Mutante: Chapter 17
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
Lunch came and went as they followed the path forward. It was never an entirely straight shot—one had to go around dangerous canyons and thick concentrations of monsters, but . . . the pace felt torturous. Talking about what Grandma Essie had been like before the curse had left Rosie missing her like she missed being alone during one of Alan Wobbegong’s parties.
Having someone like Grandma Essie (and Aunt Rina to a lesser extent) on her side had been glorious. Would she ever experience that again? Not if her mother had her way, and she married Mr. Wobbegong. Rosie suppressed a shudder, imagining the cruel cage of expectations she would be putting herself in should she live up to her mother’s desires.
She cast a sideways glance at Robert. He was practically glowing, talking about all the various ways to find magical kelp. It was funny—being a kelp harvester suited him. Probably because of the unpredictability of the job.
Rosie smiled. Marrying someone like him wouldn’t be so bad. Robert wouldn’t force anyone to dress a certain way. Or to behave like the perfect society hostess and to never get embroiled in some “adventure” or another. And he liked her tail because it was unusual, rather than deploring how odd it was. Her mother was always harping on how unlikely it would be to find someone who would be willing to marry her, given the possibility of passing such an oddity down to their children. But that wouldn’t bother someone like Robert—he would probably just see it as a special part of who they were.
Basically, all the things her mother (and the society men her mother preferred) hated about her were things he liked. With Robert, she could just be herself and not worry that she would hear him discussing just how odd she was at the next ball.
“You all right?” Robert asked.
Rosie blinked away her thoughts. “Fine.”
“Are you sure? You were looking at me very oddly. Did I say something to offend you?”
“No, not at all. Just—just got distracted for a second,” she said in a rush. Thank heavens he wasn’t a mind reader! “Not that your story wasn’t interesting. I was just—” Rosie shook her head. “Not important. Tell me more about the first time you found magical kelp,” she requested, pasting on a smile.
Robert allowed her to drop the subject and obligingly continued his story—like a perfect gentleman.
What was she thinking? She couldn’t marry someone like him, anyway. As the only child of two very important family lines, she would marry for the good of the family, not for any sort of character traits like kindness or bravery.
Fortunately, before her thoughts could become too unruly, the path ended by an enormous cave. “Do fireworms live in caves?” Robert asked.
“Some of them,” Thomas said. “The ones who have been changed by magic, yes.”
Rosie’s tail began to twist. “Changed by magic?”
“Everything in the kelp forest has been affected by the magical kelp—you know that, Miss Rose,” Thomas said.
Rosie nodded. “Yes, but how exactly has the magic changed the fireworm?”
“I do not know. I have never encountered a magical fireworm, so I cannot answer that question. Your grandmother usually purchases fireworm hairs and keeps a stock. Unfortunately, her most recent delivery was delayed, and there were no hairs in her workroom.”
Rosie and Robert exchanged a speaking glance. No idea how the fireworm had been changed? What were they getting themselves into? A creature with poisonous hair-like spines was bad enough without it having magic of some sort.
“Well,” Robert said determinedly, “We won’t know what’s changed until we find the worm.”
“I just—shouldn’t we have some kind of plan?”
He began checking the straps on Waterdancer’s saddle and ensuring Thomas was well-attached. “Well, do you know enough about regular fireworms to make a plan?”
She shook her head. “I was just hoping that maybe we’d find a hair lying around or that maybe we could pluck one while wearing gloves.”
“Gloves—that sounds like a plan to me! Do you have gloves that would work?”
Rosie nodded. “I think so. There are some in Grandma’s potion kit.”
“So wear those and then we’ll be able to handle the hair when we get it. If nothing else, I bet I could slice a few hairs off any worm,” he said, patting the sword at his side.
“O-ok.” She put on the gloves. “And I suppose we’d better try to sneak up on it or else it might run away.”
Robert nodded. “That seems sensible.”
It didn’t seem like nearly enough of a plan, but as they had no further information to go on, they cautiously exited the path, once more leaving Waterdancer and Thomas on the path, and made their way to the edge of the giant cave, trying to peer into it without making themselves known. Upon closer inspection, the cave was more like a hollow, open at the top to the ocean. A gloomy murk filtered down through the ever-present cloud above the kelp forest. Flashes of bright came from various metallic-looking fish.
“How big are fireworms again?” Robert asked Rosie in a near-whisper.
She shrugged. “I’ve heard anywhere from hand-width to tail-length,” she whispered back.
He gestured to an area of the cave to begin scanning. They swam close to it and started examining the colorful coral and anemones, trying to find the telltale bristles of a fireworm amongst the profusion.
Suddenly, the walls rattled, and a wave of water nearly pushed them into the side of the cave.
“What are you doing here?” a voice boomed from behind them. Glows suddenly flickered into being, and the whole “room” was as bright as Fairy Island.
Robert and Rosie whipped around to find a fireworm easily ten times their size rising out of a crevice.
“Whoa,” Robert murmured.
“We’re, um, here to find a fireworm’s hair. Do you have any lying around that we might have?” Rosie said.
The worm flared its front bristles. “No.”
“Well,” Robert said, drawing his sword. “I suppose we’ll have to do this the hard way then.”
“Wait!” Rosie shrieked, throwing herself between the two of them. “Mr. fireworm, we’re not trying to steal from you—”
The fireworm’s shaggy eyebrows went up. “Just kill me.” He laughed ominously. “Not that you’ll succeed any more than anyone else who has come to take my hair.”
Rosie’s mouth went dry, and she gulped. “I—” She risked a glance at Robert, who still had his sword out. “Put your sword away,” she hissed.
“What? Are you crazy?” he snapped back.
She gestured to the giant worm in front of them. “You can’t fight it anyway.”
Robert reluctantly re-sheathed his sword.
“Why do you want my hair, Mutante?” the worm asked.
Rosie looked around, but no one else was visible. “Mutante? Do you mean me?”
The fireworm nodded. “You bear the mark of a change-maker, do you not?”
“A change-maker?” Rosie asked, her skin prickling.
The worm huffed, sending a gust of water in their direction. “Your tail is red, is it not?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
The fireworm cast its eyes heavenward. “You merfolk have such short memories. Even humans know that a red sky presages a change in the weather.”
“But I’m not a change-maker. I’m just me,” Rosie protested.
The fireworm growled. “Enough of your lies. Change-makers bring change just by existing. You have obviously fulfilled that destiny by waking me. Because of the kindness mutantes have always shown me, I will give you one chance to tell me why you want my hair and then you will leave without it and I will not kill you.”
Rosie grew faint. One chance? One chance to be eloquent enough? Robert put a hand on her shoulder, his vibrant green eyes full of trust, and gave her an encouraging smile. She took a deep breath. Begin at the beginning. “How much do you know about the witch of the kelp forest?”
The fireworm knew little about Grandma Essie, so Rosie filled him in on the curse (and how Grandma Essie had come to be cursed), the way that Grandma Essie and Aunt Rina had plagued Aquaria until Mariya had convinced them to become hermits and to focus on each other. Then Rosie explained their current predicament.
“I can’t just leave her like that,” Rosie finished. “I mean, I couldn’t leave anyone that way—but certainly not my grandmother.”
“Because you love her,” the fireworm said matter-of-factly.
Rosie hesitated. “Well, yes, but also because of what Aunt Rina will do if Grandma isn’t there to keep her in check. So far, they’ve kept each other occupied. If Grandma—” She swallowed hard, hit by a wave of grief that was simultaneously years old and brand new. “If she—dies—” She winced, thinking of her grandmother being digested by some sea monster. “Well, I don’t know at all what will happen to Aquaria with Rina on the loose. None of the witches on the council are powerful enough to stop her—and they’re the most powerful witches in Aquaria.”
“Are they?” the fireworm rumbled.
Rosie bit her lip. “That’s what the king says.”
“And you should always trust the king’s word,” the fireworm said with a hint of sarcasm. He stared off in the distance as though looking past the kelp forest and off into the palace itself. “Your king is bound to the land at least, so he does have Aquaria’s best interests at heart. But I don’t see why I should care about Aquaria. It is not my land.”
Rosie nearly shivered at the cold finality in his voice. “What about your home?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “You must care about this place. Grandma Essie changed the kelp forest into what it is today. If she dies, Rina will be able to do whatever she wants to the forest.”
“I doubt she would bother with a fireworm’s home,” he said with a chuckle. “Besides, even if the forest were to revert to its unmagical state, I would be unaffected. I do not rely on consuming the magical kelp to survive.”
“No, but I imagine you eat creatures that do,” Robert put in bravely.
The worm shook its head, antenna twisting in the waves. “It is a chance I am willing to take.”
“But—”
“My answer is no.”
Robert put a hand to his sword. “I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”
“No!” Rosie rushed to put a hand over his. “We can’t force him to give us his hair. It’s his hair. What right do we have to take it?”
“But Rosie, if we don’t get hair from him, we might not be in time to save your grandmother.”
Her hand shook, but she held his gaze. “If we steal from him or force him to give us what we want, we’re not the heroes anymore. We’ll be just as bad as Grandma Essie’s cursed self.”
The fireworm’s antenna swiveled back and forth, watching each of them intently.
“Besides, maybe we can find a substitute,” Rosie added.
“If you’re sure . . . .”
Rosie nodded, though her fingers continued to shake and her chest felt like lead. “I am. Grandma Essie, before the curse, she taught me that you have to be the hero yourself, even when things are hard.”
“Ok, well, I guess we can ask Thomas about a substitute.”
The fireworm rose up a little further, coming more fully out of his hole. “There is no substitute. Will you fight me then?”
No substitute? No chance of saving her grandmother, of someday finding the cure, of getting the woman she loved back. No chance of preventing the upcoming depredations of Rina. No way to escape their horrible predicament?
Her hands clenched into fists as though she could fight the truth, then she slumped, forcing them to relax. “No. Grandma Essie would never have wanted any creature to suffer on her behalf.”
The fireworm towered over her and drew in a deep breath, nearly drawing her into its mouth. Only Robert’s grip on the rock and on her kept them from suffering a gruesome death. “Interesting. Very interesting. You taste of honesty . . . yet—you know, mutante, I believe you would be entertainment enough to last for a generation.” It wriggled, the twitching of its legs sending clouds of bottom muck into the air. Rosie closed her gills, waiting for it to clear.
“I will give you my shed hairs, if you will allow me to bless you.”
Rosie gulped. “Bless me?” she managed.
The worm nodded. “A fireworm’s blessing is not something to be taken lightly. If you are telling the truth and you truly intend no harm towards me, my blessing will allow me to see through your eyes for the rest of your life. It will also increase your natural abilities. If you are lying, well, I’m sure you can imagine what might happen.”
“I’ll die a horrible death?” she suggested,
The fireworm gave a booming laugh. “That is one way to put it.” He shook a glistening hair in their direction. “Death by poison is never pleasant, although my poison is fast-acting.”
Robert swam in between her and the worm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean she would die from poison if you bless her?”
“She would have to allow me to prick her with one of my hairs, but the poison will not harm her if she does not intend harm towards me or my kin.”
Robert turned around. “No way. You’re not doing this. We’ll find another way.”
“You heard what he said: there is no other way,” she snapped.
“I don’t care. We’ll find one.” He drew closer, taking her hand. “Rosie, we don’t even know if he’s trustworthy,” he murmured. “I’ve already lost someone I—people I care about; don’t make me lose you too.”
Rosie’s skin prickled as she glanced past Robert into the fireworm’s face, trying to gauge how trustworthy the worm actually was—not that she had any idea how to measure that. She met Robert’s gaze and began rubbing a thumb over his hand. “If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it a hundred times over,” she pointed out.
Robert shook his head. “I don’t care.”
“Aquaria is in danger—and it’s my fault and I can finally do something about it.”
Robert continued shaking his head. “It is not your fault and you can’t. I won’t let you.”
“It’s not your choice.” She let go of his hand and swam up to the worm’s head. “You said the blessing will enhance my natural abilities. If I am a mutante, what will that do?”
“It will only increase your change-making, not harm it, little one,” he soothed.
Rosie clenched her hands into fists, trying to keep the shaking at bay. “But what if I don’t want to be a change-maker?”
“Oh, little one, you cannot be anything but what you are. What if I did not wish to be a fireworm? You are a change-maker, just as I am a fireworm. Change is necessary, little one. Without change-makers, the world would remain stagnant. Like the ocean tides, change makes room for life. It is a blessing and a curse at times, as I am sure you have discovered with your grandmother—but it is like that seahorse that brought you here: you can ride the beast or you can be dragged along, but you cannot stop being who you are.”
Rosie nearly sobbed. Could she do it? She already stood out far too much and to have that “talent” increased . . . . Would she ever be able to hide again?
Yet, could she do anything but accept the blessing? No. Too many lives were at stake, and the worm was right: she loved her grandmother and couldn’t bear to lose the possibility of seeing her again someday. She took a shuddering breath.
“All right. Bless me.”
A/N: Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but the chapter would be too long if I hadn’t 😉 See you on Saturday!
