Free Ice Crypt (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai Book 2) by Tiana Warner Page A

seagull, and then skinned and stored in his armpit for several days.
    “Thanks,” I said. “I haven’t eaten in … What are you wearing?”
    Spio lifted a hand to the leather cap on his head. It had flaps on the side, which stuck out awkwardly over his bulbous ears. He pulled down a front piece, two plastic holes that made his eyes protrude like a goldfish. Algae had turned the plastic an opaque green.
    “It’s style,” he said, pulling the piece back up to his forehead. “I found it on a dead guy.”
    We stuffed our Iron Hooks of Doom inside his bag. I would have carried my weapon in hand, but I was afraid of mindlessly hitting myself with the iron end while we swam.
    Besides, carrying iron so close to my scar made it sting—like opening a fresh burn all over again.
    Spio pulled the bag across his back and we joined the crowd. The rumour that a girl had arrived was spreading. Heads turned—and then, blissfully, their gazes fell to Spio with his ridiculous hat and overstuffed bag.
    We left the grotto. Spio and I became two insignificant bodies in a line of soldiers stretching further than I could see.
    To our right, a rocky cliff dropped into nothingness. We followed this, sticking near the surface for easy breaching.
    The city sprawled out to our left, its limits spanning much further south than I’d expected. The population must have been tens of thousands.
    I travelled close to Spio, constantly feeling for threats in all directions.
    Being this far south didn’t change the reality that I needed to get back to Eriana Kwai. I wondered if Spio would help me. That was a big favour to ask. Too big. I’d be asking him to risk imprisonment, if not death, for helping me commit such a crime as desertion.
    But would he want to leave, too? I hadn’t been able to gauge his feelings about the army. He seemed too excited to be given permission to destroy things.
    Vibrations brushed my skin from the city beside us. I wondered if the merpeople inside felt us passing, as we felt them. They must have. Were they hiding, or ignoring us? Did they even support Adaro’s army?
    I wondered what it was like inside the Moonless City. Given that my life had been limited to the young kingdom in the North Pacific, it must have been more beautiful than I could imagine.
    “Makes home feel like the Great Pacific garbage patch, doesn’t it?” said Spio.
    He must have noticed my attention on the city.
    “Have you been inside?” I said.
    “Nah. The officers are jerks if you try and leave the military base.”
    He pulled back an earflap to show me a partly healed gash on his neck.
    I grimaced. Yes, my escape would need to be planned carefully.
    “Is the city all right with the army setting up camp here?” I said.
    Spio didn’t answer right away. He studied the empty depths below.
    With a slight change in tone, he said, “The Moonless City is part of Adaro’s kingdom now.”
    I frowned. “What about his pact with Queen Evagore?”
    “From what I’ve heard, the queen stepped down years ago. Hey, a devil ray!”
    It was. We watched it flap below us for a moment.
    Spio didn’t elaborate. I tried to read his mood, but he revealed nothing. Was that a practiced skill?
    The city ended to our left. Coral, greenery, and chattering fish thinned as the floor deepened. We dove, following the cliff.
    I wondered why the queen stepped down. Was she too old to keep ruling? Had she and Adaro come to some kind of agreement?
    Overhead, daylight faded. The setting sun cast an orange glow across the surface. Activity picked up beneath us as the deep-sea fish, jellies, and squid rose for the night.
    “Where are we going?”
    Spio rolled onto his side to face me. “They not teach you anything about the army up there?”
    “My mission was above-surface. Did they teach you about that?”
    He paused for a long moment. “I assumed your mission was lure, kill, and eat .”
    At a basic level, he wasn’t wrong. I wrinkled my nose and fixed my gaze ahead.