The Secret of the Emerald Sea

by Heather Matthews

  They walked until nightfall...

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Liesel had searched for her enemy, but failed to find whoever it was who knocked on the door and foiled her careful plans. Blake was gone, and her crystal ball had also disappeared. She had fretted as she crouched under the bed and found it missing.

  Panicked, grabbing for her weapons and whatever potions remained, she headed for the forest where she was sure the boy had gone. Something in her, some voice inside her head, was screaming for her to go to the forest. She could feel Hecate’s evil moving through her like a serpent, twisting and twisting. She felt cold under her layers of cloaks as she covered her face with a deep hood that concealed her features and stole away into the night once more.

  She ran for the woods, leaving the pub behind, she hoped, forever. She never wished to see that wretched place again. She felt stabbing pains in her back as she ran, and her breathing came hard. Running became impossible, and so she walked, wrenched with pain.

  She reached up to tuck an errant lock of hair into her hood. The wind was blowing it in her face. She felt bald spots upon her scalp and screamed. Clumps of silky, glossy, dark hair were falling out as she touched them. She reached inside the hood, and brought forth handfuls of hair, shining and perfumed.

  Liesel screamed again into the night, touching her face, feeling the smooth, plump skin sink and go dry. It was turning to old parchment.

  She needed no looking glass to know what was happening. The Queen of The Crossroads was ending her youth, and with it, all of her chances for peace and happiness. She was turning old again, unable to run...unable to charm or to kiss. She rushed into the forest; she knew her haggard face was terrible to behold. She felt hatred and all of a sudden, she wished to kill. At least the boy had run away. At least he had not witnessed this devastation.

  She knew now that Hecate had knocked on the door, just to play with her. Liesel had been so close, but Hecate would not let her have her heart’s desire. She should have tried harder to find the girl, but she had disappeared, and she had found she wanted Blake’s love more than anything else. Now, she would pay for that. She would pay for all of eternity.

  She walked slowly and miserably through the forest, tears of frustration running down her lined, colorless cheeks. I am so old, she thought, so old. Her breath was labored from her exertions. It hurt to breathe the cold winter air. She stopped suddenly, took the iron dagger out of her cloak, and held it to her wrist. What does it matter anymore? she thought, and she started to cut the skin on her wrist. She wanted to die now, and she longed to escape her fate. Perhaps she could if she took her own life.

  She was too weak to hunt through a forest, she knew. Too cold to pursue the ones she had to find.

  And I cannot face Blake again, she thought desperately. I will kill him rather than have him know that this is me...his Liesel. She pulled the dagger hard across her wrist. But I would rather die myself.

  The knife drew no blood. No matter how hard she pulled at her skin with the razor-sharp blade, her flesh remained unmarked and did not bleed.

  “Put the knife away,” she heard a voice say deep within her mind. It was a man’s voice, and it was as cold as the steel she wielded.

  “Who’s there?” she yelled into the forest. “Who goes there?” Her voice sounded awful, the old croak she had forgotten was her true voice. Some more of her dark hair lay in bunches upon the ground, falling out of her hood as she moved. She touched her face, putting the knife back in her cloak.

  “It will not work. You must finish your task, and come to the River,” Pluto said, a smile in his voice. Liesel heard the harsh laughter of Hecate in the background, and closed her eyes. She thought she might faint. The voices were so loud, and yet they came from inside of her.

  “I am not strong enough,” she croaked. “I would like to revenge myself upon Minerva, but I am weak, and old. I cannot make my way through all this forest, and I do not know where to go.” Her voice was choked with tears. She did not want to listen to Pluto and Hecate. Their voices were like acid in a wound, and she must listen to them, forever and ever.

  “I will make you strong,” Pluto answered. “Go and break a branch, the longest and strongest you can find, off of a tree. Then wait.”

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Liesel looked about her, but she could not find anything. She heard a crunching sound not far from where she searched, and then she saw a huge evergreen tree begin to fall. She ran out of the way, watching the tree crash to the ground. She glanced back at the village, for it was close, and the noise had been loud.

  “They won’t hear,” Pluto said soothingly. “Get the branch now.” She reached for a long branch that had snapped off at its base, and held it in her hand.

  She held the branch, waiting for something... The branch sparked and caught fire and she dropped it on the ground. She heard the sound of ancient languages in her ears, the ones she had used in spells and incantations. The flames grew, even on the wet ground, and they rose higher and higher until they were over her head.

  She tried to move away, but was bewitched by the licking flames. They seemed to dance only for her. Inside of the flames, a figure was emerging, glistening and red, as though soaked in fresh blood. Out of the flames, Pluto walked, his burning limbs turning to healthy bronze skin, his demon’s face growing handsome and smooth.

  Pluto smiled at Liesel and extended his hand. The flames died on the ground in that same instant, leaving only a blanket of ash behind. She could not move, for never had she seen such magic, and she was awed by his power. Liesel could feel his strength, and she fell to her knees in front of him.

  “Pluto,” she intoned, bowing her head. “My great lord.”

  “Get up,” he said, not unkindly, and he looked into her face. “My, my aren’t we a sight?” He smiled, his cold, blue eyes relishing the look of desolation in the old woman’s eyes as he spoke the mocking words.

  “Give me back what Hecate took, and I will do anything...” she begged, still at his feet.

  “Nothing lasts forever, you know...beauty, wealth, life itself...all ends, all dies, all is subject to my domain. I claim beauty in decay, wealth that can no longer be dispensed, bodies that can no longer move or breathe...or love. Nothing lasts, and when it is gone, I am all that remains.”

  “Don’t,” Liesel said. “You can reverse this. You are strong.”

  “I could, but I won’t because I enjoy it so much,” he said, smiling.

  She grabbed for her dagger then, and tried to stab him with it, for it was all she had, and she was enraged. He laughed at she plunged the dagger into his skin. It did not penetrate, and it never would.

  “You know better than that,” he said, grinning, prying the knife out of her gnarled hands.

  She stared at him in naked hatred. “I killed for you,” she rasped. “I killed, and I would kill more if you’d but give me the strength to do it.”

  “That’s better,” he said. “Firstly, you did not kill for me, but for yourself. You gloried in it, and Hecate told me so.” He laughed. “Don’t be ashamed, for many have gone before you, feeling godly power for just a moment as they claim the blood of another. It is natural, but it was not for me, or for Hecate.

  “The way you felt when you killed,” he continued, “is how I feel as I send you to the River. That is your punishment for I am here to finish what you started, and you are no longer useful here.” He reached over, took her hand and tucked her iron dagger into his robes. “I will keep this for my collection, if you don’t mind,” he said.

  “I can’t go down there,” Liesel rasped. “Please let me die here, then let me cross to the other side.”

  “I’ve tried to explain, Liesel,” he sighed. “Your suffering brings me pleasure, and therefore, I won’t stop it. Don’t you understand?”

  Liesel stared at him. There was nothing to say now. She understood everything.

  “I will enjoy sending the daughter of Neptune to Hecate, as well,�
� he said, smiling. “I’m afraid you are not strong enough for this task we set out for you since she has royal blood.”

  “Minerva will stop you,” Liesel snapped, nasty and mean now as ever she was. She hated Minerva, it was true, but now she hated Pluto even more.

  “She cannot,” Pluto said. “She is just a goddess. They are never as powerful as gods.” He laughed. “They may think they are strong, but they aren’t, all those women. Only Jupiter is my rival.”

  “Minerva is strong,” Liesel said. “She filled my cave with her aura. I could feel her strength. It would have been impossible to harm her, so I chose the girl.”

  “But you fell in love,” Pluto said crushingly, “and you failed to kill the girl. You forgot your pledge to destroy her, and now it is time for you to go.”

  “I am afraid,” Liesel whispered, closing her eyes tight.

  “They always are,” Pluto said with a half smile, and then he brought out her dagger and examined it under the moonlight.

  “It is time to go to Hecate. She is waiting.”

  Liesel closed her eyes, imagining the boy’s scent, and his soft golden hair. She had been so close, so close, to peace.

  When she opened her eyes, she saw the Underworld laid out before her like a scene from a nightmare. Hecate stood by the shore and nodded in welcome. Sisyphus turned from his labors and shook his head sadly. “Fool. Murderer,” he muttered, groaning again as he pushed the great boulder.

  “Fool and murderer, indeed,” Hecate said as Liesel, hideous now and bedraggled, walked slowly toward her. Liesel looked at her with hatred. “You robbed me!” she said spitefully. “It was you who knocked on that door with your magic.”

  “It was a warning. The timing could not be helped,” Hecate said soothingly. “It was only a warning. That was all.” She led Liesel to the riverbanks.

  “But the boy heard it, too!” Liesel spat.

  “Yes, well, magic is rarely perfect, as we both know,” Hecate said, her eyes gleaming with good humor. “I thought you would want to know, so that he would not have to see you...like this. Your time was running out.” And she laughed and laughed, walking away from Liesel, who must guard the riverbank now and forever.

  Liesel smelled the metallic stench of the crimson waters and she wished herself dead. She watched the souls cross—there were so many— and she felt the pure spirits rise and the mean spirits fall, each to their own place. She was on the border, and she would never know true pleasure, or true pain, again. Only numbness, which was worse than pain.

  * * * *

  Pluto walked through the forest, looking in wonder around him. He rarely left his palace, and the earth was unfamiliar to him. But he knew the first battle of the Great War should be fought on neutral ground. He must make the first move and place the pieces where they should lie. These humans were bait, and they would bring the war into motion.

  His armies were ready. A quick summons would call them up out of the River where they dwelled. He would wait until the moment was right, and he would try to kill the girl and steal Minerva away to his home. Once she was down in his palace, he would have a bargaining chip if the war went wrong. I also have Proserpina, he thought cruelly. She cannot die, but she can languish, and Jupiter will not want Minerva, his beloved child, to suffer such a fate.

  He walked through the forest, waiting to feel the aura of other, similar beings. It would not be long before he did. He smiled as he walked, his godly bulk casting strange shadows. He needed to make it to the other side of the forest, but there was no great hurry. With his magic, such things were easily achieved. He gloried in the still, silent beauty of the night for just a moment or two, glancing back at the spot where he and Liesel had stood. Her begging had made him feel happy and strong.

  The only thing he worried about was whether or not Jupiter was watching him. He glanced up at the sky and his features darkened. He scowled as he remembered his journey to the Sunlit Cloud.

  “This is war,” he muttered, and he closed his eyes, chanting spells he had known since the beginning of time.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  “Did you feel that?” Jane asked Minerva as they walked through the darkness.

  “Yes,” Minerva said, looking over at the Cupid, who stopped walking and turned back to the women.

  “He is here,” the Cupid said simply. “Pluto. We are running out of time.”

  Jane shivered in the darkness, the coldness seeping into her bones. The forest was perfectly still, but there was a feeling of menace in the air, a cold fear that all of them could sense. It was the feeling that had driven them from the village. Only, this time, it was so much stronger than that.

  Minerva held their hands and they stood all in a row. She closed her eyes and chanted some words in her own true language, and then Jane watched as the Cupid felt the pain, the familiar pain that wracked his body, as the change came over him more quickly than it ever had before.

  “We need you,” Minerva told him as he cried out in pain and doubled over. His skin glowed as his body grew longer and larger and the buds pushed through his skin. He moaned, feeling the power, his power, surge through his tortured body. Soon, he let go of their hands and floated over them, staring down at the women. He rose in the air, twisting and turning, gently moving his wings to stay aloft.

  “It was easier...this time,” he called out. “The pain passed so quickly!”

  “Yes,” Minerva answered. “One day you will not need to suffer this way to be who you are.” Jane smiled at this.

  “Come,” he said, reaching his strong arms down to grasp Jane under one arm and the goddess under the other. “You two are heavy, but I think I can do it if I try.”

  His face was dark with strain as he tried to work his wings under their heavy load. Jane watched the earthen floor recede as he carried them upward, moaning with their weight. They could not fly high, but soon they were high enough that they could see the shining Emerald Sea in the distance. He fluttered his huge, snow white wings, and moved over the landscape as Jane felt the familiar sensation of euphoria and fear.

  The Cupid headed toward the shoreline where she would finally be safe. He would not go to the Sky, he murmured in her ear, but would stay to fight the Great War, for he was strong, and he said he could feel power flowing through his being. His eyes glowed deep blue now. Jane stared down in wonder as they flew faster and faster toward the sea, and soon they passed the edge of the forest, the village of Lynnshire far, far away now.

  He set them down on the dark sand and stood before them. “You must go,” he told her, pulling her close to him. “Your eyes are ivy green in the moonlight, Jane,” he whispered. “I think I have never seen anyone so beautiful!”

  “No, I cannot leave you. Please, don’t make me go!” she begged as she stared into his face.

  “You must go,” Minerva told her, and then they all looked at one another. As they did, Jane heard a rustle behind them. Cupid pulled out his arrow and turned toward the noise. Jane watched nervously as Minerva began to blow upon the ring she wore.

  Soon, Jane felt terrified as two figures emerged from the dark forest. They appeared as black silhouettes, both of about the same height. One of the shapes called out in the darkness for Minerva, and the goddess’ face seemed to light up. She must recognize the voice!

  The dark figures ran down to the sand, and Jane’s heart was in her throat as she saw Blake, gazing at her as he ran. She felt tears spring up into her eyes, and she ran toward him, fearing nothing. They embraced, and Blake kissed her endlessly as the group came together.

  Blake and Jane broke their kiss and stared at one another. The young man smiled, and Jane felt her heart break, for she must leave him. It was the only way to protect him. “I am sorry,” she said softly. “I am sorry I could not tell you who I am. Do you know now, who I really am?”

  “Yes,” he whispered. “I know you must go, but can you not take me with you, Jane? I love you...”

  Jane looked down, for there
was little time now. “You would not be happy,” she said in despair. “You would not be happy there. It is no place for humans, and you would become angry with me for what I’d done to you.”

  Blake’s eyes filled with tears, and he turned away from her, staring at Minerva and Diana.

  “Where is the boy...her brother?” he asked, bewildered, as Jane stared into his face. Her heart was breaking. It always seemed to ache when she was with him. “Shall I take him with me, away from this place?”

  “I am here,” the Cupid said, moving closer. “I am here.”

  “You are a man, not a little boy,” the young lord answered accusingly, and Jane winced. There had been so many lies.

  Jane watched as the Cupid moved close to the young man and stared into his face. Blake was so handsome, and so innocent. “I was the one who pierced you with my arrow that night at the Christmas Pageant when no one could see except the two of us.”

  “I don’t understand,” Blake said in anger, glaring at the winged man. He turned to Jane, his voice accusing. “Where is the child? This cannot be him!”

  “He’s not truly a child,” Minerva said, answering for Jane. “He is the Cupid who stands before you now, the daughter of Venus herself...the Goddess of Love.”

  Jane looked over at the Cupid, who seemed desperately sad.

  “He is cursed, and appears as a human child by day, but this is his true self, and only some of us can see him until the curse is broken and he can be free. You are under enchantment by the gods, and by black magic, and so you can see him thus. I have weakened the curse, but I cannot break it yet.”