Riven (15 page)

Gathering gills sounded an awful lot like gathering ingredients for a spell, or potion. And if he knew someone like Lilix at the time, there had to be a chance she offered to help bring back Juliet. If he loved her as much as they all said, he would have done anything to have her in his arms again.

“But he didn’t kill you, or Arielle for that matter,” I pondered aloud, running my tongue along my teeth in thought. “Why spare two royals?”

Shaking her head, Zeevna cut off the conversation. “I couldn’t say.” Turning her back to face me, she walked on, beckoning me to follow.

Several turns and one line of young Siren later, we came to the opening I had fought at only hours ago. All weaponry had been cleared from the ground, no traces of blood on the honey marble or nearby areas. It was as if the battle had never occurred.

“Just head straight up,” Zeevna instructed me with a short nod. “And when you hit the clearing, go straight again. Her white double-doors will be open, so you’ll know if you’re at the right place.”

Gazing up at the stairs, I found myself dreading the walk. Still, I put one foot in front of the other, silently starting the climb. Not even twenty steps into it, I felt the knots of exhaustion gnarl in my chest. Champion of the supernatural world, and I couldn’t even manage a full run of stairs, great.

I made sure not to look down as my feet grew heavy, legs aching for a break. Tilting my head up, I was pleasantly surprised; I had moved faster than I thought, and only had a dozen or so more to go. I cleared them with ease, landing on a white slap of marble swirled with black, stretching straight through an archway into a mini-garden.

Stepping through the arch, I watched as the steps behind me vanished, a door forming out of thin air, shutting me in. Ignoring the nagging sensation of fear I was growing to loathe, I headed deeper into the garden, wondering if Arielle’s horticulturist had any connection to the writer of Alice in Wonderland.

Where your typical garden carried roses and neatly trimmed hedges, this one held a masterpiece of everything but the expected. Spirals of seaweed, crafted like half-spun vases, held the same strings of beads nearly every Siren wore. Various hedges of multi-colored coral were stationed throughout the garden, shaped like different Siren, no doubt past kings and queens. Clusters of underwater flora laid scattered around the floor, bathing the ground in a stunning display of color, reminding me vaguely of how comedy shows portrayed attire from the 70’s and 80’s.

A soft, lilting hum filtered through the garden. I looked around, spotting a pair of white double-doors adorned with golden handles and swirled display, open for the breeze. Walking over, I gently peeked inside, pausing to see Arielle pacing in front of a long, shining black table I recognized instantly as obsidian.

“It shouldn’t have to be this way, I cannot do it,” she swore at the table, moving her hand along the top. Images moved across it like water, too blurry for me to make anything out anything distinguishable. “She will be our salvation, Bartimaeus, our rebel for the forces. If I turn her over, we lose everything. I will lose my daughter, and you will lose-”

“I know well what I will lose,” the image on the table snapped, enraged. “She only keeps me in her court to know of the boy’s standing. We are vastly outnumbered, Arielle. Two greats cannot defeat a horde of regulars.”

Arielle pressed her face closer to the table, and I strained to hear. “Lucretia will take everything, Barty, right down to the fangs from your mouth. You may not like the way our world is now, but imagine it when her daughter is here.” Her hands slammed on the table, shaking the image. “She is not just our last hope, but our only hope. Her and the other one, the male Nephilim, they’ve paired with Kayden.”

“There is rumor of one more, here in the city.” The image let out a heavy sigh. “She is slaughtering my fresh fledglings, and I am growing tired of having to create five vampires to ensure the long-term survival of one.”

“It won’t be long, Bartimaeus, it won’t be long.” Arielle straightened, a hand on her chest. “We will ensure she has everything she needs. Promise me when she finds you, that you help her if I cannot.”

“I would move the heavens for you myself if I could, my beauty,” Bartimaeus whispered, causing Arielle to swoon. “As you wish, until our next meet in person. Although, perhaps next time you might want to consider sending someone other than your daughter?” He lightly scolded her. “She is the last of your line, and with no child on the way, letting her have free reign is a risky move.”

I let out a tiny cough, knocking on the side of the door. Arielle swung around, startled, both hands pressed against her chest.

“Oh, my gosh, Essallie,” she sputtered, clearly caught off guard. She ran a hand along the table top, washing away the blurred image until nothing but shining black stone remained. “Please, come inside. And close the doors behind you, if you would be so kind.”

I did as she asked, pulling hard on the white doors until they clicked into place. I turned around, following Arielle’s light hum into the next room as she hovered over a tray of snacks and cups. She poured two cups of tea, passing one to me and bringing me further into the sitting room. All around us, white washed walls held various photos of her and Zeevna, the pair in shots as simple as standing in the garden to swimming with whales.

“How is your head feeling?” Arielle asked, breaking my train of thought. She dropped several cubes of sugar into her glass, stirring it as she watched me carefully.

I gave her my best nonchalant shrug, dropping two cubes into my own glass. “Fine, actually. Quiet,” I laughed, but it was true. After Zeevna struck my body with the grey water while Ebony had taken over, she had vanished. So had the rest of the whispers, headaches, and unexplained urges I had felt for the last two weeks. It was as if Ebony were a lit candle, and Zeevna snuffed her out with one strong, simple gust.

“Zeevna was smart, using a bottle of salve water in such a way,” Arielle said between sips of tea. “It may have very well saved your life.”

“Is that why you called me here,” I questioned, feeling a bubble of anger rise in my chest. “To smack me with the fact that I owe you my life?”

She set her cup down, waving her hands like tiny white flags. “No, not at all! My intentions are much more... pure.” Closing her eyes, she sighed, cracks in her elegant beauty coming to light. “I called you to apologize.”

I raised an eyebrow, suspicious. Arielle didn’t take me for the type to own to her mistakes, certainly not the kind to bow and kiss ass to make up for a problem. Still, I figured no harm could come from listening to what she had to say.

“When the three of you broke through the barrier, and into our home, I was furious. No outsider has managed to achieve such a feat in the last two, possibly three centuries. Of course, when I saw Kayden in your little rat pack, I instantly knew how you had managed to enter.” Her fingers flexed, curling into the shape of a fist as she recalled the turn of events. “My emotions, my desire to obtain the justice I so desperately craved for all those lost souls so long ago, it clouded my judgement. You have softened him, you know; that demon has never been the type to put others before himself, not since his Juliet died.”

Inwardly, I laughed. If only she knew the real reason why he kept me by his side, aiding me like a fugitive on the run. I stole a glance over my shoulder to the first room, frowning. “Where is Kayden, and Ari? Will they-”

“Be joining us?” Arielle waved a dismissive hand, a smile twitching the corners of her lips. “Kayden is on the mainland, regaining his strength the way all heartless creatures do. The Nephilim, Ari, as he is called, is resting in one of the guest pods much like the one you had awoken to find yourself in. I had arraigned for our conversation to be private,” she waited. “Unless you wanted them with you?”

I shook my head; I was a big girl, pretty sure I could manage an oversized fish.

Taking my no as a signal to continue, Arielle leaned gently out of her chair towards me. “Strange,” she said, studying me like a newly discovered specimen. “You are like the boy, Ari, and yet, you’re not in the same breath. Two strands of blood, blending to create something far unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

I winced; why did everything I do have to come back to my blood? The urge to point out that blood didn’t make a person who they were stung my lips. A dull ache began behind my right eye, and I fought not to squint or let the pain show. I tried a change of topic. “Is your name really Arielle?”

Her eyebrows raised slowly, confused, then dropped back into place. “Yes, why would it not?”

I couldn’t help the grin, and giggling question that shot off my lips. “Have you ever heard of the Little Mermaid?”

I had expected her to scowl, maybe even blush in anger before retorting back with a snap. Instead, her shoulders dropped, and her high-postured persona vanished instantaneously. Laughter brightened her face even more, revealing small lines on the sides of her eyes and mouth. “Darling, you’re looking at the Siren who made up that legend.” Her hands subconsciously reached up to pat her hair. “Most of the legends you hear about sea people are terribly, hilariously false.”

“And the wicked sea-witch from the movie?”

She shook her head, laughing hard enough for her shoulders to shake. “A perfect impersonation of my half-sister when she doesn’t get her way.” Her eyes rolled heavenward. “Always had a thing for potions and spells, never wanted to socialize. Last time I saw her, she was busy sulking on the ocean floor, no doubt hiding in some cave plotting revenge against me.”

Laughter bubbled in my throat, her good mood infectious. Even in the world of supernaturals, sibling rivalry played a main card in the hands of families old and young alike. It was the closest thing I’d had to normal in days, weeks even.

A knock at the door cut out shared giggles short. It opened and shut, Zeevna rounding the corner to our small sitting room. She had traded in her swaths of purple cloth for a shimmering white, trimmed neatly and edged with lace shaped like scales. Gold and silver beads the size of fingernails wrapped around her neck to her shoulders, spreading like a makeshift jacket.

Stopping short of Arielle, she held out another tiny vial of grey water in her hands to me. “You’ll want to drink this,” she said apologetically, eyes distant. “It will help.”

Taking the bottle from her hands, I held in front of my face, watching the nearly-clear water swish about. “Help with what?”

Arielle and Zeevna exchanged a private glance, Zeevna chewing on her lower lip. Shaking her head, she stepped behind her mother’s chair, placing her hands on the back.

“Tell her,” Zeevna whispered, soft enough for only the both of us to hear. “She needs to know.”

Alarm bells rang high and wild in my head, and I could feel my happy mood dissolving before my eyes. Narrowing my stare at both of them, I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t swear. “Need to know what?” When neither of them would speak, I stood up, knocking the cup of tea off my lap and crashing on the floor.
“Know what?”

Arielle shrunk in her seat, somehow appearing smaller than the shockingly tall woman she was. “How long has... has your mind unraveling been going on?”

I could feel the start of tears stinging my eyes as I folded my arms over my chest. Blinking, I made sure to keep my eyes on the ceiling. “A couple of weeks, maybe more. Not like it matters- I already knew I was going to die. Going insane is just a nice way of adding icing to the basket-case cake.”

Out of the corner of my sight, I watched Zeevna and Arielle share another worried glance. Arielle reached up along the back of the chair, taking her daughter’s hand and squeezing it comfortingly. “You have a greater problem, Essallie,” Zeevna said. “One that must be cured in hours, not days, if you wish to see the sun rise.”

I turned back down to meet her worried stare. “And what is that?”

“Your soul is dying, Essallie. If we do not cure it by sunrise, you will perish.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

UNRAVELING 

Zeevna’s words acted like a knife pressed in my heart.

I could feel my heart, thundering in my chest, my head swimming in the revelation. My lungs burned like I had ingested ash, choking out what little air I had left.

When I spoke, it sounded far away, barely audible over the high-pitched ringing in my ears. “My soul?”

Arielle rose from her seat, abandoning Zeevna to comfort me. Gently she wrapped her arms around my thin frame, pulling me into her chest. “Think back to these last few weeks, Essallie. Do you recall anything odd?”

I wanted to laugh in her face; odd followed me on a daily basis, teased me in my sleep, and liked to jump on me at the first sign of weakness. My life has been odd from the start, filled with childhood beatings, unexplained events, and finally tied into a bow when a demon tried to eat me like I was a bon-bon in his favorite chocolate box.

But one memory, recent and clear, floated to the surface of my subconscious, re-playing for my viewing pleasure.

Ebony turned around, facing me. Gracefully she knelt down into the swaying sea-grass, her playful smile out of place with her bloodlust gaze.