CHAPTER 9 Marrill Is a Dolphin

Marrill sucked in a deep breath as the Kraken tilted. Not that holding her breath would help. She stumbled and fell headfirst into the waves.

Plunging into the water was like dropping into a cloud during a thunderstorm. Everything was furious and fantastic and bizarre.

Light and sound surrounded her, but none of it quite touched her. She was fine, she realized. But then something was odd. Off, ABOUT everything.

She’d suspected something strange. Something spectacular, sinister, silly. Saltwater surged; sea smells surrounded. Suddenly she shuddered. So, she speculated. Something spectacularly strange surfaced—

“Don’t get distracted!”

—after all.

Marrill shook her head, recovering. She tried to catch her bearings, but everything everywhere was liquid. The word for world was water.

Oh no, she thought, not getting into that again.

She forced herself to look forward, to where Serth hovered above the deck of the sinking Kraken, calling to her.

He floated on his back, but he was carved from stone like a statue. A team of phosphorescent seahorses carried him downward through the warm water. Marrill could taste the light coming off them, and it tasted purple.

A current washed over them, and

Serth vanished in a puff of pollen

And a spattering of light rain.

“Follow me, follow my voice!” Serth commanded, his words dissolving into birdsong.

Marrill was trying, but it was hard to keep up when he kept turning into springtime like that. Then again, she wasn’t much better off. Her hands were webbed, her legs were a muscular tail.

Marrill moved smoothly through

the fast and flowing waves

When for a treat she slowed to greet

a friendly Finta-Ray.

She was not who she once was,

she realized with alarm.

But then again, neither was Fin—

he had wings beneath his arms!

This is weird, Marrill thought, and she felt her thoughts bending into a nursery rhyme. She focused on the water around her, on moving back in.…

No, she told herself, swimming onward. She struggled, fighting the urge. Stay calm, Marrill, she told herself. Stick to swimming. Don’t make the rhyme. Don’t do it.

It was really hard not to, though. Her will was beginning to fade. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead she squeaked!

A dolphin-squeak she made!

Maybe it wasn’t so bad, she thought,

Maybe she’d made too much fuss.

“Staaaaay oooon mmyyyy voooooice!!!!”

Serth whistled, a whale call through the sea.

Up ahead the Naysayer swam,

In the form of a giant manatee!

“Keep following my voice,” Serth called again.

Marrill blinked, her thoughts returning to her again. The water vanished suddenly, giving way to air. It was unbelievable, Marrill thought. The magic of the Stream was constantly changing them, transforming them. The Kraken turned into a beautiful, lush field.

“Almost there…” Serth cried, his voice lifting into a sing-song.

Keep swimming along

While singing this song

Deep in the Briiiin-ey stream

A tune struck up behind him, a light orchestral piece that accompanied his singing. Marrill felt herself altering now, the magic changing her yet again.

She tried to stay herself. She even had a thought about how.

Marrill burst into a million pieces as Serth sang them deeper into the heart of the Pirate Stream.

Just foll-ow my voice

as if you had a choice

deep in the Briiiin-ey Stream!

Marrill

was wings

a of

cloud

of of

thoughts

flapping

flying

butterflies

In the midst of her meadow, Serth burst into view again, tapping his heels and waving an umbrella like an old-time movie star. The Buttermarrils flapped their wings together in cheer, fluttering urged on by the melody of his song.

Don’t you drift away

Hear the words I say

Nothing good a-waits out there!

The music spun up, wild and fast now. Serth whirled on his heels, did a magnificent slide through the grass, and doffed a suddenly appearing top hat at a tree full of beautiful, bleeding blossoms that might once have been Remy.

BWAAAAAWWWHHHAAAAAAA

A horn blasted through the song. The cloud of Buttermarrils fluttered together, their wings beating against one another, the tips of them slapping nervously.

“It’s cooooooomiiiiiiiiiing!” Serth belted out, landing on the grass-green deck with a twirl.

BWAAAAAWWWHHHAAAAAAA

Reality rippled. A wave of force blasted through the Buttermarrils, and the next thing they knew they were a person again.

A sharp, black metal prow stabbed through the center of her vision. The Iron Ship tore past, blasting aside the world around them.

“This is it!” Serth shouted, his voice now his own. “Stay close!”

Marrill looked around. They were back on the deck of the Kraken. She was her, Fin was Fin, Octokarny was—just Karny. Everyone and everything seemed to have returned to normal. Well, as normal as it had ever been.

Not too far ahead of them, the scrap-metal stern of the Iron Ship thundered through a swirling hole in space, then vanished.

Marrill threw up her hands in anguish. “We missed it!”

Then reality rippled again, and they were somewhere else. They stood in the boughs of an enormous tree, on a platform hollowed out in the burl of a giant branch. The bark billowed, as though it were made from clouds.

“…I haven’t worked out the math just yet, but I’m pretty sure if you got too close, it would bite,” said a familiar voice.

Marrill whirled about, her heart pounding. A thin old man tugged at the tip of his beard, kicking aside the length of his purple robes.

“Ardent!” she cried.

The wizard held up a finger to his companion. “Did you—feel something? It felt like fate.”

Another wizard stood straight and elegant, laugh lines tracing the edges of her lips. “I only hear you, old fool,” she chuckled.

Fin gasped beside Marrill. “It’s Annalessa!”

“They can’t hear you,” Serth said. His hand fell heavy on Marrill’s shoulder, holding her back. “We aren’t completely here, after all. Just passing through on a surge of the Master’s wake. He must have taken the straightest path backward—through his own past.”

Marrill frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“This is Ardent’s history we’re trespassing in,” Serth explained. “He’s retracing his past; we’re simply along for the ride.”

Annalessa looked around. “I did feel something,” she whispered. “It felt like… Serth.”

Ardent snorted, crossing his arms. “Chasing after Serth will lead us nowhere,” he said, a storm in his voice. “Nowhere good, anyway.”

Beside Marrill, Serth let out a hmph.

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” Fin said.

Marrill ignored them both. She was too busy studying the two wizards, trying to capture every last detail. She missed Ardent—this Ardent. And the last time they’d seen Annalessa, she’d followed Serth’s example and drunk Stream water, turning into the Compass Rose of the Map to Everywhere.

That had been nothing but an echo of the past. Maybe it was fitting, Marrill thought, that they would see her here, when they were the echoes cast back from the future.

“This must have been the moment when she asked for his help finding Serth and he refused to go with her,” Fin said softly beside her.

Marrill nodded. Other than their time out of time in Monerva, it was the last time Ardent had seen Annalessa. The moment that set his quest for her in motion.

“I love you, Anna,” Ardent said, turning away. “But I cannot join you in this.”

Marrill opened her mouth to yell. Maybe if she could just shout loud enough, they would really hear her. Maybe Ardent would wise up and not let Annalessa walk out alone.

But as the words left her mouth, reality rippled again. The wake of the Iron Ship pulled them deeper into the past.

Now they were standing on top of a hill at night. She spun and found Ardent and Annalessa lying on their backs in the soft grass nearby. Their heads tilted toward each other, almost touching, as they stared up into a midnight sky peppered with stars.

They were younger here, their faces showing fewer traces of time. Ardent’s fingers danced in the air, and at his command the stars above swirled and coalesced into shapes. Animals and creatures danced and played out some story he’d just made up.

Marrill raced toward them. “Ardent!” she shouted as loud as she could. She wanted to warn him, but she didn’t know what to say.

Ardent stiffened and the stars dimmed, the night growing darker. He started to push himself up.

Marrill fell to her knees in front of him, only inches separating them. Tears blurred her eyes as she choked out, “Don’t let her go, Ardent.” She reached for his arm but her hand fell through emptiness.

“You won’t be able to reach him, Marrill,” Serth said behind her. There was a hollow note to his voice, as if watching it hurt him, too.

But she shook her head, refusing to give up.

Annalessa’s fingertips brushed against Ardent’s shoulder, coming to rest on his arm. “Ardent?”

“I felt…” He stared down at where she touched him, frowning. It was the same spot Marrill had just tried to grab. His eyes lifted to meet Annalessa’s. Eyes that were full of love and wonder and promise. “I’ll never let you go, Annalessa.”

And Marrill let her tears fall, because she knew it was a lie. Reality rippled again, ripping her from the scene, and she was grateful for the reprieve.

The memories continued, dizzying and overwhelming as the Kraken was dragged backward through Ardent’s life.

Now they stood on the deck of the Kraken, the Stream a stretch of golden water, smooth as glass for as far as she could see. Overhead the sails hung limp, the ship so dead in the water that not even the smallest hint of a ripple lapped against her hull.

Ardent sat with his feet propped against a table, leaning his chair so far back that it was a wonder it hadn’t fallen over. He studied a handful of cards and shrugged, tossing two onto the table.

Coll sat across from him, and Marrill felt her heart lurch to see him again.

But it was Remy who gasped. Remy who yelped “Coll!” as she raced toward him.

Ardent’s chair fell forward, slamming against the deck. He peered around the ship. “Did you hear that?”

Brightness lit Remy’s eyes. “Yes! Coll! Can you hear me?”

“Maybe it’s the wind playing tricks,” Coll said dryly. “Oh, wait, there is no wind.”

Ardent sighed, kicking his chair back into its improbable lean. “The wind can’t stay mad at me forever,” he said, waving a hand. “Trust me. In a battle of obstinacy, I shall always prevail.”

Coll sighed. “If only you hadn’t—”

His words were cut short by another ripple. Another jolt to Marrill’s gut as she was dragged from the memory and thrust into another.

They were on a balcony now, in what looked like a library. The walls were made of stone, and the windows were narrow. Glowing orbs filled the air, dancing and shifting to light the path of the wizards browsing through the towering shelves of books that spread in every direction.

Three college-aged wizards, Ardent, Annalessa, and Serth, sat at a table in the corner. They shook and twitched, and for a moment Marrill thought something was terribly wrong. But then she realized… they were laughing. All three of them. Annalessa had her head thrown back, and Serth’s eyes were squeezed shut. Ardent snorted, which only caused the three to laugh harder.

“Oh, Ardent,” Annalessa gasped. “Your stories…”

Behind her, Marrill heard a soft chuckle and she turned to see Serth watching the trio. “He could always make us laugh,” he said, a smile ghosting his lips. But his eyes glistened with pain and regret, and when he drew in a breath, it hitched in his throat, almost as if he was holding back a sob. Marrill’s heart twisted at the sight, but before she could say anything there was…

Another ripple. This time she was standing in the middle of a crowded market. Ardent crouched nearby, now a gangly teen. His fingers leapt, dancing a makeshift puppet before a child with tear-streaked cheeks, turning his cries into laughter.

Ripples. Memories. Ripples.

Then they were in a forest, and Ardent was even younger, his magic apparently fresh and new as he concentrated, straining to unbend the branches of a tree and release a brilliant blue-stained bird trapped within. His face lit with wonder as the bird soared free.

Marrill’s eyes closed. A deep anxiety swirled in her belly. For everything awful the Master had done, he was still this goofy, wonderful, passionate, lovestruck boy. He was still the gangly, awkward, grandfatherly old man.

He was still Ardent.

If they used the Evershear to cut through his iron armor, what would happen to him? She couldn’t bear the thought of actually hurting Ardent. Of maybe even killing him.

The ripples came faster now. Ardent aged in reverse, shrinking to an infant, then was gone.

Faster.

Trees shrank into sprouts and slithered back into the ground.

Faster.

Rivers sucked away and poured upward as rain.

Faster.

Old mountains roared upward, then leapt back down again.

Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster

Everything swirled together into a blur.

Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Faster Fast

Then the blur seemed to tear open,

erFasterFasterFasterFasterFasterFasterFasterFasterFasterFaster

and the Enterprising Kraken emerged

into a world

of light.