Perilous Waters

by Diana Paz

  How did Angie manage to keep the peace so easily? Julia had the feeling if Angie could sit in a room with all the world’s leaders, they would come out singing Kumbaya.

  Brian glanced up from where he lay stretched out on the couch. “You guys are going to look into the future?”

  “That’s the plan,” Julia said.

  His hand rose until he rubbed the back of his head as if trying to figure out a puzzle. “This has been the craziest weekend.”

  Julia thought back to everything that had happened since Angie had marked her with the magic. There didn’t seem to be a limit to the crazy, when magic was involved.

  “Yeah, well at least you’re not bound for life to anyone,” Kaitlyn grumbled, taking Julia’s scarred hand.

  Julia’s eyes narrowed. “Especially someone who messes around with dark magic and joins forces with an evil witch.” Julia’s words were a little grouchier than she meant them to be, but Kaitlyn’s actions had almost caused her to lose her hand, and it might still end up costing Ethan his life.

  “Are you ever going to get over that?” Kaitlyn said, her voice raising as her green eyes flashed. “Joining with Indira showed me what a lying bitch she really is. I want her and the Sorceress destroyed more than ever because of what she did to my face, and everything else that happened. I’m on your freaking side, okay?”

  Yeah, right. Only now because the Jewels of Time were sent back into some other dimension or time period, or whatever had happened to them. If Kaitlyn knew the truth—

  Kaitlyn’s eyes became thin, glimmering slits. Too late Julia realized that, with their connection active, Kaitlyn could hear her thoughts and feel her emotions. Pinpricks of heat rained down her spine. She started thinking of puppies and rainbows, anything except the stupid Jewels of Time and their stupid connection to the true world timeline.

  What are you hiding from me?

  Julia’s eyes rounded as she sucked in a breath. Kaitlyn’s venomous tone sliced through her thoughts like a blade. She shook her head a little, looking to Angie, who hadn’t been connected to them. She was oblivious, and sat down prettily in her baby blue pajamas with ruffled trim.

  “Please, guys,” Angie said, taking hold of Julia’s free hand and sending a cooling balm of calming magic through them. “No more arguments. No more comments. We’re trying to help Brian?”

  The magic burned bright and strong with Angie connected to them now. Julia didn’t know what to do. She kept thinking of puppies and rainbows, trying to keep Kaitlyn’s increasingly annoying presence from taking over her thoughts.

  Angie’s lips became full and soft as they turned down. What’s going on?

  I should ask you the same thing, Kaitlyn’s serpentine voice hissed through their connection. Julia’s thoughts were all wrapped up in the Jewels of Time a minute ago. I thought they were destroyed when we bound Indira to the nether.

  You shouldn’t have been probing into Julia’s thoughts, Angie’s soft voice echoed.

  I hardly had to probe, with the way Julia’s galloping thoughts go crashing through my head the moment we’re connected. Seriously, Julia. You have zero self-control. Learn to put up a wall. I would rather go through life without feeling every one of your emo-Ethan mood swings.

  Julia gasped and tugged her hand back, but Kaitlyn grabbed it again.

  Don’t even start, Kaitlyn said, her voice a sneering ribbon of black through Julia’s mind. We’re helping out one of the growing list of boys whose lives you’re ruining, remember?

  Julia blinked against the wave of hot moisture that sprung to her eyes. Her breath became a ragged whisper. “Shut. Up.”

  Enough, Kaitlyn, Angie said. We’ll tell you everything about the jewels after we’ve taken care of Brian, okay?

  Julia nearly hugged her. It didn’t matter that Angie looked like she was still in junior high, there was an authority about her that even Kaitlyn obeyed. She always said the three of them were equals in their mystic trinity, but Angie had somehow become their tiny, fearless leader. And at times like this, it was obvious they needed her to be just that.

  You’d better, Kaitlyn said, withdrawing from Julia’s mind even as she started taking her magic.

  “Watch it,” Julia said. She tried to hold back, but Kaitlyn kept siphoning power from her, way more than she needed.

  “It works better for me if I take it like that,” Kaitlyn whispered. “The more force I use, the stronger the power.”

  Julia’s mark of magic stung as though it had been ripped raw. “I would give you what you need if you just wait.”

  “You don’t get it. It’s the fact that I’m forcing you that makes it more powerful.”

  Angie gave Julia’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Julia swallowed and calmed down, letting Kaitlyn take from her instead of giving it freely the way Angie let her. It unsettled her and got under her skin… she could feel Kaitlyn exerting her dominance over her, almost as though she were holding her down.

  Kaitlyn murmured an unintelligible Mmm sound, her eyes blazing white. Her hunger for power slithered through Julia, grasping and grabbing, choking her own spirit as it grew stronger and she grew weaker.

  Julia struggled against Kaitlyn’s overbearing use of the magic. Something about it made Julia feel like bugs crawled up and down her arms. Can’t we get this going already?

  Kaitlyn’s head flung back. The threads of time spread out before them. Endless. So many of them Julia couldn’t have counted them all if she had wanted to.

  “Search them out,” Angie whispered. “Look for anything that shows us with Brian.”

  The threads shifted in vibrancy, rippling in varying degrees of brightness. Latching onto one only caused dozens of new ones to appear. Still, Julia tried, always seeking the brightest one, since that made the most sense.

  The first thread revealed a cave. A body lay on the floor. She couldn’t tell who it was at first, but soon Brian’s blond curls appeared against the sandy floor. At least, she thought it was Brian. His body thrashed about, and finally his eyes opened. They were devoid of white, as if someone had replaced his eyes with twin marbles of complete and utter black. She shuddered at the way he rose to his feet. The fluid motion reminded her of a snake, and his eyes—she couldn’t stop looking at their cold, inhuman darkness. His bloodied lips curled back to reveal a set of gleaming, snake-like fangs. He shed his human clothing to reveal a series of razor-sharp fins along his back and forearms.

  She released the thread with a choked cry, trembling as she took hold of another. This one showed them hovering about as Brian made the same transformation. He attacked them. They could blast him but without Ethan’s power to kill, their magic made little difference to him. And Ethan wouldn’t attack. Ethan only fell to his knees as Brian slashed at him with cruel claws—

  “No,” she whimpered, letting the thread go.

  Jules?

  Ethan’s questioning presence startled her so completely she almost let go of the other girls’ hands.

  He wanted to talk to her, now of all times?

  Jules, I need… to hear from you.

  She swallowed, her heart stuttering as heat filled her chest.

  I can’t find Brian anywhere. I’m worried about him.

  She sucked in her breath. He would allow the connection to form now, for his brother’s sake, she thought bitterly. Not for her. Not because he wanted to hear from her. And the timing couldn’t be worse. She had enough trouble keeping Kaitlyn out of her thoughts, now she had to worry about Kaitlyn figuring out that Ethan was in her mind, too?

  Please. I know you can hear me.

  Her eyes slammed shut as she formed her connection with Ethan. I’m a little busy right now.

  Don’t be cold with me, Jules. Please don’t.

  After all of these weeks of ignoring me, you can ask me not to be cold with you?

  I did what I had to. If I had kept in contact with you—

  Kaitlyn’s icy rage blew through her like a blizzard.

  You�
��re talking to him? Now? You have got to be kidding me!

  Julia blinked rapidly, her gaze skittering from Kaitlyn to Angie’s bewildered expression and back again. “I—I just need to tell Ethan about his brother.”

  Angie’s pale brows dropped. “Ethan?”

  “He contacted me, okay?” She eyed Brian, who had dozed off on the couch. Her voice dropped to a forceful whisper. “Brian must have left without telling Ethan anything. Ethan’s worried.”

  “That’s not our problem!”

  Julia let go of the other girls’ hands and the threads vanished. She didn’t want to make them mad, but Ethan… she flinched at the way her heart still fluttered at the thought of him. “Just let me tell him that Brian’s okay so he stops worrying.”

  Kaitlyn made an exasperated noise from the back of her throat.

  Angie nodded, her round eyes soft and sympathetic.

  Julia tucked her legs up against her chest and shut her eyes.

  Ethan?

  Relief flowed strongly across their connection. Warmth and gratitude poured from him. She took a moment to enjoy the strange unity she felt with him. It was like being held in his arms.

  Brian’s okay. He’s here with us. Just worried about the Scylla venom. It hasn’t gone away.

  Thank you.

  You have really crappy timing, you know that?

  She felt him, hesitant and uncertain, stroking the outline of her emotions. You’re really upset with me.

  Shouldn’t I be? You’ve been ignoring me.

  I had to. If I had kept in contact with you—

  He broke off and she tried to understand what he felt. She tried searching his thoughts, but he remained as guarded as ever. If you had kept in contact with me, then what?

  Then I would have been betraying my brother.

  She didn’t want to care. She wanted to make him feel the same rejection she had felt. She didn’t want to hear his stupid reasons or logic or whatever it was that had made him ignore her like she didn’t matter to him at all.

  Well, your brother found out anyway. You betrayed him, one way or another.

  Julia felt the pain her words caused him, and was surprised they didn’t bring her pleasure. She tried to strengthen their connection, and he didn’t stop her. Just as it had been when they first met, everything between them felt natural. They shared a bond that she still didn’t understand. It simply existed, and fighting it made no sense to her heart. With relief she released herself, giving herself permission to sink into their shared connection as his body materialized in her mind.

  He was pacing a room, a phone in his hand. He had on a white t-shirt and track shorts… she found she could zoom the image out. She saw his room, a desk, a bookshelf, but her attention kept returning to Ethan. She liked seeing him in his own room, with his muscle-toned arms stretching the cotton of his shirt. She followed the line of his shoulders down his chest. Her gaze lingered there as she remembered what it had felt like to be held by him—

  Her eyes flew open and she lost the connection immediately. Had she really been checking him out? A fiery wave of embarrassment washed her face with heat. She heard his voice in her mind and felt the probing presence against her consciousness that meant he was trying to reestablish their connection.

  She bit her lip, wincing as she forced her eyes shut again.

  Is everything okay? He asked, a trail of worry edging along her mind as he became careless with the wall between them. For a moment she absorbed his emotions, relishing the fleeting sensation of unity between them before he remembered himself and sealed himself off.

  Her chest hollowed at the trace of bitterness that seeped in curling tendrils from the seams of his thoughts.

  I’m sorry, he said, regret lacing his thoughts. Regret, and so much confusion that Julia couldn’t make sense of her own thoughts for a moment. This is hard for me. Harder than I can explain.

  She turned her head aside, bringing her legs up closer to her chest and pressing her cheek to her knee. It was hard for her, too.

  A soft touch on her shoulder caused her eyes to open. Her connection to Ethan was immediately lost as she looked up at Angie.

  “We should get back to Brian.”

  Julia nodded. She shut her eyes quickly and told Ethan, The other Daughters are waiting for me. We’re going to link up and look into how to help Brian.

  Without waiting for his response, she scooted forward and rejoined the other girls at the cushion.

  “Something has to show an alternative to Brian turning Scylla,” Angie said quietly, taking their hands.

  Julia shuddered, remembering the threads that had shown her Brian turning into a monster. As Kaitlyn drew out their magic and spread the threads before them, Julia’s entire body recoiled at the thought of what she might see next. She clenched her teeth, forcing herself to enter into another timeline.

  This time they were on a ship, like a pirate’s ship. Again Brian appeared, his eyes utterly black. She let go and found another, her head spinning at the rapid exit and entry into different threads of time, but no matter how many timelines she entered, nothing ever showed her any clue of how to turn Brian back to normal.

  “He’s screwed,” Kaitlyn said.

  “There must be a way,” Angie said, her voice laced with hope.

  Julia didn’t know what to think. Her throat felt closed off to speech as she reached for yet another thread, almost too terrified of what she might see.

  And as she latched on, a familiar voice whispered through her mind, so unexpected that she nearly let go of the other girls’ hands.

  There is a way.

  Julia retreated from the thread.

  That voice… it—it couldn’t be…

  Yes, Daughter of Present. It is I.

  How many voices were going to hijack her brain in one night? She shook her head with tiny, jerking motions. Icy blood flooded her heart as she tried to protect her mind from this sudden intrusion. “No,” she breathed. She didn’t dare think the name, worried that somehow she might make the gypsy-woman materialize right out of the nether and into Angie’s basement.

  But nothing could stop the deep, sultry voice from entering her mind.

  You can save the boy…

  Goosebumps sped along her arms and neck. With each word Indira uttered, the dark magic she used to breach the nether caused Julia’s blood to frost over. Without meaning to, she thought of the beautiful, dark haired, golden-tanned woman, one of her eyes normal and the other without iris or pupil, only a milky white ball that might very well stare into her soul.

  Follow.

  The word caressed her mind, ripe with promise. One of the future-threads glowed white, so bright that Julia flinched.

  Tentatively, she reached out with her spirit and took hold of the thread, entering into the possible future.

  They were on a ship, and again this was no modern ship. It was wooden and it had sails. Sea monsters climbed the sides as she and the others blasted them. But the ship was overrun. Julia watched in horror as Brian led the Scylla attack. His dark eyes rounded on her, his lips curled back in a bloodied sneer. Angie was hauled over the side and dragged down. Claws ripped at her arms, tearing her flesh. Ethan stood helplessly aside. He alone could kill the creatures with his magic. But he wouldn’t kill his own brother. Not even to save them.

  She wrenched herself from the vision, sweat spreading along her spine.

  You didn’t show me anything new, Julia accused. Indira was always full of deception, even though she was hexed against lying.

  You will fail, in your next task, Indira whispered. Unless you go back into your own time and prevent Brian from becoming their leader. He is the only one your darling Ethan will not fight. Scylla know this… that is why they want Brian. They know that with him as their champion, you can never succeed. But… free me, and I will show you how to keep Brian safe.

  Go back into their own timeline? But that was impossible.

  Wasn’t it?

  Seek
out the Jewels of Time once more. Revoke my curse. I will show you… show you...

  Indira’s voice faded away. Angie fell forward with a groan, but Julia hardly noticed. Her mind spun as she tried to make sense of Indira’s message.

  “What’s up with you?” Kaitlyn asked harshly, her accusing eyes burning into Julia’s. She let go of her hand and cradled Angie’s limp form. “Your friend just fell over and you don’t even help her?”

  “I…” she faltered, swallowing hard.

  “What were you doing, anyway? All of a sudden your presence wasn’t with us. What the hell?”

  Julia gripped her head. What was Kaitlyn talking about? She blinked until her vision cleared, then looked down at Angie, limp on the floor. “Oh no.” She reached for her. “What happened?”

  “How should I know?” Kaitlyn spat. “One minute we’re looking at Brian turn into a monster in a variety of insane ways, the next, Angie falls over and you just sit there like nothing. Like you couldn’t give a crap.”

  “I’m okay,” Angie mumbled, holding a hand to her head. “A blast of magic came out of nowhere. It almost knocked me out.”

  Kaitlyn kept hold of Angie with one arm and took back Julia’s hand with the other. “Let’s give her some magic so she gets her strength back.”

  “Okay,” Julia said weakly, her head a total mess as she tried to figure out what to tell the others. Her chest still held traces of the icy cold of the nether as she remembered Indira’s voice whispering through her mind.

  Kaitlyn’s eyes narrowed on Julia, slits of blazing fury. The mark on her arm flared white. “What do you mean, ‘Indira’?”

  ~ Chapter 11 ~

  Julia

  Julia glanced down at Kaitlyn’s hand, still on her arm. She had forgotten about the mind-connection thing.

  Before she could stop her, Kaitlyn invaded her mind, seeking her thoughts, reaching through her consciousness.

  “Stop it!”

  “What are you hiding?” Kaitlyn said, her voice viperish and laced with malice. “You’ve been talking to her, haven’t you? Haven’t you?”

  Julia yanked her arm back but Kailyn held firm.