“For crying out loud.” Fate ran down the beach as fast as she could. Waves smacked against her knees as she waded in and grabbed him by the arm. “What…do you think…you’re doing?” she said, out of breath.
He shot the girl in the water a lovesick grin. “She’s singing to me. She wants to take me somewhere.”
She was a knockout, super model kind of knockout, unless you count the fish scales from the waist down. Fate dug her fingers into his skin. “She’s a sea nymph. Probably the sea nymph from the fable.”
He pulled away from her.
Planting her heels in the sand, she yanked on his bicep. “Finn, she’s luring you in with her sireny ways.”
“She wants to take me away with her.”
“And where do you think that is? Down to her giant clam shell where she’ll smother you in kisses and hand feed you soggy shrimp popcorn? Try rolling you in seaweed and serving you to her bottom-feeder friends.”
He continued grinning like a fool. “She’d never hurt me.”
Fate scowled at the sea nymph. “Don’t come any closer. I know what you’re up to.”
The sea nymph bobbed in the frothy waves, her eyes wide and staring, but with a hint of something wild and dangerous in the stormy blue of her irises. She reminded Fate of the raccoon she’d thought she’d tamed by feeding it from her bedroom window. Cute and cuddly, until the night it skulked in through Oz’s cat door and stuffed its furry burglar face with most of her Halloween candy. When she’d woken to Oz’s growling and the crinkling of wrappers, the ungrateful bandit had spit and hissed at her.
The sea nymph ducked under the water, only to pop up twenty feet away. Fate managed to pull Finn back onto dry land, but his eyes were glued to the siren.
“Oh for Pete’s sake, would you stop staring at her?” She pushed him down in the sand and blocked his view. “We’re in trouble here, and I need you to focus––on me.”
He leaned over to see around her. She blocked his view again, but he tilted in the opposite direction, craning his neck, a sappy look on his face.
She picked up a rock, threw it at the sea nymph and watched it miss by a good ten feet. Huffing, she looked for something else to throw, but stopped short when she saw the wreckage of a broken ship near the edge of the cove. “Finn, look. A ship crashed on the rocks last night.”
He didn’t respond.
She gripped his head between her hands, forcing him to look at the wreckage.
He resisted until his face squished up in her hands. “I can’t see her,” he complained.
“Snap out of it. That must be Torrin’s ship, which means we’re at the beginning of the story.” She let go of him, panic unraveling her self-control. She wanted to slap him out of it.
Thinking better of it, she told Finn not to move and ran back to the Book of Fables. Sweeping aside the branches and driftwood, she opened it up to the first fable and read through a few lines. She glanced back at Finn. He was still sitting forlorn on the beach. When she saw the sea nymph had gone, she went back to reading.
“Well that was about as useless as Dumbo’s magic feather,” she muttered, when she found nothing helpful in the story. Maybe she should explore the wreckage. Fate turned, expecting to see Finn. He was gone.
She ran back, stopping where his footprints led into the ocean. “Finn!” she yelled, rushing into the water up to her chest. Pushing against the rolling waves, she screamed his name at the top of her lungs, but the rising swells splashed into her mouth, drowning her voice. She paddled back to shore, coughing up seawater, ashamed for being so easily beaten.
Dropping into the sand, she hung her head. Why had she turned her back on that predator? She grabbed a nearby stick and slashed it across the smooth sand. The deep line sparked an idea when she realized what she was looking at.
She wrote furiously in the sand, then read it aloud. “When the sea nymph took Finn down into the deep ocean, he found that he could breathe, and the spell she had over him broke. Forced to free him, the sea nymph let go and Finn swam safely to shore.”
She searched the water, but the cresting waves tossed without disturbance. Her heart sank. So the magic was in the notepad just as she’d feared. Grief hit her like a fist in the gut as tears welled in her eyes. Stiffly, she rose and turned her back to the ocean, her feet dragging in the sand.
“Fate.”
She stopped. Was her mind playing cruel tricks? She looked over her shoulder. Finn was staggering knee-deep in the water. He collapsed on the shoreline before she could get to him.
At the same time a gigantic wave rose behind him. The sea nymph rode within its foaming coil, her face twisted in rage. Fate pulled on his arm. “Get up! She’s coming back!”
Dread splashed across his face, but before he could get to his feet, the siren gripped hold of his ankle.
A terrible tug of war ensued.
“What sorcery is this?” the sea nymph roared in an inhuman voice that made Fate’s blood run cold. “If the sea cannot claim him this day, it will swallow this island whole to have him.”
More outraged than scared, Fate held tight. She wasn’t letting go now that she had him back. “Why him?”
“The souls of every doomed ship are the sea’s due,” the sea nymph raged.
“He wasn’t on that ship!” Fate yelled. “The sorceress has the one you want.”
She let go of Finn’s leg and they both tumbled back. Pushing her tail into the sand, the sea nymph slithered forward, looming over them. “Bring me the doomed soul and I will spare this one from taking his place.”
Fate scrambled backwards, but faced the creature nonetheless. Though Finn was running as far from shore as he could get, leaving her in jeopardy once again. “I don’t need to bring the sailor here. He’ll come to you on his own,” Fate explained. “And I also know the sorceress plans to turn you into a brainless sea monster for taking him away from her.”
The sea nymph grabbed Fate’s leg with astonishing speed. “You lie.”
She shrank from the rank odor of the sea on the siren’s breath.
“No, it’s true!” Finn called from where he stood by the cliffs. “You can read about it in this book.”
The sea nymph narrowed her wild eyes. The second she let go of Fate, her fishtail fluidly transformed into legs. Her long golden locks were all that clothed her––barely. She made her way over to the book with zero modesty. Finn’s gaze scarcely flicked over the unpredictable siren. It was obvious he wasn’t going to burn his hand on that stove again, and jogged back to stand next to Fate.
When the sea nymph finished reading, she returned to the water and dove in. There was a moment of uncertainty before she surfaced. “I have heard of a book, which dictates the destinies of those who are written on its pages. Until now, I thought it was a myth.” Her gaze locked on Finn. “I will allow you to live, and I will grant you a boon for giving me fair warning.” She removed her pink pearl and coral necklace. “I gift you with my glamour. When it is worn, you may become anything you wish by changing your form. It is no mere illusion––it shifts flesh and bone and other matters into whatever you desire.”
She threw the necklace on the beach. Her beautiful face lingered for the briefest moment before her eyes bulged and her mouth widened into a fishy grin. Her golden hair turned to green slime and her barnacled neck split open with gills. She arced out of the water, her spiked dorsal fin slicing the waves before she plunged into the deep.
Finn shuddered. “And to think I wanted to kiss that.”
“Yeah, you were all over it.” Fate picked up the necklace and put it on. “Okay, let’s test this baby out.” Closing her eyes, she pictured a green and blue parrot about half her size like the one she’d seen at the palace, wearing a simple dress, apron and ruffled maid cap. She braced for a painful experience, but a strange, rather pleasant sensation flooded down from her head to her toes instead. Like warm oil oozing over her body, seeping in, softening her, molding her into a new shape.
; Hearing Finn laugh, she opened her eyes.
“Quit messing about, Fate.”
She raised her arm. It was short with stubby hands covered in fine down. Bending, she wiggled the toes of her talons. “Holy cow, it worked!” she said, startled by how the wings on her back fluttered in response to her excitement.
“And what exactly do you expect to accomplish in that getup?” he asked, clearly skeptical.
Frowning, she crossed her arms. “I’m going to make sure this story ends in our favor.”
“Now hold on. Don’t be hotheaded about this. We should plan this out.”
“Right, because that’s been working like a dream.” Taking a run at it, she flapped her wings as hard as she could. She lifted off, wobbling and dipping like crazy, certain she would never clear the cliffs. But she wasn’t about to give up. She’d rather hurl to the ground than suffer the humiliation of having to admit defeat.
•
Fate crash-landed on an empty terrace. Unfortunately, a cranky parrot in a butler’s suit witnessed her clumsy arrival.
“What are you doing out there?” he squawked. “Get your feathered fanny in here. I need every piece of silver polished before we serve dinner.”
She waddled inside. When she saw the stacks of tarnished serving platters, bowls, tea sets, goblets, urns and utensils covering the surface of a gigantic table her beak dropped.
“Don’t you have house-elves for this kind of thing?”
“If only such things existed,” he said as she headed in the opposite direction. She didn’t get far before she heard the quick scratching of his claws over the marble floor as he beetled behind her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Sorry, there’s been a mix-up.”
The butler parrot slid past her, skidding to a stop, his wings flapping to catch his balance. “Why haven’t I ever seen you before?”
“I don’t know.”
With his head cocked sideways, one yellow eye darted over her face and feather markings. “There’s something not quite right about you…”
Glancing past him at the mountain of tarnished silver, she heaved a sigh of dread. “Where would you like me to start?”
Several hours of non-stop polishing along with a feather duster shoved in her face every time she made the slightest complaint, had given Fate enough time to cool off, at least about Finn. She felt downright sheepish for thinking he’d purposely deserted her during the ambush. And it wasn’t like he’d willingly fallen under the siren’s spell. She felt awful for losing her temper and ditching him. He’d been right. They should’ve made a plan.
The whap of sooty feathers over the head startled her. “It’s time to serve dinner.”
Glaring at him, Fate stood beak to beak with the butler parrot. “Listen, Jeeves. If you do that one more time, you’re going to be the feather duster.”
He reared back, looking indignant. “Insolent,” he muttered. But he left it at that, gesturing for her to push a cart filled with a delicious array of food. She followed him down a long hallway full of activity. Lizard-headed bluebirds darted past her head, carrying flowers to a raccoon arranging bouquets. Winged squirrels flitted about dusting fixtures and furniture with their tails, while a bear with sad human eyes mopped the marble floors.
Fate slowed as she passed a chamber, where a pale, but really good-looking guy slept in a massive bed. A lioness bent over him with a cloth to his brow. Despite her predatory face, she looked almost angelic with the white veils she wore and outspread wings. Fate knew the patient had to be Torrin. Everything was in place now that the sea nymph was out of the picture. All she had to do was suss out the situation with Elsina, get back to Finn and figure out how they’d play cupid between the sorceress and her reluctant companion.
The butler hustled her out onto a large terrace glowing with colorful paper lanterns floating overhead and thousands of fireflies hovering in amongst the lush foliage. A fountain burbled with soft tinkling music, while a group of toads with dragonfly wings added melodic bass notes. Elsina sat dressed in a satin azure gown at the head of a very long table filled with a bizarre company of dinner guests––a bull, a giraffe, a wolf, a lynx, a gazelle, a horse, a ram, a lion and a swan––each animal endowed with human bodies from the neck down and as elegantly dressed as their hostess. A sight that was both confusing and disturbing.
Hatho arrived last, his helmet off and wearing a general’s uniform. He sat next to the sorceress as Fate set the platters on the table. She spotted her notepad next to Elsina’s jeweled hand. She started reaching for it when the butler pulled her back by the tail feathers, motioning with stern eyes to stand next to him.
Elsina cut into a plate of quail stuffed with herbs, nuts and raisins. “Where is Sithias?” she said to Hatho before taking a small bite. “These intruders confound me. I need to know more.”
The hawk’s golden eyes slid to the others at the table. They were being entertained by a troupe of winged rabbits performing acrobatics in time with the music. “There is no word yet,” he said, turning back to her.
An ominous smile curved Elsina’s ruby lips. “He must have discovered something of great interest for him to be gone so long. He is clever and sly, if nothing else.”
“If you say so,” Hatho said.
“You’ve seen his plays––full of mystery, deception and intrigue.”
Just then something huge descended with a loud flapping noise, scattering the floating lanterns and disrupting the flying rabbits before landing on the balcony. Swaying upright––standing a good six feet tall when coiled––was an ivory-colored snake with a suede hunter’s cap shadowing large amber eyes. The snake folded its brown-speckled feathery wings, while doffing its cap with a rather skilled tail.
“Finally, Sithias,” Elsina said, eagerness disturbing her smooth brow. “What do you have to tell me?”
“Mistresss,” Sithias hissed, “forgive me for not coming sssooner to warn you. The witch’sss apprentice held me temporarily under a minor ssspell with hisss magic flute.”
“So it’s just as I thought,” she said. “The apprentice is the one with the power.”
Fate listened with surprise.
“It would seem ssso, but we can’t be sure. We mussst be careful. The witch isss here.” He looked around, his eyes widening on Fate. “Oh dear, there she isss.”
The sorceress turned her head, looking past Fate and the butler parrot to other servants bringing in more trays.
Fate froze, afraid to move.
“Where?” Elsina said. Ice crystals formed over the spheres of each eye and her breath turned to frost even as a terrible heat came off her, forcing nearby guests to back away.
“There mistresss…the parrot!”
A bolt of red flames poured from Elsina’s hand, striking the butler parrot. He vaporized into a cloud of smoke and feathers. Fate screamed, jumping away. She removed the glamour, thrown further off balance by the dizzying sensation of stretching back to her normal size and shape. “Please. Don’t shoot,” she begged, holding her hands up.
Elsina kept her lethal hand aimed at Fate, her fingers feeling the air like a blind person. As the ice melted from her eyes, tears trickled down her pale skin. “So this is our witch.” A wintry smile formed on her face as she dropped her arm. “You have no magic. Do you?”
The smell of burnt poultry in the air had rendered Fate momentarily speechless. All she could do was shake her head.
Elsina stood, closing the space between them. She dangled the notepad by the chain. “And this is nothing more than a trinket.”
Fate nodded.
“Take it, little would-be witch.”
The soldier hawk and snake exchanged a confused glance. “Milady, I strongly advise against it,” Hatho warned, as Sithias shook his head with a worried look.
Fate reached for the notepad.
Elsina dropped it in her palm. “Now tell me about the wizard you traveled here with. I want to know what his source of power is.”
>
“Uh…” Fate stalled, grasping at the first thing she could think of. “The snake’s right. He gets his power from the flute.”
“Do you know how he uses it?” Elsina asked, feigned puzzlement barely disguising her shrewdness.
“Sure. He…plays musical spells on it,” Fate said as an idea blossomed. “If you’d like, I can write one of them down for you.”
“Please do,” the sorceress said, her smile carefully grateful.
Biting her lip to keep the nervous smile off her face, Fate pulled out the pencil and wrote: I am on the beach with Finn. Glancing up at Elsina, she muttered the words under her breath, astonished when the sorceress and her creatures blurred away.
•
Back on the beach––after Fate had flown away––Finn found a hideous, winged snake reading the Book of Fables. Afraid it may have seen Fate change into a parrot, he couldn’t let the snake fly off and tell Elsina. To keep it grounded, he did the only thing he could think of. Mesmerize the serpent with his Druidic inscribed wooden flute. The music had worked like a charm, except he couldn’t keep it going. The moment he ran out of breath after hours of playing, the snake made a swift escape.
He needed to warn Fate. And fast. The snake would arrive at the palace any moment and reveal her disguise.
Placing his palm on the sand, Finn pushed his senses into the earth. His first lesson as a youngster, taught to him by his grandfather, the Grand Druid of Scotland, was to connect with all living things through the earth. In this way, he’d learned to communicate with the trees and hear their voices.
Connecting with a human was new to him, but he had no doubt he could connect with Fate. They were inextricably linked somehow. From the second they’d met in the bookstore, he’d been drawn to her like no one he’d ever known. At the same time, she mixed him up. His skin felt on fire every time he looked at her, yet her presence was as comforting as going home––like when he’d first set foot on Scottish soil and knew he belonged there.
Fate's Fables Boxed Set (Fables 1 - 8): One Girl's Journey Through 8 Unfortunate Fairy Tales Page 7
