to admit it, but I could now see the resemblance to his overbearing father. The blonde hair so dark, almost red-gold. His smile with that carnivorous edge. More vampire than mermaid. He was like bad news you can’t help but want to read anyway.
This was some hot son-of-a-crazy-Priest.
Carragheen was looking like he wished Lecanora hadn’t mentioned his lineage.
“Ah, Lecanora,” he shook his head, dismissing her. “I am Shighsa’s son too.”
I was fascinated. Carragheen was trying to be polite but I could tell it was not his usual thing. He was holding my eyes like he was holding my hand. Intimate, private. Why was he here? He was out of place. A dark force among creatures of light. His discomfort crackled in front of us like an electrical storm at sea. He made Doug look as reliable as the boy next door.
I was surprised by both the tremor of guilt I feel at the thought of Doug, and by the fact that I suddenly couldn’t remember for the life of me why I had swum away from this guy so fast seven miles up. Because right now he might have looked badder than bad but he also looked good enough to eat.
“Princess, I understand I owe you a debt of gratitude. And I owe Rania some answers. I was wondering whether the two of you would both like to come by my pool later.”
I was about to fall all over myself to say hell yes and what debt? when Lecanora spoke first and saved me from breaking all the rules of acting too keen.
“Thank you, Carragheen, very kind. But we have some things to do.”
Before I could squeak a protest, something happened that made it all redundant.
The sacred place filled with blood.
At least, the water was suddenly a deep crimson. Like someone threw a switch to turn on some macabre night light. Within seconds, The Eye echoed with screams of scores of freaked-out members of the ocean tribes. And one word pressed into my head from all their brains.
Bloodtide.
I remembered Mom’s words, about how Manos made the sea run red with Aegir’s blood.
Before the seekers could give instructions, the stampede was on. Hundreds of bodies swimming, spinning, sliding, pirouetting. All upwards, to leave The Eye as quickly as possible.
The fear was infectious. To creatures of the deep, the sight of blood in the water is the universal call-sign of the predator. Like the smell of burning flesh to humans on the land.
But Carragheen’s face barely moved. He simply grabbed one hand of mine and one of Lecanora’s. Come. We must be far away from here.
We didn’t argue. As he pulled us behind him like we were feather-light and kicked up towards the mouth of The Eye, I realized he was seriously strong. And fast. We were passing everyone. So I was surprised when he suddenly dropped our hands and barked a command into our brains. Go. I’m right behind you.
Again, we did as he said, but I couldn’t resist a peek behind, and then I saw why he had stopped. A young Leigon, with the face a cherub but the body of a small elephant, had become separated from its parents, and was swimming pitifully in circles, barking small cries of distress. Carragheen wrapped his arms around its middle and pulled it with him, murmuring as he went.
He saw me watching. Swim, he commanded.
Chapter Seven
Whirling And Silence
Carragheen’s Pool, Aegira
“They’re saying it was a biological event.” Carragheen turned back, throwing off the small shells which had rested at his temples as though they disgusted him. He was shirtless and a killer set of abs almost distracted me from the fact that I was so not buying it.
“All the channels?” Lecanora and Carragheen both frowned at me.
Ah, that’s right. This is Aegira. Only one channel. Eat your heart out, North Korea.
“Let me have a go.” I snatched the shells up, accidentally brushing against the hard calluses of his palms. His hands were warm, like on the surface. So strange, for a merman.
I brought the pads to my temples, where they affixed themselves like blood-seeking barnacles. I focused, deep. Mass telepathy is more personal than TV, because there’s still an element of interpretation, but the risk is small in such a homogenous population. This recording was voiced by a mermaid who looked like Martha Stewart. There was the briefest of visuals of the blood-red Eye, and the screaming, squirming life desperate to escape it. But no sound.