Page 34 of These Eternal Bones

Cold Water Prophecies

Molly

The horse shifts underneath me, but for once, I pay it no mind.

The beautiful white and gray steed fits in perfectly here, backed against the lapping ocean and snowy trees.

His coarse mane tickles my inner palm as I make another pass of my fingers through it.

Although it feels a bit of a betrayal of Jin, whom I’ve become quite fond of over the past months, I do not think he shares the same affections toward me.

Péal’s ankle-length skirts rise as she dismounts, showing off a length of darkened flesh at her thighs.

“Are you alright?” My voice rings with concern, the sound of it nearly startling me; it’s one of the first things I’ve uttered in days.

Her soft, pale brows furrow before tracking my line of sight and letting out a giggle. “Of course, mistress.” With that, she hikes up her skirts, showing off her legs and well, other things I’d rather not have seen as well.

I scramble to dismount, ungracefully jerking the hem of them back down. “Péal!”

“It is simply skin, mistress. I am a selkie; my coloring changes to darker gray toward the middle.”

“Still, it's freezing out here, and you were wearing nothing underneath your skirts!”

“I am–”

“A selkie, yes,” I breathe, exasperated at times, no matter how much I adore the small, odd woman.

“It’s odd, mistress.” Yes, odd indeed . “How you still flush at the sight of nudity but spend most of your days bare as the day you were born and screaming the walls down.”

My cheeks flush a bright shade of pink, proving her point.

But at least it wards off the rest of the chill, although I’m not cold.

The sheer number of layers I’m wearing is perhaps too warm.

The sound of my chuckle is almost as alarming as my voice, earning me a warm smile from my companion as she plops down on the muted sand.

Nothing like the warm beaches in Mertigas.

Like the last few days, my mind is swarming with questions, doubt and…

grief, I suppose, for something I didn’t know I lost. Something I’ve felt all my life but had no name for.

So many questions that I cannot choose one over the other, so I opt for silence.

My boots drag the sand as I join her, a heavy sigh leaving my chest.

“Eight times.”

My head snaps over to the woman, a question on my face, although I put no voice to it.

“I overheard part of your discussion with master Elric the other night–” naturally. “You have died eight times…that I am aware of. ”

Eight.

Wow…

I wait for some kind of crushing sadness, some kind of overwhelming snapping of my mind like the other night, but an unsettling resignation fills my chest instead.

“Soulmate magic is a tricky one. Especially when it’s perverted by an outsider, it can be shattering. My kind, the fae, have mates as well, you know? To a lesser degree than what the gods hold, but it is…in concept, the same.”

“You have a mate?” I ask, ignoring the rest of what she said, the way my gut pitched in my stomach.

“No…” The wash of sadness that takes over her bright eyes hits me hard. I don’t fight the desire to comfort her. Gripping her hand in mine, the sand stuck between our palms. “I found myself here instead, now such a thought is silly.”

“Why not go home? Find someone to help you spend your days?”

"My soul is content, mistress, so I wouldn't leave if I could .”

“I am not who you think I am, Péal.” I don’t know why I say it; the words taste like a lie on my tongue. Denial seems more comfortable than acceptance. I’ll grant myself a few more moments of it.

“Why, of course not. You are always someone entirely different, but the same.”

A sudden, loud laugh bursts from me as I release her hand, slamming my forehead against my raised knees as I blink away the sudden rush of tears that fill my eyes. “Is everyone here ill of the mind?”

Am I to believe it all?

“Excellent question, mistress. I hadn’t considered it, but very possibly. It has been a great many years wandering the same halls. Even so, you are certainly you. You smell the same, you see, and you make the master smile. The master does not smile when your soul rests. ”

“Why don’t you all just… leave?” It’s a simple question, one with an answer that hopefully won’t lead to a spiral.

“We cannot, but master said I mustn’t speak about such things.” She snaps to a stand, her constant energy enviable as she dusts off her skirts.

“There are more who cannot leave?”

“Supernatural's, yes. The humans go as they please.” Before I can respond, she cuts me off. “There was a creature here once who had the gift of foresight.”

I shake my head in disbelief as she helps me to my feet. “They could see the future, truly?”

“Oh yes, it was excessively uncomfortable.” She giggles at the look on my face as she tugs us toward the water.

“Where are they?” She glances up at me from behind pale, thick lashes as she edges her boots into the water. No doubt soaking them. “Péal?”

If my mind wasn’t on fire, I’d laugh at the obvious internal battle she fought trying to keep quiet. Her lips pulled between her teeth as she kicks at the waves.

“I just want to understand.” The words leave me in a whisper. “I feel as if I’ve been dropped in the middle of a bizarre planet with little to no information on how to survive. Everyone knows everything about me, except me . I’m the only one left in the dark.”

Her eyes meet mine, and I can tell the moment she decides to tell me. “You mustn’t tell him I said anything to you, mistress. The Nephilim would do a terrible job of cleaning the mess if he removed my head. Tien despises cleaning as well, it puts him in a horrid mood.”

My lips part in shock, so much so that I only faintly realize she’s pulled my boots into the lapping waves with her, the icy chill working its way past my socks. “Master ripped her spine from her. It was a ghastly sight, staining the carpet something terrible.”

“My god, why?”

She chuckles as if this is a perfectly normal conversation, pulling us deeper into the water. “She foresaw something he did not like.”

“What?” I gasp as the icy water slaps at my shins.

“Your death. A true one.”

There is a long pause as she lets go of my hand, taking several steps back, her brow furrowed. Nothing makes a sound aside from the waves as I stare at her in shock.

“Oh! And she said something about a witch, but I’m quite certain your mate killed them off.”

That does it. The snap I’d been waiting for hits like a ton of bricks as I stumble in the water. Tears crest in my eyes as I turn heading toward the shore.

What I wasn’t ready for was a blast of frigid water.

A yelp leaves my throat, the sound setting off a flash of orange against the coast up high on the cliffs.

My heart warms for a moment at the sight of the fox, his tail swooshing as he sits on his haunches, simply watching us.

I get the sense he’s more standing guard.

Another gush hits me as I pivot, my eyes incensed as they land on Péal.

Her hand clasps over her mouth to stop her giggles.

“Are you insane? It's freezing out here!”

She giggles again, and I can’t backtrack fast enough as she reaches out, sending another gust of… what? Air? It slams the water, pushing so much on me that I splutter like a fish.

“Péal, stop it!” I screech, only to be hit again.

This one so strong it knocks me on my butt as a wave crashes over me, the icy water stealing my breath.

“What is wrong with you?!” I push the water back at her, splashing her with my measly wave, which only seems to delight her.

She laughs wildly, spinning gracefully away.

My teeth chatter loudly in my head as she lifts her palm, spinning her wrist until a small tornado of water erupts. My shock and my anger momentarily forgotten as I stare at it in wonder.

That is, before she sends it straight at me.

The mini twister blasts me in the face, making me cough. I stumble, struggling to get to my feet, wiping the salt water from my burning eyes. The shocked look on her face tells me she didn’t mean to hit me there.

“It went a bit high, mistress.”

The suddenly sheepish woman looks perfectly comfortable in the frigid water while I all but shake to death. Something about it is frustratingly hilarious. My laughter bursts free from my chest, and God, I take a breath …a real one for the first time in days.

Her answering smile is contagious, and soon enough, we’re laughing like madwomen.

I suppose that’s fitting as we trade splashes in the freezing water on a snowy beach.

Dodging. Dancing and falling in the ocean waves.

Our giggles hit the cliffs, bouncing off and tunneling back to us as the cold gets too much for me, making me flee from the water with a breathless squeal.

My muscles ache from the sheer force of my shaking as I hit the shore.

I’m lightheaded, positive my lips are blue when she slams into me, wrapping me in a tight hug and knocking us backward into the sand.

My eyes widen when the air around us crackles with energy, a burst of warmth filling me and sinking into my very bones.

Her head rests on my chest before she looks up, smiling widely. “Let’s get you home, yes?”

Another breathless laugh leaves me as I hug her harder. “Yes. ”

My eyes dart back to the cliff, steam rolling off my soaked clothes, like being wrapped in a hot towel. The only trace of the fox is the bare, tanned back of a man slipping back between the trees.

A few flurries of snow mottle our path as she winds up the rocky trail that leads over and down the cliffs.

Our horse is navigating it with ease. My hands snap out, the pokey needles of what Tien told me were evergreen trees brushing over my palm.

A rush of emotion and longing hits me, making my chest ache as I realize how badly I wish to be near Elric.

How brutally I miss him, even after such a short while away.

Heavens, is this what he’s felt all these years?

I clear my throat, blinking away the sudden rush of tears from my already puffy and swollen eyes before I steel myself.

It’s no grand show of strength. I just sit a little straighter, stretching after days hunched in on myself, my chin resting higher than it has…

it's then I decide how silly I’ve been to waste even a moment with him sulking over the past. Albeit, that’s easy to say when you remember nothing of it.

My lip trembles despite the magical warmth swathing me as I vow to make him smile as much as possible before I’m gone.

I vow to change this.

I decide to stay. Fate be damned.