“With Death here maybe he could reverse the spell?”
She shakes her adamantly. “Hell no. Even with you as queen, he’ll probably want me back in that tank. You know how he is. Wants what he has under lock and key. Possessive alphahole.”
I laugh at her use of alphahole.
“Anyway,” she goes on, her Barbie-doll aquamarine eyes twinkling with excitement, “I’ve been listening to your meeting. Congratulations on being part Goddess.”
“Thanks. It’s been a trip, I can tell you that much. I just wish we’d devoted a little more time to figuring out who my mother is. I mean, she has to be here, right?”
Even with all the talk of the war and prophecies and everything, I still spent that entire meeting wondering if any of them gave birth to me.
“Not necessarily. There are a few deities missing.”
I look around. “Who?”
“Not that he’s a Goddess, but Nyyrikki, Tellervo’s brother,” she says quietly. “God of the Hunt. He’s a bit like Death’s son though, kind of does his own thing. Then there’s Kuutar, as you know, Goddess of the Moon, and her sister Päivätär, Goddess of the Sun. There’s Auringotar, Goddess of Fire. All of those Goddesses can’t get down here into the sea. They rarely leave their lands, if ever. There’s also Ved-Ava, who is the Goddess of Water. She looks like a mermaid and is bound to rivers and lakes. I’ve never seen her in the sea. In fact, I’m not even sure she exists anymore.”
“Some gods just cease to exist?”
“Or they’re killed. Gods can kill other Gods. The politics of the all-mighty can be like a soap opera but I don’t always hear all the gossip down where I am.”
“Ilmatar is a strange one,” I comment, keeping my voice low. “Maybe she’s my mother.”
Bell snorts. “I don’t think so. She’s the virgin. That’s like her whole thing.”
I guess she does have a virginal air about her. Like purity but turned up to the max. “Weird that she doesn’t look at anyone.”
“She can’t,” Bell explains. “I mean, she does but she can only see you out of her peripheral vision. And when she’s in our peripheral she all but disappears.” She suddenly swims downward toward the base of the kelp and then brings out a small mesh pouch, that looks garbage bag sized in her hands. “Here, I brought you some things.”
The pouch seems heavy to carry so I pluck it from her. I open it and take out a small round crystal.
“That’s a sunmoonstone sphere,” she says to me. I’ve never actually had a good look at one before, so I take my time inspecting it. The sphere is a rust red, glittering with a million sparkles. On the top and bottom of the sphere are iridescent white patches that resemble polar ice caps. When I move the sphere, there’s a shift in the white, the shimmery glow of moonstone. “You know how these work, right?”
I nod, wanting to demonstrate, but I’m afraid the light will draw attention to us. “How did you know I wanted one?”
“Just a hunch,” she says with a shrug, and nods to the pouch.
I take out the other item, another sphere. This one sparkles as clear as a diamond with a tinge of pale gold and yellow.
“And that is portal glass,” she says.
“Portal glass?” I repeat, turning it in my fingers. There are a few imperfections that catch the light and produce a ton of tiny rainbows.
“It’s a crystal from the sun,” she says. “Kuutar gave it to me, it came from her sister. You can use it to peer into the lives of those you love the most. I haven’t tried it out because, well…I don’t have anyone to love.” She looks a little crestfallen, then shakes it off. “Yet. So I thought I would give it to you. You can see your father inside.”
“What!?” I exclaim, loud enough for Tellervo to look over at us. “What?” I say again, whispering. I hold the sphere to my eyes, but I don’t see anything except the image of Bell reversed. “I don’t see him.”
“You have to spin it,” she says. “And you have to be alone, in the dark. Try it tonight and you’ll see. I think you can only see him for a few seconds at a time but I mean, that’s better than nothing.”
Tears spring to my eyes, an odd feeling since I’m already underwater. I clutch the two stones to my chest. “Thank you so much, Bell. You have no idea what this means to me.”
She gives me a soft smile. “I have some idea.” Then a grave expression straightens her brow. “You know, I can get you out of here,” she says, her voice barely audible.
I frown. “You mean out of the meeting?”
“Out of Tuonela. There’s an actual portal at the bottom of the Great Inland Sea. If you could arrange to get to the sea somehow, I could show you the way.”