Page 150 of Cathmoir's Sons

I smile at him, and he shoots back a toothy grin.

We reach the anticline, having passed over a seafloor littered with storm debris, only to find the cave mouth partiallycollapsed. Fallen boulders fill the bottom of the fissure, leaving a narrow triangle at the top we’ll have to squeeze through. I release the tow line and swim closer to examine the cave-in.

Sticking out between two boulders are the tines of a trident.

I squeeze my eyes closed. I did this. I bargained with the Graeae. I refused to give them anything of myself or my consorts. I unleashed them on the unsuspecting world instead. And this is the cost. Maher. Van Wyke. The ship captain. And a tritones.

I resolve to come back once we’ve found Ulune’s Daughter and dig out the cave in, with my two hands if I have to, and return the tritones to its people with my deepest apologies.

Gabe taps me on the shoulder and points to the cave mouth, spreading his hands in an opening gesture. I’m not sure exactly what he means, but I trust Teddy’s husband. I nod.

He holds out his hand and bubbles plume around it. When he curls his fingers toward his palm, rocks tumble gently out of the fissure and down to the seabed, making the opening into the cave big enough for us to squeeze through.

The glinting tines of the trident disappear beneath a fall of small rocks, but I mark the spot with a glowing circle of my magic and swear to return.

Gabe spins out his tow line again and I grab on, letting him pull me into the cave. Jou’s clawed hands curl around the line above and below mine. His huge wings unfurl in a rush of bubbles. He cups his wings around us, protecting me from the rocks still dropping from the fractured ceiling. Green light stabs through into the cave, attracting clusters of anemones.

We pass over the mosaic floor, barely visible through a fresh covering of silt and rocks. The dry gate into the Graeae’s cavern is gone, the statuary shattered in a jumble of marble body parts. The chamber where they sat while we bargained is cracked like adropped egg, the floor buckled, a few shards of wood swirling in Gabe’s wake all that’s left.

I couldn’t see an exit to their cave, obscured by mist. With the Graeae gone, the archway is clear, framed by carved columns, one lying in a jumble of ragged hexagons across the floor.

Gabe swims through the archway and into the darkness beyond.

The passageway to my Faesight is less like a cavern and more like an artery: the walls membranous and rippling. Gabe ignores the smaller branches and continues down the central passageway. A glow appears, faint, tinging the walls a pale red. Gabe swims steadily toward it and it grows brighter and brighter, until I have to slit my eyes against it.

With a hard pop and a flare of light so bright my vision fills with red spots, Gabe leads us through into a dry space. I pull on my Element to fill my lungs. Jou releases me from the circle of his wings. I grab Arch and Val’s hands as they come through the gate so they don’t suffocate.

“We won’t be able to swim back,” Arch growls.

“I can gate you to Faery,” I say. “You’ll have to stay there until Luca can brew some depressurization elixir, but at least you won’t get the bends.”

Arch glares at me, his glare reflecting a thousand times around us. Every surface, floor, walls, ceiling, shapes in-between, is made of mirror shards, jammed together, overlapping. I stay focused on Arch’s face. I’ve been to the Dransbych before. Either we’re in the City of Mirrors or this place is designed to look just like it. It’s a dizzying, carnival effect. But if I stay focused on a fixed point, like a face, I won’t get befuddled by the reflections.

“Look at me,” I say to Arch and Val. “Don’t look at the mirrors. I’m not sure where we are?—”

“Hell,” Jou says over the sound of breaking glass. “Osuneiod, the Gate of Reflections. Ahzatzu’s Court. Pretty much exactly where no one’d ever want to be. Cuz, help me.”

Gabe staggers over to the demon, cupping his hand over his eyes.

“Put up your wards now,” Jou tells us.

Still huffing, Arch twists his fingers and a fountain of Fire spouts up and over the three of us. Flame flickers from every surface, making it seem like we’ve fallen into lava. I stare at Arch’s face and hold my focus.

With a boom that sends me to my knees, clutching my ears, Gabe shatters every mirror in the place.

Not a single shard makes it through Arch’s ward.

Val pulls one of my hands away from my ears and grips it. “It’s over.”

I nod and hold on to her hand as we climb back to our feet.

Jou stalks over to us, crunching over glass ground back to sand. His burning, crimson wings flare behind him. His neon blue crown spins between his horns. He runs a talon down my cheek. “You okay, Treasure?”

I nod. “We’re in the Dransbych?”

“Yeah. Fuckers. I know you want to negotiate with Charybdis, but I gotta tell you, if Ahzatzu or Licyssa get involved, there ain’t gonna be much room for negotiation.”

“I understand. You tell me when. I’ll follow your lead.”

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