Page 66 of Tempest

They swam toward the edge of the rocky outcropping, and Levi wondered if he should bother resurfacing to tell Sophie they were going to do some cave diving. If it were Iason, he would—Iason would want some sort of plan written in one of his books, probably—but Sophie appreciated spontaneity. At least, he thought she did. So he simply followed Meleah, which meant going deeper and deeper, heading at length into the small opening that would lead to the cave. He glanced over once, but Sophie—though it was hard to see amidst the bubbles—didn’t look scared, only excited. Of course. He smiled at her and dolphin-kicked after Meleah, heading into the cave tunnel. It was a tight fit, but Levi knew where to go. Dark as it was in the close confines, he could feel the underground lake that waited not far away.

The tunnel opened into the cavernous space, and Levi hoisted himself and Sophie out of the water, smiling as she spun around in awe. “That was amazing! Are we under the island?”

“Not quite,” Meleah said, from where she was floating in the pool. The water was a bright, almost electric blue-green, full of bioluminescent plants and fish that produced an eerie, otherworldly glow. “We’re in a cave made by the waves over hundreds of years, up underneath the arches made of rock.”

“Oh!” Sophie clapped her hands, dripping wet and cheerful. “Hello! I’m Sophie. You’re beautiful!”

Sirens liked praise, and Meleah smiled, pleased, flipping her tail about to show off. “Thank you. I’m Meleah. Sea-Father says you wish to learn about the ocean. Why?”

Sophie thought about it, taking the question as seriously as Levi knew she would, despite the fact that it was asked by a creature most thought were a myth, in an underground cave no mortal could reach. “I live here now. In Mislia, I mean, nothere. And my fathers… they were sailors. Very, um, respectful of the, ah, ocean. I’m sure of it,” she added, hands clasped in front of her, hair dripping into her face. “But it was all about sailing to get somewhere, you know? And that’s probably not right, thinking of it like that, but I didn’t realize how much…lifethere was. Is, I mean. Life thereis, under the surface.”

Meleah smiled again, hair floating serenely around her face, tail shimmering in the muted glow of the water. “Yes. There is much to learn, much to see that your people simply don’t know about. I can’t show you everything—I don’t have Sea-Father’s power to help you breathe. But if you come here, I can show you things. Teach you.”

“You may go to shore, if you wish,” Levi said. At her startled look, he shrugged. “I’ve decided my rules in that regard may have been unfairly strict. I would still have you be careful, of course. Humans might think you are a thing to be kept like a pet, and I would hate to have to drown them all for being wrong.”

“Um,” Sophie interjected, looking horrified. “But youshouldpunish them, if someone tried to keep—well, not a person, but a—an independent, intelligent being as a pet! Oh.” Her face fell. “Does that mean I shouldn’t have Argo?”

“Argo is a water dragon,” Levi told Meleah, amused.

She smiled, flashing her fangs. “I don’t think water dragons count as, ah, intelligent.”

“Or independent,” Levi said. “He lives in a bucket.”

“It’s a really nice one, though,” Sophie assured Meleah. “I would love to learn whatever you could teach me. My fa—my guardian, he thinks I should go to school. But why sit in a classroom if I can swim around with sirens and learn about the ocean?”

“There are other things you should learn,” Levi said.

“Iason can teach me those,” Sophie said. “You mean, like, math and how to cook and maybe what plants to use for medicine, right? Because I know how to read, so as long as there are books, I can learn anything.”

Meleah laughed. “I like her,” she said, in the language of sirens. “I will consent to teach her.”

“I am glad to hear that. She’s a good student. If you come to shore, I will make sure that you have a nice place to lounge where the mages won’t gawk at you.”

Meleah tossed her vibrant hair, tail swishing. “I don’t mind a little gawking.”

“Is that siren language?” Sophie asked, clearly delighted. “It sounds like you’re dolphins.”

Levi let Sophie and Meleah talk in the cave and dove into the water, spending some time on the seafloor simply swimming about and looking around. He did miss the water, but he felt… strange, spending time this deep below the waves as a man and not a dragon. He found his thoughts turning to Iason: what he was doing, if he was speaking with Lazaros. If he’d eaten lunch, because sometimes he forgot when he was working too much. If he had that little pinched frown between his brows that he had when he was deep in thought, contemplating his magic books or cooking dinner.

Levi also went to the shipwreck, and the sirens there were eager to tell him about the new life that was flourishing there. They were more interested in the new schools of fish and the budding coral than the ship itself, but Levi could see a name written on the side, faint lines of paint spelling out a word. It was far too damaged to know what it might once have said, and ships all looked the same to Levi, who mostly saw them from below, so he had no idea where the ship was from or how long it had been there. Maybe Arwyn would know, or Declan, though Levi couldn’t imagine why he was so curious. Normally, he, too, would have cared more about the sea and plant life growing there than about the lives that had been lost when the boat came to rest on the seafloor.

He was thinking about that when he and Sophie resurfaced after he collected her, with Meleah promising to make her way to shore in the morning for lessons, clearly the newest member in Sophie’s ever-growing circle of friends. Sophie wanted to swim by herself on the way out, but Levi had a feeling Iason was already going to be cross about the wholevery long submerged cave tunnelthing and swam with her on his back again. She agreed when he promised to take her surfing at dawn, and he let himself swim faster and faster as they emerged from the tunnel, like a cannonball loosed from a gunship heading toward the surface of the water. They rose up in the air on a waterspout, and Sophie laughed and whooped in his ear, arms tight around his neck as they fell from the top and dove deep into the water. He did it twice more, realizing that it’d been some time since he’d played in the water.

Had he ever, as a man? He couldn’t remember.

“I know you’re gonna tell me not to tell Iason about that, but it was incredible!” Sophie said, swimming next to him—she insisted, now that they were at the surface, though Levi could tell she was tiring quickly. “It felt like flying!”

“When I’m able to shift again, we can fly, if you like,” Levi said. He grinned at her, salt water dripping down his face. “Maybe to your friends—who is it? Daphne and Paris?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

She splashed him, and he splashed her back, and then she put her arms around his neck again so he could swim them back to shore. “Thank you, Levi. I know you don’t have to do any of this—take me surfing, or bring me to visit sirens.”

“I don’t have to do anything at all,” Levi said. “I wanted to. My sirens should be able to meet humans that respect them, and I know you will. I simply ask that you don’t bring anyone to see Meleah without asking her first. I’ll let them interact with humans, but only if they choose to.”

“Of course. I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable.” She yawned, a slight weight at his back. “Wow. I’m tired. Swimming and free-falling out of a water tornado takes it out of a girl.”

“Remember to leave out the water tornado part when you tell Iason about this,” Levi warned.

She snorted. “What happened toI can do whatever I want?”

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