The Undrowned Child (17 page)

“Are the other mermaids safe?” asked Teo, reaching for The Key to the Secret City on the moss cushion where she had left it. She hugged it to her chest.

“Oh Yar, all accounted for,” affirmed Lussa cheerfully. “ ’Tis, in True Fact, a Relief of Sorts to meet the Enemy’s Vassals in Open Conflict.”

Renzo frowned. “But won’t they tell Bajamonte Tiepolo that they were attacked by mermaids? Won’t that alert him to your existence? And where you are?”

“Fortunately, Sharks think only of Food. It would not enter their Brute Heads to ponder on subtle Matters like Revenge, or even to calculate what robbed Them of their little Feast. They will already have forgotten about Us, and be warring among Themselves over some Scrap of Seagull or Fish. Il Traditore keeps Them only for the Crudest of Work. If He wants some Spying performed, He sends up One of the magòghe. Or an Insect. Or a Bat. They are always up for Improperness.”

Mermaids brought the children dry towels and delicious hot drinks, salty and sweet and very spicy at the same time, served in beautiful Venetian glass goblets, and then, in bowls made out of scallop shells, a thick creamy soup, with crunchy croutons floating in it, and some soft bready cakes, dusted with a white powder.

“Down the hatch!” urged Chissa. “Do ye good.”

Teo and Renzo gulped and munched and held out their scallop shells for more.

“What is this?” Renzo asked. “It is absolutely delicious!”

“You are drinking Seaweed Cocoa with Cayenne Pepper. The Soup is Curried Lagoon Samphire, of course. And those are Deep-Fried Algae Croutons. The Bread is stuffed with River-Ripened Sea Semolina and the Savory Powder is Stone-Ground Mud Myrrh.” Lussa licked her pretty lips.

“I wish you hadn’t told us that.” Teo put her scallop shell down. It immediately fell off the table. “I don’t think I eat most of those things.”

“Perhaps you have not been Fortunate enough to taste Them prepared properly before.” Lussa looked proud. “As You see, Mermaids dine well. We are known for being Uncommonly Fussy & Exceptionally Greedy.”

“So,” wheedled Chissa. “Undrowned Child, shall ye not partake of a little Potted Duff? With a snattock o’ Beetle Bait?”

“Really, I couldn’t manage another morsel,” said Teo politely. “Also, I don’t eat fish.”

“But Nor do We!” cried Lussa. “What did You think We dined upon—raw Barracuda Hearts & Cod Liver? Nay, We do not eat our fellow Sea Creatures. That would be what You Humanfolk call Cannibalism. Chissa uses a Sea Expression for Steamed Pudding and Jam. In our Case, served with Cumin Custard.”

Chissa held out the platter so the smell wafted over to the children. Potted Duff had a delightful sweet fragrance. But Renzo and Teo were really not hungry anymore. Now that they felt warm and safe again, their minds had started to return to the subject of Bajamonte Tiepolo.

Teo blurted out what she had been thinking ever since she saw the graves of her parents and relatives. “My mother and father … Was it really an accident?”

Chissa’s eyelids dropped down. Lussa stated, “Sadly, nay, ’Twas no Accident. It had been a decidedly Hot Summer that Year. A Pipe broke at a coastal Manufactory. A Tide of Filth & Poison swept into the Lagoon. The mayor tried to keep It hushed.”

At the mention of the mayor, a mermaid shouted, “Scoundrelly rectum!”

Lussa threw the parrots a warning glance, and continued, “But the Water of the Lagoon waxed warm and the Creature started to stir. We were not able to pacify It completely, no Matter what We did. It may have been the first Time that the Spirit of Bajamonte Tiepolo tried to harness the little Creatures that make up the bigger One, because It had never killed Humanfolk before.”

“But why did my parents have to die that night?”

“Let Us just say that Bajamonte Tiepolo has always sought to kill Gasperins when He could get Them. That night They were taking You to your Christening by their Family Priest on the Island of Murano.”

“Why Gasperins?”

Lussa continued as if she had not heard. “By the time We arrived There it was too late to save the Adults: They were already drowned. There was No one left to save except You, Teodora, the Undrowned Child of the old Prophecy. You alone, by a Miracle, were able to survive some Time under the Waves. Of course, being the Daughter of Such Parents had left You with some Particular Talents. I understand that You are a Vedeparole, for Example.”

“A what?”

“A Vedeparole, meaning that You see Spoken Words as Written upon Air. By which You can learn much about Him or Her who utters Them. And furthermore, You are a Lettricedel-cuore, are You not? You can read People’s Hearts by touching their Chests.”

Teo remembered what she had felt when she had put her hand on the stone chest of Signor Rioba. She wondered, “Does that mean that I can do it with anyone?”

Aloud, she asked, “But how did I survive?”

“We suspect the Fish helped You.”

“The … fish?”

“It would be just like Them. Such slandered Little Beasts. Humanfolk think Them mere Swimming Machines. I understand You Humanfolk even have an Expression ‘as cold as a fish.’ Never was Anything more Untrue. Fish are verily the Kindest-Hearted Things in the Sea. Particularly the Branzino and the Sgombro …”

“But how …?”

“One day We shall perhaps know the Entire Story. For now All We can tell is This: the Fish came Here to warn Us of your Plight, all by Signs & Motion, being Mute. Somehow—We know not How—They kept You alive until We reached You. We hastened to fetch You to the House of the Spirits, and made Sure that the Nuns found You. And Those Ladies looked after You here until a new Home was found for You by the mayor.”

Lussa’s laugh tinkled scornfully around the cavern. “Of course, that Pompous Monkey knew Nothing of Us! Given What had happened, We agreed—our only ever Agreement with Him—that it was safer for Teodora to be taken away from Venice, at least for a While. We even approved of his sneaksome Plan to let the Flowering Plants grow over the Graves of Marta & Daniele Gasperin. For That hid from View the Fact that their Daughter had been found and was Alive.”

Renzo exclaimed triumphantly, “So I was right—the mayor wanted to get rid of Teo, and even the memory of Teo, to avoid bad publicity for his precious tourists!”

Teo’s voice trembled, “And that’s why I felt strange when I saw the House of the Spirits. I had been here before. But it feels like someone else’s life. I don’t remember the nuns … I don’t remember my parents.”

“Your Parents adored You, Teodora. Then the Nuns loved You,” recalled Lussa. “You could not have been more loved, or more tenderly taken care of. You were here with the Nuns for some Time, the only Baby who had ever lived in that Great House. I shall not soon forget how They cried when it was Time to send You away. But They understood Why. It was not safe here in Venice.”

Renzo observed, “And now you’ve saved her life a second time!”

Lussa replied somberly, “Teodora’s life is still in Danger, and so is Yours, Lorenzo, and so is That of Every Human in Venice as long as the Spirit of Bajamonte Tiepolo is abroad. But Yar, Teodora was saved for a Reason. Because she Herself will be Instrumental in saving Venice, according to the Prophecy.”

“The poem in the book is a prophecy?” asked Teo.

Lussa nodded.

Chissa explained, “You two childer are short-spliced now.” She plaited two tresses of her red hair together to show them what she meant. Renzo scowled.

“Can … can a ghost save Venice?” asked Teo. She was tired of pretending to herself, and to Renzo.

“But you are not a Ghost, Teodora. Poor Child, have You been worrying about That? Nay, You are not Dead. You have just gone between-the-Linings for a While.”

Teo’s knees and arms felt milky with sweet relief.

Renzo demanded, “What’s that—between-the-Linings? Why didn’t you answer me when I asked about it before? Teo, what are you smiling about? What do you know about this?”

Lussa explained patiently, “Then was not the Time. Now Lorenzo, You should know that Those who live between-the-Linings are Beings who have stepped out of Time for a Space. They are invisible to Human Adults. Children can see Them. Animals can see Them. They breathe, eat, sleep and have Bodily Functions like Everyone Else. But They cast no Shadows, leave no Fingerprints and Whatever they write is also invisible to Others. To Adult Humanfolk, the Air feels a little colder around Them. ’Tis a State that usually falls upon People in Times of Crisis, to protect Them from their Enemies, Including Enemies who are Ghosts in-the-Meltings.”

She turned to Teo. “You see, Child, ’Twas once again Necessary to take You away from your Old Life, and from the Supervision of your Adoptive Parents, in order for You to do what is now required of You. So We put You between-the-Linings.”

“How did you do that?” asked Renzo.

Lussa explained serenely, “We sing People into that State.”

Teo remembered the singing she had heard in the hospital, before she fell unconscious and woke up in the graveyard.

Teo, who had not cried when the sharks closed in, or when she saw her real parents’ grave, now burst into undignified tears. “So I can’t tell my parents, I mean my Naples parents, that I am safe? They think I might be dead. You can’t imagine how they suffer.”

“I regret not. We must wait till This is over before You can appear to Them again.”

Renzo looked disgusted. “So you thought you were a ghost, Teo? Is that why you risked my life, jumping into the water like that? Because you had nothing to lose? Because you were already dead?”

“Hush, Lorenzo!” Lussa’s voice was firm. “There are Many Matters that You do not yet know about Teodora, indeed that Teodora does not know Herself. Remember, this is hard for Her. She has been Most Mournfully Lonely between-the-Linings—and I daresay, even before That. ’Tis a Lamentable Truth that Children who are Marked Out by Destiny are generally sadly Alone.”

“That is exactly it,” reflected Teo, remembering her solitary walks around Venice. Most Mournfully Lonely.

“You must stay Secret & between-the-Linings, Teodora,” Lussa repeated. “For your own Safety. It will be harder for Bajamonte Tiepolo to find You there.”

“But why … why would he be looking for me?” asked Teo, in a shaking voice.

“You are a Gasperin, Teodora. Bajamonte Tiepolo likes not to leave any Unfinished Business. And of course the Old Prophecy will be in Il Traditore’s Mind. If He knew that the Undrowned Child had come back to Venice, He would be looking for Her,” said Lussa simply. “That is why You must keep Yourself away from his Little Henchwoman Maria, who might lead Him to You.”

She concluded firmly, “Now That is all You need to know at this Time. We have frightened You enough for Today, I believe.”

She asked Renzo to take Teo back to her “cabin” at the hotel. Renzo’s anger had evaporated. He looked as frightened as Teo felt. A light aperture in the roof of the cave showed that the moon had gone behind a big black cloud. How could they walk back through the city without light?

Renzo, with a wary eye on the parrots, explained, “Our lanterns keep dying.”

Lussa nodded, and clapped her hands. A pair of slightly oily mermaids, whose apron pockets were bulging with tools, now appeared. They held aloft two tattered old kites in the shape of plump red and blue fish made out of lacquered paper.

“Tested and in full working order, Your Majesty.” The engineer-mermaids bowed to Lussa, and then handed one to each of the children. The fish jerked upwards on their strings. They bobbed in the air, their eyes blank and their mouths open.

“Kites?” observed Renzo dubiously. “Children’s kites?”

“Tie Them to your Wrists,” Lussa suggested. “Ask Them nicely.”

Feeling self-conscious, Teo spoke softly to her fish, “If you please, give us light.”

Inside the kite a jeweled candle burst into life. Suddenly the eyes of the fish glowed with alert intelligence.

“Now snap your fingers, Teodora.”

The flame extinguished immediately. Renzo and Teo climbed up the stairs, wading through the seaweed, out of the chapel and through the garden, where all the ghosts were silent now, watching them pass with a sort of respect that suddenly made the children more nervous than before. After hauling themselves over the wall and the row of boats, they found someone waiting for them on the path at the water’s edge.

For some reason her lamp hadn’t gone out but shone a bright dirty yellow.

Maria whistled when she saw Teo. “Ain’t you in trouble! Wait’ll I tell your parents! I shouldn’t like to be in your shoes when they hear about this.”

the first glimmerings of dawn, June 8, 1899

Renzo and Teo regarded her in stupefied silence while Maria chattered like a budgerigar.

“Te-Odore, where did you get those stupid old kites? Very dainty you look, I must say. What happened to your skirt? It’s all torn! Have you been swimmin’? Ugh, you stink like a canal! And have you been eating curry? Ugh! But who’s your friend?” Maria simpered. “Where did you find him? And by the way, Dora, I’ve seen you two together these last few days, lookin’ in that crazy old book.… I should think your parents are going to kill you,” she added happily. “Their Little Miss Perfect has really gone off! Upsettin’ them like that!”

All the while Maria twisted the emerald earring in her ear, which had visibly swelled and was now discolored with a black and yellow bruise.

Renzo looked at Maria with fascination, as if she was a particularly repulsive spider. And indeed, while Teo watched Renzo watching Maria, a large brown insect crawled out of Maria’s pocket, unseen by her, and scuttled off.

With relief, Teo realized that Maria herself was not really interested in The Key to the Secret City, or what they’d been doing. The thing was that Renzo was a boy. For the first time Teo noticed that Renzo, even wet, injured and in a state of shock, was probably what most girls would describe as handsome.

Teo thought, “Well, at least Maria isn’t in love with Bajamonte Tiepolo, if she’s trying her so-called feminine wiles on someone else. That’s one good thing.”

Maria’s face was plastered with rouge and she was wearing high-heeled boots that made her lurch from side to side like a baby giraffe. She obviously believed she looked like a fashion-plate. But her skin was a strange greenish color under the rouge, and there was something wrong with her shoulders. It couldn’t just be the ruffles of her bodice. Maria was also wearing more crests than ever, and they were all the same—red, yellow and blue.