Dark Oceans (Ocean Series Book 1)

by Rhonda Nelson

  She nodded. Part of her mind told her to snap out of her trance, but the other half decided that she was perfectly alright gazing at his face. "Right, so you just made me run all the way here for nothing?"

  "Yep."

  "Thanks," Ben muttered. "Do you want me to take you back?"

  "Nope. I've still got questions that I need answering," Alyssa said.

  "But I thought that you forgot -"

  "I've remembered them now," Alyssa said. She plucked a piece of grass out of the ground and twiddled it around her thumb. "First thing: you were ten years old when you saved me from that mermaid. My tutor said that no elf in history has defeated one before."

  "Guess I'm just special, then," he tried to laugh it off, but it didn't exactly work. Alyssa could tell from his eyes that he was nervous.

  "But you were ten years old – or around that age any way. Not even a fully-grown elf has managed to kill one," Alyssa argued.

  Ben laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "Er..."

  "And the other thing," Alyssa carried on. "How on earth did you know the weakness of the dragon in the arena? No one has managed in the Millay to defeat one."

  "Then what's the point of putting it in the arena in the first place?"

  "Stop answering with questions," Alyssa snapped harshly. "Just tell me."

  "What if it isn't any of your business?" Ben retorted.

  Alyssa stopped herself from saying 'I'm the princess of Mylvehil. It is my business.' But she knew that Ben was right. It wasn't any of her business, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to meddle with it. "I deserve to know. You could be breaking the law...you could have made a potion that makes you stronger – that's it! That's why you're so much stronger than anyone else! This means that you're cheating in the Millay!"

  Ben looked taken aback, his expression was surprised. Alyssa smirked; she knew that she had figured it out. "What? N – Um...actually yeah...but you're not going to tell anyone are you?" Ben said nervously.

  "Why wouldn't I?" Alyssa said triumphantly. She started to get up.

  "But I saved you remember? You can't just double cross me like this," he sounded so helpless...

  "I know you saved me. I'm grateful for it. But you're cheating in the games, it's not allowed," part of Alyssa's mind told her she was being unreasonable. Part of her told her that she sounded like her father. Commanding, unrelenting...evil. Ben stood up next to her. He gripped her face, for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. Her heart beat quickly. Until her head suddenly went foggy, spots danced around in her eyes. Her brow creased in confusion, what was he doing? Then she remembered nothing more.

  Chapter Fourteen

  "So... let’s recap everything we know..." Kelsie sat on her bedroom floor, her diary notebook opens over her knees. "Shall we write down some theories? Got any suggestions?"

  Luke stared into his own notepad. "How about: Alyssa is not really a princess, King Frederic adopted her when she was a baby and her real parents are top secret magicians – so that's why she was able to use magic so easily."

  "Well...it's a start – what about Mr. Wri – Gary, rather. I love his real name – ha, it doesn't suit him at all...no wonder he tells us to call him Mr. Wright."

  Luke flicked back a page in his notes. "Ok, it says here that Gary somehow knows the physician very well, even though he is your tutor and doesn't usually hang around with lower class citizens."

  "Right – carry on. It might just mean that he has known Michael since he was a child or something boring like that," Kelsie pondered. She drew a quick spider diagram in her diary, splitting it off into sections: Gary, Alyssa, Leo, and General.

  Luke sighed. "I feel like a detective now...if only I hadn't strayed into that forest...then I wouldn't be in this mess. I'd be at home making spinach and cabbage soup and my mother would be still making me loads of -"

  "Luke. Stop rambling on. Let's actually figure this mystery out, ok?"

  He nodded obediently. "How about we look back at your diary entries – they also might have some useful information."

  "Yeah," Kelsie turned back a clump of pages. She felt rather proud that she had managed to write so much. Gary would be pleased with her...although he might not be pleased when he found out that she was stalking him... Luke crawled over to where she sat and looked over her shoulder. Kelsie fought the urge to push the snotty nosed goblin away from her.

  "Here," she pointed to a paragraph she had written five years back. She had a broken look on her face, her eyes were glassy, and they didn't focus very well. Something must've happened wherever she had been, but I don't know what. It is creepy the way she talks and looks – it's been like this for weeks, but I think it's slowly getting better. But what could have made her so different. It's scary and I don't know what's going on. There was something Alyssa wasn't telling her; she was sure of it. Ahh, she found this so frustrating! All these loose paths that led nowhere. Surely, she could figure at least something out of all her notes.

  There was a sudden knock on the door. "My lady? May I come in?"

  "Get behind the curtain," Kelsie hissed to Luke. He nodded and ran rather heavily across her room and disappeared behind the dark fabric. "

  My lady?"

  "Come in!" Kelsie called, sitting at her desk as if nothing had just happened... Her brown-haired servant opened the door.

  "Your father says he is going out for a while and he'll be back at six o'clock."

  "Ok, thanks," Kelsie said. She waited for the maid to leave and then went back to sit on the floor. "Luke, you can come out now." No response. "Luke!" The curtain shifted and Luke waddled out clumsily from the windowpane.

  An excited grin was stretched across his face. Well that looked creepy. "Look over here!" he said excitedly, like a toddler showing off his new toys. Getting up from the rug on the floor, she made her way over to the window and looked out. A golden carriage was drawn up outside of her mansion, a well-dressed servant stood beside one of the doors. Her father was walking towards it – with the king of Alltalos? This is really messed up. Where was her father going with one of the most powerful men in the world?

  "Luke, write it down," she said, reverting to stalker mode. He nodded and immediately wrote in his messy handwriting in her notebook.

  "What are we going to do now? Follow them?"

  Kelsie snorted. "No, of course not. They would most likely see us, or at least one of them will. Right now, we need to go on another adventure – first on the list is to find out what Alyssa is up to."

  "Can't we just assume she's the daughter of a really powerful magician and the king has adopted her?" Luke whined. "My feet really hurt from all the sneaking about."

  "Luke, we've hardly done any sneaking about, at least you haven't. I've done the most here," Kelsie said sternly. She pushed him away from the windowsill and opened her bedroom door.

  "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" a maid dropped her smooth white sheets in her hands onto the floor. Gathering them up quickly, she ran away back down the stairs.

  "What's wrong with her?" Luke grumbled, shaking his head.

  "You scared her off, now she's going to tell all the servants and we just have to hope that they won't believe her. You should have been more careful." Kelsie went onto the landing with Luke following behind her.

  "You were the one who opened the door," He said. "Now I will have to go and live somewhere else."

  "The stables?" Kelsie suggested, walking down the stairs.

  "No! No way! I hate horses, big ugly things that can stand whilst sleeping – it's not right," Luke said.

  Kelsie sighed. "Fine, I can ask Alyssa if she will let you stay in her room. Although I have no idea how she'll react. Somehow, we also need to get information out of her, without her realizing it."

  "Cool! I can spy on her if she lets me stay in her room!" Luke recommended eagerly, following her out of the mansion and down the wide driveway. Kelsie considered. A vision of Luke came into her mind, where he was stumbling boi
sterously over tables and tripping over random objects whilst he was following Alyssa...maybe she was being too harsh, she might as well give him a chance.

  "Yeah, just try not to be too obvious though." Luke beamed and skipped rather ungracefully beside her, the morning sun lightening his dark hair. There was a happy gleam in his eyes which made him look sort of like a carefree child. That is, if you didn't look at his features and red eyes. They stopped at the end of the driveway and looked out onto a busy street. Kelsie unclasped her cloak from around her neck and draped it round Luke, pulling the hood over his head. The cloak was far too big for him and trailed a long way behind him, though it was either that or get arrested for walking around with suspicious creatures.

  "I think it suits me," Luke said, looking up at Kelsie from the red hood. Kelsie rolled her eyes.

  "In your dreams," she muttered. Pushing open the tall iron gate, they walked out into the street and made their way through the busy elf's and stalls that sometimes stood annoyingly right in the middle of the road. They walked up the polished steps of the Kings' castle and past the guards at the top. One of them looked down at Luke, distrustfully.

  "Its fine," Kelsie reassured him. "He's with me, he's my friend." The guard nodded and let them go through. Kelsie thought about what she had said: He's my friend. Was that true right now? She thought about Luke and his sweet childish attitude, the way he would do anything for her but always seemed to muck it up. Kelsie knew that if Luke managed to find a cure and turn back to an elf and then disappeared forever, part of her heart would notice the loss. They had spent so long together, trying to figure out what everyone was getting up to – it wouldn't be the same without him. The sentries let her past as she made her way up to Alyssa's chambers; she was usually in her bedroom at this hour of the day – drawing, painting or reading some incredibly boring book. Kelsie knocked on the door in her secret code. Tap, Tap Tap...Tap.

  "Come in!" she heard Alyssa say brightly. That was unusual. Pushing open the door, Kelsie and Luke stepped in the large circular room. Alyssa grinned at them; she was sitting at her desk with a paintbrush in her hand. A half-colored picture was splayed out over her desk, the golden hues of sunlight lit up the white paper. "Kelsie, how are you? Who's this little person?" Alyssa said, though Kelsie had no idea why she sounded so happy.

  "Umm...I'm fine. This is Luke...um...don't freak out when I say this but...er...he's a goblin..." Alyssa laughed cheerfully, throwing back her head and showing off her pearly white teeth. What is wrong with her today?

  "A goblin? How sweet! I've never seen one before – come on over here, no need to be shy," Alyssa encouraged.

  "So, you're ok with this then? I thought -"

  "Just what are you talking about? I don't mind goblins; they're fascinating to me. Here take a seat," she patted the two chairs next to her. Luke obliged and climbed up on the chair, his hood fell off revealing his grey chubby face.

  "Aww, he's adorable!" Alyssa leaned over and pinched his cheek. Luke got a dreamy expression on his face. Kelsie coughed.

  "Are you sure you're ok today, Alyssa?"

  "Me? Why wouldn't I be? I feel amazing! So, what brings you to my chambers this early of day?" Kelsie looked down at Luke, who was staring at Alyssa with a lovesick puppy expression. Uhhh...that's just wrong.

  "We wanted your help with some living amenities..." Kelsie started, why was Alyssa still smiling? "...a maid in our house saw Luke and it's dangerous for him to live there now – since of all the gossip and rumors that might spread -"

  "Oh, I get it!" Alyssa said elatedly. "You want me to look after Luke in my chambers." Kelsie nodded, hoping that she said yes. Although judging Alyssa's mood right now, it wasn't that hard to tell what she thought about it.

  "Well of course I will – there's a room that connect to mine, he can sleep in there, shall I show you Luke?" Luke nodded still gazing into Alyssa's eyes.

  "She's really pretty," he whispered to Kelsie and then he followed Alyssa to the door. Kelsie heard Alyssa talking to him about the room and Luke was replying a little bit too enthusiastically. Kelsie went over and investigated the room, poking her head through the doorway. Alyssa waved at her; her smile widened.

  "Care to explain why you're so happy this morning?" Kelsie asked. She sat down next to Alyssa on the small bed. Alyssa's eyes went all glazed.

  "Ben took me out last night – he showed me an absolutely amazing view of the landscape – it was so beautiful."

  "Who's Ben?" Kelsie questioned, wanting to get more information out of her. "He's a contestant for the Millay – he's really hot," Alyssa said, her smile started to look creepy.

  "So, he did this to you? Is this why you're not acting like yourself? What did he do to you when you were with him," Kelsie's voice started getting louder and louder.

  "Kelsie it's ok! I'm fine. What do you mean? – nothing happened," Alyssa said looking shocked at her outburst.

  "Oh, and you really expect me to believe that," Kelsie hissed. "He must have brainwashed you – think about it. A random guy from the Millay takes you out one night and then you come back completely different and then expect me to think you're ok?"

  "No, no, Kelsie. You're getting it all wrong! I don't remember anything happening!"

  "That doesn't mean anything. He must've wiped your memory – what does he look like?" Kelsie demanded.

  "He's got black hair, green eyes - did I mention that he is hot?" she started going all dreamy and unfocused again.

  "Got it," Kelsie said, stomping out of the room. Luke got up and followed her. "Stay here Luke – things are about to get messy."

  "Kelsie! What are you doing? Where are you going?" Alyssa called, getting up from the bed.

  "I'm avenging you Alyssa if you didn't know that. I want to know what that guy did to you," Kelsie flung open the door and ran down the stairs.

  "Kelsie! Come back!" Alyssa cried desperately. But Kelsie kept walking. Determined to figure this whole thing out.

  Ben spun round and swiped his leg under his opponent. The weaker elf fell onto the solid dirt floor. Quick as a flash, Ben placed his dagger at his neck. "Yield?"

  "I yield," the elf gasped, still winded from the fall. The contestants cheered at Ben's small victory. He was starting to warm up to them, after he realized that not all of them were jerks like Hadaway' and Prince Tristan. Ben helped his opponent up and they shook hands.

  "You fight well," someone said, coming up next to him.

  "Thanks," Ben said. "So, do you – I think you've beaten most of the contestants here in the training camp." The tall blonde-haired elf smiled.

  "I'm Jason Grace, by the way. This is my first time in the Millay."

  "Same here," Ben said.

  "Thought so...you only look sixteen," Jason said. "But you still fight like a complete demon – it's not fair. Care to spill your secrets?"

  Ben stiffened. "Secrets?" he had far too many of them.

  Jason laughed. "Yeah, the way you fight and everything – it's like you've been training since the dawn of time." Ben fiddled with the hem of his shirt, nervously. They were coming to close to an unwanted topic. "I've just had a lot of practice."

  "So has everyone else," Jason pointed out, stepping on dangerous grounds. "You can't fool me, Ben – I know who you really are." Ben froze, a bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You're half mermaid, half elf, aren't you?"

  Ben's jaw clenched; he was prepared to brainwash Jason's mind if he had to.

  "No, why do you think that? There's no such thing."

  "It's obvious," Jason said. "The way you look is beyond elfish standards, you can use magic better than anyone else and you're only sixteen. Plus, I've seen you drinking a potion in your tent – like I said 'you can't fool me'"

  "So, what are you going to do about it?" Ben said calmly, but there was steel in his eyes, ready to wipe every single thought from his head. Jason laughed again as if it were nothing.

 
; "Me? I'm not going to tell anyone – I find it interesting how you are a boy instead of a girl. Does that make you a merman?" Ben's lips quirked into a guarded smile.

  "I suppose it does. How do I know you're not going to tell anyone?"

  "I give you my solemn oath," Jason said seriously. That was good enough for Ben. A solemn oath could not go back on itself. If you broke it, your soul would be blasted the most painful way possible, into oblivion. Ben smiled. A real smile, for the first time he could properly smile, because he had no more secrets to share and Jason accepted him for who he was. Rachel didn't count; she had many of her own secrets she kept from Ben. Even though he had known her his whole life he still felt like a stranger.

  "Thanks," Ben said, turning to leave.

  "Be careful," Jason said. "Not many people will accept you for who you really are." Ben nodded once, but he already knew that. But if it meant that even just a small number of people accepted him for who he was, he could live with that. He left the training camp to get some fresh air, trudging down the wide streets of Mylvehil. Ben liked going through the market street, it felt so alive and welcoming, and it made him feel...different. All he wanted was to belong to somewhere, but he knew it wouldn't happen. Not now, not ever.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kelsie stormed towards the training camp. Her electric blue eyes focused on the contestants that were practicing their moves on straw dummies. She looked around for a person with black hair and green eyes. But she couldn't find him. A blonde-haired elf was standing near the entrance; he looked up when he saw Kelsie. "Do you know a guy called Ben?" she demanded; the elf looked surprised at her ferocity.

  "Um...yeah – he just went that way, down the market street," he waved his arm to the right. Spinning on her heel, Kelsie stormed down the road, not even thanking the elf for his directions. All she wanted was to (hopefully) kill this elf for changing her best friend.

  A girl with black hair was walking towards him. Her eyes were even more terrifying than Prince Tristan's signature glare. Ben had no idea why she was so angry and why she was heading straight towards him. The crowd seemed to part and let her through, though they seemed oblivious to her gaze. Suddenly she pushed him against a wall, her face centimeters from his.