Kora swam up over the massive creature and touched her forehead to his. Ceto closed his eyes as she did, then took his leave. As he prepared to go, he glanced at Khaali and Leylo, who’d been hanging around him ever since they’d arrived back at Nzuri Bonde. They looked as if they wanted something, but couldn’t bring themselves to ask.
Ceto looked at them knowingly with his wise whale eyes. “All right,” he said. “But only once. I’m getting too old for these exertions.”
“Yes!” Khaali and Leylo shouted, tail-slapping each other.
Kora shook her head. “Those two never grow up,” she said. “Come on, let’s watch.”
“Watch what?” Neela asked. “Where are we going?”
“Topside,” Kora replied.
Khaali and Leylo each grabbed one of Ceto’s massive flippers. Ceto turned himself, and headed upward. He swam faster and faster. Kora, Neela, and the others had to swim hard to keep up. A few yards from the surface, Ceto gave a thrust of his enormous tail and all three were suddenly airborne in a spectacular breach. Khaali and Leylo launched themselves off his flippers and flung themselves up even higher, doing backflips into the air. Ceto crashed down, and Khaali and Leylo cannonballed after him, hooting and yelling and laughing themselves silly.
Ceto laughed too, a sound that was as ancient and deep as the sea itself, then he and his clan bade the mermaids farewell. Kora, Neela, and the Askari returned to the arena. Kora, noticing Neela’s bandaged back, took her directly to a hospital tent. A healer unwrapped the wounds. Kora let out a low whistle as the dressings fell away.
“Impressive,” she said. “What happened?”
As Neela explained, Kora listened intently, eyeing the armband Basra had given her.
When the healer finished, Neela bade Kora good night. She was aching and exhausted.
“I’m going to my room,” she said. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“No,” Kora said.
“No? Why not? Do you have another death-defying rescue planned for the evening?”
“You will sleep in a room in the ngome ya jeshi. It’s only fitting.”
Neela didn’t understand. “The ngome ya jeshi? But isn’t that—”
“Yes.”
“But, Kora, I’m not…”
Kora smiled. She touched her forehead to Neela’s. “You are now. Welcome home, Askara.”
NEELA WAS HUNGRY. She was starving. But not for a bing-bang.
She’d left Kandina four days ago, after a huge send-off. Kora had swum with her to the outskirts of Nzuri Bonde.
“Dark days are ahead, I fear,” she had said on the way.
Neela had nodded. “We liberated your people, but the death riders may strike again. And Abbadon will be freed if we can’t find a way to stop it.”
“We will build up fortifications against any further raids,” Kora had said, “and you and the others must call on us if you need help. We are always here for you.”
They said their good-byes, and then, as Neela swam away, she had heard Kora call out, “Kuweka mwanga, dada yangu.” Keep the light, my sister.
“Come on, Ooda,” Neela said now. “Let’s see if we can find some jellies. A bit of algae. Anything.”
It was evening, and the sea’s creatures were all rising to the warmer waters of the surface to feed. Neela joined them, scooping up handfuls of comb jellies and gulping them down.
She was hungry much of the time now. She had taxed her body greatly and it had changed over the last few weeks. The long swim to the River Olt, her journey through Vadus to Matali, and then the swim to Kandina had made her tail strong, her arms sinewy, her ample curves firm. She found herself craving leafy blues, slimy vegetables, and crunchy proteins—preferably with their heads still on—instead of sweets.
Above her, floating on the surface, were clumps of tasty-looking red algae. Cautiously, she poked her head up, peering around for any danger. There was a large ship close by, and many more off in the distance, but they were no cause for alarm. Their presence was nothing unusual, and a confuto would keep any gogg who saw her from telling another.
She ate her fill, then dove. Half an hour later, she and Ooda were at the outskirts of Matali City. She smiled as she spotted the shining domes and turrets of the palace. She’d never noticed how gracefully the sea grass swayed along the Royal Current. Or how the palace’s center dome turned from gold to silver in the late-day rays of sun. Her home looked more beautiful to her than it ever had before.
Maybe because I came so close to never seeing in again, she thought, remembering Hagarla’s cave. She was so happy to see her city, and so relieved to be in a safe place after days in the open water, but as she gazed at the palace, her smile faded. She sensed something. The way Ava sensed things.
Ooda gave her a What? look.
“I don’t know. Something’s different. Something’s wrong.”