The Silvia Saga: Boxset

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Dara

I wake to the bed dipping. As I open my eyes, I’m met with Blair looking down at me, his expression sad.

He sighs loudly, then says, “I’m so sorry for snapping at you, Dara. You didn’t deserve that and I’m truly sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me.” He shifts uncomfortably, gritting his teeth. “It’s just that … my capture, it changed me. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d survive. Thinking about you was the only thing that kept me going.”

I take his hand and squeeze it tightly, telling him I forgive him, and I understand. I have no idea what he had to go through at the hands of James, and I don’t know if I could bear to hear it. I know I told him I would be there for him when he’s ready to tell me but it’s going to be hard.

“Can we take you somewhere special today?”

I smile up at him. “Sure. I would like that.”

“Great. I’ll let the guys know. You have a swimsuit, right?” Swimsuit? I didn’t even think Silvia had a swimming area.

As soon as he leaves my room, I bump into Jolie. She stumbles backwards, reaching out she grabs my shoulders to brace herself.

“Jeez, where you off to in a hurry?” She pulls back, cocking her head to the side.

“Blair wants to take me somewhere and asked me to change into bathers. I know the timing is really shit but I thought this is exactly what we need right now, and Blair needs this.”

“Yeah fuck it, let’s go. I think it will do us all some good,” Jolie says, walking off toward her bedroom.

I follow her in, finding Jolie holding up a one-piece bathing suit. I’m excited to see where the guys are taking me. It’ll be good to see more of Silvia since all I’ve done while I’ve been here is train and fight. Once we defeat James, I’ll have time to see more of Silvia and really enjoy its beauty.

After making my way into the kitchen, I quickly make some toast and eat it in record time.

Arms wrap around me from behind. “Is someone excited about our little excursion?” Oliver whispers in my ear.

I nod eagerly and walk towards the front door with Oliver still attached to me. All of my other warriors meet us in the living room and follow us outside. I turn to see Jolie joining us. I give her a smile. She returns it, and it looks like we’re okay now.

Harlan leads us through the village while I walk behind him with Oliver, Declan, Blair, and Jolie. Blair seems to be physically back to full health but after our chat earlier, I know he has a long recovery ahead.

“Hey, guys, wait up. Mind if I join you?”

I spin around to see Elijah running towards us. I instantly look at Jolie. Despite her trying to hide it behind her long blonde hair, I can clearly see her blush.

“Sure, you’re more than welcome,” I quickly reply.

I smile brightly in anticipation. You’d be blind if you couldn’t see the chemistry between Jolie and Elijah. There’s something there; they just need to spend more time together for it to develop, and I have front-row tickets to the show. I catch Oliver shaking his head—he knows exactly what I’m up to.

We walk for the next hour, with everyone on high alert for any slayers. It’s definitely a risk leaving our home at this time, but we do need something to ease our minds even just for a couple of hours then it will be back to business.

I take in the serenity. The sun is shining, but everything is different. The beautiful flowers and vibrant colours of Silvia used to keep me going. Now everything is dull, greens replaced with browns. The blossoming flowers are drooping like the life has been sucked out of them. The sound of cascading water up ahead causes me to walk faster. We veer to our left and I stop in my tracks. Through the clearing is a water hole with a beautiful cascading waterfall. Wow.

I knew there was a river here but I never knew about the waterfall. I practically run through the clearing, stripping off my clothes, leaving me in my one-piece bathers. I run up to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and jump into the water. As soon as my body hits the surface, I freeze. Electricity jolts through me. Opening my eyes underneath the water, I glance down at my body and it’s glowing blue. Tingling starts from my toes and slowly creeps its way up my legs, then it consumes my whole body. A force pulls me down farther into the water. I struggle to breathe, and it feels as though I have weights tied to my feet, holding me down. It’s trying to keep me here for a reason. A shiver goes through my whole body, and that’s when it hits me. I feel it—I sense topaz.

It’s somewhere in the water.

I swim towards the surface, gasping for air. Strong hands grab my waist and help me stay afloat.

“Shit, Dara, are you okay? You were under there for ages,” Harlan says, keeping his hands around my waist.

It didn’t feel like I was under for that long. “It's here. It’s here in the water,” I yell so everyone can hear me. Everyone else is in the water. Declan’s splashing around with Oliver near the waterfall. They instantly stop and start swimming over to us.

We all swim towards the edge and quickly get out.

“Are you sure, Dara? You’re positive it’s here?” Jolie asks.

I look over wildly at the water. “Yes! I felt it. It’s here.”

Everyone’s eyes are wide. I’m just as surprised that it appeared here without us even looking for it.

Jolie walks back to the edge of the pool. “Get back in the water, Dara, and let topaz take you to it.”

I hope it's going to be that easy. Everyone follows as I jump back in. The water engulfs my body as I walk farther into the freezing depths. With my warriors and Elijah close behind, I relax and reach out with my magic in search of the topaz.

A force takes hold of my body as I get pulled towards the waterfall. I let my magic take control, allowing it to draw me in the right direction. I abruptly stop under the waterfall, feeling as though I’ve hit a solid wall. After pulling myself back, I push myself forward, hitting the wall again. What the hell is going on? Turning myself to the side, I try to swim that way but again I am met with resistants. Water falls heavily on my head, and I try to surge in every direction but I can’t move. Lost for what else to do, I dive down beneath the waterfall. No force stops me. Following the opening underneath, I emerge on the opposite side, gasping for air.

When I look around, the first thing I notice is that I’m in a cave, a breathtaking one at that. I swim over to the edge of the pool and pull myself up. Instead of being a regular dirt floor, this one is covered in lush green grass.

Light trickles in from the cracks above. The musty, damp smell tickles my nose, causing me to sneeze loudly, breaking the otherwise dead silence.

The walls are covered in bark, which has beautiful pictographs drawn over it. The images are of different animals, sketches of Silvia, and people. The familiarity of this place hits home; I’ve been here before. My fingers skim the bark, the images, the people. Touching them, I know I’ve helped to draw some of these. My chest tightens as memories try to come forward. My magic surges suddenly, pulling me in the direction of the farthest wall of solid rock. I stop right in front of it and look around for a way to get past it. I know topaz is here—just behind this wall. I can sense it, feel the draw towards it.

I feel my warriors as they come up, joining me, and together, we go in search of a hidden entrance. I run my hand over the hard, rough surface, trying to find any difference in texture. After several minutes of looking, we realise there’s no way to get past this wall. Harlan places his hands on it, trying to push his strength against it. Of course, it doesn’t even budge. No one is stronger than Harlan. If he can’t break down this wall, I have no idea what can.

Jolie tries next, throwing magic at it, but it simply bounces straight back towards us. We jump out of the way, watching as it barrels back out through the waterfall. She shakes her head, frustrated, but keeps trying. I join her in throwing all of my magic towards the wall. We keep going at it for twenty minutes straight, finally giving up when it's clear it’s not going to budge.

“There must be some active spell on this wall hiding the topaz stone from us. I know my father wouldn’t have made it easy—especially since James would be after topaz as well,” I say.

“We need to head back home and re-group—work out a way to knock down this wall,” Jolie says.

She picks up a piece of rock that broke off the cave. “Now this will come in handy,” she mutters almost to herself and places it in her pocket.

I walk over to one of the side walls, admiring the drawings one last time, when Declan comes to stand beside me.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” he mumbles. “We used to come here as kids. We loved it. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this place. Of course, your father would hide topaz here. He knew we loved the cave. It’s sentimental.” He shakes his head.

“Don’t blame yourself, Declan. You can’t know everything,” I reassure him, reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. I glance up to see everyone else moving back towards the pool. “Come on. Let’s figure out a plan at home.”

I hang back on the way there. The pressure to find these stones before James weighs heavily on me. I don’t know if I have what it takes to fulfil my destiny. We have one stone, but we desperately need the second.

Everyone I love has sacrificed so much for me to succeed. They obviously believe that I can end this once and for all.

Finding a rock on the ground, I kick it, frustrated. Do I believe them? I’m not so sure. Of course, I will try with everything I have to succeed.

I just hope it will be enough.