Nixie had no desire to be connected to the palace. She hated it. It was filled with so much joy, only reminding her of her own sorrow. Being married to a king who not only didn’t love her but never showed her any affection rankled her pride.
After many painful years spent taking care of Esme, all she got in return were disapproving comments from her husband. The king’s obvious devotion to his daughter stirred up even more resentment. When she watched the two of them together, it became clear just how unloved Nixie truly was.
Nixie rarely saw her king as it was. He would brush her off for some engagement or to do something with Esme. Her heart became encased in an icy shield of resentment that protecting her from love and joy, and gave her the time she needed to come up with a plan.
After telling Esme that King Nereus was dead, Nixie felt a great wave of relief. It washed over her, cleansing her of any obligation that she’d had to the palace, to the kingdom, and most importantly to Esme. That was her biggest relief. To not have that irritating girl tugging at her apron strings, always wanting something, some advice, or some meaningless chatter.
The throne room was filled with misery. The once majestic tables and chairs still stood in the positions they were when it was deserted but were crumbling into decay. Nothing had been upturned or destroyed, but only left to rot. Nothing moved. Everything stayed the same but grew more dismal and discolored as time passed.
It seemed like the entire palace had been placed inside a glass orb, just so someone could gaze down at the rotting kingdom whenever they pleased.
Esme traveled down the narrow passageway to her bedroom. All that was left was a pink mass of mold saturating her bed. Corals had begun to grow inside the bed frame. Pink, purple, and green effervescent flowers peeked their heads through the centerpiece. The rest of her bedroom was covered in a chocolate brown goo. The once white walls were peeling away and a gross scent overpowered her senses, causing her to grimace as she searched the room for anything that might stand out.
There was nothing in the room so she left and swam through the long passageway and past the throne room. Something glinted at her from her father’s chamber. A white shimmery light darted at her eyes, forcing her to stop in her tracks as she came closer to the source of the light.
Upon entering the room, she scanned around, looking for the light. Under her father’s bed, there it was, a shiny opal locket hanging delicately on a blackened chain, the chain having almost rotted away.
The oval glinting at Esme as she reached under the bed to retrieve it. Holding it closer, she wiped away the grime and a white light flared up on response. Esme moved her finger out to the way to see green glittering specks blending in with the opal.
She held the object again, wondering why such a thing had caught her eye. Then she turned around cautiously, looking behind her, feeling an air of silence as if she was being watched. She couldn’t see anyone, but just in case, she placed the locket safely inside her bra, remembering what had happened with the scroll.
Something told her that this item was precious, more valuable than she could ever know.
It was time to get out of here and fast, before anyone had any idea that she was here and that she had found such a masterful object.
I need to go back to Lazarus, Esme thought.
She didn’t look back as she swam away, plunging into the vaster, darker current that would lead her to Lazarus’s domain.
Landing at the bottom of the ocean, she came to the solid gray rock that acted as a door to Lazarus’s home. She anticipated his reaction when she came through it. Would he be greeting her with a smile and a kiss or perhaps something even more sensual?
Esme used all her strength to push the boulder aside and swim through the narrow doorway, only not a soul was inside. Lazarus was nowhere to be seen.
The seaweed bed he slept on was empty and unkempt. The books he kept on his many shelves were sandy and disordered as if they hadn’t been touched for a while. The room felt dismal as Esme looked around the entire place. No Lazarus.
This was unexpected. Where could he be? she wondered.
24
Lazarus was tapping his fingers on the side of his clam shell chair, fed up with Nixie.
“I need to find her!” he said as Nixie smirked at him.
“How do you know she won’t just show up when you least expect her to?” Nixie said with a cackle.
Lazarus was beyond irritated. He was going to make a move out of there whether this venomous witch liked it or not. He was going to get past her and he’d make mincemeat out of her if he had to.
Lazarus wasn’t fond of killing another of his kind, but he’d make an exception in this instance. He was starting to feel like it would be the only way out!
He looked at Nixie, feeling an instinct come over him. And something in those eyes of hers told him that something wasn’t right here.
“I know her well enough to know when something is just a feeling and when something is real. That is why I need to find her!” Lazarus insisted, feeling angry at himself because he had wasted time on this charade. He had allowed himself to be fooled.
What a dumb idiot I am! Why didn’t I see it sooner? I should have known this woman was trouble. Esme didn’t say it, but still I knew, somewhere deep inside the pits of my heart, I knew what she wasn’t saying!
Esme, if you can hear me, I’m sorry. I need you!
He allowed his thoughts to circle inside his mind. He let them sink down into the veil of his soul, willing Esme to come to him. Wishing her to come to him.
All he had was his mind. That was the only tool in his possession now. That was what he would have to rely on if he was to get her back home!
Esme lay on the shore. She knew she shouldn’t be here, exposed like this, bare out in the open on a sunlit day, but something compelled her to come here. She didn’t know what it was, but she came anyway. And now she sought her own counsel, analyzing the aspects of her situation.
Yes, she could have made another treacherous journey and gotten counsel from Sheba, but what she would have gotten besides more riddles?
She could have gone ahead with that option but she found much peace and comfort in going within herself. Her solitude was her greatest gift because it gave her more clarity than the eye could see for miles around, more than any oracle could give.
When she went within, just being quiet and alone with herself, she could see many prisms of light and color. She heard sounds that she recognized and some she didn’t. She felt the waves pressing against her soul, urging her to dig deeper, to find that source inside her where she felt an incisor ripping her at her core, causing so much pain and suffering. It was only when she understood herself that she understood the pain that she experienced, giving it new form and meaning.
She was looking out to sea, staring at a passing ship, when suddenly she felt a yearning inside her heart. This pitter-patter hit her at the seams. Something burst out from inside, shrieking and screaming as the call got louder.
She couldn’t stop what she was feeling. It bubbled up inside her stomach. She could feel it stopping her as she tried to comprehend what was happening.
From far and around, all Esme could make out were green specks of light emitting when she closed her eyes, listening to this squealing sound, compelling her to reach out and find its source.
She felt it rushing inside her blood, pooling as it formed its way to her heart. The soul call hummed as it paused for a moment.
Then she saw Lazarus’s face. Those dynamic eyes, warm and bright, bursting with yellow fortitude. Gazing at her. Feasting on her as they gently caressed her lips and wandered down to her chest.
She felt a strong sensation as the call moved down to her lower body, softly stroking her in places she didn’t know existed. Giving her thrills of pleasure she hadn’t expected. But it didn’t stop there.
Esme laid out, spreading her fins across the seashore, gently taking a breath to breathe through this electrifying mo
ment.
She didn’t want to open her eyes for fear that the rush would dissipate. Silver embers basked around her in a circle as she lay there, perfectly serene and calm in this one moment.
Images began to fill her mind. She kept her eyes closed as she saw Lazarus again, only this time he was in Nixie’s dark quarters Lazarus sat in a dank corner while Nixie smirked and maintained her focus on a shimmery sphere sitting on an ornate table.
Lazarus glared at Nixie, throwing increasingly angry glances towards her. Then finally the last image came to Esme as she opened her eyes at once.
In this potent visual, Lazarus pushed aside his boulder door only to find Nixie standing outside. Her red curls were as bold as rubies as she hovered in the doorway. Lazarus stood transfixed by her as she smiled wickedly at him.
It was at this moment that Esme’s eyes went wide open and she lifted herself off the sand and leaped into the water.
25
Esme didn’t slow down until she reached that shadowed hallway that led to Nixie’s chamber. Without giving herself a chance to be afraid, she kept on. As she edged closer to the door, Esme listened, hearing voices from inside.
Lazarus was keeping quiet and Nixie was the one doing all the talking.
“She won’t know a thing! She doesn’t even know you are down here!” Nixie screeched wildly.
Lazarus managed a confident laugh. “How do you know that? There’s more to her than you think.”
Nixie chuckled. “She’s not a witch like me! She has no power under my ocean!”
Esme felt something erupting as she braced herself to open the door, knowing she would find Lazarus inside waiting for her.
She gave that door a push, and bang, it swung open, hitting the wall on the opposite side.
Nixie stared at Esme in bewilderment and anger.
Lazarus also gave her a stare but his look met hers with a smile and a wink.
Nixie chuckled, rubbing her hands together with glee. Amused that something that blend together as well as this conundrum had! Esme and Lazarus together with herself in a blaze of fire, well that was how she imagined it anyways!
“Why, Esme! Come, child, we were just talking about you, dear!” Nixie began.
Lazarus folded his arms across his chest. “Stay away from her, Esme! I don’t trust her.”
Esme looked at Lazarus and then continued to Nixie.
“I know. I heard all you said,” Esme replied.
Nixie said nothing but pointed towards Lazarus accusingly as he glowered at her in response.
“It seems your fine fellow has a few trinkets up his sleeve,” Nixie sneered, stopping as she waited to see the reaction on Esme’s face.
Esme’s chin dropped a little.
“He came down here to have his way with me! Oh, I wish I’d have been able to reach you sooner to tell you what a philanderer he is, but it’s no matter. You are here now,” Nixie said, her words echoing inside the darkened walls, reverberating and surrounding Esme from all sides.
Esme stood firm as the words collided inside her ears. They got trapped inside her throat, and when she tried to speak, she couldn’t. Something was blocking her from finding her voice. She placed a hand to her throat anxiously while Nixie laughed once more.
“Oh, I only wish happiness for you, child! But this man, I tell you, is no good. He tried to subdue me, I'll have you know!” Nixie allowed her own hand to linger sensually down her neck.
Lazarus only looked on, not even defending himself. Instead he stared solemnly at the vicious sea creature.
“She’s lying, Esme,’” he uttered.
Nixie looked dumbfounded and smiled an innocent smile.
“Me, a liar? You know I don’t partake in such absurdity,” she hollered once more. The walls of her home shook with the weight of her voice.
“I found her at my door,” he said. “She told me she could find you.”
Nixie wasn’t sure whose side Esme was believing, for the mermaid girl stood completely still.
“It’s all right, Lazarus,” Esme said.
Esme reached into her bra and pulled out the opal trinket, its green specks shimmering in the light.
Nixie’s face dropped in horror.
“Where . . . did . . . you get that?” she stammered, her eyes locked on the opal.
“Funny you should ask!” Esme said with a smile, refusing to say anything else as Nixie trembled.
Lazarus said nothing but found himself transfixed by the opal, causing him to wonder if this too was a magical object.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out as Esme ventured towards Nixie, pushing the locket towards the sea witch. She gasped in horror, seeming to know just what it was that Esme wielded in her hand.
Esme felt brave as she brandished it at Nixie.
“See, I figured this out! It’s not about who is wicked and who holds the darkest power. No, it’s more than that,” Esme started.
She pressed the opal closer towards Nixie, making Nixie back away into the corner, but the walls were solid and Nixie couldn’t back away any farther.
“When my father died and you sent me off to that goddess creature, Sheba, I realized something. Not only did I have the power inside me to complete this impossible mission, but I had the will do it too!”
Esme paused, remembering Sheba’s warning that there were more attacks to come.
Although it confused her at the time, making her fearful of what would come next, now it suddenly made sense.
No more attacks had come, despite Sheba’s warning. But it didn’t matter. That wasn’t the focal point.
After she was so fearful awaiting the next attack, Esme gained her strength. She had realized that she was strong enough to do this. That she didn’t have to go crying to Nixie, blubbering how life was so hard on her. She could do this herself without needing anyone. That was true strength.
“Then you gave me that tepid speech,” Esme continued, “about how you were tired of me after all those years. That you were done with me. Something about that triggered me off. That disaster that happened here gave me reason to leave you, and after that, I found my strength. I have you to thank for that, Nixie!”
Nixie stared wide-eyed at the opal that swayed so close to her face, the mer-sorceress could almost taste it!
26
Nixie couldn’t back away any farther. She stared into the opal wildly, wondering what would happen next.
To her surprise, Esme pulled it away from Nixie.
Feeling a sigh of relief, Nixie took a deep breath. She should be feeling good, but she wasn’t. She didn’t know why either, until she saw Esme lunging the opal necklace at the black wall. Nixie gaped.
Oh no, this can’t be! Nixie thought to herself. This can’t be. It just can’t.
She couldn’t say the words. She could only watch as Esme smashed the opal against the black wall.
As the opal hit the solid black wall, green specks emitted all across the room and went straight at Nixie. They hovered around the frightened sorceress’s gaze as she awaited its fury.
Esme backed away, dropping the chain as she swam to Lazarus. He placed a hand on hers, holding it tight as they watched in amazement.
Nixie looked alarmed as the green specks fluttered all around her. She screeched and wailed as all she could do was cry out as the green energy spectrum began sucking her dry. Slowly from the root, climbing up that fishtail, cascading along to that glossy red hair of hers.
Esme and Lazarus couldn’t take their eyes away as Nixie was rapidly reduced to nothing. Her entire structure disintegrated as the green magic overpowered her, no longer circling her, but instead it all went to one spot, reducing Nixie’s once magnificent body to a turquoise sludge. Nothing else was left behind.
Esme couldn’t believe her eyes. She hugged Lazarus in amazement, unable to comprehend what had happened.
Nixie was gone. Ended, just like that. Gone. All because of a fragile opal being smashed. Who knows what led Esme to hurl
it against that wall, but unbeknownst to Esme and Lazarus, much more was afoot.
Before Esme and Lazarus ventured away from that blackened hovel, they looked at the turquoise sludge that was the formidable Nixie, once upon a time.
Esme glanced at it a little longer than Lazarus, feeling no hatred towards her stepmother but wishing that Nixie would have been blessed with love. Then maybe her stepmother wouldn’t have ended up this way.
However, as Esme turned her head away from the blackened wall, it began to change. Within seconds, the rot was gone, replaced with a shimmery white.
Intrigued to know what else would transform as a result of this magic, Esme took Lazarus’s hand and swam away. They didn’t stop until they reached the icy blue gates of her former home.
Only they weren’t blue anymore. The gates shimmered and beckoned towards them like golden beacons. Esme couldn’t believe it.
Then she looked towards the palace. Curious, she peered in, bringing Lazarus with her as she edged forward and pushed the gates aside.
The merman said nothing. He couldn’t speak. He hadn’t seen the effects of magic since he was young. He never thought he would ever see it being played out in front of him again. He was in awe!
Esme looked ahead of her as she breezed into the palace. It had come back to life again. All the courtiers, servants, and guards had reappeared in the places they were before Nixie had announced the death of the king.
Esme couldn’t believe her eyes. She swam fast with Lazarus still in tow as she headed for the throne room.
There on the throne, her father’s crown dominated the cushioned seat. It sparkled at her as she picked it up. She placed it upon her head for the first time and turned to meet Lazarus’s confused look.
She had never wanted the queenship when it had been offered to her. She was too young! She’d never wanted the responsibility of a such a job. She had felt like it would dominate her. So being the rebellious teen she was, she rebelled against her father, resenting him and the crown for many years.
Sirens and Scales Page 167