by Diana Paz
She forced herself up on all fours in the fast-receding water. Vaguely she remembered that water rushing back meant something, but the enormous wave slammed into her before her waterlogged brain figured it out. The violent water tore her from the sand and she scrambled to hang on, knowing it was useless. The wave’s receding water yanked her back again.
This whole scenario repeated itself several times as she struggled against her stupid, horrible gown, which now weighed a ton. Every time a new wave thundered over her she cursed, knowing the water would drag her a few precious feet back. She could easily tangle in her dress and drown right here on the border of land and sea.
She clawed her way past the breakers and collapsed. Water swelled and receded but didn’t pull her back anymore.
She didn’t think she could go any farther without resting her eyes for a few minutes. In the back of her mind a bubble of panic tried to break free. Angie ... and Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn didn’t know how to swim.
Chapter 19
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn’s hip ached from lying on her side. Waves boomed, the sound making its way into her throbbing skull. She forced her eyes open, not daring to move any other part of herself as she tried to blink the world into focus. Despite the icy breeze, the bright white sky promised a hot day ahead. At the moment, though, Kaitlyn couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering.
It took some time, but she finally propped herself up on her elbow. Right away she regretted it. Her muscles had never ached so badly in her life.
“Angie?” she croaked at the lump next to her.
That lump had saved her life.
“Angie. Hello?”
Angie didn’t move. Her chest rose and fell regularly. At least she wasn’t dead. Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around herself. It was so freaking cold. And she had to go to the bathroom. Bad.
“Angie,” Kaitlyn said again, poking the girl’s bony arm. “Angie, we have to get out of here.”
The sun rose up behind them, not bringing warmth as fast as she would like. Kaitlyn stared down at the white-faced, stringy-haired girl on the sand. Barely five feet tall with a flat chest, Angie didn’t look seventeen. She looked like she still belonged in elementary school, but she had saved Kaitlyn’s life twice already. An uncomfortable feeling settled in Kaitlyn’s chest. She didn’t like the idea of owing anyone anything, especially Angie. The memory of kissing David popped into her mind. Was she supposed to feel sorry for it? Become Angie’s new best friend? She turned away, licking the salt from her lips.
Joggers bounced along the shoreline. One guy stared at her as he ran past. Kaitlyn flipped him off. Where the hell was Julia? Great. If something happened to her it was going to be hell to explain. The nonstop waves crashing onto the shore made Kaitlyn shrink back. She really hoped Julia was okay. Not that she liked the girl, but seriously? Drowning like that? She shuddered.
As Kaitlyn scanned the ocean, a glimmer shone on the water, brighter than the rest of the sea.
Julia?
Water sprayed in an arc, droplets catching the light like diamonds. A shape appeared, almost like a fin. Dolphins weren’t an unusual sight in Santa Monica. Sometimes they came pretty close to shore, but that hadn’t been a dolphin fin.
“Angie,” Kaitlyn said, her mouth suddenly dry. She kept her eyes on the water. “You have to wake up. Come on.”
A head broke the surface. A pair of glittering eyes stared at her. They weren’t Julia’s eyes.
Kaitlyn scrambled to her feet.
The girl’s skin was tinted blue and she had tangled blue-green hair. The mass fell over her face, intertwined with seaweed. Or maybe the seaweed grew from her hair.
The girl lifted a webbed hand and beckoned with a razor-tipped finger.
“Oh my freaking hell.”
Angie moaned and moved at her feet. “You’re alive,” Angie said in a hoarse voice.
“Angie, look! Look in the water! There’s a—there’s a creature!”
“Ouch,” Angie said, rubbing her hip as she sat up. “Where’s Julia?”
“Are you hearing me?” Kaitlyn cried. “There is a thing in the water!”
The creature smiled, revealing a row of thin, needle-like teeth.
Kaitlyn grabbed Angie’s arm and pulled her up.
“Oww!” Angie cried.
“Look!”
But the girl dipped silently into the water and out of sight. Her gleaming silver tail flashed brightly for a moment, leaving nothing but rainbow swirls of oil behind her.
“Kaitlyn, please,” Angie said, wrenching herself free. “The creatures only have access to the past. We have to find Julia.” Angie searched the shoreline, and her eyes widened as a smile lit up her face. “Thank goodness!”
Kaitlyn stared out to sea as Angie rushed off.
The creature was gone.
“Julia is over here! Hurry!”
Kaitlyn took one last look at the ocean before shaking out her damp dress. She easily caught up with Angie, who tripped and fell on her way to a heap of clothes.
“Calm down,” Kaitlyn said. “Here, take my arm before you hurt yourself.”
“Thanks,” Angie said. It was slow-going in their heavy French gowns. By the time they reached Julia the sky had gone from dawn’s pink to a pale, cloudless blue.
“Julia!” Angie cried, landing on her knees next to her friend.
Kaitlyn sat down too, hiking her dress up to her thighs as she scanned the ocean.
“Are you all right?” Angie asked.
Julia mumbled something incoherent. She rolled over, looking as different from Angie as anyone could. Where Angie was all bones and angles, Julia’s body filled out in curves. Not that Kaitlyn had anything to be jealous over. She had a perfect set of double Ds that Julia would never match up to. Still, the girl had a body.
Julia squinted up at them from beneath a mess of reddish-brown hair. She lifted herself partially off the ground like a mermaid. “I’ve gotta pee.”
“Oh, Julia,” Angie said, hugging her friend
Julia pushed the hair off her face. “Wait. I have to summon Ethan!”
Kaitlyn crossed her arms in front of her. “Do you ever think about anything else?”
“I promised him. Oh man, how long have we been on the beach?”
“Well, you unfroze time, so it’s not like he can’t take care of himself over there,” Kaitlyn said. “Unless you’re worried some hot Paris chick is going to catch his eye.”
Angie frowned. “When did you unfreeze time?”
“I think I did it when we were still Journeying,” Julia said. “I saw the pier and everything became confusing.”
“I’m glad you’re alive and all,” Kaitlyn said, her annoyance growing by the second, “but there’s a sea creature in the water out there. Maybe we should get out of here.”
“Sea creature?”
Kaitlyn’s blood simmered. “Yeah, a mermaid monster girl, with webbed claws for hands and a mouthful of snake fangs. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you take a little swim? I bet you’ll find her real quick.”
Angie put a hand on Kaitlyn’s arm. “It’s not that we don’t believe you, it’s just that the creatures of Mythos are unable to pass through the threads of time. They can only roam the past when the Sorceress opens a portal.”
Kaitlyn shrugged off Angie’s arm. “You two are dumbasses. You freeze time and teleport and everything else, but I tell you I saw a monster and you don’t believe me.”
“Okay, okay,” Angie said. “Maybe Indira was wrong, or maybe something’s changed.”
“Whatever,” Kaitlyn muttered. Neither of them believed her, but Kaitlyn knew what she had seen. She stood up, clumsy in her huge dress. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Hold on, I need to summon Ethan.”
“No.”
“It’ll take a second, I promise.”
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and spun around. Let her have her precious Ethan. For now. “What day is it?” she asked Angie
.
“The day after prom.”
“Yesterday was the day after prom.”
“Yes, in France it was. But we spanned a nine hour time difference in a few minutes.”
Kaitlyn stared at her. How could this still be the day after prom?
“Crap!” Julia exclaimed. “I can’t do it.”
“You can’t bring Ethan over?” Angie asked.
“No! I’m too weak or something. Every time I try, nothing happens. I can see him, and hear him, but I can’t bring him over.”
“Chill out,” Kaitlyn said. “He’s in Paris, not a torture chamber.”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Julia let out a sigh. “Now what do we do?”
“We find Indira,” Angie said.
“No, we find a bathroom,” Kaitlyn countered. They could ignore her all they wanted, but they couldn’t ignore her bladder. “Are we far from the Santa Monica beach house?”
“Yeah, I think we’re on Venice Beach. There’s a bathroom in that hut.”
A public beach restroom. Kaitlyn wafted the air in front of her. “That was truly a bonding moment with you two. Really.”
“How’s it been, slumming with us?” Julia asked, leaving on her plain white shift and abandoning the rest of her French clothes near a sleeping homeless person.
“Worse than I thought,” Kaitlyn answered, taking off most of her clothes too. She left on the corset, though. It gave her chest some serious lift. “Good luck finding Indira,” she said. “I’m over this.” She dumped the rest of her clothes on the floor by the shower. Not that she didn’t want the bag lady to have them, but the woman smelled worse than the bathroom.
“What? You’re leaving?” Julia asked. “What about finding Indira?”
“What about it?” Kaitlyn shot back. “My mom said I had to be back from prom before her ten o’clock with the trainer. I’m not getting chewed out so you can figure out how to bring your precious Ethan over.”
“How do you think you’re getting home without a phone, a car ... money?” Julia asked.
Kaitlyn’s lips parted.
“I could always Journey you home,” Julia said, a cocky smile on her lips. “After we find Indira.”
“It’s probably not even six in the morning,” Angie said, her big blue eyes meeting Kaitlyn’s. “Let’s walk down the boardwalk. Indira shouldn’t be far.”
Kaitlyn eyed the trashy boardwalk. She didn’t normally hang out on Venice Beach. The winos and weirdos made this place look like a commercial for Feed the Homeless. That was so not her style.
“Fine,” she muttered. “They should tear this whole strip down and build real stores. I mean, this boardwalk is right on the beach. It would rock.”
“It would suck,” Julia said. “If you want homogenized brand name stores, go to Third Street Promenade.”
“Oh, wow, you’re so ‘in touch’ shopping three miles away from The Promenade,” Kaitlyn said.
“At least I don’t spend enough on a pair of sunglasses to sustain a family in a developing nation for a year.”
Kaitlyn shook her head. What could she expect from someone who lived in an apartment? “So, Angie,” she said, ignoring Julia’s glare. “What makes you think we’re going to find Indira?”
Angie slowed her steps. “We’ve always found her when we needed her.”
“Gee, that’s super,” Kaitlyn said. “I’ve only met her once, but she seemed a little demented about sealing us with the magic. How well do you know her?”
Angie scanned the boardwalk ahead, a frown forming on her lips.
“Crap, Angie,” Julia said. “Kaitlyn’s making sense.”
“She’s here. We just haven’t walked far enough,” Angie said, but her words sounded hollow.
Julia held Angie back. “Why would Indira be here? Don’t you remember?” Julia’s face broke into a villainous grin and she rubbed her hands together, imitating Indira’s voice, “I’m free! I’m free! Bwahahaha!”
“Stop,” Angie said, her white face going paler.
A voice came from behind them, slow and croaking with age. “You will not find Indira here, Daughters. Not anymore.”
Kaitlyn spun around.
An old lady sat at a booth that had not been there a minute ago. A sign by her table said she read palms and tarot cards. Kaitlyn looked up and down the boardwalk. It was empty. No one else had set up their booths yet.
“A psychic,” Angie whispered.
The old woman cracked a gap-toothed smile. “You allowed yourself to be chained by Fate,” she said.
Her laugh made Kaitlyn stand up straighter. “You think this is a joke?”
“Don’t,” Julia said. “She might be able to help us.”
“Help us?” Kaitlyn asked. “You mean, help you get Ethan back.”
“Forget you,” Julia said, taking a seat at the fortune teller’s booth. Angie glanced at Kaitlyn over her shoulder. She joined her friend.
The old lady shook her head, grinning again. “Not without the three. You are as one now, and as one you must come.”
“No thanks,” Kaitlyn said. “You two tell me how it works out.”
“Just give her ten minutes,” Angie said. “Please?”
Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes. “Five.”
Angie smiled and patted the chair beside her.
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and sat down hard, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I’m Angie. This is Julia, and that’s Kaitlyn,” Angie said, sounding like an intro for a kids’ TV show.
The lady laughed to herself as she shuffled some smooth, white rocks on a board in front of her. “Yes, you are.” She scooped up the stones and dumped them into a black bag. “And I am Nevine. You are here because you were hoping to find Indira. Hoping for revenge, eh?”
“No!” Angie and Julia said together.
Julia rushed ahead, saying, “We came looking for help. I think I’ve lost my power.”
“Lost?” She cackled again, as if to herself. “The power cannot be lost.”
“But, there’s a guy, and I can’t bring him back.”
Nevine shook the bag of white stones in her hand. “Your guardian has been brought back through time. That is enough.”
“What do you mean? He’s not here with us. He’s in Paris!”
“That is not the concern of the Fates,” Nevine said. “The power you wield over the Guardian of Time is yours alone. He has been brought to his own time. The location is not important. Now that he is here, your power over him is no more, and you can no longer summon him to you. Not unless you return to your task.”
“I—I didn’t know that,” Julia said, sounding choked.
Nevine struck a match. “You have much to learn.”
“What did you mean, ‘chained by fate’?” Kaitlyn asked. “Are we slaves now?”
The lady paused in her lighting of three white candles. “You are not free,” she said sharply. “You bound yourselves to the magic, and now you must obey the Fates.”
Kaitlyn’s lips parted as the pieces fell into place. “Indira traded our freedom for hers.”
“The Fates wanted her to,” Angie said. “They used her so that we could be found. It’s the price we must pay for keeping our magic.”
“You’re kidding, right? She tricked us,” Kaitlyn said, her voice rising. “She wanted out of her curse and conned us into being Fate slaves.”
“You were warned about the tasks,” Nevine said. “Her curse wouldn’t have been lifted if she hadn’t told you that you would be bound to the task the Fates set out for you.”
“Cursed,” Angie whispered.
“Why was she cursed?” Julia asked.
“She betrayed the Fates, working in secret with the cult of the Sorceress. She believes, as the Sorceress does, that those born without magic should serve as our slaves.”
Angie shook her head and frowned, looking like a little kid trying to still believe in Santa. “Why would the Fates have sent us to be trained by someone th
ey cursed?”
“It was the bargain they struck. She had the Jewels of Time, you see.”
Angie stared at her for a long time. “The artifacts. They are jewels?”
“They have been called artifacts. Talismans. Their power is vast.” Nevine smiled, shaking her head. “Crafty one, that Indira. She lost the jewels but still gained her freedom in the end.”
“Because of us,” Angie said softly. She looked up at Nevine, her eyes pleading. “We were right to accept the seal, weren’t we?”
“You pleased the Fates,” Nevine said, pulling out a deck of cards. “If that is right.”
“But if not for us,” Angie insisted, “the creatures of Mythos will continue to destroy the world.”
“This is true.” Nevine began shuffling her cards, her eyes unfocused. “But if left unchecked, Indira will soon command the creatures of Mythos. She will do all in her power to regain the jewels and free the Sorceress. If that happens, the world will be doomed regardless.”
Kaitlyn pushed her chair back. “The Fates suck. I want to go home.”
“So soon?” Nevine asked. Her hands went still on the black velvet bag. “We must still consult with the bones of Fate.”
“Bones.” Kaitlyn crossed her arms. Her gaze dropped to the black bag. “As in chicken bones?”
“They’re bones,” Nevine said, “but not of a chicken.”
A shudder raced along Kaitlyn’s spine.
“You must find the Jewels of Time,” Nevine continued. “The bones will lead you. It is the only way to hex Indira.”
“I don’t care about Indira. I want to go home!” Kaitlyn exclaimed. “Julia, you promised.”
Julia looked to Angie, her face blank. “I’m lost. Is Indira bad now or what?”
“The jewels,” Angie said. “Where do we find them? What do they do?”
“There are three,” Nevine said. “They are hidden in the task. Find all three before Indira does.”