Instead, I offered to split up to help speed things up. I figured with a little help from my special affinity for water, I’d be able to protect myself. Naturally, Adrian didn’t agree with my point of view.
Eventually there came the point when we hadn’t left any stone unturned and it was necessary to venture closer to shore. Fortunately, it was later in the day and most divers and tourists had headed home for dinner.
Then the weirdest thing happened. We’d gone only a few hundred yards toward the shoreline when my body tingled.
“Adrian, can you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“I dunno; it’s like a vibration.”
Pausing, he remained as still as possible as he stared off in the distance. Then returned his gaze to me. “I don’t feel anything.”
“Really? It’s almost like I’m being pulled that way,” I said pointing to the right.
“Like a magnet?”
“Um, maybe. It’s hard to explain.”
Up ahead there was another ridge, but I was unable to see the other side. I just had this feeling that we needed to find out what was there.
“I really think we should go toward the ridge.”
“Well you’re the one with the feeling, so I’m not going to object.”
And the feeling only got stronger the closer we moved, the temperature of the water seeming to heat up with each stroke.
The whole time we swam, Adrian’s eyes bore into me. Perhaps he was hopeful I’d have a grand revelation or something. It actually made me kind of nervous as I led him up the incline. As we approached the top, Adrian grabbed my arm. “Let me go first.”
I didn’t listen. The water was scorching. I brushed past him before he could stop me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“That’s incredible,” I gasped.
“What is?” Adrian asked, looking around.
“The waterfall.”
“What waterfall?! We’re underwater. How can there be a waterfall?”
“Right there, in front of us,” I responded, his horrible eyesight puzzling me.
He eyed me curiously. “Annabelle, I don’t see anything.”
“Really? You can’t see that?”
“No.”
Obviously getting frustrated, he turned back to look in the same direction as me.
“There are three of them.”
“Describe them for me?”
“There’s one far off to the left,” I said, pointing. “It trickles down, splashing over a few different sets of rocks. And then at the bottom it combines with the water from the waterfall in the middle. That one spills down into a crevice, where the water overflows then merges with the other waterfalls. There’s another one to the right, it looks just like the one to the far left; like a mirror image. You really can’t see it?”
He gave me a frustrated look, but ignored my question, asking his own. “You said there are three waterfalls that connect at the bottom?”
“Yeah, but then the water disappears.”
“What do you mean it disappears?”
“See that big rock at the bottom?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, the three waterfalls meet there and the water simply vanishes… like the water is going inside of it.”
“There’s just a constant stream of water flowing?”
“Yeah, it’s spilling out from those three different spots about halfway up that main rock formation. And it’s… oh my gosh,” I said, interrupting myself. “It’s like ‘the waterer.’ Arethusa! It’s a constant stream of water!”
“Annabelle! This is incredible. I bet you anything the chest is hidden there.”
Without saying another word, we darted off in unison to the three waterfalls. When we arrived at the base, we looked up to scour the huge rocks.
“Okay, so where does the water disappear into it?”
“Right here,” I said, swimming over and placing my hand on the spot.
In a split second, he was right next to me. With a curious look, he rubbed his hand over the area in which I indicated the water to disappear, not disrupting the flow of water at all. It just kept on streaming like his hand wasn’t even there.
“I wonder…” he said, and then rapped his knuckles on various spots of the rock.
“What is it?”
“It’s hollow.”
“Let’s find something to break the rock,” I suggested.
The only things useful I found were other rocks. I quickly grabbed a smaller one and passed it to Adrian.
Banging rock against rock didn’t seem to work. It left white marks on both of the rocks, but that was the extent of it.
“This might work,” he said, pulling the sword from his sheath.
He quickly took off his armor and wrapped it around the blade of his sword. Then, holding onto the protected blade, he banged the hilt of his sword into the rock.
It made a loud noise, and I quickly scanned for any signs of Trackers or humans.
It also left more than just a white mark. The metal from his sword appeared to be denser than the thin layer of the rock, and a crack formed. With each new strike, it widened.
While he pounded away, I went in search of glowing coral. In no time at all, he’d created a hole big enough for us to crawl into and I had fastened a “torch” to guide us inside.
Teamwork at its best.
“Here,” I said, handing him the coral.
With a smile, he grabbed it. “Ready?”
I nodded back.
Then, he dove into the rock, with me right behind.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Even with the coral, it took my eyes a minute to adjust.
Then, I saw it.
I couldn’t believe it.
We’d found it. We’d found the sunken chest.
“There’s something written on it,” I pointed out.
Quickly reading it, Adrian responded. “It must be the same thing that was on the tablet.”
“Why? What’s it say?”
He read it to himself a few more times; translating it into English, then read it aloud.
Her birth into a stream caused great pain for him.
She came to rest in the waters of the quail.
Here, only his distant child will recognize the “waterer”
And find what is hidden.
“And find what’s hidden,” I repeated. “It’s gotta be the coins.”
“Well why don’t you open it and find out?” he asked, a playful edge to his voice.
“Can you try first?”
“Um, sure, but why?”
“Just humor me.”
He pulled at the lid unsuccessfully, silently stopping. I was excited, nervous, and also in disbelief. Him watching me didn’t help.
The “her” was obviously Arethusa. We’d already established that she was turned into a stream and it left her son, Abas, devastated.
The next part we had figured out too. “Quail” really meant the town of Ortygia in Italy, and here we were.
We were a little off with the whole “descendant” thing. We thought it was about Abas, but in actuality, it was about me. I was the “distant child.”
To give Adrian credit, he did mention that I could be involved, but I had brushed the idea off.
Still, that was the part that left me in disbelief.
Adrian couldn’t feel that weird vibration that led us here. Only I could.
Adrian couldn’t see the waterfall. That was me again.
It was me who recognized the “the waterer.”
Could I be the “Second Alpha”?
I know I kept asking myself this. I was getting a little tired of it too.
At the first chest, this same question plagued my thoughts before I tried to open it, but in the heat of the moment I didn’t have time to let the thoughts play out fully in my mind.
This time, I did. There wasn’t anyone attacking us. It was just Adrian and me in this hole, barely big enough for the two
of us.
For days people had told me that I was the “Second Alpha.” For days I experienced these weird powers, but I had been denying it the whole time.
I didn’t want to be responsible for saving the sprites, and essentially mankind, from the Trackers.
I just wanted to go to UCLA and become a doctor one day. I wanted to go home to my family and Blake.
“Annabelle,” Adrian said softly, watching the emotions pass over my face. “It’s your turn to try and open it.”
“Adrian, I can’t be the ‘Second Alpha.’ I can’t be the only one who can lead the sprites to this ‘new beginning.’”
“All right, let’s just take it one step at a time,” he reassured me. “Just see if you can open the chest and then we’ll go from there. Okay?”
With a hesitant nod, I slowly lowered my fingers to the aged wood and brushed my fingers over the words that we’d decoded from the first chest, the decoy chest.
For the second time, I took a deep breath and shoved.
And for a second time, I heard a creak as the chest cracked open.
In a heartbeat, we both peered inside. Then, our heads snapped toward one another. I think we were both in shock.
There sitting in the chest was a dark blue bag. It looked to be made out of velvet, and it was cinched closed at the top by a drawstring.
Reaching inside, Adrian grabbed the bag and pulled it out.
I heard the unmistakably sound of coin hitting coin. I couldn’t believe we’d found them. After all we’d been through to get this far, this was one of the best sounds I’d ever heard.
Once he opened the bag, I faintly made out the dozens of coins inside.
Okay, I finally admitted it. I was the “Second Alpha.” I was now willing to accept that without me, Adrian and I wouldn’t have found the coins and the chest would’ve gone unopened.
“It’s hard to make out what’s on them,” Adrian said, bringing my attention back to the present. “It’s too dark even with the coral. Let’s get out of here.”
I gestured for Adrian to take the lead. I was anxious to get out of this small space as well.
This was a big mistake.
As soon as he was outside, I heard a loud commotion.
I knew what had happened without even having to look.
I shot out from the rock, ready to fight, but the sight of two mermen holding Adrian down froze me in place. A malevolent selkie alternated between biting at Adrian’s hands and ramming into his stomach with its head. Clearly, it was doing anything possible to make Adrian release the coins.
It worked.
With the bag of coins dangling from its mouth, the selkie had already begun to escape.
It all happened so fast. The whole time, my fear for Adrian left me paralyzed.
“Annabelle!” Adrian managed to scream. “Get the coins!”
Like before, his words jolted my body into action.
I had a split decision to make: help Adrian or help the sprites.
It was the hardest choice I’d ever made, but now that I knew I was the “Second Alpha,” it changed everything. My new title bound me.
By sending a current at the two mermen I made a quick attempt to help Adrian and then turned to follow the selkie. I prayed this would give Adrian at least a small chance to free himself.
The selkie had a good jump on me and shot through the water seamlessly. In my head, I screamed to go faster, to catch up. And just like that, I felt a current of water pushing me from behind.
I had always used my affinity for water as a defensive tool. It was a way to stop an attack or avoid a situation. This time, I used my power more offensively. I didn’t even know I could do that.
The selkie started off by cutting across the ocean, but as he neared the shore, he swam towards the surface
As I chased him, I continued to use the currents to propel myself faster, cutting down the distance between us.
He reached the surface first, diving in and out of the water to make his way to the shore.
I took a different approach and stayed underwater, using a combination of my currents and the waves to push me closer to land.
Finally, the waves threw me onto the beach, landing on my hands and knees. Going from breathing water to once again breathing air was an adjustment my body never experienced before. At first, my body didn’t know how to react and I clutched at my throat. Eyes closed, I allowed the cool wind against my skin and the faint sound of seagulls to calm my breathing.
Still on my hands and knees, I slowly raised my head to locate the escaping selkie. It was dark and the rising moon cast the only light, making it a challenge to see.
As my eyes landed on him, I watched as he pulled the sealskin down his body to reveal the silhouette of his human form.
Then, he turned his head toward me.
But wait.
No, no, no.
No, it couldn’t be.
My brow wrinkled as I pleaded with myself to be wrong.
The moonlight lit up a glimpse of the selkie’s face.
But it wasn’t just any face.
It was a face I recognized.
One I trusted.
Blake.
And then…
Darkness.
###
ANNABELLE’S STORY
Sprite
Kin
Fate
Fate (Annabelle’s Story Parting Words) is also sold as part of Furthermore: An Anthology — where all proceeds go to further more cancer research.
Learn more about Annabelle’s Story at www.LeighMichaelBooks.com.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
Sprite (Annabelle's Story Part One) Page 14