“Oh, yes!” Her hands came together in a sharp clap that prompted a jerk from my tightly-wound nerves. “Let’s waste time by pretending to be something we aren’t. You be a non-magical lump and I’ll be a cod fish. It’ll be like improvisation, except … frightfully dull. So, yes, just like improvisation.”
“You d-don’t understand,” I stammered. The shark’s tooth headband fastened across my hairline weighed on me like an anchor, dragging me down for the fraud that I was. I wasn’t strong. I wasn’t confident. I was a little girl terrified of a part of herself she didn’t understand. “I have magic. I admit that, but … I can’t use it.”
Holding out one hand before her, Amphrite inspected her dagger-sharp nails. “Does Triton have magic?”
Sensing where that line of questioning was headed, I mashed my lips together and scrambled for a viable excuse to detour her. “No, he doesn’t. However, with my skills and education—”
Curling her hand in, she jabbed it to the curve of her hip. “You mean the skills and education Triton has been subjected to same as you? That will not get you the throne. That will get you a heaping dose of disappointment, and the unquenchable desire to go back in time and listen to me at this very moment. I don’t know what your grievances against magic are—” She held both hands up to halt me the second my mouth opened to form an explanation. “Not asking. Don’t care. I am simply stating that with your magical attributes you can float above your brother, who currently has the advantage of being the male heir under a bigoted patriarch. You could be queen. He could be chosen by the Ursela shell and bestowed with just enough magic to deem him moderately useful within the kingdom. Therefore, allowing him the sort of lackadaisical existence he longs for, and you to assume your rightful position. It’s win-win. That said, how about if we stifle the whimpering and excuses, and actually do what it takes to get you that trident?”
So many horrible visions.
So many sweat-drenched nights squeezing my eyes shut as death tickled my back and sang me sweet songs.
How could I explain, when she spoke the truth? Only by embracing the side of me I had stifled for too long would I maintain any chance of ever having that golden crown placed upon my head.
Gazing down at my anxiously wringing hands, I questioned myself more than my new mentor. “How could I begin to tap into that energy now without losing complete control?”
“I’m so happy you asked.” Lacing her fingers, she let them swing down in front of her. “What sort of effect do you think a rock slide of Fire Coral would have on your beloved team of dolphins?”
Pulling back with a start, I blinked rapidly, trying to wrap my mind around what I hoped was a random topic change. “The reef is quite secure. I don’t think—”
Her hand shooting through the water in a wide arc cut off my contention. Violet tendrils sparked from her palm, darting through the water in zealous wisps and rolls. Bonding together, the formed a potent bolt of purple lightning that struck the rock wall with a crack violent enough to shake the ocean floor. A zigzagged split traveled down the side of the wall, sending pebbles raining down. Stone shifted with an ominous creek. A chunk of the reef, nearly matching the stable in size, shifted … shimmied … tipped … and teetered on the edge of the plateau it was no longer connected to.
“Wha—what did you do?” I gasped, eyes bulging in disbelief.
“I’ve started you on a path.” One blink and her eyes altered to a serene blue; the hue conjuring images of the sun beaming down, and a light breeze lapping over the water. Dipping her head in a maternal fashion, the corners of her mouth pulled up ever so softly. “One there is no turning back. That rock will come down, showering those poor, unsuspecting dolphins with Fire Coral. Unless you stop it. You want to be queen, Vanessa? You want to rule? Channel what’s inside of you and use it to save those that trust and believe in you.”
Vanishing in a swirling cloud of purple, Amphrite reappeared on top of the reef.
“Your future begins now, Princess,” she shouted down at me, “and only you can decide what it shall be.”
As if moving in slow motion, her fire-red tail curled in front of her, then slapped down against the teetering rock. The ground trembled. A dusty haze clouded the water. Rumbling, like distant thunder, heralded that the boulder broke free and was skidding down the steep incline on a collision course with the stable.
Alarms trumpeted through my head. My every impulse screamed for me to swim away. All that kept me buoyed to that spot was the sweet chorus of squeaks behind me. The dolphins knew nothing of the boulder careening toward them, ready to crush their home and pelt misery down on them. All they wanted was play time and belly rubs. The alternative of pain and woeful torment had been ushered in, thanks to me.
Cursing my daring attire, which offered up a bounty of my exposed flesh for the voracious coral to feast upon, I brought my hands up in a defensive posture. “Please,” I pleaded to Amphrite, “don’t do this. You don’t understand the cost!”
Catching one lock of hair, she twirled it around her finger, her dreamy gaze cast toward shallower waters. “Cost-shmost! You want the avalanche to stop? Make it! And you should probably hurry, panicked dolphins may turn on you. You know, I think there was a reversal spell for situations such as this, yet for the life of me I can’t recall it.”
Shrapnel from the rock broke off, spitting sand and coral grit down on me. Shielding my face behind my arms, I yelped as the poisonous bits sizzled and hissed against my skin. The pain pierced into me like the prickles of a thousand sea urchin spikes.
Still, the needed part of me held back.
“Amphrite, help me!” I forced the words through clenched teeth, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Don’t let them die for my inadequacies!”
“Is that what you are, little mermaid?” Amphrite’s hand fell, swinging to her side as she sized me up through narrowed eyes. “Inadequate? If that is the case, you have no place on the throne and never did. We can end this charade right now without wasting a moment more of each other’s time.”
“No! You don’t understand!” The words tumbled from my lips, freed by my growing desperation. “The magic I possess … it comes at too powerful a price! I cannot harness it!”
Water roiled around me. The ebb and flow of a sudden and demanding current formed a massive replica of Amphrite’s face hovering over me.
“Pay it. Own it,” the watery bust sneered. “Claim your birthright!”
The watery image of Amphrite was sliced in two by a hunk of the boulder that broke off and pin-wheeled down, end over end. My effort to dive out of the way fell short, the edge of the rogue shrapnel slicing across my forearm. The threatening scream wedged in my throat, held there by the scorching, venomous heat which contaminated my blood and seeped through my veins. Slapping my opposite hand over my pulsating arm, my stare tore up in time to see the same coral-laced shard winging straight for where Gully’s head poked out with interest.
Instinct stabbed my good hand out. I didn’t think. Didn’t agonize over the outcome. Nostrils flaring, I kicked open the creaking gate within me and freed that long stifled force. The influence of my essence licked from my palm in emerald tendrils that latched onto the splintered rock with ease and batted it aside. Retraining my focus, I whirled on the larger, looming problem. Filling my gills, I relaxed the rein of my will and let the power within fling its head high, and bare its teeth. Sapphire water lightened to luminescent turquois as a fresh onslaught of vining magic bloomed from my palms. Eager to do my bidding, the vines latched onto the boulder. Skin cracking and blistering at the crumbs of coral that fell, I arched my back and leaned into the rock with every ounce of strength I had. The pull of the boulder’s momentum crushed down, promising to snuff me out if I failed. Just as I squeezed my eyes shut, anticipating that bone crushing crunch, it skidded to a stop in a mushroom cloud of sand. It receded a beat later, pulling back the curtain with flourish to unveil my victory.
Exhausted arms danglin
g at my sides, my tail failed me and I crumbled to the ocean floor. Staring at the rocky catastrophe I prevented, my gills labored to reclaim my breath.
“You did it!” Amphrite applauded, materializing beside me in a violet fog. “Granted, extreme measures were taken to coerce you, but that is a bothersome detail to be dealt with later. For now, enjoy your victory! Now that you have accepted this side of yourself, things will only get easier!”
Her words reached my ears like muffled cries resonating to the depths of a trench. The scorching pain that should have been pulsing through me held the lackluster punch of a skinned elbow. Coral dust wafted into my eyes, swelling them to slits—even this failed to register. My entire consciousness was consumed by every wave that lapped past, every current that eddied by. Each contained a face, the tortured mask of a long dead soul. They lashed around me, moaning my name in plaintive pleas. A choked sob tore from my chest. Head falling back, the weight of my greatest fear being realized trampled my soul more than the boulder ever could.
Hoovering on the ravaged reef ledge, my mother glared down. The flesh across her cheek and jaw hung loose, exposing time-weathered bone.
“Vanessa,” her haunting rasp drifted down, a bubbling brew of disappointment and seething betrayal sharpening each word, “what have you done?”
Amphrite flittered around me—fluffing my hair, wiping muck from my cheeks—oblivious to my private purgatory. “I can’t very well send you back to the palace looking like that,” she harrumphed. “Your face is swelling like a Pufferfish. Your father isn’t the most intuitive mer, but I’m guess this wouldn’t escape notice.”
Rubbing her hands together, she produced flares of purple between her palms.
“This won’t hurt a bit,” she said with a soft smile, a faint dimple dipped into her cheek.
“Stop!” I recoiled, frantically slapping her hands away. “Don’t touch me!”
Hands raised, Amphrite pulled back. She stared at me with the same aghast horror one would a sea slug that had wandered onto their breakfast platter.
Rubbing my blurring eyes with the back of my hand, I mumbled, “Take the pain … leave the scars.”
Amphrite’s gaze flicked over the angry gash on my forearm. Pride cast its divine glow over her delicate features, crinkling the corners of her eyes.
“It would be my honor, Princess,” she declared, and bent her head once more to conjure the healing energy.
I trained my gaze on her task, willing myself to ignore the restless spirits writhing all around me. Their presence would not be ignored, each prickling through me with ghastly fingers that beckoned me to glimpse their eternity.
“I begged you to stay away from her,” my mother voiced in ominous warning. “To trust me. To believe in me. Instead, you’ve thrown open a door that cannot be closed. This is just the beginning, Vanessa. Believe me when I say, in no way are you prepared for what is to come.”
Chapter Six
Where do you seek sanctuary when your prison is in your own mind? When every shadow has eyes and every corner whispers your name in a taunting reverberation? Amphrite sashayed back to the queen’s quarters bolstered by what she considered a triumph. My journey, sulking through the halls and wincing at every noise, was a far more jarring one. The castle—more specifically the corridor which held my room—had always been my safe haven. When the seas of life raged, that was where I could batten down the hatches and weather any storm. Opening the door to magic welcomed the darkness in along with it. Now, unseen talons swiped at my flesh. Teeth snapped just behind my ear. Both faded into nothingness the second I spun on them.
Behind the pillar closest to my room, a form moved. Blinking hard, I tried to distinguish eerie visions from reality. The water rolled, Neleus’s formidable stature materializing from the ocean’s murky blue abyss. His critical sneer, which traveled the length of me, seemed undeniably real. Or was it? Herky, jerky flashes distorted his eyes to smoldering ruby embers. Another flicker, and they reverted back.
“Fleet Master Neleus,” clearing my throat, I did my best impression of someone not gradually losing their mind, “did you need something? Or is stalking around the quarters of young, impressionable girls a hobby of yours?”
Cinders sparking in his lethal stare once again, Neleus tipped his head and swam a slow circle around me. Words rumbled from his chest in a menacing growl, “Such courage you’ve shown. Such bravado.” His cheek brushed my hair, the rush of water from his exhale tickling across my earlobe. “What a fine leader you could’ve been.”
Shriveling under his glare and proximity, I found myself robbed of my last shred of valor. In my mind I saw my body crinkling inward, cowering to the earth until I was nothing more than a gruesome reed with bulging sacks for eyes.
I’m no leader, I mentally berated myself. I’m nothing short of a damaged mess.
“What do you want?” Forcing the words through my constricted throat, I gritted my teeth at how they broke and trembled.
Leaning down, he curled one finger under my chin and tipped my face to his. “I want you out of the way.”
My chin betrayed me by quivering. Tears of frustration burned behind my eyes. I would sooner have dug the treacherous orbs from their sockets than to allow such a display of vulnerability in front of him. “I didn’t realize a thirteen-year-old mer-girl could do anything to hinder the plans of a military legend such as yourself.”
“My military merit bears no weight on this matter, but who I am willing to serve under as my future ruler does,” he snarled, his top lip curling from his teeth.
A rush of awareness straightened my spine, yanking my shoulders back. “You actually view me as a threat.”
“Don’t confuse proactive measures with concern,” he sputtered, turning into a tight barrel roll with one flick of his tail. “You’re no threat. You’re nothing, little mermaid.”
He was the second mer that day to call me that. I didn’t know where the new nickname came from, but I hoped it didn’t catch on.
“You can’t believe that entirely,” I pressed, “elsewise you wouldn’t be here.”
My gaze instinctively darted to the sword looped at his hip, as if my subconscious sought to remind my sharp tongue that he was armed.
Neleus shook his head, chuckling at a joke only he understood. “Your brother will work tirelessly. He will be bruised, he will be battered, but he will persevere. Do you know why?”
“His glowing golden locks?” I jabbed. “They are magical.”
My attempt at humor didn’t penetrate his callous demeanor, not that I believed it would. “He will succeed because he has the protection of the Royal Guard.” Swirling to face me, he scoured the lines of my face for a shred of weakness to feast upon. “Who will protect you, young one? Not the queen. She cares only for her own agenda, I promise you that. Only one fate awaits you. One in which you will train alone, you will fight alone, and—if you dare stand in Triton’s way—you shall die alone.”
“Triton would never let harm come to me.” There were few things in my life I counted at certainties; trust in my brother was top of that list.
Curling in a final lap around me, Neleus caught one strand of my hair between two fingers and gave it a rough tug. “Triton will see what we want him to. Keep that in mind as you scheme and plot.”
Kicking away with broad strokes of his tail, the ocean’s obscurity swallowed Neleus bit by bit. Reduced to nothing more than a shadow, he turned to offer me a curt bow.
“May Poseidon’s blessing flow upon you, Princess,” he said, his smirk audible.
Letting the sentiment bob in the water between us, he vanished from sight.
A cold, clammy hand seized my shoulder, causing a shiver to jolt through me. “I never liked him,” Mother croaked, manifesting behind me. “He takes liberties above his station.”
With a forceful roll of my shoulder, I shrugged off her unnerving touch. “Like tormenting those around him by pretending he’s alive long after his death?”
>
Mother pulled back, one side of her disintegrating face tugging up in a lopsided grin. “Such a sharp tongue for a girl that’s seldom heard. I may be too proud of your resilience to be offended.”
“Glad to hear it.” Shoving the makeshift curtain-door to my bedroom aside, I escaped inside. While the wafting verdure fell back into place, I collapsed against the wall beside it. My breath came in rapid pants that made the water boil around my face. Thankfully, Mother didn’t follow. At least not yet. A glorified sheet wouldn’t keep her, or any other spirits, out. Nothing would. It was only a matter of time until …
“One went behind the bed!” My reverie was interrupted by Loriana ambling across my room as fast as her fins could carry her, a hand-weaved net hoisted over her head. “Get it!”
Alastor’s head poked around the side of my bed, my blanket draped over his forehead. “What do you think I’m doing under here? Diving for pearls?” Noticing my arrival, his face blanched. “Princess Vanessa! We were … uh …”
“Oh, for the sake of Mother Ocean, Alastor, be honest with the lass! Humor me into thinking I’ve at least taught you that much.” Loriana dropped her hands, adjusting her grip on the net. Her face creased in a cringe of equal parts regret and disgust. “My deepest apologies, Princess. I know it’s incredibly inappropriate for a boy to be in your quarters under any circumstances, unfortunately I needed his aid. It appears we have an … infestation of sorts in your quarters.”
Puffing my cheeks, I blew the hair from my eyes. “Of course we do,” I grumbled. “What is it? Some nasty little sea bugs that cause scabies and make your hair fall out? Because that would be quite apropos in the scheme of things.”
Floteson and Jetteson’s tiny faces peeked out from under my pillow. Their speckled little bodies wriggled with excitement the second their beady eyes found me.
“There they are!” Alastor exclaimed. Scrambling off the floor, he lunged for the zebra shark tots.
The Unfortunate Souls Collection Page 7
