She pulled me into her arms, making soothing noises as she did so, before helping me to sit upright again and wiping the tears from my cheeks.
“Do you know what I think?” I shook my head. “I think you need to relax and learn to trust yourself a bit more.”
I shook my head. “There’s no time for that.”
“Do you know that my healing talent only flows when I don’t think about it?” She smiled at my incredulous expression. “Most of us function that way. I’m not surprised you’re battling with so much pressure being placed on you. I tell you what,” she said, taking my hand in hers, “I think you have a little bit of all of us in you. That’s how I read the prophesy, so if that is true, then you have a little bit of the ability to heal in you too.”
“You really believe that?”
She nodded, smiling. “In fact I’ve been doing a little research on the Oceanids you’ve visited so far, and you know, they are all doing quite a lot better, far more so than the other Oceanids you haven’t visited yet. In fact even as we’ve been talking I feel more energetic too.”
My mouth fell open at her statement.
She laughed, a lovely happy sound that lit her features and filled the air around her, before she grew intensely serious again.
“So I’d like you to think about what you were feeling and doing when you were with them.”
“Nothing,” I replied firmly, “I just wanted to speak to them and listen to them and mostly help them feel better if I could.”
She nodded, smiling at me. “That is how my talent works too, I don’t access my talent by focusing on it and trying with all my might, I simply want the sick Oceanid I’m with to feel better, and they do, without me trying.”
A bubble of excitement formed in my stomach. “Can we go and try with the Oceanid next door?” I asked her excitedly.
She laughed, taking my hand as we scurried to the next aven.
My excitement instantly waned as we walked into the darkened cave. This Oceanid was so sick he wasn’t conscious.
“Just relax,” Maya whispered as she led me forward, her face infinitely tender as she stroked the sick Oceanid’s hair away from his frail face.
I walked forward and allowed myself to just “feel” for him, to hope that he’d get better. I took his hand and closed my eyes, imagining him vital and full of life.
A gasp from Maya had my eyes springing open, as we watched colour and flesh return to his cheeks, his laboured breathing easing and crumpled body straightening as his eyelids fluttered open.
“Was that you?” I asked her incredulously.
She was grinning. “I think that was both of us.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She motioned for me to follow her outside of the aven.
“I could never have given him that much life energy in my state, without seriously damaging my own health,” she explained, bouncing on her toes in excitement. “I know what my talent feels like, so I could feel it working, but much much stronger than I’ve ever experienced before, and I think that was you.” She could barely contain her excitement.
“Really? You really think I was part of that?”
She nodded. “How do you feel?”
I thought about her question for a moment. “Tired actually, as if I’ve been exercising really hard.”
She nodded. “Then it was definitely you, using talents takes energy.” She pulled me into a bear hug. “Don’t you see what this means though? Together we can go through the pod and help them so much faster!”
“So I’m not just the bunny rabbit?” I asked her, the excitement of being able to do something for these people thrumming through me and pushing the exhaustion aside.
She cocked her head to the side. “The what?”
I explained how useless I’d felt as a conduit and she laughed at my description.
“Don’t brush aside your ability to connect us, Alexandra, imagine if there were two or three or four of us all working on the Oceanids’ health at one time, each of us feeding off the others’ healing talents…”
The possibility of a whole army of healers opened up a completely different avenue of thought.
“Maybe that’’s how we can peacefully resolve everything?” I mused.
Maya looked a little confused. “By making everyone feel better?”
“Well, at least the Oceanids we do have will be healthy.”
She shook her head. “It’s a very short-term strategy, what are we going to do about the source of their illness?”
I didn’t have the answer to that question yet, my elation at being able to help the sick Oceanid deflating as the bigger problems they faced weighed on my shoulders.
She touched my hand, her expression compassionate. “Let’s talk to the others,” she suggested. “I feel well enough to go to dinner this evening and we can tell everyone of the progress you’ve made and perhaps ask all of them to start thinking about what your ability to heighten and unify our talents might mean.”
“OK,” I replied, gloom settling over me at the thought of having to face an angry Merrick again.
Chapter 26
Forgotten
Maya dressed quickly in a liquid honey fabric that highlighted her eyes, and accompanied me back to the cave as the rest of the Oceanids were beginning to arrive for the dinner celebrations.
Sabrina whisked me away from Maya with an almost protective air, her greeting slightly stiff, before she hurried me off to her aven to get ready, tsking about what I’d done to the beautiful piece of fabric she’d given me the day before.
This evening she chose an iridescent coral pink fabric. It seemed to cling to my body, almost wetly, before letting go completely and floating around me like gossamer in the breeze.
She didn’t have time to fuss too much with my hair, fixing it expertly into a twist at the nape of my neck, before floating a soft gold, almost transparent veil over my hair again.
She provided me with moccasin-type shoes in the same fabric. When I asked her whether they would last the evening, because they looked so fragile, she simply laughed and instructed me to trust her and put them on. They felt amazingly warm, and luxuriously soft, despite my being able to see my foot through them.
Merrick wasn’t in the opening when we exited Sabrina’s aven. I was surprised at how empty and lost I felt without him. He’d become my confidant and friend and, if I was honest with myself, probably a lot more than that. I missed him, feeling lonely in the throng of people that surrounded us, and regretting more than anything the spat we’d had.
I noticed Maya drifting between groups of Oceanids, greeting them all as she went. They seemed to welcome her warmly, holding her hand and smiling at her. Their reaction made Sabrina’s stiffness seem even stranger to me.
I glanced at her, taking a step away as a pale green something twirled in lazy misty circles around her. It lasted only a few seconds before she noticed me staring and fixed a carefree smile on her face.
“Do you have an issue with Maya?” I asked her quietly.
She tossed her hair. “No,” she replied, smiling.
“Are you jealous?” I asked, incredulous.
Sabrina stared at me. “How do you know that?”
“I saw something writhing on your skin for a few moments, a sort of misty twirl,” I told her, “It was green, and you were looking at Maya at the time.”
Sabrina’s eyes were very wide. “I didn’t know you could see spiritus,” she whispered.
I grinned at her, the bubble of excitement returning. “I couldn’t,” I replied before telling her about the progress Maya and I had made that afternoon.
“So why are you jealous?” I asked her again.
She ducked her head, looking sheepish. “We developed feelings for the same man – Marinus… even sick and ugly… he chose her,” she said, staring at her toes.
I squeezed her arm in sympathy.
She smiled at me again before taking a deep breath and guiding me thr
ough the throng of Oceanids that crowded into the space. Her embarrassment forgotten, she kept rushing off to chat to someone, before remembering she had a duty to me and darting back to walk by side for a little.
Eventually I encouraged her to go and have fun, assuring her that I’d be fine.
I stood slightly to the side of the gathering, watching in detached fascination as the various groups formed. I recognised the Mami-Wata again and waved shyly at Undine as she greeted me from the other side of the tree.
I searched the crowd for Josh or Luke, spotted them on opposite sides of the cave, and moved to Luke who was closest to me.
“Hi, Luke,” I greeted him, waving my hand slightly. He was standing beside Aerowen who immediately turned towards me, her smile just a little too wide, showing very white, small, sharp teeth.
“Um… oh, hi…” Luke seemed to be searching around for my name, his expression confused. “Do I know you?”
I stumbled backwards, shocked. He clearly didn’t recognise me.
Aerowen used the opportunity to lead him away, throwing a wickedly triumphant grin over her shoulder.
My mind was reeling. They’d already removed my memory from Luke, already set it up so that he wouldn’t be an inconvenient witness. The thought made my blood run cold.
I turned and headed determinedly over to Josh.
“Josh,” I called to him, a little too loudly.
The Oceanids that surrounded him and the exquisite woman beside him-who must have been Indra- parted, their expressions a mixture of pity and disapproval, as if I was committing some social horror by greeting him so loudly.
He turned and smiled at me, lifting his hand in greeting. I felt weak with relief. He remembered me!
“How are you doing?” he asked, his eyes sliding over the incredible outfit I wore. “You look amazing!”
“I’m doing great!” I told him happily. “What have you guys been up to?”
“Oh, lots of climbing and fishing.” He trailed off, looking a little less confident and a little more confused.
The silence between us grew strangely awkward as he gazed around the cave.
The Oceanid he’d been standing with earlier stepped up to him, pressing herself along his side and whispering something into his ear.
“It’s been really great to meet you… um… I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name?” He stood there, smiling at me kindly and waiting for an answer.
“Alexandra,” I managed to whisper through the tears that clogged my throat, “it’s Alexandra,” I said again, taking a deep breath and smiling at him.
He cocked his head to one side, thinking. “Alexandra, that’s a very pretty name – leader of men – that’s what it means…” His face clouded over in confusion. “I knew someone with that name… at least I think I did…”
He turned as the Oceanid took his hand, pulling him away from me.
“See you around, Alexandra.” He smiled before walking away with her.
“I’m so sorry.” Merrick’s voice curled around me like a warm blanket.
I turned to him, burying my face in his chest, the tears streaming down my cheeks as he wrapped me in his arms.
“They don’t know who I am,” I whimpered. “We’ve been friends for years and they couldn’t even remember my name.”
He pulled me closer until I could feel the heat from his body down the full length of mine.
“It’s what is keeping them safe,” he whispered, still holding me tightly, for just a few moments too long for it to just be comfort, his breath fanning the veil that covered my hair, his breathing a little too ragged.
I nodded, pulling myself away from the comfort of his arms and wiping the tears from my face, feeling confused by my own feelings and uncertain of his.
I risked a glance at his face, blushing at the excitement I just caught before it cooled in his eyes.
He chuckled, taking both of my hands, and purposely weaving his fingers through mine.
“I owe you an apology,” he said, still watching our hands, before lifting his head and looking straight into my eyes, with such intensity I couldn’t breathe properly.
“OK,” I fumbled, “for what?”
He smiled. “For placing your entire species’ ignorance and terrible conservation efforts on your shoulders.”
“Oh that.” I grinned back at him. “Yeah, you do, but that’s OK, I forgive you.”
He beamed. “There are some Oceanids I think you will very much enjoy meeting,” he said, before beginning to lead me across the cavern.
“I have someone I’d like you to meet too,” I told him, enjoying the surprise that flashed across his face. He indicated that I should show him the way.
Maya was chatting animatedly to a group of what I assumed could only be Miengu – the Oceanids Merrick had warned me about. They were enormous, their bodies rippling with muscle, their stance dangerously alert as they shifted their weight from foot to foot listening to Maya.
Merrick hissed under his breath as we drew closer, pulling me slightly behind him.
They’d had their backs to him and Maya rattled off a phrase I didn’t understand, while extending her hand to me, palm up.
They turned uniformly aggressive, looking as if they were ready to spring at any moment.
“And here she is,” Maya told them, taking my hand and pulling me away from Merrick to come and stand beside her within the semi-circle they’d made, blocking Merrick from following them.
“Maya tells us you intensified her healing talent,” the tallest one growled at me.
I nodded mutely, trying not to allow the instinctive fear that had my heart racing to show in my face.
The Miengu who had spoken to me grinned viciously.
“Does this work across all of our talents?” another asked.
“I don’t know,” I told them, pulling myself up and faking confidence.
“Oh I’m sure it does,” Maya piped up, seemingly oblivious to the threat they posed, so tangible to me I could almost taste it. “And can you imagine how amazing it’s going to be when we combine my healing with, say, Merrick’s heightened senses? We’ll have a group of Oceanids with the best sight, the best hearing, the best sense of smell and touch… I mean we could not only restore the pod’s health, she –” she placed an arm around me and pulled me into her side affectionately “– could probably help the sick be even stronger than they were before they got sick.”
The light that her statement sparked in their eyes made every hair on my body stand on end. The menace they exuded smelt of metal and dark decay, its cloying fragrance sticking in the back of my throat.
Chapter 27
Digging
Merrick darted into the group and took my hand, bobbing to the Miengu and Maya while rattling off some apologetic phrases in their language.
“Just walk,” he whispered to me as he guided me as quickly as possible to a secluded corner of the space.
“Tell me what happened,” he demanded.
I did, from the discovery I’d made with Maya, to the green wisps I’d seen on Sabrina to the smell and flavour I’d just experienced with the Miengu.
He listened carefully before pulling me into another lingering embrace. When he released me, his expression had softened a little although his eyes were still wary.
“I wish Maya wasn’t as completely trusting as she is,” he muttered.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She’s just given the greatest warriors of our species a lot of very interesting information to think about,” he replied.
“I’m not sure I understand.” I pulled him back so that he’d explain himself properly.
“The Miengu are convinced that the only way to save our species is to kill humans.” I nodded to show I was following. “The odds of winning such a war have always been stacked against them, until you came into the picture.”
“But I don’t want to kill any humans.”
He nodded. “At this point that is t
he greatest tactical advantage we have over them, because if you did join their side you would be able to transform them and the other violently oriented Oceanids into an incredible offensive weapon.”
“How?” I asked, purely out of curiosity because I knew I would never be part of something that would destroy my friends and family.
“Imagine a combination of brute strength, the ability to manipulate water, my sight and pin-point accurate hearing, venom, and a whole lot of other potentially lethal elements all combined together.”
“Humans wouldn’t stand a chance,” I whispered, horrified at the idea.
“Good thing you’re so intent on peace then.” He smiled at me lightening the mood and changing the subject. “There’s another talent I want you to master this evening.” He was grinning mischieviously.
I raised an eyebrow in question.
“Dancing with me.”
I pulled him up short. “We’ll be what?”
He laughed, continuing to lead me forward. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fantastic.”
I was about to start complaining when I was interrupted by a deep, musical voice.
“Good evening, Alexandra,” it said.
“Er…. Hi,” I muttered, feeling awkward as I stuck out my hand to the man and woman who had just joined us.
The owner of the voice smiled and, taking my hand, twisted it out of the handshake I’d intended and kissed my fingers instead. It was not the reaction I’d been expecting and I blushed.
The couple had the stance of royalty, their bodies poised and sophisticatedly draped in softly flowing clothing that seemed to almost come from within them.
I was surprised to see smiles on their beautiful faces as they watched my reaction to them.
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