Page 78 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
A feeling I hadn’t experienced since Irene was alive. And, if I was being honest, a feeling that I hadn’t thought I would ever experience again. I thought it had died along with my family.
My mother. My father. My sister.
What must they have gone through when I was still too small to understand? What was so compelling that my mother and father were willing to risk death? Risk leaving their young daughters behind? Was it truly just compassion for the people outside the walls? Wanting more for the citizens of Cyllene?
Then there was Irene. A big sister, a caretaker, anEnforcer. And yet, so much more. Hiding so much more. Protecting me from so much more. I could recite her final conversation with Leon word for word, but this time it held new meaning. “Your word doesn’t mean much, now does it?” Leon had said. Her betrayal wasn’t just the betrayal of an Enforcer, sneaking supplies to the Strangers and smuggling books into the city.
It was the betrayal of Cyllene’s most valuable asset. Greatest weapon to greatest threat.
And when I thought now of Irene’s refusal to cry or beg for her own life…the way she held her head high in the face of certain death…
She knew she was right. She knew she was about to die, but she also knew that she was right. That death was a more acceptable fate than succumbing to what was wrong. She must have believed with all her heart in the cause that the Strangerswere pursuing now. In making the city arealsafe haven—a place where everyone would be fed, clothed, sheltered. A place where people could have agency in their own lives, make informed decisions. Be themselves, without fear of retribution.
As much as it pained me, I would never know all the details of what Irene did, what she thought, what she endured. But that was okay. There were countless things in life that I didn’t know, and the past few days had only expanded that list further.
I still knew Irene. I knew her heart.
I was surprisingly calm as I realized what I had to do.
I jumped over the side of the bed, flipped onto my back, and pushed myself into the space between the floor and the mattress. I knew my room had been searched top to bottom, so the chances were slim that it was still there…
It was.
I crawled out from under the bed and hurried to the bathroom. Once there, I put the stopper in the drain and turned the shower on full blast. Carefully, I set the silver chain and the attached larimar stone in the tub.
It was a ridiculous idea. It might have even bordered on insane to think that such a thing could work. But it was all I had.
I stared at the stone. Holding my breath. Kneading my hands. Watching it get pelted by the spray. I willed everything in me to focus on this one thing, this one request. I willed it so hard that a lump rose in my throat.
Come on, come on, come on, come on…
I blinked and there was just the stone.
I blinked again and there was Larimar.
As hard as I had been wishing for it, I still startled.
Larimar was standing over the stone in the shower spray. Seeing them in full, above the surface of the water, confirmed a theory I had had. Rather than the fish tail I associated with sirens, their body dipped smoothly into two defined legs, each of which ended in the same fin-like protrusions that took the place of hands.
Their opalescent skin was just as I remembered, somehow no less magnificent in the dim light of the bathroom.
Their expressionless face was also just as I remembered.
“You have summoned me…” they began, voice echoing.
I felt heat rush to my cheeks.
“…to a bathroom.”
They inclined their head slightly. As if trying to make sense of the idiocy that they were being asked to endure.
I thought back on all the humiliating moments of my life, including some recent ones with Kieran. This one topped the list. By a long shot.
“I’m so sorry, Larimar,” I blurted out. “I really didn’t want to disturb you. But this is an emergency, and I don’t have anyone else to call on. I need your help.”
Larimar stared at me wordlessly.
“I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow,” I rambled on. “Anything that you need from me, I’ll do. Not that there’s much that you’d need me for, I’m sure. Being a water spirit and everything. That is what you are, right? But if there’s something you need, something I can do for you as a lowly human, I’d be more than happy to do it. I would never ask for your help without offering something in return.”
