Ocean of Sapphires (Jewel Academy Book 4)

by Jami Klein

  I threw another silence spell over the shaman. His chanting immediately stopped. Stefan disemboweled him and I sat down hard on my butt. The shifters ripped the guards apart until they looked like sushi. It took everything I had not to vomit.

  Andrei’s eyes were red and his fangs were on display. The blood lust had hit him. I wasn’t sure if it was watching Magee take down the guards or if it was the stress of the situation. He looked for his next victim. I flinched back when his gaze hit mine.

  He advanced on me.

  “Break the chains on Mr. Urso,” I said in his mind.

  I didn’t get through the raging red cloud of his mind. He pounced on me. I hit him with a command.

  “Off!”

  He sprung off me just as fast. Andrei’s entire body shook as he fought me. I didn’t want to do this to him, but I couldn’t let him attack us. “Break the chains.” I used my mindbender powers. It was easy. He obeyed instantly. I was caught between sobbing and throwing up. In the end, I did neither as Andrei freed Mr. Urso.

  Stefan had found the keys and was freeing all of the shifters. Andrei waited expectantly for his next commands.

  “Cool down from the bloodlust.”

  Janine and the Unkindness shifted back and hugged me.

  “Are you guys all right?”

  “We lost Bobby,” Janine said sadly.

  I remembered Bobby as a shy boy with a penchant for collecting buttons. It was like someone had punched me in the stomach.

  “What’s the plan?” Janine said.

  “Mr. Urso will get you to the surface safely. The vampires and Enforcer are already on their way. We’re going to free the witches.”

  “The guards are the heaviest down there,” Mr. Urso said. “You’re going to need our help.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t want to risk anyone else. Miss Carrier can help us. And the mages will work together. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Mr. Urso steadied himself on the cave wall, and then shifted into a bear. He roared and it was pure pandemonium as shifters of all species came thundering up to him. He roared the again and they followed him up to the surface.

  “Andrei are you with me?”

  He nodded, but he had the same blank look my mother had after I had bent her mind.

  “What’s with him?” Stefan said.

  “Why did you attack?”

  “There wasn’t any other choice. We need to move and free the witches. Argue with me later.” He took off through my silence spell, deeper into the cave. I went running after him.

  “We’re not invisible.”

  Andrei tagged along next to me. We ran past the bucket loads and bucket loads of stones of all shapes and colors. They looked just like shiny rocks to me. They weren’t worth killing my classmates for.

  But I guess they must've been worth something to the merfolk. Enough to do all of this evil. As we were running towards them, a patrol was running towards us.

  “No shaman,” I said. All they saw was three free humans. They couldn’t know what we had done.

  "Just like the ghouls,” Stefan said.

  “And me without my shovel,” I joked and looked at Andrei, but he was still staring blankly at me awaiting his next command. He was going to hate me when this wore off and I couldn’t blame him.

  “Worry about it later,” Stefan said.

  He was right. “Kill all the merfolk you see,” I ordered Andrei and pointed.

  Six against two had been decent odds hours ago, but Stefan and Andrei were tired. Andrei fought with his teeth and nails, fading in and out of his mist form. Stefan was full lion, doing the best he could in the watery terrain.

  I stood back and racked my brain on what I could do to help in the fight. Obviously my elemental spells like lightning bolt, whirlpool, or fireball wouldn't be as effective down here. A fireball spell would probably not do anything more than just blow them back. A water tornado or whirlpool might harm Stefan and Andrei.

  At least these guys had minds to control. But since the language barrier was jamming some of the punch from my mind spells, I just used images. In the merfolk brains, I showed them a picture of the witches coming up behind them with an angry blue dragon.

  It worked – sort of. The merfolk panicked and rushed by Andrei and Stefan and were headed right at me. Two were dead. Andrei and Stefan were working on dispatching the other two. And that left two more headed my way.

  “Run for your lives,” I cried, diving out of their way.

  They rushed by me.

  It gave us time. Stefan and Andrei were ready for them when the spell faded and they immediately came back.

  “They have to know we’re coming,” I said.

  “I hope they haven’t killed anyone else,” Stefan said.

  We went deeper into the cave until we saw two groups of merfolk. I recognized Grantaire on the ground. A spear was embedded deep in his chest. His eyes were open and blank.

  “No,” I screamed. I screamed out all my rage, my frustration, my grief, my anger. I screamed mentally directing that at the merfolk. All twelve of them dropped to their knees, with their hands over their heads.

  I kept it up as grief replaced anger. Andrei and Stefan killed three of them before I collapsed to the ground next to Grantaire. He was dead. I wasn't sure I could even make a coherent sentence anymore.

  “Hurry.” Stefan caught me by my arm and dragged behind him. “We need to free the witches.”

  “Grantaire,” I whimpered.

  “Too late for him.”

  Around the next curve, a shaman had a knife to Serena Bleak’s throat. Each of the other five had Kim, Terry, Betty, and two other witches in the same matter.

  “No,” I whispered.

  The grief built up and I blasted it out. “No!”

  It paralyzed the merfolk enough for Andrei and Stefan to disarm them. The six witches turned and dispatched their captors with spells. I was spent on the floor of the cave. I could only watch as Serena ran over to Andrei.

  “The rest of us are chanting to keep the dragon from waking up. We can’t take the chance of stopping or the dragon will eat us.” She shook Andrei. “Andrei? What’s wrong with you?” Serena looked at me. “What did you do to him?”

  “Miss Carrier,” I said, trying to get to my feet.

  “Serena, can you make me invisible?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “Come with me and I’ll free Miss Carrier and she can tell us what to do.” Stefan looked at me. “Pull yourself together.”

  “Yeah.” Serena sneered and cast her spell. They both disappeared.

  Kim and Terry helped me to my feet.

  “Thanks,” I said. “We’re here to rescue you.” I explained what had happened.

  “We’re going to go invisible and swim up,” Betty said.

  “Good luck,” I said and hugged them. “Take Andrei with you.”

  Andrei looked up at me when I said his name.

  “Go into mist form and follow them until they’re back on the ship.”

  “No,” he said.

  “No?” I blinked in surprise.

  He still looked dazed, but he was back to himself.

  “We’ll see you on the surface,” Betty said. The three of them disappeared.

  “Andrei,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  He swallowed hard. “You did what you had to do. I attacked you. But we can talk about that later. Let’s go help Stefan free the witches without waking that dragon.”

  Easier said than done.

  Chapter Nine

  I could barely hold myself upright. The strain of holding the invisibility spells for so long, and then screaming into the void to shut down the mermen minds had taken a toll. Andrei slung his arm around me, and half carried me into the next section.

  Serena and Stefan had made short work of the guards. Priscilla and all the other witches were still chanting. I could see a mound of sapphires behind a magical barrier that was being fed by their song.

&
nbsp; “Can’t they stop?” I asked Miss Carrier who was talking with Stefan and Serena.

  “Are you crazy? The barrier is the only thing separating us from that beast.”

  I didn’t see a beast. Feeling a little stronger, I pushed away from Andrei and walked up the barrier.

  “What is she doing?” Miss Carrier said. “She’ll kill us all if that comes down.”

  “She’s gotten us this far,” Stefan said.

  I felt Andrei at my back.

  Looking through the barrier, I searched the pile of sparkling sapphires until two eyes the size of footballs opened up and stared back at me.

  “Hi,” I tried to touch its mind. “We were here against their will. I'd like to take my friends and go.”

  “GO!” It shouted, blowing me flat on my back.

  “Lola,” Stefan said.

  “It said for us to go,” I said, staring up at the ceiling of the cave.

  “He’s letting us go?” Miss Carrier said.

  The dragon’s head emerged from the pile of sapphires.

  “Go.”

  This time everyone heard it.

  “Stop chanting. Turn invisible and swim to the surface,” Miss Carrier said.

  One by one, they did. I caught Priscilla’s eyes before she left. She was crying and her face was red. I realized I didn’t see Abigail or Maya.

  “The merfolk killed them,” Priscilla said. “for disobeying. The shamans were controlling the teachers too. They need to pay.”

  Andrei pushed her and Serena out of the cave. “They paid. You’ll see when you get out of here. We’re right behind you.”

  Stefan growled.

  I turned back and the barrier was done. Miss Carrier and the other witches were all invisible and hopefully gone. We were the only three left. The dragon had completely uncoiled himself from his sapphires and stepped forward. If it wanted to attack, we were done for. He wasn’t as big as Mrs. Barnes, but he was still a large dragon.

  “The merfolk have paid?” it asked.

  “They’re dead and their city is destroyed,” Andrei said.

  “How?”

  “We came with a dragon of our own,” I said. “She took down the dome and my friends and I rescued our classmates.”

  “What color was the dragon you came with?”

  “Black,” I said.

  The dragon reared back. “Black dragons are not to be trusted.”

  “Her name is Onyx,” Andrei said.

  “Oh,” the dragon settled. “That’s all right then. I’m Azure.”

  I gave Andrei a look and he shrugged.

  “Speaking of black dragons,” I said. “You wouldn't happen to know about Obsidian, would you?”

  Azure snarled. His tail slashed down and blue sapphires flew everywhere. Stefan ducked as several came careening towards him.

  “Obsidian was imprisoned for his crimes. He would've the endangered all dragonkind. He wanted to be worshiped. He demanded human sacrifices, burned farms and ate livestock. Humans starved and did not want to live in peace because of him. All dragons were hunted to near extinction so many centuries ago. The most powerful among us sealed him away. Onyx was one of them.”

  “You don’t say,” I said.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “The man who killed my father is looking to free Obsidian, and he has everything he needs except for a stone called the Blood of the Ruby.”

  “He will not find it.”

  “Are you sure?” I said. “Is it secure like this lair?”

  “Lola,” Andrei said, warningly. He tugged on my arm.

  “We have to make sure Zadachin can’t get it. Why were the merfolk stealing your hoard?”

  "Greed is a good enough reason. Or perhaps they wanted to purchase something that they normally could not have been able to afford.”

  “This is a lot of money. What could they possibly want to buy with it?”

  “I do not know,” Azure said. “This is not money to me. It is my hoard. My treasure. I keep it safe and it comforts me. I don't mind if a few pieces go missing here and there, but they were taking bucket loads out. I will have to go out and retrieve them. You'll come with me.”

  “We need to get back to our ship,” I said.

  “We can talk along the way.”

  Stefan, Andrei and I walked out of the cave in front of Azure.

  “I suppose I can ask who is selling things that my hoard could buy.”

  We climbed up the ladders, but Azure could barely squeeze his head through. He powered through and crashed it wide open. The merfolk’s dome was completely gone. The city was in complete chaos. We passed sapphires laying abandoned in barrels. I watched in astonishment as he ate the sapphires out of the containers.

  “Well, that's one way to carry them," Andrei said.

  “I wish to speak with Onyx. You may climb on my back and grab hold of my dorsal fins.”

  Today was the day for dragon rides apparently. I grabbed ahold of one leathery fin and secured myself on Azure’s back. Stefan and Andrei did the same. Azure shot up to the surface so fast I didn’t have time to worry about stray merfolk. He poked his head up and swam on top until he caught sight of Mrs. Barnes. She was on the ship. Azure floated towards her until he was looking straight up at her. They stared at each other for a while, as if they were talking. I couldn't hear them either telepathically or in any other way. After a few moments, Mrs. Barnes said, “Come children, get aboard. We will be leaving shortly.”

  “Not her,” Azure said. “I have something to show her.”

  “She goes, we go.” Stefan said.

  “Andrei get on the boat,” Mrs. Barnes said.

  “I'm sorry but I'm not going to argue with her when she's in this form,” Andrei said.

  “I don't blame you,” I said.

  Andrei gripped my hand. “I don’t blame you either.”

  I blinked back tears. “Thanks. I’ll see you back at the school.”

  “You better.” He turned into mist and re-emerged on the ship next to his mother.

  “Stefan, you don't have to do this.”

  But by the time I got the sentence out, we were already back underwater. Azure took us through the broken city and whatever merfolk remained screamed and hid. The warriors were gone. I was both shocked and sad that the entire city had been destroyed, but they had killed my classmates and were going to make slaves out of some of them and use the rest for food.

  I couldn't find it in me to feel guilty about the havoc that I helped bring down upon the city. They had made a choice and they captured the wrong boat of humans.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked. I wasn't as if I was in a big hurry to get back to the Jewel Academy, but I was going to run into some serious problems in about ten hours when my water breathing potion wore off.

  “You're looking to keep the Blood of the Ruby away from the man who killed your father?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Do you know where it is?”

  “I do, but in order for us to seal it off you're going to need to tell your story to another dragon.”

  “Does he live in the ocean too?”

  “No, I can bring you as the African coastline, but then you will have to find Rose in her lair and tell her what you’ve told me.”

  “Africa?” Stefan said.

  “Um, how long will it take us to get there? Because our potions of water breathing are going to wear out, and then we will drown.”

  “Cast the spell again.”

  “I can’t. It was a drink that we took.”

  “Unfortunate,” Azure said.

  For a moment I thought he was still going to swim us to our doom. “I suppose I could have Rose come to you. It may take a while. I will return you to the ship.”

  “You don't have to right away,” I said.

  “He probably wants to get back to his hoard,” Stefan said between his teeth.

  “I've been asleep all these years. It will be to be nice to survey some of my kingdom before
going back to rest.”

  Stefan groaned.

  After a whirlwind tour of the undersea area, up and down the Atlantic coast, Azure poked his head up. Even though it was several hours later, the ship was still where we had left it.

  Mrs. Barnes was glaring down at us.

  “Thank you, Azure,” I said. “I’ll wait for Rose or a message.” And with the last bit of magic I could force from my exhausted body, I levitated Stefan and me up to the ship.

  Chapter Ten

  It didn't occur to me until the day of the winter Yule ball that I didn't have a dress to wear. I didn't have a mom who was willing to take me shopping, or a not-mom who thought about me enough to send a dress. What I did have, however, was a black dragon whose hoard was a magical library in Jewel Academy. Mrs. Barnes caught me crying by the Pearl of Wisdom.

  She loaned me the dress she wore to the Yule ball when she went with my father. Miss Carrier definitely recognized it and if her glare could shoot laser beams, I’d be fried crispy.

  All it had taken was a little magic to make it fit perfectly. It made me feel a little bit closer to my father. It was a deep burgundy. The shiny satin fabric caught the twinkling white lights. I liked the way it flared up when I twirled around the ballroom floor with Andrei.

  The gymnasium was decorated with several denominations in mind. Hanging from pine garlands were the traditional Christmas type glass ornaments. There were also candles burning in a menorah, platters of food in a cornucopia, and other symbols to represent the different religions of the Jewel Academy students. Wherever you looked there were wreaths of fragrant pine and glittery snow. A cheesy silver disco ball spun sending shards of light and glitter over the gymnasium. It was a night of joy in anticipation of the new year.

  Andrei and I had completed our blood contract earlier in the week, shortly after we got back from the Long Island sound. I was surprised that I was emotional about the ending. I didn't want to be a pincushion. And I certainly didn't want to be a permanent blood donor. But for those few moments every month, I felt connected to someone because he needed me. Now, I just had to find out if Andrei wanted to be more than friends even though I wouldn’t share my blood with him. No matter how much I missed it.