These Gilded Seas

Chapter Four: Secrets in the Darkness

Finn isn't waiting in the hallway like my father predicted. He probably ran for the coral and is hiding out like the fry he is. Ridiculous boy.

So, instead of going after him, I choose to go to my room. It isn't such a terrible place to be when it isn't being used as a prison.

Like the rest of my siblings—of which I have seven—I have my own corner of the cave system to myself. Since I'm the oldest, mine is significantly bigger than the rest, but no one would know that at first glance.

The heavy stone door that leads into my personal hideaway pushes open easily, and I swim in. The little golden bell I installed above twinkles with my arrival. As if they heard it, the jellyfish that live here with me come to life. They used to sting me when I got too close, but that was when I was younger. Now our relationship is of mutualistic benefit. They provide a soft light, brighter than the dinoflagellates in the hallways, and I wake up the microscopic organisms that they eat.

With the jellies floating lazily around me, I pause in the entryway and stick my hand into a natural cubby on the wall's rugged surface. An ancient, graying lobster feels me out with his tendrils before crawling out to say hello.

"Good evening, Deca," I say softly to him.

I scratch the top of his shell for a moment and then move into the room, taking the jellies with me. They hover close because of the little plankton that my movement stirs up. I create a walking banquet—for which they are incredibly thankful.

I swim into the second room, shift past my bed, and move to the darkest corner of my space. There's a door knob hidden in the shadows behind a curtain of seaweed and flowering seagrass. Deca clicks after me, and I laugh.

"Come on, ya little bug," I call, swinging open the door. The jellyfish swim away, knowing they can't go where I'm heading.

Deca rests on my shoulder as I swim down under the palace and Hygge. The temperature drops steadily, and before long, I'm covered in goosebumps. If Deca minds the change, he doesn't show it. Instead, he plays with strands of my hair as it billows behind me.

The dark tunnel stretches far past the city, and then the terrain shifts upward. Its walls are bare and cold since none of the traditional sea plants grow down here. The lack of light encourages the growth of algae and fungi, but the bioluminescent flora stay away. My eyes adjust to the darkness quickly, but I still keep a hand on the wall. Just in case my memory fails me.

Before long, the water starts to warm up again, and the sound of it smacking against rocks whispers down to me. With a deep breath, I thrust myself up and break the surface. The fresh air of my grotto explodes in my lungs.

As I hoist myself up to sit on the side of the rocks, Deca scrambles away. Sunlight drifts down from a hole in the roof above, and warmth fills the expanse. I'm not really sure where that hole is in regards to the ocean above, but I know it's in Papa's territory. Occasionally, falcons will nest around the gap, so I figure it's relatively close to the cliffs of Snejorn—where the predatory birds congregate. Wherever I am, no human or merfolk has ever stuck their face through, so I'm not interested in hunting it down.

While my little companion finds a spot of sun to lounge in, I glance around the grotto. Papa would murder me if he knew I was here. With Finn's help, I constructed shelves on every within-reach stretch of wall. Found-things like nails, rods, and other mash-up metals hold up peeling driftwood shelves lined with smuggled books and artifacts.

Some of the manuscripts I bought from the pirates; others came from merchants in Hygge's market. A few of them I found floating among the wreckage of unfortunate ships. Not all of them are decipherable, sadly, and I definitely haven't read all of them from cover to cover. A few, like one massive green collection sitting to my left, are completely waterlogged. Only the soft fabric cover that coated its once sturdy case remains. Gold filigree on the spine spells out a title I can't read, but the precision of the work caught my attention and deserves a spot in my collection.