Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (12 page)

Sebastian welcomed their show of artistic expression with admiration and took a seat on a bench several yards from the fountain. As the cadence in which they moved increased and their voices explored another octave, its waterfall of crystal water took on an auric shimmer. In mere seconds, the liquid that flowed was pure gold, running down the fountain's length and pooling in its basin. Simultaneously, the women each dipped their pottery beneath its surface and filled them with gold.

They abandoned the fountain and switched their attention back to Sebastian. He held up a chalice I hadn't noticed until then and the three women took turns pouring a portion of their golden water into his glass. Once full, they set down their vessels and lifted up their voices with joy as he downed the entire glass.

He closed his eyes with pleasure and a euphoric smile blossomed on his face. The three beauties continued to circle him, fingers grazing his shoulders, caressing his back. I decided I'd seen enough. I stood and pushed my way through the bushes, my pulse pounding in my ears.

"Trespasser!!" one of the women suddenly belted out in Greek, almost shattering my eardrums. Meaning 'trespasser' and clearly directed at me, I had a feeling things were about to get dicey. In unison, three sets of emerald green eyes shining with a devil's flare instinctively told me I was about to be attacked. My field of vision sharpened just as my electrical essence began to charge at my center. The ground shook beneath me as tree roots broke free from the dirt and twisted around me. Without even thinking about it, I channeled my renewed essence and emitted a shockwave of electrical current at them.

"Olivia! No!" Sebastian called out one second too late.

The roots, undeterred by my counterattack, wrapped around me and slammed me against one of the trunks of the live oaks with the force of a steam engine.  With the wind knocked out of me and my bones flexing at the strength of the roots, I didn't notice the three women cover the distance in mere seconds.

"Release her!" Sebastian roared; further rattling my insides. "She is of divine prophecy!"

The entire garden seemed to pause at the power in his voice and the roots painstakingly unwrapped from my body; releasing me back to solid earth. The women's attention moved to Sebastian, but eventually found their way back to me with bewilderment. Their unnaturally bright green eyes picked me apart as they inspected me from head to toe with indifference.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," I coughed at them and stood, "but you forgot to invite me to your orgy."

"Don't be so dramatic." Sebastian threw his head back and laughed; successfully making my blood boil. "Don't you recognize them? They are the Hesperides."

"Is that Atlantean for 'naked gingers'?" I eyed their bodies with suspicion.

"We are the Western Maidens," one of the beauties explained to me in a commanding tone. Her accent was unlike anything I'd ever heard. It was a cross between old world Shakespearean and Canadian. "The Daughters of the Evening." Something clicked into place within my memory banks and I gaped at her.

"This...is where the ambrosia grows?" I squeaked, and then cleared my throat. "And the nectar?"

"Yes, child," another maiden acknowledged. "We are the keepers of treasures."

The Daughters of the Evening were said to tend to the enchanted ambrosia and nectar of the gods in a secret garden; two elixirs so powerful that when combined, they could provide god-like abilities as well as immortality for all who drank. Reduced to a myth over time, their existence could never be proven; causing swirling rumors and hype I never bought into, which also spoke to how well they protected the garden and its contents. Knowing who I now stood before, I felt my face flush and my eyes dropped to the ground in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized for my utter lack of respect. "I had no idea. I never believed you...actually existed." I clamped my mouth shut in case I said anything else stupid. The last thing you were supposed to do was admit you never believed in the very beings standing in front of you.

"There's a reason for that," Sebastian chuckled and made his way over to where I stood.

"The treasures contained in our garden must be protected all costs," one of the women explained. "It can only be provided to those of pure divinity and pristine intentions."

"So why are you out here chugging it like your life depends on it?" I raised an eyebrow at Sebastian with a teasing grin.

"Because it does," he disclosed so casually, it took a moment for it to soak in.  He draped a solid arm around my shoulders and kissed me softly on the lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I felt my stomach drop unexpectedly. The maidens, becoming bored with our discussion, retreated back towards the fountain to collect their jars. The water had returned to its previous clarity and I became distracted as they commenced to dancing and singing again. All they were missing were a couple of Grateful Dead t-shirts, a crown of flowers, and a glow-in-the-dark hula hoop. Sebastian's next words succeeded in regaining my attention as well as turning my blood cold.

"Technically...I'm dead." He shrugged, watching me with a sloppy grin as his hair fluttered in the breeze just as nonchalantly.

"Technically you're dead? You're either dead or you're not, Sebastian. There's not a lot of wiggle room in that department."

"Then I'm dead." His teal eyes sparkled at my exasperated confusion and he winked. "Sort of."

My unamused glare was rewarded with a hearty laugh. "My mother pardoned me from the Underworld for a short period of time, but even she can't bring me back to life. So the ambrosia and nectar keep me 'alive'," he emphasized with air quotes, "in the meantime."

"In the meantime," I repeated numbly. "Which means...you have to go back."

"I have to go back," he admitted, looking at his feet.

"When?" I had a feeling I wasn't going to like his answer.

"The next full moon," he whispered, and then he took my hands in his and met my stunned gaze. The immense sadness in them rendered me speechless. The memory of his name scrawled in ink across the last page of the Book of Souls flashed before my eyes and I felt my stomach churn. "In three weeks."

F
ALLON

I'd heard of the Salem witch trials in America just like everyone else, and even considered the terror I would feel at the fate of being burned at the stake - alive - and I always wondered how anyone could be so cruel. How anyone could fear something they didn't understand to the extent that they would lay down their humanity and watch their victims burn to death in the open. Those select few descendants of Hecate made one small mistake and unveiled their identity, leaving Hecate no choice but to retract their essence and leave them to their doomed fate at the hands of the humans.

I could never understand why she didn't save them, unless it was to protect the broader whole of the witches Order. I couldn't imagine the betrayal they must have felt as they met their untimely demise, and I couldn't help but consider how the humans would react to us in the modern era. Would they follow in their ancestors' footsteps and try to eradicate us from the Earth?

Unfortunately, it wasn't the humans I should have feared. It was my own kind. My own family. My aunt, who had also betrayed me, left me at the hands of a blonde demon who happily set me ablaze just like the banished witches several centuries before me.

I could feel the skin at the edges of my body blistering and boiling at the intense heat coming from the dancing flames below. The fire wasn't close enough to touch me, only to cook me like a pot of blood and moon essence; a sick brew of what had once been a future moon Goddess. As the pain became unbearable and I wanted nothing more than a swift death, I heard the door behind my head open, and then hurried footsteps overshadowed by a harsh whisper.

A rush of crisp water rippled across the floor, extinguishing the flames in a matter of seconds. With the damage to my body already done, my skin continued to send shrieks of pain through every cell in my body. A pair of able hands scooped behind my neck and knees, lifting me from my bed of glass and death. The agony from that simple touch ricocheted across my consciousness, and the last thing I remembered was looking up at a square chin and sandy blonde hair.

*****

"Y
ou didn't have to do that."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for Selene."

"You aren't evil, Liam."

"Don't say my name," he growled. "And don't act like you know anything about me."

"I see it in your eyes. I can feel it in your essence." His sunken eyes turned on me and his normally expressionless features deepened with sorrow. From what Olivia told me in the short time we were tortured by him in the cave, he was primed to lead the Tritons. She said that at one time he was just, honorable, and brave, and there were small moments in which those qualities seeped out from underneath his icy exterior and I glimpsed a view of who he was before he lost his girlfriend. I wondered what Selene could have possibly said or done to him to change him so drastically; to make him give up everything he had.

"You're wrong," he accused me in a raspy voice, his flat eyes threatening to succumb to unseen tears. "Now get up. She's ready for you."

Knowing fully well I couldn't move of my own volition, he nodded an unspoken command to the four witches who were once again tasked with watching over me and then promptly disappeared from sight. There I was again lying helplessly on my back in an unknown room. The only difference now was that I was gifted with several hours of sleep after my rescuer had appeared.

Now under the promise of morning light, Naja released the bindings on my legs and I slowly swung them around and sat up. The skin on my legs screamed in protest as I forced my way to a standing position. I got my first glimpse of my hair, which was now up to my shoulders; the ends blackened unevenly.

"Walk." Naja pushed me without physically touching me. I lurched forward and followed Joselyn and Lavidica down a small stone hallway and out a primitive wooden door hanging crooked on its rusted hinges. The sun swept over me and sizzled across my nocturnal eyes. I squeezed them shut, but was unable to bring them relief. Not to mention it made it infinitely more difficult to walk.

A wave of tropical aromas crashed over my senses and I inhaled them greedily. My mouth began to water and I tried to remember the last time I had eaten. I could almost taste the sweet citrus fruits hanging from the grove to our right. The sound of waves filling the air suddenly turned into a roar as our path turned sharply to the left. If not for Naja's invisible hold on me, I would have tumbled right off the sharp cliff I now found myself on the side of. But it wasn't the height or the beauty of the tropical island stretching before me that took my breath away; it was the angry beast writhing at its center.

The island itself was in the shape of a ring with a discernable rim punctuated by soaring cliffs, its diameter at least a mile wide. It dawned on me that the island itself was a kind of barrier, a natural form of protection for the largest, angriest, and most terrifying whirlpool I'd ever seen.  With the exception of the thin strip of beach surrounding it, the otherworldly whirlpool tossed up waves hundreds of feet tall and created a current so swift, I felt as if it was sucking in the air around me. Its center reminded me of a black hole; swallowing all sunlight and pulling it into its bloated belly until nothing more was left but a void.

A jolt from behind was the only thing moving my suddenly shaky legs as I tried to make sense of what I saw. The constant thunder of the churning water was so loud it drowned out any sounds that dared to rival its intensity. Several switchback turns later, we arrived at the luxurious white sand beach below. The power of the whirlpool mere yards away made me dizzy. It created its own hurricane force wind, making it difficult to hear the witches who were standing right next to me.

Something hard smashed into the back of my legs and I crumpled to my knees. I rolled onto my backside and scurried away from the reach of the water just in case it decided it wanted to snack on a future moon Goddess. I scooted all the way up the beach until I was able to lean against the stone cliff. Naja kept a close eye on me as the four witches discussed something nearby. I tried again to break the binds, but with almost no essence or energy to pull from it was a futile effort. My legs were freed, but with the rest of my body still incased, I had no choice but to sit and wait for whatever would happen next. I exhaled and closed my eyes. I wanted to talk to my mother. She would tell me what to do. She would know how to get out of this mess I was in. Unfortunately I knew that wasn't an option, but knowing that didn't make it easier to accept.

I hung my head and rested my forehead on my knees. I was a failure. I was at the mercy of the very Goddess I was supposed to overthrow, weakened to the point that I couldn't even break a simple witch's bind; depleted to the point that anyone who wanted to torture me could do so with little effort. 

A powerful hand clenched a fistful of my burnt hair and yanked my head back and to the side, forcing me to look up at them. The blonde devil's eyes and taunting smile blocked the sun shining at her back. Her dress puddled on the sand as she knelt down beside me and snapped my head even farther to the side, causing me to scream out in pain.