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I swallow hard, looking again at the shore. It’s only now that I really see. The snow isn’t just snow: there are mounds and mounds of white bones everywhere.
In the middle of all the bones, sitting on a long grey log, is the Goddess of the Sea, Vellamo, her head in her hands and a shattered crown of coral on her head.
“What happened?” I whisper to the mermaids. I’ve never seen Vellamo look anything but cool and stately. Even though I’m far away, I can tell she’s absolutely broken. I know that feeling all too well.
“We don’t really know,” Bell says quietly, swimming around in anxious circles. “It was such a blur when it happened. We were in a grotto when we were attacked. Creatures came from nowhere, swarmed us—giant creatures, monsters, ones I had never seen before. Vellamo commanded us to leave while she called in her sea serpents, and Ahto took control of the water. We came here, and still, the monsters were everywhere, coming up from the bottom of the sea…”
“The land was full of skeletons,” Marda says in a musical but melancholic voice. “They were all walking south. Bone Stragglers, but hundreds of them. Then, Vellamo came.” She exchanges a mournful look with Bell, her shoulders sagging. “She was carrying…”
“She was carrying Ahto’s body,” Bell says, and I gasp.
“He’s dead?” I cry out, my gaze going back to Vellamo, still motionless on the shore.
My brother-in-law is dead? This will destroy Tuoni.
“Yes,” Bell says sadly. “She was so distraught. She said it was one of the Old Gods. Then, she went on shore and killed every skeleton she saw.”
I immediately start swimming for shore, suddenly feeling strong enough. Madra pushes me along every now and then, since my clothes are weighing me down, and Bell keeps up pace beside me.
Finally, I reach the snowy shore and stagger out of the sea, each step heavy and water-logged.
Vellamo still doesn’t look up until I’m standing right in front of her. I can see where the coral in her crown has cracked in various places, the missing pearls. Her seaweed gown is ripped and torn, bloody in places.
“Vellamo?” I whisper.
She looks up at me slowly, eyes bloodshot, tears streaming down her face.
A broken goddess.
A Goddess of Grief.
She opens her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out.
I drop to my knees in front of her and take her hands in mine. They’re surprisingly cold, considering I’m the one who just emerged from the sea.
“I just heard,” I tell her. “I just heard what happened to Ahto. I am so sorry.”
She stares at me for a moment, slowly blinking. “Tuoni?” she manages to say, her normally deep and smooth voice cracking. “Where is he?”
“He’s stuck. He’s okay—I think he’s okay—but he’s stuck on the other side.”
Her thin brows knit together. “The other side?”
“The Upper World.”
“What were you doing there?”
“We were bested by Louhi and Salainen, the girl who looks like me. Louhi has taken over Tuoni by way of his Shadow Self. The two of them locked us in Inmost with the intent to replace us, to act as imposters on the throne.”
“And raise the Old Gods,” Vellamo says flatly. “Which they did.”
“Salainen killed Tuoni.” Her eyes go wide. “Briefly,” I add quickly. “He came back to life. Somehow, I brought him back. I don’t know how, but I did discover that I can touch him and live, and that my mother is Päivätär. So maybe that has something to do with it.”
“So Tuoni is alive,” she says carefully, her tone dull. “And you are the prophesized one. I figured as much. Too bad you figured it out too late.”
I swallow hard and give her hands a squeeze. “I am so sorry. When we escaped Inmost, we ended up in the Upper World. We tried to get back here as quickly as we could.”
“I am unsure of what could have been done,” she says, looking away. “These Old Gods…they have the power to kill the new ones. It shouldn’t be possible. Ahto should be alive with me, standing here beside me, figuring out what to do. Instead…”
