Chapter 40
40
M y body was tossed over the ocean, and for one terrifying moment, I was held in suspension over the azure waters, the other prisoners beside me. Callum yelled and tried to grab for something. Rachelle had already shifted into the form of a hawk, and was flapping her wings but was still stuck in place. Tristen had a stoic look on his face, but his gaze watched me as I felt the wind slowly tilt me over the edge of the cliff.
Then, the wind dropped me.
A scream ripped through my throat as I barreled down to the rocks below. Then, the magic yanked on me—just for a moment to slow my fall—and I hit the cold ocean waves with such force the air was chased from my lungs. I shuddered as the current pulled me under, every inch of my body had felt like I had been battered by a fight.
Air. I needed air.
I opened my mouth but water rushed in. I looked up at the surface, knowing I needed to get my head above water, fast ?—
—but my body just froze up, and my limbs were fighting against me.
Shift. I had to shift.
I had borrowed Leah’s powers just for this, but for some reason I couldn’t convert her power into a form like Rachelle had taught me.
SHIFT! NOW! I screamed at myself, but it was no help. My focus was being shattered by the panic that overtook me.
I wish I knew the names of all the gods so I could curse each one of them as the pressure began building in my lungs. The other prisoners were nowhere near me—everyone had been scattered to the current and waves—and I felt myself sinking deeper into the dark blue abyss below.
I wished I could do something as simple as keep myself above water, but Tristen had been right—I hadn’t possessed the ability to do so. My past self had cultivated so many skills to keep me alive by fighting and surviving—but somehow she had neglected to learn how to swim . The irony was nearly as cold as the frozen tide pulling me under. The realization hit me as I sunk deeper. I would drown here, and not even make it to the fourth trial.
I was minutes from death. Maybe less, as my lungs began to burn. I reached into my pocket for the golden shell that Leah had given me, and I cracked it open, my mind going to its panicked plea.
HELP ME!
A shadow darted into my vision as the current seemed to accelerate, dragging me deeper to my watery grave as the light above began to dim, the surface growing further and further away.
I felt the pressure on my chest growing unbearable. It was time. I would have to suck in water in place of air. I would?—
Suddenly, a creature appeared in front of me. He looked like a man, with pale blue eyes the color of the tide—and the same color as Rachelle and Leah’s eyes. He was bare-chested and seemed to be built like a cresting wave. But below his navel were green scales that covered his lower half, ending in a powerful tail of the same green.
A merman.
He reached out, cupping my face in his hands as my panic rose. He smiled, and I could see his razor-sharp teeth. Was he about to eat me?
“ I see you have been gifted a shell to call for us. Clearly one of our own cares for you, so I’ll grant you a kinder bargain than the rest of the contestants shall receive. I’ll save you in exchange for knowledge of your greatest fear ,” his voice rang in my head. “ Nod if you agree to this bargain .”
Black spots had started to appear around my vision, and despite what little I knew about avoiding bargains with mer-creatures, I knew I had no choice.
I nodded.
Then, his lips were on mine, and air—such beautiful, precious air!—flooded my lungs at the same time I felt an odd pulling sensation at my neck. I pulled away from his kiss and gasped—throwing my head back as oxygen flooded my system. But how? The merman smirked at me as I stared at him, wide-eyed.
I closed my mouth, my hand going to it. But I was breathing. Underwater. My fingers traced down to my neck. Instead of smooth skin, I had… gills . They opened and closed in time to my breathing, small air bubbles emerging from them as I stared in shock at the merman.
“ This way ,” his voice rang in my mind.
Then, he was dragging me down down down —deeper into the dark ocean. It grew colder, but I still remained fairly warm in the bodysuit that was clearly built for these temperatures. The merman’s tail pushed us deeper with each powerful movement, and I wondered how deep we would truly go.
The darkness of the deep ocean suddenly parted, and as we arrived at an outcropping of underwater boulders, the merman paused. Below, a bright green glow illuminated a massive structure that sat on the ocean floor.
It was a huge underwater castle, and it looked as if it was made of bone-white material that had glittering pearls adorning it. The green glow seemed to be emanating from orbs surrounding it on a circle in the ocean floor.
My heart skipped a beat as I took in the shadows circling the oceanic palace. They undulated like snakes, bobbing up and down in hypnotic waves. Sea serpents . Massive ones, at that, easily the length of ten or twelve grown men. About four of them made lazy circles around the structure, as if they were guardians of this place.
The merman tilted my head back to face him, and I felt him speak in my mind once more.
“ Inside the castle are ten enchanted pearls. Bring me back just one of them and you will be free of this trial .”
Despite being surrounded by water, I felt my mouth grow dry. I had my dagger, but how would I fare against these massive sea serpents? Or anything else that awaited me in that glowing castle?
But there was no choice. I had to do this.
I nodded, and the merman released me.
I took a deep breath of sea water, and awkwardly began paddling my way toward the glowing castle, trying to teach my body the movements it had never learned. I kept to the shadows, following the edge of the sea cliff I was on down to the ocean floor. Maybe if I moved slow and kept myself close to the sea floor, I would evade the sea serpents circling above.
I reached the edge of the underwater palace, finally getting the hang of reaching my arms out and cupping my hands to propel myself through the sea. Above me, the sea serpents continued their slow swim around the perimeter. I found myself holding my breath as I passed underneath them—stilling for just a moment as one of them swished its tail… but then continued on its slow patrol of the waters around the castle.
I spotted a set of doors at the base of the castle, and with the way that the glow seemed to concentrate there, I figured that’s where I needed to go. I continued to swim, trying to keep my movements small as to not attract the attention of the sea serpents above.
But a cloud of darkness shot through the ocean in front of me. I stopped, backpedaling through the water as three prisoners cornered me. I didn’t remember their names, but as they unsheathed their daggers, I recalled that they used to run with Ajax before he had been killed.
Revenge then—or trying to ensure I didn’t make it to the next stage of these trials. I unsheathed my dagger, unsure of how my skills would fare underwater when my past self hadn’t even learned how to swim.
One of the bulkier prisoners didn’t waste a second, which is how I knew he was here to ensure my death.
He struck out with his own dagger, and I barely twisted out of the way in time—my own blade shooting out and making purchase on his flesh as the current shifted as he darted past me. But as droplets of my blood floated up in the ocean around me, I looked down and realized his blade had still caught the edge of my forearm.
I swiveled to face him, caught in-between him and the other two prisoners. The one who had attacked me was bleeding, too, the current carrying his droplets of blood up, up, up to the tides above.
The prisoners were no longer facing me.
Instead, they all shifted as the dozens of sea serpents above us stopped circling the castle.
And began swimming with incredible speed in the direction of us—and our blood.
They had scented us.
It took me a second to process this—but before I could do anything, I was rammed by a fast-swimming creature.
I screamed—the sound muffled underwater—and raised my knife to strike. But before I could, the thing that had hit me tossed me across the sea floor, and I got a better look at it.
It wasn’t a shark. It was a barracuda. Not any barracuda—a barracuda with startling pale blue eyes. Rachelle’s pale blue eyes. The creature winked at me, and pivoted back to the doors, tossing her tail as if she was trying to point at it.
I had to get to the doors. I started swimming, but turned to see where the prisoners who had attacked me were.
The sea serpents had arrived. Even in the oppressive silence of the sea, I could hear the screaming of the prisoners who had attacked me as they were mauled by those giant beasts, their beady eyes red with greedy hunger in the feeding frenzy that had broken out. One that I would have been right in the middle of had Rachelle not arrived and tossed me aside. Rachelle had entered the fray now, biting off limbs and embedding her sharp teeth in the flesh of the sea serpents that were upon us.
I kicked harder, paddling toward the doors, the blood trailing me from my wound as I hurried along. As I got closer to the doors, I saw that each one had a name on them. I saw my name etched into the far door.
That was the entrance to the trial, then.
I swam as hard as I could, but in moments, a dark shadow appeared above me.
I twisted, looking up to find a sea serpent twisting down toward me, those rows of razor sharp teeth glimmering in the eerie green glow of the underwater palace.
I raised my dagger, wishing that I had some other power with me?—
—but then out of nowhere, Callum appeared, landing atop the sea serpent, stabbing it again and again.
He was here! I felt relief flood through me as the other prisoners arrived, swimming to the doors. Aside from Rachelle, they all had gills—meaning they had all made the same deal that I had with the merman. I wondered if Leah had given them shells, too, knowing they were important to me. I warmed a bit at the thought.
The sea serpent twisted, but Callum kept mauling it with his blade, rendering it useless.
He rolled off the serpent and swam toward me. He pointed to the doors, and I nodded.
I had to go.
I started swimming, casting a glance back at the fray.
A dark whirlpool was descending on the fight, and I knew in an instant the spinning shadow was Tristen.
He had eyes for only one thing. His prey, which, in this moment, happened to be the prisoner who had slashed out at me.
I had reached the door just as Tristen raised his hand and his shadows shot out and strangled the prisoner.
Even in the depths of the sea, the sound of the prisoner’s neck cracking seemed to echo on the currents. The sea serpents, sensing a bigger threat, refocused their attention onto Tristen.
I felt panic seize through my body, but then I felt a slimy creature hit me again, propelling me toward the door.
Rachelle .
She glared at me—as only she could do whilst in barracuda form—and I knew there was nothing I could do in this fight.
She seemed to understand my panic, and instead of just going through her door, she swiveled around and shot right into the fight, using her small form to dodge the outstretched jaws and twisting forms of the sea serpents. She joined the fray with Tristen, and while the other prisoners used the distraction to flee, I saw Tristen, Rachelle, and Callum fighting the sea serpents side-by-side.
My heart cracked open a bit to see them united against a common enemy. And as Callum turned to motion at me again to go through the door, I finally relented. I prayed to whatever sea god might be listening to keep them safe.
I pushed through the door marked with my name on it and advanced into the depths of the fourth trial.