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Chapter 18
Green flames circled the exit, blackening the wood, shrouding it in fire. The blaze quickly spread along the door, consuming it.
Shellfish. Faraall, that pig! We weren’t going to get through the door without burning ourselves.
“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked.
Fear and hope chased across Fin’s face. “Everybody hunt around for another way out.”
Clutching their tridents, the guys started examining the room. I could barely hear my own thoughts above my pulse pounding in my ears.Think, Nyssa, think!
Back at home, the architects who had built my father’s kingdom had constructed secret tunnel exits in the event of an emergency. This way, the royal family could escape the palace. Secret corridors were hidden in every royal family member’s bedroom, the library, the banquet hall, the throne room, and my father’s hall, where he met with dignitaries, and in the gardens. The tunnels led to three escape routes. One led to the southern lands of Tritonia. A second to Wildfire and a third to The Cove. I prayed to the sea god that the collector was clever enough to have done something similar.
“There might be a secret panel or door somewhere,” I said, running my fingers across the walls, looking for indents or hollow spaces. Nothing.
The air was thickening with smoke, and I coughed.
“Hurry,” said Fin, adding to the darkening in my gut.
We had to get out of there. Too much depended on us. The merfolk kingdom would descend into chaos if Faraall claimed the throne.
Something scraped behind me, and I turned to find Gill shifting a shelf full of magical items.
“Found something,” he said.
I rushed over to see.
A door. Locked by a great, big padlock and bolt across the center.
“Let’s see if I can bust it down,” said Gill, slamming it a few times with his weapon. The lock rattled, and the door thumped. It sounded like something heavy was resting against it on the other side. He pushed me out of the way and rested his trident against the wall. Then he backed up and rushed at the door, thumping against it with his shoulder.
Poseidon, please, get us out of here.
Something crackled behind us, and I spun around. Fire the color of the sea witch’s magic licked at the ceiling, consuming the wood with incredible speed. My stomach sank as I shielded my eyes from the roaring heat. We didn’t have too much longer before it reached us.
One of the wooden beams in the ceiling tore from its joist and came crashing down.I flinched and shrank away. The heat was drying out my skin, turning it taut, and every movement was painful. I needed water to soften and moisturize it.
“Shit,” puffed Gill after another pound against the door failed to open it. He wiped sweaty hair from his face and pressed his palms flat against the door. It shook from the vibrations Gill pounded it with.
Fin was beside me, holding me. I snuggled into him. He protected my head from the fire’s intensity.
The black smoke created a haze in the small space, and I lost sight of Gill.
Ice spread across my whole body. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we might meet our end in this trove. Oh, the irony. Dying whilst trying to save my father and our people. None of the merfolk would ever know. Faraall would claim another of my sisters and marry her, kill my father, and seize the throne. Dread locked my stomach tight at the thought of being so helpless.
The fire crawled along toward us, and Fin squeezed me to him.
“I’ve got it,” Gill shouted.
Sweet Poseidon! Please let it lead out of the trove.
Gill’s next words ate a hole in my stomach.
“But we’re not getting out of here easily. The fire’s starting to eat at the door.”
“What about using a water shield to go through the fire?” Fin suggested.
A water shield was something we merfolk used to protect us from heat and desiccation. It might prolong us on land for a few extra days, but it cost us great energy to maintain it.
