The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1)

by Valfroy, S. J.

  Serena checked the placement of the sun overhead, a shimmering, mirage-like ball of light shining through the surface. Surely, Casius and Athena would be arriving soon. She flicked her tail and popped her head over the top of the reef, above all of the brightly-colored and wildly-shaped arms of coral and sea flowers and through the parade of fish towards the north side of the reef. No sign of Casius and the tramp. She knew Moira and the pirate ship were over there, though, disguised by one of Moira’s more impressive spells. Serena squinted and stared hard at the place she knew the ship was. She could just barely make out the shape of the bottom when it bobbed in the water. She could not see the rest of the ship or its crew at all through the surface of the water no matter how hard she tried. Moira had enchanted the ship, the crew, and herself to become like a mirror, reflecting back the colors and textures surrounding them, and she had done well. Athena, in her rush to find her child, wouldn’t see a thing until it was too late.

  Serena sank back down behind the cover of the reef, thinking, Where on earth is Hazel?

  “Are they here yet?” said Hazel, making Serena suck in a frightened gasp and nearly drop the basket and Cordelia.

  She whirled around to face her sister, who was now trying to stifle a laugh with her hand, and said, “Damn it, Hazel! When did you get so quiet? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry,” said Hazel, not looking as though she was.

  “How did it go?”

  “Seemed to go fine, but I didn’t stick around. I left when they started screaming, just like you said. They never saw me; I stayed below the city’s edge. I didn’t stick around to see if Triton showed up, but he was close by. I made sure of it.”

  “Good,” said Serena, squeezing Hazel’s shoulder affectionately. Hazel smiled at the praise. “Now all we can do is wait.”

  “What are we going to do with…?” Hazel looked around at the fish and pointed towards the basket.

  Serena’s brow scrunched up. “I still haven’t decided.”

  Hazel let it go.

  “Cordelia?” came a shout on the other side of the reef. “Cordelia, it’s Mommy. I’m here, baby.”

  With the prospect that her child was nearby, Athena forgot Triton’s admonitions about calling for the babe. On the other side of the reef, out of sight, Serena and Hazel both snapped to attention, listening hard, trying to hear over the constant chatter of the fish.

  “Where exactly did you hear her, Casius?”

  “Well, actually, I was swimming right about here, approaching the reef, when I heard it. But I couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. Perhaps if you call again she will make another sound and we can try to find her together.”

  “Cordelia!”

  Serena and Hazel had not been able to catch anything Casius and Athena said to each other, but they heard the second call.

  “What’s Mother waiting for?” said Hazel, fidgeting with her hands. Athena’s desperate calls were making her throat feel tight.

  “She must not be in the right spot yet,” said Serena.

  “Come on, you useless cephalopod, get her to move ten feet to the right,” said Moira under her breath as Athena called for Cordelia. “A few feet closer to the surface wouldn’t hurt either. Great Sea God in the Pacific, can’t he see where the boat is? Squint, you idiot, squint.”

  She was floating right next to the boat, holding on to a rope attached to the deck. She wanted to ride the ship, be a part of it, when the end came (though she had been sure to stay on the side of the ship that was hidden to the fish on the reef). Plus, she was so tired, she could hardly swim of her own volition. The cloaking spell she was using was not the sort of spell that she could speak once and have done with. Every second that she, the ship, and Captain Kaidan’s crew were disguised was a drain on her power, and the ship was massive. She could feel her power waning. For a moment, she had looked down at her hand and seen the color flickering back and forth from the creamy white of her skin and the black of her tattoos to the blue of the water.

  She pulled herself up the rope with the help of her tail and popped her head out of the water.

  “Captain,” she called as loud as she dared.

  “Aye,” came a voice from nowhere.

  “Hoist the sails now. The spell is slipping. We need to get closer.” Even as she said it, she caught a glimpse of the red feather in Kaidan’s hat.

  “Don’t worry,” said Kaidan, his voice just above a whisper. “I can see her down there. Her hair’s as red as you said. Draws the eye like an X on a map. Hoist the sails, boys.”

  The invisible sails went up with the squeal of rigging and caught the wind with a whoosh. Beneath the water, Athena’s eyes twitched in the direction of the ship, drawn by the faint noise from the surface, but it was not the sound she was waiting and praying for, and so she ignored it.

  “I’m going to call one more time,” said Athena, the threat of tears in her voice as terrible disappointment ate away at her newfound hope, “and then if we don’t hear anything, we’ll just have to go search the entire reef.”

  Casius said nothing, just floated calmly beside her.

  “Cordelia!”

  Instead of a baby’s cry, there was a ripping noise as Moira’s spell broke. Athena gasped in surprise as the hulking ship appeared from nowhere. She started to backpedal, and Casius saw that Moira had taken the spell off too soon. The ship was closing the distance, but it was slow progress. It was a big ship, and the sails had just been opened. In a second, Athena would get over her shock and take off at full speed down into deeper water. He did the only thing he could think of. He wrapped all eight of his tentacles around her and held her fast. Stretched to his full extent, he was as long as a merman, and each tentacle was as powerful as a merman’s arm, if not more. Athena was encased from chest to tail in tentacles. He hugged her tight to his body.

  “Casius? Casius, what are you doing?” Her voice went higher with every word. He could feel her heart speed up as panic took hold. She began to thrash in his arms. “Let me go!” She managed to pump her tail once, sending them both moving through the water and away from the oncoming ship, but Casius yanked her back. “Let me go! Let me—”

  Moira’s laugh chilled Casius’ blood. Athena went rigid in his arms as she locked eyes with Moira. She was riding along with the ship, pulled by a rope. Her black hair was a roiling mass of snake-like strands. Violet flames burned in place of her pupils. Her tattoos had come to life—the Celtic knots twisting up and down her arms, the sea flowers opening and closing their petals, the sea serpents coiling up and opening their mouths to strike, the Atlantian Runes vibrating hard enough to hurt the eyes. Her laugh was a scream of triumph and bloodlust.

  Athena thrashed harder than ever as the ship brought Moira ever closer, and, to Casius’ horror, she began to cry.

  “Oh God, oh please, please no!” she said, wriggling wildly in his arms, only now fully realizing she was fighting for her life. Her voice shook with sobs. She screamed every word. “Casius please, please don’t do this! Let me go! My baby, think about my baby!”

  Casius moaned, the sound of a creature in terrible pain, but still he held on, telling himself over and over, It’s for Serena; it’s all for Serena. He wrenched Athena back in place every time she managed to move him through the water. He ignored the pain of her nails clawing into his flesh. His blood was swirling in the water, but he did not see it. He could see nothing but the red of her hair; it was all around him, sticking to him, blinding him, choking him. He did not see the shadow of the boat loom over him. He did not hear the pirates’ calls over the sound of her screams. But he did hear Moira’s laugh, and now it was much too close. It was the sound of evil. It made his skin crawl to hear it so close. He let go of Athena just as the great fishing net splashed into the water. He cried out and pumped his tentacles towards the reef, but the net was b
ig enough to ensnare a large shark. It was all around him. Athena’s screams threatened to burst his eardrums. Her wails threatened to break his heart and drive him mad. The net was made of strong, tightly woven rope, and the holes were small. It would be hard for even an octopus to squeeze through them, but he thought he could do it. He went head first, compressing his skin and organs as only an octopus could. He grunted with effort and discomfort as his eyeballs were squished by the rope. And then his head was through and the worst was over…or at least it should have been. Athena was pulling at the net with her hands and whipping her tail wildly back and forth trying to free herself, but in her crazed panic, all she managed to do was wrap the net more tightly around herself, and Casius along with her. The net twisted and ensnared one of Casius’ tentacles in a viciously tight knot. He cried out in pain and then in fear as he realized that the pirates would not hold off their attack simply because an octopus had gotten itself caught in the net. Octopus was a delicacy in the human world. His death would be an added bonus. He slipped his seven unhindered tentacles out of the net through the same hole he’d squeezed his head through and tried to keep his vital organs as far away from Athena’s thrashing body as possible.

  He felt himself tugged up towards the surface as the pirates began hauling up the net, and panic set in. He looked towards the reef and opened his beak to yell for Serena only to find that she was already shooting through the water towards him.

  How had it gone so wrong so quickly? The ship should not have appeared until it was practically on top of Athena. Casius was never supposed to have to latch onto her like that. The reef fish had seen. Then he’d gotten stuck in the net. Serena had not hesitated, giving the shocked and curious eyes of the reef fish only a second’s thought. She would not watch her best friend die alongside her enemy.

  She grabbed onto the net just as it started to approach the surface.

  “Serena, what are you doing?” said Moira, her voice an angry, birdlike screech. “Get out of there. You’re ruining everything.” She did not move to help even though she was only a few feet away.

  “Serena! Thank goodness,” said Casius, using his free tentacles to wrap her in a hug. “My tentacle is stuck.”

  “Serena! Thank God!”

  It was Athena. She actually thinks I’m here to save her, thought Serena with cold contempt. She began to sneer, but when her eyes locked with Athena’s, it was wiped from her face. Athena’s bright green eyes were wild, like a cornered animal, but there was such relief and hope in the smile that had taken over her face at Serena’s approach that Serena’s heart threatened to feel the warmth of compassion. But then the almighty Crack! of the locket breaking rang in her ears. She felt the pain of realizing that all the years between her and Triton could be so easily shattered by red hair and a girlish giggle. She felt the loss of when he stopped giving her that special smile—the one that said, I can’t believe you’re mine—and she remembered all the lonely nights when Triton chose Athena’s bedchamber over her own. Her eyes narrowed, and her upper lip twitched in a disgusted grimace. Athena watched Serena’s face change, and her own crumpled. Serena was startled by the look of betrayal (Did she honestly think we were friends? Does she really not know what this is about?), but she did not let it show. She pointed her index finger and slashed it through the water like a knife, as Moira had done to draw blood from Serena’s cheek so many years ago. The knot of rope ensnaring Casius was sliced in half, and he wriggled free of the net. His exclamation of relief mingled with Athena’s wail of terror. Athena looked up towards the surface and the pirates who were pulling her closer to their harpoons and then back at Serena.

  “Please don’t do this!” she screamed through her sobs, thrusting her arm through the small hole Serena had cut for Casius, grasping vainly at freedom. “Why? Why are you doing this? Please, Serena, I don’t want to die. I DON’T WANT TO DIE. OH GOD, PLEASE, SERENA, PLEASE HAVE MERCY!”

  Serena’s face was stone; her eyes were ice. She turned without a word and swam as fast as she could, with Casius at her side, towards Hazel who was halfway between the reef and ship, the basket on her arm, fear in the lines of her face. Moira went after them, slower, drained from the cloaking spell. She flipped over on her back to watch.

  The top of Athena’s head was only centimeters from the waves on the surface. She could see the eager, bloodthirsty grins of the pirates above her. The ones nearest the edge who were not holding onto the net raised their harpoons, the iron, arrow-like tips ugly and cruel and sharp as a shark’s tooth.

  “Cordelia! Cordelia!” said Athena, her voice trembling and her chest heaving with sorrow.

  The first harpoon cut through the water and Athena’s smooth, alabaster skin just below her pink shell top, cutting off her cries for her daughter whom she now believed dead. It was not the last; half a dozen harpoons broke through the surface with an odd, muffled whizzing and then made a terrible thunk as they found a home in flesh and scales. Blood spread out in the water, rolling in the waves and staining Athena’s pure white tail. Her body moved no more, but her beautiful hair defiantly clung to life, dancing in the water, shaming the crimson blood with its vibrant and vivacious color.

  Serena watched Athena’s lifeless body thump against the side of the ship and felt nothing. No shame. No guilt. No relief. No happiness. No fear.

  “It’s done,” she said, and it almost sounded like a question.

  “Hardly,” said Moira. She looked towards the reef and the fish pretending not to stare. “We’re going to have to perform a serious memory spell. And there’s still the matter of what to do with the little urchin.”

  “We have to get out of sight first,” said Serena. “Triton will have been looking for Athena for a while now. He could be here any minute.”

  “We’ll go behind the reef. If we stay close, the stupid little creatures won’t dare speak against us. If he approaches the reef, we’ll use a cloaking spell. You’ll have to do it though, Serena; my power is drained.”

  “Shouldn’t Captain Kaidan be leaving with his prize?” said Serena with a look of distaste towards the ship and the swaying net as she, Casius, Hazel, and Moira swam over top of the reef and positioned themselves behind it.

  “The idiot’s probably waiting around for a bonus,” said Moira. “That or they’ve already popped open the barrels of rum in celebration. Mermaid tails fetch a high price—even with holes in them.” She laughed at the idea. “No matter. All the better if Triton sees her body, especially in the hands of pirates. It will detract from any doubt he would have had in our story. He needs to see that one’s body too, or he’ll never stop searching for her.”

  Hazel drew the basket holding the sleeping Cordelia closer to her body when Moira tossed her head at it. Moira’s eyes narrowed.

  “We have to get rid of her,” Moira said. She turned to Serena. “Surely, you must know this by now. Now that her mother is gone, he’ll favor her more than ever. He’ll probably declare her his heir instead of Maren. Do you really want to let your daughter’s rightful title be snatched away?”

  “Serena,” said Hazel, pleading with Serena with her eyes, “Athena deserved what she got. She was a sneaky little tramp who swept in and tried to take what we had, what you had, but Cordelia has done nothing to you. Does it not make you ill to think of murdering a child? Can’t you feel it in your scales, as I do, that it is wrong? I agree that she could cause us problems when she grows up, but let’s just take her far away. She won’t know who she is or where she came from. She will bother us no more.”

  “You know where my tentacles are planted on this, Serena,” said Casius.

  Serena’s eyes moved slowly between her mother and sister, considering.

  — — —

  Triton had made short work of the tiger shark. One bolt from the Trident and the mighty shark transformed into a shrimp. Triton had crushed i
t in his hand. He had healed up the injured guard’s wounds with just as little effort, but he could not recover the arm. He had stayed with them just long enough to tell Kale to get the now armless man back to his home and then resume the search. He’d set off back to the place he’d left Athena, but to his dismay and mounting unease, she was not there.

  Something evil was at work. He could feel it. The shark had eluded him for two years, and then it had suddenly shown itself not a mile away from him on the day his daughter went missing, and now her mother was nowhere to be found. It was too strange.

  He called Athena’s name as he looked for her and tried to convince himself that she’d just been too anxious to keep searching for Cordelia to stay put as he had asked, but he could not quite convince himself. He wandered aimlessly for a while, unsure which direction to go in first, unsure which way she would have gone. Then it hit him; he was not far from the reef. Perhaps Athena had gone in search of Serena to see if she knew yet that Cordelia was missing and if she could use her magic to help find the baby. He decided that must be it and headed towards the reef.

  He froze when he saw the ship. He approached the city’s edge cautiously and looked up at it. Something was dangling in a net in the water beside it. The shape inside the net bobbed up and down in the surface waves. There was blood everywhere. The water had carried the blood all around the ship, but it was no longer thick and dark red. As it spread, it became light pink and somewhat transparent. Triton squinted up at the shape. It was large for a fisherman’s catch, and he feared one of his dolphin friends had been accidentally snared again. But then he saw the black sails. Not fishermen. Pirates. He was even more confused. Then he saw the pure white tail and, though it was far above him, the unmistakable red hair. His vision blurred, but not before he saw the glint of the sun on the harpoons. His stomach heaved, but nothing came up. Instead, the sound that ripped out of his throat was the low, deep moan of a dying man. The tears were hot in his eyes, and he could hardly remember where he was. He could hardly breathe, and his sobs were quiet and choked. It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t lose them both all at once. But there she was. He could see clearly now—one of her arms sticking out of the net, her head lolling limply on her neck, parts of her white tail marred with ugly red wounds, the harpoons sticking up with their ends pointed towards the surface. The site of the cruel iron marring her lovely form turned his choked cries of sorrow into a cracked growl of rage. He clenched the Trident in a white-knuckled grip and was tensing his muscles to rocket towards the surface and blast the ship and its crew into a million tiny pieces, when a flash of color made him whip his head towards the reef. The reef was full of colorful fins, but he had caught site of three that did not belong. The reef was above him, on a slope of the sea floor that was closer to the nearby island and the surface and slightly to his left, and from that angle he could see three tails pointing out from the reef on the side farthest from the ship, as if the tails’ owners had their hands pressed up against part of the reef, peeking over the top at the ship. One was blue, one was green, and one was black.