Chapter 26
Riella hurtled up the steps two at a time.
The pure panic in the voice cut straight to her heart and forced her to act. Jarin may’ve been right about the plea being a trap, but what if it wasn’t? Guilt had plagued her ever she left Seraphine behind. Now, she finally had the chance to balance the scales and she was going to take it. She and Jarin came to face Polinth, didn’t they? If it was a trap, then he already knew they were present anyway.
The voice from the caves stopped calling, but Jarin’s boots thundered on the stairs right behind her. Never did she imagine she’d appreciate a Dark Tide pirate running after her, and yet she wouldn’t prefer to storm Polinth’s workshop with anyone else. A towering, muscular, invulnerable pirate wasn’t the worst accomplice for a rescue mission.
Riella should’ve asked Jarin if his invulnerability extended to a magical attack, since they were ambushing a sorcerer. But it was too late now, because the cave entrance was in view.
The crash of waves came from the bottom of the cliffs. She slowed near the top, crouching just behind the entryway. Jarin caught up with her and clamped his large hand firmly around her ankle to prevent her from running. She turned and bared her teeth at him in warning, not wanting to be stopped, but she needn’t have bothered.
From inside the caves, a siren began Singing. The sound was intimately and bizarrely familiar, making her pause to listen in disbelief. It was Riella’s own Voice.
Jarin buckled and jammed his hands over his ears, his face pained. Riella climbed the last few stairs and entered the mouth of the cave, feeling like she was in a bizarre nightmare. Despite hearing her own lilting, unearthly Song, she was unprepared for what she found.
The water tank where Polinth kept her was gone, along with the workshop table and the Starlight Gardens flag.
Now, the cave resembled something impossible—a place between the ocean and land. Glowing candles hung suspended in midair, casting ethereal firelight. But seaweed also sprouted from the ground, floating and drifting as if in water, only there was none. Multi-colored coral shimmered on rocks covering the floor.
Another Riella danced in the center of the cave on slender legs. At first, she thought she was looking into a mirror, her mind struggling to make sense of the eerie sight. But other-Riella’s hair flowed loose as she danced, her black dress flaring at the knees. Her eyes were closed, her face lifted to the ceiling as she Sang. This was no reflection.
Jarin appeared beside Riella, his hands pressed over his ears. If the Song was causing him genuine pain, that meant it really was a siren’s Voice. It was her Voice, even if the rest was sorcery.
“It’s a Glamour!” he shouted over the Song. “She’s not real.”
Riella blinked, and realized her mirror image was not perfect after all. Other-Riella’s figure was bustier than hers, and her facial features were slightly different from her own. Polinth had conjured her likeness from memory and like all humans, his memory was imperfect.
The Voice, though? She was sure the Voice was real. It was the one tangible thing he’d stolen from her and kept.
Jarin’s shouts made other-Riella cease Singing and dancing. She turned and smiled at them. The center of her throat glowed with a brilliant blue light.
“Riella,” said Jarin with a note of warning, letting his hands fall. “I don’t like this. We should leave. Now.”
“Not a chance,” she replied, not taking her eyes from her crude doppelg?nger.
She wasn’t leaving without Seraphine. Another opportunity had presented itself to her, as well. She had the chance to reclaim her Voice.
Black vapor rose from other-Riella’s shoulders and head in fine tendrils.
“You can’t fight a Glamour,” said Jarin. “Please, trust me. We need to leave.”
Despite her determination, fear trickled down Riella’s spine. Jarin’s mother was a sorceress—she should probably listen to him. He knew about dark magic.
But she couldn’t bring herself to just leave. Her days were already numbered, and she’d come all this way. She couldn’t turn and flee without trying to find Seraphine.
“The elf could be in the chambers of the caves,” said Riella. “And Polinth would need to be nearby to conjure the Glamour, wouldn’t he?”
“I don’t know, Riella, but I don’t think we should stick around to find out. Do you really think he’d let you take your Voice back? He’s toying with you.”
Before her eyes, other-Riella morphed, the black vapor rearranging itself into another form. Within moments, the figure became the likeness of Polinth. He smiled, wearing a black robe, and he held up a small glass bottle containing the blue glow of her Voice.
Riella went to cross the few paces to the sorcerer. But this time, Jarin was ready, grabbing her around the waist with both arms to stop her.
Polinth laughed heartily.
“You are too late, my dearest,” he said in a horrible singsong voice. “I already have what I needed from you.” He wriggled the glass bottle. “And I thank you for it, endlessly. I regret that I couldn’t meet you at the cave in person, but I have much to do before the royal wedding. I hope you don’t mind that I left a Glamour behind to greet you.” He chuckled. “Well. Goodbye, now.”
His face and body faded, the black vapor overtaking his features. The vapor drifted backward with unnatural speed, as if sucked into a portal. Only the glass bottle containing her Voice remained, suspended in midair.
The bottle was so close. All she had to do was reach out and grab it.
With a grunt, she wrenched herself from Jarin’s vise-like grip and lunged for the bottle. The moment her fingertips touched the glass, the bottle vanished, and her Voice along with it. A puff of black smoke was all that remained.
Her shoulders slumped. What a disaster of a mission. The only bright spot was that he obviously didn’t know Riella and Jarin had the map. He mightn’t even know about its existence.
“The royal wedding,” repeated Riella with a frown, remembering the news bulletin they heard at the tavern. “It’s being held on the night of the full moon. The night I die.”
“Riella, what’s that?” asked Jarin in an uneasy voice.
The cave interior had changed. While the floating candles remained, their yellow flames flickering in the breeze, the seaweed and coral were gone. In their place were piles of red sticks with strings coming from the ends, like candles. Polinth had bewitched the red sticks to look like seaweed and coral.
A metallic pungency drifted through the air, mingling with the briny scent of the sea. Was this another Glamour? How could she be certain of anything she saw?
Jarin peered closer at the red piles in the low light. Then, he cursed loudly and skittered backward, grabbing her wrist and tugging her with him.
“I saw these in Hatara,” he said. “Run!”
As he yanked her to the mouth of the cave, the suspended candles dropped from the air, landing on the red sticks. The flames spread to the strings protruding from the sticks, sparking them and burning brightly.
Riella went to run down the stairs, but Jarin pulled her toward the cliff’s edge.
“No time!” he shouted. “We need to jump!”
He sprinted at the cliff and Riella followed, trusting him. At the black rocky edge, they leaped, his hand locked around her wrist. For a moment, they hung weightless, the sky and sea sparkling with starlight.
Then, the cave exploded.
A deafening wall of orange light and searing heat blew into their backs, propelling them through the air. Riella’s skin flamed as she fell, overcome with confusion and fear. Polinth had conjured the sun.
The force of the explosion sent chunks of rock sailing narrowly past Riella and Jarin, splashing into the choppy water below. Her legs flailed as she fell and the churning onyx water sped toward her. An instant before she hit the surface, Riella gulped air, praying their bodies would not be dashed against the cliffside by the waves.
Upon impact with the water, a falling rock broke Jarin’s hold on her, sending sharp pain through her arm. She plunged into the sea, rocks hitting the water around her like missiles. She looked wildly for Jarin, but the dark, seething ocean concealed him from view.
Instead of kicking for the surface, she swam deeper, trying to find him. Was he invulnerable to drowning? If he sank unconscious to the bottom of the sea, his body would disintegrate or be eaten, regardless of the curse.
A plume of red floating through the water drew her to him. He’d been knocked out, a deep gash on the side of his head. Riella hooked her wrists under his armpits and kicked upward, gritting her teeth with the strain.
A boulder hit the water directly above, and she dragged his body clear just in time. Her lungs burned and her endurance was waning. If she did not surface soon, they would both perish.
In sheer determination, she beat her legs against the bubbling water. Finally, her head broke the surface. She coughed, the waves buffeting her, willing Jarin to breathe as she held his head above water. The gash was deep and poured blood. If he survived, it would only be due to the curse. Such an injury would kill a normal human.
The orange light was now a faraway glow against the inky sky. The caves were burning. Mercifully, the rocks stopped falling. A whole section of the cliff was missing, leaving behind a crater.
Puffing hard, she struck for the open waters of the bay, where she might catch a wave to the beach. Her progress was slow. The waves kept pushing her backward, and swimming was difficult with Jarin’s enormous body in tow. He regained consciousness shortly after she hauled him past the breakers.
Bleeding profusely from the gash, he gazed around blank-faced.
“Are you alright?” she asked, waving her hand in front of his eyes.
He blinked, then winced, placing one hand against his head. “Ow.”
To her relief, he started treading water of his own accord.
“Are you alright?” he croaked.
She nodded. Physically, she was alright. But the reality of her situation was so dire that she dared not think about it, lest she lose all hope and offer herself to the sea to escape. She’d vastly underestimated Polinth, and paid the price.
They swam to shore in exhausted silence. Riella crouched on the sand, coughing up the salty water she’d swallowed. Jarin lay on his back panting, his eyes unfocused.
With her remaining energy, she crawled to him and collapsed by his side. The last thing she remembered, as her eyes fluttered closed, was an unusually vivid blue star shooting through the black sky.