The Mermaids Madness

own magic. As a child, she had learned to resist her mother’s commands. She had concealed that power, obeying at all times so her mother wouldn’t learn of her rebellion. But she obeyed by choice, not because she was forced to. It might have been a meaningless distinction, but to a little girl, it was an important one.
    She whispered one of her earliest shielding spells, repeating the simple singsong rhymes she had devised as a young child.
“Gray stones, gray stones,
hear my call.
Gray stones build a
great big wall.
Build it high as the clouds I see.
Build it strong as strong can be.”

    The stones of the spell were from her bedroom; the clouds were her only view through the high, narrow window in her wall. On those nights her mother worked magic, Snow would lie awake, fighting off the nightmare sensations of that power. She hadn’t understood what it was she felt, only that it was dark and wrong and hungry and that it would consume her if she dropped her guard.
    As when she was a child, she imagined those stones leaping forth in rows, stacking one upon the other until they formed a barrier between herself and Morveren. She opened her eyes to find Lannadae staring at her, so close their noses almost touched.
    “I’m all right,” Snow said. Lannadae didn’t seem to be affected, but the other humans sat stupefied.
    “If she stops singing now, the Hiladi will come after us,” Lannadae shouted. “They know we’re here, but they shouldn’t be able to do anything so long as the song continues.”
    “I understand.” Snow considered trying to expand her spell to protect Talia and Danielle, but that would require too much time. With a grin, she grabbed Danielle beneath the arms and hauled her up onto the bench. The cutter rocked dangerously, nearly dumping them both overboard, but she managed to recover.
    “Sorry, Princess.” With that, Snow tossed Danielle overboard.
    Danielle splashed to the surface. “What are you doing?”
    Oh, good. She had hoped the water would muffle Morveren’s song enough to weaken the spell. To Lannadae, she said, “Help me with Talia?”
    Talia had been grouchy ever since learning Snow had hidden Lannadae’s existence. So it was with a certain degree of pleasure that Snow dumped her overboard after Danielle.
    “Help them swim,” Snow said. Danielle wasn’t a terribly strong swimmer, and every time she and Talia surfaced, they had to fight Morveren’s song.
    Lannadae slipped into the water, grabbing Danielle’s left hand and Talia’s right. Her gills flared open, and her powerful tails propelled them toward the Hiladi ship, leaving Snow struggling to catch up. By the time they passed the Phillipa, Danielle and Talia seemed free of Morveren’s spell. Snow risked lowering her own shield. She could still feel Morveren’s magic, but the wormwax blocked enough of the sound for her to ignore it.
    The air spirits were also unaffected. They continued to blow, rotating the Phillipa away from the Hiladi ship. The wind made swimming much more difficult, as the waves battered Snow back toward the Phillipa. Lannadae helped the others to reach the Hiladi ship, then returned to pull Snow along.
    Talia had drawn two of her knives. Where did she keep them all, anyway? Talia slammed one into the side of the ship, pulled herself up, then drove the other home. She shifted her weight and pried the first knife free. Hand over hand, she scaled the side of the ship.
    Snow turned around to study the damage to the Phillipa . The railing had been shattered in three places, and one of the cannons was gone. Several holes punctured the side of the hull. They had torn some of the rigging as well.
    “What about the rope from the cutter?” Danielle shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth. “Could we use that to climb?”
    Snow shook her head. “That rope’s old and wet. Even if you could hold on, I wouldn’t trust its strength.”
    Lannadae bent double. Her tails kicked air, and then she disappeared into the darkness of the water. Snow searched to see where she had gone.
    Moments later, Lannadae shot up from the waves. She didn’t clear the side of the ship as Lirea had done, but she flew high enough to catch hold of the railing. She swung from side to side until she hooked a tail over the rail. From there, it was a simple matter to pull herself onto the ship. A rope soon tumbled down into the water.
    Snow smiled and began to climb. She stopped beside Talia to say, “Don’t take too