Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue (A Waterfire Saga Novel) (6 page)

A split second later, Serafina and Neela dove out the palace windows and were gone.

D
ETERMINED TO WIN THE RACE,
Neela swooped around a spire, then dove. Hurtling down through the water, she shot under an archway, startling the Matali dignitaries coming the opposite way, and made for the ruins of Merrow’s reggia. She was swimming way too fast, but she didn’t care. It felt wonderful to slice through the water, to feel powerful and free.

Serafina had zipped around a turret and under a bridge and was now gaining on her. Neela put on a burst of speed, but Serafina caught up. They touched the front wall of the old palace—as much of it as was still standing—at the same time, then collapsed on a pile of red coral weed, laughing and out of breath.

“Beat you!” Neela shouted.

“You did
not
! It was a tie,” Serafina said.

“Yeah, except that I won.”

“I can’t believe we dove out of windows. We’re in so much trouble.”

Neela knew as well as Serafina did that swimming out of windows was bad form. Civilized mer came and went through doors. Aunt Ahadi would not be pleased.

“Yeah, we probably are, but it was worth it,” she said, pulling two sweets from her pocket. “Here—purple sponge with pickled urchin. So good, you have no idea. Better than boys.”

“That good?” Serafina said, taking the sweet.

“Mmm-hmm,” Neela said, biting into hers. She was eating too many sweets. She did that when she was nervous. Like now. Sera was going to ask about him. That was a given. What on earth would she tell her?

Neela stretched out on the soft coral weed and stared up at the sun-dappled waters. “It’s so good to finally be here,” she said. “The trip was totally nerve-racking. The dragons we rode spooked at every guppy. The sea elephants carrying our trunks bolted twice. I couldn’t sleep, because I was having bad dreams the whole time.”

“Really? What kind of dreams?” Serafina asked.

“I can’t even remember now,” Neela said. She
did
remember, but she didn’t want to talk about them. They were silly. “And Uncle Bilaal was
seriously
freaking out about Praedatori. He expected Kharkarias, their leader, to jump out at every turn. Even though he doesn’t even know what Kharkarias looks like, since no one’s ever seen him.”

“You weren’t attacked, were you?” Serafina asked.

“No, we were fine. We had lots of guards with us. But I was so glad to see the spires of Cerulea last night, I can’t even tell you.”

“I’m really happy you’re here, Neela,” Serafina said. “I can’t imagine going through the Dokimí without you.”

Sera hadn’t asked about him yet. Good. Maybe she could keep it that way. “How’s the songspell? Are you nervous? What are you wearing?” Neela asked.

“Not great. Very. I don’t know,” Serafina said.

Neela sat up, startling some curious needlefish who’d come close. “You don’t
know
what you’re wearing? How can you not know? Hasn’t the Dokimí been planned for years?”

“My dress is a gift from Miromara. The best craftsmer in the realm work on it. Only my mother sees it in advance. And anyway, it’s not
about
the dress,” Serafina said.

“It’s
always
about the dress.”

“I’m casting a songspell, not competing in a beauty contest. This is serious, you know.”

“Merlfriend,
nothing
is more serious than a beauty contest.
Life
is beauty contest. At least that’s what my mother always says,” Neela said. “I can’t wait for you to see what
I’m
wearing. It’s totally invincible. It’s a dark pink sari—the wrap is sea silk, but the top and skirt are made of thousands of tiny Anomia shells stitched onto tulle. I wanted it to be royal blue, but my aunt
insisted
on pink. I made it myself.”

“You did
not
.”

“I did. I swear it. But
shh
, don’t tell anyone. You know how it is in Matali. Gods forbid a royal should actually
work
at anything,” Neela said unhappily.

“Trouble with your parents?” Serafina asked, her eyes full of concern.

“That’s an understatement. We fought about it for weeks.
Major
drama. I bet I ate twenty boxes of zee-zees. In one day.”

Neela’s dream was to become a designer, but her parents wouldn’t allow that. Or anything else. She was a Matalin princess and Matalin princesses were to dress well, look decorative, and one day marry—and that was all. Neela wanted so much more, though. Color made her heart beat faster. Fabric came alive in her hands. She had passion and talent and she wanted to use them.

Serafina took her hand. “I’m sorry, Neels.”

“Oh, well. I can’t ever be a designer, but I can pretend.”

“You
are
a designer,” Serafina said, suddenly fierce. “Designers design. That’s what you did. And it doesn’t matter who likes it and who doesn’t.”

Neela smiled. Sera was as loyal as a lionfish, quick to defend those she loved. It was one of the many reasons Neela adored her.

“I just hope Alítheia doesn’t like pink. I don’t want her thinking I look like a large and tasty zee-zee,” said Neela. “Is it true she’s ten feet tall?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, like…
why
?”

“Quia Merrow decrevit.”

“Why the long, tortuous songspell?”

“Quia Merrow decrevit.”

“Why a betrothal at sixteen? That’s totally dark ages. Wait…don’t tell me. Let me guess.”

“Quia Merrow decrevit.”

“But Merrow decreed it, like,
forty centuries ago
, Sera. The tides have come in and gone out a few times since then, you know?”

“I do. Believe me, Neela, I’ve listened to so many conchs on Atlantis and Merrow for various courses, and I still haven’t figured out why she made all her weird decrees. The whole Dokimí thing is barbaric and backward. It’s from a time when life expectancy was short and principessas had to be ready to rule at a young age,” Serafina said. “The weirdest thing is, this ceremony declares me an adult, fit to rule, and yet I have no more idea about how to rule Miromara than I have about flying to the moon. I can’t even rule my own court.” She sighed heavily.

“What? What’s wrong?” Neela asked, her eyes searching Sera’s.

“My court,” Serafina said, making a face. “There’s this one merl….Her name’s Lucia…”

“I remember her,” Neela said. “The last time I was here, my skin had just started to glow. She told me I looked like fog light. In the nicest possible way, of course.”

“That sounds like Lucia,” Serafina said. “Neela, she said some things, about Mahdi.”

Oh, no,
Neela thought.
Time to change the subject.
“Hey, you know what? Let’s swim,” she said. “Why don’t we head into the ruins? Stretch our tails? We can talk as we go.”

Neela pulled Sera up from the coral weed and they set off, swimming, through what had once been a doorway. Time had crumbled its ancient arch. The walls of the old palace had tumbled down, and the roof along with them. Anemones, corals, and wrack had colonized the mosaic floors. In what had once been Merrow’s Grand Hall, soaring blue quartz pillars still stood, hinting at lost glories.

“You should see the ruby necklace I’m wearing tonight. It’s my mother’s. It’s completely invincible,” Neela said as they swam together. She was babbling, desperate to keep the conversation from veering back to Mahdi.

“How are your parents?” Serafina asked.

“Great! Fabulous! They send their best and wish they could be here. But somebody has to hold down the fort in Uncle Bilaal’s absence.”

“And how are the emperor and empress? And your brother…and Mahdi?”

“Truly excellent. Although I haven’t seen them yet today. We got in around eight last night. I was so tired, I went straight to my room and fell into bed. Everyone else did the same.”

“Neela…”

“Oh! Did I tell you about the
last
state visit we all made? Ha! It’s
such
a funny story!” Neela said. She launched into all the details.

Serafina wasn’t really listening, though. “So, um, how’s Mahdi?” she finally broke in.

Neela’s heart sank. Her smile slipped.

Serafina stopped swimming. “What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Neela said brightly. “Mahdi’s fine.”

“He’s
fine
? My great-aunt Berta is
fine
. What are you not telling me?”

Neela pulled another sweet from her pocket. “Oh,
super
yum. Candied flatworm with eelgrass honey. Try it!” she said.

“Neela!”

“Well, he’s probably a
little
bit different from what you remember,” she said. “I mean, the last time you saw him was two years ago. We’re
all
different than we were then.”

“Look, I know you’re his cousin,” Serafina said. “But you’re also my friend. You
have
to tell me the truth.”

Neela sighed. “All right, then—here it is: his royal Mahdiness seems to be going through a phase. At least, that’s what Aunt Ahadi calls it. She blames it all on Yazeed.”

“Your brother? What does he have to do with it?”

“Yaz is a total party boy. Always the one with the lampfish on his head. My parents are at their wits’ end and Aunt Ahadi is
furious
. She says he’s led Mahdi astray. The two of them are out
all
the time. It started about a year ago. That’s when they got their ears pierced. Aunt Ahadi went through the roof. She and my mother threatened to beach them for life.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Mahdi I remember,” Serafina said, nervously fiddling with some trim on her dress. “Neels, I have to ask you something else. Lucia said that—”

Neela unwrapped another sweet and bit into it. She made a face. “Yuck. Fermented sea urchin.” She fed it to a passing damselfish.

“—she said that Mahdi has a merlfriend. She said he—” Serafina suddenly stopped speaking.

Neela, busy wiping her fingers on a frond of Caulerpa weed, looked up. That’s when she saw them. Bodies. Of two young mermen. They were stretched out under a huge coral at the back of the courtyard, motionless.

Serafina panicked. “I—I can’t tell if they’re breathing or not. Neela, we have to get help. I think they’re
dead
!” she said, swimming closer.

Neela panicked too, but for a totally different reason. “No, they’re not dead,” she said under her breath. “But if Aunt Ahadi hears about this, they’re going to
wish
they were.”

N
EELA CAUGHT UP
to Serafina and grabbed her arm. “Come on!” she said, trying to pull her away from the mermen. “This is dangerous. We should get the palace guards.”

“But what if they’re hurt or bleeding? We can’t just leave them!”

“Yes, we can. We totally can.”

Serafina broke free of Neela’s grip and swam back to the bodies. “They’re not dead! They’re breathing and…
oh
. Wow. Didn’t expect
that
.”

Neela closed her eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
How could they be so stupid?
she wondered.
How?

“Um, Neela? It’s
Mahdi
…”

“…and Yazeed,” Neela said.

She looked down at them. The two merboys were lying on their backs. Mahdi had a purple scarf tied around his head and smudged lipstick kisses on his cheek. A gold hoop dangled from one ear. His black hair was pulled back in a hippokamp’s tail. Yaz was wearing a pair of sparkly earrings. Someone had drawn a smiley face on his chest with lipstick. He had a streak of pink in his cropped black hair, a heavy gold chain around his neck, and a tattoo on his arm. As she continued to stare at them, a large, homely humphead wrasse swam up to Yaz. It nudged his chin. Yaz flung an arm around it, pulled it close, and kissed it. As Mahdi snored on, Yazeed murmured compliments to the fish about her beautiful blond hair.

Neela, livid, gave each boy a hard slap with her tail.

“Ow!” Mahdi cried.

“Dang, merl!” Yaz yelped, letting go of the fish. “All I
said
was…
Neela
?” He blinked at his sister.

Mahdi, wincing at the light, said, “Yaz, you squid! Where
were
you? I was waiting for you. I decided to hang here until you caught up. I must’ve fallen asleep. Why are you
always
the slowest common denominator?”

“Yazeed, take those stupid earrings off! And sit
up
, both of you!” Neela scolded. “Serafina’s here.”

Mahdi paled. “What?” he said. “Oh,
no
.” He sat up. “Serafina? Is that you?”

“Nice to see you, too, Mahdi,” Serafina said.

Her voice was cool, but Neela could see the confusion in her eyes. She’d hoped to keep her cousin’s foolishness a secret from Sera. She’d hoped he could behave during his stay. Apparently, that was too much to ask.

“Look, Serafina, I need to explain,” he started to say, getting up.

“Um, Mahdi? Are you
shimmering
?” Serafina asked.

“Hold on a minute…he’s
shimmering
?” Neela said. She swam up to Mahdi and looked him over, and then Yazeed. Parts of them were shimmering, other parts were completely see-through. She grabbed her brother’s gold chain and pulled it over his head. A small whelk shell dangled from it. As she turned it over, two pink pearls fell out.

“Transparensea pearls,” she said. “Let me guess…you two cast pearls last night, then snuck out of the palace. When you tried to sneak back in, all the doors were locked. The windows, too. So you spent the night here, passed out under a coral. The only question is: Where did you go?”

“Nowhere,” Yazeed said innocently. “Just out for a swim.”

“Oh, please. I bet you went to the Lagoon. You did, didn’t you?” said Neela, crossing her arms over her chest.

Yazeed looked around, suddenly interested in the architecture.

Neela glanced at Sera again. Her friend’s eyes were on the lipstick kisses on Mahdi’s cheek. They traveled to the scarf on his head. It had an L embroidered on it.
L for Lucia,
Neela thought. Her heart clenched as she saw the hurt on Sera’s face.

“You’re really something, Mahdi,” she said angrily. “We are guests of the Merrovingia—invited here for your betrothal, I might add—and you go shoaling?”

“We weren’t
shoaling
. We were, um, attending a concert. Broadening our cultural horizons,” Yaz said.

Neela held up her hands. “Just. Stop,” she said. She turned to her cousin, thumbed a smudge of lipstick off his cheek, and showed it to him. “Broadening your horizons?”

Mahdi had the good grace to blush.

“Neela,” Serafina said in a small voice. “I have to get back.”

But Neela didn’t hear her. She was scolding her brother again.

As they continued to argue, Mahdi swam up to Serafina. “Hey, Sera…” he said haltingly.

“Sorry, Mahdi. I have to go,” Serafina said.

“No, wait. Please. I’m sorry about this. Really. This is not how I thought we would meet again. I know how it looks, but things aren’t what they seem,” he said.

Serafina smiled ruefully. “I guess mermen aren’t either.”

Mahdi flinched at that. “Serafina,” he said, “you don’t know—”

“—you,”
Serafina said. “I don’t know you, Mahdi. Not anymore.”

“Serafina!” Yaz shouted. “Help me
out
, merl! Tell Sue Nami here to cut me a break. All we did was hang out at the Corsair. The Dead Reckoners were playing. They’re my favorite band. Mahdi’s, too. We had to go. Otherwise, total FOMO.”

“FOMO?” Serafina echoed.

“Fear of Missing Out,” Yaz said.

“Don’t encourage him, Sera. He thinks he’s a badwrasse with his stupid gogg slang,” Neela said.

“We started dancing and some silly merls recognized Mahdi and went crazy and drew all over us with lipstick. Then some swashbucklers told us there was an all-night wave going on in Cerulea, so we swam back,” Yaz said. “That’s all that happened. I swear!”

“An all-night wave in the ruins of the reggia?” Neela said. “Do you really expect us to believe that? It’s a national monument!”

“Is
that
where we are? We’re supposed to be in the Kolegio,” Yaz said. He gave Mahdi a look. “Navigate much?”

Yaz was fibbing. Wildly. Neela was sure of it. He was trying to cover up whatever they’d really been doing.

“Look, I really do have to go,” Serafina said. She was good at hiding her feelings, but this time even she couldn’t pretend.

“Wait, Sera,” Mahdi said, looking desperate. “I’m
sorry
. You’re hurt, I know you are—”

“Oh, no. I’m perfectly fine, Your Grace,” Serafina said, blinking back tears.

Mahdi shook his head. “
Your Grace?
Whoa, Sera, it’s
me
.”

“Yes it is. I guess Lucia was right,” Sera said softly. She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Mahdi. I’m fine. I
would
be hurt…if I cared.”