Birdie's Book - Andrea Burden [18]
Kerka popped up one last time, arms thrashing, her eyes huge and panicky. Then she went under, and I couldn’t see her or the river maidens anywhere, only ripples on the surface of the water where Kerka had been.
“Kerka!” I screamed as I swam to the spot where she had disappeared.
I dove beneath the water, opening my eyes to look for Kerka. What were the maidens trying to do? Drown her? Maybe that old Finnish legend was actually true!
The water was a misty green, and where the land was, it looked like a wall of rock that went down farther than I could see. I could just make out Kerka struggling with the river maidens a ways below me. I swam down, the suit and fins making me as fast as a seal. Before I reached Kerka, though, my lungs started burning. I turned, ready to rise to the surface for another breath when something grabbed my ankles!
I looked down. It was one of the river maidens. She smiled at me and nodded. I shook my head frantically, trying to get away. The river maiden looked frustrated. Then she let go of one of my ankles, touched her nose, and made a sound almost like breathing. I was so surprised that I didn’t try to get away again; instead, I just said “What?” The word came out almost clearly, with just a hint of a gurgle.
As soon as I said that one word, I was breathing. I laughed, and drew in a great big breath. I could breathe underwater, just like a fish! I was a fish girl—and a shiny green one, at that. I would have tumbled around like an otter to celebrate, but I had a friend to save.
“I’m here, Kerka!” I shouted, trying to get my bearings again. My voice traveled loudly through the water.
The river maiden pointed down. Below us, I could see the two maidens surrounding a limp Kerka. I swam down as fast as I could. Kerka’s eyes were open and bulging. She had stopped struggling to save energy, and now she was just holding her breath.
“You can breathe!” I said. “All you have to do is breathe, just like on land, Kerka!”
Kerka looked stubborn, even as she was about to pass out. But she couldn’t very well argue with me, as I was breathing and talking underwater myself. She closed her eyes and took in a big gulp of water. She opened her eyes, and bubbles came from her mouth as she exhaled. Then a smile spread across her face. “I can breathe!” Kerka said. “And talk!”
“Cool, huh?” I said, bubbling back. “The river maidens only pulled you under to make you breathe so you’d feel okay with swimming underwater.”
The river maidens giggled happily. Kerka giggled, too, and started floating around like a sleek amethyst angel. “If only I’d known,” she said, “I wouldn’t have struggled. In fact, I would have jumped in ages ago!”
“Well,” I said, “communication doesn’t seem to be the river maidens’ best skill. They did what they could.”
The river maidens gurgled their approval as they watched Kerka start swimming as if she were born to it.
Just then, two weird things happened. First, I heard a tiny voice say, “Fortis!” (Fortis is Latin for “Bravo! Nice job!”) I circled around to see where the voice had come from. The voice called again. I swam toward the rock wall, and it came into focus through the misty water. A large red flower was sprouting from a crevice, waving its head back and forth in the mild current. I had never seen or read about that kind of flower before. But we were in a magical dream world, so likely it was some sort of magic flower, maybe even a talking one.
“Did you just say ‘Bravo’?” I asked it, in Latin. Well, my Latin tenses weren’t quite that advanced, so what I said was something more like “You say ‘Bravo’?”
“Fortis!” the flower said again, its voice sweet and clear.
A strange underwater flower was talking! Speaking Latin! To me!
“Hey, Kerka!” I cried out. “This flower is talking, and I am talking back! I wish my mom could be here to see this!”
But the second thing that had happened was keeping Kerka entertained. The maidens were tossing a big bubble back and forth like a transparent beach ball. Inside the bubble were Kerka’s backpack and her Kalis stick!
“I guess my equipment