Chapter 22
“What is this place?”
The next morning, I found myself in a boat for the second time in less than twenty-four hours for my second private lesson with Thalienne.
Now, I was staring open-mouthed as a tiny island broke through the early morning mist, appearing like a Nessie out of the water.
It was ruggedly beautiful with a clash of rocky cliffs and wild forest, the deep green of the trees shrouded by the clouds above, heavy with the threat of rain.
The shoreline was craggy and thick with rocks, but not as high as those around Heathermoor.
“Stormfen.” Thalienne sat straight-backed, her long purple skirts matching the color of the heather that was so prevalent at the school.
Her hands were folded in her lap, fingers laced, her nearly white hair woven into a simple braid.
“We use it for training that is . . . less approved by the Senate.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Less approved?”
“It’s in their best interest to keep Dwimmers from being strong enough to challenge them. Here, we can push you harder, without prying eyes. I could be a stickler and count that as your question for the day, but I’m feeling generous. What would you like to ask me today, Hannah?”
I whipped my head around to stare at her, wincing at the throbbing pain in my skull.
Liam’s fix seemed to be wearing off, and the curse was affecting me again.
But I couldn’t ask about that, could I? Inviting her directly into my head seemed like a bad move.
Did I ask about the kraken coin? The Grym Dunaras?
Much as I wanted to ask more about my own family, my own issues, it wouldn’t matter if I learned to use my magic without my hands if we didn’t make it out of this alive.
That said, I couldn’t just come out and ask the exact questions, I had to work my way up to them.
Basically, I angled toward another legendary thing that I knew little about.
“What can you tell me about the Waters of Pain?”
She didn’t even flinch. “That is your question?”
I blinked. “Should I ask something else?”
“Yes. You will learn about the Waters of Pain as part of our lesson today, so ask another.” Her eyes never left me, and I found myself swallowing hard and tried to come up with something that wouldn’t seem suspicious but could still help.
“What happened to Nocta when he came here?”
Well, so much for not seeming suspicious.
Her hands tightened, followed swiftly by her lips. For a second, I thought she wouldn’t answer, but she gave me the slightest nod of her head. “It makes sense that you would ask, considering you’re the only member of House Phoenix here, besides myself.”
Sure, sure. That was the reason.
I waited. We floated closer to the rocks of Stormfen, but I didn’t look away from the Sage.
She drew a deep breath. “Nocta came to me a month before he killed the Neverthorn Nine. Tarquinius sent him here for help as he was struggling to find his Quirk. The second he arrived, the gates . . . they slammed him with lightning, throwing him into the loch. We thought at the time it was only an indication of his power, but I believe now it was also an indication of the potential threat he presented. The gates here, as at Neverthorn, have a sentience to them that protects the students.”
Fuck me.
Thalienne looked past me at Stormfen. “He was broken by the training that Tarquinius had employed in an attempt to find his Quirk, and I thought he needed help – at the time it was not uncommon for students to come to Heathermoor for specialized training.”
She shook her head and I schooled myself to wait and be patient. As difficult as it was, there were pieces of this story I needed. To understand Nocta better. To stop him.
He might be my father. He might have let me live at the Solstice Games. But that didn’t mean that he’d be so lenient when he realized I was prepared to fight to the death to protect my friends or anyone else he wanted to hurt. I needed to be ready for whatever he threw at me.
“He stayed for nearly a month, learning, growing.” Her eyes flicked over me, considering. “Like you, he is part-Fae.”
I grabbed at the edge of the boat as my world flipped up and around, panic clawing its way up my throat and strangling me. Nocta was part-Fae. Not my mother?
I knew without asking that was why he was so strong. If he was part-Fae, that meant he could cast runes without moving his hands.
“I see you grasp the severity now. It is a truth that not many know about him. But you asked, and I am bound by my agreement to answer truthfully. He remained until Tarquinius called for his return, then he left in the dead of the night.”
More questions bubbled up. “Do you think he knew he was part-Fae? Was he really here to learn or just hide? Did he . . . hurt anyone while he was here?”
Shit. Just like me. Had he come here to hide from Tarquinius and then . . . and then left once he had what he wanted?
“He stole a few things. Then left without hurting anyone, thank Hecate and all the gods.” Thalienne shook her head. “Though he came back, as you know, and killed Evan Elmwood, nearly two years ago.”
Fuck me with a cactus. He’d stolen something. Had he been looking for the Grym Dunaras? A gut feeling made me almost certain that would have been his goal too. Even then.
The final question was had he found it? “What did he take?”
“A few pieces from the antiquities room. Nothing with value that we were aware of.”
I thought back to the little rock Calypso had convinced me to take from that very place. Like father like daughter. I opened my mouth to say more, but she cut me off with a raised hand.
“You’ve already had more than one question, Hannah. That is all I can tell you for now. Now, let’s get on to your lesson. Do you have the rune that you’re planning on practicing in your mind?”
Before I could say yes, a spell wrapped around my body and clamped my mouth shut. I stared at her, eyes widening as she flicked her hand, casting a rune that threw me right over the side of the boat.
I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and then hit the water, sinking beneath the loch.
Knowing I’d signed up for this didn’t change the irrational fear that I was going to drown. She hadn’t just bound my hands, but my legs too, and weighted me with something that dropped me deep into the loch.
Darkness.
Calypso was screaming at me. “You idiot! I can’t help you! Do something! If you die, I’ll never get the kraken back!”
I wiggled my hands, my stomach twisting into knots as I struggled to find my way to any sort of calm that would allow me to use the rune my mother had taught me. Anything.
But the panic was too much, and the burning in my lungs and throat overpowered anything I’d ever felt. I was going to die at the bottom of the loch.
Vomit poured from my throat as I thrashed, fighting against the spell wrapped tight around me, but it only dug in deeper.
“She will let you drown!” Calypso yelled, her voice echoing loudly through the water.
“You are too strong, stronger than her if you ever figure your shit out, and she knows it! And then you go and put yourself right in her crosshairs like a fucking nincompoop? Hecate’s left tit, do something. ANYTHING!”
I couldn’t see. The darkness was absolute as my knees bumped into the gravel bottom, the sensation of something smooth brushing against my cheek.
Just weeds, right? Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the bottom, kicking my feet like a damn mermaid, knowing I was going to breathe in a lungful of water if I didn’t get to the surface in the next ten seconds.
I couldn’t even think about Calypso’s words, if she was right or wrong, if Thalienne wanted to kill me, or if this would help me.
Burning lungs, throat spasming, darkness fading, bubbles trailing from my lips and nose, the light of the surface beckoning . . .
I barely got my mouth out of the water and gulped a searing breath before being shoved back down.
The spell held me there, just under the surface, staring up at Thalienne as she leaned over the boat. Her words were dulled by the water between us, her lips moving, her face blurred by the shimmering lake.
“Stronger even than I thought to fight to the surface against my magic, but it is not strength of body, Hannah . . . it is strength of mind and heart that you need for this. You must use your magic.”
I kicked and flailed as best I could, every part of me clamoring to get just another gulp of precious air.
“Your magic, Hannah. Dig deep for your magic.”
Only I couldn’t. The panic was too much, the fear overriding any sense of self-preservation.
“What nonsense is this?” Calypso growled. “Training? Tell her to stuff her training up her perfect fucking ass.”
Shouldn’t have been funny, but it was, and I sucked in a gulp of water. Hell, I had a rune that I knew, one that allowed me to breathe underwater, but I couldn’t even use it, bound up as I was . . .
Before I could think on it more, I was yanked to the surface, and my burning lungs were suddenly clear. I gasped, eyes flying open as I stared up at Thalienne, who studied me with a regretful smile.
“This was too much, I think. We should go back to –”
“No.” I spat the word out, suppressing another wave of vomit as I coughed. “Again.”
She looked like she might argue but then thought better of it. A second later, I was shoved down, the water closing over me, stealing my breath.
And so it went . . . over and over until the sun was high enough that our lesson was done.
Water torture that I’d agreed to.
I was unbound and plopped back into the boat, shivering so hard my teeth chattered and I wondered if I’d crack a molar.
“Use a rune to pull the water from your clothing, Hannah.”
Hunching my back, I ignored her as the boat scudded across the open loch and moored on the rocks outside the main gates of Heathermoor. I deserved the cold. Maybe it would motivate me.
The boat bumped up onto the shore and I stumbled out.
“Hannah. Do not be upset about today.”