A few yards into the tunnel, darkness gave way to the light of a portable lava globe, hung on the wall by one of the Black Fins. Its glow played over Sera, revealing a mermaid very different from the one who’d lived in the palace not too long ago.
Sera cut a commanding figure now—strong, straight-backed, and sure of herself. Muscles rippled in her arms and tail. Her hair, dyed black, was cut pixie-short so no enemy could grab it and hold her back, as the Mirror Lord once had. As all Black Fins did, she wore a short military jacket of dark blue with black trim to honor Cerulea, the capital of Miromara. A dagger rested at her hip. The doubt and hesitance that had clouded her green eyes were gone; a dangerous new light burned in them.
Up ahead, Sera saw a tall iron gate crusted with barnacles. Four young mermen were furiously sawing at its bars, muscles straining in their backs and arms. Iron repelled magic, so no songspells could be used to break or liquefy the metal.
She lowered her weapon. “How much longer, Yaz?” she asked one of the mermen.
“Five minutes max,” Yazeed replied. “We’re almost through.”
He was her second-in-command, and this had been his idea. Sera remembered when he and Luca, another fighter, had come swimming into the Black Fins’ headquarters at four one morning, whooping and laughing.
“Look what we found!” Yaz had crowed.
He’d unrolled an ancient kelp parchment and placed it on the table in the safe house. Serafina and the rest of the Black Fins had gathered around.
“It’s the original building plan for the palace. Complete with the entire network of lava pipes,” Yaz had explained, rubbing his hands together. “This run of pipe”—he’d pointed to a thick black line drawn in squid ink—“carried lava from the seam underneath the palace to the west wing. It was supposed to have been removed two centuries ago, when the treasury vaults were moved from the Grande Corrente to the palace.”
Luca had jumped in. “But it never was!” he said, unrolling a second parchment. “These are the plans for the relocated treasury vaults. They couldn’t place them close to lava pipes because if the pipes broke, the lava would melt the walls, leaving the treasure vulnerable. So a new run of pipe was laid—well below the vaults. The old pipes were only closed off, not demolished.”
“Everything’s still there!” Yaz had said gleefully. “The pipes, the diverter, even the shutoff valve. Only a foot of rock separates the old pipe from the treasury. All we have to do is break the pipe, open the old valve, let the lava burn through the rock—”
“—and we’re in the vaults!” Sera had interrupted, excitedly slapping tails with him.
“But how do we get inside the palace in the first place?” Neela—Sera’s best friend, Yazeed’s sister, and now a Black Fin, too—had asked.
“The old Traitors’ Gate on the north side of the palace. It’s at the bottom of the seamount and it’s overgrown by seaweed. It’ll give us plenty of cover,” Luca had replied.
Sera had known about the Traitors’ Gate, but she’d been amazed to learn about the network of old lava pipes. Clearly she’d missed much during her days as a pampered princess. Songcasting, school, and her mother’s endless lectures had filled her hours. These things were important, but they didn’t get one into the treasury vaults—cunning and daring did.
“When do we go?” Neela had asked.
“As soon as I can get Mahdi to throw a party—a big one, with a lightworks show,” Yaz had replied.
“I don’t follow,” Neela had said. “Why do we need a party? And lightworks?”
“Because when we divert lava off the main line, the pressure in the palace will drop. Any lights on that line will flicker. Lavaplaces will fizzle. Someone’s bound to notice and become suspicious.”
“So Mahdi cuts the lights for the show and nobody’s the wiser!” Neela had exclaimed.
“Exactly,” Yazeed had said. “By the time the lightworks are over, the lava’s flowing again and we’re on our way back to HQ with as much swag as we can carry.”
“Yaz, you’re a genius,” Sera had said.
“So true,” Yazeed had agreed. Everyone laughed and then eagerly started planning the heist.
Sera had been so thrilled about their having the building plans that it was only later, as they were heading to their bunks to crash, she had thought to ask Yaz how he had gotten them.
“Luca and I went to the Ostrokon,” Yazeed had replied lightly. “You can learn a lot there, you know.”
Sera had raised an eyebrow at his joke. Everyone knew that the Ostrokon was one of her favorite places in Cerulea. Before the city had been attacked, she had loved to go there and listen to history conchs, but it wasn’t safe now. “That was risky, Yaz. It’s heavily patrolled,” she’d said. She hadn’t even wanted to think about what would have happened if they’d been caught. She could not have asked for a better second-in-command. Yaz was smart, brave, and bold—but sometimes he was too bold.