just did not appear for practice, six days ago. And no-one has seen her since. They tried to touch her. To locate her, you know. Her family, her friends. They sent their thoughts so far, beyond the reefs even. And nothing
.

I felt nauseous at her words and I knew that Lecanora did too. Like fish in a school, everyone is connected to everyone else in Aegira, and they can always find each other. This was like looking down and suddenly finding your hand is missing.

I looked carefully at Lecanora. She had been lost too. No-one had ever claimed her.

Far as I knew, there had only been three occasions in the history of Aegira when people had become lost. The girl, the one I mentioned earlier. My mother’s aunt, who went missing as a child. Then Lecanora, adrift and belonging to no-one. And now Imogen.

Three mysteries. No answers.

Lecanora swam in a tight little circle on the spot.
But, Rania. They shouldn’t know. The girls. The... Throaty Three. They shouldn’t know she’s missing. How do they know?

I was confused.
What do you mean? She didn’t show up. For practice. Of course they know
.

Lecanora made a soft, troubled sound into my overheated brain.
They fixed it. They made it so no-one would notice. So no-one would… remember
.

I stopped her pacing with my hand.
What do you mean? Who fixed it? You’re not making sense, Norsha
.

I watched while she forced herself to stop.
The High Triad. I think they… decided the populace could not take the strain of knowing about Imogen’s disappearance. That it might be the spark that sets Aegira alight
.

I couldn’t hold back my smile.
Revolution? In Aegira?

But Lecanora wasn’t smiling.
We are not as you remember us, Ransha. As the time of the prophecy has drawn nearer, the people have become frightened and distressed. There is no consensus about what will happen when Imd… when my mother re-joins her parents in the spirit world. Let alone what to do about what the prophecy says, about the end of the world
.

My brain struggled to keep up.
So…?

Lecanora resumed her frenzied swimming.
So the Council initiated a cover-up. Supposedly to enable them to search for Imogen unhindered
.

I was so not with the program, even after Lecanora’s careful explanation.
I don’t get it. What, they just made everyone forget her?

She frowned prettily.
No, not quite that. They did something to their thoughts. Scattered them a little so when they thought about Imogen, their minds wouldn’t hold on to the fact of her. I’m not sure how
.

This was beyond weird. How the hell did the Triad confuse some of the most evolved brains on the planet? I could feel my heart, drumming and thumping against my ribs, and I thought again about the night before last. The pain, and the fear. The darkness of what I had seen coming to pass. I wondered if this was the destiny I was meant to disrupt. And whether if I
did, I might get off the hook and see thirty. I had so little to go on. There was Rick, of course, and his damn cryptic message. Telling me I need to find those who are hurting. And those who can help as well. Who the hell were they? I could really use them right now.

I needed more from Lecanora.
But how do they do it? The mind piracy thing
.

She shrugged.
I don’t know, really. I can only guess it must be Shar, some of his magic. I shouldn’t know about it. But I… overheard them discussing it
.

I tried to mentally translate what she was telling me.
You eavesdropped
.

No
. Lecanora skittered on the spot and I raised an eyebrow.

No
. More firmly.

My eyebrow stayed firmly cocked.

Okay, yes. Yes, I eavesdropped
.

Go, girl
. I always knew she had it in her. No-one can be that straight.

She placed her hand on my shoulders as though to underline her words.
I overheard The Triad talking to mother about Imogen’s disappearance. And about how they thought she should manage it. My mother, the Queen, she had wanted some space to try to work out what had happened to Imogen. To make a plan, to try to find her. She was fretting, fretting, every night. So worried about her. Worried for her. Like she was… her own daughter
.

I was shocked.
The Queen agreed to the mind stuff? Making people forget? Making people… misplace Imogen? I can’t believe she agreed. It’s outrageous. It’s disgusting
.

Lecanora was quick to defend.
I don’t think she knew about it before they did it. I heard them talking afterwards. But she didn’t explode like… like she should have. It doesn’t seem like her, does it? But she’s getting so old. She’s… not well. And then… I didn’t know how to help her. To help everyone
.

Something in Lecanora’s face pulled me up. She was scared for her Mom. And I felt the gnarled hand of fear tighten its grip on my heart. Imd was indestructible. Like time. It was simply impossible that she could be afraid.
Is she ok? Your Mom?

Lecanora shuddered.
I think so. Most of the time she seems fine. But she gets so tired. She knows it’s almost her time to go. And she sees no answers to all these puzzles. She’s afraid for her people
.

Fear, so much fear.

I can only think she agreed to the… mind thing… because she didn’t know how to stop the fear that’s infecting the whole community. It’s spreading, like a storm gathering. But I know she needs counsel. Better counsel than she’s getting right now
.

I raised an eyebrow at her.
Any ideas?

Lecanora shook her heady quickly, grey eyes casting downwards.
Not me. But she has an idea. She wants to talk to your mother
.

What?
Mom? My mom?

Mom and the Queen had always been close. Imd sought her out when we visited. When I asked, Mom would just tell me that some things were between mothers. So I’d never pushed.
Any idea what she thinks Mom can offer?

No
. Lecanora looked puzzled, a pretty frown splitting her smooth face.
No, I don’t know. But… my heart is whispering something to me
.

I smiled, kind of charmed and kind of frustrated, remembering the circular way these people talk. I prompted her with my eyes.

My heart tells me mother wants Lunia because she’s thinking about connecting with the land-dwellers. She knows your mother is an administrator. On the land. And your Mom understands their politics. I think she wants to talk to her about how it might be approached
.

Are you serious?
This did not seem at all like a good idea to me. I mean, I lived among land people. And I loved them. But there are certain things they are just not to be trusted with. Money. The truth. Your heart. And definitely peace-loving underwater kingdoms out of whom a buck could be made. Then something else occurred to me.
I bet that’s why the Triad were harassing Mom tonight, before. I saw them talking to her and they looked pretty cross
.

Lecanora nodded.
That sounds right. They would definitely not like my mother bringing someone else in. And they would be particularly angry at it being her. Someone who…
I could tell she was choosing her words carefully.
Someone who doesn’t live here most of the time
.

A polite way to put it. They would be furious that a dirt-dweller was giving advice to the Queen of the Pure. I felt a dark, angry cancer well up in me.
Those assholes. I’m gonna-

Lecanora put a steadying had on my arm, even though we were telepathing.
Ransha, no. Look at me
. I did as I was told, locking eyes with her beautiful blue-grey ones. They were serious and I knew I was about to be reprimanded.
You and I need to work some of these things out. We will not do it if you are rushing about, headstrong and angry. You need to wait. You need to think. You need to be patient
.

Patient? I don’t do patient. But I looked at her eyes again, heavy with sadness and at once hopeful and trusting. Okay, so maybe I could learn.

So I was working on patient when my antennae started to twitch.

My head snapped up and I was trying to sniff out whatever it was that was wrong. Because something was definitely wrong. I swept the scene. It all looked good, beautiful even. The crazy glittering diamonds, throwing gleeda light throughout the natural cathedral. Hundreds of creatures, laughing and sensing. Celebrating.

My eyes flicked to the jagged rip. For a wild moment, it almost seemed to pulse. I looked urgently at Lecanora.
Can you tell me about what happened yesterday? The rip?

She shook her head.
I can’t explain. It was something that’s never happened to me before. Somehow, I knew it was going to happen, seconds before. I don’t know how. I had just enough time to get the child before she was too far. But it was hard. Like holding back the tide
.

Huh, holding back the tide. Like The Triad were trying to do. So Lecanora was changing too. Things were happening to her. Like they were to me. I thought about what Mom had said. Evolution. Another Awakening, to begin with the most remarkable.

And then another penny dropped.
So how do Zida and co know about Imogen? If the mind thing was done to everyone?

Lecanora looked genuinely puzzled.
I really do not know
.

I resolved right there that we need to find out. I started to mentally list off tasks.

One. Question the girls some more.

Two. Track down Shower Boy again to find out why he was in Dirtwater and what he knew about my blonde watch-keeper. I still didn’t know his name, we didn’t do much talking on the surface, but it wouldn’t be hard to find out down here. There’s no such thing as under the radar in Aegira.

Three. Talk to Epaste, and maybe the other Triad members as well.

Norsha, is there anything else I need to know?

I watched Lecanora thinking carefully, sorting through the pieces of what she knew to assess whether she’d missed anything. Thorough, diligent.
I don’t think so, Rania
.

I tried again, going for casual but not sure how I was going to achieve it. Especially when my danger radar had started beeping like an alarm clock. I decided I was going to go scout out that rip. As soon as I had what I needed from Lecanora.
Any buzz about the watch-keepers? I mean, they still out there, doing their thing?

She looked curious, even though I’d avoided saying “any get murdered recently?”
Of course. They’re always there, Rania. You know that. Dozens on rotation at any time
.

So she didn’t know about Blondie. And if she didn’t know, good chance no-one did.

But it’s strange you ask, because Imogen’s best friend is a watch-keeper. Cleedaline. They were inseparable. And one of the theories… before the Triad, was that Imogen had…

She trailed off, and I was confused.
Had what?

Oh, it’s so silly. I don’t believe it for a moment. I knew Imogen and she was sensible
.

One word that would never be on my tombstone.

Some people said Imogen and Cleedaline were lovers. And that Imogen might have taken her own life. Out of sadness. Missing Cleedaline after she left Aegira and went to the land
.

Huh. I wasn’t buying, on a number of fronts. Firstly, I’ve mentioned Aegirans don’t go for the grand love story. So a suicide over an affair just does not ring true. Secondly, same-sex relationships are rare, ’cause the whole focus of unions is on the creation of young Aegirans.

But most of all, the real chill racing along my spine was because I knew now with this sickening certainty that Cleedaline was my Blondie. The girl with my name on her thigh. She’d come looking for me because somehow she knew that her friend had gone missing.

But why had she come to me? And how did she know Imogen was gone, if she was land-dwelling? Telepathy only reaches so far. That’s why Aegira sends heralds to the watch-keepers.

My heart shrivelled inside me. She’d been killed, coming to me. Coming to me for help. Someone knew. Someone was one step ahead of her. And that someone tried to kill me too.

But why? Maybe in case I knew that she had come?

Or maybe so no-one else could enlist my help?

Or some other reason I couldn’t work out for the life of me?

My head was spinning and I was about to head off to explore why my danger radar kept pinging when a deep voice with a gravelly edge interrupted.

“Hello, sisters,” it drawled like a well-mannered, roguish serpent, with that hint of an accent I couldn’t quite pin down. “You fled too quickly, Rania. May I join you both?”

And there he was again.

The guy I danced with. And danced with the dolphins with.

And held in my arms in Missy’s dressing room.

And swam away from at a million nautical miles an hour once the dolphins stopped dancing and I regained my sanity.

Lecanora was looking at him like he was the devil incarnate, but he didn’t seem to mind. He met both sets of eyes, mine and hers, like a guy used to vilification, and relaxed about it.

But it was my eyes he couldn’t let go of. Again.

He was holding onto them like he owned them, and I didn’t want to break the stare either. After a few seconds I realized neither of us had been speaking. Why did I feel, in every pore of my body, like I knew this guy? Even though I still didn’t know his name.