Page 14

Clarissa

I gazed over the waters of the Avonige Ocean from the stern of the ship.

We’d left my empire behind six days ago to set sail for Mysthelm, and watching the retreating shores of the only land I’d ever known was like saying goodbye to a part of me, especially since I had no clue what to expect in the new kingdom.

I’d felt it the moment we crossed out of Veridia’s borders.

Magic only existed within the empire, and once you left the boundaries, it disappeared.

It was as if my magic was suffocated and buried deep in a locked box inside me, where I could never access it again.

My fox half wouldn’t so much as stir. It was the most helpless, most vulnerable sensation I’d ever felt.

Like someone had shoved an arm through my spirit and clamped a hand around it, stifling its wild nature.

Silencing my magic. Losing a piece of myself made me jittery and anxious, defenseless against anything that might seek me harm.

It affected everyone around me. The small Veridian crew, my guards, and my mother could all feel it. The hole where our powers once rested, the quiet that used to be thriving magic. A sensation you couldn’t quite place that made you think something vital was missing .

Even now, six days later, it was like I couldn’t draw a full breath. I didn’t know how I was going to make it four more weeks like this.

Suffice it to say, we were a fun group to be around right now.

I held up a hand to block the sun as it came from behind a cloud, its rays sparkling across the blue waters.

Not many people in the last three hundred years since the War of Beginnings had traveled this far—or left Veridian borders at all.

Before the war, relations between Mysthelm and the Veridian Empire were fairly amicable, but as it so often does, the idea of power corrupted everything it touched.

The Fates—the closest thing we had to deities—had long ago imbued the small, uninhabited island in the center of our empire with their power.

Power that later translated into the six kinds of magic gifted to Veridians: spell casting, light bending, shadow wielding, illusions of the mind, traveling between space, and shifting into an animal form.

The three Fates issued a prophecy to us and to Mysthelm: whoever could conquer this land would be given its magic.

And so, the War of Beginnings was born. A brutal war that spanned across both our lands and affected hundreds of thousands of people. All because everyone wanted what the Fates had to offer: a magic our kind hadn’t seen or heard of in our entire existence.

The Veridian Empire won, leading to our provinces each receiving a portion of the magic, giving us our unique magical abilities. We closed ourselves off from the rest of the world and, as far as I knew, had no contact with Mysthelm in centuries.

We hadn’t exactly parted on friendly terms. I wanted to change that. Apparently King Galen Grimaldi did too. Although he sailed way past friends and straight to wife .

“How are you doing?” my mother asked from behind me. She approached in her light blue cotton dress that fluttered in the breeze. Her gray-and-blonde hair was in a bun at the top of her head, a pair of bifocals resting on the bridge of her nose.

“Fine,” I said absently. “Ready to be on solid ground again.”

She brushed my hair back. “You should wear a hat. Something to cover your skin before it burns. I can already feel this heat getting to me.”

She wasn’t wrong. As we’d traveled farther south, the air had grown denser, and sweat stuck to the back of my neck even in my sleep. Our summers in the capital were hot, but it was a dry heat—not this wet, heavy warmth that made every breath feel like drowning.

“Excuse me, Your Grace,” a crew member said as he dipped his head toward my mother, then me. “Your Majesty, look out the front of the ship.”

He beckoned us forward, and I exchanged a look with Mother before shrugging and following him across the wooden planks, around the captain’s quarters in the center of the quarter deck, and to the bow.

“Welcome to Mysthelm,” he said, eyes fixed to a spot beyond the waters. Sure enough, looming ahead was a massive stretch of tan land.

We had made it.

I could barely make out tiny groupings of tall, skinny trees with what looked like drooping leaves dotting the landscape. They reminded me of palm trees I’d seen in drawings of the beaches in Iluze. When I squinted, I saw?—

Something slammed into the bottom of the ship, making it rock precariously. I grabbed on to Mother with one hand and the railing with my other. Around us, the crew jerked to attention.

“What was that?” I asked the nearest man.

“We’re not sure, Your Majesty. The lookout hasn’t reported any obstructions in our path.”

Another thud echoed around us, coming from beneath this time. The waves surrounding the ship were no longer rippling and peaceful but choppy and wild. The vessel rocked hard enough that Mother and I had to grip the railing with both hands to avoid toppling over.

Crewmembers shouted behind us as they tried to locate the source of the attack. Barks of commands and creaking of wood beneath feet met my ears, but my focus was on something else.

I leaned forward over the rail, my lips parting at what I saw on the surface. “Are those…are those fish ?”

Hundreds of little bubbles appeared in the water, followed by multicolored, scaly bodies. Some as small as my little finger, others as big as my arm, spread out around the front of the boat and beyond.

All of them, dead.

Sucking in a breath, I raced over to the left side of the ship.

I was met with the same sight: dozens and dozens of sea creatures had floated to the surface, unmoving, save for the swaying of the water that carried them along.

As the ship moved forward, I heard something clunk against wood.

A few seconds later, a massive splash came from the back of the ship.

My mother and I both scurried toward the sound and found the body of an enormous beast bobbing above the waves.

Mother gasped. I stepped closer, taking in its length, easily sixty feet long.

Its underbelly was dark gray, rough, and thick, with grooves running along the side.

It remained motionless, even as the bodies of other sea creatures bumped into its protruding fins.

A whale .

I’d never seen one in person before—besides the time Leo and I had raced to the southern coast of Veridia City as teenagers, and I thought I’d glimpsed one from a distance jumping out of the water. What could have possibly killed one of these magnificent beasts? And was it after us next?

“We have to get to shore. Now ,” I commanded, spinning on my heels to find the captain. Before I could take another step, something large and white landed at my feet with a resounding crash. Feathers flew into the air, and it took all of my willpower to not let out a screech.

Another one fell into the ocean behind me, sending up a spray of salt water.

I cursed. What was happening ?

Shadows spilled over the deck, and I frantically looked to the sky, expecting to see a torrent of dead birds preparing to drop on our heads.

No birds. But what greeted me still sent chills down my spine. I grabbed my mother, pushing her toward the steps that would take her below deck.

“You have to get under cover before this storm hits,” I said when she tried to protest.

In what seemed like a single second, the sky had gone from bright blue and sunny to an angry sea of dark clouds.

The waves picked up speed, rolling and crashing into the side of the ship, dousing us with drops of water.

Seaweed and rocks had broken off from beneath the surface and now swirled with the dead creatures, their movements morbidly graceful as they danced and weaved in the storm.

Booms of thunder rang out. The ship jostled unsteadily, and men scrambled above the deck to man their stations. The captain ran forward when he saw me. “Your Majesty, you need to move below before you get?—”

Another peal of thunder sounded, and the skies opened, sending blankets of cold rain over us.

“—wet,” he finished with a splutter.

I gritted my teeth. “Just get us to shore!” I shouted over the cacophony of noise. “Preferably not dead.”

I was already soaked to the bone, my clothes clinging to me and my hair tangled around my neck. My shoes squelched as I plodded over the wood planks.

What had we gotten ourselves into?

Anxiety and irritation swelled in my gut as I glanced at the enigma out in the waters. All those dead creatures, this sudden storm, right as we reached the kingdom…something wasn’t right.

I hated not having answers. I hated not knowing what awaited us on those distant shores.

And I hated being wet.

Welcome to Mysthelm, indeed.