It was worth it, it was worth it to know him.
Now she needed to be certain Gavin remained alive.
Arista glanced once more at Salazar. “Why are you helping my mother?”
“Not out of the goodness of my heart, if that’s what you’re thinking. She promised me some of her spoils of war if I help her track the creatures she needs.”
“She needs more than mermaids?”
“Oh, she needs all types,” he said, turning to face her. “If she’s going to control all creatures of magic, then she needs to capture them.”
“Control… I thought she wanted to eliminate humans,” she said, her horror rising at the thought of what her mother could be planning.
“It started that way. She wanted to strengthen her magic to kill humans more easily. That’s how she convinced me to help her at first — I’m good at killing humans, you know. As her power grew, she wanted more of it. It’s not enough for her to kill the humans; now, she wants to rule the entire world of magic. And she can do it,” he said, looking out over the water. “She’s not strong enough yet, but she will be.”
A nauseating feeling grew in Arista’s stomach. This was far worse than she had thought. Arista’s hopes of changing her mother’s mind, of convincing her to return to the water, seemed futile.
“Why does she need me?” she asked.
Suddenly Salazar was standing over her in the sand. “She doesn’t need you, not really. She only needs your blood.”
Arista’s face turned pale as she looked up at him, silhouetted by the sun hanging in the sky behind him. An icy dread washed over her. She was going to die that day. On that beach.
That dread fueled a fiery determination within her. She could not allow her mother, or anyone else, to control her future any longer.
She would find a way to keep Gavin safe and save magic.
But she wouldn’t die.
Not yet.
She tried to stand, but Salazar shoved her back to the ground. “You’re not escaping again. Ciara will be here any minute and she will have your heart.”
Arista gathered a handful of sand and whipped it at Salazar, catching him in the eye. He howled in agony as he scratched at the grains of sand that lodged into his flesh.
Arista knew she had only a moment to escape. She ran towards the water and made it to the edge of the lake when a noise behind her forced her stop. She turned and saw a commotion at the edge of the forest. Gavin, Kellen, Clarissa, and Valerie burst through the trees.
“Arista!” Gavin yelled as he sprinted towards her.
Her heart flooded with joy as she saw him. She ran back up the beach towards him. Salazar screamed in fury and unleashed a powerful wall of air at Gavin, knocking him backwards. Salazar twisted his other arm towards the trees and a flock of birds descended on the rest of the group. Arista continued to run to Gavin, but Salazar was standing in front of her.
“Not. Again,” he said through gritted teeth as he grabbed her arms.
Arista struggled to break his grip, but he was too strong. She leaned her head forward, pressing her face against his cheek. Before he could react, she bit the burned area of his face, digging her teeth into his flesh. He shrieked and threw her to the ground, causing her to rip out a chunk of flesh as she fell. She spat his burned flesh from her mouth and scrambled to her feet to reach Gavin. Salazar was still reeling as she ran past. He thrust out his hand and caught the chain holding her amulet. He pulled with all his strength and the chain broke. Her amulet tumbled to the ground.
Arista ignored it. She had to reach Gavin. She could see his arms, open wide and waiting for her. The knot in her stomach twisted and she cried out in pain, throwing her arm across her abdomen. She doubled over and fell to her knees in the sand.
Behind her, Salazar cast another wall of air to protect himself from the fire Valerie hurled his direction. He picked the amulet out of the sand and twirled his fingers around the top of it, chanting under his breath until the top of it lifted up into the air.
Arista got back to her feet and stumbled a few steps. Gavin still seemed so far away.
“Come on, Arista, you can make it,” he yelled, as he ran towards her.
Her head spun and her vision faded in and out. Spots circled in front of her eyes as she lost her footing in the slipping sand.
Salazar lifted the open end of the amulet to his mouth. Transformed from stone, her magic was back in its original state. Her blood. He sucked on the end of the amulet as her blood and her magic coursed through him.
A lightning wave of pain rushed through Arista’s body. Gavin was only a few feet away now. She held her hands out to him, but she knew it was a futile attempt.
“I love you,” she said.
The words barely crossed her lips as her whole world went black.
…
Gavin stopped in horrified shock as Arista disappeared right before his eyes. A soft mist of water blew across his face. He fell to his knees where she had last stood. There, lying across the top of the sand was the amethyst heart with the white lightning bolt bursting through its center. He gripped the ring in his hands as blood rushed into his face and tears flooded his eyes.
She was gone.
He screamed and pounded his fists into the sand. She couldn’t be gone. In a wild fury, he looked back at Salazar across the beach.
He killed her. He took Arista away.
Gavin stood and sprinted to Salazar, locking his eyes on the blutjager’s twisted smile. The blood that smeared across his face when Arista ripped his flesh had mutated him into a grotesque visage of the living dead.
“Next time, human.”
Gavin skidded to a halt in the sand as Salazar transformed into a large black crow and flew into the sky. Arista’s amulet fell to the ground and Gavin sank to his knees, holding it in his hands. Although back in one piece, it now held a clear glass orb in the silver circle in place of the red stone. In each hand, Gavin felt the edges of the amulet and the ring pressing into his flesh.
It was all he had left. She was gone.
Tears fell down his face as the others rushed to his side. His sister tried to hug him, but Gavin pushed her away.
“No,” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I have a job to do to.”
He laced the ring and amulet through the necklace chain and tied it around his neck.
“I’m going to hunt him down and I will kill him.”
“You don’t have to do it alone,” Clarissa said, stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll stop him together.”
Valerie nodded. “We’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Kellen looked at Gavin and nodded, his eyes resting on the amulet that now hung over Gavin’s shirt. He glanced down at the bracelet from Arista’s grandmother. The light was supposed to go out if Arista died.
He stared in shock at the bracelet, which still glowed softly around his wrist.
˜
THE END OF BOOK ONE
_
{ Acknowledgments }
It was January 2010 when the first seeds were planted for this book. I was in Washington, D.C. for work when a scene came to me. I scribbled it down on the hotel room notepad. Then I left it for nearly two years before I started writing. Although I started with that scene, I realized there was much more story to tell before it happened ― and that scene will have a starring role in the next book of the series.
Then it became an uneven journey of picking up the book and putting it down. Continuing to write when inspiration struck, and then subsequently giving up. But now it’s here, it’s complete. I am so thankful it’s finished, and I couldn’t have done it alone.
First and foremost, I have to thank my husband Ryan without whose love and laughter, and support to spend hours reading and writing, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for being my partner forever.
I would be nothing without my friends. Huge thanks to Jessie Bauters for being my first reader and a constant
champion in my corner. Your excitement was a driving force in pushing this to completion, and I’ll be forever grateful. Fire bad, tree pretty.
Special thanks also to the incomparable Katie Swanson who not only pedaled a bike across the country, but then power-edited this story. I’ll walk down a busy street in a cardboard box with you anytime.
Major kudos to Laura McGinn for being an amazing sister, awesome beta reader, and talented cover artist. And also for helping me work through some issues with underwater physics.
To all of my other family members and friends, and co-workers past and present ― most of you didn’t even know I was writing, but all of our time spent together still helped to fuel my passion. So, thank you.
And finally, thanks to Tom Gerencher. I wish you were here to see the finish line with me. There’s no way I would have made it without your guidance.
And since you’ve made it this far, I have one more request. Get outside and support your state parks! If you’re in Indiana, make sure you take a few minutes to explore Shades and Turkey Run.
To be continued…
Erin Thedwall
March 2017
{ About the Author }
Erin Thedwall is a former journalist who now works during the day for a technology company and at night as a writer. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys watching serial television dramas while crocheting or creating other crafty items. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and lives in Indianapolis with her husband and cat, Hello.
Learn more at erinthedwall.com and facebook.com/erinthedwallwrites
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Tangled Ripples: Book One: The Morrigan Prophecies Page 28