The Mermaid's Mirror - L. K. Madigan [92]
Amphitrite swam closer to Merrow and put her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, my love," she said. Then she gazed at Lena with her uncanny pale eyes. "You are brave ... for a land- child."
Lena straightened her spine and answered with bitter pride, "I am a child of sea and land."
CHAPTER 48
The journey to the surface was long. Lena was weakened from the shock of her departure and had to rely on her mother to support her. Every mile that took her away from Nix felt like a fresh wound opening in her heart.
Close to an hour after they had left the village, Lena felt a tumult in her mind. She seemed to hear Nix's tortured cry as he discovered her betrayal.
She stopped swimming as the irresistible call of a merman came to her:
Heed my call.
Come to me.
We are bound.
Do not flee.
The pain and rage in his voice were so awful that she nearly turned back, instinctively wanting to comfort him. Then the image of Cole came into her mind again, and she forced herself to ignore the summons of her beloved. No human could have resisted the siren song, but Lena was not human.
When they reached the surface at Magic Crescent Cove, Lena's and Melusina's heads emerged from the waves simultaneously, far from shore. It was night, and rain speckled the surface of the ocean.
Lena took a breath of air and began to choke.
"You must breathe out the seawater," murmured her mother's voice in her mind.
But Lena sank below the surface again in a panic. Her lungs were breathing the ocean now. Would she be able to go back, or was she trapped here? She was afraid to leave this element.
"Do not fear," said her mother. "You can pass between the worlds now. Rise above the surface and breathe out the seawater. Go!"
Lena broke the surface again. Before trying to inhale, she forced the water out of her lungs, feeling tears come to her eyes with the effort. She coughed out the last of the salty liquid, then sweet night air was flowing in and out of her lungs.
Mother and daughter swam to the rocks where they had found each other, after so many years apart. Melusina found a place to pull herself up and reached for Lena's hand, helping her onto the rocks. Once out of the water, Lena began to shiver, her clothes and hair dripping, her legs bare. Rain pelted her, and after being immersed in water for so long, Lena felt like she could feel each raindrop individually.
"You must not linger," said her mother. "The night is cold, and they await your return."
Lena nodded. "Mama," she whispered.
Melusina held out the mirror, her eyes glistening with tears. "Whenever you wish to see your loved ones in the world beneath the waves, you need only look for us here. Merrow's edict did not forbid you to look."
Lena took the mirror. Now that she was here on land, about to lose her mother again—and abandon the man she loved—her determination began to fail. "What if—?" she whispered.
But Melusina's expression was blank and shattered. "No, darling," she said.
How will we survive? she thought. When Mama goes back to the village without me ... how will she manage?
Although her hand tightened with her need to keep the mermaid's mirror for herself, Lena handed it back to her mother.
"You keep this," she said. "It's yours."
She put her arms around her mother's small body and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Mama."
Melusina clung to her daughter with primal strength, then released her.
Spent and despairing, Lena climbed across Shipwreck Rocks. With every step, she felt weaker and more chilled. Her soul was riven—she longed to slip back into the embrace of the sea, but she was desperate to get home to her family.
The journey across the jagged rocks seemed endless. Once she sank down on a flat stone to rest. She wanted to look back at her mother, but she was afraid that if she did, she would never leave.
When she reached the edge of the rocks, she jumped down.
Her legs buckled under her, and she fell to her knees in the sand.
***
The mermaid watched her daughter's progress from the farthest point of the wave-splashed rocks. When Lena collapsed