Ava nodded.
Serafina knew the ochi was a hard spell to cast. It was what the Iele used to watch Abbadon. It required that a gandac, or bug, be planted near the person or thing the songcaster wished to observe in order to catch the spell and hold it there. Shells, with their ability to capture sound, worked best. They’d all tried casting ochis. Serafina had only been able to see around a corner. Ling had been able to see into Vr?ja’s study. The obar?ie had looked up from her desk, amused, and waved. Neela and Becca had seen the Malacostraca.
Ava had been able to see Abbadon by using the same gandac the Iele used—a shell cast of gold that Sycorax had once worn on a chain around her neck. Generations ago, Abbadon had slashed at Sycorax through the bars of the gate, mortally wounding her. His claws had caught her necklace and ripped it off. As it sank through the water, its chain got tangled in one of the crossbars at the bottom of the gate. It hung there still, glazed with ice, unnoticed by the monster.
Today Ava had only been able to hold her vision of Abbadon for about thirty seconds, but Magdalena was amazed she’d done it at all.
As hard as an ochi was, a convoca, or summoning spell, was even more difficult. It was what Vr?ja herself had cast to call them here. Magdalena wanted them all to be able to learn it, because it could be used not only for summoning people, but also for communicating with them.
Ava concentrated. Her eyes could no longer see, but her mind still could. Sera wondered what she was going to try to show them. Not Abbadon, she hoped.
“Do you have it?” Magdalena asked.
Ava nodded. “I’m going to try to show you Macapá, my home. I’ll use one of the shells on my windowsill as the gandac,” she explained.
“Ambitious. I like it,” Magdalena said approvingly.
Ava began her songspell.
Gods of darkness,
Hear my plight,
Give to me
the gift of sight.
Gods of light
From up above,
Help me see
The place I love.
Ava was smiling now.
A river wide,
A river fast,
I ask you now
To help me cast
A vision clear
To show my friends
My home,
The place the river ends.
Serafina closed her eyes, waiting for Ava to shift from ochi to convoca, expecting to see in her mind’s eye the Amazon River, where her friend had grown up. Instead, she saw herself. A split second later, she heard a voice inside her head. “Sera? Is that you?”
“Ava!”
“Wow! I’m in your head, gatinha!”
“This is weird, Ava.”
“Ava? Sera?”
“Neela?”
“Yes!”
“Hey there!”
“Becca!”
“Yeah, it’s me! I can hear you, Ava! I can hear all of you!”
Another voice chimed in—Magdalena’s. “Well, the convoca obviously worked, since Ava is talking to us without talking to us, but the ochi is a total fail. You’re supposed to be showing us something far away—the Amazon, right?—but all I’m seeing is Sera and she’s right next to me!”
“Wait a minute,” Serafina said as the image came more sharply into focus. “That’s not the practice cave. And what on earth am I wearing?”
The Serafina in the image was clad in armor and riding a huge black hippokamp. She was bellowing at soldiers, moving them into position.
The mermaids soon saw why. On the other end of the field, a fearsome army was amassing.
Ava let out a low whistle. “Meu deus! Those are some mad ugly goblins,” she said.
“Feuerkumpel,” Becca said grimly.
“Sera, watch out!” Neela shouted.
A goblin had crept up behind Serafina. His black hair stood high in a topknot. He had a sallow face pocked by lava burns, nostrils but no nose, and a mouthful of sharp teeth, blackened by rot. His small, brutal eyes were as transparent as jellyfish. Serafina could see the network of veins running through them, pulsing with brown blood, and behind them, the dull yellow of his brain. Hard, bony black plates, like the chitin of a crab, covered his body. He was carrying a double-headed ax, its blades curved like crescent moons. As the mermaids watched, he raised it high over his head—then swung it.
“No!” Ava screamed. She scrabbled backward on the floor, as if trying to get away from the vision. As quickly as it had come, it disappeared. “Que diabo!” she said out loud. “What was that?”
“Your gift growing stronger,” Magdalena said.
“No way! It’s not my gift. My gift is sight. It always has been. I can see the truth. I can see what really is.”
“No, Ava. Not anymore. Your ancestor Nyx not only saw what is, he saw what will be. He had the power of prophecy. You do too. You just never felt it until now. It’s being near the others that’s bringing it out.”
“So I saw something from the future?” Ava asked.
“I think so,” Magdalena replied.