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After the human’s demonstration of bravery, I hadn’t expected her to dart away.
I knew she’d heard me, and that she couldn’t respond without air. Perhaps she simply needed to breathe.
I shadowed her movements as she reached the water’s surface. Leaving some space between myself and her, I floated, waiting for an answer to my plea for help.
She paused at the lake’s edge for so long that it was making me uncomfortable. I kept as quiet and still as the water would allow, wondering whether she would return. Or if I’d ruined my best chance. Perhaps she’d seen and heard enough, and no longer wanted anything to do with me or my kind.
When she didn’t turn, I drew closer.
Reaching out, I touched my fingertip to her shoulder. Her skin was warmer than mine, even though she was shivering.
She stiffened. I drew back.
My heart pounded against the insides of my chest as she turned around.
“I—I’m sorry,” I said. I truly was.
The human had a strange effect on me. I needed to save my kingdom from extinction, yet here I was apologizing to someone who’d possessed at least two pieces that belonged to my family’s collection. I shook my head.
Once her obvious shock wore off, she narrowed her eyes at me.
“You asked me to help you.” She pointed. “Down there, while we were under the water.”
I nodded.
“So it was you,” she murmured. “The voice from my dream.”
One of my eyebrows rose. I didn’t remember speaking to her while her eyes were closed on land; nor would she have heard me. Was that why she’d hurried away after I’d asked her for help? What had I said to her?
I chuckled to myself. We were dissimilar in so many ways, yet it was my voice that had scared her. Something she recalled hearing in a dream. My lips formed a smile. I might grow to like this human. If anything, she was amusing.
She released a breath as she assessed me with her eyes. “Why would you ask me to help you, when you won’t return my necklace? Don’t you think that’s rude?”
Necklace? Was she referring to the royal diadem? How could I explain that she would be helping me by letting me keep it? I also needed her to provide information about more of the pieces.
I motioned for her to follow me, hoping she would hear my words again—below the water.
I floated backward, and then dipped below the lake’s surface.
I waited as she pushed off the fringe of land at the lake’s edge. She tread water for a few moments before relaxing her muscles. As she sank, I took the opportunity to gather the diadem from the lake bed.
She crossed her arms, her hair floating all around her.
“What you’re referring to as a necklace is actually a diadem.” I slipped the diadem over my forehead and temples. “It’s not worn on the neck; it’s a headpiece.”
She frowned.
“I don’t know how you came upon them, but this diadem and the wrist cuff you are keeping both belong to my family, our kingdom.”
She bobbed up to the surface. I winced, expecting her to go away again. Moments later, she returned.
The human sank until her head was submerged. She crossed her arms, which I took as my cue to continue explaining.
“The decorative cluster on each piece is made of L’even pearls. Shellfish—oysters, mostly—from this lake form them. The pearls are what give us strength.”
The human’s eyes widened. She scrunched her nose.
“Over the years, more and more of the pearls went missing. Members of my kingdom have significantly weakened. Some have disappeared entirely—either because they left or died.”
Her eyebrows rose, but I didn’t detect any other reaction or emotion from her before she floated back to the surface.
I laughed at how the human’s face contorted each time, just before she popped her head above the water. And then at how she would gasp and sputter for air.
She was strong on land, yet so fragile in the lake.
When she returned, I pointed to my diadem and asked the question I’d saved for last. “Have you seen more of these pieces—with clusters of L’even pearls?”
She bobbed up to the surface again. Instead of returning, she darted away.