Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (39 page)

"Olivia!" Nadia's attacker called out to me from a couple yards away. She stumbled across the sand towards me, glaring at Nadia the entire way. Blythe.

"Blythe? But how-?" I stared up at her wild eyes with bewilderment. I had to be seeing things. I witnessed first hand her body being stolen by the crux!

"I'm always the victor," she reminded me through clenched teeth. She was dripping wet and her clothes were torn, but somehow, she was alive.

A flick of Nadia's wrist interrupted her as a cloud of hot essence consumed me and sent waves of scorching pain down the length of my body, while the groans next to me told me Blythe was struck as well.  I heard Avery yell something back, but my cries faded to whimpers and I looked up helplessly at the devil who had her hands all over Sebastian. She laughed and nudged Sebastian playfully. He remained completely emotionless and just stared at me curiously.

Up on the ridgeline, Selene raised her hands and the witches strengthened their chant, sending a new wave of fresh agony and horror through me. I clutched my body and fell onto my side.

"Make sure they don't get in my way," Nadia commanded Sebastian before turning away.

"Sebastian! No!" Phoebe begged him. "Don't listen to her!"

He paused momentarily and his eyes seemed to clear for a split second. His brow furrowed with confusion. Realizing he was hesitating, Nadia spun around and flicked another wrist, clouding over his eyes and setting his jaw with indignation once again. This time he didn't hesitate.

O
LIVIA

With a sweeping motion of his arm he threw Phoebe, Carmen, Avery, Blythe and I against the side of the cliff. My head snapped back and slammed against the wall with tremendous force, blurring the world around me and dotting my vision with black spots. Several seconds later, a shower of enormous boulders began to rain from the sky; falling to the beach in a thunderous boom and rolling towards us. They stopped just short of crushing us, pressing us against the wall so hard I had trouble breathing. Phoebe screamed out in pain and I heard the sick sound of bone breaking.

"Phoebs!" Carmen yelled to her weakly, struggling against the rocks. I took a deep breath and pressed against them with all of my energy, which wasn't much, but the boulders wouldn't budge. We weren't going anywhere. I was going to die here. This island. This beach. It would be the last thing I would ever see. Sebastian grinned victoriously before spinning on his heel and following Nadia down the beach. Where was Stasia? Finn? Why was Selene still standing? My mind feared the worst as my heart closed in around itself, accepting its fate.

My eyes snapped open as a brilliant light exploded before us and a tidal wave of razor sharp darkness washed over us. It infiltrated my skin, momentarily strengthening me. The sand beneath my trapped feet shivered and heated from the newest presence to arrive on the beach.

The witches dropped their arms with shock and instantly abandoned their chant as they slowly turned their attention to the woman facing them. She wore a long, black velvet dress that snaked behind her in the sand as she walked towards the stunned witches. A mane of jet black hair glistened with countless strands of crimson gemstones showering their light upon the beach. Secured around her head was a wide, golden band, adorned with more glistening red gems.

Another flash and an irate Nadia appeared directly in front of the woman, eyes flashing with fury and nefarious smoke rising from her skin.

"Back away, Princess," the woman warned her evenly. Her voice captured my attention. Familiar, yet laced with a commanding power.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nadia hissed back at her.

"Taking back my Order."

With those words, she quickly produced a writhing sphere of fire in her hand. She swung it above her head, creating a loop. In one quick motion it was tossed outward, expanding with surging power and creating a ring of dancing fire. Instead of hitting Nadia like I expected, it wrapped around the circle of witches and brightened. It consumed their bodies and exploded in a show of fireworks before knocking them to the ground. The woman glanced over her shoulder at us and we all gasped.

Eyes that were once blue were now shining a glorious gold, taking my breath and leaving me stunned. Just like Nadia's, they shone bright as fire and immediately captivated me in their hold. But there was no evil emanating from them. Her essence was warm and inviting; powerful yet serene. Hecate had returned.

Natasha nodded her head ever so slightly and the boulders dissipated into a shower of sand at our feet. We all fell forward in exhaustion. A light smile crossed her crimson lips before she turned back to the fallen witches. 

Unfortunately, Sebastian was nothing if not thorough. Another shower of boulders rained down, pinning us against the wall once more. The amount of bruises on my body had to outnumber the amount of unblemished skin I had left. I glanced up at Selene who was diligently working away, ignoring the chaos down below and relentlessly spreading her essence out across the ring of Auras dotting the ridgeline. Where was Stasia?!

"No!" Nadia boomed, shaking the ground and lunging for Natasha. A stream of sizzling red essence burst from Natasha, throwing Nadia back up the beach and hard against the rocky wall, leaving her crumpled on the sand as a shower of dislodged rocks pelted her body. Sebastian's body jerked and he shook his head, collapsing to his knees.

"Now!" I hissed to the others, the warmth of Natasha's essence filtering up through the sand and strengthening me just enough. We pressed against the boulders with all of our strength and I was able to move mine slightly, just enough to slide out from behind it. Carmen was next to escape and we worked feverish to free Blythe, Avery, and Phoebe.

"You are free now, my beautiful children. You no longer belong to the Reaper," Natasha proclaimed to her descendants. The witches brushed themselves off, seemingly stunned and unable to take their eyes off of her. "You now belong to the Elysian Fields of the Underworld. I have made it so."

I ran to Sebastian as Avery set to healing Phoebe's broken arm. The witches surrounding the crux continued to stare at Natasha with unbelieving eyes and boundless wonder. Smiles slowly brightened their exhausted faces and one in particular bowed with a beaming smile. Arabella. Her action prompted the other witches to follow her lead and bow to their Leader.

A group of four witches suddenly appeared on the beach as well, apparently separate from the others circling the crux. They glanced at Nadia's crumpled form and then back to Natasha with shock, and then they also bowed to Natasha with reverence. It was a profound scene and my heart swelled, despite our current situation.

Natasha held out her arms and the witches all faded away, celebrating their release. In their stark absence it became clear that they had already succeeded in slowing the crux to a dangerous crawl. Now faint waves gently swirled at its center. That's when I noticed something falling. Fallon.

I lost sight of her as a blast of hot essence shot out of Natasha's arms, streaking across the crux and directly at Selene. It connected and sent Selene stumbling backwards in pain.

Without a second glance or word, Natasha disappeared in a flash of light and Fallon's body splashed into the once swirling mouth of the crux.

F
ALLON

The first indication that something was wrong had to be the explosion of water against my back as my body crashed through something. The next indication was the feeling of being submerged underwater. I'd gotten pretty accustomed to falling out of the sky, but every other time I landed on a pillow of perfectly good, breathable air. It was trying to rip my essence apart, but at least I had air. As I negotiated feebly with my limbs to make some kind of movement, I found myself pondering the possibility that I could breathe underwater. I had nothing to back up that possibility, but it would shine a small ray of hope down onto my current situation. I wasn't versed in the rules and restrictions of being a ghost, but surely there were some kind of perks.

I watched the barely-swirling surface above me fade away as I sank closer and closer to the bottom of the ocean. On the bright side, my essence was depleted to the point that I had trouble caring about anything whatsoever. I was a feather in the wind; merely riding the breeze wherever it decided to take me.

A cool sensation snagged my curiosity and I smiled up at the woman lying parallel to my body as we both descended into the deep. She observed me without a word and I had the odd feeling I'd seen her before. But then again, I didn't know what was real and what was make believe anymore. I was also running out of breath, but I had a feeling that wouldn't last much longer either...being that my lungs would be full of water soon. So I had that going for me.

The woman's white hair reminded me of a cape trailing behind her as she fell. The hollowed cheeks and protruding collarbone brought back images of skeletons and Halloween at Eventide. She was missing the scary factor, though. Her tender gaze was anything but threatening. Then she opened her mouth. I winced as a horrid noise screeched out from her translucent throat; scratching against my ears. If my arms still worked I would have tried to get away, unfortunately that wasn't an option. Instead, I simply waited for her to stop. With frustration, she closed her mouth and the wretched sound halted. She stared back at me expectantly. I stared back with bewilderment.

Her frail, bony face fell with disappointment and she began to blur in front of my eyes like an apparition. Then I remembered I was the apparition. For some reason it hit me as funny and I laughed; sucking water into my lungs. The suffocating pressure in my chest immediately answered my question about breathing underwater. I could check that off as one thing ghosts could not do.

With alarm, the woman lurched forward and threw her arms around me with incredible force, squeezing the water from my lungs before letting go.

After the urge to cough up every organ and fluid in my body dissipated, the lack of water around my body startled me. I glanced around carefully. We were still falling, still parallel. But we were in a...bubble? A bubble of air. Air! I gasped uncontrollably and felt the the fuzzy darkness lift from my mind with relief. I didn't understand how I could die if I was already dead, but it appeared that was possible.  I really needed to read up on my ghost manual. Right after I found a ghost manual. I chuckled again at my thoughts, but the skeleton lady wasn't laughing.

She still hovered above me with a frown pulling her expression down. She grabbed my shoulders and shook me lightly, commanding my attention. She opened her mouth again and I cringed instinctively. To my elation, this time she didn't screech or scream. Instead I was hit by a wall of clarity. I blinked once, and then again. Suddenly all of my thoughts, all of my memories, and all of my senses came crashing into my consciousness. I gasped and stared at the cobalt eyes that suddenly held mine with feverish intensity.

The deep blue colors wrapped around my imagination and I was flooded with something I could only describe as...understanding. She was almost dead. She knew what was happening. She knew who was doing it. She knew the consequences. She knew of my destiny - to overthrow Selene. And she knew something else. Something important. I tucked it away into my memory with care.

She wavered before me and closed her eyes. There was no scream. No wail full of sorrow. She didn't have that much essence left, and she didn't want to waste what she had left on her song. She wanted to give it to me.

"Please, no!" I jumped in surprise at the sound of my voice. It was forced and raspy, scratching every nerve on the way out. My heart filled with sadness as I realized she was already streaming her essence into me. She held my shoulders and watched me with contentment and optimism. She blurred once more and closed her eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek and evaporating immediately. Before I was ready, just like her single tear of sadness, she evaporated.

At first I couldn't move. I couldn't grasp the sadness I felt. Her gift of cool essence wasn't much, but it was infinitely more than I had before. I knew I couldn't waste it breathing in that bubble beneath the surface, so I took a deep breath and looked upward. With that one thought, my body ascended rapidly.