The Mermaid Who Cannot Lie

When Lu Wenchao fell, Coral felt for the first time that the shore was far away.

He was right in front of her, his hand still clutching her sleeve, but his body temperature was dropping fast, like a stone left on the sand after the tide receded. The Silver Hook Poison spread along the wound, black lines crawling from his shoulder toward his neck, each inch seeming to steal his breath away.

The Broken Song in the basement kept crashing against the glass.

Madam Bai was separated by the smoke, her pearl earrings glaring brightly inside the apparatus. Qin Yan stood nearby, still holding the poisoned silver hook. He probably hadn't expected Lu Wenchao to actually use his body as a shield; for the first time, a momentary blankness appeared on his face.

"Lu Wenchao?" Coral patted his cheek. "Don't pretend to be asleep. This isn't funny."

Lu Wenchao opened his eyes, his voice hoarse almost beyond hearing: "Run."

"Not running."

"Be good."

"Not listening today."

This was the first time she had said those words with such determination. Her fingers pressed against his wound, but the poison patterns still crawled out from between her fingers, like a pack of disobedient little black snakes.

Xiaoman crawled out from under the desk, hugging her Comic Book, crying as she pulled open the hidden door: "This way! I saw them moving boxes through here earlier—we should be able to get out!"

"Take her and go," Lu Wenchao said to Xiaoman.

Coral immediately shook her head: "Not taking me, only taking you."

"Coral."

He rarely called her name like that. Not an order, not a complaint that she was trouble. It was like a hand pressing down on a place about to crack.

But Coral didn't let go.

"You've caught me many times," she said. "Now it's my turn."

Xiaoman wiped her tears and rushed over to help her carry him. Two girls—one who didn't know how to carry someone, the other whose hands were still shaking—tried to support Lu Wenchao between them and nearly bumped his head against the doorframe several times. Coral, panting, scolded the doorframe very seriously: "Don't bite him!"

Xiaoman, mid-sob, was startled into hiccups: "The doorframe is not the priority right now!"

Behind them came Madam Bai's voice: "Darling, the Silver Hook Poison won't hold out much longer. You'll sing eventually."

Coral didn't look back.

The passage was narrow, leading to the alley behind the church. Lu Wenchao regained consciousness several times and passed out again each time. Every time his awareness returned slightly, he would repeat two words.

"Don't sing."

Each time Coral answered: "I heard you."

But she didn't promise.

By the time they escaped back to the lighthouse, dawn was near. When Jiang Yue opened the door and saw Lu Wenchao's wound, her face darkened. She didn't curse, didn't ask what happened—just swept everything off the table with one motion.

"Put him down."

Lu Wenchao was laid on the bed. The Silver Hook Poison had already climbed to the side of his neck, the black lines fine and dense like a net. Coral knelt by the bed, her hands covered in his blood. She didn't like red water, but right now she didn't even have time to be afraid.

"How do I save him?"

Jiang Yue didn't answer immediately.

Coral asked again: "How do I save him?"

Xiaoman stood nearby, her lips trembling. Her Comic Book had fallen to the floor, open to a page where she had drawn a heart of Lu Wenchao carrying the mermaid to safety. Now the edges of the heart were stained with blood.

Lu Wenchao, delirious with fever, still grabbed Coral's wrist: "Don't... sing."

Jiang Yue sighed.

"Silver Hook Poison is what hunters use to cut off a mermaid's song. When the poison enters a human body, it usually can't last more than half an hour. There's only one way to cure it."

Coral looked at her.

"It requires a song willingly offered," Jiang Yue said. "Not just any singing—you have to cut off a piece of your voice and give it to him. The song will draw the poison out of him, but that piece of song can never return to where it came from."

"What will happen?" Xiaoman asked tearfully.

"She will lose one path home."

The room fell silent.

Outside the lighthouse window, the waves kept crashing against the rocks. Coral heard the tide, and she also heard the Song Path inside her body that led home. It had once been very bright, connecting to Tidewater Bay, her grandmother, the Coral Lamp, and Aunt Lan's cold face. But now it was already dimmed by the lamp formation and the silver algae.

If she cut off another piece, perhaps she would forget some entrance.

Perhaps the sea would have a harder time recognizing her.

Lu Wenchao's fingers twitched, as if to stop her.

Coral looked down at him.

He always said shut up, don't sing, stay close to me. But he had blocked the lamp formation, burned the list, caught her when she jumped from the windowsill, and put half a candy in his pocket. He said he would send her home. And he himself didn't even have a home.

"Will it hurt?" Xiaoman asked.

"Yes," Jiang Yue said.

Coral thought for a moment: "I wasn't very good at finding my way anyway."

Jiang Yue frowned: "Little girl, this is no joke."

"I know." Coral pressed her forehead against the back of Lu Wenchao's hand. "But he doesn't know the way home either. He needs to find his father."

Lu Wenchao's eyelashes fluttered.

Coral said softly: "This time, I'll catch you."

She began to sing.

The song was very soft, at first like a seashell turned over by the tide, revealing the inside still undried by sunlight. Blue light flowed from her throat, slowly winding around Lu Wenchao's wound. The black lines began to recede, like ink washed away by the tide.

But Coral's face grew paler and paler.

She heard something being cut open inside her. Not very loud—even gentle. Like someone using a small pair of silver scissors to snip away a piece of the tide's sound that she had once thought would never break. That piece of tide-sound left her, entered Lu Wenchao's wound, and slowly dragged the poison out of him bit by bit.

When Lu Wenchao's breathing steadied, the first rays of dawn fell into the lighthouse.

Coral stopped.

She opened her mouth to call his name.

"Lu Wen..."

Her voice broke at the third word.

She froze.

Xiaoman covered her mouth, tears streaming down.

Jiang Yue turned her face away and cursed under her breath: "Stupid fish."

On the bed, Lu Wenchao's brow finally relaxed, but even in his coma, he still clutched her sleeve, as if afraid she would retreat back into the sea and never return.