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Back Waking Storms Save as PDF
Chapters (34)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. Acknowledgments
  30. 1
  31. Buy the Book
  32. Read More from the Lost Voices Trilogy
  33. About the Author
  34. Connect with HMH on Social Media

“But I want to change it. I mean, I want to completely change what it means to be a mermaid and start a new tribe someday. That’s why I taught myself how to sing to the water. I was looking for a way I could do that . . .” Luce broke off when she saw the way Nausicaa was staring at her; her gaze was suddenly glinting with fascination, even with longing and other emotions Luce couldn’t identify. Was that pity?

“It is our father, Proteus, who has given us this task, Luce. The price of our being is that we must avenge all the girls who are broken and outcast as we are. A mermaid may neglect her work, as I do, but all of us are charged with it. The urge moves in our hearts and in our voices.”

“Our father who?”

“Proteus is a god. If you try to alter the destiny of the mermaids, you will not merely be defying their nature. You will be defying the will of the gods themselves!”

Luce considered this in silence, staring out at the white rippling trails of foam sliding over the black sea. It was the first time she had ever revealed her secret ambition to anyone, and she was grateful to find that Nausicaa didn’t hate her for it. But Nausicaa clearly knew much more than Luce did, and from what she’d said—about defying the gods—it sounded like she thought Luce’s hopes were utterly impossible.

“So are you saying it’s crazy? To defy Proteus? I mean, are you saying I shouldn’t try to do that?” Luce couldn’t suppress her anxiety as she asked this, and she gazed urgently into Nausicaa’s eyes. If she had to surrender her deepest hope, Luce thought, then maybe life as a mermaid would become unbearable, even now that she had Dorian. And what if he outgrew her someday?

“Oh, Luce.” Nausicaa smiled with ferocious brilliance. “I am not saying this. Not at all.”

Luce felt so disoriented that for an instant the sea and sky seemed to reverse their places, rocking her between two immense black fields. “But you said . . .”

Nausicaa reached out and lightly rested her hand on Luce’s forehead. It was a strange gesture but somehow also profoundly sweet.

“Defy whom you will, little queen,” Nausicaa said firmly. And then Luce saw the tears welling in her night-deep eyes.

12

Enough