Who the hell is this?
“Hanna,” Rasmus says to me, gesturing to the woman with reverence. “This is Vellamo, Goddess of the Sea.”
The woman turns her attention to me, and there’s an overwhelming sense of grace and power coming from her. She’s so still in her movements and yet she’s staring at me so deeply, it’s scaring the hell out of me. I didn’t even think I had anything left in me to be scared.
“Hanna,” Vellamo says in a calm, deep voice. “Rasmus has summoned me and my mermaids for protection. Do you promise to fulfill your end of the bargain?”
I swallow, pushing myself on my elbows. “It depends. I’m not giving up my firstborn or anything, am I?”
She doesn’t smile.
“Rasmus has promised me a golden dress made of moonsilk from Kuutar.” She pauses and her eyes go to him now, and I swear I see them flare with icy anger. “However, the last time I did Rasmus a favor, he never got me the dress, nor anything else in return.” Rasmus looks away uneasily. She brings her penetrating gaze back at me. “I’m hoping that with you on this journey, you will help him fulfill his promise. After all, you now owe me, too.”
“Not until you escort us all the way to land,” Rasmus says quickly, as if he’s seriously bossing a Goddess around. “So we can be back on the River of Shadows and on our way.”
“I will do as promised,” Vellamo says in that low monotone voice. “But if you don’t fulfill your end, then next time The Devouress will swallow you whole and I’ll feed your bones to my mermaids. Understood?”
“Understood,” Rasmus and I say in unison.
“Very well,” Vellamo says. “Then on your way back, when you’ve gotten your father, make sure to leave the dress on the banks before the Frozen Void begins.”
“Wait, you know about my father?” I ask, getting to my feet and struggling. All the wet clothing weighs a ton.
Vellamo nods curtly. “Rasmus has informed me of your quest.”
“And you’re not going to try and stop us?”
A tiny smile teases the corner of her full white lips before disappearing. “I have no reason to stop you. I am the Goddess of the Sea. What mortals do is none of my concern, not in this world, at any rate. But what is my brother’s problem is rarely my problem.”
“Your brother?” I ask.
“Brother by law,” she says, raising her chin. “My husband is Ahto, God of the Oceans, brother of Tuoni.”
“Tuoni?”
“Death,” she says with a hiss.
Then she turns around and, in a flash of pearls, she disappears over the edge of the boat, landing in the water with barely a splash.
So Death has a first name. That almost makes him more personable.
Almost.
I look at Rasmus, brows raised. “Is that what you were doing while I was battling sea snakes and serpents and nearly drowning?”
“I was summoning,” he says, tucking his necklace back in his coat. “Just because you can wave a sword around doesn’t mean I’m useless.”
There’s an edge over that last word, like it’s a sore spot for him.
“I never said you were useless,” I tell him.
“Whatever,” he says, walking toward the bow where Vellamo disappeared. “The mermaids have our ship surrounded. They’ll protect us until the river begins again.”
I walk over and stand beside him. The night has fully descended now, and though there is some mist lingering in places above the black water, stars are beginning to peek through in the velvet sky. Below them, the water shifts as iridescent bubbles form the shapes of mermaids, our underwater escorts, and mirrors the stars above.
I don’t know if it’s sheer exhaustion or almost dying several times today or a new kind of jet lag from getting to this world, but I feel tears starting to creep up on me. Everything is so scary and so beautiful and I wish I had my father to share it with me. I wish he was here right now more than anything.
“She didn’t seem surprised that we’re going for my father,” I say through a sniffle. “She at least didn’t tell us he was dead.”
“He’s not dead,” Rasmus says quietly. “You know this.”
I swallow hard and wipe away a tear with the heel of my palm. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. I don’t even know where I am. I don’t even know who I am.”
“You’re Hanna Heikkinen,” Rasmus says to me. He reaches over and brushes a strand of wet hair behind my ear. “And you’re pretty incredible.”