John must have seen us coming as he was waiting by the front doors as we stepped out of the car.
“Your Highness,” he bowed as I ran over to him. He had a grim expression on his face.
“My mother? Is she...?” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“She is alive, but only just. When you left, Anthony sent some guards to Thalia. Luckily, they met a mage en-route and brought him back here. He’s managed to slow the process of whatever it is ailing her, but he cannot stop it nor reverse it.”
I nodded. The news was bad, but I was honestly expecting worse. At least she was alive. I thanked John.
“I’m afraid there is some other bad news.”
“More bad news?” I felt as though I’d lived a lifetime of bad news in the past few months. What else could possibly have happened?
“Ari arrived back about half an hour ago. I, myself went down to the rocks to speak to him after being alerted to his presence by a guard.”
“And?” I knew Ari was alright. I could feel it in my heart.
John cleared his throat. “He asked me to tell you that he couldn’t find Josh. He says he tried, but in the rough water, Josh was nowhere to be seen. He says he tried for over an hour but had to give up. He swam back here. He said he’d wait down by the rocks for you for as long as you need. He wants you to spend time with your mother first.”
I nodded my head as my throat constricted. Josh had drowned. I barely knew the guy, and there were times he annoyed me, but the pain I felt at hearing he’d died still stabbed me sharply in the chest. He’d done so much for me and for the people of both Trifork and Havfrue.
It was with a heavy heart I headed to the infirmary. I found my mother looking deathly pale, her eyelids purple and her breathing shallow. Next to her sat Anthony and a man I didn’t recognize. His hair was long, but thinning on top and he wore horn-rimmed glasses.
Anthony stood up as soon as he saw me. “Did you manage to find the sirens?” I could see the hope in his face that I‘d brought a miracle cure home with me.
I opened my mouth but didn’t know how to tell him that I’d messed up in an epic fashion. I didn’t need to; he read my expression perfectly. His face fell, and he sat back down.
“She’s not going to make it, Erica,” he said slowly. “This is Clement. He’s done everything he can to keep her alive, but he’s using all his power. Eventually, he will tire, and then she’ll die.”
I’m sorry Your Highness, he said standing up and bowing his head. “I wish there was more I could do. This magic is powerful and far beyond my capabilities. I’m using all my energy to keep her alive, but I’m an old man. I cannot compete with whatever magic this is.”
“I’m grateful for everything you have done and continue to do. Thank you. Do you have any idea how long you can keep the magic back? If you can hold on for a couple of days, maybe the guards will have found some other magi and brought them back by then.”
Both Clement and Anthony shook their heads, and my heart felt like a brick in my chest.
“Your mother has only hours left to live. A day at the very most.”
I fell by her side and took hold of her hand. She was so very cold, almost as though she had ice traveling through her veins instead of blood.
I’d failed her in the worst way possible, and I could barely breathe with the pain of losing another parent so soon after losing my father. Yet what could I do? I’d blown my only chance of saving her. Acania was lost at sea somewhere, and she’d already said that she wouldn’t help. I laid my head down by her side and rubbed her hand to get some warmth into it. The only sound I could hear was the clock on the wall, counting down the last minutes of my mother’s life and the sound of my own heart beating. I stayed like that, cursing the tick after painful tick of the clock until my arm went numb. I didn’t cry. I wanted to, but the tears wouldn’t come. I only lay there wishing I could speak to her one more time, wishing that she could hear me.
“I think it’s time,” Clement said solemnly. “My power is dwindling, and I can’t keep her here much longer. I’m so sorry, but now you should say your last goodbyes to her.”
I lifted my head and looked over at him. He did look tired. He was paler than when I’d first walked in the infirmary. Anthony stood up and kissed our mother on her forehead. I hoped, feeling her son so close to her would make her open her eyes, but they remained steadfastly shut.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to her. “I tried.” I neatened her hair and crossed her hands on her chest before I too bent over to kiss her. I could still feel the light breath of her on my cheek as I kissed her forehead as Anthony had done. She was still alive, but without Clement using his magic, she had minutes left rather than hours. My heart was already shredded with the loss of my father; I wasn’t sure how I would cope with losing my mother as well. Since I found out she was a mermaid, I’d been so busy, that I’d not had time to sit and talk to her about her time under the water before she came to land and married my father. Why couldn’t I have made time?
The tears finally came. I pulled back quickly, not wanting to dampen her pretty face. She’d always taken so much pride in her looks that I wanted to keep her looking as pretty as she would want. It was the least I could do for her after failing to save her life.
The silence was broken by the sound of shouting coming from the door of the infirmary. Lucy the nurse, who had kept out of our way to let us have our final farewell with our mother stormed past us with a grim expression to shout at whoever was causing the commotion. I watched as she opened the door. Behind it were two men fighting. Actually fighting—punching each other and wrestling. Lucy bellowed at them which scared them both enough to stop what they were doing and look at her. One of them I recognized as a palace guard in uniform. The other was Josh.
Saved
“This man was attempting to get in here,” the guard said apologetically. “I’m so sorry to disturb you, Your Highness.”
“It’s fine. Let him in.” My heart jumped at the sight of him. He’d not drowned, but how had he managed to get all the way back here when I’d clearly seen him fall from the ship? Ari hadn’t brought him back. He’d not even seen him under the water. I thought back to the size of the waves as he’d been thrown overboard. I couldn’t imagine how he’d managed to survive.
Lucy gave him a frown. “Are you sure, Erica? Under the circumstances...”
Josh was still soaking wet and was dripping sea water all over the floor. He looked at me urgently and pointed to his coat. The same coat he’d fallen overboard in.
“It’s ok, Lucy.”
She moved back to let Josh in, but I could see she wasn’t pleased about it.
“My mother is dying,” I explained to Josh as he entered the infirmary. I wanted to ask him how he’d survived, how he’d got here so quickly, but my mother’s time was running out quickly.
“I know. Why do you think I came here? Why do you think I dodged three palace guards and had to break a window to get to you? Because I knew it would take too long to explain to the guards if I tried getting in through the front door.”
“Is this a friend of yours Erica?” piped up Anthony, “Because I think his presence here is highly inappropriate.”
For once, I agreed with my brother. I was confused about his being here and ridiculously happy to see that he hadn’t drowned, but the truth of the matter was, I had barely any time left with my mother, and I didn’t want to waste the little I did have.
“Josh. I’m really happy you are alive. I think Astrid and Hayden are in the palace somewhere. Why don’t you find them? I’ll ask one of the servants to get you all something to eat and maybe find you a towel and a change of clothes.”
Instead of turning back to the door, he opened his coat and pulled out a large iron ring which he threw at my mother’s bed, landing just by her hand. With the diameter of a dinner plate, it looked like a wedding ring for a giant except with more rust.
“What do you think you are
doing?” Anthony growled, stepping round Clement so he could get to Josh. Before he was even halfway around, the ring began to glow. At first, it was localized to only the ring, but then the warm glow moved into my mother’s hand. As it crept up her arm, I turned my head back to Josh. His eyes were closed, and his arms outstretched pointing toward the ring.
“What’s happening?” asked Anthony, having lost some of that bluster.
I shook my head, turning my attention back to my mother. “I don’t know,” I replied, but that wasn’t quite the truth. I’d seen this glow before, and I’d felt the warmth it produced and the slight crackle in the air. This was magic. The same magic Acania had used on Ari only now it seemed that it was Josh performing it.
Just as Ari’s had, my mother’s pale skin got its color back and she no longer looked on the verge of death. As I reached out for her, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. At the same moment, the light flickered, before going out completely and behind me, Josh fell to the floor.
“Lucy!” I called out, caught between wanting to hug my mother and help Josh. Anthony and Clement ran around my mother’s bed and helped me lift Josh onto the bed next to hers as Lucy rushed over. Josh was completely unconscious, but if he was anything like Acania, he would come around soon enough.
“What’s happening?” My mother’s voice came from the bed behind me. I turned and ran to her side, hugging her so hard, she might burst. The feeling of heat on my arm alerted me to the iron ring. It was glowing red with smoke coming from it.
My mother shifted away from it to keep from burning herself as it singed a black ring on the sheet beneath it.
It was Clement that dealt with it. He shouted out some mumbo jumbo that could have been a magic word, and the ring went back to how it was before my mother had woken up. The faint smell of burning filled the air, and I found myself surrounded by a number of confused people.
“The ring is magic,” I said, pointing out the obvious. How it had come to be in Josh’s possession and how he’d gotten it here were much more of a mystery.
Clement picked it up with his gloved hand and examined it closely. “This is an extremely powerful magical artifact,” he pronounced. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.”
As I peered closer to the ring that now looked utterly unspecial, I heard a moaning from behind me. It was Josh waking from his magical slumber.
“Lucy,” I called. “Can you give my mother a thorough checkup please?” I needed her away from Josh so I could find out how he’d saved her.
“I’m perfectly fine,” my mother fussed, but Lucy ran to get her stethoscope anyway. They were both headstrong women, but I had a feeling that Lucy would manage to win this one.
“Josh.” I sat beside him on the bed. His eyes appeared foggy, but after a few moments, they came back into focus.
When he saw me, he smiled. “Hi ya, Queenie.” He gave me his usual grin, and I knew he’d be ok.
“The ring saved her. My mother is going to be okay.”
He turned his head and watched as Lucy argued with my mother over the importance of having her heart listened to.
His grin, turned into a much softer smile as he laid his head back on the pillow.
“What happened?” I asked him. “I thought you’d drowned. Ari said that he couldn’t find you.”
Josh’s eyebrows knitted together. “Ari tried looking for me?”
“Yes. He jumped in right after you went overboard. He tried to save you, but you’d disappeared.”
Josh looked surprised at this. “I thought you’d be happy to see the last of me, to be honest.”
I heard his words and immediately felt bad. I must have treated him pretty poorly if he felt that way.
“When Acania flew over her island before helping Ari, I realized that she was just like me,” Josh explained. “She isn’t magic herself, but she can channel it through an object. Unlike me, she can store it. That’s why she glowed when she saved Ari’s life. It was the magic. I knew there had to be something on the island that gave it to her, so when she wasn’t looking, I climbed over the rocks and searched the island. I might not be magic, but I know it. I found this ring pretty quickly. It was held to the land by concrete. Most people wouldn’t be able to move it, but for someone who can work magic through objects, it was easy enough to touch it and use its own magic against it. It slid through the concrete like butter.”
I thought back to when they both went overboard. Just before that big wave knocked them over, Josh was showing something hidden under his coat to Acania. It must have been the ring.
“So how did you get back?”
Josh’s face lit up. However he’d managed it, he was sure proud of himself.
“I used the ring. Its magic is based in water, so casting a breathing spell was pretty easy. The ring itself is heavy, which meant I dropped quickly towards the ocean floor, but once I figured out the right spell, I let it use magic to propel me through the water. As soon as I hit land, I came straight here. The ring will recharge itself, and we can use it to help your friends in Havfrue.”
A thought suddenly struck me. “What happened to Acania? She went overboard with you.”
Josh’s expression immediately changed. “Ah. Well, the thing is, she wasn’t too pleased to see that I’d stolen the ring. Without it, the sirens can’t mask their true selves. They have no magic without it. Your sea witch must have found some other way to channel magic. There are plenty of magical objects under the sea if you look for them. ”
“I can imagine.” She would be furious no doubt. “What exactly happened to her?”
Josh shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Once we’d gone over, I didn’t see her. Perhaps she drowned.”
Acania drowning would certainly solve all our problems, but she had both wings and a tail and had no problem breathing both in and out of the water. No, she was still alive. There was no doubt in my mind that she was fit and well out there somewhere, and when she realized we’d brought the ring back here, she’d come and find us. Whether she’d be able to hurt us without the ring, I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to chance it.
I headed to the infirmary door. The disgruntled guard who’d fought with Josh earlier was still there. He bowed when he saw me.
“Can you fetch John to see me, please? Tell him it’s very important.”
John was by my side within five minutes. It was almost as if he’d been waiting for me to call him.
“Your Highness, how is...”
“Mother is fine. Her illness has passed.” I assured him. His eyes opened wide as he took the information in and I knew then he was expecting me to tell him she was dead. That’s why he’d gotten to me so quickly. “Lucy is taking very good care of her. It is another matter I need your help with.”
The relief on his face was obvious. He and my mother got on well. She was more than his boss, she was his friend too. “I’m so very glad to hear about the queen. I’m afraid I feared the worst. How can I be of assistance to you?”
“Later on, I’ll be going out to see Ari. I think I’ll be fine, but there is a slight possibility that a group of...of sirens might turn up on our beaches.”
John raised an eyebrow. I knew what he was thinking. No one believed in sirens. Not that anyone had believed in merpeople before I started dating Ari.
“They are strange creatures. They are humanoid although some have wings and most have tails. Some have legs. They steal body parts like the sea witch did. Their skin is mottled and mossy. They are hard to describe, but you’ll know one when you see one.”
John scrunched up his nose in distaste. “What would you like me to do when I spot one, Your Highness?”
“I don’t want you personally to go looking for one.”
I heard the sigh of relief escape his lips.
“I want you to send our guards out to the shore. As many as you think we can spare. If they spot the sirens tell them to capture them. ”
“I’m on it,” H
e nodded his head briskly “And once again, I’m so very glad to hear that your mother is well. Please pass on my regards.”
I gave him a smile and said I would. I was just about to head back into the Infirmary when I heard a shrill ear-piercing scream come from the infirmary
The Mermaid’s Tail
Both John and I ran through the door at breakneck speed. Inside I found Lucy finishing up her exam on my mother with everyone else staring at them. As I got closer, it became apparent why.
The magic from the sea witch had been taken from her in its entirety. Where her legs had been, there was now a tail. She had turned back into the mermaid she once was. Judging by the expression on her face, she wasn’t entirely pleased with it. Josh had already jumped out of bed and was trying to prise the ring from Clement’s hand, and Anthony was just standing there, shell-shocked at our mother’s tail.
Blue Water (A Little Mermaid Reverse Fairytale Book 2) Page 16