Nobledark Academy 3: Chosen Hearts

by Laney Powell

  “Tonight is where you fully come home,” she said mysteriously, not answering the question. “And it will expend a great deal of energy,” Althaia added. “A nap is a good idea, Iliana. For all of us.” She got up, kissed Jeno, and walked out of the room.

  Iliana followed her mother, right down to the kiss. I gave him a hug, and he was the one who kissed me. “This is a blessed day, mikros. I am a truly happy man.”

  I was close to tears, and I smiled and hurried to catch up with Iliana. She led me to a room up the stairs. It wasn’t big, but it was white, with a four poster bed made of dark wood. It had white hangings, and a turquoise blue spread on the bed. There were shells, and small bits of silver and blue all around the room. I couldn’t take it all in. I only saw impressions and color. “This is gorgeous,” I said.

  There was a door that led out to a balcony, and it, too, looked out to the sea.

  “Rest. I’ll come and get you later,” Iliana said.

  “What’s happening tonight?”

  “You’ll see. It’s nothing to worry over.” And then she was gone.

  I went and laid down on the bed, feeling tired all of a sudden. Which was silly. All I’d done was walk through a portal and eat. But tired I was.

  When I closed my eyes, I felt as though I was drifting in the warm waves of the sea outside my door.

  My eyes flew open, and the room was dark. The curtains on either side of the door wafted in the breeze. I lay still, taking my time, getting my bearings. The sea smelled wonderful.

  A few moments or an hour later—I couldn’t tell—Iliana came in. “It’s time,” she said. “Get undressed completely and take this,” she handed me something pink. When I took it, I could see that it was a robe, and it was thick cotton, with green flowers all over it.

  “Are we going swimming?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Iliana said. I could see her smile in the darkness.

  This was getting weird, but I knew that Iliana wouldn’t hurt me, so I stripped down and wrapped the robe around me. It smelled of Althaia, of breaking bread. It pleased me to think that she’d let me borrow her robe.

  Iliana poked her head into the doorway, and gestured for me to follow her. She didn’t speak, and we walked out to the patio where we’d portaled into. Althaia was there, and then I noticed Jeno sitting in a chair off to one side.

  “Let us go,” Althaia said, and she led the way to the edge of the patio, where there was a small gate. I hadn’t seen it before, but when she opened, it, I could see a path that led directly to the sea.

  The three of us walked down the path, still not speaking. At the water’s edge, Althaia dropped her robe—this one bright yellow with chickens on it, and so did Iliana. Iliana’s robe was plain white, but I found that I loved both my green flowers and Althaia’s chickens.

  I felt shy. I was getting naked out in the open, with women I didn’t know well, and I knew that Jeno was up on the deck. But Iliana hadn’t hesitated.

  I followed them into the water, and it was as warm and as comforting as it had been in my dreams.

  Althaia began to speak, but unlike today, she spoke in Greek. She took Iliana’s hand, and Iliana took mine, nudging me toward my grandmother. I took Althaia’s hand as she continued to speak.

  Then she repeated whatever it was she’d been saying. “Patéra ton potamón kai tis thálassas, as eímaste eléftheroi,” she said in a singing manner, and Iliana joined her.

  I fell backward, unable to stand, losing my grip on Althaia’s hand. “What’s happening?” I whispered in a scream.

  “Lie back, Olivia,” Althaia commanded. “Lie back and let the water flow over you.”

  Holy shit. I didn’t know what was going on, but I guess there was some sort of siren initiation that had to happen. We were in waist deep water, so when I let myself fall back, and float on the water, my feet weren’t touching. There was enough depth for me to float.

  And then a flash of—something—seared through me like a knife. I cried out, not sure what was happening. Only the continued grip of Iliana’s hand kept me from screaming my head off.

  My head went underwater, and I opened my eyes, and took a breath.

  Everything was clear, as though it were daylight. I surfaced, and found that I was gasping, so I dropped back underwater, and I could breathe again.

  I could breathe again.

  At some point, Iliana had let go of my hand. Instead of a woman standing in the water next to me, there were two women, both with long, dark hair trailing behind him, who were swimming near me.

  But they didn’t have legs.

  They had tails. Like fishes. Big fishes.

  I looked down and saw that I had a deep orange tail. I was a fucking goldfish. What in the hell? My eyes fluttered, and then everything went black.

  Chapter Six

  Olivia

  I came to, coughing and gasping. I could feel arms around me, and my head was out of the water. “What in the name of the goddess just happened?” I asked. I looked down, and tried to kick my feet. An orange tail slapped on the surface of the water. “Why do I have a tail?” I asked, my voice tiny.

  “Because you are a siren, and sirens are of the water,” my grandmother’s voice said in my ear. Her words were stern, but her tone was soft. I could hear the love. “So many sirens never are able to shift, to fully know themselves and their power. But you are a Karidias, and you must embrace all the parts of yourself.”

  “Will you be all right if we let you go?” Iliana asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid I can’t swim…” I said, knowing I sounded stupid. “I mean, I know it’s a tail, and fish swim, but I haven’t ever gone swimming with a tail…” my voice trailed off. “Why didn’t you warn me?” I asked.

  “How do you warn of this? You must experience it, and then you know.” Althaia’s voice was calm. “We are letting you go now, Olivia. Float on your back, and feel your new parts. Take your time. We will not leave you.” And at the same time, she and Iliana let me go.

  I stuck out my arms like I’d learned in all my YMCA swim classes. The waves held me, and let me float with them. I concentrated on breathing, on calming my heart, because for a moment, I thought it might burst. Carefully, I flipped my tail. It wasn’t like walking, but… it wasn’t as different as I expected. I flipped it again, and I found that it propelled me faster than I expected. I panicked a little, and tried to sit up, like you do in the water, seeking out my mother and grandmother.

  “We will not leave you,” I heard Iliana say. “Take your time, and be at ease. You will never be alone.”

  I had to trust her. I practiced swimming on my back, flipping my tail. I found that if I moved what felt like one knee, I could make myself turn. Okay. Now it was time to roll over, and swim with eyes forward. I rolled onto my stomach, and my body sank into the water. I opened my eyes, and inhaled.

  It was just like breathing out of the water, although this had a wonderful smell of the ocean during a storm. I flipped my tail, and it was shocking to see how fast I was going when looking forward. I practiced with this for a bit, using my “knees” to help me turn. When I stopped to look around, I could see Iliana and Althaia nearby. Not too close, but they were near. I wasn’t alone. I stuck my head out of the water, looking for them.

  A splash near me, and then Althaia’s head appeared next to me. “Are you ready to swim with us?”

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see,” Iliana was there suddenly, and she smiled. “Just follow Mama. I’ll be by your side. If you need to, you can talk with us underwater. And don’t be afraid. Nothing here, no matter what it looks like, will harm you.”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive,” Althaia answered. “This is our water.” And then she disappeared beneath the waves.

  “Go,” Iliana urged.

  I dove in, with less grace than Althaia had shown. I noticed that I had no top on. Neither did either of my relatives. But it didn’t matter. The water was a
balm against my skin. And the ocean was alive with the creatures who lived here. I could hear what sounded like conversations at a distance. I saw a few shadows as I followed Althaia, but nothing took shape. And nothing seemed interested in bothering us.

  We swam, and the more I swam, the happier I felt in this new version of my body. Of me. I could feel so much. There were vibrations in the water. Just as I was getting the hang of all this, Althaia slowed down in front of me. The water darkened, and I could see the rock shadows come up. Althaia swam between two of the rocks. Carefully, I followed her.

  And then she surfaced, and when I did the same, we were in a dark cave which was shot with silver moonlight from a small hole up above. The water was even warmer in here, and there were small fish that darted around us, looking like thin, silvery jewels in the moonlight.

  “What are we doing?”

  “This is the cave of the Karidias. It is where we bring our family to name them, to bring them into our history, our family line. You have your ring from your mother?” Althaia asked.

  I nodded. At first hesitant to wear it, I never took it off now.

  “Come,” Althaia said. She swam toward the wall. As we got closer, I saw that a small statue, of a woman, a siren, was posed as swimming up with joyful abandon in a niche in the wall. Her arms were out, her hair flowed around her, draping around her waist, giving her some modesty, although not full modesty, because one of her breasts was exposed, and her eyes were closed. The happiness in the figure was apparent even now, in the dark, with only the moon to light the cavern. There were things in front of the statue, glinting, but I couldn’t tell what they were.

  “When we came into the sea, we called out to the father of the rivers and the sea to allow us to move into our natural forms. But here, we honor our mothers,” Althaia’s voice was solemn.

  “This is going to sting a little,” Iliana was next to me. “But it’s not bad, so don’t scream.”

  “What?” I said, whipping around to look at her.

  Althaia took my hand, the one wearing the ring. She reached into the niche, and pulled out something. A quick flash, and I felt a stinging, as promised, on my hand.

  She’d cut me.

  I was about to yell, but a hand moved across my mouth gently. It was Iliana, and she patted me on the shoulder with her other hand.

  Althaia dipped the knife in the water and swished it around. Then she held my hand up to the statue, to the base where the woman’s tail curled up. She touched my now bleeding hand to the statue and let go.

  I was about to rinse my hand in the water when Iliana stopped me again. “Wait,” she whispered.

  Just as I was beginning to wonder if Iliana’s normal behavior was all an act, the statue started to glow. First at the tail, and then the light moved up the statue. When it reached her waist, the hair waving around her waist began to move.

  I, however, couldn’t move. I was transfixed.

  Once the light got to her face, the statue of the siren was alive. There was no other way to describe it.

  “Welcome, siren,” she said. Her voice was low, and musical, and I wanted nothing more than to hear it forever.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “You are new to our line,” she said, leaning forward to peer at me. “Come closer, child.”

  I swam closer, unable to turn away from the beauty of her voice.

  “You are confused, but that is not permanent,” the siren said. “All will become clear, if you are willing to be patient.”

  “I don’t know if I have the time,” I said, my voice coming out dreamily.

  “There is always time,” she replied, running her hands through her hair to move it away from her face. “Give me your hand, mikros.”

  As if in a dream, I stretched out my wounded hand to her.

  “You have offered me your blood. I accept your offering, and I welcome you to the line of Karidias,” she said. “It is good to have new life, little mother.” Then she bent down, her tail flipping up gracefully, picked up the knife, which was weird, because it had to be as big as her. She cut her hand, and pressed it to mine where Althaia cut me.

  I felt a jolt, as though I’d stuck my finger in a light socket. A bright light went off in front of me, like the flash of a camera, and so many things moved before my eyes that I couldn’t keep up with it all.

  The woman lifted her hand from mine, and let it rest on my ring. “Now you have the knowledge of us all. We are always with you. You are never alone,” she said.

  The knife drifted to the shelf of the niche where her statue stood. Her hands went up, and her hair swirled around in a dramatic flair.

  “You can be the one to defeat him, if you wish it,” her words were a mere whisper, a haunting, beautiful tune in my ear. I never wanted to forget it.

  Then I blinked, and I was back in the cavern with Althaia and Iliana.

  “Did you see her?” Iliana asked.

  “Who?” I asked, still feeling dreamy.

  “The mother,” Althaia replied. “Did she accept your gift?”

  My gift? Oh, my blood. “She was beautiful. Her voice was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard,” I said.

  “What did she say, Olivia?” Iliana asked gently.

  “That we are always with you. You are never alone. She called me little mother,” I looked up at my mother. “What does that mean?”

  Althaia laughed, a sound of utter joy. “She has accepted you,” she said. Althaia and Iliana hugged one another, and then we swam back to the house. I was in awe of the many shades of blue, of the conversations of the fish that I could now hear. Of the sounds of the ocean for miles. Of the red of my fins.

  I didn’t remember coming out of the water. I didn’t remember walking back up to the house.

  But when I woke again, the sun was shining in through the window, making my pink robe with the green flowers look even brighter than I thought it was.

  And I knew that I was home.

  I spent the next few days with my family. We walked, and talked, and cooked during the day. Then we napped. Then everyone went out to the patio; Jeno to sit, and wait—he always had towels and a hot drink when we came out of the water—and Iliana, Althaia and me went to swim. They taught me how to listen and follow specific creatures in the water. One night, we heard something loud and almost painful to the ears.

  “Divers,” Iliana said. “We won’t go near them. There are too many mermaid rumors on this island as it is.”

  “Who was the woman?” I asked. Her voice haunted my dreams.

  “She is the mother of us all, one of the first of the Karidias. At least, that’s what we’re told. In truth, no one knows. But what I know is that we all bring our daughters to her, to the Mother’s cave—my sisters brought my nieces—and they are either accepted or denied to the family. We don’t tell anyone about it until it happens,” Althaia said.

  “Why not? It’s kind of traumatic if you’re not expecting it.”

  “Not all sirens are accepted,” Iliana said.

  “What? Why not?” I asked again, only this time I felt indignant. “Are there so many of us that we can afford to let them go?”

  “No one knows,” Althaia replied. “There is no reason given. But if there is no acceptance, the siren forgets, on the swim home, seeing the Mother, the cut, and anything other than she went for a moonlight swim with her mother. She will still be able to shift, because once you shift, you retain that ability, but she can never be the heir, and she will never have all the knowledge of all the mothers.”

  “What does that mean, though?” I asked. “I feel like I’m missing a big piece of the puzzle.”

  “It means your magic is about to take a big leap forward. You might need to restrain yourself at school,” Iliana said. “Your professors will wonder at your progress, and it’s possible they will call in the Concilium to investigate.”

  “Why?” I felt like a broken record.

  “One might wonder why you went to the school run
by the most paranoid, suspicious control freaks in the supernatural world,” Iliana said.

  “I love order,” I said.

  “Well, this is your wild side checking in,” Althaia said.

  I laughed. It was funny hearing her say that in her prim tone. “I don’t see a wild side on you, Giagiá.”

  She laughed with me. “It’s there. My wild side is that of a strong protector. Iliana is a fighter. You will have to see what form your wild side takes.”

  “This is wonderful,” I said, floating on my back, looking up at the moon. “Where the hell am I going to find this at home? Or at school?”

  “Go swimming at school. In the lake. It’s not the same but it will keep you feeling connected. We can talk to your headmistress, and see if she can give you permission, so that you don’t get into trouble.” Iliana didn’t sound sure that this would happen.

  “She’s not the negative you think she is,” I said. “She’s an ally.”

  “I will trust you on that. I am sorry, but I’ve had a hard time trusting outside a few,” Iliana said.

  “I know, but I am telling you, she’s trustworthy. And she trusts me,” I added, thinking of how she had helped me with my demon magic. “She’s the one who has been teaching me how to use cloaking spells all term, so that no one can see within me, see what I am.”

  “You will need that,” Althaia said. “Your ability to wield magic is about to level up.”

  “Giagiá, do you game? Because you sounded like a gamer just then.”

  “Oh, sometimes,” Althaia said innocently. “Jeno and I enjoy a nice game of World of Warcraft.”

  Which made me burst out laughing right there, in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

  On the last day, Iliana, Althaia and I went to the Isle of Capri. We went late in the afternoon, and went to the restaurant that was close to the Grotto Azzura. You could swim off of the rock patio, and we left our things with a waiter that Iliana knew—I felt like there was something going on there that I was missing. How did Iliana know so many people?

  The water was cooler than the water had been in Greece. We swam, still in human form, toward the grotto.