“Whoa,” Ling said.
“Thank you for warning me,” Lena said. “This Traho might think twice when he sees how many I’ve got.” She frowned. “I guess I owe you one for that. You can hide here until the soldiers pass. Better be quick about it. I hear hippokamps.”
The mermaids started toward her house.
“Not there. That’s the first place they’ll look. Hide with Anica.”
“Where is she?” Neela asked.
“In the nursery. Over there,” Lena said, pointing to a ramshackle shed made out of old tires. “Don’t come out till I tell you.”
They opened the door, expecting a mermaid named Anica to greet them. Instead a dozen baby catfish charged out. One swam up to Neela and licked her face.
“Oh, yuck! Gross!” she said, batting the baby away.
A low, rumbling growl shook the walls of the nursery. The baby’s mother, all three hundred pounds of her, rose menacingly from her nest. She made the catfish outside look like minnows.
“I think that’s Anica,” Ling said.
Neela grabbed the baby back. “Mwah!” she cried, kissing its nose. “Oh, you little oodgie-woodgie! Aren’t you the cutest? Come and see your Auntie Neela!”
The baby gurgled happily. Anica’s growl turned into a purr, and she settled herself back on her nest. The three mermaids swam around the back of it and ducked down behind her.
Only minutes later, the door to the nursery opened. A soldier dressed in black swam inside. Anica growled ferociously at the sight of his spear.
“More of the same, sir!” he called out. “This one’s bigger than the others. Uglier, too, if you can believe it.”
Another merman swam into the shed. Neela’s blood turned to ice when she saw who it was. Traho.
“So it is,” he said, making a face. “Only a lunatic would keep these things. Gods, how I hate the Freshwaters. Let’s go. The faster we find those merls, the faster we get back to civilization.”
“Should we take the mermaid Lena with us, sir?”
“No, it’s too dangerous. There are only ten of us, and many more of these things,” Traho said, nodding at Anica. “They might attack. We don’t need her. Mfeme has plenty of new captives….” His voice trailed off as he and his underling swam away.
A few minutes later, the door opened again. “They’re gone,” Lena said. “You can come out now.”
Neela swam out from behind Anica’s nest. Ling was right behind her.
Lena’s expression was troubled. “They’ve got a cage with them. For you,” she said. “You shouldn’t put mer in a cage. You shouldn’t put anything in a cage.”
“Thank you for hiding us, Lena,” Neela said. “You took a big risk on our account. We’ll be going now.”
“You can’t go,” Lena said in a resigned voice. “They only just left, and they’re heading up river. Same as you. Much as I hate to say it, you’d better stay here for the night. I’ve got a pot of salvinia stew I was fixing to eat all by myself. Now I’ll have to share it.” She nodded at Ling. “I’ll take a look at her wrist, too. Long as she doesn’t howl.”
Neela blinked at her. “Um, thanks. I think,” she said. She turned to talk to Serafina, but only Ling was there. “Sera?” she called out. “Where are you?” Her friend was still behind Anica’s nest. She was staring straight ahead, motionless. “What’s wrong? You’re as white as a spookfish. It’s okay. They’re gone. And Lena’s letting us stay the night.”
Serafina turned to her. “I know why Rafe Mfeme didn’t want the coast guard to board his ship. I know what he’s carrying in the hold of his trawler and it’s not shad,” she said.
“What is it?” Neela asked.
“The stolen villagers of Aquaba.”
“MFEME’S BEEN BEHIND it all along,” Serafina said. “He carries Traho’s soldiers in his ships to the waters over the targeted villages. They descend, force the villagers into the ships, and then Mfeme carries them away. That’s why it always looks as if they’ve vanished without a trace. And that’s why he wanted jellyfish, not shad. Remember when he said that? Just after he caught Ling? Jellies are mer food. He needed them to feed to his prisoners.”
She was swimming to and fro in Lena’s kitchen, angry and upset. Neela leaned against a wall, watching her. Ling was sitting at the table, cradling her arm.
“But these raids have happened in all the waters, not just Miromara’s. Thousands of merpeople have been taken. Mfeme can’t keep them all in his trawlers. So what’s he doing with them?” Neela asked.
“I think he’s taking them to Ondalina. So Kolfinn can use them as hostages. No one will attack Ondalina if doing so means killing their own people,” Serafina said. “We have to do something. We have to stop him.”
“How?” Neela asked.