Page 30

I nstinctively, I tightened my hold on Riella as together we weaved through the hidden tunnels of Shen’s great wall, our hair trailing behind us while the majestic waters rippled soothingly against our scales.

But beneath us, I could feel the tension of the great dragon’s body, vibrating with something more than exertion, a worry that had his body coiling tightly around corners and his scales shifting with each deep dive.

I frowned. “Your wall runs north and south, cutting our oceans in half, this is not the way to The West Isles. Where do you take us?”

“Look and you shall see why.” Shen hissed softly in my mind.

I squinted in front of us. An eerie underwater grave of a great city appeared on our horizon. I shivered at its ghostly golden glow. “Atlantis.”

Shen boomed out loud. “Indeed! The bridge between worlds. Welcoming both humankind and land fae to join in worship with the mythical fae of the water.” He snorted .

The dragon shook his head, slithering to a floating stop just in front of the distinguished craftsmanship of the golden gates. It was as if neither water nor time had impacted its exalted yet looming presence.

My lips pressed into a thin line and I released Riella.

“I was there when the city fell.” I dismounted the dragon, sinking slowly with my eyes trained on the gates.

“My mother was still fighting in the frontlines during the blood wars, she sent me here for safety. I was young, too young.” I shook my head.

“I had no understanding of my full powers then. I could do nothing to stop it.”

I closed my eyes against the distant memory. The roaring of the ocean, the cries of the people being swallowed whole into a watery grave…

“Another failure.” I whispered.

Blinking back the tears, I looked down when a soft touch of a webbed hand joined mine. Riella’s colorful swirling eyes, echoing my own sadness, peered up at me.

Shen hummed. “It is my understanding that you dove in and saved many trapped inside before it was completely lost.”

I squeezed Riella’s hand and peered beyond the gates to the grand white marble columns.

Kira had been one of them…. “It made very little difference in the end.” I tilted my head when I felt a trace pull beckoning me forward.

“The city’s siren song still calls.” I turned to Shen, “why have you not returned Atlantis to the water fae?”

Shen hissed. “The water fae are selfish beings…they did not deserve this beautiful city then and they do not deserve it now. It was my greatest treasure once.” The dragon gave Riella a toothy smile, his giant orb eyes glowing with love. “It is my seaflower’s now.”

The faeling smiled wide and reached up to pat the array of purple-blue scales upon his great head. “Shen Shen’s mirage has kept it hidden.” She boasted, proud of her dragon.

My brows drew together and I crossed my arms suspiciously. “For a dragon, you give up your treasure easily.”

A frightening smile of teeth and fang descended upon me. “Do I, cousin?” Then he pulled away quickly, his nostrils flared and his sails stiffened. “The blood witch knows. You must go now! Within the city at the innermost sanctum you will find the whirlpools— ”

My arms fell to my sides. “The whirlpool portals are still active? After all this time!”

“Yes!” Shen hissed back.

“What is a whirlpool portal?” Riella asked with an eager gleam in her swirling colored eyes, ignorant of the dragon’s growing concern.

I glanced down at her. “They are a way to travel great distances, even between worlds. It was how humankind from Earth discovered Atlantis. They even named their ocean after it and told great stories about your people, the sirens of the sea.” I bared my teeth back at Shen.

“They even have folklore about great water serpents that sank ships to feast on their bones.”

The dragon bristled and puffed out a breath of annoyance. “Humans are hardly worth the effort nor the calories, but they did have other interesting cargo.”

I snickered. “Where does this whirlpool lead, dragon?”

Shen snarled, bearing his sharp fangs at me again. “It is time you learned to trust, or at the very least have some manners. Trust me when I say, I do not risk what is mine…ever.” He turned back towards the tiny fae child. “Seaflower—”

“No!” Riella rushed upwards and clung to her dragon.

I stiffened at the droplets of red tears trailing in her wake.

“Hush now, seaflower, you must stay with Remnant.” Shen hummed. “She and one other are the only ones I trust to protect you well enough.”

My head snapped up. “What other do you speak of, dragon?”

Shen ignored me and nuzzled against Riella more. “You will leave this place together and you both will need each other to survive what is to come. Will you promise me you’ll stay with Remnant, my treasured seaflower?”

“Yes.” She hiccuped and gripped the dragon tighter, her tiny body shaking with silent sobs.

The water dragon bowed his great head into her distraught form, his cerulean blue orbs peered directly at me, unashamed of the pooled tears silently being washed away by the now gentle current, as if the ocean also mourned with him.

I turned away, leaving him to his grief and swallowed down the bitter bite of my own. It burned in my throat as I buried it deep.

“You are my greatest treasure, little seaflower. I wish for you to have this. Something to remember me by. ”

Turning back around at the sudden glow in the water, I raised my arm and squinted through the brightness glowing around the dragon.

My eyes widened as I watched an ombre scale of purple-blue placed delicately on a silver chain floating through the ocean, to gracefully fall around the faeling’s small neck.

Riella’s bottom lip trembled and she clutched the purple-blue scale tightly. Without warning she reached to her side and with gritted teeth, wrenched a tiny black scale from her body, holding it proudly upwards while her body bled from her self inflicted wound before quickly healing.

“For you Shen Shen.” She said with love shining in her colorful swirling eyes.

Instantly, the scale left her hand and I dropped my arm, narrowing my eyes on the dragon's new adornment—a spec of scale hanging with a silver chain around his neck, directly over where Riella had seated herself. It was barely noticeable unless one was looking for it.

Shen’s voice was gravelly when he finally spoke. “This gift shall never leave me, my little seaflower. Never.” Then he sighed deeply, bubbles trailing out past the haunting golden gates, before he nudged Riella back towards me.

Still clutching her scale closer to her, the faeling reached for me with her free hand. I swallowed again only hesitating a moment before instinctively pulling her close to my side.

My chin rose high. “I will look after her as if she is my own treasure, dragon.”

Shen hummed. “You have no idea how true those words will become, cousin. Prepare yourself, I have told you all that I can. Get to the portal quickly and you will live another day.”

“Nothing to it.” I half laughed and then looked down to smooth back Riella’s muddy pink hair. “Let’s protect each other shall we?”

I smiled when she raised her chin high, an exact mimic of me moments before. Flourishing my hand, my gaze never leaving the determined faeling, I materialized a long black spear out of the dormant shadows from the hallowed city. Perfectly crafted for her petite size.

She took the spear eagerly without hesitation.

“Do not wait to stab and kill anything that comes for you.” I said sternly .

She nodded, taking it within her grasp and thrusting it forward. “Die!”

Holding back my laughter, I grinned encouragingly. “Very good. Except make sure your power comes from here and here.” I placed my hand against her narrow torso front to back. “Your arms are your guide. But true power comes from your core. Try again.”

She thrusted one more time, her lips pressed into a concentrated line.

I nodded and rose. “Much better, now it’s my turn.” Arms raised I tilted my head back, shadows swirled and then draped over me, melding into a belt of black throwing knives that cinched around my waist.

Riella frowned at them. “What happened to the other shadows? The ones that could change on their own without you?”

I smiled. “You noticed that—'' I glanced up at the ever watchful dragon and then back to her. “They were sent on another task for me. We will have to make do with these for now.”

Tiny features scrunched further into lines of worry. “Will they come back?”

For a moment, Emon’s stubbornly fierce golden eyes flashed before me. “Yes—they will come back.”

Determinedly, she nodded, trading the hardened grip on her scale for my own hand. Setting the spear at her side, she faced the golden gates. “I’m ready.”

I stared. Goddess help me. I did not deserve this kind of trust from such a little miracle. I was the monster in this story.

“Behind every monster was once a beautiful creature worth loving, one day you will realize this, cousin of mine, and learn to accept both sides of your nature. Keep my seaflower safe.”

Shen’s voice was a gentle whisper in my mind and when I looked to see if he was still there, I peered back at nothing but an endless ocean and a white wall that pierced both ocean and skies.

“He is gone.” Riella sniffed.

My heart ached for her and I squeezed her tiny webbed hand. “I have no doubt you will meet your dragon again, little one.” Blowing out a breath of bubbles, I looked back at the haunted city and the memories of my past. “Are you still ready for this?”

Riella blew out her own sigh of bubbles. “I am ready. I made a promise to Shen. ”

I blinked down at her, watching those swirling eyes stare out at the city as if she were prepared for battle. For the briefest of moments, it was as if I was staring down at my own young self.