Page 35 of Secrets Among the Tides
“No,” I interrupted. “What happens when one of your soldiers turns out to be the culprit? I cannot rely on guards at every second. I need my blade.”
“A Princess cannot swim around—”
“I am not the Princess!” I shouted then, hands fisting the blankets. Sensing my distress, the anemones flowed over to me and caressed my arms in the slight sting of their embrace. I pushed them aside, calmed my breathing. “I am not the Princess,” I repeated. “And I will never be the Princess. No amount of pretending will turn me into her. I am not a helpless royal, and I want my weapon to defend myself, should I ever need it.”
The captain was quiet a long moment after that. From where I sat, I could make out the slow workings of his square jaw as he contemplated my words. The side of his mouth twitched and he sighed. “I will think it over.”
I scowled at him. What else had to happen to me for him to agree to give me my blade back? Did I have to get attacked on Eramaea’s streets for him to finally agree?
“Get some rest.” That was his goodbye as he turned and swam from the room.
~~
I DRANK THE TONICS THE MEDICS HADleft me, albeit reluctantly. When the pain had become too much, I’d downed them in one go and prayed I wouldn’t fall into more feverish dreams of poison. The pain receded, but my lids closed involuntarily and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
When I finally awoke some hours later, I sat up in bed. There was a dull ache where the terrible pain had once been, and I was grateful it was finally subsiding. Because I couldn’t sit for one moment longer in this bed. Not when I had a mission to accomplish.
I didn’t need to peek out the doors to the bedroom to know that Captain Saber had probably posted guards there. If I was going to go through that mysterious passageway, I didn’t want them finding out. Who was to say one of the guards hadn’t been the culprit? I could trust no one until I found out more information.
So I went over to the telly and opened the top shell like a compact. The bubble that emerged immediately began dancing and playing images. Royal telly’s were obviously way more advanced than what we had at Lagoona. The sound inside the bubble was loud. Perfect.
After that, I went to the vanity table and as quietly as I could, pulled the chair over to the doors, propping it just under the handle. If they wanted to get in, I’d be alerted to it. Then, I searched through the Princess’s things, not caring what I knocked over or broke in the process. I’d taken poison that was meant for her, if she couldn’t forgive me then that was her own problem.
Finally I found a large tube of red squid ink and a palm sized lava globe. Perfect. I swam quickly over to the wall, pulled the tapestry to the side and pressed my palm against the panel. When the walls opened, I took a deep breath and swam inside, letting the tapestry fall back behind me.
It was dark, but the small lava globe gave off enough illumination so I could navigate my way around the space. I made sure to mark red squid ink along the walls as I swam through. If I squinted through the darkness, I could barely make out the barnacles crusted on the ceiling.
This passage wasn’t made of quartz like the rest of the palace. It was stone and element, rocks that were chipped away over the years, seaweed growing and critters of the darkness hiding through. I swallowed my nerves as I pushed on.
The hall was small and confined, and so far I’d not come across any bends or forks. I felt like I’d been swimming for too long when I finally came to a dead end. I frowned, turning in a slow circle with the lava globe in my hand. I was sure I hadn’t passed any other ways. This couldn’t be the end of it.
I shone the light on the floor and smiled when I saw the small hole of a tunnel. It was big enough for a mer my size to fit through. I crouched low on the murky, muddy ground and shoved my hand through the hole cautiously. Empty space greeted me on the other side.
I pressed myself low against the ground and pushed my tail, sliding through the tunnel. Silt clouded my eyes and I coughed it away as I slid further and further through the tunnel. Gripping the lava glove tightly in my fist, arm outstretched, I crept low on the ground. Finally, I breached it and fell through the open water of a small cove.
Gripping the lava globe tightly in my hand, I spun around. Phytoplankton illuminated the walls and the drop down below. The cavernous space was covered with all sorts of surprising things. I swam down to get a better look.
It was like a shipwreck had exploded down here.
Two-legger objects were scattered everywhere in piles. Tables with missing limbs, covered in furry green algae and barnacles, chairs without their cushions, a rusted porcelain bathtub and a large, full length mirror with a golden gilded frame that was already rusting away in the water. A chest full of gold coins, rubies and jewels spilled over on a slab of stone and then there were conches. Hundreds of conches littered the floor and table tops of the cavern.
I swam down and rummaged through the things, my fingers passing over two-legger and mer objects alike. It was a mess of things that I didn’t know what to make of. Was this some kind of secret room that Princess locked herself away in? To be surrounded by junk?
I swam over to the table to look through the objects on top of it. There was a mer device there that I recognized. It was a thin, circular disk made of a material that looked like coral and stone. In the center of it was a placeholder and on it, sat a small ivory conch. I’d heard of these objects before. They were very old devices used to project conch recordings. I bent low, wondering how it worked, but when my hand touched the conch in the center, something seemed to activate.
The conch began spinning in slow circles around the disk and suddenly, from the top chamber of the shell, bubbles began rising to form a single, large floating one.
I held back my surprised gasp as I looked at the image of the Princess.
Her image was only a bit blurry. Since the contraption was old, the images projected were strange, faded. But it was clear enough who she was. Her hair was fabulously long, and she wore an extravagantly jeweled crown on her head. She was smiling in my direction, though I knew logically she had been smiling at whoever had recorded her in the moment.
“Is this thing on?” she asked, her voice wispy and melodic. “Hello? Testing, testing. I think it’s on. Hi! It’s me. The mostfabulousPrincess who ever lived in the sea. Odele Malabella Oriana.” She flicked her hair back and I rolled my eyes. She really did seem overly flippant. “Anyway, this is thefabulousdocumentation ofmylife. Follow me as I journey from Princess toQueen.”
I reached forward and stopped the recording, prying the conch from the center placeholder. Then, I looked around at all the discarded conch shells on the floor. The Princess had documented her life and she’d hidden everything in this cave. Her schedule. Her thoughts. Herlifewas all down here.
Quickly, I grabbed a conch at random and put it in the center of the disk and started it. It twirled, bubbles rose and her image appeared once again. This time, it was alarming. Her hair wasn’t decked out in jewels, she wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked frightened. Her breathing was heavy and she sniffled on occasion. Had she been crying? I looked closely at the image.
“It’s me,” she whispered and took in an airy breath. “Princess Odele Malabella Oriana. And if you’re watching this, I want you to know that they’re after me—”
