Part 9 (2/2)

We sat on the side of the pool. Aaron stared as my tail melted away and my legs re-formed.

”I can't even do that properly,” he said. ”My legs stick together and my toes flap about a bit, but that's all.” He looked at me wistfully. ”Just as it's been for the rest of my family, every generation.”

”Aaron, we can change it,” I said. ”That's what I've come to tell you. Tonight's the spring equinox. And the full moon a” it's at midnight!”

Aaron's eyes widened. ”Tonight? This is the year? How do you know? The secrecy, the magic!”

I told him about Millie and the Orphalese Oracle. I didn't mention the fact that Millie didn't always get it exactly right. She had to be right this time. She had to be.

”I don't believe it,” Aaron said again and again. ”I don't believe it. Every spring equinox since I've known about it, I've hoped and wished. I've even searched for the ring myself and prayed the other one would somehow turn up.”

”I can't believe I ended up here,” I said, looking at the ring on my finger and smiling. I could feel its warmth smile back at me. ”I know I've had a few lucky breaks in my life, among all the crazy stuff! But surely that's about as much of a coincidence as you can get.”

Aaron shook his head. ”It's not a coincidence at all,” he said. ”The ring brought you here.”

”Brought me to the castle?”

”The rings were meant to be together. When one is worn by a semi-mer, it wants to find the other one. While buried, the rings have no power. But when they are free, they want to be together. They're meant to be together. Its own heart brought you here.”

We fell silent, lost in our own thoughts, and maybe in our own hopes. ”Now we just have to find the pearl ring,” he said after a while.

”Not just find it. We have to find it and bring the two rings together under the full moon. It'll be too late after that. As soon as the full moon's pa.s.sed, I won't be a semi-mer. I'll lose the ring again.”

”And if we fail . . .” Aaron looked away as his voice failed.

”I lose a parent,” I said.

”So do I, Emily,” he said, his voice hardening.

”Huh?”

Aaron took a breath. ”Some years ago, life wasn't too bad here at the castle. Generations before me, it was a busy place. Years of s.h.i.+ps wrecked on the rocks meant that occasionally the survivors found their way here. And as I told you, Neptune has always installed sirens and some mermen to keep the castle isolated. So I've always at least had some company. Much to Neptune's disgust, there has always been love here too. There has always been marriage, always been a determination to cross the forbidden boundaries.”

”Between land and sea?”

Aaron nodded and went on. ”But with every generation, it was the same. Just as I told you this morning, each one held the same fate. Each died young. The curse lived on from generation to generation. And still does, all these generations later.”

I didn't know what to say. I reached out to touch Aaron's arm.

He looked at my hand on his arm, then looked up at me. ”Father was the son of a s.h.i.+p's captain. He swore he would stop the curse before it affected my mother. No one ever knows exactly which year it will happen a” only that it's always on the day of Aurora's birthday.” He paused.

”Go on,” I prompted.

”There's not much to say. He tried to find the ring, and he failed. He searched and searched out there, but those rocks aren't kind, Emily.”

”What happened?”

”He drowned.”

”I'm so sorry,” I said quietly.

”It was three months ago,” he added, and I suddenly thought that must be why he dressed so strangely, all in black. He was in mourning.

He turned back to face me, his eyes s.h.i.+ning. ”That's why we've got to stop this, Emily. Even if the chances of succeeding are tiny, we have to try. We have to. This will be the only chance of our lives, and the only way to stop us both from losing another parent.”

”Another parent? But a””

”My mother, Emily,” he interrupted. ”She's dying. It's Aurora's birthday next week. This is it.”

That was when I really understood that this wasn't just about me. It was about life and death. Literally. If we didn't find the ring, Aaron's mom was going to die next week, on Aurora's birthday, exactly as her ancestors had. And Aaron would die young too! The thought made something clutch at my chest. ”We'll find the ring,” I said firmly. ”I promise.”

Aaron tried to smile, but even though he twitched his mouth up at the corners, his eyes were still the saddest I'd ever seen in my life. ”Come on,” he said, lowering himself into the water. ”I need to show you something I've just discovered. After you left, I went to see Mother, but meeting you got me thinking. I went back to the chapel and dug around a little more. Emily, I found something I'd never noticed before. Come and see it.”

I followed him back to the chapel.

”Through here.” Aaron guided me to the back of the chapel. At the end of the last row of seats, a few steps led down to a tiny gap just big enough for us both to stand in.

Aaron felt around along the wall. He pushed it firmly and the wall creaked a” and moved! A hidden door!

I followed him into a dark box of a room.

I looked around, blinking as my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. Sunlight seeped in from the smallest gaps in the walls, just enough to see around the room: a small rectangle with a long wooden bench all the way up one side, an arched door opposite.

”I never knew it was here,” Aaron said, motioning for me to follow him. ”Look, I'll show you something strange.”

I stumbled across the dark room, my legs trembling with fatigue but anxiety spurring me on. I kept remembering Millie dowsing on the boat. What if she started to look for me? We had to be quick! I s.h.i.+vered as I followed Aaron to the far end of the room. Cobwebs filled every corner.

A row of paintings lined the wall, just as they lined the corridors all around the castle. ”More pictures,” I said.

Except that these were different. These weren't portraits, or pictures of battle scenes, and they weren't in frames either. They were murals, painted on the walls.

”It's all I've got. Pictures, books, and maps from all around the world. That's my life. That's my school, my history, everything. But none like these.” He pointed to the first picture.

Now that my eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, I studied the painting. A deep blue sky, a churning sea, and a bright white moon s.h.i.+ning down on the castle.

”Who painted them?” I asked.

”I don't know. I bet it was my great-grandfather, though,” said Aaron.

”The one who made the rings in the cabinet?”

He nodded. ”He was obsessed with the curse, with trying to end it. The men in my family always are. These pictures seem like a clue of some sort.”

”They are,” I said, not even knowing why. The ring burned on my finger. It was the ring that knew the truth. ”They are a clue,” I repeated. ”I'm sure of it.”

”A secret clue, hidden from sight.”

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