“For you, a reminder of the covenant. Now, for the exchange.” Eudora said expectantly.
Her eyes grew round and the purple irises receded until nothing was left but pitch black holes. Her long hair whipped around her face like a mane of vipers.
I shrank away from her, clutching the stone in my palm.
The scylla snapped and flexed their wings in anticipation and the murmurs of their thoughts bombarded my senses.
Join us join us join us join us join us join us
Only then did it occur to me that the scylla did not intend for me to actually join them but for my power to be passed into their hands, becoming part of them. It was not me that would join them, only the part that made me special.
As I stumbled backwards away from Eudora, she flew closer, closing the short distance between us. Her long fingers reached out for me as if to grab me by both arms. Just as the tips of her fingers brushed my shoulders, a burst of light filled the room.
For a moment, the only thing I could see was fire. Bright orange, hungry flames leapt across the room in every direction accompanied by insane shrieks and furious hissing from the nereids.
When I finally gained focus on the scenery around me I found that Eudora had vanished and the eager audience of nereids and scylla had transformed into a chaotic mob. The creatures swirled around the forum like uncoordinated bats smashing into walls and colliding with each other as they fled toward the many exit tunnels lining the room. In the midst of the chaos, I dropped to the ground and scurried along the floor to the place where my mother sat huddled against a wall staring wide-eyed at the confusion above.
Balls of fire seemed to erupt out of nowhere and flew menacingly toward the frantic clusters of nereids flapping around the room. Flames splashed onto the walls of the forum and raced toward the ceiling, crashed to the ground and exploded into the air like fiery geysers. Smoke and heat filled the room. I pressed myself into the wall and protectively wound my arm around mother’s arm.
Through the haze I saw Eudora hovering high in the air, nearly touching the ceiling. Her face was contorted in an expression of fury as she stared toward one of the tunnels. I followed her gaze. There, framed by the blackness of the tunnel’s depth, stood Ren. His arms were extended at his sides and in his hands he balanced two enormous balls of fire. He was searching the room, no doubt having lost track of me as soon as the mob took flight. But as soon as I set eyes on him, his gaze quickly found me.
“Eliza!”
I heard his voice in my head as clearly as if he’d uttered it into my ear.
“Oh no! What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.” The words were just a thought but somehow, I knew he’d hear me.
“Eliza, what she told you about your mother isn’t true. I’ve come to get you out of here!” He responded and with a determined look, launched one of the balls of fire directly toward Eudora.
Eudora’s shriek could be distinctly heard above the din.
Ren dashed across the room toward the place where I stood against the wall.
“We won’t be able to leave without her permission. She’s too strong.” I said fearfully as he crossed the space toward me.
“That’s just this place making you doubt yourself. She lied to you. She sapped your mother dry of her given power and now she’s trying to trick you into giving yours to her too. Cora foresaw the trap Eudora set for you and helped me get here. Eudora’s magic is strong but not strong enough to keep us here.” He said finally reaching me.
It appeared that the angry nereids were gathering their wits. They began to swirl in a smooth school around Eudora and the cacophony of their disgruntled thoughts was getting louder.
I reached out to touch Ren. “Thank you.” I thought, my heart nearly breaking with gratitude.
A relieved grin spread across his face.
“We didn’t know if I’d be too late.” He said, this time his voice flowed from his mouth and sounded like music to my ears.
I launched myself into his arms and fiercely hugged him.
“Alright, let’s go!” He said pulling away from me and grasping my hand.
“Wait!” I shouted as he tugged me away from the wall.
“Mother!” I glanced back at her crouched form.
I ran back to the wall and pulled her to her feet.
“Come on. I’m taking you home.” I said as I pulled her to the place where Ren waited for us.
We ran full speed toward the tunnel opening where he’d entered. But within inches of slipping through the portal a dark figure passed over our heads and dropped before us, blocking our escape.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. Eliza, won’t you kindly introduce me to this intruder?” Eudora asked. Her wings spread wide behind her completely blocking the large tunnel. Her lips tweaked in a menacing smile.
“You must be quite the wizard to slip undetected past my dear scylla.” She cooed at Ren.
“Your tricks aren’t going to work on me Eudora. Step aside. We both know you have no authority to keep us here and there are powerful witches on the other side expecting our safe return. That is, unless you’re interested in instigating a war.” Ren threatened.
Eudora tapped her talons against each other creating a sound like clinking glass. Her large eyes had transformed from black to eerie purple and she shifted her gaze around the room.
“Why of course, you are free to leave, intruder. But you see, Eliza and I have made a bargain and until she’s provided payment, she’ll have to stay.” She hissed and leered at me.
“Oh really? I happen to know that Nia’s already paid her debt and you’ve kept her here without cause for longer than the ancient laws of conduct would condone. Let’s stop this rouse, Eudora. Eliza owes you nothing.” Ren said evenly.
Anger flared in Eudora’s eyes and her lips drew together suggesting she might spit nails. Then her expression smoothed to one of cool calculation.
“Maybe you are unaware of the fact that Nia came to Merepen Hallow of her own volition. She has always been free to leave but hasn’t, you see. I believe she likes it here.” She said innocently gesturing toward Nia with a malicious laugh. “Intruder, I believe there is something you are not being honest about.” Eudora continued coyly.
Ren tried to maintain a confident face but I sensed him tense up at Eudora’s challenge.
“It’s true. I may be testing the strength of the ancient laws but, you see, I don’t believe laws are worth much if there is no one to enforce them.” She said. “And if you three little witches never return there isn’t a thing your kind can do about it, particularly after I claim Eliza’s powers.” She sneered and lunged toward me.
I leapt out of the way and as Eudora flew after me Ren sprang into action.
“Eliza! Drop! Now!” He thought.
I did as he suggested and felt the searing ball of fire sail over my head and crash into Eudora’s back. She screeched and wailed flapping and falling to the ground. While she was injured, Ren hurled another enormous fireball at her and she smashed against the wall.
“Let’s go!” He shouted.
He pulled my mother to her feet and tugged her toward the opening of the tunnel as I dashed to meet them. Instead of chasing after us, the sentries whirled distressingly around Eudora.
“Quickly before they notice!” Ren said in a harsh whisper.
“I hope you remember the way out.” I said as we dashed down the long tunnel away from Eudora’s forum.
“Me too.” He said as he studied the roundabout of tunnels we were rapidly approaching.
“This way.” He said quietly turning off into a smaller, narrower tunnel.
My mother and I jogged after Ren in silence and with each change in direction, my anxiety mounted. One wrong turn could result in permanent imprisonment in Merepen Hallow. At last, I heard the sound of dripping water in the distance and within moments we stepped out of the tunnels into the cavern with the dark pool that would lead us toward home.
I sudde
nly remembered that while Ren and I had come to Merepen Hallow as Shadows, my mother was fully human. Could she make the journey through the water without the nereid’s help or would she drown? The wings of panic returned and beat against my chest.
Out of the shadows of the cavern came a familiar voice.
“She’ll never make it to your world.” The voice said mockingly.
Mizell emerged from the shadows with a satisfied smirk on her face. I shot a panicked glance at Ren who met my gaze with an equally worried expression.
“That is the beauty of Nia’s condition. Fully human and fully ours.” Mizell taunted.
“What can we do?” I thought.
“We’ll just have to… try.” Ren thought haltingly but I sensed the doubt in his mind.
“Complete the covenant, Eliza. It is your only choice.” Mizell said with exasperation as if she was bored by the conflict I’d already caused. “Or Nia will die alone.” She snapped, glaring at me.
“Ren…” I said apologetically.
He glanced between me and the dark pool, desperately struggling to come up with a solution. The sound of beating wings began to pour through the tunnels surrounding the cavern. Once the swarm arrived, our decision would be made for us.
“Ren you have to go or they’ll trap you here too!” I thought frantically.
Then with a tender gaze. “It’s my fight? Remember? Please go.” My heart broke.
We stood at the edge of the passage that would lead to freedom, a freedom I hadn’t yet earned. The whir of the scylla’s wings grew louder pounding through the tunnels.
I looked back at my mother and surprisingly she was staring intently at me as if she’d been paying attention to our dilemma all along. There was a new lucidity in her gaze and for the first time I saw her, really saw my mother behind those eyes. And her eyes said, “Go!”
Before I realized what was happening, she lurched forward and shoved me into the water. Shocked by the cold and disorienting darkness I flailed about trying to reach the surface but the sucking current that had brought me to Merepen Hallow apparently worked the same way when exiting. Despite my frantic kicking in the direction I believed was up, a force like a powerful undertow tugged me in the opposite direction.
“Eliza!” I heard Ren’s thoughts close to me.
“I’m here!” I thought, hoping he could hear me.
There was a blaze in the distance moving with the same current that pulled me through the water and I tried my best to move toward it.
“I see you.” I thought.
“I feel you.” He thought and the blaze moved closer to my side.
Before I could see his face, I felt his hand fumble in the darkness and find mine. The strange whirling fireball went out as soon as we touched.
“Mother.” I thought, my heart plummeting in despair.
“I’m so sorry, Eliza. We’ll find a way to get her back. I promise.” He thought.
“She saved me.” I thought with misery and amazement.
Then I felt something strange in my shoulder like a bee sting. The water was still too dark to see even my own arm so I felt the sore spot with my fingers. There were three slashes along the length of my arm and something sharp was lodged in one of them. Panic flooded my belly as I remembered Eudora lunging toward me. My injured arm began to tingle. I could still feel the pressure of Ren’s fingers twined with mine but no longer felt the heat of his touch.
“Ren, something’s wrong.”
The tingling dulled and numbness began to spread down my arm. My heart pounded with alarm as the deadened sensation crept over my shoulder. There was a dim light in the distance that brightened the water from bluish black to dark green. Through the murk, I watched Ren’s hand frantically scrabble at my limp fingers.
“Eliza, the current is getting stronger please, PLEASE try to hold on to me!” His thoughts pressed into my mind, the tone of panic coming through as if he was shouting.
But the paralyzing numbness crawled up my neck and made me feel very cold and drowsy. I gazed at Ren through the silty haze. The current was pulling us toward a light in the distance but he seemed to be moving faster than me. I watched him drift further and further ahead of me, as he struggled to hold on to my hand with both of his.
“I’m can’t hold on.” I thought listlessly.
“You’re slipping away from me!” He thought with panic.
If I could have cried, hot tears would have seeped from my eyes sending swirling salty droplets into the foggy fresh water around my face. Ren’s Shadow was strong, and mine was damaged by Eudora’s poison. He was going home but I was not.
“Ren, you have to go. You don’t have a choice. It’s going to happen. Let me go.” I sent the message out across the watery distance between us as I watched Ren’s fingertips slip away into the abyss.
“NO, NO, NO!!!” He thought as his Shadow was sucked into the vortex to join his body. And then he was gone.
As soon as Ren disappeared, the current slowed and finally dissipated. I floated alone, not up or down, just around in the stagnant murky depths, the purgatory between the realm of the nereids and the place where my inert body would wait until it realized my Shadow would never return. The deadened sensation continued to creep across my body.
So this is how it ends, I thought. And I’ve accomplished nothing. The stark truth of my situation was crushing and I envisioned my heart shattering in a million pieces, the shards dispersing in the water like flotsam floating away from my rapidly disintegrating Shadow. The grief that pounded in my head ebbed as the deadened feeling crawled from my neck to the top of my skull. The ache in my heart faded as numbness encased the place where my heart should reside. I felt sleepy and weak and stopped putting effort into focusing my gaze because there was nothing to look at or look for. The light far in the distance grew dim.
Thump. Whoosh!
Suddenly my Shadow was shaking and vibrating. A torrent of bubbles whirled around me. I couldn’t identify an exact touch but realized that something was propelling me rapidly through the water. The weight of the water rushed around my frame pressing harder and harder against the surface of my Shadow.
I spun and tumbled in the water until I felt something wrap tightly around my arm. It was pulling me. At first, I panicked thinking the scylla must have found me but then I realized that it was certainly not a slippery tentacle that held me. It was a human hand. Could it be?
The light of the vortex in the distance grew stronger and the tint of the water around me changed from a dark, murky green to light jade. I searched the gloom for the figure that held me in the distance but all I could see was a blur of brown and black surrounded by a torrent of bubbles. The current around us picked up pulling us toward the light. We were going home.
26
A bird chirped softly in the distance and was answered by another followed by the soft flutter of wings as they flew away together. I rolled to my side and sank into a downy pillow. My eyes slid halfway open. A pale blue, predawn light seeped through an open window and a cool morning breezed toyed with a pair of heavy white curtains. I pulled the blanket bunched around my hips up toward my shoulders and stared drowsily at the ceiling. I was back in Cora’s house.
My heavy eyelids fell again as surreal images from the night before scrolled through my mind. Had I really gone to Merepen Hallow or was it all a dream? With the sun rising behind the oak trees and the sweet morning song of birds streaming through the window it was hard to believe the nightmare I’d escaped. That is, until I felt something hard pressing into my palm. I loosened my fingers and felt the object roll in my hand. My fingertips kneaded it rapidly until there was no mistaking its identity.
A winsome pang of defeat pressed against my heart… Mother… I’d failed her. I rolled again to my side and squeezed my arms around my chest pressing against the pain in my heart. I thought of my mother’s face and her touch as she pushed me into the water, sealing her own fate and safeguarding mine. The tears I couldn’t cry t
he night before filled my eyes and spilled onto the pillow beneath my cheek. I let out a soft sob.
I was interrupted by the sound of someone sighing followed by a series of rustling noises. My ears pricked with surprise. I wasn’t alone. I quietly rolled to my back and sat up to inspect the dim interior of the room. It was only then that I realized I was not in the same room I’d slept in before. This room had two twin beds. I was sleeping in the one closest to the window and someone rested in the other.
A strong breeze blew the curtains apart, permitting the first rays of morning sun to fall across the face resting on the pillow of the other bed. A hot ball rose from my chest to my throat. I blinked against the new crop of tears brewing in the corners of my eyes unable to believe the sight before me.
My mother’s dark eyelashes fanned across her olive cheeks. Her hair, a smooth river of black spread over the pillow and draped off the edge of the bed. She mumbled incoherently and sighed, tossing restlessly from side to side then fell silent, sleeping once again in peace.
How did she escape? Could Eudora have let her go? I shook my head, doubting that was the case. But if Eudora hadn’t seen her home, how did she make it to the vortex? I inspected mother’s resting face and wondered.
The door cracked and my eyes darted toward the disturbance. Cora’s dark frame showed through the sliver between the door and the jam. I quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the door grabbing a plush white robe that hung from a hook on the back of it on my way out. We crept down the hallway making our way to the kitchen. The warm sticky scent of pecan rolls wafted toward us growing stronger with every step. By the time we reached the kitchen, my mouth was watering.
“Coffee?” Cora asked softly.
I nodded slowly still in shock by my discovery.
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