by Kristen Day
"We need to leave soon," I reminded him. "They've already gotten a huge jump on us."
"So, did they just...leave?" Phoebe considered. "No boat? No nothing?"
"No boats have been reported stolen or even missing." Maera walked through the entranceway, followed by a caramel-skinned woman covered in tattoos. "So it is unlikely they have gotten far. They must be doing things the old fashioned way. Swimming."
"This girl won't be doing it the old-fashioned way," Carmen interjected with a laugh at her own expense. "I wouldn't make it a mile before passing out from exhaustion."
"I'd like to introduce you all to Kailani," Maera introduced her companion grandly. "She has graciously agreed to take you to find not only Stasia and Sebastian, but to find the crux as well."
"My boat is anchored in the north harbor," Kailani explained in a thick Jamaican accent. As she spoke, long dreadlocks brushed against her shoulders and the tattoos along her arms and collarbone came to life. "I can have it ready within the hour."
"We are indebted to you," Finn thanked her with a dazzling smile. "We appreciate your help."
"Maera will escort you to the harbor when you are ready." Kailani glanced at Maera, who nodded in agreement. With that, our new captain left the room on a mission to ready her boat for our journey.
"So, now that we have a boat, how exactly are we going to find it?" Carmen piped up as she popped some fruit in her mouth.
"There's no possible way Amphitrite or Psamanthe will be able to go with us," Phoebe added.
"Between me and Olivia, we should be able to find it." Finn nodded his head toward me. "I can hear the ocean's song, and Olivia will be able to feel where Stasia is once...she's in harm's way."
"That's comforting." Carmen glared at me. Something told me she blamed me for allowing Stasia to leave without our knowledge. Little did she know I already blamed myself. I didn't need her to do it for me.
"I'm not her keeper," I snapped at her. "I'm her Paladin! There was no way I could have known she was planning on skipping out without telling us!
"You know she's a flight risk!" Carmen shot back. "You should have been with her last night! Watching over her! Then you would have known!"
"I was with her." Finn's resounding voice quickly put an end to our argument. He stood and leaned on the table, eyeing us both sternly. "If you're going to blame someone, blame me. But yelling at each other isn't getting us any closer to finding them."
"I'm afraid you will be gravely outnumbered," Amphitrite's weak voice wafted over us as she shuffled through the doorway and glanced at me pointedly. "Olivia will be the only one who will be allowed admittance to the crux itself. She is the only one among you with full Nereid essence; at least until hers begins to deplete as well."
Maera jumped up to assist her into the room. She draped Amphitrite's increasingly frail body into a plush chair near the fireplace. The reminder that my essence would steadily deplete squeezed my heart even more. I had to stay strong enough to get to the crux and help Stasia. And what about Stasia? She knew she wasn't immune! What was she thinking?
"We'll be there with her," Phoebe attempted. "And what about the Captains?"
"Without full essence, none of the Tydes will be of use to her or Stasia while on the crux," Amphitrite reminded her.
As Maera handed Amphitrite a glass full of golden liquid, something occurred to me. Carmen's suddenly raised eyebrows told me the same idea had crossed her mind.
"What about the elixir?" I asked Maera.
"What effect does it have on regular descendants?" Carmen piqued up immediately; her eyes lighting up even more. Maera considered this new possibility.
"No mortal has ever drank it." She furrowed her brows in thought. "But I would imagine it could provide additional essence, if only for a short time."
"It would make us immortal?" Phoebe squealed with excitement before clarifying. "I mean obviously not permanently..."
"It's possible." She tapped her fingernails on the table. "If you drank enough, it could provide you just enough essence to gain admittance. Your time would be limited, but it would give you a chance."
"That's perfect!" Avery rejoiced. "All we need is a chance."
"And it would stop my essence from depleting," I added in deep thought. "Which would definitely be a plus." My thoughts turned to Stasia. By the time we found her, she was going to need some as well. The room erupted in excited conversation as everyone discussed this new revelation. Unfortunately Maera quickly sucked all the air from the room with her next tidbit of information.
"Although a good idea," Maera warned, "I cannot ensure mortals will be privy to the elixir."
"Of course not." Carmen rolled my eyes. "I'm beginning to get a complex over here. Not being in the immortal club and all."
"There is a reason for the exclusivities of our world, Carmen," Amphitrite scolded her. "You must respect the restrictions."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it," she muttered, eliciting an elbow from Phoebe. We looked to Maera for her to explain.
"Who may partake of the elixir's powers is wholly dependent upon the maidens' discretion." The maidens. I had completely forgotten them. Surely we could talk them into it, right? They seemed reasonable enough. When they weren't ramming me into tree trunks.
"The maidens?" Phoebe and Carmen asked at the same time.
"The Daughters of the Evening protect the elixir, as well as the garden itself."
"I'll go talk to the Captains," I declared and stood, addressing the other Council members. "Meet me on the back veranda in twenty minutes."
"I'll escort you to the garden," Maera offered before attaching a dark warning. "But I cannot sway the decision. It is theirs to make, and it is final."
STASIA
"You're doing it wrong."
"What are you talking about?" I narrowed my eyes at Sebastian, currently swimming circles around me at a dizzying speed.
"It'll take us another century to find the crux at this rate." He glanced down at a non-existent watch. "And unfortunately when the clock strikes midnight in three weeks, I'll turn into a pumpkin."
"And what do you propose, oh wise one?" I tried to kick him, missing by at least five feet as he twisted around me like a seal escaping the jaws of a shark.
"What's the fun in having our connection to the ocean if we don't get to use it every once in a while?" His blond hair wiggled back and forth in the current he was creating and I had a feeling he hadn't looked much different as a boy. One thing was certain, however. He clearly knew something I didn't, and was having way too much fun holding it over my head.
"Come here." He held out a hand. "I'll show you."
I considered his outstretched hand with skepticism. The striking turquoise of his eyes literally twinkled at me beneath the water's surface and the glow of his skin was outshone by the brilliant blues his armored trace displayed. He looked otherworldly and I suddenly wondered if that was what I looked like beneath the water.
On land, he carried himself with confidence and grace, but under the freedom of the water he blossomed into a creature of the sea. More comfortable amongst the coral and the angel fish swimming nearby than on the solid ground above. A broad smile snaked across my face and a bubble of exhilaration welled up in my heart. This was my brother, drifting in front of me with wild eyes and an even wilder spirit, and I loved him. I loved him for our similarities and I loved him for validating all the things I'd always felt were different about me.
I silently thanked my mother and Persephone for granting him time back on earth to spend with me. But I also smacked his hand away and raised a smug eyebrow.
"If you can do it, I can do it," I declared stubbornly with a lopsided grin.
"Said the girl swimming at speeds of mach negative seventy." He laughed at me and twisted an arm around my waist. I felt a wave of pressure as his essence rippled outwards and everything around us became a blur of blues and greens. I had the momentary picture in my head of me ingesting a school of
fish by accident and wondered if they made bug shields strong enough to deflect carp. Or manta rays. Or whales.
Despite my gruesome imagination, I held my arms out and closed my eyes with a smile. The water rushed over my skin like silk ribbons and I suddenly felt completely weightless, as if we were tumbling through space with reckless abandon. Before I was ready, we slowed to what felt like a crawl and my hair flew forward, still traveling at supersonic speed.
Sebastian's arms released me and it took a moment to get my bearings as I sunk and urged my arms and legs to start working again. I looked up to see my brother, the great Grecian warrior, giggling as he chased a school of tuna, their silver bodies glinting off of the sun filtering beneath the surface. I pushed my way back up towards him and sent some of my essence to a particularly large tuna; urging it to ram him in the side. When it did just that, he pushed it away playfully and glanced down at me knowingly.
"Are you connected to all of the creatures like me or just a specific one?" I questioned curiously. I assumed it was the same as me, but I wasn't positive.
"Only one," he answered with a snicker. "You got the better end of that gene pool."
"Really?" I gasped, feeling somewhat special. "Which one?"
"Maybe I'll introduce you later." He winked at me. "But at the moment, you've got some swimming lessons to attend to."
"I'm all yours, professor." I gave him my full attention happily. Not having to figure something out on my own was a nice change.
"It's pretty simple, but it's all about control," he began. "The water itself will pull you along, but you just have to ask it. Kind of like the way you sabotaged that tuna and made it attack me."
"I'm sure his puckered lips and little fins were utterly terrifying." I rolled my eyes at him. "But I get the gist."
"I'm pretty sure he put a hex on me with those puckered lips, and those little fins, as you call them, were more like razor blades," he defended himself, then continued with the lesson. "Anyway, once you do that, the water does all the work for you, except for which direction you're going."
"What if I don't know what direction I'm going?"
"You might want to stick to the doggy paddle strategy. And tranquil lakes."
"You know what I mean," I laughed at him. "Like right now - we know the general direction of the Azores, but how do I know when I've gone too far? How do I know I'm not headed to the other side of the globe?"
"You'll run aground, for one thing," he mused. "Which I don't suggest. Or you just get practice. Eventually you'll get a feel for how fast you're going and how far you've gone. For our purposes, I'll swim beside you and when you feel like it, just stop. Then we can determine what to do from there."
"I'll need to stop every so often to see if I can detect the ocean's song, too," I considered and then tilted my head at him. "Can't you hear it?"
He looked down the length of his body as if the answer were obvious. "Dead, remember?"
"Oh yeah." I laughed a little too hard. "I keep forgetting."
"Alright, little sis." He maneuvered next to me and gestured for me to go first. "Let's see what you've got!"
I gathered my essence and flushed it outward as I silently requested the sea to embrace me and send me hurdling through its depths. With no warning or even a one-two-three countdown, my world became an obscure collection of lines and colors as I went hurdling through the Mediterranean. The all-consuming freedom was exhilarating and I squealed from the release of it all. Anything in my way naturally parted as my body sliced through the water like a bullet, until the roar of water past my ears was muffled by something else. Something so overpowering, I completely forgot where I was and what I was doing.
Her melody caressed my eardrums and infiltrated my essence like the life-giving water within my lungs. It crashed over me and stripped me clean of all fear, all worry, and unfortunately my purpose for gliding through the ocean at an unnatural speed. I closed my eyes and let go of all control. I felt my mouth open and I started to sing with her, even though my voice was all kinds of off-key and almost an insult to the ocean's heavenly song. Then I ran into a wall.
I skidded sideways, tumbling through the water like a rag doll until something grabbed my legs and almost ripped them from their sockets. When I opened my eyes again, all I could see was a very amused Sebastian. He was moving his hands across my face in an attempt to catch my attention. Feeling somewhat drunk with the ecstasy of her song still running through my essence, I could only giggle at him uselessly.
"Did I miss the liquor store stop?" he chuckled at me as his smile filled me with love. He wiggled a disapproving finger at me. "Friends don't let friends drink and swim."
"I heard her song," I explained happily, my own voice ricocheting throughout my skull like a ping pong ball.
"That's why you were carving a zigzag pattern through the Mediterranean?" He raised a blond eyebrow skeptically. "You almost took me out twice! I'm gonna need full body armor next time!"
"It was amazing." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.
"Uh huh." He waved away my intoxicating babble and watched me with amusement. "How 'bout we take it down a notch next time. I can't have you crashing into Italy and causing an earthquake, now can I?"
"We're already near Italy?" I gaped.
"We weren't before, but thanks to your lead foot," he answered with a sneer, "we are now."
OLIVIA
Just when I thought I'd experienced the kind of luxury only housed within imperial castles standing upon enchanted islands, I took my first step into the Baths of the Metropolis. After successfully gathering my jaw up from the elaborate, tiled floor, I sought to exude an air of distinction. As if I perused engineering miracles resembling princess-cut diamonds on the regular. With my sudden inability to blink and the obvious dilemma of being one earsplitting squeal away from a full blown fan girl moment, that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Every inch of its grandiose architecture glistened with unapologetic opulence. The reflective quality of the enchanted water, the exquisite portrayals of the Games playing out across the tile floor, the picturesque domed ceilings, and the walls lined with serene fountains created a prism of colors and light that could only be orchestrated one at a time for fear of outshining the stars in the heavens.
I'd been told the Tyde Captains were enjoying the amenities of the Baths, but it was immediately apparent they weren't the only ones taking advantage of the many indulgences that were being offered. Each sparkling pool I passed was brimming with descendants; splashing one another, rough-housing, and even a couple reading or taking a quick nap. How anyone could fall asleep amidst the unrelenting chaos was beyond me. The testosterone filled barking of guys trying to one-up each other and the low conversations of girls sizing up their competition with more demure tactics filled the spacious halls of the Baths with electricity.
After winding through bathing suit clad obstacles and three of the largest pools I'd ever seen, I arrived at a prolonged, rectangular pool where a high stakes swimming race was playing out beneath the water. About thirty Tydes were gathered around the pool cheering on one of the five competitors. I easily spotted the strawberry-mane of a Captain who was lounging a few yards away from the action; appearing completely indifferent to the displays of ego nearby. I decided to start there.
"So they wouldn't let the swim Captain compete, huh?" I teased Ruby. "Afraid you'd put 'em all to shame?"
Her slate blue eyes fluttered open before she sat up too quickly; tilting her chair off-balance with a start. Skittish crimson rushed to her cheeks sprinkled with freckles, and her mouth went slack with astonishment. "Olivia!"
"Shhhh..." I lifted a sly finger to my lips with an impish smile. I signaled for her to come poolside with me. I couldn't help but notice her white bikini with its dazzling display of neon geometric patterns as she stood; towering over me with a lean swimmer's figure.
"This race is for second place," she sneered; jutting her chin out with pride. "It was pretty obvious
in the first race who the winner was."
"Naturally," I agreed with a smirk. We snuck up behind a row of descendants so intent on the unfolding drama of the race, they didn't notice us. The entire length of the pool had been partitioned off to create five swimming lanes; each housing the remaining five Captains. From my vantage point, I could make out two in particular that were going head-to-head for the lead. The surf Captain, Oliver, in blue swim shorts and the archery Captain, Blythe, in a red bikini. They made it to the far end of the pool, somersaulted underwater, and shot forward before surfacing and falling into the rhythmic arching motion of the butterfly.
"One more up and down and it'll be over," Ruby whispered to me. The swimmers headed back down their lanes in a graceful backstroke as my pulse sped up at the cheers of the descendants, fueled by the impending sprint. The competitors shot up the pool one last time, swimming freestyle. Blythe and Oliver matched each other stroke for stroke; the makings of a photo finish.
The cheers and thunderous vibrations of stomping feet increased with each stroke, followed by a collaborative held breath as their hands stretched towards victory. Blythe's fingers grazed the tiled wall a mere second before Oliver's, eliciting a cheer of elation from a group of descendants to my left and an equally loud groan on the other side. Blythe surfaced with a celebratory whoop and slapped the water in triumph. She climbed out of the pool just as the other three Captains reached the wall. Her adoring fans smothered her in fist pumps and hugs while a victorious smile shone brightly on her lips.
I ducked beneath a high five in an effort to make my way towards the exalted winner when a particularly firm arm accidentally bumped into me just as I lifted up my foot; catching me off guard and knocking me off balance. Before I could right myself, the telling sensation of falling gripped me and I glimpsed the surface of the water seconds before crashing right through it. My white clothes promptly turned invisible and I could almost feel the makeup smearing down my face.