At first, the dream was dark. Then light slowly flooded in, like the cracks in a mirror from a shipwreck. Then, Aelia realized she was in a cave, lit only by the blue waterfire in the middle of the circle of river witches. Aelia was singing, but the voice was not her own. 

Daughters of Merrow, leave your sleep,

The ways of childhood no more to keep. 

The dream will die, a nightmare rise,

Sleep no more, child, open your eyes. 

Aelia swam counterclockwise in a circle, her hands clasped with the witches beside her, the powerful tails they possessed pushing them through the water. She wasn't sure who she was singing to, only that she was singing and the message she carried was important. An elder, a mermaid Aelia vaguely remembered as Baba Vrăja, watched them. 

Daughter of Merrow, magic one, 

The end begins, your time has come. 

The sand runs out, our spell unwinds,

Inch by inch, our chant unbinds. 

"Vin, diavolul, vin," Baba Vrăja growled as she drew closer to the circle. "Tu esti lângă . . . te simt . . . ." Come, devil, come . . . you're near . . . I feel you. . . .

The waterfire rose, its flame licking out like a serpent's tongue. The witches bowed their heads and tightened their grip. Another of the Iele cried out. She looked to be the youngest, though Aelia could not tell. She doubled over as if she was in great pain. Aelia ached to help her. 

Vrăja swam to the young witch. "Fight it, dragă," she told her. "Be strong!" 

"I . . . I can't. It's too much! Gods help me!" the witch cried out. Her skin—the mottled gray of river stones—paled, and her tail thrashed. 

"Fight it! The circle must not break! The Iele must not falter!" Vrăja shouted. 

The young witch raised her head with a wrenching cry and wove her voice once more into the chant. As she did, colors appeared inside the waterfire. They swirled together, coalescing into an image—a bronze gate, sunk deep underwater and crusted with ice. A sound was heard—the sound of a thousand voices, all whispering. 

Aelia couldn't keep track of the words it whispered, all she knew was that the words were in another language, one she didn't understand. Behind the gate, something stirred. It turned its eyeless face to the north and laughed. It chilled Aelia to the bone, and she closed her eyes from the image. Something its laugh foretold a bloodred tide. 

The Iele's voices strengthened with the addition of their leader, and they drowned out the whispering, the cracking of ice, the low and gurgling laughter. 

Daughters of Merrow, find the five

Brave enough to keep hope alive. 

One whose heart will hold the light,

One possessed of prophet's sight. 

One who does not yet believe, 

Thus has no choice but to deceive. 

One with spirit sure and strong, 

One who sings all creatures' songs. 

The song was not yet done, but something yanked Aelia from the dream. 

· ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── ·

Aelia woke with a start. Her black-brown hair swirled around her head as her dark green eyes darted through the room. She could feel her heartbeat against her chest, as she took in the darkroom. The drapes were drawn, which only helped keep light from seeping in, but the dark told her that it was late at night. She sat up in her bed and stretched. It was an enormous ivory scallop shell that mirrored the one Aelia's older twin slept in. One half of the shell, thickly lined with plump purple anemones, was where Aelia slept. The other half, a canopy, was suspended on the points of four tall turritella shells. The canopy's edges were intricately carved and inlaid with sea glass and amber. Lush curtains of japweed hung down from it. Tiny orange gobies and blue striped dragonets darted in and out of them.

The anemones' fleshy fingers clutched at Aelia as she rose. She pulled on a dark gray sea-silk robe, which was embroidered with silver thread, capiz shells, and small pearls. Aelia cursed under her breath as she caught her reflection in the mirror. Her scales, which were as silver as a sword's new blade, sparkled when the barest hint of light hit them. They covered her tail and her torso and made her look more like a Merrovingia than she would have liked. She looked more like her mother, La Serenissima Regina Isabella than she did her father, Principe Consort Bastiaan, a son of the noble House of Kaden in the Sea of Marmara. Her fins, dark blue with green glints, were supple and strong. She had the lithe body, and graceful movements, of a fast deep-sea swimmer. Her complexion was olive-hued, though now she looked washed out. The dream she had been woken up from had plagued her for a week, and she barely caught good sleep anymore.

Aelia swam carefully towards the door, desperate to get out of her head. She glanced at her sister's bed. Serafina was tossing and turning, and Slyvestre, a small octopus, glanced up at Aelia sleepily. Aelia's own pet, a thorny seahorse named Luca, was curled around the post of her bed and didn't stir at Aelia's movement.

Aelia moved silently through the halls, making her way through the wings of the palace. She could still feel her heartbeat against her chest, but it definitely wasn't as bad as it had been. She was hyper-aware of everything around her and could feel a slight current move through the seemingly empty palace. That was, until, she heard rustling just ahead of her, around the corner. She moved forward carefully, and her once-under-control heart was beating rapidly. She turned around the corner to spot Yazeed and Mahdi.

Aelia stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't seen Mahdi or Yazeed in two years, back when she and Serafina had been fourteen, and the two boys had been sixteen. Mahdi was to be betrothed to Serafina, and Yazeed to Aelia. The match between Mahdi and Serafina was strategic. The match between Yazeed and Aelia was made, just in case. Aelia was not destined to become the Regina, as she was more suited for the role of canta magus, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a possibility that Aelia needed to be ready to step in for her sister when it's needed.

Mahdi spotted her first. He nudged Yazeed, who spun around quickly. When Aelia met Yazeed's eyes, she nodded in acknowledgment. She swam forward to them, a puzzled look written on her face. 

"What are you two doing?" Aelia asked.

"We're just going out for a swim," Yazeed replied. "What are you doing?"

Aelia shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Couldn't sleep. And I needed to stretch my fins."

Yazeed nodded as if his mind was somewhere else. "We'll see you in the morning, Lia."

"Good night, Mahdi, Yazeed," Aelia replied.

She continued swimming past them, ducking behind a dark wall every once in a while if she spotted a servant. Once she was satisfied that the dream was no longer at the forefront of her mind, she swam back to the quarters she shared with her sister. This would be the last night she slept in the same room as her sister, for the next Sera would be crowned heir and Aelia would remain the canta magus' student.