Beneath These Waves

Chapter Fifteen

There is celebrating. Lots of celebrating. Almost an overwhelming amount. After being avoided by the mermaids for so long, I didn't think that the completion of the tasks would produce something so wonderful.

There's an array of food, it goes on for rows and rows, and there's none of that porridge that we've grown so accustomed to, much to my delight and much to Cal's despair. But the food that's actually out is delicious.

Mermaid after mermaid approaches us. They don't ask questions, their words have a polite distance, but each one congratulates us and tell us that we deserve the Pluto Fragment.

Among the voices and the confetti that seems to disappear the second it hits the ground, I don't have time to have a full conversation with Cal or Ser, but the celebration keeps me distracted. The tower gets pushed to the back of my head as I'm reminded of the brilliant future repeatedly.

Amphira doesn't show up, and I find myself looking for her, despite the dislike I harbor for her. She's changed, over these trials. She's easier to understand now, it seems like there's a motive behind the annoying front she puts up.

When we get back to the towers, after being dragged out of the party because our bones are about to give out, Venus goes straight up to her room, with a painted smile on her face. I'm about to follow her up when Juno stops me, along with Cal and Ser. "I need to talk to you girls for a moment." she says.

I'm feeling tolerant. Even though there is the option to walk out and ignore what she's just said, I guess Venus can wait. And Juno usually only forces us into conversation when it's convenient, so this must be important.

We sit in the chairs, me and Ser squashed into one, Cal by herself, and Juno in one of the skeleton backed ones at the table.

"I just wanted to ask you about one thing." Juno's eyes roam the walls, as if she's gathering up her words, collecting them before letting them out in a single sentence. "What are your plans for departure?"

It's always been so clear in my head. Grab the piece, gather our things, say some goodbyes, and leave. Now that outcome is a little more clouded, because there are things here that we can't just pick up and take off with. Connections that will have to be severed painfully.

"We'll likely leave tomorrow." that's a start. "After we get the piece. I'll probably have to go check the submarine to make sure it's working, but after that, we'll be ready to go."

"Can't you stay longer?"

Her question burns inside of me. I can tell that it affects Cal and Ser too, that it stings them as much as it does for me.

"It's just that you've become like family. And I know you girls don't have anyone to take care of you, you're on your own. I can help with that."

She smiles softly. It's not one of the teeth-baring grins that she has after we survived another brush with death, it's a flicker of hope.

There are upsides to staying here. Not having to be so lonely. Not having to worry about the submarine failing. Not having to be a leader just yet, growing into my role so that it actually fits. Someone to take care of Cal and Ser besides me. Getting to be with Juno and Venus for a longer, and live in this lovely little town.

But there's something more important than all of this, this perfect little picture.

We're doing this for Dad, and we need to finish what we've started. Despite trying to push it down, it always resurfaces, shining and defiant. It's our fate, our destiny. It can't be stopped.

"We can't." The words feel spiky in my throat.

Cal and Ser don't disagree. In theory, I could leave them here and continue the journey by myself, but we work so well together, and Dad would have wanted us to assemble the disk with all three of us there.