“No!” Astrid shouted, anger pushing aside fear. So many mer had died because of Orfeo and his madness. She didn’t want to lose one more. “I’m not singing your dirges, Ling! Nobody’s singing anybody’s dirges. You’re going to make it. I swear to the gods you are….”
Her voice trailed off. She felt as if the eye of a hurricane had just passed over her.
“Dirges,” she whispered. “Oh, my gods. Dirges.”
How do you kill an immortal soul? Sera had asked.
“You don’t,” Astrid whispered aloud. “You free it. Just like Orfeo had hoped to free Alma.”
“Astrid, what are you talking about?” Ling asked.
“Dirges. That’s how we do this. Ling, you’re a genius!”
“True, but what do dirges have to do—”
Astrid sheathed her sword. She swam out of the overhang. “Abbadon!” she shouted. “Hey, monster man!”
“Astrid, what are you doing?” Ling called after her.
“I don’t know!” Astrid shouted back. “I’ve never done it before!”
How do you sing a dirge? she wondered desperately.
She cast her mind back to the Hall of Elders, in the Citadel, when she and Desiderio were trying to escape from Rylka. That’s when she’d heard her father’s dirges being sung. The songspell was a simple and beautiful old Ondalinian melody. She would borrow it, add her own lyrics, and hope that her magic was strong enough.
“Abbadon!” she shouted, swimming right toward the monster. “Abbadon, hear me!”
“Astrid, no!” Sera cried.
She started to swim toward her, but Neela stopped her. “Wait, Sera!” she said. “Listen!”
They all listened as Astrid’s voice—strong and expressive—rose in the water. She’d cast a few frantic spells when she’d fought Orfeo, but this was the first time they’d really heard her sing.
Abbadon had been advancing on Becca, but as Astrid’s voice grew louder, it stopped, then slowly turned toward her. It seemed spellbound by her song, and the beauty of her voice. Its hands stretched toward her. One by one, they opened. The eyes stared at Astrid, unblinking.
“Oh, gods, no. It’s going to tear her in two,” Becca said.
As if acting on Becca’s words, Abbadon charged at Astrid, roaring.
“No!” Neela screamed.
Astrid’s own hands were knotted into fists, but she didn’t flinch. The monster stopped only yards away from her, its chest heaving. It threw its head back and roared so loudly that the mermaids had to press their hands over their ears. The entire prison shook. A section of wall behind Sera cracked and tumbled into the courtyard.
“Dirges,” Sera said excitedly. “She’s singing the souls back to the sea.”
The tides of life ceased long ago
For those sacrificed by Orfeo.
But no eternal rest for them,
No rites, no graves, no requiem.
Denied a place of final peace,
Their grief and anger cannot cease.
In endless torment they go on,
Imprisoned inside Abbadon.
Horok, come at our bequest,
Take the stolen to their rest.
Astrid kept singing. The monster clutched its head, then dropped to its knees. As it did, a thin crack opened up in its side. Light, pure and white, shot out of it. The water inside the courtyard started to whirl.
“Ava, what do you see?” Sera shouted.
“Souls! Thousands of them!” Ava shouted back. “They want to get out!”
Abbadon roared again. It sounded like a creature in torment.
“It’s working, Astrid!” Neela shouted. “Keep it up!”
Abbadon was breaking apart. More souls were pushing their way out. Their light was swirling through the courtyard. Their energy was fearsome.
They’re going to destroy the Carceron, Astrid thought. And everyone in it.
Another section of wall caved in. Sera grabbed Ava and Neela and swam with them into the center. Becca lifted up Ling, who was still under the overhang, and joined them. Only seconds later, the overhang split off from the rest of the ice and crashed to the ground.
“They have nowhere to go!” Neela shouted. “They want to go to the underworld, but they can’t!”
“They need pearls!” Ava yelled.
“Astrid!” Neela shouted. “Use your—”
But her words were cut off when a chunk of the glass ceiling fell in, narrowly missing Astrid.
“THE PEARLS!” Neela yelled as the water cleared, frantically pointing at her neck.
Astrid didn’t understand what she was trying to say. Her hand came up to her own neck. And then she felt it. Alma’s necklace! she thought. It was made of thousands of pearls. They were small, though. Would they work?
Still singing, she unhooked the necklace and swam to Abbadon. The monster’s roars had risen to shrieks now. Its body was riven with cracks. The light pouring from them was so bright, it was blinding.
“Hurry, Astrid!” Sera urged, as another section of wall came down.
Astrid ripped the necklace apart and scattered the pearls in a circle around Abbadon.
As the mermaids all watched, rays of light swirled out of the monster and disappeared into the pearls. One by one, the freed souls found their refuge.