by Kristen Day
It split the wood of the target exactly in the middle and I wasted no time in stepping forward to the next target. An intoxicating rhythm I didn't know existed infiltrated my entire body as I stepped, aimed, and hit the mark again and again. In less than a minute, I made it to the tenth and smallest target. Fueled by instinct, I aimed and shot, splitting the small piece of wood in half. A moment of complete silence filled the Arena as I let out a breath.
"Huh," I marveled with a bewildered grin. The next moment a roar erupted amongst the Tydes who witnessed my display. The fellow archers rushed up to me with amazement and a million questions. I glanced back at Blythe, who was still watching me from several yards away. An appreciative sideways grin found its way to her mouth and she raised her eyebrows in approval.
I felt Stasia's cooling essence wash over me as she all but appeared out of nowhere. The participants scattered at her command, but her eyes were gazing up to the castle.
"Amphitrite's here," she informed me; eyes still glued to the castle. "She needs to talk to us."
"She is?" I searched the area she observed, seeing no one. She had already begun to walk back to a side exit, so I grabbed my things and followed her, leaving the archers to watch my back in disbelief.
"Did you see that?" I called out to Stasia. "I had no idea I could do that!"
"Show off." Two strong arms gripped my waist and lifted me into the air, spinning me around. I tried unsuccessfully to fight him off, ultimately settling for trying to bite his bicep playfully. He finally set me back onto my feet as Stasia glanced back at us with worry adding a distinct heaviness to her expression. We followed her in silence across one of the bridges and up the beach towards the stairs.
As we reached the castle veranda overlooking the lagoon, Amphitrite made her way out of a glass door with an obvious panic etching deep lines into her beautiful features. She appeared thinner and seemed to be hunched over in pain. She winced and held her stomach, but brushed it off when she saw us. She immediately embraced Stasia and set to inspecting her traces, her eyes - before moving on methodically to me.
"How many times have you felt it?" she questioned us with knowing eyes.
"Twice," Stasia answered simply. Her answer appeared to meet some kind of expectation as Amphitrite's frown deepened and she swallowed thickly. She was about to turn away when her wise eyes became trained on my new arm decoration. I watched in horror as her face paled and she sucked in a breath; placing a shaking hand over her mouth.
"It cannot be true," she mumbled to herself in Greek as she swept us inside the castle amidst a cloud of urgency. We followed her up a master staircase and around a short banister before arriving in a spacious bedroom where Finn was gently lowering a limp body onto the bed.
"Psamanthe?" Stasia hurried to the woman's bedside and squeezed her hand. "What happened?" I heard a sob behind me as Phoebe pushed her way past me and onto the other side of the Nereid she was descended from. I'd never seen Psamanthe up close, but I knew from pictures that she was supposed to be as bronze as a sunset with rich, auburn hair and warm, caramel eyes. She was said to encompass the sand of every beach in the world; radiant with exuberance and zeal. Yet the Nereid lying before us was anything but radiant.
Her ashen skin pulled at her bones and punctuated the black circles hanging beneath her stale eyes and sunken cheeks. Her once shining hair lay limply on a pillow, dull and lifeless. She slowly diverted her tired gaze to address Phoebe.
"Shhh..." She rubbed Phoebe's arm lovingly. "I'll be alright. It's going to be alright."
"What's wrong with her?" Phoebe screeched at Amphitrite and then to Avery. "Somebody needs to help her. She needs to be healed!"
"That's why I'm here, my child," Psamanthe soothed her fears softly. "They are taking care of me now." With an unspoken agreement, Carmen nodded at Amphitrite and led Phoebe out of the room. Psamanthe rested her head back on the pillow with exhaustion and it was then that I noticed her labored breathing. I had a feeling her optimistic words were for Phoebe's benefit only. She didn't actually believe them herself.
"We're beginning to die," she disclosed to Stasia with a grave tone.
"Impossible." Stasia focused on Amphitrite. "I don't understand."
"In the last twelve hours, we've all begun to lose our abilities, our energy, our essence. I was able to make it here," Psamanthe explained with sorrow, "but the others may not be so fortunate. I fear for them, Anastasia."
"But why?" Stasia asked desperately. "Why is this happening?"
Amphitrite gently clutched my arm and led me to the foot of the bed. She gestured toward the symbol on my arm as if it was supposed to give some kind of answer. Psamanthe closed her eyes as tears were shed from her weak eyes, but the rest of us could only wait impatiently for an explanation.
"I believe Selene has given you that exact answer, my dear," Amphitrite interpreted.
"But we looked! We haven't been able to figure out what the symbol stands for." Phoebe reappeared behind Carmen in the doorway, her face streaked with tears.
"It's a warning. A threat. A promise." Amphitrite looked closer at the symbol. "And I believe she is attempting to lure you in, Anastasia."
"But what does it mean?" I pressed. Amphitrite and Psamanthe exchanged glances and I couldn't figure out what the big secret was. My frustration flared. "We're Stasia's Council, and this thing has been burned into my skin. We deserve to know."
"The ocean...lives," Amphitrite began. "She sings. She breathes life into us. She keeps the Nereids...immortal."
"I've heard her song before," whispered Stasia with a hint of nostalgia.
"Those worthy always do." Amphitrite smiled at her with equal amounts of approval and sadness. "But she is being attacked."
"Attacked?" I asked incredulously. "How do you attack an entire ocean?"
"The crux," Finn determined with wide blue eyes, and the look of disbelief on his face did nothing to ease my worries. "I always assumed it was just metaphorical."
"It is very much real, Finn," Amphitrite confirmed wearily. "Though extremely secret, and for this very reason. How Selene could not only find it, but access it as well, is mystifying. And quite worrisome."
I felt Sebastian move into the room behind me and place his strong hands on my shoulders. I leaned into him and allowed his warmth to flow through me; strengthening me.
"But what is it exactly?" I imagined a storm the size of Antarctica circling our world under the guise of a hurricane. I couldn't figure out what else the symbol on my arm would be.
"The crux of the ocean," Psamanthe continued from the bed, "is the very life force of the ocean. It is a powerful force that cleanses and provides essence to all of the Nereids, the true Daughters of the Sea. "
"It is said to be a whirlpool," Amphitrite gestured to my brand, "resting within a ring of earth; an island, of sorts. But that's only what it looks like from the surface. Below the surface it resembles something of an hour glass. Its center is a place where the past meets the future, where death and creation are forever joined as one, and a point where time itself stands still. Only Nereids have access. At our very basic level, we are the sea. And it, us."
A whirlpool was infinitely more frightening than a hurricane. But it did explain the symbol.
"And if the ocean's essence is compromised, our very existence is as well," Psamanthe admitted; eyes closed in pain.
"But Olivia isn't a Nereid," Carmen so eloquently pointed out. I thought I heard a glimpse of jealousy in her tone. "And she can feel it. That doesn't make sense."
"For all intents and purposes, Anastasia isn't either, dear. Not in the traditional sense. But they are a rare few who were Chosen and have fulfilled their Nereid essence, which makes them immortal...as well as our equals."
And here I thought becoming immortal was going to be a good thing. Ironically, it could be the very thing that killed me. Destiny really was a bitch.
Our conversation was interrupted by a small woman who entered the room with a silver
chalice. Finn stepped forward once more as Psamanthe fought to sit up. He held her upright as she attempted to hold the chalice, but to no avail. The maid carefully poured some of the liquid into Psamanthe's mouth for her and it suddenly dawned on me why Psamanthe rushed to Atlantis. The golden liquid filling her mouth immediately brightened the color of her eyes and brought color to her cheeks. Ambrosia.
Out of nowhere, Stasia's name in the Book of Souls flashed before my mind's eye, followed swiftly by the last lines of her prophecy; a prophecy I had been forced to memorize since the ninth grade. A prophecy not many were privy to read in its entirety, and the ending of which was about to become very, very real.
STASIA
"The ambrosia elixir will remedy Psamanthe's condition for a short time," Amphitrite explained. "But it cannot reverse it, nor stop it. It will simply slow it down. And there is only so much available from the castle garden at one time." She nodded gravely in Olivia's direction.
"So why hasn't it affected me and Stasia this much yet?" Olivia asked, eyeing the gold liquid flowing between Amphitrite's pale lips.
"You are both newly immortal and still young in years." Psamanthe swallowed and winced. "Stronger. It will simply take a little longer. But I can assure you, it will happen."
As an abrupt understanding raked across the frenzy of my thoughts, I began to experience an aching desperation. The life I had come to learn about - had just started to experience - was in danger of being destroyed. Everything my mother had built, fought for, even died for, could disappear forever. I couldn't allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen.
"What about...us?" Phoebe countered with watery eyes. "The descendants?"
"I imagine your essence would eventually become diluted as you marry into humanity or other Orders. Generations will pass. Slowly die off. It is the natural order of things."
Anger exploded within my heart and I wanted nothing more than to hit something. Selene had no right to hang the fate of an entire Order in the balance as blackmail. If it was me she wanted, that was exactly what she was going to get. I looked up to see Olivia watching me carefully.
"She's not going to get away with this," I vowed and made a decision within myself. "I'm going."
"Stasia, you're not immune," Amphitrite warned. "You are younger, thereby stronger, but not immune. Your strength and abilities will soon begin to deplete as well. This is not something you can do on your own. We must take our time to prepare and come up with a plan."
"The elixir," I ignored her warning stubbornly. "It'll save me some time, too."
"You're not going alone," Finn established firmly. "You need protection. I'm coming, along with my strongest fighters."
"We're going with you, too," Olivia said at the same time as Carmen and Phoebe; each exchanging resolute glances.
"As am I," Amphitrite added. I nodded to them all in agreement.
"How do I find the crux?" I inquired.
"No Nereid has ever laid eyes upon it." Psamanthe shook her head with disagreement.
"Except your mother, Thetis," Amphitrite added quietly. Psamanthe's shocked face told me she wasn't aware of Thetis's find as Amphitrite continued with sadness. "She described it to me once, saying its power brought tears to her eyes. She said it was greater than all of us...something that we weren't meant to understand. She placed a protective veil around it, for this very reason."
"Did she tell you where it was?" Psamanthe prompted carefully.
"All she disclosed to me was that it was near the Azores, in the Atlantic, and that the only way to find it was to follow the ocean's song; her essence. But if that song is already weakened, Anastasia...and if your essence is to become weakened, it will be incredibly difficult to find."
"But not impossible," I clarified. "And the longer we wait, the weaker we all become. We need to act. Now."
"I have a feeling we'll be able to recruit some Atlanteans," Sebastian implored. "Since she banished Atlas and Luna centuries ago, she doesn't have many friends on the island," he added with a smirk and raised his chin with smugness. "The good news is...I happen to know a few people."
"Yeah, yeah." Olivia raised an eyebrow; unimpressed by his show of arrogance. "We're all impressed, Mr. Popular. Now run along and find your 'people'," she insisted with air quotes and an eye roll, but I didn't miss the smile in her sparkling brown eyes.
"My Paradigms arrived at the Metropolis yesterday," Finn apprised us. "They'll join us." Finn's Paradigms were nothing short of the fiercest and most talented of the Sons Order. Although I had never seen them in action, I surely hoped they lived up to the hype.
"You will need more support descended from the Nereid essence itself." Amphitrite looked at Finn pointedly. "As I mentioned before, the protective veil put in place by Thetis ensures only Nereids are allowed access. So, although your Paradigms will be of help apart from the crux, Stasia and Olivia will require support within the crux itself."
"Then how has Selene gotten access to it?" Olivia brought up a good point.
"We don't know," Amphitrite revealed. "Thetis's veils are extremely powerful and have never before been destroyed, but it is quite evident she has found a way to penetrate it."
This realization left everyone silent, until Olivia came up with the worst idea I'd heard in a long time.
"The Captains."
"Yes!" Finn's blue eyes lit up and my heart filled with dread. "That's perfect."
"No." I put my hands up to stop them from going down that road. "No. I'm not putting innocent lives at risk."
"It could work," Amphitrite considered. "They have our essence, though not wholly."
"The elixir!" Olivia's face lit up. This was getting out of hand.
"No!" I asserted once again, but Olivia ignored me.
"It could fill their essence for a little while!" I could tell her mind was reeling with the possibilities. "It would be long enough to get them into the crux with us!"
"It could work," Amphitrite repeated. "It just might work."
"Which means we could drink it too!" Phoebe celebrated and I watched the same realization flash across Carmen's features as a smile crept its way onto her lips.
"You guys are on my Council," I reminded them with disapproval. "That's completely different! I'm not going to take the Captains to the crux and get them killed!"
"I think you should leave that decision up to them," Olivia retaliated almost harshly.
"I'm not giving them the chance to make a decision," I retorted to everyone in the room.
"Anastasia," Psamanthe spoke. "There comes a time when you must allow those who believe in you and your visions to step up and fulfill their own destinies. You will need help; that is a fact. Whether you agree or not."
I ground my teeth and shook with anger as I began to feel ganged up on. I sighed in defeat, shot a glare at Olivia, and channeled my inner six year-old as I tossed up a wall of defiance. "I'm not talking to them. If you want to send them to their deaths, that's on you. We leave in the morning. Without the Captains," I declared and spun on my heel.
"Stasia, wait!"
I continued walking at the sound of my name. I knew I was acting like the teenager I was, but I didn't care.
"I need to talk to you." Olivia gripped my arm with urgency and I turned to face her. The desperation on her face and something resembling fear in her eyes told me she knew something I didn't, and that something was important. My anger lessened slightly, replaced by concern.
"The library," I answered simply, torn between easing the anxiety tugging her expression down and strangling her. We headed to the main floor of the castle, where a library that would contest the Library of Congress was located. Its extravagance was breathtaking and I could only imagine the depth and age of the texts held within. At three stories tall it required several sliding ladders, multiple spiral staircases, and two full time librarians. It smelled of antiquated pages and worn leather, and felt as welcoming as a roaring fireplace on a cold winter night.
; "I saw your name," Olivia confronted me blatantly. "In the Book."
I contemplated whether or not to tell her I had as well. I didn't want her to think I was keeping things from her, although to be fair, I had planned to do just that.
"So did I," I admitted. I felt my body language sag and suddenly felt like I needed to sit down.
"Someone wants to make sure you aren't around much longer."
"I know. Selene will stop at nothing-"
"Selene wasn't the one who wrote your name in that book." Olivia moved closer. "Persephone is the only one who can scribe someone's name."
"Selene must have found a way," I argued. "Persephone already pardoned me once...why would she change her mind so quickly and with no reason?"
"There's more." She chewed on her lip pensively. "Your prophecy as the world knows it...is incomplete."
I was right. Suddenly, I felt extremely claustrophobic and my legs were threatening to give out on me. The air in the library thickened and the walls felt as if they were pressing on my mind like a vice. I grabbed Olivia's hand and headed for the back veranda.
"Where are we going?" she protested.
"I need air," I explained vaguely. "Now." My legs sprouted a mind of their own as I pulled her down the cliff and finally onto the beach below. I fell to my knees and soaked up the feel of the cooling sand supporting me. I flattened my hands and buried them beneath the surface of the sand. It trembled with acknowledgment and I closed my eyes as I felt its welcoming essence rush into me.
After a long moment, I felt as if my lungs had been untied and I sat back with relief. Olivia, who was watching the golden Metropolis shine in the fading light of the sun, turned her attention to me expectantly.
"I had a feeling," I admitted quietly, "...about my prophecy."
"Your mother ensured the ending was destroyed," she disclosed, sending my heart into a downward spiral.