Page 4 of The Demons in the Deep: Extended Edition
Relief swept through Rake.
They climbed the hill to The Three Cherries, but instead of pausing in the common room where the villagers could follow and surround them, Takajo guided Rake into the kitchen. Jewel followed, and when Takajo planted Rake in a chair, Jewel climbed onto his knee. Rake pulled him close, needing to feel the boy. Alive, whole, and happy. Safe. Both of them, safe.
“What in the name of the Mother Ocean?” A woman with both hands in a bowl of dough stared at them. She had Kestra’s dark hair and eyes, but her face was lined and pinched with worry. Rake had seen Kestra’s mother a few times, and she always wore that look, whether there was anything to be concerned about or not.
“He’s alive?” she said, wiping floury hands on her apron.
“Appears so.” Takajo crossed his arms and faced Rake. “Explain.”
Rake told them how the Horror had healed his mortal wounds. “I thank you for taking care of Jewel.” He clasped the top of the boy’s head, inhaling the scent of the child’s dark-blue curls. “You have given him a good, safe home.”
“My home is with you,” Jewel said.
Rake flinched inside. “Are you hungry, my Jewel?”
“Yes.” Jewel hopped off his knee. “Enree will feed me something. I am learning to eat some cooked food.”
Jewel headed for the pantry, where a sharp-faced kitchen maid was stocking shelves. She smiled at him, bending down to listen to his request.
With his son occupied, Rake lowered his voice. “While I was healing, the Horror showed me visions I’d never seen before. I saw the location of the ancient mermaid civilization, the one the Entity attacked during the Great Upheaval. There was a human city there too, on the shore—the mirror to the mermaid city. I know where the ruins of those cities are. They were destroyed a hundred years ago, but I think there may be valuable knowledge in that place, something to help us understand the belts and breathing devices.”
“After all this time?” Takajo frowned.
“My people preserve knowledge differently than humans do,” Rake said. “Since the Upheaval, we passed information through long stories and chants, but in earlier times we must have had a more lasting way to impart knowledge.”
“And you want to go to this ancient city?”
“Not alone,” Rake admitted. “I would not know what to do with any knowledge I found. I need to inform Flay, Kestra, and especially Mai of the city’s location.”
“But this city,” Kestra’s mother interjected. “It is near the place where the ocean floor broke during the Upheaval, yes? The place through which monsters came up from deeper layers of the world. What if there are more monsters lingering near these broken cities you speak of?”
“It is a possibility.”
Kestra’s mother shook her head. “I don’t want my daughter and my niece anywhere near that place. It’s bad enough they ran off with that foolish young captain—now you want to drag them to a place where all the demons of the deep broke out? I do not like it. This knowledge is not worth the risk. If you can live without it, best leave it alone. That’s what I say.” She wrapped her shaking hands in the thick fabric of her apron.
Takajo stepped over to her, cupping her shoulders with his hands. “He is only going to carry a message, Lumina. What the captain and the girls decide to do with it is their choice.”
Lumina’s thin lips tightened. After a moment she said, “And you are leaving your little one here with us. Again.”
“It is not safe for him in the open ocean,” Rake said. “My journey from the Entity to the island was uneventful, but that is because the Entity ate or frightened away most of the predators from this area. Once I travel to other parts of the ocean, my way will become more dangerous. I need you to keep my Jewel safe a little longer.”
He hoped his expression was a pleading one. He had discovered that sometimes he looked fierce and threatening to humans, even when he did not mean to.
“The child is no trouble,” Lumina said. “But I worry for his heart. I have seen what deep loss does to children.” Her lips closed firmly.
“I will return for him when I can. But this knowledge, this mystery of the past—it is bigger than Jewel or me. I have to pursue it.”
Rake wanted to explain how it felt—the pull in his soul, the unrest. It had been sated for a moment when he held his Jewel, but it was back again, tugging. The part of him that had always yearned for adventure and knowledge was being summoned, seduced. He could not resist until heknewhow his race used to exist side by side with humans. He had to know what other technology the partnership between land and sea had wrought. And even if he never understood all of it himself, it was vital to pass on the location of the ruins to Mai and the others. Mai was clever with such things—she would know what to do.
“I will fetch you a map and show you where theWind’s Favorwas going,” Takajo said. “They have a head start, but they may be slowed by the fickle winds and the storms of this season. And your kind are fast.”
“I’ll leave at once, tonight,” Rake said.
Takajo gave him a nod and walked out of the room to fetch the map.
“Nothing more to be said, then.” Lumina stalked back to her dough. When she moved, Rake saw Jewel, who must have come up behind her. By the look in his spawn’s eyes, Rake knew that the boy had heard everything.
“I have to go,” Rake said. “And it is too dangerous for you to come with me.”
