To Bleed a Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker

The ocean here is ice cold and always still, as though the wind is afraid to ruffle its surface.

Dead End. That’s what I’ve heard some topsiders call this part of The Shoaling Seas. But to me, it’s not a dead stillness.

It’s a waiting stillness.

I skirt around the edges of a turquoise iceberg so big it’s hard to see where it starts. Where it ends.

Bodies are trapped within, locked in a catatonic eternity—creatures who did not get the chance to decompose before the ice caught them.

Hundreds of these bobbing graveyards litter this part of the ocean, immortalizing a great deal of things I’d rather forget.

I push on, hands speared at my sides, churning my tail in a slow, rhythmic dance.

I’m not here to dwell on the past. I’m here because myhoardingdrako decided there’s a corner of our trove that could do with a little extra sparkle.

‘Almost there. Set Zykanth free.’

He’s pushing at my skin from within, making it itch, threatening to shred it apart. My jaw aches, as if it’s about to pop from its hinges—

‘Stop it. You’re too big. She’ll see.’

‘Big ... but fast. Tail bigger than yours.’

I roll my eyes and power on, gritting my teeth. There is no reasoning with him when we’re close to everything we both treasure.

The ocean bed drops away in a sudden cliff that always reminds me of my own insignificance. Here, the water is deep and black like a starless night, and feels just as empty.

No fish pock the water, and the sharks are far too cunning. The dolphins and the whales journey well out of their way to migrate around the trench.

Only the truly desperate brave this part of the ocean.

The desperate and the stupid.

Every cautious swish of my tail makes my chest tighten as I plot a path between the bergs, flinching each time two collide and mimic the crack of lightning. I pause periodically to ensure I’m not being followed.

That something isn’t reaching from below to snatch me.

I dart skyward, slow when I near the glassy surface, and gently break through. The breath I release from the gills scored behind my ears is steady.

Controlled.

Which is a lot more than I can say about him.

‘Get the rock. Get the rock!’

‘Calm. Down.’

My eyes feast on the masterpiece before me—the small island caught in a shard of morning sunlight cutting through the clouds. All the colors of the rainbow ricochet off magnificent crystal spires that pierce the sky, bathing the island in a glimmering halo of light.

How nature birthed such a wonder has always been beyond me.

A geyser protruding from the center leaks a river the color of blood that cuts a skewed path into the sea, painting some of the water pink and tainting the air with the smell of sulfur.

I’m hit with a dose of serenity, remembering how I used to bathe in that warm, nutrient-rich water. It always made my scales gleam—

‘Get the rock!’

I sigh.

‘You’re a pain in the ass sometimes.’

My regard darts to the waveless beach and the jagged band of shore littered with smaller pieces of crystal ... along with the bones of creatures she decided to spit out closer to the surface after she’d finished gnawing on them.

I survey the crystals from afar, studying their shape and the way they catch on the sun, trying to decide which one shines the brightest. Though my eyesight is good, it doesn’t beat the ability to touch the marvelous, the fragile, the unique ...

The treasured.

It doesn’t allow me to hold those gems to the sun and twist them this way and that to see their facets come to life.

‘Nearer.’

‘Okay. Just ... keep your shit together.’

I slide through the water slower than a setting moon, then pause, gaze flicking, senses sharpening.

‘Don’t stop.’

‘Choke on a clam,’ I growl, and Zykanth finally shuts up.

I resume my advance in peace, though he continues to bounce around, whipping against the walls of my insides.

The closer I get to the scintillating shoreline, the more his excitement infects me.

Orlaith likes round rocks, but the ocean isn’t wild enough in this part of the world to polish anything smooth. However ... I think she might appreciate a crystal that catches the sun and spits it out in all the colors of the rainbow.

What she painted for me was truly special. She managed to capture the essence of this island without sighting it or understanding its significance. Or its heartbreaking history.

Though the baby conch was nice, it didn’t show her my full gratitude.

Resolve hardens my features.

One for our trove, another for her.

Zykanth hums his agreement, and I inch forward. My hands bunch, release, bunch, release. Every frill tests the water for the slightest shift in flow. I draw a breath, my hand stretched out as though I’m much closer than I really am ...

A chill slithers down my spine, stilling the swish of my tail and the blood in my veins, blasting apart my impulse.

‘She’s watching.’

‘Get it!’

‘No.’ I begin a slow, steady retreat. ‘Today is not the day.’

My skin itches, scales threatening to pierce through. He tries to shove me forward from within, rattling the cage of my ribs, and my entire body shudders from the impact.

I snarl. ‘You want to end up dead on that beach?’

He doesn’t have to answer for me to know he thinks it’s worth the risk.

I spin and bolt through the open ocean so fast I barely have a chance to draw another breath before I’m retracing my path through the icebergs, his chaotic roars pulsing through the water.

It’s not until I’m free from the trench that I no longer feel as though I’m being followed. Still, I don’t dare loosen my hold on my thrashing beast. Probably won’t until I can find something else to distract him with.

It never used to be like this.

These waters were once safe and peaceful.

Teeming.

Now, they have a mind of their own, and they’re angry, vicious ...

Deadly.

Standing guard over the ruins of a once-thriving relic—a job that used to belong to us.

I should be used to the taste of failure by now.

I’m not.