Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,83
island of the sacred brides, so they would have fertility symbols, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it, you know?”
“That’s funny because I see more of a giant squid. Those bulges on the sides look like eyes. Those ridges are tentacles climbing the walls.”
Huh.
Actually, when Val said that, the boulders did resemble eyes, and the triangular flaps on the sides were more like fins.
Meg laughed in disbelief. “Okay. We’ve been living here twenty years and I have never once thought it was a giant squid. But you’re right. That’s what it is. Is that crazy?”
“It happens.” Val grinned. “You just needed an outside perspective. Can we get down and check it out?”
“There is a way down.” Bex pointed out a narrow, vine-strewn ledge.
“I wouldn’t, though. Not with your foot. You have to hang off the cliff a little,” Meg said.
A strange tone echoed in the crater, resonant and deep, like an ancient bell.
“What is that?” Dannika asked. “I keep hearing it.”
Meg answered. “The, um, tentacles are clutching a bell. Like the Life Tree one, only bigger.”
“It sounds familiar.”
“We can go look at it. Actually, for us, there’s an easier route from the lagoon. It’s how we first discovered it.”
They left Val with the children starting the pirate treasure hunt. Val promised to keep the teams together and inland until the women returned.
Bex led them to the lagoon. They undressed, and Dannika folded her stretched, fraying caftan. Pretty soon, she would have to weave some scratchy grass or give up and go naked.
Bex stopped them at the ledge. “Wait here.” She dove into the water.
Her splash was bigger than the warriors who disappeared with barely a ripple.
She emerged a moment later, head up, on the far side. “Boulder’s in place.”
Dannika hadn’t even thought of it.
“Oh, good,” Meg said, also making an oops face.
“Yeah. Come on.” Bex dove.
The women hopped feet-first into the water. Dannika let the water flow into her, heavy and wet and honest. Her throat closed. Her lungs convulsed.
You are changing, Dannika. No one can believe this for you. You must believe in yourself.
Ciran’s voice said it, but her heart repeated it.
She had to believe it in herself.
Bex floated in front, her fins unfurled. “You ready for this?”
Nerves quickened with excitement.
Angie and Meg also unfurled their fins.
Bex kicked away from the ledge where they usually descended to practice by the Life Tree, toward a different wall.
Another tunnel hid behind artfully positioned coral. It was secret, all right. And narrow. A sudden current tried to pull them back to the lagoon. Dannika squeezed through, barely kicking as the tunnel enclosed them.
Worn carvings lined the tunnel curving down, down, down, and then up, up, up. Then the surface wavered overhead. They emerged in the crater.
Bex clambered onto a wide stone ledge, coughed, and gagged as she shifted back. Angie and Meg did the same, but less gracefully. Dannika was in good company as she hacked up seawater. Her nose ran and tears streamed from her eyes, but she survived.
Dannika sucked in a breath and coughed it out, then again, and she was better. “Oh, I hope this is worth it.”
Bex grinned and lifted her hand.
The massive squid loomed over them.
It had the elongated triangle mantle, two side-mounted eyes, and indeed the tentacles. Two long ones quested up the walls, but the smaller eight clutched a big round ball. A series of flat stones, kind of like seats, scattered around it. Their surfaces were cracked and broken.
Strange symbols surrounded the base.
“Are those words?” Dannika asked.
“If they are, the warriors couldn’t read them,” Meg answered. “Ugh. I feel so dumb.”
“What? Why?”
“Because Itime even told me that when the sacred brides were in trouble, they could summon the kraken with a giant bell. This is clearly the squid bell. Like, I always thought it was a little bell-like, but I’ve never needed to summon a kraken.”
“They must have made the bell before the sacred brides were taken.” Dannika walked around it on the narrow, plant-broken path. “The kraken used to be their protector. It wasn’t always a destructive force.”
“You’re right. Huh, I never thought about the original purpose.”
“These are the mirror stones.” Bex tapped the flat, cracked rocks. “Yep. Giant squid.”
Angie leaned over the big ball. “How do you suppose the bell rings?”
“Do you need to summon the kraken, Mom?” Meg teased.
“A lady is always prepared.”
They all laughed. It was nice to explore rather than sit around and feel dread.