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“Instructor Ibsen told me that trainees have died undertaking the second year test,” she said, trying to sound casual. “But I’m not sure if he was just trying to scare me off.”
“No reason both things can’t be true,” said Agner lightly. “I don’t know if he was trying to scare you off, but I do know that trainees have died in the past. The Center takes the physical abilities of their record holders seriously. If you join their ranks, you’re expected to be able to defend yourself against attack, and to survive in the harshest of environments if necessary.”
Merletta nodded. “I can do it. I know I can.”
“That’s the spirit,” grinned Agner. “I know you can, too. But we have a lot of water to cover before you’re ready. And not all of it can be completed within this training yard. You’ll be undergoing training by some of my most experienced guards, on their patrols throughout the triple kingdoms, and even outside the barrier.”
Merletta raised an eyebrow, and Agner paused.
“Do you have an issue with that?”
“Of course not,” said Merletta, trying to keep an innocent expression on her face. “I’m ready to perform whatever tasks are necessary as part of the training.”
“Good show,” said Agner briskly. “Now, I’m not convinced you haven’t lapsed during your time off. I think you should join our first years for some drills before you’re ready to train with the older ones.”
He nodded dismissal, and Merletta swam over to where Lorraine and Andre were lifting rocks from the ocean floor and carrying them up to drop into large basins suspended from the walls of the training yard.
Agner wasn’t entirely wrong that she needed to catch up. It had only taken a couple of short bouts to show that her arms weren’t quite as strong as they’d been a month ago. She’d been neglecting them, although she wasn’t going to admit that to Agner. After all, she thought dryly, she couldn’t exactly explain that she’d been too busy focusing on building strength in her legs.
The two days of training passed in a painful, but not entirely unpleasant blur. Merletta had always enjoyed the release of physical training, and Agner’s cheerful but unrelenting attitude always spurred her on to great results. It all felt so familiar, she could almost forget that everything had changed. It was like being back in first year, but better, because Ileana and Jacobi were no longer there to throw her dirty looks, and sabotage her when her back was turned.
Of course, Ileana wasn’t far away. Merletta saw her on both days, training with the guards first thing in the morning. But neither approached the other, and to Merletta’s relief, Ileana didn’t hang around long, departing each morning with a guard patrol. Having decided that it was unsustainable to live her life wondering at every moment whether the spear was about to strike, Merletta tried to put Ileana from her mind. For the most part, she succeeded.
Other times, she lay awake in her hammock, looking at the place where Ileana had once slept, and wondering what the older girl was thinking, and whether she’d reported their conversation to anyone.
If so, Merletta would have given her most treasured possession to know who.
CHAPTER TEN
On rest day, Merletta was sorely tempted to travel to Vazula, as she’d always done on rest days the year before. There was no Heath to meet there now, of course. But she had training of her own to think about, beyond her classes. And she couldn’t complete that training in the underwater world. She was itching to practice her walking, and make sure her legs still worked as they should.
But when Sage asked her brightly if she wanted to complete Ibsen’s task together, Merletta concluded with reluctance that leaving the triple kingdoms was too risky. The extra patrols at the kelp forest now made sense, given the supposed incident of guards being attacked by a human outside the barrier. She could probably get past them without too much difficulty—in theory, at least, they were focused on keeping creatures out, not keeping merpeople in—but for all she knew, she was being watched. Better to wait until she had settled in a little more, and demonstrated to whoever might be paying attention that she wasn’t planning to reveal anything she shouldn’t.
So she joined Sage for breakfast, discussing where they would go to find a suitable marketplace where they could observe as instructed. They were just rising from their seats when Andre swam in, hurrying to join them.
“Were you leaving already?” he asked, seeming crestfallen. “I should have gotten up earlier.”
“We’re heading off on Ibsen’s task,” Sage explained, in her usual kind way.
Andre brightened immediately. “Can I join you?” he asked, swiping a large chunk of fish from the table. “I hadn’t decided where to go yet.”
Sage sent Merletta a slightly exasperated glance, and Merletta gave a half shrug. She would have preferred the time with Sage, but Andre’s presence might have other benefits. Busy as she’d been, she hadn’t entirely forgotten the missing guard patrol. She remembered Andre saying that his father was a guard. Perhaps he would have useful information.
“Of course you can,” she said smoothly. She glanced at his arm. “But I think we should remove our armbands. Three trainees together will be too conspicuous. We can’t make accurate observations if our presence changes what we’re observing.”
Andre tilted his head slightly to the side. “Good point,” he said enthusiastically. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
He glanced down at Merletta’s spear. She knew most trainees didn’t carry their weapons with them to meals, but she didn’t like to be without it.
“You’d better leave that too, then.”
Merletta frowned, but Sage chuckled at her. “He’s right, you know. If you don’t want to be conspicuous, you can’t go swimming around with a valuable driftwood spear.”
Merletta’s frown deepened, although it wasn’t because she disagreed. It was just the fresh reminder of the lies they’d all been fed. Driftwood was only valuable because everyone thought wood was a rare substance originating from somewhere deep in the ocean. In actual fact, wood grew freely on land, and there was plenty of it. Heath had called the plants trees. Merletta had no doubt that land was the true origin of the driftwood she held in her hand.
In the end, they decided to go to Hemssted. The others wanted to go to Tilssted, since it was a novel experience for them, but Merletta wouldn’t agree. She was concerned that Sage would want to meet Tish. The trouble was, if they went to Tish’s shellsmith tower, it would be obvious to Andre that instead of spending her whole break with Tish, Merletta hadn’t seen her friend in a month. She would have been happy to go to Skulssted, but that was uninteresting for the other two, which only left one city.
“So your father is a guard, Andre,” Merletta said conversationally, as they drifted through Hemssted in search of a marketplace.
