Emerald Mountains (The Dream Traveler Series Book 2)

by Nicole Knight

  It was getting more difficult by the second to keep my magic controlled and keep the ice from cracking under the water’s pressure. I could feel sweat dripping down my face from the effort, and my body was becoming lethargic.

  There was no time to focus on me when most of my family was at the bottom of the ocean and unresponsive. Not to mention, I could feel this giant hole in my heart which could only signal one thing from my soul mate.

  But I can’t focus on that now, or I will let the ice and water cave in around me, and none of us will stand a chance of ever resurfacing alive.

  I quickly ran circles and circles around my friends who had been propped up together in a group when my magic dropped them here.

  When they were bound by my kelp ropes, the monster did the very thing I had feared since I saw it. It made an ear-piercing screeching sound, and then smashed into the ice barrier.

  Water came tumbling in, and it was just as cold and shocking as the first time. I almost lost the last breath I had taken. I was now pretty deep underwater with tons and tons of water pouring in. The force of the water and ice was enough to crush me. If I hadn’t instinctively called on my magic to shield me, much like I did what the fighting the dragon, I would likely be dead.

  While the water was still pouring in around me, the shield took the brunt force. I grabbed my family with both my hands and my magic, then called on the water to push us upwards.

  The monster had been dazed when it hit the ice, but it was back with a vengeance. While we rose to the surface, I created spears of ice with my magic and shot them at the monster. The first one hit the beast, in what I assume is its face. After that, it swatted the other ice spears out of its way. I shot more, as a distraction, while I focused on getting us out of the water and quickly.

  When I hit the surface, I gasped for breath. I was relieved, except this wasn’t over, not by a long shot. I needed to get my family to wake up, every single last one of them.

  The sight of the twins devastated me. I have never been in their presence when they wore anything other than a smile; one of them was always laughing. Now their eyes were shut, and they were turning blue.

  I knew the monster wasn’t done with us and quickly called on the water to make a wave to carry us to shore.

  I felt something wrap around my leg. I grabbed one good breath before it pulled me back under.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Iwas pulled below the water, but my concentration was on the water above me. I continued to call on the water to push my family toward the shore. At this point, I'm not even sure I would be able to bring them back with CPR.

  The only thing I had going for me was that the water was ice cold and would help slow down brain damage if they were revived…

  When I was confident that their bodies made it to the shore, I pulled my attention to my current situation. I was being pulled deeper and deeper. The tentacle was wrapped around my legs and was beginning to squeeze. Too much pressure and my legs would break.

  I quickly grabbed control of my magic and formed an air bubble around me. I let out the breath I had been holding and took in a new one.

  That felt good.

  Then I created a new sword in my hand since mine didn't come with me into the trial somehow. I swung it at the monster and sliced the tentacle that had held me. I was free for only a moment before a new one grabbed me even tighter. Blood was filling the water, and would soon bring other predators I didn't want to see.

  I can't keep wounding, I need to deal a devastating blow, stat.

  A fire would have to do, but I'm deep underwater. I quickly created an air bubble like mine around the monster's body, minus the tentacle holding me.

  I leaned forward, just touching the air bubble surrounding this sea monster. I called on my magic again to make a massive fireball. I shot it at the beast and continued throwing continuous fireballs. With my other hand, I sliced at the tentacle holding me.

  When I was free, I shot one last giant fireball at the monster and then watched it scream out in pain and flee.

  I wasted no time and shot towards the surface. I shot out of the water using my magic and floated toward the shore where my family lay, still tied together. My fight or flight instinct had fully set in now, and I shot a small ball of fire at the kelp that bound them together.

  I landed next to them, and the kelp released them. They tumbled away from each other. They were all cold and didn't appear to be breathing. How could I save them?

  I refused to get this far for them to be gone. I couldn't live with myself, even if this was just a test, and they would be ok after. I would live knowing that I had failed to save them in this test and that knowledge would haunt me forever.

  I had a feeling these trials were meant for me to learn about my magic as much as it was about testing my character to see if I was worthy of more magic.

  I tried to block out the aching in my heart that told me that Axel was gone. I couldn't believe that yet.

  I reached out to my friends with my magic, and I could feel it clinging to them. I forced it to their faces, down their throat, and into their lungs. It may have been easier to do one at a time, but all six would be difficult. I used my magic and my knowledge of anatomy to locate the lungs, inflate, and then deflate them. With even more magic, I found the heart and did internal compressions.

  I didn't have six of me to perform CPR on all of them, so this would have to do. It took a lot of concentration and headspace to do this for six different people all at once. I couldn't let my mind wander.

  I closed my eyes, and put my forehead to the sand, I was kneeling and bent forward, with my hands stretched out in front of me. I was listening and feeling for any changes in the sand, or movement from my family.

  It felt like hours but was probably only a minute before I heard a gasp and opened my eyes to see who it belonged to.

  Star was lying there with her eyes open and staring. I withdrew my control, which felt like untangling my magic from a complex web, but I gladly did it. She began to cough without my magic breathing for her, which was a good sign. Her body was taking control and doing what it needed to.

  I left her lying there to get her bearings while I focused on the other five. Eventually, Star sat up and grabbed Luna's hand and quietly cried.

  That broke my heart all over, and any joy I felt at being able to save Star was washed away like a wave from the ocean. It washed the sand out from under my happiness and carried it out to sea.

  I did my best to ignore that and put more effort into the other five. I was extremely worried about Aunt Beetie and Wisdom because of their age. They may not be able to survive this.

  I heard another gasp and felt the sand shift and opened my eyes, which had closed again. Trin sat up and looked around her quickly. Tears quickly formed in her eyes. I pulled my magic from her lungs and heart and heard her cough as well. That didn't stop her, she quickly crawled over to her grandmother, and her little cousin and grabbed their hands. Star instantly crawled into Trin's lap and quietly cried.

  Trin shushed her and rubbed her back. She was staring at her loved ones lying on the beach unmoving, except for the rise and fall of their chests.

  Then as if realizing that I was there for the first time, she looked beyond them to me, and she had tears in her eyes, and some of them had run down her face. She was a mess between the sand, her tangled hair, and her broken heart.

  The look that passed between us was one of so much meaning. She was my sister in every sense of the word. She was pleading with me not to stop. If this was all just a cruel test, and it didn't matter, it was the worst test ever created. My heart continued to break over and over, every minute that passed without a new gasp.

  I had promised Trin with my eyes, that I wouldn't let our family go, not until my last breath. I would be on this beach for a lifetime breathing for them if I had to. My love, her grandmother, our great grandfather, and our cousin lie there unconscious, and somehow this was all my fault.

&
nbsp; I could feel my energy and my magic depleting, and I couldn't keep this up for a lifetime. It helped that now I was only breathing for four instead of six, but it was still absolutely draining.

  Time seemed to pass incredibly slow as their lives hung in the balance, and I was terrified that I may have to break my promise to Trin. I wasn't sure she would be able to recover from this or forgive me.

  These trials were meant to test me. I must be doing something right for part of my family to have woken up, but there must be more I am supposed to do. If I pass, I may be given more magic; that is the whole point of going through with this, but it is not worth my family's lives.

  I thought back to the sacrifices that Victoria made to become the Queen of the Morthlands.

  I wonder if her sacrifices were as great as this? If I ever saw her in the dreamland again, I would ask.

  I spoke to my magic like any crazy person would do.

  "Please magic; I need your help. Or Venia, whoever is listening and feels so inclined to help me. I just need to save them, my family, by whatever means it takes."

  I felt my magic surge up inside me, but it felt rejuvenated. It took me a moment to realize the source. I had been receiving energy from the sand beneath me.

  When it felt like I was full and high off magic, it surged out of me, after having no place to go. I felt the force of it leaving me in a bang and a blinding white light leave my chest and completely blind me.

  With that, I lost consciousness.

  It must have only been a minute later that I woke up and pulled my face from the sand, and my entire family was stirring, even Beetie and Wisdom.

  I signed in relief and allowed myself to sink into the exhaustion that threatened to take me. Trin was the first to reach me. She placed her hand on me in concern as I fell under again.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Iwoke up back on my patch of grass on the floor of the cave. The emerald face was watching me.

  I sat up. I had been lying face first in the grass. As I shifted, dried sand fell off of me. It was extremely uncomfortable.

  “Very interesting,” the face told me.

  “Is that a good or bad interesting?” I asked it, feeling tired.

  I brought back my family, but I wasn’t very confident that I had passed that round. After all, I had asked for help from my magic and from Venia. I felt magic rushing to my aid that did not belong to me.

  Did you get to call on lifelines in these trials? Where is the official rule book when you need one?

  “I did not expect you to save them all, and yet you did,” the face shared. It is hard to read a face made from a giant block of emerald, but it seemed impressed.

  “Did Victoria have the same trial?” I asked.

  “Yes, she did indeed. She had saved four of the six.”

  I sat there for a moment in silence. I had saved my entire family, which was better than Victoria had done. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, because Victoria was highly intelligent. I had only met her once in a dream, but I have spent much time reading her journals, which she left for me. I also have heard many stories from our family. I feel like I knew her well, so hearing that I had outperformed her in this task, took me by surprise.

  “Well, don’t look so shell shocked,” the face told me, breaking me free from my thoughts.

  “I can’t help it,” I said.

  The face just looked at me, no longer impressed.

  “I don’t know much about these trials except for the end result. Victoria was not able to share much from her experience. Still, I assume these are meant to be a lesson and an opportunity to prove we are worthy of the magic we would receive as a prize. Am I correct?” I asked the face.

  The face gave me a single nod.

  “Then, in the spirit of learning, what did I do differently? I felt sure I would fail when I had to ask for help, but I was ok with that to save my family,” I shared.

  “That is exactly what sets you apart. That humility is what deemed you worthy of the help. There is magic in reserves to assist those truly in need, who are worthy. You would sacrifice everything to help them, and so the magic aided you.”

  It all began to make sense.

  “So asking for help didn’t disqualify me, it helped me pass?” I asked.

  The face gave me another quick nod.

  “Wow,” I said out loud.

  The face just stared blankly at me again.

  “What happens next?” I asked.

  “I’m glad you asked. Next, you get your first gift of magic. With each trial you pass, you get a new magical gift and an increase in the magic you can control. However, what you have been gifted is up for you to discover.”

  I thought about what to do next, but humble appreciation is what my heart told me was right. I got to my knees in front of the face and said, “Thank you for that gift.”

  The face actually grew a small smile and nodded in my direction.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” it said before I was suddenly surrounded by green smoke.

  It became hard to breathe quickly, but the smoke spun around me like I was in a century storm tornado. A sudden burst of pain racked my body, and I let out a horrified scream.

  The smoke gathered in a thin trail that wrapped itself around me, and then went straight into my mouth.

  Suddenly, a bright, painful burst of green light exploded from my body like the light on the beach had. Then I fell to the ground for the second time today.

  ☼

  When I woke up again, my energy levels felt normal, but I did not. I was in the second trial, and it seems that it takes place in hell.

  There were flames all around me, and it was hard to breathe. I took in my surroundings, and besides fire, I couldn’t see much. Darkness surrounded me in any direction I turned.

  I could hear tortured screams crying out for help, but I couldn’t locate from where. This felt like purgatory with unending darkness all around me, except for the flames’ light.

  The first order of business was to put the flames out. I now have mentally recovered from the last trial, and I am thinking logically. I held my hands out and called on my control of the water to flood this space. Within seconds dark storm clouds formed above my head in every direction as far as I could see and began dumping water onto the flames.

  Quickly the water beat down the flames, and the area became foggy with steam. I felt sweat dripping down my shirt, and my legs were sweating in my jeans. My leather jacket, which had found its way back to me, felt suffocating. I took it off and tied it around my waist.

  When I could step over what was left of the flames, I began to move quickly. I called to my light, which instantly appeared beside me and helped light my way. I followed the sound of the tortured cries while running as fast as I could. Whoever these sounds are coming from, I am meant to free; I could just feel it.

  Eventually, through the dark, cages appeared. Some of those faces looked familiar, and it took me a moment to place where I had seen them, but it hit me. Some of these people were the magic-workers I had freed from the hidden dungeon back in my castle when I first became Queen.

  So much had happened between now and then, that it felt like a lifetime ago.

  The magic-workers saw me and cried out for help. They must have recognized me, even in the trials, but their captor also saw me, and I knew him well.

  Kennan laughed when he felt my presence. Great, I would have to fight this asshole twice, once here in the trials and once in real life.

  Spin this into a positive Violet. You get a practice round before the real deal. You should be thanking the trials for this.

  Just like that, I had changed my attitude, and I was ready for this.

  A glance around told me that I was alone with Kennan, aside from the caged magic-workers. They continued to cry out to me. Those who had met me warned me to run away, and that broke my heart.

  I brought my fists up to a fighting position to be ready, no matter what Kennan threw my way. Su
ddenly the ground began to shake, and creatures began to form from the rocky terrain. They were the size of Great Danes but moved even faster and looked like a shark crossed with a porky pine. It had a large deadly looking mouth with a body with long sharp spikes sticking off of it. The whole thing was made entirely of stone, and there were dozens of them.

  They moved to create a formation, and they were all staring at me. Kennan laughed again before pointing in my direction and telling them to attack, and then they charged at me.

  I ducked from the first one who had leaped into the air to try to grab my face. It landed behind me and recovered quickly. I needed a larger weapon than my sword. I quickly created a sledgehammer and swung it at the rock creature when it jumped at me again. One swing to the face had the thing crumbling apart.