The Mermaids Madness

the water flowing through her gills, or the sensation of her neck opening and closing with each breath. Equally difficult was learning to clamp shut the muscles deep within her chest, sealing air in the bottom of her lungs to help her float.
    Her stomach hadn’t cramped this badly since she had Jakob. Her tail muscles seemed well adapted for swimming, but her stomach and back would ache for weeks. Either she still didn’t have the movement quite right, or else she simply lacked the strength and endurance of a true undine.
    Still, they were making better progress than any human could, having closed more than half the distance to shore. She looked back at the Phillipa . In the moonlight, the ship was a shadow the size of her fingertip.
    “How far to Lirea?” asked Talia from up ahead.
    Water fountained from Snow’s lips, clearing her lungs. She grabbed the doll in one hand and closed her eyes. “She’s directly ahead. We should be there before sunrise.”
    Danielle turned onto her back. Swimming this way used different muscles, bringing some relief, though it meant the air chilled her wet skin. At least now she understood why the undine went without clothes. Her sword belt tugged at her hips with every stroke of her tail. How much slower would she have been with clothes dragging against the water?
    She dove deeper to escape the wind, doing her best to keep up with Talia and Snow, both of whom were in better physical condition. Something brushed her tail fin, and she streaked to the surface, yelping in alarm. She ducked her face back into the water to see a school of mackerel passing beneath her.
    Snow laughed and splashed Danielle with her tail.
    “They’re nothing to be scared of. You’re a bigger fish than they are.”
    “Barely.” Some of those fish looked almost as long as Danielle.
    “Stay close to Talia,” Snow said, still giggling. “She’ll protect you if we have to face any killer tuna.”
    Danielle closed her eyes and whispered silently to the closest fish.
    Moments later, Snow shrieked and leaped from the water. “They nibbled my tail fin!”
    Danielle smiled and kept on swimming. As the water grew shallower, she began to notice the rocks below. Back home, the seabed would have been covered in white sand and stones from the cliff. Here, rocks jutted from the bottom like broken claws. Some were high enough to rip open any ship unlucky enough to pass this way.
    “Where is this place?” she asked.
    “The northern edge of Hilad,” said Snow. “The land is the same black rock, completely uninhabitable. Some say dragons scorched the land. Others believe the earth itself opened up, belching fire over the entire town.”
    Danielle studied the shore. The sky ahead was lighter, illuminating a half-submerged wall rising from the water. Low arches as wide as a ship allowed the water to pass through the wall. Beyond, she could make out the ruins of a palace. Broken towers stood to either side of a larger structure with a teardrop-shaped roof.
    “They say the bones of a former Hiladi emperor are entombed in the rock,” Snow said.
    “How do you know all this?” asked Talia.
    Snow shook her head. “When we get back, I’m sealing you in the library until you’ve read at least five books.”
    Danielle pointed to a mottled, serpentine creature arcing through the water in front of the wall. “Does your library tell you what that thing is?”
    “A kelpie,” said Snow. “A big one. Imagine a cross between a giant horse and a sea serpent. The undine use them to haul their belongings when they migrate. They’ve been known to ride kelpies into battle, too.”
    Danielle glided through the water, trying to get a better view of the kelpie. Kelpies, she corrected, spotting a second. Each animal was probably half the length of the Phillipa . A third kelpie raised its head farther down the wall. Silhouetted against the faint orange light of dawn, the head appeared vaguely equine. She could just make out the shape of several undine clinging to the kelpie’s body beneath the head.
    “Lirea is beyond the wall,” said Snow, staring at her doll.
    Talia was double-checking her knives. “Can your magic get us past the merfolk?”
    “I’m offended you even have to ask.” Snow tightened the knot holding Lirea’s doll to her harness. “The kelpies might be trickier. But the merfolk shouldn’t give us any trouble. If Morveren was right, they’re not going to worry about a few strangers.”
    Danielle was