“Wrong? Wrong how?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that somehow it feels like we shouldn’t go to the library. The relic doesn’t want to go there.”
“That makes sense,” Kitsuna said gently. “The relic isn’t going to want you to destroy it.”
“But the thing is, I feel—really, really feel—like we shouldn’t go to the library.”
“Then where should we go?”
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what the sensation in the back of my head was telling me. “The labyrinth. We need to go to the labyrinth and see Talia.” The queen of the mermaids, my confidant, would know what to do.
“Talia? Why? Do you think Talia knows something about the relics that isn’t in the library?”
I shook my head. “I just have the feeling that I need Talia.”
“You’re the Golden Rose,” Kitsuna said. “So, let’s go. This is your relic. It responds to you. If the tear thinks you need to see Talia then maybe it’s the right thing to do.”
“Okay, then.” I nodded. “Let’s go see some mermaids and find out what they can tell us about the tear.”
I started toward the labyrinth, silent, while Kitsuna followed me along the twisting path that led to the mermaids’ grotto. I made my way through the labyrinth, trying to figure out if this was actually a good idea or if the relic was somehow messing with my head to keep from being destroyed. I couldn’t be sure.
When we reached the very center of the maze Kitsuna stopped. “I’ll give you two some privacy to talk—queen to queen. Or should I say the three of you? Queen to queen to relic?”
Instead of responding, I pushed open the shrubbery-covered door and stepped into the dead center of the maze, where Talia and her small group of remaining subjects lived. The air here was sharper, and I could smell the fresh tanginess of trickling water in their pool.
“Queen Allie.” Talia was sitting on the bank, her pink tail flicking lightly back and forth across the water’s surface like a small child teasing a kitten with a ball of string. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you, too,” I said. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”
“What is that?”
“We’ve found the Dragon’s Tear.” I held up the bracelet I’d secured around my wrist.
She smiled at me, her eyes not even glancing at the bracelet. She kept her eyes focused on me instead.
“Congratulations.”
“And I wanted to know what you know about it.”
“Know about what?” Talia raised a feathery eyebrow at me. “The tear?”
“Yes. What do you know about the tear?”
“I know that it has great power, Queen Allie. Immense, dangerous power. A power that could destroy the World of Dreams itself.”
“Do you know what kind of power?” I asked. “Or how it’s used? The only thing I’ve found about it says that the tear can melt the barriers between worlds. It’s a portal.”
“No.” Talia shook her head. “It’s not.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I only know what the mermaid legends tell us, but according to our myths, the tear melts the walls between this world and the Bleak. Do you know what that is?”
“Yes.” I swallowed as fear crawled instinctively up my spine. “The Bleak. It’s the void between worlds. The emptiness between the World That Is and the World of Dreams. Where the Spirit Dragons hunt out the wicked and eat their bones.”
“The race of men believes that the souls of those undeserving of the light of the Pleiades are forced to reside there after they die. Lost, wandering, hunted by monsters for the rest of time.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed, remembering the one Sunday school class I’d gone to as a kid. “The religions of the World That Is believe in something similar, just without the flesh-eating dragons.”
“Right.” Talia nodded. “So you understand exactly how horrible the Bleak is. If you use the tear it will melt the walls between this world and the Bleak, leaving you trapped inside. Then, once the Bleak has closed around you, you can use the tear to melt the walls between the Bleak and another world. But to move between worlds you must find their weak points and travel inside the Bleak itself.”
“And that’s bad.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair. “Traveling through the Bleak. What with Kuolema and the lost souls that are trapped there and all the other monsters that live in the space between worlds.”
“It’s very bad. But it’s a myth. Nothing more. A story. The Bleak. The tear. Kuolema. All of them are nothing more than myths.”
“Everything here comes from myth,” I said. “This entire world is a myth. Why would this be any different? What I need to know is whether or not your myths can tell us how to destroy the Dragon’s Tear.”
“The tear can only be destroyed with a fire a million times greater than the heat of the flames of all the dragons of all the worlds combined.”
“And where do I find that?” I crossed my hands over my chest and tucked them under my armpits to keep them still.
“I do not know,” Talia said. “And unfortunately I can no longer help you with this.”
“You can’t? Why not?” My jaw dropped open as I stared at her, stunned. How could she not help me? Couldn’t she see that I was lost here? That I had no idea what to do? I was currently wearing a portal into the Bleak around my wrist and she couldn’t help? How could she leave me alone with this? I’d thought she was my friend.
“Our world is in danger,” Talia said quietly. “The very fabric of the World of Dreams could be torn apart, and I must protect my people. That is my duty, just as protecting your people is your duty.”
“You can do that by helping me. Helping me protects them.”
“Helping you threatens them. My people can’t fight. We aren’t warriors. All we can do is flee and hope that this world is waiting when we return. I would stay with you if I could but I must keep them safe.”
“What will you do?” I swallowed, trying to fight back my tears and stay brave. Talia was right. We were queens, and if our people were in danger our first responsibility had to be protecting them. No matter what it cost us personally.
“Gregor and Valkin are preparing our pool for the Sleep. It is early still, but it’s better that we enter the Sleep than risk our deaths.”
“The Sleep?” I looked over at the two bare-chested, well-muscled mermen who were waving their hands about and muttering. A bluish haze seemed to dance between their hands and skim across the water. Everywhere the blue haze touched, the living things that surrounded them shrank back, pulling away from the water.
“Our hibernation,” Talia said as I sat beside her, careful not to put my feet in the cold water. “Normally we only go into the Sleep when winter comes, because we cannot survive outside this grotto. This year, though, we will enter the Sleep early to protect ourselves.”
“So when the lake freezes you’ll stay underneath the ice?” I asked. “You’ll stay underwater until when? Doing what?”
“Sleeping.” Talia let her tail skim over the water again. “Resting our minds and communing with the songs of the Pleiades. It is an important time for us. A time of rejuvenation. When the spring equinox comes we will be ready to celebrate the blooming of the world with you again.”
“But it’s summer. The water isn’t going to freeze. It will be months before that happens. We don’t have that long. The Fate Maker will be here in days.”
“We will freeze the lake ourselves.” Talia reached over for my hand. “Gregor and Valkin are making sure that the lake is safe, and tonight we will retreat from the world until it rejoices in rebirth.”
“Tonight?” I asked. “You’re going to freeze the lake tonight? And you didn’t think to, I don’t know, send me a message? A ‘by the way, I’m going to disappear for almost a year, see you when I get back’ note?”