by K. K. Allen
Her eyes narrow as she brings her face close to mine. “You said it was a black snake?”
“A very big black snake.”
“Could it have been him?” She whispers the question but I think she’s already concluded that it isn’t. “Someone must be following you. Warning you.”
I sigh. “It definitely felt like a threat, but I don’t think it was Erebus. That would be rather anti-climactic, wouldn’t it? Besides, this snake was all black—Rose said Erebus had gold-rimmed scales and I didn’t see any gold.”
“Kat, I hate to say this but what about your friends? Could one of them be under the influence of Erebus?”
I shudder. The thought had crossed my mind. “But who? Trisha will be one of us and Brent got attacked.” I don’t even mention Alec and Ava because the thought is a ridiculous one to entertain. Ava is afraid of her own shadow and Alec is too kind to even be considered something so evil.
Arabella frowns. “Well, it could be someone else following you.” She shakes her head. “Let’s just keep it between us for now. Rose will completely freak out and never let you out of the house again if you tell her about this.”
I agree with her because I know she’s right.
“I know this probably isn’t the best time, but do you have a few minutes? I want to introduce you to someone.”
Interest gets the better of me and I agree.
“I’m going to take you to the dressing room”
We walk down a cement hallway until we approach a room filled with trinkets and vanity stations that are set up with makeup and jewelry of all shapes and colors. This is obviously the mermaid’s dressing room. In the center of the room is a large, brown, cloth couch, and a man sits in the middle. The man is big and burly with a gray beard. His discomfort shows as he shifts.
“The young Katrina Summer,” his booming voice practically blows the hair from my shoulders. His tone is commanding, and very powerful. I know who he is.
“King Isaac.” I say it with confidence.
Arabella pulls me closer so that I’m near his extended hand. His handshake feels rough, prune-like, and strong.
“I don’t usually come up for air,” he says with a smirk. “But I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to meet you.
I smile back at him, unable to peel my eyes away from his. It’s like he has me in a trance.
“You remind me so much of your mother.” His words strike me.
“You knew her? But how?” I don’t hide my curiosity.
“I did. I’m sorry to hear of her passing. I was actually quite fond of your mother.” He tilts his head. “You don’t know why, do you?”
“No,” I shake my head. Clearly, I have no idea what he’s talking about but blood courses the length of my veins. I know that whatever he’s about to tell me will be significant. Why else would he put in the effort to leave his sea home to meet me?
He sighs and shifts one more time. “Rose is the best at keeping secrets. She means well, but I don’t agree with her on this one. I think you need to know where you came from, and now that you’re standing in front of me, in my community, I’m going to tell you what I know.”
Something squeezes at my insides. “Tell me.” I take a breath. “Please.”
“I’m the one who found your mom when she was fifteen. Her body was lifeless, attached to a buoy in the middle of the Gulf. I thought she was dead. She was smart, your mom, managing to find that buoy and literally hang on to her life. When I took her to the beach, she was in bad shape but I knew Rose would be able to help her. Rose healed her and that’s when we recognized the pendant she wore around her neck.”
“Her heart pendant?” I ask, eagerly. Yet, another reminder of what I lost on the night of the wild bonfire.
His smile has a hint of tenderness. “You know of it then.”
“She gave it to me, but I lost it.” I look down, saddened by the loss more than he knows.
“You lost it?” His voice is incredulous? Angry even. “Kat, you must find it.”
I frown, panicked. “It’s at the bottom of the bay. At least that’s where I think it went. I haven’t been able to find it since the Fourth of July.” No need to elaborate. Arabella knows about the incident so I’m sure he does too.
He looks as if he’s been stabbed. “Kat, that pendant is the only protection you have against the Equinox. Your body is vulnerable to the Equinox’s powers. You need to get it back.”
I frown. “Aren’t we all?” I understand his urgency but what I don’t understand is why my mom would have ever acquired anything that had to do with the Equinox.
“Wait. Why did my mom have that pendant in the first place? Why did she need protection? My mom didn’t even know about any of this back then,” I continue. “She wouldn’t need protection from some pendant.”
Isaac looks to have calmed down slightly. “It has an engraving on the outside.”
I really never looked at it that closely. “I never noticed it.”
“It has one,” Isaac’s eyes gloss over, appearing to be lost in a trance, bound by his memories of my mother. “I remember it as if am looking at it now. She had it because it was given to her to protect her from the Equinox, and that’s why she passed it down to you.”
There’s a silence as I try to process what he’s telling me now. He’s got to be mistaken.
“Kat,” his words slice through my thoughts. “The Equinox’s host has transcended centuries, possessing the lives of other Equinox’s—”
“Exactly,” I interrupt him now. “My mom wasn’t an Equinox. She had nothing to do with any of this. When she learned what my dad was, she freaked out and took me away.”
Isaac is silent for a moment and I hope he understands now why he’s wrong. The look he gives me tells me there’s something more. I need to let him finish. I’m shaking now—I don’t think I want him to finish.
“Your mom wore the pendant to protect herself from Erebus…” He stares at me, waiting for it to click.
I shake my head slowly. “But my mom—”
From the look in his eyes, Isaac knows that what he’s saying is painful. “Yes Kat, your mom was an Equinox.”
There’s a weight on my chest so heavy, it’s like someone is pressing into me with all of their might, squeezing the air from my lungs. I’m too numb to do anything about it. None of this can be true.
“There’s no way,” I say breathlessly.
He nods. “Yes, Kat. She was stripped of her memories and her magic before I found her. Whoever left her in the bay meant for her to die there, but I rescued her and Rose cared for her.”
“But who would just leave her there like that—to die?”
Isaac shrugs. “I don’t know who stripped her powers or who left her for dead. Rose and I searched for answers for years, but to no avail. All we know is that it’s a miracle she survived—and that you were born. What’s more a mystery is why Grace knew to wear that pendant always—and she knew to give it to you before she died. So even though she lost her memories there was magic in that pendant that found its way to you. It belongs to you.”
I stand here for a few seconds. Shock soaking me fully, internally, externally, and I feel as if I’m drowning all over again.
“So Rose knew? That my mom was—”
“She’s going to kill me, but yes, she knew. She and I were the only ones who knew. Rose raised her as her own. She loved Grace. The fact that she used to be an Equinox never seemed to matter, but when your parents married and the Solstice secret was revealed, your mom acted like she was terrified of something—but she never revealed what it was. Rose and I have theories that by her marrying into the secret, it broke her memory spell and she began to remember things about her past. Maybe that’s why she took you away, but we don’t know that for certain.”
There’s so much more to discuss but we are distracted by the ringing of my cell phone.
“Kat.” It’s Rose on the other end. I almost swallow my heartbeat. She knows where
I am. I worry only for a second before I notice her voice is filled with panic. “You need to get home now. There’s been a murder.”
Chapter Seven
Back at Summer Estates, the outside lights are on, which is not unusual for this time of night. It’s just approaching ten o’clock and there’s something eerie about the scene before me. There are cars parked all over our driveway and down the street. I tense, knowing that whatever occurred has affected the entire Solstice community. I know that Alec’s parents are inside but I say nothing of it as he drops me off.
I thank him for the ride and walk, half run to the house. I tell no one about the mysterious phone call from Rose. The park closed after dark anyway, so I didn’t have to rush everyone out of there immediately, but for the entire ride home, I was silenced by my thoughts. As much as I wanted to text Charlotte and ask her what happened, I knew that it would be better to wait. I wasn’t sure how I would react to whatever the news was with my friends around me.
The foyer is brightly lit by the chandelier above. Voices are heard in the Great Room, but I can tell that there are multiple conversations going on, and someone is crying loud, muffled, sobs. My heart leaps into my throat and my stomach is in knots. I don’t know what happened but tears are already springing to my eyes.
Around the corner Charlotte greets me in a strong embrace. Over her shoulder I see Darla French sobbing into her hands. Enchanters flank her on each side. I clutch Charlotte’s shoulders and look around desperately for Darryl.
“No.” It’s all I say before the tears really start pouring from my eyes. No. “What happened?” It’s a question I really don’t want to know. I’m scared of the truth—the truth of how an Elder was murdered.
Rose joins us then and wraps her arms around me too. Her fragile frame is light against me, but her grip is strong.
Her voice comes out hushed but heavy with emotion. “Darryl was locking up the meeting house tonight and he was attacked. Security found him face down in the fountain. The way he was laying there—it appears that someone forced him under.”
The words clutch me and my tears fall faster. Who would do such an awful thing? The image of Darryl’s violent death is too much to bear.
“Why?” I ask. I don’t want to be part of this life if the result is murder. How can there be something so evil out there, hurting innocent people?
“We can only guess he was vulnerable because he was alone. We think it may have been another warning. This isn’t how the Equinox usually does things, but maybe he’s grown more frustrated over time. We just don’t know.”
Rose is telling me this calmly but I hear her voice shake. She’s not devoid of emotion. She’s very much upset about current events.
I hold on to her tightly. “Rose. I went to see Arabella and her sisters today.”
She doesn’t break hold, doesn’t lose her cool. “I know,” she says, and she doesn’t sound mad. “Isaac called me to find out why you ran out of there, and he told me about your conversation. I think he was worried that you were upset by what he told you. I’m glad you know.”
“I am upset by what he told me.” I pull away, tears tracking down my face.
“You have every right to be. I was trying to find a way to tell you—but you have to understand, Grace was my daughter, I never saw her as evil. I can’t even talk about her as if she’s connected to any of that. I don’t know how I would have found the words. I am glad you know now, and I’m glad you met Isaac. He’s the reason you exist today.”
I wipe the tears. I have so many questions but right now they just don’t seem as important as finding out who did something so terrible. Rose ushers us into the Great Room. Charlotte and I stand behind the couch as Rose grabs everyone’s attention. She’s gentle, knowing that people are here to mourn the death of Darryl.
Even Darla manages to quiet her sobs in this moment, but her sadness looms over the room like a dark cloud.
“Friends. Tonight we mourn the loss of an Elder. A wonderful husband to our dear Darla, and a brave, kind gentleman who sought to give back to our community in every way that he could. Tonight, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he saw a tragic death, that was marked as an act of the Equinox.”
Rose allows a few moments of silence before speaking again. “Just as they did a decade ago, the Equinox has branded their symbol into the scene to let us know that it was them.”
“Them?” Someone asks. My question is the same.
Rose frowns. “Yes. Erebus doesn’t travel alone. He’s too much of a coward. He forms groups where he travels, and he teaches them to travel, hunt, and kill. Erebus hides behind his Followers – so that they do his bidding but if they get caught or killed in the process he can just walk away. He cares for no one.”
“But why come after us now? After a decade of silence?” A man named Gregory is the one to speak this time.
Rose glances at me and my chest tightens, but she plays it off by sweeping her eyes around the room. “The god of darkness is just a lonely soul who has been trapped on Earth for centuries by his own magic. His mission is, and has always been, to kill off Enchanters. It’s how he thrives. Perhaps there are more of us now and that’s why he’s back.”
“Wait,” I say aloud as another thought comes to me. “How can this be an act of the Equinox?” I shake my head. Something isn’t right. “Summer Island is protected, remember? The Equinox’s evil is dead on the Island.”
This must have already played on everyone’s mind, and most likely it was already discussed it because no one reacts.
Rose frowns, deeply. “That is the big question today. It’s clear that whatever magic kept the Equinox out before, no longer exists. We need to find out why and fix it. My fear is that once George passed away, so did his magic. He was the one that created the protection spell, and he’s the one who watched over the island. I don’t know why I never thought about it before.”
“How can we find out?” asks another member. She’s an Elder I recognize her as Marcia. She sits to the right of Darla and squeezes her hand.
“I have Tori running tests at the Island right now. She’s with Detectives Xavier and Daniel; they’re investigating the murder so they can report to the Normals. Obviously the Normals will never know what really happened tonight, but that is for their protection.” Rose looks around the room, checking to see that we’re all still paying attention.
Tori, Xavier, and Daniel are detectives at the Apollo Beach PD. They wear their uniforms everywhere they go so it would have been impossible for me to miss them. They rarely smile and when they greet people, it’s always with a curt nod. Rose once explained that their formality is for our safety; to protect our secret. They do their jobs just as any other Normal does, but they are on the inside of things so that they can control information released to the Normals. They take their roles in the community very seriously.
“Elders are not to be at the Island unaccompanied. You are safer to travel in groups, especially at night.” Rose is stern now, looking around at all of us, laying down the law. “Tori will be able to tell how many Equinox’s were there tonight, and she will see if the Island is still protected.”
Everyone chatters heatedly amongst themselves for a few minutes. I stay quiet, thinking about it all.
How could the island suddenly lose its power of protection? How long has the power been lost? Something is very, very wrong here.
“Everyone should return to their own homes,” Rose says as she stands. “We’ll meet again in a couple of days when we have more information. We must take tonight’s events as a warning. I believe there is something much bigger coming, and we need to be ready for it.”
* * *
The crowd disperses and I’m left sitting beside Charlotte on the couch. Rose is across from us sipping her tea. I take a sip of tea myself. I’ve never really liked the stuff but Rose’s obsession with it has rubbed off on me. The hot liquid passing my lips and down my throat feels oddly nice. Its lavender flavor
has a calming effect too.
“So, Isaac told you about your mother.” This is how Rose starts our conversation. Blunt and to the point. I don’t mind.
“He found her—you healed her and took her in. You can tell me the rest now.” My desolate eyes reach Rose, begging her to tell me whatever left there is to tell me. Rose looks as if she’s about to cry now. I can’t imagine what secret could be so awful.
In the longest silence of the night Rose stares back at me blankly. “You are an unusual descendant, Katrina. Your blood comes from the direct line of Astina Somer. That is where you get your power, but there is another part of you—the part of you that comes from your mother.”
My blood runs colds as Rose continues.
“After we took your mother in, I did what I do for all people who come to me. I wanted to help her find her family so that she could regain her memory. I thought there would be people out there missing her. After all, she was a young girl.” I see tears in Rose’s eyes now. I shiver.
“The only possession your mom carried with her from wherever she came from was that pendant. She wasn’t wearing it when we rescued her though. She was holding it tightly in her fist. I recognized it immediately as an Equinox symbol. I could never forget that horrific representation of the infinity serpent.”
I wait. Just come out with it Rose.
“But there was something about this particular use of the symbol that caught my eye. The fact that it was branded to a heart pendant told me that it was something different than anything I’d seen before. Remember, the Equinox was not created to choose evil. It was the God of Darkness, Erebus that led his people into his own darkness. He ruled the Equinox community and threatened to destroy all those that refused to enter his dark world. The pendant, the one your mom carried, proves to be the only protection an Equinox has against Erebus, or the Serpent, as some call him. If he finds something to gain from it, he will possess any Equinox with whom he comes into contact.”