Hearken (Daughters of the Sea Series) (43 page)

             
“But it’s not!” she screamed in my ear. “She’s controlling you! You must see that?!”

             
“The only thing I see is that the moon has led me to you, and for a very good reason.” I wrapped her in the dark silk fabric I’d left on the beach several days prior. “You should feel honored!”

             
“There is no honor in the wrongful death of your own cousin.”

             
“You’re right, but there
is
honor in sacrifice,” I lectured her resolutely. “It cleanses the world and offers up new promises of the future.”

             
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” she hollered at me, and fought against the shining fabric. I stood calmly and strolled leisurely toward the ocean waves as they lapped at the sand. It was better to allow her to get it out of her system beforehand. She needed to be strong, but the quicker she resolved her emotions, the better. She ranted about selfish Goddesses and evil dark energy for at least another hour. I eventually tuned out her shrill accusations and nonsense. Instead, I set to creating the marks in the sand I’d been shown in my dreams. I picked up a long, thin piece of driftwood that I found was perfect for sketching.

             
A ritual as paramount as this would require nothing less than perfection. The crooning melody in my head had grown to a deafening pitch and I was equally driven by its passion; its supremacy over my heart. The images that accompanied the music only proved to be that much more persuasive. The most recent had been a map with directions I needed to follow. The blood moon would rise. The blood moon would feed. The cycle would replenish and the cycle would provide. Oh yes, it would provide. A shower of blessings would rain down on its closest worshippers – lighting their souls and filling their essences with prestige and infinite strength. 

             
I hummed the song that repeated in my mind and worked diligently. The lower the sun sank below the horizon, the more powerful the moon would become. I smiled up at the fading light of the sky and closed my eyes with contentment. The euphoria I felt was immediate and intense. How could Fallon not see what an amazing night this would turn out to be?

             
I’d just finished up the outer circle when I noticed the glaring absence of Fallon’s rage. I hoped she’d fallen asleep. Rest would replenish her energy and prepare her for what was to come. I began to scratch lines in the circle to signify the different tidal cycles. A slightly smaller inner circle would work to represent the lunar cycles, and a large pentagram in the middle would provide the avenues of energy throughout. When I dragged the driftwood along the sand and created the last line, I stood back and inspected my masterpiece. It was exactly as I had seen in my dream. It was ready.

             
I breathed in the increasingly crisp air and grinned with elation as I walked back towards an unconscious Fallon. Her body was laid over to one side against the white stone of the cliff, and I watched with fascination as her chest rose and fell with each measured breath. Her almost ivory-colored hair flowed over her strong shoulders and tone arms, but her face betrayed her youth and innocence. She was still just a girl. Her skin shimmered in the moonlight, and she embodied everything the light side of the moon should be. Which is why she would be perfect for the sacrifice.

             
I knelt down next to her and inspected her features with endearing respect and admiration. It was a shame the world would never know of her potential. But at the same time, her life would not be a waste. She would be honored. She would be revered. And so would I.

             
I ran a hand over the moon trace on the back of my neck, then I gently pulled back her hair and peeked at her matching one. It was a pale violet, but still glistened with the moon’s energy. It was bewitching and enchanting in its own right. As I released her hair and rocked back on my heels, her eyes flew open and her face contorted in anger.

             
“You’ll thank me for this later,” she hissed at me through gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed violet and she cried out as she blew her essence outward; breaking free of her binds and lunging at me. The thimble-sized ball of light she’d gathered in her small hand was suddenly thrust at my eyes, and the world exploded in a flash of light. I tumbled backwards in pain; scratching at the inferno that had erupted in my eyes.

             
“Stop her, Anastasia,” a calm, enlightened voice instructed me. Without a second thought, I rolled onto my stomach and pushed up to my knees. I blew my essence outward – a mixture of blue and violet energy – towards Fallon, who was already running down the beach. She turned to deflect the attack, but not quickly enough. She collapsed onto the sand, and several cloaked figures converged where she lay motionless. 

             
“Well done,” she smiled down at me smugly. A barely conscious, convulsing Fallon was dragged back to us. She painstakingly lifted her head and glared at her aunt; my grandmother.

             
“You can’t do this, Selene! It’s not right! It goes against everything!”

             
“Don’t taunt me, girl,” Selene retorted coldly. “Cyrus, take her below. Quickly now. We have little time to prepare.”

             
As the two hooded figures carried a hysterical Fallon away, I turned to Selene obediently. Suddenly, I couldn’t remember what I was about to say. I thought about stepping forward, but decided against it for some reason. I simply stood there while Selene surveyed the white sand beach and the fading light of the sunset on the horizon. Her long, dark locks fell into her stunning ashen face, while her silver eyes followed the design I had drawn in the sand. She gracefully inspected the perimeter as her long, layered dress sailed along the wind and whispered across the sand. 

             
The radiant silver folds of the dress were highlighted by tiny shimmering moonstones sewn onto a top layer of sheer fabric; matching the ornate headpiece perched atop her head. The sterling crown was delicately encrusted with moonstones and crystals that reflected light at her every move. It stood several inches in height, and was as beautifully majestic as it was frighteningly intimidating.  A single red gem hung from a necklace around her neck.  It appeared to pulse lightly.

             
“You have done well,” she approved of me with a tight smile. “The ritual arena is exactly as I envisioned it to be.”

             
Once again my thoughts began to form, but then faded into a cloud of numbness before ever reaching my lips. I looked on dumbly as she stepped towards me. She reached in a hidden pocket amongst the folds of her dress and produced a large white moonstone. She held it in her palm and brought it up to eye level, and then peered into it and sighed happily.

             
“I had no idea it would work this well,” she cackled deviously, and stiffened her posture before moving closer. “The possibilities are endless, really. Who knew I could control your energy with a simple stone? You didn’t know you had such a smart, cunning, beautiful grandmother, did you?”             

             
Not waiting for an answer, she strode right past me towards the white cliffs at my back. I yearned to turn and see what she was doing, but decided it would be too much of an effort. She continued talking.

             
“Fortunately for me, this is just the beginning. Not only have you successfully delivered the moonstone to me, you’ve brought me the last person standing in my way.” She walked up behind me and took my hand in hers. My feet decided to move forward on their own, with my mind just along for the ride. I listened to the cadence of her voice with the fascination of a child as she led me to the middle of the ritual circle. “Sit. Face the cliffs.”

             
I did as she said without even thinking and met her gaze numbly. She examined my face, and then chuckled darkly before sniffing the air in disgust. “You should consider yourself lucky. Fallon was not my first choice, but sacrifices must be pure. And from the smell of it…you, my dear, have been
spoiled
.”

             
An unattached, bubbling warmth began in my chest and spread throughout my body with painstaking slowness, but I was finally able to recognize it as anger. The only clue as to my inner feelings was the slight frown I wore on my otherwise blank face. The lethargy was as thick as cement and just as hard to maneuver through. Just when I thought I could finally move a leg or an arm, my mind went blank again and all motivation was squashed with a wave of exhaustion.

             
“Anyway, as a tri-Goddess, you should understand this ritual well,” Selene explained simply, and then her eyes focused on movement near the cliffs. She smiled. “He’s right on time. As always.”

Chapter 46

Stasia

             
“As ripe as a fruit ready for harvest,” he hissed at me. His breath reeked of rotten lettuce, and I fought to lean away from him as he actually smelled my hair. “I imagine you taste just as sweet.”

             
“
Menoetius.” Selene’s deadpan tone could be heard from several yards away. He stood and licked his lips as his sickening eyes dragged over my body before walking away. Thankfully he took the pungent cloud of his burnt essence with him. A soot-filled smokestack would have been less disturbing. I held back my gag reflex, and several seconds later I felt the urge to rip his throat out. What was
wrong
with me? Why were my emotions and reactions delayed? It was almost like I’d been drugged. I forced my thoughts to search for information. It took way too much concentration, but I diligently sorted my memories of the last thirty minutes.

             
Most of it was a blur of sounds and shapes, but one image in particular stuck with me. A moonstone. She’d hidden it in her dress, but it had something to do with my energy. Hadn’t someone recently mentioned my energy being manipulated? I had to think! Who was it? A pain shot through the center of my forehead and I put my head in my hands. 

             
“It is time,” Selene announced to the man with the bad breath and sooty essence. “Ensure everything is in place.”

             
As he disappeared into a modest opening in the side of the white cliff, Selene walked out to the middle of the pentagram to where I still sat helplessly. I knew something wasn’t right; I just had to figure out what that
something
was.

             
“Time for you to prove your worth,” she informed me plainly. She circled me once while watching the moon rise above the ocean, and for the first time, I noticed the oppressive pressure squeezing at my mind. At her closeness it intensified tenfold, and I struggled to fight it. It felt like I was drowning in twenty feet of water, and then suddenly being pushed down even farther to a thousand feet of water. I had no time to come up for breath and had no idea when or if I would black out. A sharp pain exploded on my cheek, and I realized several seconds too late that she had slapped me across the face. I felt my body reflexively flinch, also several seconds too late.  

             
“
That’s
for tainting my blood line,” she hissed at me, and then spit in my face. My jaw tightened in anger and I was actually able to narrow my eyes at her. “You may not
be
the sacrifice, but I have even
better
plans for you. Starting with tainting that precious soul of yours.”

             
She started to walk away, but thought better of it and knelt back down in front of me. She smiled at me and whispered, “Fight all you want, sea Goddess. You’ll never be stronger than me.”

             
She stood stiffly and walked away; disappearing through the same passage as Menoetius. I sat alone on the empty beach beneath the rising moon, left to wait and listen to the cadence of the crashing waves. I began to grow tired and was mesmerized by the beating of my own heart in my chest, and then forgot all thoughts while I painstakingly inspected the grains of sand at my feet.

             
It could have been minutes or hours later when two figures finally emerged from the doorway in the cliff wall. I’d lost all sense of time, but from the location of the moon in the sky, a couple hours had passed. I watched numbly as they marched toward me in unison; covered head to toe in dark crimson cloaks. The silver of their eyes caught the moonlight, and I assumed they were two of Selene’s Aura warriors. I’d had to confront them one other time, also on the beach. Was it at night? The pain in my forehead stopped me from reaching back into my memory banks any further. The slicing pain was unbearable.

             
I concentrated on the two figures coming closer by the second, and the pain disappeared right along with my thoughts. Both figures held sizeable objects in their arms. As they entered the circle, they split and headed toward opposite sides. The one to my right sat down a heavy-looking object that resembled a large piece of gray stone, but it wasn’t until he twisted the face towards me that I realized it was the moonstone. My moonstone. The one I’d found in the caverns of Atlantis. The pain in my head returned and I looked away.