The Emerald Mask

by H. K. Varian

  Fiona glanced back out to sea. “Unless a Changer took it—which is always a possibility, I suppose. But if a Changer had found it, I feel like The Compendium wouldn’t have shown us the site of the shipwreck. The book . . . it keeps track of things.”

  “Almost there,” Gabriella spoke up suddenly. She’d been studying the map that Fiona had copied from The Compendium.

  Fiona hugged her backpack as Miles cut the engine. “Is it time?” she asked eagerly.

  Miles glanced around. “Yeah,” he finally replied. “This is it. Are you sure you kids know what you’re doing? I was there last month. I know everything you guys did for us against Auden Ironbound, but—”

  “Look,” Mack said. “We may be kids, but we’re a lot tougher than you think.”

  Miles looked unsure, but it was too late to turn back now.

  Fiona picked up her cloak, and Darren stood beside her, cracking his knuckles. Already tiny sparks of electricity were forming at his fingertips.

  “You want to go?” Fiona asked.

  Darren grinned. “Ladies first,” he replied.

  Fiona nodded and then wrapped the cloak across her shoulders with a flourish. She took one last breath as a girl—as a human—before she spun and transformed into a seal.

  It was as easy as that.

  With big, dark eyes, Fiona in her seal form watched as the blinding bolt of lightning materialized, signifying Darren’s transformation. In his impundulu form, he stretched his long wings, displaying all his shimmering white-tipped feathers, and then folded them neatly against his back.

  Good luck with the lookout, Fiona thought to him.

  You too, he replied. Not that you’ll need it.

  Then Fiona plunged into the cold, murky waters. As a human she would’ve been freezing cold, unable to see a thing.

  But as a seal? The experience was completely different. The shafts of sunlight that filtered through the water provided more than enough illumination for Fiona to clearly navigate. She’d already figured out how to use the choppy waves to her advantage, propelling herself forward with their momentum. And the bone-deep chill of the water? In her selkie form, Fiona didn’t even notice it.

  Fiona was so tempted to swim freely, darting over and under the waves. But now was not the time. Would it ever be the time, she wondered, or will I only be allowed in the ocean on missions? No, now was the time to stay focused, as always. To find Circe’s Compass and keep it safe.

  Fiona plunged down, down, down into the depths. All the breathing exercises she’d been working on in Changers class were really paying off; somehow, her lungs felt full of clear, oxygen-rich air, even though she’d already been underwater for minutes.

  Suddenly, Fiona heard it—an achingly lovely melody, a sound that only seemed possible beneath the sea. It echoed through the water, growing more and more beautiful until it made Fiona’s heart surge with joy. Where did it come from? What could it be? The sound made her want to breech the water and swim out to the horizon, to that magical place where the sun kissed the sea. Where, Fiona realized, she would find her kind: selkies.

  Is that the song of the selkies? she wondered. Are they singing right now, somewhere near? Are they singing to me?

  Fiona shook her head and dove deeper, though every part of her longed to turn around. Whether or not the selkies were trying to reach her, Fiona couldn’t allow herself to be distracted. Not when she was so close to reaching the wreck of the Seafarer . . . and hopefully Circe’s Compass too.

  Because she was close, Fiona realized all of a sudden. There, on the ocean floor, was a shadow. More than a shadow—a dark form, protruding from the sand.

  The Seafarer, Fiona thought. As she swam nearer, the ship seemed to change size and shape. Was the water distorting it? Or was it enchanted, just like Circe’s Compass, and appearing only because a Changer was near?

  Fiona supposed she would never know for certain.

  With her strong tail, Fiona propelled herself toward the shipwreck. It was a dank, dreary place; the frame of rotting wood like a bony rib cage. There was a large hole in the hull; no doubt the reason why the ship had sank.

  Fiona pushed the thought from her mind as best she could. Then she swam forward. The gaping hole was large enough that she could slip through it effortlessly. That was the easy part.

  Now, Fiona thought, to find Circe’s Compass.

  The rotting wreck was even darker than the ocean depths, but somehow Fiona could see enough to swim through it. It was in such a state of decay that she couldn’t tell one hollowed room from the next. What was she looking for, exactly? Fiona wasn’t sure. But she had a feeling that Circe’s Compass would reveal itself to her. That was what Ms. Therian had promised, after all.

  Then, at the fore of the ship, Fiona caught sight of a strange, ghostly glow. It flickered and shimmered, casting a strange light through the rippling waters. Fiona the girl might’ve been afraid to approach it.

  But Fiona the selkie was fearless.

  She approached the chest eagerly, knowing already that she would find Circe’s Compass inside. Incredible, Fiona marveled. Circe’s Compass, lost, waiting for all these years . . . and I’ll be the one to find it. My hands, the first hands to touch it since it was stashed in this chest for safekeeping, hundreds of years ago.

  Just the thought made Fiona swim faster.

  The chest wasn’t locked, which made it easy for Fiona to push the lid open. The beams that spilled from it were so bright that Fiona had to look away. Then, as the light began to dim, she peered inside, ready to grab Circe’s Compass and swim back to the speedboat.

  There was just one problem.

  The chest was empty.

  No, Fiona thought, first shocked and then confused. She was certain that the chest had glowed with Changer magic.

  So where was the compass?

  Could it have fallen from the chest when the ship sank? Fiona wondered, glancing warily from side to side.

  Slowly, Fiona turned around—just in time to see the most horrifying thing in her life. Not the ghostly skeletons of the lost crew, picked clean by hungry fish, but the Seafarer’s rotted mast, all 180 feet of it, tumbling in her direction. Underwater, it didn’t make a sound.

  Fiona darted away just in time. A second later, the heavy mast landed on the chest, smashing it to splinters. Billions of tiny bubbles raced up to the surface of the water. For a moment, Fiona couldn’t see a thing.

  Then the bubbles cleared, and Fiona saw a pearl-gray dolphin zipping away from her, a glowing object—Circe’s Compass no doubt—held in its mouth.

  Fiona knew at once that it was no ordinary dolphin. No, it had to be a Changer, sent here to find the compass, just like Fiona.

  Could it be Yara? Fiona thought. Yara was an encantado, a dolphin Changer. Did the First Four know they were here?

  Wait! Fiona thought desperately. Please—wait!

  But the dolphin—whoever it was—ignored her plea. It swam faster and faster, until Circe’s Compass was just a faint, glowing beacon, bobbing in the distance.

  Chapter 10

  The Warlocks & The Traitor

  The air was changing.

  Darren could feel it right away, probably before anybody else—any human, that is. There was a particular prickling to his feathers, as if they were standing on end. It wasn’t just the wind, which was suddenly stronger, or the unexpected dampness in the air. There was something more—something that put Darren on edge. The warning of a storm, perhaps? But the forecast was clear, Darren thought, remembering how he’d checked the weather on his phone that very morning.

  He arced back around, circling the speedboat. The sun was starting to set, but with his perfect impundulu vision, he could easily see Mack; Gabriella; and their driver, Miles. All was fine onboard. So Darren shifted focus, scanning the choppy waves for Fiona.

  There was no sign of the selkie’s gray pelt.

  She’s still below, with the ship, Darren thought. He wondered, briefly, how long Fiona c
ould hold her breath underwater and then wished he’d paid more attention to her training times in Changers class. She had easily been underwater for twenty minutes now. Even a selkie needed to breathe fresh air, Darren suspected. Even a selkie needed oxygen.

  Anxiety crept over Darren as he watched the water for Fiona. He wouldn’t relax until he saw her, safe and sound, with his own eyes.

  How long can it take to search a shipwreck? Darren thought. He honestly had no idea. If he tried to send a message to Fiona, would she even be able to receive it underwater? Or did they need to be able to see each other, like usual?

  Darren thought it was worth a try, anyway.

  Hey, he thought, picturing Fiona in her selkie form, slicing through the white-capped waves below. Surface when you can. Let us know you’re okay down there.

  Darren waited.

  And waited.

  But there was no sign of her.

  Several yards from the boat, he noticed a strange turbulence in the water. The waves looked especially foamy, and there was—Darren focused with his impundulu eyes—something bobbing on them.

  Driftwood?

  Maybe, Darren thought, but that prickling feeling intensified.

  Something was wrong.

  Darren flew down, beating his powerful wings against the wind. His eyes moved back and forth, back and forth, desperately searching for a sign that Fiona was okay.

  Suddenly, she appeared, using all her strength to breach the surface of the water, and then gracefully diving back into its depths. Darren started to grin. Okay, Fiona, he thought. You got our attention. Now where is the compass?

  To Darren’s surprise, Fiona didn’t swim back toward the boat.

  Instead, she was heading in the opposite direction.

  That’s when Darren realized that Fiona wasn’t leaping from the water in triumph. No, it was a signal that they should follow her.

  And that’s exactly what he did.

  Darren was flying so low that he could hear the rumble of the speedboat’s engine as Miles gunned it. Darren knew without even looking that Miles had turned the boat around and was now directing it in pursuit of Fiona.

  But Darren, with his strong impundulu wings, was faster.

  Soon, he was flying directly above Fiona, soaring easily through the air as she . . . led them toward shore? Darren frowned. There was no sign that she’d found Circe’s Compass . . . so why did she want them at the beach?

  Darren glanced toward the shore and saw three figures standing there, staring anxiously at the ocean. He recognized them at once.

  The one in the middle was wearing a red New Brighton University hat.

  Those guys from the library! Darren thought. What—how—why? His questions were forming faster than he could process them.

  Does Fiona know they’re here?

  How did she figure it out from underwater?

  Why is she leading us to them?

  Then the most astonishing thing happened—and Darren suddenly understood everything.

  If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Darren hardly would’ve believed it: A sleek dolphin, glistening in the water, leaped high in a graceful arc—higher than Darren ever would’ve guessed a dolphin could leap. But as the creature began its descent, something strange happened. A rippling mist crept over the dolphin from nose to tail, leaving in its wake a woman wearing a silver wetsuit. She effortlessly bodysurfed one of the waves toward the shore.

  A Changer! Darren thought in amazement. But who was she—and what was she doing here? Had she joined Fiona underwater to help?

  A bright flash suddenly caught Darren’s eye, and that’s when he noticed the prize proudly clutched in the unknown Changer’s hand: a gleaming, golden orb. The sun wasn’t shining; the cloud cover was thick now, and yet Circe’s Compass continued to wink and gleam as though lit from within.

  He knew in a second that this mysterious Changer had somehow managed to nab Circe’s Compass. No wonder Fiona was swimming so frantically, Darren thought as he flew overhead. At that moment, Fiona surfaced and pulled herself onto the beach. He’d never seen her transform so fast—she was just a blur as she whipped off her selkie cloak and dashed after the mysterious woman on her own two legs.

  Not far away, Miles anchored the speedboat. The group headed up the shore and into the woods as a series of fast flashes—one, two, three—told Darren that Mack, Gabriella, and even Miles had transformed.

  The unknown Changer knew they were after her, of course. And if she was working with the three guys from New Brighton University, there was no doubt in Darren’s mind that she was on the wrong side.

  Why? Darren thought in anger. Why would you betray your own kind? Below, he watched her make a beeline for the warlocks.

  Crack!

  The lightning bolt slid from his talons effortlessly. It hit between the warlocks and the unknown Changer, turning the miniscule grains of sand under her feet into glass. She jumped, startled, and then glanced at the sky. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Darren. He simply flung another lightning bolt between them to prevent her from reaching the others.

  This time, though, his aim was off, and the lightning bolt landed several feet away. The unknown Changer laughed. She shook her head, sending water droplets flying from her long, wet hair.

  “Hand it over!” Evan, the guy in the red hat, yelled at her as Darren prepared to launch another bolt of lightning. He pointed toward the shore, where a jaguar, a bull, and a fox were now running toward them.

  “There’s no way I’m letting you take credit for this one! I’ll give it to Jasper myself!” the unknown Changer shouted as Evan lunged for Circe’s Compass. But she was too fast for him. She held it away and then took off running for the grove of stunted pine trees at the edge of the beach. Bent and broken from years of salt spray and relentless ocean winds, the pines were seriously malformed, but they provided the perfect escape route for the unknown Changer and her accomplices. Under their tangled cover, Darren couldn’t see a thing that was happening from the air. All he could do was watch in dismay as his enemies disappeared, with his friends in close pursuit.

  Forget this, Darren thought angrily as he glided toward the shore. If he couldn’t help from overhead—as an impundulu—then he would just have to follow Fiona’s lead and fight in his human form.

  The sounds of the battle within the grove were nearly wiped out by the roar of the sea, but Darren had a better plan for finding everyone: following the unusual tracks—fox and jaguar and bull—that had been left in the damp sand. Even the cushiony moss that grew beneath the pines was shredded by claw and hoof marks. It didn’t take Darren long to reach the scene of the battle. Though it wasn’t as epic as their fight against Auden Ironbound and his army of hypnotized Changers, it was no less intense. Perhaps the danger was even greater now, in this hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat against three desperate warlocks on the side of evil—and a Changer who was willing to betray her own kind.

  Darren pressed himself behind a tree and sized up the scene. His greatest strength right now, he knew, was to stay invisible. To avoid charging into the fight without a solid plan in place.

  Off to the side, Miles lay, knocked out. Mack and Gabriella were battling the magic-users in a cloud of shifting light. Their sharp claws were deflecting curses, which ricocheted into tree trunks, scarring them with dark, smoldering wounds. It was nothing short of awe-inspiring to watch, and for a moment—just a moment—Darren lost track of everything: time, space, even his own self.

  “Darren!”

  It was Fiona’s voice ringing through the clearing.

  But . . . where was Fiona?

  Darren opened his mouth to call back to her but then stopped. He still had the element of surprise on his side. Fiona must be battling the betrayer, the unknown Changer, both of them in their human forms on this unforgiving ground away from the sea.

  Darren dropped to the ground and crawled, as low as he could, toward the next tree trunk. That’s when he spotted them, ta
ngled in a desperate fight for Circe’s Compass. The unknown Changer was trying to hold it high out of Fiona’s grasp, but Fiona almost had it . . .

  Zing!

  The lightning took everyone by surprise—even Darren himself. He stared at his fingers in astonishment.

  The battle paused in a moment of miraculous stillness as everyone else turned to stare too. Someone moved, or maybe just flinched; then Mack growled—a long, low sound of menace—and lunged at Gabriella’s opponent.

  One of the magic-users stumbled back, unsteady on his feet.

  Gabriella seized the opportunity to move on. Her nahual ears pressed back against her head, and she entered an attack posture—head down, muscles taut. Then she charged, with all her might, at the unknown Changer.

  The betrayer didn’t see Gabriella coming. The unknown Changer took the hit full force, flying through the air and landing, face-first, in the mud. With her quick cat reflexes, Gabriella dived forward and seized Circe’s Compass with her sharp teeth.

  Somehow in that moment, her eyes met Darren’s, and even more astonishingly, they shared a small smile. And Darren knew that Gabriella was thinking exactly what he was:

  Finally.

  A swirl, a blinding flash: Mack took his human form, towering over the injured magic-users and the unknown Changer.

  “It’s over,” he declared. “Surrender to us.”

  For a moment, Darren thought they actually might. The one called Bram was bleeding badly; even Evan, their leader, was casting around desperately, trying to figure out a way to escape.

  Never corner a wounded animal. Darren remembered Sefu’s words suddenly.

  The next thing he knew, Darren was flat on his back, fighting for breath, as prickly pine needles rained down on him.

  Chapter 11

  Stuck

  Mack couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. Every cell in his body was screaming out for oxygen, and all he could do was lie there, staring stupidly at the trees and their ugly needles, which scraped against the eyes he couldn’t even blink. Mack could hear Miles in his aatxe form chasing off the warlocks, but the sound was dull, as though there was cotton in his ears.