Hearken (Daughters of the Sea Series) (11 page)

             
“She said he’s practicing for the games!” Phoebe exclaimed. “He’s competing in the trident throwing competition! He’s going to be-”

             
Her words were muted by an onslaught of images and I stopped in my tracks. I glanced around at the sand dunes, peeked up at the sand, and it finally dawned on me where I was.

             
“My vision!” I perked up with excitement. Carmen and Phoebe turned to face me with bewildered faces. I started gesturing wildly with my hands. “I had a vision about this! Liam was throwing a trident at different targets on the beach, and there were some other guys with him, and…. I don’t remember seeing any girls, but I must have just seen it before we got there!”

             
“You had a vision of Liam practicing?” Carmen asked. “Aren’t your visions usually stuffed full of death and destruction?”

             
“That’s what I thought.” I shrugged happily. “But I’m definitely not complaining.”             

             
“Did ya’ll hear that? I think I hear Willow.” Phoebe cocked her head to the side and listened intently. She smiled and took off down the dune at full speed. “Willow!”

             
Carmen and I scrambled up and over the dune after her. Willow was making her way towards Phoebe when we finally caught up to her.

             
“You guys are right on time!” Willow beamed up at us and gave us all big hugs. “I just got here, too!”

             
“Hey Willow.” I held her back as Carmen and Phoebe walked on to give us privacy. “Can I talk to you a sec?”

             
“Sure, what’s up?” She fell in step with me and I suddenly wished I’d prepared what I was going to say beforehand.

             
“I really wanted you to be my Apothecary,” I blurted out, “but the sea overrode my decision and made me choose Avery. I don’t even
know
Avery!”

             
“I completely understand,” she accepted my apology with grace. Her blue eyes gleamed as she continued. “I could tell by the look on your face that something was off, but Avery will be excellent on your Council. I’ve known her for a long time.”

             
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, and I still don’t understand what happened. I just started talking, but I had absolutely no control over what I was saying. It was the weirdest thing.”

             
“I have a feeling there are things you don’t know about, which is why the sea intervened,” she surmised with a loving grin and a wink. “You have to trust that, as do I. My path will lead me down another road - one that could be just as important. I just don’t know what that is yet.”

             
“I have a feeling you’re right.” I grinned and felt a weight lift off my shoulders. “You are destined for great things, Willow Brooks.”

             
“There they are!” Phoebe motioned to us from up ahead and pointed off to her right. As we caught up to them and crested the last dune, a sprawling beach spread out before us. I saw the targets from my vision, but I couldn’t spot Liam or his friends. Willow and Phoebe ran down the dune while Carmen and I took our time. I’d already slid down this thing once, and I wasn’t looking forward to doing it again. 

             
“I’m not going to need to exfoliate my feet for a year,” Carmen groaned. We finally made it to the flat sand of the beach, and she placed a hand on my shoulder for support as she inspected the bottom of her foot.

             
“Next time bring some shoes, grandma,” I mocked her. She was about to spit out a comeback when Phoebe’s frantic yell interrupted her.

             
“Willow! STOP!” Phoebe looked up the beach in horror as Willow glanced back at her curiously. In a split moment, time slowed and I pieced several things together. Willow was running amidst the handmade targets on the beach, Phoebe reached her arms out screaming, and Carmen squeezed my shoulder so hard I felt a bruise forming beneath the skin. When time began to move once again, Willow abruptly collapsed onto the sand; a silver trident embedded in her chest.

Chapter 9

Stasia

             
“Willow, NO!” Carmen’s scream sounded far away to my ears as I stood frozen on the sand. I watched Carmen and Phoebe run to her side and willed my own feet to move. I painstakingly turned to see Liam, who had fallen to his knees in shock just up the beach. The two guys I’d seen with him in my vision were running towards Willow as well.  This couldn’t be happening.

             
With legs the weight of concrete blocks, I forced myself to walk towards the heart-wrenching scene unfolding before me. Phoebe held Willow’s limp body in her arms, while Carmen screamed her name over and over; desperately shaking her in an attempt to wake her up. The two Tritons were trying to pull the girls out of the way. The sand beneath me trembled with each step I took, and I felt an empty coldness where Willow’s once soothing essence had been. A roar began to build in my mind and I didn’t have to move any closer to know that the trident had killed her on impact. I felt it. I
knew
it. 

             
And so did Liam. He was dry heaving on the sand; clutching his stomach. I wanted to go to his side. I wanted to comfort Carmen and Phoebe. I wanted to do a lot of things, but the alien feeling creeping into my heart paralyzed me. A vindictive cloud of gratification seized my soul, releasing a wave of power throughout my essence and spreading a sinful grin across my face. My hand automatically reached up and grasped the now pulsating orb hanging around my neck. I felt the blood drain from my face when I heard a raspy, otherworldly voice in my head.

             
“
Drink from the essence from whence her body bleeds
.”

             
“No!” I screamed more at myself than at Willow. Whose voice
was
that? What was wrong with me!? Where was the despair? The sadness? My best friend had just been killed in front of me and I was…smiling!? Forcing control over my hand, I clutched the orb and ripped the necklace from my neck; throwing it down on the sand at my feet. It continued to glow as I squeezed my eyes shut and balled up my fists. 

             
“NO!” A guttural shout coming from my throat silenced the entire beach. The waves began to boil, ripples of sand spread out from my feet as if I was suddenly standing on water, and a massive gust of wind swirled around us with the force of a hurricane. Phoebe and Carmen’s hair whipped around their faces as they stared up at me in horrified shock. I suppressed the poisonous feeling coursing through my veins and searched for the cool energy of my essence. As an internal struggle of power ensued, I turned on my heel and began to run.

             
I vaguely remembered the massive sand dunes shifting to clear a path for me, but my focus was all concentrated internally. I pushed the roaring loudness from my mind and internally cleansed my heart and soul with my own essence; providing an immediate reprieve from the unknown monster that had taken me hostage on the beach. As I threw myself down on my knees in the sand, I finally felt the crushing loss burning behind my eyes and squeezing my heart. As the tears came heavy and fast, I heard a loud wailing echoing off the dunes around me. It was only moments later that I realized it was coming from me. Willow was gone. She was dead.

             
“Please, no,” I moaned to the sand below me. “This can’t be happening.” 

             
A flame flickered in my soul and burst into a raging inferno as anger flashed brightly in my veins. I peeled myself up off the sand and began to run once more. The ground beneath me shook as I raced toward Lorelei, and I felt the trees’ sympathetic energy reach for me as I passed them at an incredible speed. Seagulls soared above, squawking down at me, and I felt the sea begin to churn from my emotions. I knew I needed to rein them in, because I knew the damage I could mistakenly cause. But I didn’t care. I just kept running.

             
It wasn’t until I’d reached my Spiti that I remembered I didn’t have the three keys that would allow me entrance. I ran up to the door in hopes of viewing my future and slammed my fist against it in anger.

             
“Just open, dammit!” At my voice I heard a click, and the door swung noiselessly inward. My feet were inside before I even realized the keys weren’t necessary. I took a deep, staggered breath that did nothing to calm me down, then wiped my tear-stained cheeks and concentrated on my surroundings. The first time I’d crossed the threshold of my future, Finn had been waiting for me. We had seen ourselves with our future children, laughing and playing with my three best friends.
Three
best friends! Not
two
! 

             
“Liar!!” I screamed at the walls in accusation. “You lied to me!!”

             
I stomped to the wall where I’d seen the previous happy scene. To my surprise, it was still there; twitching and phasing in and out constantly. But one thing was clear: Willow was no longer there. The happy eyes of Phoebe and Carmen were holding the hands of our future children, as Finn and I trailed behind with smiles on our faces.

             
“No!” I screeched at the happy scene and began to pound on the wall. “Bring her back! You bring her back to me!”

             
“Stasia,” an airy voice behind me stated very carefully. “Try to calm down.”

             
I twisted around to see who dared to enter my Spiti without my permission. Next time I’d make sure the door was closed and locked behind me! The figure in the doorway was framed by the sunlight streaming in from outside, making it impossible to see who it was. When another figure stepped up behind the first, I turned on my heel with every intention of slamming the door in their faces.

             
“Leave!” I attempted to shout. Unfortunately it came out as more of a sob than a command, and the two figures walked further inside. When my vision cleared and they walked out of the blinding rays of sunlight, my temper piqued once more. Of all people, Olivia and Avery had tracked me down. 

             
“Stasia-” Olivia began calmly. I had no intention of allowing her to speak. 

             
“And
you
!” I spit at her with fury. “This is
your
fault!”

             
“Stasia, I-” she tried again, but before she could utter another word she was blown against the interior wall; crumpling into a tangled pile on the floor. She grimaced and grabbed her shoulder, but I had no sympathy left within me. I walked toward her and pointed accusingly at her as I stood over her.

             
“You woke me up,” I accused her with cool venom. “My vision wasn’t finished! I could have stopped it! This is
your
fault!”

             
“You could not have prevented this, Stasia,” Avery deflected from behind me. “It was her time.”

             
“I saw her!” I spun around and pointed at the back wall. “She was there - in my future - she was
there
! Explain that to me!”

             
“Our futures are constantly changing.” Olivia winced from her spot on the floor. “Blaming me or anyone else won’t change what happened.”

             
“You aren’t the only one who loved her, Stasia,” Avery forced out, as tears sprang to her eyes and she walked over to Olivia. She knelt down and placed both hands on her shoulder and closed her eyes only briefly. Olivia sighed once her pain was alleviated, and Avery stood and faced me once more. “Come.”

             
At the sight of Olivia shaking out her shoulder and Avery’s outstretched hand, something in me cracked and a flood of deep despair took hold of my heart. I took her hand and she pulled me into a hug. What I thought was a gesture of comfort soon became something awe-inspiring. As she continued to hug me, I felt my sadness and emptiness drain from my body. I cried as the frustration and desperation at what I had witnessed slowly disappeared and was replaced by a soft pillow of calm. I was still sad, but the overwhelming despair no longer gripped my soul. I could breathe again. I could think straight again. I leaned back and met her gaze with wonderment.

             
“How’d you do that?” I asked in surprise. Her light blue eyes softened and she squeezed my hand comfortingly.

             
“Like Willow, I have the ability to heal - but my ability encompasses both the physical
and
mental. So when Phoebe called and said…” she trailed off and swallowed thickly. “ I knew you would need me.”

             
“Her dual abilities are pretty rare in the descendants of Laneira,” Olivia piped up, and she ruffled Avery’s hair with compassion. “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

             
I swayed gently as something in my mind clicked into place. The selection. Avery. The sea’s decision to override my choice for Apothecary. Willow’s death. Olivia reached out to steady me, and I grabbed onto her elbow for support.