Skylar questioned if Vivienne was talking about her or herself.
“Cherish your experiences, they have made you who you are. And they have given you perspective to choose differently in the future. You have grown so much yet are still so young. Think of all that you can accomplish with this new awareness.”
“Thank you, but Magus has everything,” Skylar said. “All that’s left is my heart light. I have to surrender it to him to get Argan back. Even if it means I die.”
“That’s very noble of you, child. But the Goddess doesn’t require your death to fulfill your mission. She’s never been fond of martyrs.”
“I know Argan put himself there to escape the shit—excuse me, trials—I’ve put him through. He’s tired of my immaturity.”
“One may view it as immaturity, another may see it as innocence. They are vastly different perspectives of the same coin. Who gets to decide what maturity is? And then, any label of deviation is judgment. Argan didn’t consciously escape to the soul cage. He didn’t voluntarily imprison himself. But this land of water magnifies intention. And manifestation is almost instantaneous here. Most likely he had a passing thought and the water’s answer was the soul cage.” Vivienne walked to the small fountain in the room. It was broken in half. She picked up the pieces and sat them side by side. She continued to talk as she got to work repairing the statue.
“You’ve put your faith in your mentors, and I’m sorry we’ve let you down. We’ve done our best, but we have our limitations too. Now you have the opportunity to step into a new world, with your innate innocence in one hand and your wisdom in the other.” She held the two pieces of the fountain together. “That is the path all women take. You feel sullied by your life choices. Despite your accomplishments, you only focus on your mistakes. Why is that? You yearn for a life unblemished, but no one escapes your world that way unless they never enter it.”
She stopped her work and looked intently into Skylar’s eyes. Skylar knew she was referring to her son.
“Souls have different journeys. Do not judge what you do not understand.”
Skylar nodded.
“And do not judge Ocean. The karma you would have created with a union with Joshua could not have been undone. Your time to be a mother is ahead of you.”
“Thank you for coming to help me,” Skylar said.
“Oh, I’m not here for you,” Vivienne said. “You’ve proven you’re just fine on your own. I’m here to right a few of my own wrongs.” She stepped back from the fountain. The goddess figure was whole again, but for a line of silver sand packed down the middle. She touched the spout and water resumed its trickle. Her shadowy trail shimmered slightly, and for a moment it resembled a tail. Skylar thought Vivienne might have been a mermaid once.
“I know about Heather,” Skylar said.
“You see? No one can walk the earth unscathed by wrong deeds. Not even me.”
“She’s … interesting. I want to help her but I’m not sure how.”
“You can’t save everyone, Skylar. Like I said, each soul is on its own journey.”
It was as if Vivienne had given her permission to exhale.
She didn’t have to save everyone. Just Argan.
Skylar and Vivienne walked out of the Sanctuary.
“Don’t linger, child,” Vivienne said. “I’m afraid Cyril is mobilizing faster now.” She walked in the direction of the lab, while Skylar headed to the aquatic tank.
The mermaids were still keeping guard over Argan.
“I appreciate you standing watch,” Skylar said to them. It wasn’t even odd that this interaction had become commonplace, although Skylar never wanted to lose sight of the magic inherent in these creatures. “We’re going to get him out and then we’ll get you out too.”
“There is no world where we exist outside of these tanks,” one said.
“That can’t be true,” Skylar said. “Aren’t there others like you, free in the ocean?”
“Yes, but they are just as captive as we are, forever marred by the origin of their creation.”
“I understand carrying the scars of the past,” Skylar said. “But your beauty and the beauty of your kind deserves to be as free as possible, even if not completely. You should live with all the sovereignty the constraints of this world allow.”
The mermaid gave Skylar a placating smile. She smiled too, removed her shoes, and took a knife she’d found in the lab from her pocket. She climbed the metal stairs once more and dove in, the knife gripped securely in one hand, then swam to the soul cage and sliced her forearm. She had hoped the shock of it would jar Argan, but he remained still. As the dark red fluid mixed with the seawater, it turned a bright copper bronze. As she had hoped, it attached itself to the coral and kelp bars. But it created a different outcome than she had intended. It appeared as if the coral was feeding on Skylar’s blood, swelling with life, the bars growing thicker. She waited, but it didn’t break the coral—it only made it stronger.
She stared at Argan as the moonlight shone down into the water. She could see him being fortified with the energy. His aura expanded to the most brilliant green.
The mermaids could see it too. They floated back to give it room to grow. It glowed in the water as Skylar imagined her stone would glow if she ever saw it whole. She could sense a transformation within him that couldn’t be seen with the eyes.
“Is he coming to?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” the mermaid said. “I’ve never seen this before.”
The mermaids were right and so was Skylar. He’d had a reason to put himself there. He was claiming his sovereignty amidst the constraints of this world. He heard me.
Kyle came running down the corridor and banged on the glass, shattering the beauty of the moment. “Skylar, you’re needed. Miss Vivienne asked for you,” he shouted through the glass.
She and all the mermaids covered their ears from the noise, and she looked back at Argan. “I love you,” she said. She got out of the tank and followed Kyle back toward the lab.
Suki closed up the tiny house the best she could with a couple day’s notice. She’d never been one for attachments, so she only had a couple of duffel bags in the car for her move to Washington. Ocean had promised she’d have an apartment waiting. She assumed it had furniture. With everything else going on, furniture shopping wasn’t on her radar. But clothes shopping would have to be. DC was a long way from what she wore at the barn.
“Welcome,” Mica said as Wren showed Suki into the Oval Office. “I’m pleased to meet you, Suki. Ocean tells me you’re the one I need.”
“It’s an honor, Madam President,” Suki said.
“Please call me Mica. I’ve never been one for formalities.”
“I’m not sure I can do that, ma’am.”
“All right, how about Judge?” Mica asked. “That’s what they called me back in New Orleans.”
Suki nodded. “I like that, thank you.”
“Ocean has debriefed me about your pedigree. Very impressive,” Mica said. “I’ll get right to it. Things are happening fast now, and I’m trying to balance more than one world on my shoulders. I’m in charge of the Dissolution, but I also have ideas about how we can rebuild when it’s over. I’m putting out fires, literally. I’m sure you’ve seen the news. There is so much devastation, and not enough aid. And that’s the whole idea. This world we’ve built on lies has to fall for the original intent of the country to emerge. With all of the karma balancing, the wheel has come around again for the country as well. Individuals are finding patterns repeating in their lives and old opportunities coming back, allowing them to choose again. The same is true for the country. We are being offered the opportunity to choose the path originally intended by the founding fathers.”