Page 31

R aising my arms over my face, I screamed. This was it. This was how I died. My eyes screwed shut as the nightmarish blood orange suckers swung towards me. I hoped Adriana would be able to save the baby, at least. Maybe then the beast would let my friends out alive and with enough of the cure to save Prince Raphael.

Everything would be alright.

But my heart still ached. I’d never get to see Lukas again. That certainly wouldn’t be alright. At least I’d never have to face him about sneaking off to the merfolk. I could almost hear his loud, chiding voice in my head:

‘Naria, where in the underrealm have you been?’ and ‘Get up, damn you, right now and run! I don’t know what this is, but I can’t hold it for much longer.’

My brows drew together. What ? Why would he say that? Then I sucked in a gasp. A very real gasp. I was still thinking, feeling. Alive. I was still alive!

‘Yes, you are, now damn it, get up and get out of here. Now!’

“What in the—” My eyes shot open before squinting at the golden light that surrounded me. A wall of bubbles domed over my body. It shimmered with gold from the light that poured out from the skin of the very last person I expected to see here.

“Please tell me this is a dream,” Lukas’s voice shook. His arm held mine up against the protective wall of bubbles while, outside, the beast continued its relentless attack. As Lukas held me, the shield seemed to radiate from the fizzling blue crystals on my wrist. Everytime I moved my arm, the shield moved with it.

“It’s not a dream,” I muttered.

When another tentacle slammed against the bubbles, Lukas winced as his glowing body buckled. “I wasn’t lying when I said I couldn’t hold whatever this is for much longer. You need to save yourself, forest princess. Get out of there!”

“But I have to save the baby first,” I blurted.

“ Baby ?”

Whipping my head around, a relieved sigh crossed my lips when I spotted the smaller beast within the domed shield. “There you are.” I smiled, edging towards him. My arm stayed up with Lukas’s, carrying the shield along with us.

“What are you doing? And, damn it, where are you?” he hissed. “I can’t see anything except for you and…” His tone turned deadly. “Are you underwater?”

“Not important right now.” Ignoring his protests, I parted the quivering child’s tentacles until I found the spear tip again. “Be strong now, little one,” I whispered. “Please, be strong.” With a wince, I tugged on the embedded tip.

The child writhed, screeching, but finally, after a little wriggling, the tip popped out like a stubborn thorn. Immediately, dozens of tiny glowing creatures flocked to his wound. After a few seconds, the green cloud cleared to reveal perfect, uncut skin.

“We did it!” I squealed. The child shrieked with me, for once more out of joy than fear.

“What did we do?” Lukas asked, but I was too busy letting the child’s tentacles explore my hair to answer him.

Another crash against the bubble wall caught my attention though.

“Naria…” Lukas urged.

“It’s alright,” I said, letting a stray tentacle curl around my wrist. Turning to the baby, my voice turned desperate. “I don’t know if you can understand me. But someone out there is really worried about you, and you need to show them that you’re okay and that we’re not here to hurt either of you. We just want to help our friend.” I held his tentacle as his beady eyes met mine. “A child, just like you.”

The small orange beast blinked slowly, as if actually considering me. Then, without a word, he pushed away from my side and pawed at the bubble wall.

My shoulders sagged, but still, I turned back to Lukas. “You’re going to have to break this shield.”

“Are you safe?” He grasped my arm.

I glanced at the roaring creature still thrashing her tentacles against the side of the dome. “I will be. Hopefully.”

“ Naria .” The low, warning way he growled my name made my belly flutter, but I pushed aside the feeling to focus on the timing of the swinging tentacles.

“I’ll tell you when to do it,” I said, studying her movements. One swing. Two swings.

“Are you certain?”

Half a swing— “Now!” I dove towards the bubble wall. Somehow, the golden light darkened just as the bubbles fizzled out, sending me crashing into a nearby clump of seaweed.

“Naria!” Two familiar voices cried from somewhere else in the cave. The giant beast roared, turning her tentacles towards me.

“Don’t hurt the baby!” I yelled to the others. Scrambling through the grass, I yelped as a tentacle sliced just inches from my ear. Another slammed down in front of me, circling me, then trapping me in its rapidly shrinking grip.

I gasped. Its grip tightened. And moments before I was almost killed for the second time in one night, the giant tentacle crushing my spine froze. Shuddering slightly, the beast made an odd sort of purring noise, then released me from her deadly arm to retreat to the centre of the cave.

Collapsing to the sand, I coughed and sputtered until, finally, I lifted my head. Both beasts, mother and child, were circling each other. The mother’s eyes became wide, then softened as the smaller beast nuzzled his forehead against hers.

“ It has a baby? ” Adriana’s jaw hung open. The bright pearl around her neck cast the two creatures in a soft white light.

Arenn drew closer to her side, panting. “Shall I kill them both?”

“Absolutely not,” I yelled. Pushing up from the sand, I swam towards my friends. “They’re not harmful at all. She was just…” My eyes turned watery as I watched their reunion.

“Protecting her baby,” Adriana finished for me, swiping away a tear. We all stayed silent as the child nuzzled against its mother, while the larger beast let out a grateful purr.

I couldn’t hide the smile that pulled at my cheeks. Ancients, it felt good to help someone – even if that someone was a lot less human than my usual patients.

I tried not to think about how I probably didn’t have many patients left to heal. Especially considering I’d be returning to Drothmore soon, and then Corlixir…

“What happened down there?” Arenn jerked his chin towards the swaying reeds where I’d saved the child. When I followed his gaze, my brows drew together. Lukas was gone, the water bare of any golden light, as if he’d never been there at all.

Did I imagine the whole thing? Surely not…

Before I could even begin to explain, a smile lit up Adriana’s face. “It was my dear cousin, wasn’t it?” She swished her tail gleefully. “All we could see were bubbles, but when they glowed gold I just knew it’d be him! Unless, of course, you somehow managed to charm two merfolk blessed with the Gift?”

“Lukas was here?” Arenn’s voice turned gravelly.

Ignoring him, I dove towards Adriana. “Tell me about this ‘Gift’,” I demanded. “Please.” If Lukas liked his secrets so much, he could keep them. But I wasn’t leaving this cave without prying some sort of information out of Adriana.

The mermaid’s emerald eyes glittered. “What do you want to know?”

“How does it work?” I started. “What does it do? I’ve tried asking Lukas about it but he won’t tell me anything. It’s like he’s—”

“Scared of it?” Adriana folded her arms. “Perfectly normal for those born with the Divine Gift.” She shrugged. “It’s powerful. And sometimes uncontrollable. Those with the Gift have been known to strike people down without even meaning to if their emotions are running high enough.”

Visions of thunderclouds and sudden bursts of lightning rolled through my mind. “Just like that time when those goblins grabbed me in the forest,” I wondered out loud.

“What happened in the forest?” Arenn demanded, swimming between us.

“Forget I said anything.” I brushed him off, focusing only on Adriana. “What else can the Gift do? Heal people?”

“Yes.” But she winced as she spoke. “Though the healing comes with a cost.”

“A life for a life, human,” Arenn said, forcing my mind back to the weakened servant in the library. “Perhaps your charming king is not so charming after all.”

“He couldn’t have known.” I scowled. “Lukas is a good man.”

“And a powerful one too,” Adriana carried on, ignoring the faery prince. “Those with the Gift can summon and wield a water dragon!”

“Lukas has a dragon?” My eyes widened.

“I wouldn’t call it that.” Arenn folded his arms, huffing. “It’s barely a wet snake.”

“It’s definitely a dragon,” Adriana smirked before turning back to me. “When we were little, Lyssandra would summon hers whenever the palace kitchen staff had baked a fresh batch of crab cakes. As soon as the cakes were ready, she’d bring out her dragon and all the staff would run off, screaming. Then we could eat as much as we wanted, and no one could stop us!”

While she cackled, I shuddered. The memory of the giant serpent-like beast that Lyssandra had summoned to murder King Ikelos was still fresh in my mind. It was hard to believe a beast like that could be summoned by a child.

And that Lukas had one too… Did he know?

Shaking my head, I softened my tone. “How many others have the Gift?”

“It’s rare,” she continued. “After Ikelos forced Aunt Erissa to drink that potion and lose her Gift to Lyssandra, I know of only two others who carry it.”

Two others? Lukas, and… who else? Before I could ask her, my gaze caught on something twinkling by the floor of the cave. A gasp flew from my lips.

Tiny green creatures now covered the sandy floor, swirling and clumping together like tufts of grass. There were so many, and with more twinkling into existence every few seconds, the entire cave now pulsed with vibrant green light. No one would ever believe that this cave had once been so dark you couldn’t see your fingers through the gloom.

“The cure.” Adriana gasped at the glowing clouds.

“It must’ve been so concentrated on the child’s wound that there wasn’t any left to light up the cave before.” I glanced at the pair of giant orange sea creatures, still absorbed in their reunion. “Poor things.” My chest ached as I tried not to think about just how long they’d been stuck here.

“You still have your net?” Adriana’s question tore my focus away. Plucking hers from the sash around her waist, she eyed the nearest cloud hungrily.

“Of course.” I grasped my net with a smile. Prince Raphael would be cured by noon, and maybe, just maybe, Lukas would forgive me enough to still let me marry him this evening.