Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (33 page)

About twenty figures surrounded a much larger boulder, receiving direction from a guy with blond hair that was circling them with purpose and an obvious overflowing annoyance. The cool essence wafting off of the figures quickly told me they were Auras, all with dark hair and those tell-tale silvery eyes. I zeroed in on their leader and gasped when he turned around, revealing his face. Liam.

"Concentrate!" he yelled at them. "This should be easy for you! Now focus and do it right this time!"

His commands prompted them to clasp hands with renewed vigor and face the boulder in unison. Their stern expressions individually peered back at their leader for the sign to begin. I crept closer and tried to understand what was happening. Liam was leading Auras? And moreover, they were listening to him?

The Auras quieted down as Liam continued his militant march around their makeshift circle with impatience. What happened to him? His square jaw was firmly set and his normally carefree blue eyes tensed with anger. The once lighthearted Triton had turned jaded and vengeful. His body language was tense with stress and his slow, deliberate stride appeared weary.

I felt their essences pulse individually before collecting as one and humming throughout the circle. As they concentrated, their essences began riding along their physical touch, swirling around the circle clockwise. They closed their eyes and several clenched their teeth, straining from the exhaustion. Curious, I inched forward and watched Liam carefully as I entered his peripheral vision. He continued his walk of scrutiny, completely oblivious to my presence.

The Auras ramped up their efforts and I noticed a shift in their energy as it spun faster and pulled inward towards the unmoving boulder. I peeked over the shoulder of one particularly small Aura who appeared to be struggling the most. Her legs began to shake as she glanced around at the others with anxiety. Several of the others glared at her with resentment and I assumed she was seen as the weak link. Despite her shortcomings, the ground began to tremble beneath us and a creaking noise coming from the boulder stole everyone's attention.

"More!" Liam shouted. "You're almost there!"

Several grunts and strained shouts filtered up from the circle as they struggled to keep their energy around the boulder. One by one, each of the Auras' eyes began to shine silver, giving them an otherworldly look. Their skin began to take on the same sheen as a couple of them began to smile wickedly. The boulder displaced a wide circle of dirt as it spun faster and faster amidst the Auras. In an eruption of cheers and high fives, the Auras broke their circle and celebrated, causing the boulder to stop spinning abruptly.

"I don't know what you're celebrating!" Liam shook his head in disgust. "So you made a boulder spin with your hands touching. When you can pull that off without holding hands like a classroom of pee-soaked preschoolers, let me know."

I frowned at his insidious attitude and wanted to smack him back into the Liam I once knew. His words of sub-par encouragement were like a blade across my skin. My heart sank as I realized how Willow would react to seeing him act like this. Somehow, when he internalized all of his pain, he also suppressed the very man Willow loved to begin with. The Triton who was to be his Order's Leader was no more. And now he was leading a small group of Auras? Teaching them how to move a boulder?

I walked up to him and tried to find a trace of the guy I used to know in his sunken eyes and defeated posture. His once strong Triton essence was heavier. Darker.

"Liam, what happened to you?" I mumbled.

His eyes widened with alarm and he glanced around in confusion. His eyes blinked quickly with bewilderment before they hardened once more and he turned his attention back to the Auras. I sighed with disappointment as I stepped over a patch of wildflowers and shuffled down a small embankment to get a better view of the beach below. A swift wind blew up from the crux and I recalled the visions the blue woman showed me the night before. A circle of witches, Selene, and Liam. Pain. And now it appeared there would be a group of Auras in the mix as well. 

"I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice, Triton." Her voice radiated mockery and her obvious avoidance of his name let me know she didn't see him as an equal; just another pawn on her chessboard. Knowing she could sometimes sense my presence in reveries, I knelt down and reined in my essence. Hopefully it was weak enough so she wasn't able to detect it. Above the lip of the embankment I hid beneath, I watched her walk up to Liam with her arms crossed. She wore a light flowing dress that could double as a nightgown, and the silky material blew in the wind as she maliciously circled him.

"The fact that your Aura army can't get their shit together isn't a reflection on my skills as a leader," he spit at her. Apparently there was no love lost between them. A pale arm shot out and grabbed his neck, pulling him to her abruptly. He didn't flinch.

"Succeed or burn in Tartarus," she hissed. "Those are your options. Choose wisely."

She released him and turned her attention to the Auras, who were trying to mask the fear in their eyes. I wasn't sure 'army' was the right way to describe the group of young, distracted Auras standing before them. I worried for their safety if they failed to deliver what it was she wanted. I had no doubts she would eradicate all of them if it benefitted her to do so. Loyalty was not something Selene practiced.

"You have until sunset," she warned them. The lack of spoken consequence was purposeful as she paused to allow their imaginations to conjure up the worst thing imaginable. She glanced down at the crux and directly above my head, suddenly distracted. I stopped breathing and sat perfectly still. I didn't need to blow my cover just yet; not until I understood what exactly was going on. Her strict gaze became trained upon Liam once more. "Keep your eyes open. I expect her soon."

With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared in a haze of silver essence. I knew the 'her' she referred to was me. I had no idea what she was planning or how to counteract it, but I needed to get more information.

I left Liam to his Aura army and began making my way downward to the thin ring of beach surrounding the roar of water below. The silent creature I watched swirl and writhe underwater was something entirely different above water. Its thunderous power dominated the crater and caused a dizzying sensation if you tried to focus on any given point. The viewpoint the blue woman had shown me the night before was much farther away, from the safety of the sky above. Gliding down the cliff at close proximity was extremely intimidating.

I landed softly on the beach's soft sand and instantly felt a rush of energy. The sand shivered violently at my presence and I noticed that the speed of the whirlpool surged, kicking up a wind that almost knocked me over with its ferocity. I had the distinct realization that I was tempting fate with each step, yet I kept walking, searching for anything that could help us.

My essence was constantly being pulled toward the whirlpool; its mouth getting a taste of my Tyde essence and demanding I surrender it. My vision blurred in and out as it pulled and stretched my very soul. I felt as if I were on a tilt-a-whirl, not knowing if the whirlpool or the beach was spinning. My equilibrium was thrown off and my eyes couldn't be trusted. Everything tilted and the beach rushed up to my right side, slamming into my ribs. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought to still the spinning.

"Stasia!"

A voice. Could the whirlpool call out to me? Could it replicate voices to lure me in? When it called out to me again, I recognized it. Fallon. I clawed at the sand permanently pressed against my body in an effort to steady myself. I couldn't figure out how I could be standing with the world pressed up against my right side. It didn't make sense. I opened my eyes and found a figure up the beach to my right. A wave of nausea forced its way into my stomach and I heaved uselessly. While nothing spilled from my stomach, the pull on my essence doubled.

The figure up the beach didn't move and seemed to be leaning against the cliff at an odd angle. I squeezed my eyes once more as I lost my grip on the sand and rolled farther away from the figure and closer to the crux. When I stopped rolling, I glanced up at her again and met her violet eyes, wide with fear. My fingers drug across the sand as I was pulled inward into the crux.

S
TASIA

I rolled over once more, expecting the crux to take me into itself and destroy me instantly, but to my utter surprise, I rolled onto a hard surface; stable hands supporting my neck.

"Wake up, Pasha," Finn urged me. "Come back to me."

At his serene voice my world slowed, but the nausea came back with force. I lurched to the side and felt the contents of my stomach empty.

"Oh, God." Sebastian's voice wavered before I watched his feet stumble away. I coughed and sputtered, grabbing my stomach and curling into a ball.

"Sebastian!" Finn called over my head. "Get back over here! She needs the elixir!"

"I can't..." I heard Sebastian start, before the sound of him throwing up interrupted his words.

"Your brother's a big baby," Finn whispered to me, and I heard the smile in his voice. I turned to meet his tender blue eyes and felt my mouth pull up into a smile as well. He bent down and kissed my head, sending a wave of warm essence through me. His dark hair stuck to his forehead with sweat as the unrelenting heat of the sun pounded down on the monolith. The morning light had morphed into something harsher while I'd been away, and the backs of my legs warmed with the heat of the rock beneath me.

"He likes seahorses, too," I managed with a pitiful laugh. Finn's smile widened and I surrendered myself to the line of his jaw bone, the concern in his eyes, and the strong arms that gladly supported me. I was able to pull an arm up and around his waist; a sub-par attempt at a hug. My body protested any movements and my essence was depleted to the point that I couldn't even sense Sebastian's closeness.

"I'm not cleaning that up," Sebastian's disgusted tone rose from our left.

"You afraid of a couple chunks?" Finn mocked Sebastian's weak stomach with a snicker. "I thought we might save it for later in case we get hungry..." Sebastian flipped him off before he handed him a vial of golden elixir, followed by several gurgling sounds as Sebastian tried to force down his gag reflex once more.

"You bastard," Sebastian accused him through gurgles.

"I've been called worse," Finn retorted, tilting the vial up to my lips and allowing the elixir to pour down my throat. Once the last of it was gone, its energy spread from my chest, arms, and legs; invigorating me and sharpening my thoughts. Soon I was able to sit up on my own and take inventory of our situation.

"Ew." I scrunched my nose up at the mess I caused.

"You can say that again." Sebastian laughed before turning serious. "What happened over there?"

"Did you get close to the crux?" Finn followed up with another question.

"I'm glad you woke me up when you did," I divulged. "I was just on the beach, but...the crux...it's strong. It was pulling me in."

"Did you have a chance to see anything?" Finn implored.

"Fallon!" I suddenly remembered loudly, making them jump back. "Fallon was on the beach, but I couldn't get to her. She saw me."

"What!?" Sebastian moved closer. "You... you saw her? Are you sure it was her?"

"I know it was her!" My head pounded as I fought to remember details. "She was on the beach, by herself."

"So she's alive!" Sebastian's wide eyes became frantic with hope.

"Or she's a ghost," Finn reminded him. I had filled him in on all the disheartening details of our trip last night. "If Nadia is using her, she'll be in spirit form."

"But she's here." He smiled. "She's still here."

"What was she doing?" Finn asked.

"I couldn't tell. Everything was spinning," I admitted. "But I did see Liam."

"You did?" It was Finn's turn to be hopeful, although an undercurrent of anger accompanied his optimism.

"Apparently he's the leader of Selene's army of Auras." I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "But they looked more like a motley crew thrown together a couple hours ago, if you ask me."

"So it's true." Finn leaned his head back in frustration. "I don't get it."

"They were spinning a big boulder around with their essence; practicing. Selene showed up, but it was just to check in on them. She told them they had until sunset," I said, using air quotes.

"So they have to be planning something for tonight." Sebastian stood and walked to the edge of the cliff, gazing out at the unassuming island housing the crux. "And we need to be there for it."

"She told Liam to keep an eye out, and said that she'd be expecting me soon." I stood as well and pulled Finn up with me. "Well, she said 'her', but I don't know who else she'd be expecting."

"We need to do this strategically." Finn rubbed his chin in thought. "There are several different ways we can go about this."

"A three pronged attack." Sebastian spun around on his heel, brow drawn in deep thought. His blue eyes were laser-focused as his military experience took over. He dropped to his knees and found a small rock to draw with. He sketched out a likeness of the crux's island in the centuries-old volcanic rock, followed by the monolith we currently stood on and the ship beneath the water to our right.