“But she hasn’t found her,” Becca said dully.
“Not yet,” Marco said. “But we’re still hopeful. We didn’t find you right away, either. We circled the waters near the Williwaw’s cave for a couple of days, searching for you. When a bad storm came up out of nowhere, we thought it might be the wind spirit’s doing and that you might be coming up. That’s how he works—getting the ghosts to drive intruders to the surface, then bashing them against the rocks.”
“He sure bashed me,” Becca said, flinching at the memory of the impact.
“El got the boat close to the rocks, and I brought you in with a net. You were out cold. Soon as I had you on board, El gunned it. This is a speedboat. It does eighty knots on smooth seas; fifty in rough ones. We were knocked about a bit, but she got us out of the storm.”
Becca watched Marco expertly cover her new bandage with tape. “You’re pretty good at this,” she said. “Do you make a habit of rescuing mermaids?”
He smiled. “Not many mermaids, I admit. But this boat—it’s called the Marlin—is fitted with a saltwater tank to transport sick and wounded sea creatures. We try to do our part, though it’s getting harder, with—”
“Here you go,” Elisabetta interrupted as she returned with a mug of soup. “Drink this down. It’ll do you good.”
“Thank you,” Becca said, taking the mug. She felt reassured enough to try it.
“I hope you like it,” Elisabetta said, frowning. “I’m not quite sure how moon jelly soup should taste.”
Becca took a sip. “It’s delicious,” she said. “But I meant thank you for more than the soup. Thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome,” Elisabetta said with a shrug. “Part of the job.”
“You made the Williwaw pretty angry,” Marco said. “Did you get what you were after?”
Becca hesitated. It wasn’t safe to say too much about the talismans.
“It’s okay, Becca. Mahdi told Nero about the talismans, and Nero told me. He trusts us. And we trust him,” Marco said.
Becca instinctively reached for her pocket—and realized with a start that she wasn’t wearing her jacket. She looked around anxiously.
Marco must’ve understood what she was searching for, because he lifted something from the bench behind him. He motioned for Becca to give him her mug, and in exchange he handed her the jacket.
It dawned on Becca that he and Elisabetta could easily have helped themselves to the locket if they’d wanted to.
But it was still in the pocket. “Yes,” she said with immense relief. “I got it.”
“That’s great news!” Marco said excitedly.
“And bad news, too,” said Elisabetta.
“How so?” Becca asked, draping her jacket over the side of her tank. Marco handed her mug back.
“When we picked you up, the death riders were only three leagues from the Achilles,” Elisabetta explained. “I’m sure that by now they’ve staked out the wreck and spied on the ghosts. They’ll have heard them talking about a mermaid who took something from the Williwaw and was rescued by humans in a boat. Vallerio will be informed. He’ll get word to Rafe Mfeme, and as soon as he does, Mfeme will be after us. If he’s not already. He has speedboats, too.”
Marco smiled at his sister. “But his drivers aren’t as crazy as you,” he said.
Elisabetta laughed. “Still, I’m not taking any chances. We’re only in the southern Atlantic and we need to get all the way to the North Sea. Boats will meet us along the way so we can refuel, but we’ve got to keep going.” She gave her brother a look. “Okay, Marco?”
“Okay,” Marco said. Elisabetta headed topside. Marco turned to Becca. “I made her stop and cut the engines so she could eat something and rest. But she’s right. Mfeme could show up at any minute. It’s best to keep moving.”
They both heard a deep thrum as Elisabetta started the Marlin’s engines. She opened the throttle and a second later, they were off.
“I should leave you,” Marco said, “and let you get some rest, too. El forgot her coffee mug. I’m going to bring it to her.”
“What’s coffee?”
“The drink of the gods. To terraggogs, at least,” Marco joked. “And nothing you should try if you want to get some sleep.” He smiled, then added, “It’s okay to sleep, you know. You’re safe now.”
Becca nodded. Her eyes felt so heavy. Her body was aching and exhausted.
You’re safe now.
As she looked into his kind eyes, Becca believed, for the first time in many months, that she was.
THE DARKNESS WAS a living thing, watchful and crouching, all eyes and teeth.