Page 15 of Of Songs and Silence

“It’s fine. She’ll learn along the way.” Ari’s tone leaves no room for argument, not from Kane and not from me.

Again, I feel it, the somewhat heady sensation of being issued a challenge to rise to, a goal to meet, rather than being treated like something weak. He believes I can learn to swim just fine.

More than that, he demands it.

So I nod, even though we both know learning will only get me so far when my stamina won’t be close to what theirs is.

What I thought was seaweed moves from the darker depths of the water, startling me from my thoughts. Inky black eyes peer curiously at me from what I now realize is a purple head, surrounded by…tentacles. An octopus.

An enormous one, far bigger than the tiny ones we eat on land.

Kane’s face darkens with a rare bit of seriousness. “Best keep that to yourself, Kala.”

Can the octopus read my thoughts also?

Ari barks out what might be a laugh before he smothers it with his usual grumpy expression. “No, Kala. But the other Mayima can, and they won’t take kindly to it.”

The octopus draws closer, and I wonder if I should be concerned, but neither Ari nor Kane seem fazed by its presence.

He raises up one tentacle and holds out a stringy length of seaweed. When I don’t take it, I am fairly certain that he rolls his eyes at me.

The creature switches his intelligent gaze to glare at Ari in a manner I might call…pointed, on a human.

Ari sighs before saying, “Napo thinks you need to eat.”

I glance back at the raw, slimy seaweed.

“Oh. Um. That’s…” I’m about to refuse the snack, when I see Kane’s head shaking from the corner of my eye.

All right, then.

“That’s very kind. Thank you—Wait.” Realization dawns on me. “This is Napo?”

Kane and Ari shoot each other curious looks, nodding their heads as the octopus reaches out, wrapping a tentacle around my wrist before forcing the plant into my hand.

I’m not sure why I expected anything else. After learning that I can breathe underwater and speak with my mind, why wouldn’t I have an octopus try to feed me?

The creature gestures between the seaweed and my mouth as if to demonstrate how to eat, and I finally relent. With a brave face, I take a bite. I immediately regret it, but chew and swallow anyway.

Napo pats my arm in a slightly condescending, maternal sort of way while Kane shuffles impatiently. The octopus gives him another pointed look before side-swimming irritably toward the front of the cave, waving for us to follow.

Ari swims up next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist before leading us out of the cave.

A bittersweet feeling takes over me as we glide through the water. Part of me can’t help feeling like I might finally be headed toward the answers I’ve been denied my entire life.

Another part of me wonders if I will survive long enough to get them.

CHAPTERNINE

MELODI

Staying alive down here might be easier said than done, at this rate.

Everywhere I turn, something is ready and waiting to kill me.

Or at least that’s what Ari keeps insisting.

Everything from the bright corals—or rather, the fish that are hidden among them, some squid that look as if they’re wearing striped pajamas, small spotted snails and even the tiniest, most adorable glowing baby jellyfish. It’s all dangerous, to me, at least, fragile almost human that I am.

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