Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
QUINN
F inding this cave is proving to be a lot harder than I expected, though the journey is certainly as treacherous as Aurelia promised it would be. We’d been walking for about an hour when the soft, sandy beach turned sharp with shards of jagged rock that now threaten to pierce flesh with even the slightest misstep. Even with new shoes lined with sanded coral soles, we’re forced to slow our trek.
“No wonder no one comes here,” I mutter, nearly slipping on an unstable rock.
“You mean no one walks here,” Abby corrects, and she’s right. Aurelia said the cave is generally left undisturbed, but when it is visited, the sirens need only to swim.
I can’t imagine making this journey on an injured leg. I’m all healed up now, with only a fresh scar to add to the collection. I guess it’s a good thing the fear of spending a night out in the open kept me from venturing away from Marein. If I’m being honest, I’m not exactly thrilled to be doing this now. Of course I want to know the truth about my family, but at least in Marein, I had an escape from the veil wraiths if they ever came for me. There’s no guarantee they wouldn’t follow me beneath the surface, but I felt a heck of a lot better having the option. Out here, we’re exposed.
I’m not going to be getting any sleep tonight.
“You okay?” Abby asks, and that’s all the prompting I need to turn off my emotions. I still haven’t told her about what seeing Evan in the veil meant, and I’m not in any hurry to do so. I hadn’t wanted to lie to her at all, never mind keep this from her for so long, but I’m not any closer to finding answers.
“Just a bit nervous,” I say, hoping she’ll accept the half-truth. “There’s no telling what we’ll find when we get there.” Like a pack of wraiths ready to devour my soul. Do they travel in packs? They fly, so maybe it’s a flock of wraiths. No, it’s definitely a murder of wraiths. It’s a more fitting name for them than it is the blackbirds that nest in the trees around Rosewood.
“It’s better to know the truth. No matter how bad it might be.”
I can’t answer her without risking my guilt shining through the facade I’ve been so careful to maintain. I hate this. I want to share everything with her, but I can’t share this. The burden of knowing that my time with her might be limited is something I won’t put on her shoulders. I’ll carry it until I figure out how to do what Evan said and live for her.
“Aurelia could have warned us we’d have to get wet,” I say when the silence between us goes on for too long. Abby seems unbothered by it, evidenced by the wide smile that hasn’t left her face since the rocky beach—if it could even be called that—became shoals littered with shallow pools of water, each filled with a variety of strange and wondrous creatures.
Abby’s sun-bleached hair blows in the salty breeze as she turns that smile on me. “For the son of a siren, you complain about the ocean a lot.”
I do my best to look offended. I probably look ridiculous, but at least it will help mask the absolute terror forcing my heart to slam rapidly inside my chest. We’re still hours away from sunset, but we’ve passed the point of no return. If we turned around right now, we wouldn’t be able to make it back to Marein before nightfall, which means spending a night out here is officially a done deal.
“How dare you?” I tease, hoping the playful tone masks my unease. “I never complain.” As if the ocean itself is daring me to prove it, an enormous wave washes up on a cluster of nearby rocks and sprays us with a salty mist. I keep my mouth clamped shut, but my expression must give me away because she laughs as if she’s already won this debate.
Gods, that laugh. I don’t want to go a single day without hearing it.
The land rises slowly, and soon we’re following the shoals around the edge of a steep cliff. More than once, I thought I spotted the entrance to a cave amidst the uneven rock, but every time it was merely a deceptive shadow. We have to be nearing the cave by now. If we don’t find it soon, we’re going to have to postpone the search until morning and set about finding a place to make camp. The sun still floats above the horizon, but it’s far lower than I would like.
“There it is!” Abby says suddenly, pointing to an outcrop of rock ahead of us. I squint my eyes against the sunlight, but don’t see what she’s seeing.
“Are you sure it’s not another shadow?” We’ve been scanning the cliff-side for almost an hour now and everything has looked the same to me.
“Positive. Watch the waves.”
I let my gaze settle on where she’s pointing and watch the steady flow of water as it washes over the shoal and hits the rock face. There’s a small spot where the waves don’t break, as if they’re pushing deeper into the stone.
“You never cease to amaze me.” I’m supposed to be the one with enhanced senses and she’s putting me to shame.
The entrance to the cave is flooded with knee-deep water, and that alone is enough to make me nervous. With the tide out, there’s a very likely chance that this cave will flood entirely when it returns. “Should we wait until tomorrow?” I ask, really not wanting to. I’ve never been this close to answers, and denying myself them now is the last thing I want.
Abby touches the stone wall as high up as she can reach. “It’s dry. I don’t think it floods completely, so we should be fine.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring.”
“That sounds awfully similar to complaining.”
I kick a knee up, effectively splashing her. Her playful shriek echoes through the cave. From the sound alone, I can tell it’s not as deep as I was originally thinking. There’s likely only another room or two up ahead of us, so at least the likelihood of us getting trapped in here if it filled with water is minimal.
“Let’s go,” I say, taking her hand in mine and helping her wade through the water. It’s nearly up to her hips, so traversing this part of the cave is significantly more difficult for her. She makes it clear that she doesn’t need my help, but will take it all the same for just the excuse to hold my hand. I definitely don’t deserve her.
The cave is surprisingly well lit as light streams in from holes of various sizes that litter the ceiling above us and the wall at our backs. They look natural, but I wouldn’t put it past the sirens to have carved it that way. There’s also less water now. The snaking tunnel must run on a slow incline because before long, we’re out of the ocean entirely.
I just hope it stays that way.
The tunnel opens up ahead of us into a room that’s significantly brighter than where we are now. I’m now certain that it was designed this way, and even if I still had my doubts, those would have been washed away the moment we entered the room.
Carved into the wall directly ahead of us is a massive stone mural. Holes of varying sizes speckle the ceiling and provide just enough light to navigate the cavern comfortably, while also illuminating the faces etched into the mural in a way that seems intentional. There have to be at least fifty people carved into the stone, and all of them are strangers to me. At least at first.
We start on the left side of the room, neither of us daring to speak a word in case it shatters the sanctity of this place. The carvings are painted lightly in some sort of dye that hasn’t so much as flaked, never mind bleached from the sun and sea. Whatever the sirens used, it was built to last.
As my eyes scan over the various people depicted here, I can’t help but think I notice subtle similarities to myself. The shape of a nose, the hardness of a stare, even the carelessness of a hairstyle looks as if it too never quite sits right no matter how much styling was involved.
This is my family. My lineage, following my mother’s line back generations. As I move towards the right, the faces grow more and more similar until I find her there.
My mother.
She looks younger than I remember her, her skin far smoother in a way that has nothing to do with the rock. Her eyes are bright and full of the same joy I’d always seen there. They’re the exact same colour as mine and every bit how I remember them. How many times had I said I would give anything to stare into those eyes again?
Behind her stands a much older woman. Her face is stern and seems to lack any of the joy filling my mother.
This is the weaver. The queen. My grandmother .
No man stands beside her. I’ll have to remember to ask Aurelia why that is. There are other men shown through the generations, but for whatever reason, my grandfather isn’t among them.
Beside my mother, two other young women stand. One I recognize as Aurelia, though she looks far less like my grandmother than she does now. Her features are softer, warmer, and although her eyes don’t hold the same brightness as my mother’s, there’s a spark of hope existing there. A spark that I know went out when her mate died beside her on what should have been the happiest day of her life.
Abby gasps suddenly, the first sound either of us has made since entering this glimpse into the past. Her attention is glued on the woman carved on the other side of my mother.
So this is the aunt Aurelia said was gone.
She looks a lot like her siblings, though her hair seems to shine red in the sunlight cascading down from one of the holes above us, and her eyes— her violet eyes —seem to stare into me.
Just as they did the first time I ever saw her, and every time since.
Imelda .
“She’s the one who cursed me, isn’t she?”
Abby and I whip around at the sound of Jade’s voice. “Where the fuck did you come from?” I ask, more angry at myself for not hearing him enter than I am at him for being here.
He’s too busy staring into the eyes of our enemy— our aunt —to acknowledge our reaction to his presence. I should have been paying more attention. It’s a mistake I won’t be making again.
“Yes,” Abby says, answering his question before I can calm myself enough to do so. “She cursed us all.”
At least he hasn’t lost all of his memories. Maybe there’s still hope.
His eyes slide along the carving and settle on another face. “That’s the woman who says she’s my mother.”
“That’s right. Aurelia is your mother,” I say, touching a hand to the carving and then sliding it to the right. “And this is Sierra. My mother.”
Understanding seems to flicker in his face as the same realization that shocked me to my core only a few days ago is revealed to him. He takes it much better than I did and looks almost as if he doesn’t care that we’re family.
“And her?” he growls. I don’t need to see where he’s pointing to know which carving he’s talking about.
“Her name is Imelda. She’s not only the witch who cursed us, but she’s apparently our aunt.” Which I’m never going to get over. I get why Aurelia didn’t want to tell me herself, but what the actual fuck?
“I want to kill her.”
My laugh is dark. “Get in line.”
Abby takes a cautious step forward, and I don’t miss the slight narrowing of Jade’s eyes when his attention falls upon her. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Privately.”
That question is as much for me as it is for him. There was a time I trusted Jade with her life entirely, but that time has passed. I don’t sense the same malice in him that I did when he first woke, but he’s not the dragon we knew.
His eyes flick to mine and the grin he flashes me is almost taunting. “You don’t trust me.”
“You haven’t exactly given me a reason to.”
He nods towards the exit of the tunnel. “There’s an incline a short walk passed the entrance that will take you to the top of the cliff. It’s relatively sheltered from the wind, so your fire shouldn’t go out in the night. You won’t find a better place to camp and the sun is already setting.”
Of that, I’m well aware. The yellow light that has been flooding this cave has turned orange, and soon there won’t be any light at all. “How do I know you’re not just trying to get rid of me?”
“I’m not the one who requested a private audience.” He must still see the distrust on my face because he rolls his eyes. “If I wanted to kill her, I would have while your backs were turned.”
I sigh and turn to Abby. ‘Are you sure you want to trust him?’
‘There are things I need to say and I don’t think I can say them with you next to me.’
There was a time those words would have cut me to my core, but they have no effect on me now. I know she wants to apologize to him, and if this will help her heal from the trauma of that night, then I’m not going to stand in her way.
‘Take your time. You know where I’ll be if you need me.’
Jade doesn’t so much as look impatient as I move for the exit, though he takes a step to the side to give me space. It was a calculated action, and although he seems to have gained enough control over his flame not to burn through the pants he wears—though what happened to his missing shirt, I can’t be sure—he’s clearly avoiding physical contact. That alone is a good sign. If he wanted to hurt either of us, it would be all too easy. Maybe that’s why he found himself in a cave surrounded by water. There’ll be no accidental fire-starting here.
At least, I hope not.