Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 51 of 55

Dawn came gray and low. The storm had passed, but it left a wall of cloud across the whole sky. Elodi stood at the rail of the Serpent Corsair and searched for the guiding star. It was the star her father followed, the one she had shown Emmy at night. Without it she could not point the ship home. The water stretched flat and strange in every direction. She did not know which way was land. Damon climbed the ropes to the crow's nest to see farther. His boots slipped on the wet lines, but he reached the top. He cupped his hands and called down. "I see nothing but dark clouds! No sun, no stars, no shore!" His voice fell flat against the heavy air. Elodi's stomach sank. If the sky stayed shut, they could drift for days. Blackwell joined her at the rail. "A ship needs a mark to steer by," the captain said. "We have none." She had crossed these waters for years, and even she frowned at the blank horizon. Elodi looked down into the sea instead of up at the sky. She watched the dark water and waited, though she did not know what for. Maybe the sea itself would show her a path. "Mermaid on board!" Blackwell's shout cracked across the deck. Elodi jumped. She spun and saw a figure resting on the rail near the prow. A woman pulled herself up from the water, her tail dark silver, seaweed across her chest. Her hair fell past her waist, white as the moon. She looked at the frightened crew and did not smile. "You are lost," the mermaid said. Her words were plain and short. "I watched you drift all night." Isla gripped a pot to bang, ready to drive her off, but the mermaid did not sing or lure. She only looked tired. "I am Yue. I know every current here." Elodi stepped forward, past Blackwell's warning hand. "We can't find our star," she said. "We can't find our way home." She held Yue's gaze and did not look away. "Please. My family is aboard. A child is aboard." Yue studied her a long moment. "The clouds hide your star," she said. "But the current does not lie. One stream runs cold beneath this warm sea. It flows east, toward the shores men live on." She pointed a webbed hand across the flat water. "Steer along it. It will carry you home." Blackwell tested the water over the side and felt the cold pull below. "She's right," the captain said, surprised. "There's a current here." She turned the wheel and called the crew to trim the sails. The Serpent Corsair swung east and caught the flow. Elodi looked back for Yue, but the mermaid had slipped under the waves. The star was still hidden. Yet the ship moved with purpose again, and home lay somewhere ahead.