Forsaken

by Kristen Day

  ~Ӂ~

  The next day brought abundant sunshine and clear blue skies. We expected to make it to the Fortunate Isle by late afternoon. We had obviously been followed by one Siren, so it was entirely possible that there were more where she came from. We hadn’t seen any other visitors since. I had a feeling it had everything to do with the three great white sharks trailing the yacht. They kept a reasonable distance, but they were always there. Not having Finn here, three sharks the size of school buses was just as good.

  We gathered on the third level to eat lunch and to dissect Nicolet’s poem for the hundredth time. We were trying to come up with a good plan, but we weren’t getting very far. Willow read the third stanza out loud one more time.

  hidden amongst the mangroves

  beyond the blue lagoon

  stands the house of thetis

  seen only by those deemed true

  “So is Kira at Thetis’s house?” Phoebe’s brow furrowed in thought as she picked at the rest of her ham sandwich.

  “That’s what we’re hoping, but I think we should just get on the island first and then go off of Stasia’s vision,” Willow suggested. She had way too much faith in me.

  “But I don’t know exactly where I went into the woods. The beach is just one big circle; we could be wandering around for hours. Plus we don’t know for sure that she’ll be where she was in my vision by the time we get there.” I didn’t want to depend too much on my vision. There were too many unknowns. Willow nodded and read the last stanza, which was making me the most uneasy.

  she whispers to the creatures

  and answers to the blue

  the heart of the Isle rejoices

  its soul to be renewed.

  “It’s definitely talking about Stasia,” Olivia said absently as she set up the cruise control from her seat at the controls. Her assumption was exactly why I didn’t like the last stanza. I just wanted to save Kira, not renew an entire island’s soul.

  “I honestly think we should just concentrate on getting admittance to the island. Once we figure that out we can regroup and go from there.” I tried to convince them as much as myself.

  “I don’t know if playing it by ear is really the best idea.” Carmen scrunched her nose. And I understood her opinion; I just didn’t think we had much of a choice.

  “Stasia’s right,” I silently thanked Willow; always the voice of reason, “we don’t have enough information to make any hard fast plans once we’re on the island. We could sit around all day coming up with a million scenarios that may or may not happen. The best thing to do is jump in with both feet and hit the ground running.” Everyone reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. None of us felt completely comfortable with what we were about to embark upon, but Kira was depending on us and I wasn’t going to let her down. I stood up.

  “So….” I shrugged my shoulders innocently and smiled shyly, “I was thinking about going outside to figure out if I’m the direct descendent of the most powerful Sea Goddess to ever live. Anybody wanna come?”

  “Yes!” They all cheered and gave me warm smiles. Phoebe was so excited; she almost knocked over the coffee table trying to stand up. They followed me downstairs to the back deck, while Captain Olivia manned the controls.

  I had to find out if I could manipulate sand and wind, but being nowhere near a shore, sand would have to wait. I had no idea how to manipulate wind, but I was going to give it a try. With the yacht moving at full speed, there was only one area on the deck that wasn’t windy.

  “See if you can make the wind blow around Phoebe,” Carmen suggested.

  “Why do I have to be the guinea pig?” Phoebe whined.

  “Do I really have to answer that?” Carmen smirked at her.

  “Nobody has to be the guinea pig,” I stood at the corner of the deck, where an extension from the body of the yacht stretched out, shielding me from the wind, “I’ll just see if I can make the wind blow around my body first.” I briefly took inventory of myself. My hair wasn’t blowing around, nor was my clothes. Taking a wild guess, I closed my eyes and put my hands up. I tried to channel my emotions like Finn had taught me in the ocean. I calmed myself and imagined the air compressing and swirling around me. After a couple of minutes, I didn’t feel a thing, so I hesitantly peeked out one eye. No wind. Not even a slight breeze around me.

  “Try blowing air out of your mouth, maybe you have to give it a little motivational push.” Phoebe suggested with an encouraging smile. Carmen snickered at her, but I closed my eyes again and forced air out of my lungs. I tried over and over to no avail. It only made me lightheaded.

  “Maybe hold your arms out and move your hands around like you’re stirring it,” Willow shrugged her shoulders. We were starting to throw shots in the dark, but I figured it was worth a try. I held my arms out to the side and did small circles. Beginning to feel really stupid, I felt something shock my left forearm right before something landed on it. My eyes flew open and I looked directly at a curious seagull perched on my arm. It squawked at me and I heard Phoebe gasp and Carmen laugh. If I couldn’t make wind blow, maybe I could test if I had an affinity for seagulls. I instantly wished I had questioned Kira more about her ability.

  The spark it caused on my skin was a good sign, though. I blocked out everything except the bird and tried to ‘feel’ it. It cocked its head at me and squawked again as I brought my arm in front of me. Suddenly, anxiety hit me and a slight buzzing slid through my veins. I could tell immediately he was under a great deal of stress.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered to him. He turned his head, looked at me through his other eye, and adjusted his feathers. He let out a heartbreaking soft squawk. It was almost a whine, but it was so sad it brought tears to my eyes. That’s when something slammed into the boat.

  Chapter 32

  All four of us were thrown forward violently, landing hard against the yacht’s exterior. Carmen fell into the door of the cabin, breaking the hinges off, as she slid halfway down the hallway. Phoebe ended up on top of me and Willow was crumbled in the same corner I had just been standing in.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Phoebe, as she untangled herself from me.

  “I think so,” she looked herself over and glanced at Willow, “Willow! Are you okay?”

  “Yea, ow, my arm just hurts.” She attempted to sit up carefully.

  “Carmen?” I looked down the hallway and saw her rubbing her head. Then my stomach dropped to the floor. Phoebe and I stared at each other in panic.

  “Olivia.” We said at the same time. Running down the hall, we climbed the stairs to the third level in record time.

  “Olivia! Olivia?” I looked around frantically and found her lying on the floor against the bottom of the front console. I could already see a cut running the length of her arm. “Olivia!” I shook her gently and she slowly opened her eyes. When her memory caught up with her, they flew the whole way open and she jumped to her feet.

  “What happened? Are ya’ll okay? Is anybody hurt?” I took her hand to calm her down.

  “Everybody’s fine, we’re okay. You didn’t see what happened either?” We searched out the front window for any sign of what hit us, but there was only water surrounding us. I looked out the side window. Still nothing.

  “The front of the boat looks fine, but how’s that possible? We had to have run into something.” Olivia was peering out the front windows at the bow of the yacht. I crossed the room to the other windows and stopped dead in my tracks, my heart squeezing in my chest.

  “Uh, guys?” I pointed toward the windows. Phoebe and Olivia ran over to see what had me stunned. They glanced at each other, and then back at me.

  “What?” Phoebe walked to the window and looked out both ways.

  “Right there,” I pointed again, “you don’t see it?”

  “See what?” Olivia looked at me like I had gone completely insane. I blinked several times, but it was still there. My feet started moving, taking me down the stairs, through the first
level hall and out to the back deck. They walked to the side railing and I held on tight, steadying myself. Stretched out before me was a picturesque island with long white beaches backed by towering mountains. Even from this far away, I knew without a doubt it was the Fortunate Isle. I could feel it. I knew behind those mountains stood a lush forest surrounding a beautiful lagoon. A ribbon of golden happiness made its way into my soul.

  “Stasia?” I turned towards Willow and noticed the tears swimming in my eyes. I wiped them away quickly. “What are you doing?”

  “You don’t see it either?” She followed my gaze and shook her head solemnly.

  “I just see water. What is it?” She placed her hand on my shoulder, sending tingles of numbness down my arm, relaxing my muscles.

  “We’re here. We made it,” I smiled at her. Olivia, Carmen and Phoebe walked outside. Olivia’s arm had been bandaged up and she frowned at the broken door but didn’t say anything. They gathered around me, looking concerned. I pointed at the island again.

  “It’s the Fortunate Isle. We must have hit the shield surrounding the island,” I told them. Willow looked at everyone.

  “Can anyone else see it?” Everyone shook their heads. I had a bad feeling about this. If they couldn’t even see the island, how were they going to gain admittance? I couldn’t do this by myself.

  Several minutes later, we had dropped anchor. Thankfully the shield hadn’t damaged the yacht, only our bodies. I had a couple of bruises on my side and Phoebe had a scratch down her leg. Willow had a knot on her head and Carmen’s shoulder was banged up pretty bad, as well as Olivia’s bandaged arm. We were a mess. Luckily, we had our own personal healer. Willow was going around healing each person one by one. I could tell it was draining for her but she refused vehemently when we told her we’d be fine.

  For whatever reason, I had a hard time not constantly staring at the island with longing. To look away was almost painful. I wanted nothing more than to jump in the ocean and swim ashore, but I knew that wasn’t possible. According to Willow, high tide was still a couple hours away. We were stuck for a while.

  “Next?” Willow walked up behind me and gave me a quick hug as I tried to tear my eyes away from the island again. She placed her hands on my side and started to work her magic. I was becoming accustomed to the tingles and numbness that flowed from her hands.

  “Hey, Willow?” She stepped around to face me, keeping her hands on my side and raising her eyebrows in response, “Do you think I’ll have to go alone?” I wanted her to tell me no. I wanted her to tell me not to worry about anything; that everything was going to be okay. But I knew she wouldn’t lie to me.

  “I think that might be a very good possibility,” she smiled encouragingly, “but we would just slow you down anyway. You’re really amazing, Stasia. I know you’ll find her and bring her home.” Once again she had more faith in my abilities than I did.

  “What if I can’t?”

  “What-ifs are kind of like ex-boyfriends.” Carmen had appeared on my other side, “The more attention you give ‘em, the more likely they are to stalk you and show up in your bedroom closet when you’re getting out of the shower.” Willow and I looked at each other and started laughing.

  “What? It’s true – I’m not making it up. I read it in Cosmo.” It felt so good to laugh, I couldn’t stop. Some of the stress from the last couple of days fell away and my shoulders felt slightly lighter.

  “Um, you guys?” Olivia’s face had gone white and her eyes were wide with fear, “I think we have company.” She looked towards the back of the boat. I stood up and saw them instantly. Apparently, everyone else did too, because I heard several gasps behind me. As Olivia slowly stepped backwards, I stepped forward, my eyes locked on the water and its newest inhabitants.

  Three pairs of large crystal blue eyes stared back at me. Each had long straight hair the color of the sky framing their pale blue faces. They were the personification of the ocean, glistening with reverence. The sprites were much smaller than I would have expected; about the size of a small child. I eventually summoned up enough courage to speak.

  “I need to gain admittance to the island. Our friend has been kidnapped.” The sprites began chattering at each other. Their voices sounded like wind chimes blowing in a summer breeze. I didn’t know how I was supposed to woo creatures that didn’t speak my language. Before I could say anything else, two of them sank beneath the water. The one in the middle remained. She glowed with a quiet dignity and her blue eyes emanated wisdom. When she smiled I felt a cool breeze swirling around me that smelled of sea grass.

  “Come.” It was only one word, but it wasn’t what she said that had my pulse quickening, it was how she said it. She was speaking into my mind.

  “I need my friends to come too.” I told her out loud.

  “Only you.” My skin prickled. She nodded her head at me respectfully and then joined her sisters beneath the waves.

  “She wants me to go with them,” I blinked at my friends.

  “What about us?” Phoebe squeaked, wrapping her arms around herself.

  “She said I was the only one that could go,” I answered blankly, glancing at the island in the distance.

  “How do you know?” Olivia sounded more skeptical than she probably intended.

  “She…talked to me. I heard her in my head.” They stared back at me with a shock I felt mirrored on my own face. My nerves were standing on end and every muscle in my body was tensed with anticipation.

  “Where are they going to take you?” Phoebe asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “I don’t know.” I was trying to make my body move, but it was frozen on the boards of the deck. Willow ran to me and hugged me tightly. Carmen and Phoebe followed.

  “Please be careful.” They held on to me. I finally turned toward the back of the boat.

  “Wait.” I turned to see a red faced Olivia; her dark eyes frightened. She stepped forward and hugged me. “Good luck, Stasia. You’ll do great.”

  “We wouldn’t have gotten this far if it wasn’t for you. It means a lot.” I tried to smile with courage I didn’t feel. I made my legs step up on to the railing like I had the night before. Only this time, the water didn’t feel warm and inviting, it held mysteries and secrets I would have to face alone. I had no idea what I was getting myself in to. Kira’s beaten and bloodied face flashed in my mind and a renewed sense of purpose washed over me. I glanced back one more time, took several deep breaths to steady myself and dove in.

  Chapter 33

  “The island’s essence wanes. You have arrived just in time.” My skin prickled again at her ominous tone sounding in my mind. The other two were still quiet. I assumed the one speaking held some sort of status. I had no clue what she was talking about, but I knew these sprites were my ticket onto the island, so I was willing to say or do anything to ensure that happened. I tried to focus on the reason I was here; Kira. I needed to find her.

  “I need to find Kira. She’s in trouble,” I told them.

  “As you wish.” Face to face with me, I could see how magnificent she really was. Her entire body sparkled from the sunlight streaming through the water above. Her skin was almost translucent, shimmering lightly. She touched my shoulder and the world turned to a blur. As the water rushed by me the only thing I could see were her sparkling eyes full of exuberance. In less than thirty seconds, the world was still again. She nodded her head at me respectfully and smiled widely.

  “Welcome to the Fortunate Isle, Anastasia.” Before I could ask her how she knew my name, she disappeared and I was alone. I kicked to the surface. The sprite had taken me to some kind of cave. I pulled myself up onto a smooth ledge and looked around. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but if I stayed in that dark, menacing cave much longer, I would be. I sensed I was actually beneath the island. Jagged stalagmites hung above and more water trickled down the walls. The eerie echo of my every move sent chills down my spine. I searched for an exit, but had trouble seeing anything disti
nct in the low light. Hidden in the shadows, I saw a small tunnel tall enough for me to walk through. I crept along slowly, expecting vampire bats or giant rats to eat me alive at any moment. Thankfully, the only thing I heard was my own ragged breathing as I stumbled through the thick blackness. After about twenty yards of steady incline, a ray of sunlight up ahead had me picking up my pace.

  I emerged from the tunnel and my senses were immediately assaulted by a litany of sights, smells, and sounds. I was suddenly soaked in the sun’s rays, warming my skin and drying my wet shorts and tank top. The smell of mangos and oranges cleared my head and I took a deep breath, cherishing their fruity aroma. I was standing at the edge of the forest, facing the beach. Just like in the ocean, everything had a surreal quality to it, each color more vivid then the last, the flowers and trees appeared to be dotted with diamonds, and the water itself felt magical. A collage of blues swirled and crashed toward the beach.

  As I stepped onto the sand, a low hum began flowing through my veins. It increased with each step and became so overwhelming I had to sit down and close my eyes. It was similar to the sensation I got from the dolphins, but much more intense. Remembering how I had blocked it out on the boat, I focused my attention on my own thoughts, my own feelings and slowly the humming fizzled, slowing my heartbeat and allowing me to think clearly again. I slowly ran my hands over the velvety, white sand beneath me. The lagoon from my vision stretched out in front of me. The same white beaches and lush forest circled it, all of it preserved by the jagged mountains protecting the island. I could feel the wind blowing through my hair and the sun bronzing my skin. There was a distinct vibration of energy flowing through everything, connecting it all together. I knew from the lightness that filled my heart, the same energy flowed through me. I was just as much a part of the island as the trees growing from its soil.