Page 94 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

“No. But I think you’re going to kill yourself without reason.” “I’ve planned it out,” she said. “I’ve made all the calculations, I have a pretty good guess where to look for the Tree—”

“Talia, even if you find a place that is supposed to be impossible to find, even if you somehowmanage to reach the Hall of the Dead without drowning, how do you expect to go up against a goddess who wields the power of the Star and Tree together? Why would you evenwantto?”

“Did your vision come true?” she snapped, anger racing through her.

“What?” He looked bewildered.

“You said you saw me sailing away, alone. You said you saw me drowning in a storm. Did it come true?”

He clenchedand then unclenched his jaw. “No.”

“Then we’ve already averted fate.”

“There has to be something else. Something we’re missing, something you’re not telling me.”

“Clearly fate can be changed. It isn’t written in stone.”

He scooted forward, and took hold of her arm. “It can’t be that simple, Talia. Maybe the gods gave us a second chance. If we turn the ship around, we could be home by dinner.Please. Let’s go back.”

She pulled away. “I’m not going back. Even if—even if I never find the Hall or the Tree. I’m part Billow Maiden. Maybe there’s something for me out here—I don’t think I’m supposed to go back.” She shrugged a little at how nonsensical that all sounded.

Wen sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Whatisyour plan then? Where are we going?”

Talia pulled out the charts, and showedhim. “North,” she said, pointing, “and a little west. Everything I read about the Hall and the Tree reference them being ‘in the middle of the sea,’ so we’re sailing to the exact midpoint between all six continents. Or at least as close as I can calculate.”

“The stories also say the Tree is hidden and can’t be seen by mortal eyes,” Wen pointed out.

Talia scrutinized him. “I’m banking on thefact that I have Aigir’s blood running through me. And in any case, you might be able to help with that.”

The sun rose higher, and Talia and Wen shared half a bottle of water between them. Talia adjusted the sail for the hundredth time, then took a sight with the sextant. Wen took another look at her charts. Then they both sat down again and stared at each other.

“You studied the book of Wordsyou found, didn’t you?” said Talia.

“Before I even went into the mirror room,” he admitted. “I picked up the translation where my mother had left off. The Words are like music—they make sense to me, like they’ve been burning in my head since I was born.”

“And you can … do things with them?”

Wen shrugged. “I haven’t really tried. My father would have lost hismindif he knew.”

“You tried lastnight.”

“I’m not sure it helped.”

“I’m not sure it didn’t. What kind of Words did you study?”

He met her eyes. “As many as I could, though some of them seem more impossible than others.”

“Like what?”

He looked out across the sea. “There are Words of protection and destruction. Words to change your shape and to drive someone else mad. Words to make things grow. Words to move mountains.”

“Do you think they’re all possible?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

She considered this, watching the play of light in the waves. “What were the Words you sang into the storm? Can you teach them to me?”

Wen met her eyes. “Words of protection,” he said. “And I can try.”

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