Of Sea and Stone (Secrets of Itlantis) by Kate Avery Ellison Read Free Book Online Page B

explained of the fish.
    Once, a long black shape glided beneath us, and I caught my breath because I had never seen such a creature before. The back was curved, the tail long and thin, with fins at the end that curved like a scythe.
    “There are many secrets in the deep,” Myo said, catching my wondering eyes. Then— “Look. Celestrus.”
    At first, it was just a glimmer of light, a flash of metal in the distance. The darkness of the water brightened as we rose higher, and ripples of sunlight filled the water. I saw a shape, hard to distinguish, surrounded by clusters of moving things that flashed and glittered. Ships?
    Then the city became clearer.
    I stared.
    The city of Celestrus was a collection of massive needle-like structures—gold and silver and transparent—that hovered in the middle of the dark blue water in a spiral, like a necklace around a floating woman’s throat, the points stretching down into the darkness below. Above the highest spindles of the city, sunlight danced in the water, making patterns atop of the city that flashed and glittered.
    Nol stood beside me, as speechless I was. His lips were pressed together in a straight, white line.
    “Itlantis is split into six cities that lie in secret beneath the sea,” Myo told us as we watched the city grow larger and more distinct from the blue haze of water around it. “Celestrus is called the Jeweled City, the second-oldest of the cities, the seat of culture and the arts, and regarded by some as the most beautiful.”
    He’d refused to answer any of my questions, but his words flowed as we gazed at the city. He pointed to a string of massive orbs that were transparent as bubbles and floating closest to the surface of the water. “Celestrus’s six floating gardens,” he said, “are a wonder of our world, and one of the most iconic pieces of Itlantis’s architecture. Each garden is dedicated to a city of the republic, and reflects its strengths and traditions. Each city contains six gardens like this, in honor of the six cities, but Celestrus’s are the oldest and most elaborate.”
    They were so beautiful, like pearls. The sunlight made their surface sparkle, and I could only faintly see inside to where plants were growing and waterfalls were splashing. I saw people in rich robes with elaborate hairstyles watching our ship pass as it swept over the top of one of the orbs and then beneath another.
    “It’s time to go back to your quarters,” Myo said. “We’ll be docking soon.”
    Before we could leave, Myo grabbed my wrist.
    “Don’t tell anyone where you came from,” he said, “or the circumstances of your capture. If it is discovered that you were not executed on that ship as ordered, you will be hunted down and killed. You saw things that you were not supposed to see. You know things you are not supposed to know. Say nothing. Trust no one. Keep your heads down and your mouths shut and you will survive, do you understand?”
    I nodded. Nol stared straight ahead, and Myo grabbed his chin and forced Nol to face him.
    “Your life could depend on it,” he said.
    Nol glared. “I don’t plan on making conversation with my master .” He spat the word as if it were poison.
    Myo seemed satisfied with that. “Remind yourselves every day,” he said, “to tell them nothing.”
     
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    AFTER WE DOCKED, Myo ordered us up the ladder again, into another holding cell to wait for the guards. I stared at the bars and shivered. Nol demanded to know what he was doing.
    “This is simply standard protocol,” Myo explained. “I’m sorry, but it’s the way it must be done. All Indentureds are treated this way. Make it convincing.”
    When they came for us, Nol put up a fight. He yelled and kicked and twisted until the first guard kicked him in the groin and he fell to his knees, groaning.
    He’d certainly made it convincing.
    The guards looked at me, and I could see that they were gauging whether I was going to act the same