Wade flicked his fish tail lightly, gliding through the murky waters like a streak of light.
He realized that swimming in a narrow bath and swimming freely in the vast Black Lake were two completely different experiences.
The icy current brushed against the gills at the side of his face, bringing a refreshing sensation. His body felt extraordinarily light, as though gravity no longer applied to him.
As Wade gradually dove deeper, the color of the lake darkened, the scenery grew dimmer. Forests of water plants swayed gently along the lakebed, while strings of tiny bubbles rose upward like pearls.
To the fish in the lake, those dark green strands of algae must look like towering skyscrapers.
A school of silvery fish, startled by Wade's presence, scattered in an instant before gathering again, swirling together like a drifting nebula.
They swam alongside him for a while, until Wade gave his tail a flick, leaving the little fish far behind.
Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed ahead, like a giant standing upright in the water.
"A heart of steel lies sleeping in shadow…"
The line from the song flashed across Wade's mind.
He approached cautiously, only to discover it was nothing more than a strangely shaped rock, riddled with holes of various sizes. Bioluminescent shrimp and crabs picked away at its surface.
Wade searched all around but found nothing resembling a "Heart of Steel." As he circled the stone, completely unprepared, a black shadow shot toward him like lightning!
A Kappa!
Wade jerked backward at full speed, and water surged violently as claws slashed past his face.
With a swift spin, his powerful tail lashed out and struck the creature hard. The grotesque monster was flung against the rock, oozing greenish blood.
Wade followed up with a Stunning Spell, watching as the Kappa drifted unconsciously, bumping again and again into the stone. His brows knit slightly.
Just then, a bony arm reached silently from behind, grasping toward the fabric drifting near his back.
Wade flicked his wrist, and his wand carved a graceful arc through the water—
"Bang!"
The current exploded outward. The Grindylow that had tried to ambush him was blasted into a tumble, spinning several times before it could stop itself. But before Wade could strike again, the creature darted headfirst into a patch of nearby weeds and vanished in an instant.
Wade let out a faint breath of relief.
The underwater environment was nothing like the surface—danger could come from any direction. He had to heighten his focus and double his vigilance. The adjustment was not easy.
Still, the merperson's body allowed him to adapt quickly. He calmed the rippling water around him and swam slowly toward the spot where the giant squid often surfaced.
Today, however, the squid had not risen to bask in the sun. It lay coiled in a dark crevice on the lakebed, its tentacles lined with suckers curled slightly inward. Its normally round eyes were narrowed to slits, and its soft body rose and fell in slow rhythm.
—Asleep?
The thought crossed Wade's mind, and he slowed his pace.
He knew the squid's sleep never lasted long, and that it was extremely alert—at the slightest disturbance, it would wake instantly.
Although the giant squid was usually friendly to Hogwarts students—even hauling people out when they fell into the water—today, it was the "final boss" of the task. Wade had no intention of gambling on either the squid's temper or its sense of duty.
Instinctively, he held his breath. The tip of his wand lit with the faintest glow, casting a dim light over the surroundings.
Circling halfway around the giant squid, Wade noticed that one of its tentacles had something stuck to a sucker—a red cylinder, about as thick as a finger.
—Could this be the crimson sunset?
Without hesitation, Wade flicked his tail and swam closer. Just as his fingertips were about to touch the cylinder, the tentacle twitched.
Wade froze instantly, wand clenched tightly, ready to unleash a spell at any moment.
But the squid didn't wake. It merely shifted its body, and soon its breathing steadied again.
With the slightest motion, Wade flicked with his fingertip.
The cylinder fell from the sucker, and Wade snatched it quickly.
Glancing once more at the squid's narrowed eyes, he slowly backed away. Only after putting a safe distance between himself and the creature did he study the object in his hand.
It looked like a ruby pillar, slightly thinner at both ends. Cool and smooth to the touch, its surface was etched with fine magical runes.
Wade knew he'd be collecting items, so even in his transformed state, he had a brown pouch fastened at his waist. He slipped the cylinder inside and continued swimming deeper into the Black Lake.
The water around him grew steadily colder and the light grew dimmer. He didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly, a melodious song drifted into his ears.
His spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace. Before long, he saw rough, dome-shaped stone huts in the direction of the singing, their dark windows gaping like hollow eyes.
Merpeople were swimming among them, their silver tails swishing through the water. But their appearance could not have been more different from Wade's.
These Merpeople were neither slender nor beautiful. Their iron-gray skin was covered with fine scales, their moss-green hair hung like rotting weeds, their eyes bulged, and their sharp fangs jutted from mouths that were part human, part fish. Their bodies were thin and gaunt with their ribs clearly visible.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wade caught the streaming mirror blue fish darting nearby. He wondered whether the audience watching would now have their illusions about "beautiful mermaids" shattered for good.
In truth, he knew from books that the beautiful mermaids did exist—but they were not the same species as these. The difference between the two was as great as that between centaurs and zebras.
The beautiful mermaids were not only lovelier, but also prouder and far more dangerous. They lived in the depths of the sea, rarely communicating with wizards, and would certainly never agree to act as NPCs in a wizarding tournament.
The moment Wade approached, the Merpeople spotted him. They did not attack, but instead darted quickly into their stone huts.
A few mer-children, curious about how different he looked from them, swam toward him—only to be yanked back by their parents.
Through the windows, pairs of yellow eyes glared out warily, following his every move. Wherever Wade swam, their gaze tracked him.
It was obvious that the creature his current form represented did not have good relations with the Merpeople tribe. While he received no help, Wade was at least relieved not to be driven away outright.
He swam above the stone huts, circling slowly. Then his eyes narrowed slightly—
On the outer walls of some of the stone huts hung old bronze disks. Because they so closely resembled round windows, Wade hadn't noticed at first that these were in fact the very objects he was meant to find.
He swam quickly over and plucked one of the bronze disks from a hut. Etched around its edge was a ring of finely carved zodiac patterns. The surface was mottled with patches of rust, and in the very center was a circular hole.
A flicker of realization stirred in Wade's mind—he now understood what exactly the song had instructed them to seek.
He slipped the disk into his pouch and glanced around.
The Merpeople remained inside their huts, watching his movements. They still made no move to stop or drive him away.
Changing direction, Wade swam to another hut, intending to take the disk there as well, to compare its design with the one he already held.
At that moment, several Merpeople suddenly moved. They thrust their spears out, barring his way.
"Each person may only take one."
One especially ugly merman spoke in a low, gravelly voice: "Warrior, do not be greedy."
This time, Wade had no thought of sabotaging his rivals. He retreated a few paces as they asked, and the Merpeople visibly relaxed, lowering their spears.
Wade gave them a friendly smile, waved, and then swam off in another direction with his prize.
Now, only the heart of steel remained.
If his guess was right, it should be a compass.
In the deeper waters of the lake, there were plenty of minor dangers—tangles of weeds, venomous jellyfish, lurking grindylows, as well as electric eels, water snakes, and giant catfish.
In short, all creatures meant to give the students some trouble, but still manageable. As for the truly dangerous beings—the giant squid and the Merpeople—they had both shown remarkable restraint.
Patiently, Wade searched for the place that could be called "the shadow." More than once he spotted a massive shadow ahead, only to find on closer inspection that it was nothing more than a clump of weeds or a rotting log.
Then suddenly, the waters before him shifted—
A whirlpool was forming on the lakebed, slowly rotating like a transparent waterspout. One end stretched upward toward the lake's surface, while the other plunged downward into the deeper, darker gorge of the Black Lake.
—Is there anywhere darker than this, within the Black Lake?
Wade hesitated for a moment. His one hand clutched his pouch tightly at his waist, then with a powerful flick of his tail, he shot straight into the whirlpool!
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