To Kill a God by C.S. Wilde

Chapter 12

As Mera roamedthe streets of Atlantea from above, she couldn’t help but admire the modern buildings that towered over her path. Though the city didn’t technically have streets—waterbreakers could swim in any direction they wanted—the gaps between the constructions formed dimly lit paths down below; paths that guided her.

She swam past big, glass surfacebreakers all too similar to the skyscrapers from Clifftown. Narrowing her eyes, she spotted spacious offices inside the buildings, with busy sirens rushing around. On the floor below was a crowded gym, followed by fancy restaurants, shopping malls, and much more.

In many ways, Atlantean society mirrored the one on land, and in many others, it was completely different. So much had happened since she left; so much she had yet to discover about her home.

Uncle Barrimond and Professor Currenter tried covering some of it during dinner the previous night, but a few hours hadn’t been enough.

Mera did learn that the fake moon floating above town was a source of energy that drew its power from the heat of the lava pits. It was Atlantea’s main power source, which fed into industries, buildings, and even the orbs of light that floated throughout the city—after taking one in her hand, she realized it felt squishy and membranous, as if made of jellyfish skin.

A hologram suddenly popped up next to Mera, startling her. She swam back, her heart racing while she stared at the image.

Unlike the wavering, chopped holograms on land, the neon-blue figure looked like a living waterbreaker floating right next to her. He wore a fancy bodysuit engraved with squared patterns, and he moved as easily as any real creature would.

“Good day to you, fellow Atlantean!”He beckoned her closer. “Here at Davinor’s dealership, we want your old car.” He stepped aside to reveal a holo-parking lot filled with floating, pill-shaped vehicles with translucid chassis. “Come on down and buy a brand new one! It’ll be a bargain, guaranteed! Find us at the intersection between Coral Avenue and Tide Street!”

Mera’s jaw dropped as she watched him and the parking lot. She tried touching his face—it looked so real—but her fingers plunged into his non-existing cheek, making whatever generated him waver. The holo-man didn’t seem to feel a thing, and soon blinked out of existence.

“The commercials can be quite a nuisance.” Professor Currenter called out from ahead, his arms crossed. They’d agreed to meet at that spot, and Mera was happy to see she could still find her way in Atlantea. “Your uncle is about to pass a law to limit their frequency.”

“He’s good at that, isn’t he?” She broke water toward the professor, zinging high atop the empty streets below. “Improving things, I mean.”

During their dinner, her uncle had explained that he’d changed many laws to help the people, including the rules that said Mera had to answer for the queen’s murder.

“You were only a merling back then…” He swallowed a big chunk of tuna wrapped in seaweed. “You’re safe, dear, and officially off-the-hook. Which means we can announce your return.”

“I’d rather not. For now, at least. It would be a shock for the people, and we have enough on our hands, don’t we?”

He watched her as he chewed, a frown marring his forehead. Her argument clearly hadn’t convinced him, not one bit. Still, he’d agreed. “As you wish, but eventually, Atlantea must know its princess has returned. Maybe word of your arrival could hinder Poseidon’s efforts.”

“Maybe,” she’d replied, though she didn’t think it would, especially since she’d left her people all those years ago.

Why would they trust her? Why would they follow her?

“Ready?” The professor asked once she reached him, pulling her from her memories. When she nodded, he turned and broke water forward, leading the way.

“Why didn’t you pick me up with a car?” she asked from behind as they zinged through Atlantea. “Waterbreaking can be tiresome after a while.”

“I’m an old seal, remember?” he chuckled, not bothering to turn back. “Some say that using cars is lazy, others call it innovation. I say it’s a bit of both. Same for the automatons.”

“Automatons?”

As if on cue, he nodded down to a figure walking at the sea bed, venturing through the empty streets with silver skin and neon blue eyes that seemed to pop against the darkness.

Driven by curiosity, Mera dove in an arch, and when she reached the bottom, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

The automaton was shaped like a waterbreaker, but it was made of smooth silver plates with engines and cogs whirring underneath it. A blue plasma core shone dimly from the inside, light escaping through the gaps of its metallic skin.

She watched the thing’s hollow, bright blue eyes. “This is insane.”

The automaton carried two bulky metal blocks over each shoulder. The thing’s movements were slow and jerky—almost akin to an old clock—but it kept trudging along at its own pace. It suddenly stopped and whirred its head toward Mera. The tiny cogs in its jaw spun, opening its mouth.

“Good morning, madam,” it greeted without moving its lips, its voice a metallic, droning sound that perfectly fit the owner.

“Good morning.”

The automaton snapped its jaw shut, then kept walking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Mera boosted up, and when she reached Professor Currenter, she couldn’t help but shout in excitement. “You have robots!”

“Is that what landriders call their automatons?”

Mera laughed. Until recently, they didn’t even have jets.

“We have algorithms and computers, but robots like that?” She blew water through her gills. “I used to read stories with them in science-fiction magazines when I was younger, but I never expected to see one in the flesh. I mean, in the metal?”

“I suppose automatons were the logical step after the stingrays.” He shrugged. “Atlantea grew quickly, little fry. We’d originally designed them to help with construction, since the city’s growth was too much for the whale trucks, but the automatons are quite useful everywhere. We’re even testing a prototype for law enforcement.” He winked at her before boosting up, following the façade of a sleek, onyx structure that had to be at least fifty stories high.

“Freaking robots,” she muttered to herself, swimming after him.

Her people might have been known as Sea Fae once, but they certainly weren’t afraid of technology; not like the fae of Tir Na Nog. Maybe it was because iron limited their power, and there wasn’t a lot of it underwater. Or maybe, the fae on land were simply stuck in their old ways. Hard to guess, really.

They soon stopped before a large balcony with an open entrance. Neon orbs of all colors floated around, mimicking the rest of the rainbow city. Yet, as they ventured inside the building, the orbs turned a bright gold. They hovered near the ceiling, drenching the entire space in daylight.

A siren’s vision adapted to the darkness of the ocean, but Mera supposed the lights’ purpose was the same as the cars’.

Convenience.

Waterbreakers rushed around the vast space, wearing black bodysuits with silver embellishments on their chests that mimicked buttoned jackets. The metallic, silver belts around their waists carried sheaths for daggers, and holsters for guns that appeared different from the ones on land, though Mera didn’t get a closer look.

The sirens wore silver bracelets around their wrists, but she couldn’t say what use they might have other than esthetic.

Some of the people at the back had little black dots attached to their ears, and they seemed to be speaking to no one in particular.

Phones. They were on the phone!

“This is a precinct,” Mera mumbled to herself, the set-up of the open space looking incredibly familiar.

“The main precinct in Atlantea, actually.” The professor broke water forward, floating gently toward a crowd on the right. “She’ll find you. Listen to what she has to say, yes?”

“Who?”

He couldn’t answer. A swarm of officers had already fallen upon him, asking thousands of questions. Their silver wristbands projected blue images into thin water, showing him reports and file cases.

Ah, so that was what they did. Not just for esthetics, then. Mera made a mental note to fetch one of those handy little devices later.

She watched the officers come and go around the vast precinct, but none of them seemed to notice her presence. They passed by mindlessly, too wrapped up in their daily business.

“Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice said from behind, but she couldn’t guess to whom it belonged.

When she turned around, her eyes widened. Even though years had passed, she would always recognize her best friend.

Belinda still looked jaw-droppingly beautiful. Her blond hair was tied in a low pony, the tail fluttering slightly along the gentle currents inside the precinct. Her pinkish hide matched with the bright purple of her almond-shaped eyes, and she looked regal and proud in her black uniform.

Mera jumped at her, trapping Belinda in a hug. “It’s you. It’s really you!”

At first, her friend didn’t react, but eventually she hugged Mera back, her arms tightening around her waist.

“I thought you were dead for so long…” Belinda’s voice broke, and she cleared her throat, her arms squeezing harder around Mera. “I thought you were gone when the wave crashed, but then the bastard left the forbidden zone, carrying you, and I knew we couldn’t fail.”

“Thank you.” Letting go, Mera swam back. “You’re the one who shot him in the head, right?”

Belinda gave her a proud grin. “It didn’t stop the dickweed, but at least he’ll need time to regenerate.” She nodded to a corner of the space, far from the officers and the noise. A silent cue for Mera to follow.

Once they reached the empty spot, near what seemed to be an abandoned elevator shaft, Belinda leaned closer. “That dirty anglerfish has too many lackeys around town. There are spies in the force, too, so you have to watch what you say around here.” She narrowed her eyes at the officers ahead. “Poseidon’s numbers are growing.”

Mera nodded. “I’ve faced a similar situation in Tir Na Nog with my partner. It was tough, but we managed to fix it. You and I can do the same here, Bel.”

“That would be nice. Wait, did you say ‘partner’?”

“Yeah. I’m a detective, but now I’m pretty sure I’ll be killed if I ever return to land.”

“Why?” Her pink brow furrowed. “You held down a giant tidal wave, and saved hordes of landriders. They should be congratulating you.”

“Maybe, but waterbreakers aren’t allowed to set foot on land. That’s a big taboo in Tagrad.”

“Sure, we aren’t ‘allowed’. Except, anyone other than you and Poseidon would disintegrate before reaching the shore.” Belinda rolled her eyes, then nodded to the front of the office, toward the group gathering around Professor Currenter. “The commissioner is busy, as always. He told me to look after you today, so, want to go for a bite? Old Sue still has her stand.”

A warm giddiness bloomed inside Mera at the thought of eating Old Sue’s fish sticks, just like they used to do after school.

“I’m in!”

Breaking water toward the balcony, Belinda zinged into the middle of Atlantea, and Mera followed. She couldn’t get enough of the colorful, glittering city that extended below and everywhere around them, but as they ventured further downtown, dodging incoming vehicles became a serious problem.

One car zinged right past Mera’s head, and then a male riding a dolphin nearly slammed into her.

“Watch where you’re going!” he shouted before continuing on his path.

“Follow the breaker lanes, Mer!” Belinda yelled from ahead, motioning to the neon-yellow lines that flanked her left and right, going up and down the water like a rollercoaster. “Traffic downtown can get crazy, so the DMV put up some tracks to organize the flow a few years back.”

A stinging feeling bloomed in Mera’s chest as Belinda called her ‘Mer’, the way she used to when they were young. The same way Julian used to call her… She ignored the sensation, deciding to focus on the now.

They soon left the chaos behind and reached a small complex over a dozen stories high. Unlike the modern buildings downtown, this one was made of pure stone with glowing neon corals of all colors peppering the façade.

Belinda descended onto the roof, where a chubby lady with gray hair and night-black skin floated behind a metallic stand. The pink letterhead read, “Old Sue’s Fresh Salmon Sticks”.

Old Sue still wore a white bodysuit with baby-blue stripes from when Mera was a merling.

“Certain things never change,” she muttered to herself, settling behind Belinda.

Her friend motioned for two, and Old Sue promptly prepared their sticks, wrapping them in seaweed.

The old lady suddenly narrowed her eyes at Mera while she handed a device to Belinda. “Your new partner looks like the dead queen, Officer Tiderider.”

“Yeah. She gets that a lot.”

From a hidden pocket in her bodysuit, Belinda pulled out a nearly transparent card with neon green lines, which she promptly swiped into the device. Once the payment was approved, Belinda snatched their sticks, bid Old Sue goodbye, then swam up toward the roof of another structure. It showed them an amazing view of downtown Atlantea.

Her friend sat on the ledge, her feet swinging above the busy chaos of rushing vehicles, waterbreakers, and sea creatures.

“Old Sue didn’t remember me,” Mera remarked quietly when she sat next to Belinda. “She remembered the queen, but not me.”

“Everyone thinks you’re dead. Also, Old Sue gets tons of customers every day. One is bound to forget some faces when they’re that busy, especially since you haven’t been around for what? Fifteen years?” She handed Mera a stick. “It’s for the best, Mer. Announcing your presence might weaken Poseidon’s efforts, but it might also backfire—a lot. Not that we have many choices. He’ll be sending his lackeys after you, which is why I’m in charge of your security.”

“Wait, what?”

“Commissioner’s orders. I know you can take care of yourself, but I’m pretty good with one of these.” She tapped the gun in her belt’s holster.

“Well, he couldn’t have made a better pick.” Mera felt her teeth sharpening, as was always the case when a waterbreaker was about to feed. “You shot Azinor in the head. That’s a lot more than I’ve managed to do.”

“Doesn’t make any difference. The prick can regenerate like an octopus, no matter where you hit him.” Belinda took a bite of her food, chewing slowly. “His lackeys tried to raid the precinct a few months ago. We taught them a lesson, but they killed my partner, Bluefin.” Her mood darkened, an awfully familiar sensation for Mera.

“I lost my first partner, too,” she offered quietly, chewing her food. “It’s not the same, of course. We turned him into a vampire, but it was touch and go for a while.”

“Guess you’re a better partner than I ever was. He’s still somewhat alive, right?” Belinda seemed to blink away incoming tears while she bit another piece of wrapped salmon. “Bluefin had a kid.”

Mera’s chest constricted, and her hand rested on her friend’s back. “We’ll make that prick pay for all he’s done. I promise.”

“Bluefin promised that, too. Didn’t turn out so great for him.”

They kept eating and watching the view, a heavy silence hanging between them.

“Poseidon is my father,” Mera blurted, “but I prefer calling him by his true name, Azinor. Makes him less… almighty, I guess.”

“What?”

She nodded to herself, a bitter taste going down her throat. “The prick raped Ariella when she went into the trenches, and I was the product. I think that’s why I didn’t disintegrate when I entered the forbidden zone. Maybe it’s also why I was able to hold back the tidal wave, but I can’t explain how.”

Belinda stared at her, her eyes so wide that Mera spotted her own reflection in her glassy purple irises. “Cursed mackerels. That’s why the queen used to call you Daughter of Poseidon.” She shook her head, hunching over her knees. “Life handed you a shitty deck of jellycards, my friend.”

A weary chuckled reverberated inside Mera’s chest. “Sure did.”

They stayed in silence for a while, but Belinda soon broke it. “Wait, so the queen follows him, even after everything he’s done to her?”

“Don’t ask me why. Their dynamic is beyond deranged.”

Mera took another bite of her fish, watching her friend. A smile sprouted on her lips as she went back to the time when they were little merlings, exploring the ocean together, going on mighty adventures, and riding waterdragons they couldn’t save. “Remember when we lost that waterdragon to the trenches?” she murmured. “I was devastated.”

“Gods, we really messed that one up, didn’t we?”

Mera’s attention fell on her half-eaten salmon stick. “When I first faced off Azinor, he thanked me for sending him the waterdragon. He said he drew power from those who ventured in the trenches, until eventually he amassed enough to break free. I guess the waterdragon helped him a lot.”

Belinda seemed to consider it, her lips pressed into a line. “The dickweed can do whatever he wants with his magic, even raise the dead. It’s insane.”

“There are limits, though. He can raise the queen, but he can’t raise other dead without a drug that can only be produced on land. He tried that in Clifftown, but it didn’t work.” Finishing her salmon stick, Mera wiped the edge of her mouth. “So, what’s the plan to stop the prick?”

Her friend didn’t hesitate. “We’ll chop him in a thousand pieces, then scatter them across the seven seas. That should do the job.”

“Hopefully.” Mera took her stick and Belinda’s, then headed to a nearby trash can. The can opened its mouth and sucked the sticks inside, quickly snapping it closed. “Can I ask you something?”

“Always.”

“Do you think I haven’t figured it out yet?”

“Figured out what?”

“That you are using the queen as bait.”

Her friend blinked, her jaw hanging open. “Mer, we thought—”

“You and the professor are trying to protect me, I get it. But considering what the bitch and Azinor put me through, I think I should be kept in the loop. Don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely. In fact, since you’re back in Atlantea…”

She pulled out a shiny silver weapon from the holster attached to her belt. The device was shaped like a pearly, round-edged gun, with three blue blinking dots on the sides. The mischievous grin Belinda shot Mera was terrifying.

“It’s time you learned how to use a phaser.”