She bows her head slightly. “Forgive me, I am not accustomed to visitors such as yourself. I am Coralia, guardian of the Zaratan in this area. If you will permit me, I will make it possible for you to breathe underwater so that I may bring you to Queen Undine.”
Underwater. Don’t really bad things happen to people if they stay underwater for too long? Especially if they go too deep? “Is it safe for our bodies besides the oxygen thing?”
Coralia smiles. “Yes. I am aware that your bodies are fragile. The magic will prevent any harm.”
“We gladly accept your generous offer,” Kallen says, proving yet again he’s the better diplomat.
Coralia inclines her head and then lifts her long, slender arms from the water. As her fingers meet, a rainbow of colored water droplets begins to swirl around the three of us. “Bodies of land, born for soil and sand, foreign to the sea, yet protected you will be.”
Short and simple, I like it. The droplets spin faster until a prism wall surrounds us. “You will be safe now,” Coralia says.
Funny, I don’t feel any different. I guess I was kind of expecting gills or something to form on my neck. Then again, Coralia doesn’t have gills. With a last smile, she disappears under the water. I look at Kallen, who by way doesn’t look at all tired from treading water, and raise my brows in question. Do we follow her? He nods and grabs my hand, pulling me underwater with him.
I hold my breath as long as I can, but my chest is starting to hurt as we go deeper. I need more air. With a tentative sniff, I inhale a little with my nose. I expect the sting of the briny water, but it doesn’t come. I inhale deeper and I feel the tightening in my chest begin to ease as my body is somehow able to separate the oxygen I need from the water. This is so cool. I wonder how long the spell lasts. Hopefully, it’ll last until we’re ready to leave this realm. I’d hate to be in the middle of the Merpeople’s palace at the bottom of the sea and have a sudden need for oxygen. I’m guessing they wouldn’t have any on hand.
Kallen’s legs are much stronger than mine, so he ends up pulling me behind him as I try to match is leg strokes and fail miserably. The sea is getting darker and darker and it’s getting harder to see Coralia. I did get a closer look at her tail, though, before she pulled ahead. It really is a fish tail and it’s covered in bright colored scales. Scales that are moving farther and farther ahead of us at the moment.
After several long minutes of thinking that she’s simply leading us to the bottom of the dark sea to leave us to drown, I can finally see light in the distance. It’s a soft light, not like the sun. Muted, like a light with a dimmer switch turned down to low.
If nothing else comes from this whole chasing Angels thing, at least I’m getting some exercise. My legs are killing me now. Even Kallen finally looks a little tired.
We’re at the edge of a city. There are buildings built of very solid looking rocks and what could be called streets running between them. I guess Spongebob isn’t as far off as I would have thought. There really is a thriving community at the bottom of the sea. At least in this realm there is.
Some of the buildings are about the size of a one story house. Others are taller. As we swim through the streets, presumably to get to Queen Undine’s house, the Merpeople we pass are just as curious about us as we are about them. There’s a lot of uncomfortable, awkward eye contact going on as we look at each other from head to toe. I admit, they’re more interesting with their colorful scales than our wetsuit clad legs and flippers.
We wind through a few streets until we get to one that abuts a mansion of rock, coral and the occasional sea anemone. I’m thinking those are just for decoration. Or they haven’t scraped them off yet.
The Merhouses, this mansion included, are different than houses in the other realms. They don’t have doors or windows, just openings. And these openings are all around the house so it’s easy to see what the people are doing inside. It seems like there’s very little privacy in this world at the bottom of the sea.
The very top floor of the mansion is where we find Queen Undine. She’s lounging on a chaise lounge of stone covered in sea grass. Coralia shows us to a couch made of the same things. If you can get past the slimy feel of the grass, it’s actually pretty comfortable to sit on. At this point, I’m too tired to care about slime.
Coralia turns to Undine. “The two centennial Zaratan in my area has been awakened. The magic of these two pulled her from her slumber prematurely. There will be a shortage of larger fish to store from this zone.”
Hey! Did she bring us here to get us in trouble with her queen? And all this time I thought she was being nice and friendly. Except when I thought she was leading us to our death that is.
“We didn’t mean to wake it up,” I say hurriedly. “We were just trying to not die from our fall.”
The Queen looks me over with disdain. Then she turns her eyes to Kallen. There’s a gleam in them now that I don’t like, and she’s spending way too much time looking at certain parts of him. It makes me want to sit on his lap and declare him to be mine. Probably a little premature for that much drama, though. I’ll settle for giving her a dirty look.
“Where did you come from?” she asks Kallen. “Why are you here?” She’s practically purring now that she’s talking to him.
“We came from the Fairy realm, your majesty. Our sudden presence in your realm was unexpected; the result of a locator charm,” he says in a smooth, even voice.
She cocks her head, letting her eyes slowly drink him in before saying, “How fortunate for us that you are able to wield such strong magic. Your presence has caused quite the stir and brought excitement and curiosity to our humble village.” It’s very well implied that she means just his presence has inspired these things. “Welcome.”
I don’t believe a word her full, red lips are saying. Her hair is dark brown, long and flowing and her skin is the color of rich mocha. Right down to her tail. How do I know? Because she’s not wearing a shirt. As we floated through town, I couldn’t help but notice that very few of the women were wearing anything to cover themselves, except the occasional adornment of shells or seaweed weaved into something resembling a bikini top. I have to give Kallen credit. His eyes have not wandered below anyone’s neck as far as I can tell. And yes, I was paying attention. I can also say that I behaved the same way. I didn’t stare at all at the gorgeous male torsos we swam by. Much.
“I am Kallen and this is Xandra, my wife,” he says. I have trouble hiding a grin. I guess he picked up on her oh so subtle appraisal of him as well. Her eyes flash in displeasure.
Queen Undine turns her eyes back to me. “Such a plain one to have caught this lovely creature in your net. You must tell me your secret.”
She just called me plain. The way she said it though, it was clear that she really wanted to say ugly. I try really hard to remember why we’re here. My magic on the other hand, doesn’t care why we’re here. It is primed and ready to go.
The Queen sits up as the magic draws inside of me. “You dare attempt magic in my home?”
“Yes,” I say in the same tone she used. “I didn’t come here to get insulted. I came to find someone and then I’ll leave, with my gorgeous husband.” Yes, I sound like a jealous wife. Because I am. Jealous, anyway.
“You will leave when I tell you to leave,” Undine says. Then, lifting her hands in the air, she creates the same rainbow that Coralia did when she was about to do magic. “Creatures of the sea, bend to my will; fear in these strangers’ hearts instill.”
I’ve heard of attack dogs, but attack octopi? Seriously? And these things are huge. One of them is so big, its tentacles are longer than I am tall. The suction cups on it are bigger than my face. Which one is getting mighty close to at the moment.
Like the Fairy realm, this realm is purer than mine, less pollution. Therefore, the magic is purer. And stronger. Pulling a lot of it, I push it towards the closest octopus. It goes flying backwards towards the window it swam in a second ago and splats up
against the wall. This seems to rile up its friends who have now turned all of their attention on me, forgetting all about Kallen. Lucky for me, he hasn’t forgotten about them. He sends his own magic at the two heading my way and they squish up against the same wall. I use my magic to pin all three of them there.
Turning back to Undine, I say, “Great hospitality, thanks. What do you usually do next, take away the ability to breathe underwater spell?” Oh, crap. I don’t even need to look at Kallen to know that he’s fuming over me giving her ideas. What was that spell Coralia did?
Undine gets a wicked smile on her face to replace the evil glare she was giving us when we quarantined her octopi. “Perhaps a few minutes without oxygen will be just the thing to put you in your place.”
If I was Kallen, I’d be so mad at me right now. Okay, I can fix this. As Undine raises her arms to start the rainbow swirling, I quickly say, “Bodies of sand, born of soil and sea, protected from you all, we will be. Let us breathe.”
I’m pretty sure I got it wrong. Especially since I had to hastily add that last part. Yes, we can still breathe underwater. But, I might have just started a war with the Merpeople. Blowing out the walls of the Queen’s mansion and throwing her outside, then erecting an invisible wall so no one else may enter are probably good grounds for a war to be declared. Basically, I’ve ousted their ruler and laid siege on her castle. Diplomacy – still not my strong suit. Probably never will be.
“Xandra,” Kallen says slowly. I’m pretty sure he’s struggling to keep his voice even. “Do you know what you just did?”
I’m going to go with the positive here. “Kept us from drowning?”
He tilts his head and nods slightly. “Yes, you did do that. Do you know what else you did?”
“Um, saved us from more droll conversation with the Queen?”
He narrows his eyes. “Perhaps we can look at the bigger picture here.” He’s moving into condescending which always pushes me into defensiveness.
“Fine, I probably started a war. Does it make you feel better now that I’ve said it out loud?”
He raises his brows and crosses his arms over his chest. “As a matter of fact, it does.”
I give him a sour look. “I just tried to do the same spell that Coralia did. I got it wrong.”
To my surprise, he chuckles and shakes his head. He walks over to me and holds his hand out. I put mine in his and he pulls me to him. Wrapping his arms around me, he says, “I love you.” He gives me a quick kiss. “Now, before the entire Merpeople population storms the place, how about if you use that rock of yours to bring us to the Angel?”
I nod and step back out of his arms. I guess we’ll see if it was the Wishing Stone or the rock that brought us to Ray. I pull the rock out of my pocket and stare at it a moment. I don’t think I want to go to the Angel. I think that it would be much safer given our current predicament to bring the Angel here. Closing my hand around the rock, I think, Bring the Angel we seek here.
A very surprised looking Mermaid suddenly appears in front of us. She has long auburn hair and bright blue eyes. She’s wearing a shirt, thank goodness, and her scales are a beautiful array of pinks, reds and silver. She’s gorgeous.
She looks around for a moment, and then focuses on me and Kallen. “I have surmised where I am, yet I am still at a loss as to why I am here.” Her voice is smooth as satin and even in her confusion, she somehow offers comfort. Strange.
“Um, I brought you here.”
She smiles. “I gathered as much.”
“Ambriel sent me for you.”
That causes surprise in her calming eyes. “Whatever for?”
I shrug. “I don’t have a clue. I owe him a favor and he used it to send me for you and two other Fallen Angels.”
Her brow gets tiny wrinkles. “You were able to converse with Ambriel? Has he chosen to Fall?”
I shake my head. “No, he hasn’t. I can talk to Angel’s.”
“Interesting. How has this come about?”
“I’m Lailah’s granddaughter,” I say, referring to my grandmother. I don’t know why I felt comfortable telling her that.
Her pretty pink lips curve up into a happy smile. “Then you must be the Witch Fairy. How exciting.”
“Yes, it is,” Kallen says, “but we have a situation here so we should probably get going.”
“Going?”
“Ambriel wanted me to bring all three of you to my house,” I say.
She laughs that cute little laugh of the Angels. The one that wasn’t passed on to me. I don’t exactly sound like a donkey, but I don’t sound like a tiny pealing bell either. “Ambriel has always been rather pushy.” I don’t think that’s an ‘okay, let’s go.’ More like an ‘I don’t think so.’
Kallen has walked over to a hole in the wall. “Undine is gathering what appear to be warriors. Curious, the Merpeople do use tridents. I thought that was legend.”
Great, three pronged sticks they can skewer us with. If we don’t get out of here soon, we’re going to be the marshmallow part of a s’more. “I know you would have to give up your life here, but Ambriel seemed to think it’s important for you to come with me.”
She must be able to read the doubt in my eyes. “I am sure he does. What do you believe about the request for my presence?”
Crap, I’m not supposed to lie to Angels. I sigh long and hard. Here goes. “I don’t like Ambriel. I have no idea why he wants me to collect you or why he wants you at my house. I did something stupid and now I owe him two favors. Getting the three of you together takes care of one of them. Personally, I think he’s up to something sinister."
She’s making me uncomfortable staring at me like that. I keep wanting to swim behind Kallen because it feels like she can see inside of me. If I had any food in my belly, I bet she’d be able to tell me what I ate last.
“You do the bidding of an Angel you do not trust because you gave your word. I am not sure if that makes you a good Angel or a stupid Witch Fairy.”
I grimace. “Yeah, me neither.”
“It is amazing how large these tridents are close up,” Kallen says from his spot by the hole in the wall. “As well as how many they seem to have on hand.”
Okay, point taken. Our situation is becoming dire. What else is new? I swim walk until I’m next to him. “Wow.” He’s right. It looks like Neptune’s army got together with the angry mob that searched for Frankenstein and then they had a baby. A very angry, multi-headed baby. With pitchforks. If we weren’t underwater, I’m sure there would be torches.
A hand on my shoulder makes me jump. “Do you always anger others this way?” the Fallen Angel asks.
Great, more honesty required. “Most of the time.”
“Has it dawned on you that you have not even asked my name, yet you want to scoop me up and take me away from this world I love?”
No, not at all. Oops. Sheepishly, I turn to her and hold out my hand. “Hi, I’m Xandra. And you are?”
She smiles. “I am Zoe.”
“Do you think we could go now? I don’t know what the equivalent to being burned at the stake is down here, but I don’t want to find out.”
She’s taken aback. “Leave before this is smoothed over? I do not believe that would be wise. The realms may be closed to each other, but that is simply by choice. They are not sealed.”
Oh. I didn’t know that. “So, if the Merpeople want to, they can open the realms and go anywhere they want?” Like to my realm and start a real war. Not that they would get far with what are basically pitchforks, but still. A lot of people from both sides could still get hurt. Kallen looks as happy as I do at the moment.
Zoe nods. “It was their choice to leave the human realm. The seas were no longer calm and clean, and they were getting hurt.”
I guess I have to suck it up and work something out. “What do you suggest we do about this?”
“The very first thing you should do is let the Queen back into her home.”
Yeah, I was
afraid she was going to say that. Reluctantly, I let go of the magic that is keeping the Merpeople at bay. As soon as they sense that, the Queen makes her way through the crowd.
“You come here uninvited, insult me and destroy my home. I should kill you myself.”
Implying that she’s going to have someone else do it? I don’t think so. “Not to be rude,” well, maybe a little, “but I just proved that I was strong enough to kick you out of your own house, so that’s probably not going to happen.” Suddenly, there are two hands on my shoulders. Kallen’s is on my left and he’s using considerably more pressure than Zoe is. The message is the same, though. They both want me to shut up. I decide they’re right.
Blood of Destiny (Witch Fairy #6) Page 9