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I drank the tonics the medics had left 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 tellies 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 and propped it just under the handle. If they wanted to get in, I’d be alerted to it. Then I searched through the princess’ 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. 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 globe tightly in my fist, arm outstretched, I crept low on the ground. 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 tabletops 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 paraphernalia that I didn’t know what to make of. Was this some kind of secret room that the 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. 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 most fabulous princess 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 the fabulous documentation of my life. Follow me as I journey from princess to queen.”
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. Her life was all down here.
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—”
The recording suddenly stopped, her image in the bubble bursting and falling around the disk. No! I looked down. What had happened? The disk suddenly gave a jerk and the conch shrieked to a halt. I moved it, trying to start it up again. All it did was make an infuriating scraping noise.
With a groan, I pried the conch off and set it down gently, picking up the disk to examine it. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I had no doubt that it was broken.
Cursing it to the abyss, I dropped it back on the table and bit the inside of my cheek to avoid screaming.
They’re after me...
This information changed everything. Maybe her disappearance hadn’t been because she was a spoiled brat, after all. Maybe she had disappeared because of another reason entirely. But for what reason? Had she known something, seen something she shouldn’t have?
The answers were here in this cavern.
But first, I needed to get this disk fixed.
I made it back into the room, secret wall closing behind me, just in time to hear a knock on the bedroom doors. Making sure the tapestry was well adjusted, I hurried to move the chair and then dashed into the bed just as the doors opened and Captain Saber swam through.
His eyes narrowed on me with suspicion immediately. “What’s wrong?”
I blew out a breath and tried to appear as casual as possible. “Nothing.”
He looked at me a moment longer, and I knew he didn’t believe me.
“I—I’m sore.”
His expression softened then. Softer than I’d ever seen it. He closed the door behind him and approached the bed. His fingers drifted towards his back, and when they reappeared, they were wielding the black blade. My heart soared at the sight of it. The obsidian hilt, the sharp tip... It was all intact. I longed to lurch for it and pull it from his prying fingers. I didn’t need to.
He laid it gently on my lap.