by Kailin Gow
you’re certain. I can’t risk…no, I can’t face losing you in the
flames, too. Not you, Mac. I’ll choose another before I put
you through the test, if I have to…”
Chance pulled away, and I felt a sudden chill. I felt
we had finally broke through our wall, but now it seems there
was another.
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Chapter 15
I spent that night in a haze of confusion, trying to
make sense of all that had happened. I had seen a book – a
stone. I was told that I could be a goddess. I had heard of
truthsayers and seers, of Olympus and Hades, of all these
words I knew only from my history textbook, words that had
no real meanings before today. For once I was relieved to
find the familiar post-it on the door telling me that my
mother would be otherwise engaged for the evening;
apparently, the Cutter Imperial was having a wedding or a
reception at least every other night. I didn't mind. I needed
the time to process what was going on, to try and screw my
head back on.
On the one hand, everything that I had heard and seen
today was incredible. If somebody – my mother, my friend,
anyone – had come up to me and told me half of what I had
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experienced in the past couple of days, I would have called
them crazy. Was I crazy? I had hallucinated the fire, perhaps
– and if I had hallucinated that, then what was to say I hadn't
imagined the stone and the book, imagined flying through
space.
But another part of me felt that each new question
that burned in my brain was also an answer – answers to
questions that had dogged me my whole life without my
even knowing it. Why was it that I felt such a strong
connection to certain stones – why did they glow in my
hand? Why was it that I had felt so attracted to the flames at
the luau the other night? Why had we moved here – out of
all the islands in the world? What if there was some force
calling us here, calling me and my mother to this mysterious
place, summoning me to fill the role of Vesta?
No, that was unbelievable, I told myself. I wasn't a
goddess at all. I was just a normal girl.
And yet something in me, buried as deep as the
memories of a dream, told me that all that I had seen and
experienced today was real. That it was, in a sense, more real
than any part of the life I had lived before now – as if all else
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was a dream, and this – this was the reality.
I couldn't concentrate. I had walked up and down the
length of our cottage too many times – and I certainly wasn't
going to be able to get any homework done in this state. And
so I decided to clear my head and take a walk along the beach
– perhaps the calm lapping of the waves would give me some
answers. Perhaps the book would have some answers. I
stared at the tome mournfully as I placed it into my tote bag
– I couldn't bring myself to open it just yet. Touching the
book would confirm to me that I really was crazy, that I
really did believe all this talk about magic and Olympus.
I decided to compromise with myself. I'd take the
walk first, and then I'd read the book on the beach. By then,
I thought, I'd be able to approach the text more calmly.
The sun was just starting to set as I approached the
beach. To my surprise, although the torches had been lit, few
guests were swimming. Perhaps the whole hotel had been
booked out for the wedding reception, I thought. But as I
walked a little further down the coast, I heard a scream
coming from the water. I whirled around to see a splash in
the distance – a woman was crying out for help, the waves
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closing repeatedly over her head.
“Hello?” I called out. “Help! Someone needs help! Is
there a lifeguard around?” But there was no answer. I sighed,
placing my tote bag down on the shore. There was no help
for it; I'd have to go in myself.
I had been a strong swimmer at my old school –
although from what I gathered I had nothing on Haven – but
as I coursed through the water I was shocked by how rough
the sea had gotten. The placid beach had become a roaring
ocean in a matter of moments.
“Hello!” I called out, paddling furiously towards the
place where I had last seen the woman. But she was nowhere
to be found. I kicked my legs repeatedly, trying to keep my
head above water, scanning the horizon for some sign of an
arm, a hand, a body...but the water was flat and dark. And
then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sight that made my
heart stop.
An enormous tail poking out of the water.
I gasped and tried to escape towards shore, but it was
too late. Something – something – had sunk its teeth into my
leg. I screamed with the pain, my mouth filling with water
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as the creature pulled me under. I struggled, trying to pull my
leg from the creature's grasp. I opened my eyes underwater,
trying to fight the creature off. What I saw astounded me. It
wasn't a shark at all, as I had thought, but a large scaly
creature, with what almost looked like a human torso and
face, shrouded by long, matted hair. And long rows of sharp
yellow teeth, like a barracudas, snapping at me.
The creature snapped again, catching the sneakers I
still wore in its teeth. Before it realized that what it had
caught wasn't my flesh, I wriggled as fast as I could out of
the shoe, paddling to shore. The mermaid let out a high,
unearthly wail that seemed to shake the waters; I swam
faster, my heart pounding with terror.
But just as the shore seemed to be in sight, something
else took hold of me. At first I thought the mermaid had
returned, but as I looked down I saw not scales but tentacles
– eight legs, lined with small suckers, wrapping around me,
pulling me into the depths.
“No!” I cried, but it was too late. The octopus was
dragging me into the water. I kicked and fought back, but it
was no use. My mind was going black from lack of oxygen;
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my lungs seemed to burst against my ribcage.
The mermaid I was able to fight off – but this creature
was too strong. As my mind grew hazy, my lungs screaming
for air, I felt myself begin to fall unconscious. Yet as the
blackness took hold of my mind, I seemed to see a man's
shadow swim towards us...
I gasped. Suddenly I was above water again; the dark
night sky over us. I was in his arms – a man's arms –
swimming towards shore, beating the foam with our fists.
The adrenaline swept over me, and everything once more
began to grow dark...
I woke up to his lips upon mine, breathing air into<
br />
my drenched lungs. The agony was gone now, replaced by
an ache in my chest. I could feel a hand stroking my hair,
another hand pushing down on my chest, expelling the water
from my lungs. His mouth giving me strength, giving me
oxygen. Giving me life.
I sat up slowly, shaking the water out of my ears.
Suddenly, the figure that had saved me took on a familiar
shape. I could recognize those broad shoulders, those tight
abs, that long golden hair anywhere.
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“Varun...” I whispered. “Varun, you saved my life!”
I coughed as more water made its way out of my lungs.
“You were almost a goner there, Mac.” Varun held
me close. “Thank goodness I managed to come when I did –
or you would have been done for.”
“There's someone else in the water!” I cried. “There
was this woman drowning, screaming for help – I went in to
save her, but there was nobody...”
“Hush,” Varun put a finger to my lips. “That was no
human in the water. That was a siren. She was trying to pull
you in, to lure you....”
“A siren?” I let myself fall back onto the sand. “Now
you've got to be kidding me. This is getting all too weird.”
“Then I'm pretty sure you're not going to like what I
tell you next.”
“Shoot.” I covered my face with my hands. “Nothing
can shock me next.”
“That creature that bit you?”
“Yep?”
“Mermaid.”
I let out an audible groan. “I'm growing crazy,” I
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sighed. “Like actually, certifiably crazy. You, me, Chance –
we've all collectively experienced some sort of weird audio-
visual hallucinatory experience...”
“If it makes you feel better, the octopus was just an
octopus. But it was probably controlled by whomever sent
the mermaid.”
“Great, I feel so much better.”
“Look, I know it's a lot to take in at first,” said Varun,
looking at me with his enormous blue eyes. “It's hard to
come to terms with the existence of this sort of thing. Magic
can take a lot of getting used to.”
“Today could not be any weirder,” I admitted to him.
“Between the flying and the fighting and the gods and a
stone turning into a book, I think I must be accidentally
ingesting magic mushrooms in my sleep. I mean – do you
really believe all this...”
Varun looked concerned as he cut me short. “Hold on
a second, Mac,” he said quickly. “A book – you saw a stone
turning into a book?”
“What – after sirens and mermaids, you think that's
the weirdest thing that's happened to me all day? I didn't just
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see it, I touched it!”
“You touched the Book of Vesta?” He sat up straight,
evidently concerned. “Do you still have it?”
I went over to my bag. “Of course I still have it,” I
said. “I put it right here...” A few hours ago I hadn't been
ready to let myself read the Book of Vesta. Reading the book
would mean that I believed – and believing would make it
real. But now, after the mermaids and the sirens, I knew it
was real, and that the Book of Vesta was the only chance I
had to figure out what was going on. Before it was too late.
I slipped my fingers into the bag. This was it, I
thought – I was officially insane. I'd gone over to the dark
side. I believed.
But there was only one problem.
I looked up at Varun in horror.
The book was gone.
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Chapter 16
The next day at school was torture for me. I tried my
best to look like I was concentrating, pretending to scribble
notes on the lectures, and thinking up awkward excuses for
why my homework was shoddily done. But I had bigger
things on my mind right now. Varun had walked me home to
keep me safe, but was as confused as I was about the
disappearance of the book. “Somebody could have stolen it
while you were at sea,” he said. “Or it could have turned into
another form – a grain of sand or a pebble – sometimes books
like those sense threats and transform in order to hide against
potential danger.” But we were both nervous. How could
anyone have stolen the book if only Vesta could touch it?
Chance had mentioned that Vesta’s lineage, her
handmaidens or servants can touch it at times, didn’t he?
Maybe one of Vesta’s lineage was here. Or if the book
vanished, did that mean I wasn't Vesta at all?
I did badly in each of my classes today, but somehow
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my teachers didn't seem to mind. Odd, I thought – in such a
seemingly competitive school, I expected teachers to be far
stricter about things like missed assignments; even back in
my old public school, I would have gotten detention for
failing to turn in homework. But my teachers were
surprisingly laid-back, choosing to ignore my failure to
finish my homework.
That afternoon I had to attend the tryouts for the
swim team, and although I wanted nothing less than to spend
another hour in school, I needed to distract myself from my
worries about Chance and Varun and the whole Olympus
thing. I figured that swimming pools were far less likely to
be peopled by mermaids and sirens than the oceans were.
To my continued surprise, Haven remained as
friendly as she had been since learning that I was a strong
swimmer. Evidently, she was willing to put aside her natural
suspicion of me as long as it looked like I could help her win
her way to Nationals. As Haven explained the audition
procedure to me and the other hopeful swimmers, she tossed
her long blonde hair back over her shoulder and looked us
up and down with effortless grace. I wasn't sure if I liked
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Haven yet, I decided, but I certainly admired her; she was
strong and self-confident, evidently comfortable with
leading her team. I wanted to impress her – to convince her
that I was just as worthy of swimming in the big, Olympic-
sized pool as Cassie and Leia, the two most talented
members of Haven's coterie.
I was nowhere near as good a swimmer as Haven, of
course, but I managed to perform the fastest breaststroke of
all the auditionees, and came second in both backstroke and
butterfly.
“Not bad,” Haven said with a smile when I came out
of the water.
“Except when compared to you and the others...” I
shook the water out of my hair.
“You'll catch up,” said Haven. “Don't worry – I know
talent when I see it. And if you're willing to commit to daily
practice, I'm pretty sure that we can make an amphibian of
you yet; isn
't that right, Cassie?”
“Mhm,” Cassie nodded vigorously.
“I'll do my best,” I promised. “However good that'll
be.” If I wasn't distracted by books or getting killed by
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mermaids, that was.
“Listen,” said Haven. “How about we save you a seat
at lunch? We've got an extra space at our table, and we'd just
love it if you ate with us tomorrow. Right, Cassie?”
Cassie's job seemed to be to nod at whatever Haven
said.
“Really?” I was shocked at Haven's sudden change
in behavior. “I wouldn't be intruding!”
“Not at all,” Haven said. “We love having new blood
– we always sit in the back center table – the square one with
a rickety leg. Come find us, okay?”
Somehow I'd managed to thaw Haven's suspicions of
me. But how? She'd seemed to dislike me on first meeting
me, and other than revealing my penchant for swimming, I
wasn't sure how I'd managed to change that impression.
As I went back to the locker room, I overheard Cassie
and Leia talking in hushed tones.
“I know, it's scary.”
“Especially from the back – with her hair wet.
Spitting image.”
“I thought we'd seen a ghost.”
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“And Haven! She must have been devastated when
first meeting her. Imagine – this girl shows up looking just
like your dead best friend. I'd have been freaked out too, if
that was me.”
I remembered what Brandon had said about me –
about my similarity to Jana – and colored. Were the girls
talking about me? I felt a strange, sick feeling in my stomach.