Free Waterfire Saga, Book Three: Dark Tide: A Deep Blue Novel by Jennifer Donnelly Page B

herself out.
    Ling knew her plan was a total long shot. A thousand things could go wrong and probably would, but she had to try.
    As she waited and watched, more cages were filled with prisoners and dropped through the water lock. Most of the death riders were grouped around the cage’s door, where they were
encountering resistance. If she could somehow skirt the door, maybe she could swim off without being noticed.
    The guards were moving through the prisoners quickly. In only a few minutes, they would be unchaining her. Her heart thumped in her chest as she watched the frightened mermaid near her, the one
with two children, being herded toward the water lock.
    Don’t give in to fear. Be strong,
she told herself.
Weakness is for guppies
.
    “You, there! Hands on your head!” a death rider shouted at her.
    Ling did as she was told. The death rider opened the padlock on her collar, pulled the chain free of its hasp, then locked the padlock.
    “Move!” he yelled, shoving her.
    Ling needed time. She swam slowly, her head lowered. Her hair was hanging over her face, but behind it, her eyes moved rapidly, noting the position of every death rider.
    But the death riders were watching her, too. If she didn’t find a way to distract them, her plan would never work.
    Then she spotted the merman—the one who’d yelled at the frightened mermaid earlier. She swam up behind him, placed her hand in the middle of his back, and shoved him. It was an awful
thing to do, but she had no choice.
    The merman lost his balance and fell against the prisoner ahead of him. Scared and angry, they both lost their tempers. Harsh words were traded, then punches. Two other mermen, caught by the
flailing fists and thrashing tails, joined the fight. Instantly, every death rider in both the containment area and the water lock converged on them. A fight could quickly turn into a riot, and
they knew it.
    Ling didn’t waste a second. She ducked behind a sobbing mermaid, darted into the water lock, then disappeared down a narrow hallway. There were doors on both sides of it—some open,
some closed. Ling peered around one and saw a small room with two bunks in it.
    That’s when she heard the voices.
    Ling looked down the hallway. It ended in a T. The voices were coming from the passage that led off to the right and were growing louder.
More death riders,
she thought frantically.
They’d round the corner any second now.
    Ling did the only thing she could think of. She swam into the room.
    “Shut the damn door, Arturo,” a sleepy voice said. “I’m trying to take a nap here.”
    Ling didn’t utter a sound. She stayed perfectly still, praying that the death rider stretched out on his bunk would fall back asleep.
    But he didn’t.
    He rolled over, opened his eyes, and blinked at her. Surprise chased the weariness from his face. “You’re not Arturo,” he said, sitting up.
    Ling panicked. “Don’t turn me in.
Please
,” she begged.
    But he was on her before she even finished speaking. He grabbed her good arm, twisted it behind her back, and forced her out of his room.
    “Captain! This one was trying to escape!” he shouted, as he pushed her back into the water lock.
    An officer turned around. He swore at Ling, then backhanded her across her face. Stars exploded behind her eyes. She felt herself being thrust into the cage.
    The soldiers crowded so many more mer in with her that she was nearly crushed against the bars. She felt the cage being lowered into the chamber under the hold. An instant later, it was
plummeting through the dark ocean. All around her, prisoners were shrieking and sobbing. Ling closed her eyes, devastated. This was the end, it had to be. She’d failed. Sera and others
wouldn’t find out that Orfeo was still alive until it was too late. Too late for them. For the waters. For the entire world.
    And then the cage hit the seafloor with a bone-rattling thud. As the silt cleared, Ling opened her eyes.
    She had once heard