Come round this way, Sapphire. Squeeze through. That’s it. Good, the Claw Creatures can’t get in here.”
We’re in a small cave. The back of it is blind, and there’s no passage through the rock.
“We’ll rest here for a while,” says Faro, and closes his eyes. It’s very gloomy in the cave, but there’s enough light to see how drained he looks.
“At least now you know never to look at one of the Claw Creatures,” he says lightly.
“If you hadn’t been there—”
“Shall I tell you what would have happened, little sister?”
“No, don’t. I can guess.”
We are quiet for a while, resting. I wonder how much farther we’ve got to go. Faro says that everything’s changed in Ingo since the Tide Knot broke.
“But the tides went back,” I say aloud.
“Ingo is slow to heal.”
Like the human world, I think. St Pirans is shadowy in my mind now, but I can’t forget the destruction of the flood.
“Ingo er kommolek,” I say suddenly, without realising that I’m going to speak. Just as suddenly I remember where those words came from. The dolphins spoke them, that day last autumn when they came into the bay, and we were out in the boat with Mal’s dad. But the words were different then… Ingo er lowenek… was that it?
My brain doesn’t know what the words mean, but something deeper in me understands. There’s a shadow over Ingo now. Grief and destruction have spread through Ingo like currents of rushing water.
“Ingo er kommolek… kommolek… trist Ingo… trist, trist Ingo…”
Faro is staring at me.
“How do you know those words, Sapphire?”
Power rises in me again, as it did when I was standing on the rock, back in our cove.
“I learned them from the dolphins.”
“You’re coming on, little sister,” says Faro in his mocking way. “You are becoming a daughter of Ingo.”
His words thrill through me.
“Sometimes I think that won’t ever happen. Just when I feel I’m part of Ingo, I’m pushed away again.”
“I don’t push you away.”
But there’s a lot you never talk about. How little I know about Faro’s history – and I still feel I can’t ask him quite ordinary things like where he was born, who his parents are…
“Sapphire?”
“What?”
“Wake up. It’s time to move on.”
We come out of the cave, and stare up the sheer face of the mountain. It’s just as forbidding, but now there’s a challenge in it, too.
“Morlader must have found the passage.”
“Yes,” Faro agrees.
“But then why didn’t he wait for us?”
Faro shrugs. His eyes are dark and grim. “You think all the Mer are one family, Sapphire. But it’s not as simple as that. Sometimes we… we test one another.”
“You mean Morlader’s testing us to see if we can find the way?”
“Not Morlader alone,” says Faro. “He’s been sent, and told what to do. And I think I know who sent him. Come, little sister, we have to take this path.”
He points around the shoulder of the rock face. We edge along it, keeping close to the rock without ever touching it. Faro takes my hand and steers us both onwards with barely a flicker of his powerful tail. The rock is no longer barren. Weed clings to it, and in crevices there are limpets crusting its smoothness. Long trails of weed catch at my feet. It’s a dark, smooth green, like bottle-glass. It hangs from the rock in swaying curtains, so thick that we can’t see through them.
“The entrance is here somewhere,” says Faro. He lets go of my hand, pushes aside the curtain of weed, and vanishes.
“Faro!”
“Come on, Sapphire, it’s this way.”
His voice sounds muffled and hollow. Where is he? Gingerly, I touch the weed. I’ll have to push my way through it, and I don’t want to. It’s like going into a trap.
The weed sways like an animal being stroked. Suddenly the fog that hides the human world when I’m in Ingo clears for a moment, and I see Sadie standing in a patch of sunlight. Sadie! Thoughts of her flood my mind. Her warm smooth coat, her brown eyes, the way she scans my face to work out what I’m saying. Dear Sadie. My hand falls to my side. What am I doing here? Her eyes plead with me to come home. Why am I pushing my way through a slimy curtain of weed?
“Sapphire!”
Faro sounds farther away now, and impatient. He’s going on. He’s not waiting for me. I can’t get left behind here on my own – but I can’t go in. Rocks and icy shadows and cold unfriendly water press in on me. Get out of here, a voice says in my brain. Get out now, while you still can.
Suddenly I hear another sound. It’s very faint, but as soon as I hear it a prickle of terror races over my skin.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
I’m imagining it; of course I am. But Faro’s not here to help me now. Don’t look back, Sapphire. Don’t risk being trapped by that beautiful face and that lethal claw.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
It’s coming closer. Frantically I scrabble at the curtain of weed, trying to find an opening. The weed resists, then suddenly it parts and I fall through it.
It’s dark in here, a shadowy greenish murk. I blink, and slowly my eyes adjust. There’s Faro, about a hundred metres ahead. The rock face curves inward at the bottom, and the weed hangs down, creating a secret space.
“Quick, Sapphire! Here!”
I swim forward, and see a narrow hole in the rock. It must be the opening of the passage Faro wants us to go through. It’s just wide enough for our bodies, but we won’t be able to swim. We’ll have to use our hands to pull ourselves through. But it’s so narrow – what if we get stuck?
“Hurry!” says Faro in an urgent whisper. “They’ll scout up and down the weed, searching for us. They’re stupid, so they probably won’t find us. But you can never be sure. Come on. I’ll go first.”
“But, Faro—”
“It’s the only way. Come on. They can’t come into the tunnel because their claws get jammed.”
His eyes are bright in the gloom as he squeezes my hand. “It takes us to the Assembly chamber. I know it does. Trust me, Sapphire.”
He swims down to the hole and grips both sides with his hands. With a sinuous, supple movement he squeezes his body in, and disappears.
It’s all right for you, I think angrily. You’ve done this before. And besides, you’re Mer.
My heart is beating fast again. I’m frightened but I push the fear down. In a place like this it’s not safe to show weakness. That creature with the claw can’t get into the passage; Faro said it couldn’t—
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Am I really hearing it?
Stop it, Sapphire. Don’t think about the claw.