Chapter 5 #2
Unfortunately, it was so dark, we couldn’t really see whether there was another exit somewhere else and we’d already been working this challenge for a good amount of time.
We could go back, but this was only the first challenge we’d tackled and we had no idea how many more there would be. Some days, there were as many as ten in one class period.
When Vorzak motioned that we should go back, I shook my head and pointed up to where the dragon waited.
When he shook his head again, I tapped my wrist in the universal sign for time and pointed up again.
He looked frustrated, but finally nodded, but then pointed to himself and held up one finger. Then he pointed at me and held up two.
I rolled my eyes and made a sweeping gesture toward the ceiling.
If he wanted to be first, I wasn’t going to stop him.
His snakes waved at me as he swam by.
I blew them a kiss and followed.
As we got closer, I could see the hole was nowhere near as big as I’d originally thought.
We were going to have to swim entirely too close to the dragon’s head if we were going to make it out.
Vorzak didn’t hesitate though. He aimed straight for the hole and I quickly followed, keeping pace as he powered upward.
I was watching the dragon, so I didn’t see what caught Vorzak and dragged him away.
All I know is he was in front of me one moment and the next, he was gone.
And the dragon beside me was stirring.
I swam as fast as I could, then ducked instinctively when something swung at my head.
The dragon’s tail whipped through the water where my head had been not moments before.
Shit.
I powered back away from the dragon, looking around frantically, trying to see where Vorzak had gone.
The dragon came around and hurtled toward me.
I darted to the side and barely missed losing an arm to the sharp teeth he snapped at me.
I hated to use my powers against creatures of the sea, but clearly this water dragon was not going to stop.
I opened my mouth and sent out multiple notes ringing with power. The magic of my song reverberated through the waters around us, lighting them up and calming every creature of the ocean close enough to feel its vibrations.
That a siren’s voice was effective on land and in the sea was one of its many wonders and I’d been blessed to inherit every bit of a siren’s power from my mother.
The water dragon turned sluggishly to face me and I sang a few more notes, coaxing him to settle back down.
As I scanned the water around us, searching for Vorzak, the dragon slowly sank to the deck of the ship, where his eyes began to droop. A few moments later, he was sleeping once more.
I still didn’t see Vorzak, but he was wearing my shell, so I should be able to follow it.
I manipulated my song into a finders call, and the ocean responded, plankton forming a bioluminescent trail for me to follow.
I swam as fast as I could, but it took entirely too long to reach the end of the trail, which led right up to the entrance to an underwater sea cave.
I hesitated before entering, worried I’d find that Vorzak had been eaten by some huge sea monster.
As it turned out, he had been taken by one—a sea serpent to be exact—who’d dragged him into her lair, but who didn’t appear to have much interest in eating him.
Instead, she appeared quite enamored of both him and his snakes.
Her body was coiled around Vorzak and her attention was fully focused on his snakes.
They were swimming all around his head, bobbing up and down and looking eerily as if they were communicating with the giant serpent.
I couldn’t be certain, but they seemed to actually like her, leaning toward her as they danced in the water, and she seemed quite charmed by them, weaving her heads this way and that as she reacted to whatever it was they were saying or doing.
I swam closer and the sea serpent’s three heads jerked around to stare at me.
Vorzak’s snakes began bouncing up and down in the water. Then, to my astonishment, they started growing, slithering through the water toward me, faster and faster.
Within seconds, they were winding themselves around me, hugging me tight.
Well, this was just one big snaky situation, wasn’t it?
The sea serpent had Vorzak wrapped up like a burrito and his snakes had now done the same to me.
Vorzak glared at me from where he sat, his arms pinned to his side by the sea serpent’s large body.
I wanted to laugh, maybe even linger for a while, but again, we’d only made it through the first challenge. We hadn’t even found the second one yet.
With no other ideas for how to extract Vorzak, I sang my calming melody again, and it worked as well on the sea serpent as it had on the water dragon.
Her three heads began to droop and then they were down.
Vorzak struggled to get free of the very large, and I imagine very heavy, sleeping serpent’s body, while his snakes entertained themselves by exploring everything.
And by everything, I mean me.
They seemed intrigued by my diving suit, sliding over it, nipping at any exposed flesh they could find, nuzzling me and generally smothering me in affection.
“I know,” I crooned, my voice rippling through the waters around us. “I love you, too, my darlings.”
Vorzak finally managed to extricate himself and swam toward us.
As he got closer, his snakes retreated until they were once more floating around his head, though they were all still very focused on me.
I blew them a kiss, which unfortunately had the same effect as if I’d blown it to Vorzak, who seemed stunned at the gesture.
I rolled my eyes, whirled and swam out of the cave.
The minute we exited, a giant two appeared above us.
Thank goodness!
Apparently, the sea serpent was our second challenge.
Unfortunately, I had no time to celebrate because in the distance a three lit up.
Vorzak and I set off at a swift pace.
I wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed, but I’d be willing to bet this third challenge would be the last one we’d have time for, even if there were more challenges to this course. This meant I really needed to come up with a creative way to win this final challenge.
As it was, I’d probably still get a lecture from Puddlemoan about using my siren voice to pass two of the three challenges.
“This course is about developing skills and strengths you do not currently have,” he’d lectured us on the first day of class.
“Therefore, I expect you to refrain from using your powers except in true emergency situations. Be creative! Or you’ll find you have no powers at all when you face your next challenge. ”
Everyone knew that wasn’t an idle threat since he’d already spelled his obstacle courses on land so that every shifter was stripped of their ability to shift the moment they entered one. Shifters who were in Extreme Sports Ed were always complaining about it.
Rumor had it when Puddlemoan was a student at Blackthorn Academy, a shifter had beaten him in a race, so he now took his revenge on the shifters he taught.
I didn’t know if it was true or not, but I wouldn’t put it past him. Everyone considered it lucky he hadn’t done the same with the water obstacle courses.
My theory was that he knew it was too dangerous to strip anyone of their natural powers when they were about to be underwater for hours on end.
At that moment, the third challenge came into sight.
Vorzak and I stopped swimming to stare at the sand castle that floated in front of us.
Seriously.
Who built a sand castle in the middle of the ocean?
And how was it not already collapsed, considering it didn’t appear to be connected to the land in any way, and was completely surrounded by water?
The castle wasn’t very big, to be honest. Bigger than us, to be sure, but not big enough for us to actually swim inside it.
I had no idea what we were supposed to do with this development.
Even as I had that thought, water sprites came streaming out of the castle’s windows and raced toward us.
Aw, shit.