Cooper gasped. His grip on my arm tightened until it was actually painful. “Faster, Tenn. Faster.”
I pushed with my magic and willed the water to move us faster, despite not being able to see. The boat rocked, and then wind blew over my face. Voices whispered through the wind, calling out to me over the rush of the waves crashing under our boat.
Block it, Tenn.
I hummed an old witch’s lullaby in my head. If I heard Tegan’s voice in the fog, I wasn’t sure what I would do.
Cooper cursed and made all kinds of pained noises, but his hand stayed glued to my arm. I had no idea what he was seeing, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
Warm, salty air washed over me. The muscles in my arms loosened.
Cooper gasped again, except this time he tapped my shoulder. “Stop.”
I willed the water to stop us in place. Everything was still black around me. “Coop?”
“This is it,” he whispered. Then he cleared his throat and tapped my shoulder again. “Okay, we’re here. Tell Willow to release you.”
“Willow, give us our sight back.”
Willow sighed and that tingly feeling in the air vanished. The black curtain over our eyes lifted in an instant. One second all I saw was darkness, and the next I spotted a small island sitting all by itself. White fog wrapped all the way around the island like a perimeter fence to keep everyone out. The First Quarter Moon had dropped a little lower, and it had a soft pinkish glow to it that made the ocean water look purple. Trees swayed in the breeze, and small waves rolled onto a white sandy shore.
“Divine Water, hear my call, release us from it all,” I whispered. The ropes slipped away from my body. I walked to the front of the boat and held my hand over the rail. The water hardened and formed a staircase. “Come on. Let’s go find these shells.”
I jumped over the rail and descended my water stairs. When I glanced back, I found they’d all followed after me, even though, after all these years, they never truly felt comfortable with this gift of mine. I turned and led them the twenty feet to shore.
The light coming off the moon gave everything a rosy tint, but it was bright enough to see by without me having to light up. I turned around to look at the island and frowned. It was tiny. There wasn’t much of anything at all. It looked like it was just big enough to hold my house, and that wasn’t saying a lot. There were a few clusters of palm trees and bushes, but I could still see through to the other side of the island.
“Chutney—”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “There’s no animal life here.”
“Paulina?” I glanced over my shoulder to our Death Card. It was her gift, and her curse, to be able to see and communicate with the dead.
“We are alone here,” she answered.
I sighed. I’d hoped there would be someone to guide us once we arrived, but there was no one. No shimmer of light. No gust of wind, or twinkle of energy. Nothing but a bare island and another piece of my hope fading. The prophecy only told us to seek the shells, not where to look.
“All right guys, I guess let’s split up.” I pulled my hair up into a knot on top of my head, and of course, I thought about Tegan. It always took her four attempts to get it right. Then again, she had a lot more hair than I did. Not helping, brain. I cleared my throat. “Divide and conquer. These shells are here somewhere. We just have to find them. There should be a clue or two.”
The ground rumbled under my feet, and for a second I thought it was from me, but it traveled behind me toward the water. There was a loud roar like a lion, then a violent crack. I spun around just in time to watch our sailboat crumble into pieces and sink to the ocean floor.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Tennessee
My breath left me in a rush. I stared at the pieces of wooden planks floating on the ocean’s surface. I was too numb to even move. Not that there was anything I could do.
Cooper ran toward the shore but stopped just before the water. He turned to face us with his hands clasped on top of his head. “What the hell just happened?”
Willow spun around with wide eyes. “What now?”
This is it. The trick. It had to be. Otherwise none of it made sense. Sailboats didn’t just spontaneously combust. Not even in our world. We’d had that boat for a decade. It had spells and charms on it to protect it, so there was no reason for it to fall apart all of a sudden. Well, I could think of one reason, and it made my stomach turn. I braced myself for the burn in my chest, but it didn’t come. I pushed my magic out onto the sea, searching for her aura, except I didn’t find it.
“Tennessee?”
I jumped at the sound of my name and someone tugging on my arm. I glanced down and found Paulina staring up at me. I frowned. “What?”
She pointed toward to the water. “You’re the chosen witch. Go find our shells.”
I didn’t want to be the chosen witch. I’d never wanted that. Cassandra always said it was the ones who didn’t crave it who earned it. And that just sucked. The worst part was I hadn’t minded being chosen for things when I had Tegan by my side. Now it was another painful reminder of her betrayal.
I glanced around at my Coven-mates and found their gazes on me. Waiting. Expecting. I sighed and nodded. “Okay.”
Though that was a lie. It wasn’t okay. Nothing about anything was okay right now. Not the quest we were clueless on. Not Tegan tearing me apart. I just couldn’t catch a break. But I was the Emperor. I had no choice except to move forward. I took a deep breath then marched toward the ocean, toward the fragments of our boat.
Cooper stepped in front of me. He opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but then he shut it again. He stared at me a moment then shook his head and moved out of my way.
Shake it off, Tenn. I marched forward until the surface of the water was over my head. I had no idea what I was looking for, or where I’d find it—or why our boat blew up—but I walked toward the wreckage anyway. With every step, I expected Tegan to appear in front of me. I secretly wanted her to.
Something sparkled under my feet. When I looked down, I found the sand lit up under my feet. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a trail of neon pink footprints from shore all the way to where I stood. I took a few more steps to be sure, and those, too, glowed like neon signs. It was just like in the Garden of Eden. Except every step I took closer to the boat wreck, the brighter the glowing got.
But only the souls with Heaven’s core. So, they were right. It meant only the two of us who entered the Garden of Eden could find these shells we needed.
Wonderful. Let’s get this over with.
I sprinted over to where our boat sank in pieces. It looked pretty normal as far as shipwrecks went. But when I reached out and picked up one of the wooden planks, a little bolt of energy zapped my hand. I gasped and dropped the wood. It landed in the sand, and a cloud of neon pink billowed around it. I frowned and narrowed my eyes. None of the other debris had caused the sand to glow. I plucked another piece off the ocean floor, and it, too, sent a bolt of raw energy into my arm. This time, I set it down gently. Everywhere the wood touched, the sand illuminated.
Then I saw it. The second piece was flipped over to the back, unfinished side of the wood plank. On it was a line that sparkled like glitter curved into a loop, and it stretched out to the edge of the piece. I flipped over the first wood piece, and my eyes widened. It also had a glittering neon etching. I set it down and eyed the other pieces of wood. There were a bunch—dozens of pieces. Water swirled around me, and it was warm and full of life. It had magic.
It couldn’t have been a coincidence. There was no other reason for it. The sailboat had been running great, so only magic could’ve caused it. Except the magic I felt in these wooden planks hadn’t been in the boat. I would’ve sensed it ages ago. Which meant the magic was trying to show me something. I picked up another piece of wood, this one darker and heavier. But nothing happened. I tossed it back to the sand, and it stayed white.. The first two planks were pa
le like beach wood and lightweight. I glanced around at the pile, and my pulse quickened. There were more pieces.
It took me a few minutes, or what felt like it, to gather all the other planks of the same light wood. Each one I picked up shimmered to life with a glittery line. By the time I gathered them all, there had to be two dozen pieces, probably more. To my surprise, they lined up like a jigsaw puzzle. When put together, the swirls made some kind of rune, it seemed. But I had no idea which one or what it meant. After rearranging it five or six times, I stood and stared down at it. Still nothing. The shape meant nothing to me. I cursed, ran my hands through my hair, and began pacing. Think, Tennessee, think. The answer is here somewhere.
I couldn’t have said how many laps I did around the wood. I needed help. I needed fresh eyes. I needed Tegan, and it hurt like hell. I dropped down to my knees and punched the bridge of my nose. Why me? Why was I chosen? I knew Leyka and Keltie had chosen Tegan and me, but I didn’t understand why. We did nothing that special. I had no idea what transpired between Tegan and Keltie, and now I may never know. But for Leyka, we just had to collect a—
Oh, I wonder. I spun back around to face my pile. Could it be? I dropped down to my knees and moved the planks around. Took me a few tries, but I finally lined up all the pieces to make a flower design.
A lotus flower. Just like the one we retrieved for Leyka, and the ones marked on our palms that Gabriel showed us.
The ground rumbled again. I jumped up and braced myself for an attack when the ocean floor opened up under the boat wreckage. Sand poured out of the hole like a broken faucet. I tried to stop it, to control it, but my magic bounced right off of it. I knelt down and waited. When it was done, I found a wooden box sitting there on the sand. The moonlight’s pink glow shimmering through the water gave the box a real vintage look. I ran over and sank down to my knees. It was a treasure chest. Like we’re pirates? My heart was pounding so loud in my chest. I licked my lips and lifted the lid.
My eyes widened. Inside the chest was a heaping pile of little white seashells. They didn’t look all that special, but they did seem to have a little shimmer to them.
May seek the shells of familiar shores.
I smiled. We did it. We found them. I gripped the handles of the chest and willed the water to carry me back to shore. The second my head popped above water, I spotted my friends sitting on the beach. The tide rolled over their shoes, but they didn’t seem to care.
“Tennessee!” Willow jumped to her feet with a wide smile. She ran toward me, stomping through the waves. “Are you okay? You’ve been gone forever! We were worried.”
Chutney bounced up after her and smacked my arm. “Don’t do that! You scared us half to death! We thought something happened to you!”
I blinked down at them and tried to smile, but my thoughts were too frazzled. Their concern was a sharp reminder of those we’d lost, both in death and in darkness.
I glanced to the shore behind them. Paulina sighed and leaned against Braison’s shoulder. He squeezed her hand, and my heart sank. It wasn’t fair. I was happy for them—it just hurt to know I’d almost had that. I forced myself to look away before I fell apart.
“Something did happen!” Larissa said from behind them. “Did you find the shells?”
I nodded and led them back to dry land. The chest was heavy and pulsed with raw magic that made my fingers tingle.
Cooper jumped to his feet and moved toward us. His green gaze gave me a once-over. “Are you okay?”
For a brief, fleeting moment, everything was normal. Then I remembered why it was such a relief to see him be concerned about me. My chest tightened, and a lump formed in my throat.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“That’s…good.” He stepped in front of me and took the chest out of my hands. He gave me a nod and a small smile. “Let me help you.”
My arms burned. The magic from the chest was almost too much to handle. Cooper grimaced and hissed as he carried it farther onto dry land. He sank to his knees and set it on the powdery sand. The others gathered around him. Their eyes were wide and full of hope. I wanted to feel excited with them. I’d found it. But I couldn’t shake this feeling that something was off.
“Tenn, you found it…” Cooper moved over and waved toward the chest. “Open it up.”
I licked my lips and tried to push that feeling aside. We had to see what was in there. I dropped to my knees in front of it. Cooper’s aura echoed my own nerves, but the others were excited. I wondered if Cooper was expecting a trick like I was, or if his concern was the basic kind. I wanted to think I wasn’t alone in this feeling, that I wasn’t crazy for thinking it.
I reached out and slowly lifted the heavy lid. Bubbles of neon pinks and purples poured out of the chest. They floated up into the air and all around us. Whoa. When I’d opened it under the water, there hadn’t been any bubbles. Interesting. I looked down inside the chest at the heaping pile of white seashells. They shimmered with white light.
“They’re pretty,” Chutney said with a sigh.
“They’re shells.” Cooper leaned down until his face was right over them. “Like actual seashells.”
“I thought it was a metaphor,” Braison mumbled and leaned closer.
I hadn’t actually thought that far, which wasn’t like me. But looking down at them now, I had to agree I was surprised they were literal seashells. It seemed odd. What could we do with seashells? How did it connect to the Gap? I frowned and scooped a handful of them into my palm. The white glow twinkled and changed to a soft blueish color. The shells tingled with magic so strong it sent shocks all the way up my arm. It wasn’t painful…just powerful.
And oddly familiar. I raised them closer to my face, and my eyes widened. “They aren’t shells at all. They’re little crystals. Look.”
They each grabbed a handful out of the chest to inspect. I could tell by their shivers and shocked expressions they felt the magic, too.
There was a rush of energy from my front pocket. George. I reached in and pulled my pendulum out into open air. That all too familiar purple mist swirled around the stone, with hushed whispers and pulsing energy. The crystal itself sparkled light blue. Just like the shells.
I focused my attention on my pendulum. “George, do you know what these are?”
It swung away from my body and back in a huge arc. YES.
“Are these the shells from the prophecy?”
YES.
My pulse quickened. That should’ve been good news, and it was. But for some reason, that only made me more anxious. “Are these made of the same thing you are?”
It swung in a counter clockwise circle. I don’t want to answer.
My stomach dropped. That wasn’t a good sign at all. Cassandra always said when a pendulum responded with that, it meant we weren’t ready for the answer.
“Do we need these to close the Gap?”
YES.
“Thanks.” I stuffed my pendulum back in my pocket. We could ask it more questions later. “Well, you heard George. Let’s get these to the Gap so we can close it.”
“Yeah, before your girl brings in a Greater Demon,” Cooper grumbled.
“Can you please stop calling her that?” I snapped.
He scowled. “Well, isn’t she?”
I wanted to say yes. I wished I could. But I couldn’t. I felt another crack form in my heart. I wasn’t sure I could take much more.
“I don’t know who she is anymore,” I whispered.
Larissa cleared her throat. “Uh, guys, how are we getting back with no boat?”
I looked out at the water and sighed. “We’re gonna have to walk it.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Tennessee
I had completely forgotten about the fog perimeter until we stood about five feet away from it. Just like on the boat, the fog was a thick wall in front of us. Except this time, we didn’t have a boat to anchor ourselves to. We were walking on the surface of the ocean. We had nothing to use
to protect us.
“Maybe we should go under the fog?” Chutney asked from right behind me. “The fish seem unaffected.”
I shook my head and turned to face my group. “Fish can breathe under water. You cannot. We aren’t sure the fog won’t affect us down there, so I can’t risk not being able to keep you from drowning.”
Braison cursed. “I’d like to not drown, preferably.”
“How did we make it out of the balefire?” Cooper asked. “It had similar magic.”
“Me.” Willow groaned. But then she walked up beside me and slipped her hand in mine. “Okay, everyone hold on to each other. I’m going to block us from seeing it.”
“Not blind again?” Larissa shivered and grabbed Chutney’s hand. “We need to be able to see where we’re walking.”
Chutney ran up to hold my other hand, dragging Larissa with her. “I’ll listen to the fish.”
Cooper frowned and looked down at the chest he was holding. “Braison, can you carry this yourself?”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Braison replaced Cooper’s hand with his own, balancing the weight of the chest in his arms. He glanced at the fog behind me with wide eyes. “Just uh…ya’ know…hang on to me?”
Paulina smiled and wrapped one of her arms around his. “I’ve got you, boo.”
Even in the dim moonlight, I saw Braison blush.
Cooper unsheathed his dagger from his hip holster and gripped Braison’s bicep with his other hand. He nodded to me. “Just in case.”
I looked down at my own hands, at the ninja grip the girls had on me. There was no way they were letting go. Paulina held her free hand out, and Larissa took it. We stood in a line, with Willow at one end and Cooper at the other. My instincts told me this was a bad idea, that it wasn’t going to end well…but we didn’t have another choice. I took a step forward, leading the rest of them toward the fog.
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