One Salt Sea: An October Daye Novel

Dianda blinked. Apparently, she wasn’t expecting me to make requests. “What?”


“Can I please have my clothes back?”

“Of course.” Dianda’s expression softened. “You may keep the dress. Consider it a souvenir.”

“Sort of an ‘I went to the lost city of Atlantis, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt’ thing, right?” I asked.

Dianda looked at me blankly. “Atlantis isn’t lost. It’s about an eight-day swim from here.”

Right. “If Connor is staying here, how would you like me to send word of my findings? I won’t be able to come back after the spell wears off, and I don’t know if the Luidaeg will mix me another one.”

“I’ll release him before the deadline. Failing that . . .” She dug a hand into the pocket of her skirt, producing three tiny glass bottles with cork stoppers and bits of rolled-up parchment inside. They looked like the sort of “genuine pirate treasures” you can buy six for a dollar in the shops along Fisherman’s Wharf. “If you throw one of these into the water, it will find me.”

“Handy.” I tucked the bottles under my knife belt, which held them fast. “I promise, we’re going to work on this as fast as we can.”

“You’d best.”

Patrick put a hand on her shoulder, almost mirroring the way Connor was standing next to me. “Connor, why don’t you show October to the exit pool? Helmi will meet you there, and can lead October out to meet Anceline and the others.”

“Of course, Your Grace,” said Connor. He stepped away from me and bowed to the Lordens. “Where can I find you once she’s gone?”

“Meet us in the receiving hall,” said Dianda.

“I appreciate your hospitality,” I said, and curtsied, directing the gesture to both of them. As I straightened, I added, “I’ll bring your sons home.”

“Please,” said Dianda. Nothing more than that; everything else had already been said. She and Patrick turned and walked away, leaving me alone with Connor.

I sighed. “I can’t wait to be back on dry land.”

“I can’t wait to be there with you.” Connor touched my cheek. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

He led me along the above-water path through the knowe. We passed Merrow in their human forms, Cephali making their way along floor, walls, and ceiling with equal ease, and Selkie after Selkie. I even glimpsed a few of the ward-weaving Asrai—tiny, silver-haired people who could have passed for children, if not for the decades I could see reflected in their eyes. None of them gave us a second glance. I was in the company of a Selkie, I looked like a Merrow, and clearly I belonged.

It was becoming more and more apparent how Rayseline had been able to do what she did. For all Patrick’s comments about the Undersea adopting mortal technology, they were still living in a time when Faerie was simpler. Back when humans didn’t encroach on our land, and when our halls were full, because we had the bodies to fill them. These days, people know everyone who lives in their fiefdom, because there just aren’t that many of us left. The Undersea didn’t have that problem. Instead, they got its opposite.

When there are too many people to know them all on sight, you can have strangers. And strangers can do bad things.

Helmi was waiting by the entrance pool. She had my clothes, shoes, and leather jacket—all still dripping—held primly at arm’s length. “These are yours,” she said, as soon as I was close enough to take them from her. “I’m to take you to meet Anceline outside the hall. If you’ll come with me?”

“Just a second.” I dug the bottles from Dianda out of my knife belt before unzipping the jacket’s breast pocket and dropping them inside, along with the bottle containing the needle from Peter’s room. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would prevent me from losing them during the trip back to the surface.