Chapter 16

Chapter

Sixteen

CORDELIA

M inka looked like the sun shining on a cold winter's day with her golden ringlets flowing in the salty air. She wrung out her hands in front of her fitted training leathers. Theia, the Pegasus we rode to the Southern Coast of Gambriel on, huffed at the sand playfully. Her white feathered wings relaxed in the wintry breeze. A sapphire stone flashed in the sunlight as Minka shifted her weight, her favorite dagger strapped to her thigh.

I smiled.

She was so sweet yet brutally fierce. She was my light in this world full of night, my sunshine, my treasure, my everything . I knew she bore no magic in her veins but I was infinitely sure that the Fates had destined us for one another. And I would search the world and every dark crevice in this unforgiving sea for her.

Her plump, pink lips were still swollen from the bruising kisses I laid upon them moments ago and she stuck out the lower one in a pout. "It'll only be a few moments and I'll be right back," I promised while running a hand down her doll-like face.

Blueish gray eyes widened and I could feel her heart beginning to race again beneath my hand. Minka's anxiety was creeping up again, her breathing coming out in shorter, sharper breaths. The change was so subtle that she thought most didn't notice, but I always did.

My heart ached, twisting and turning in my chest. I desperately wished there was a way to ease her fears. To calm that racing heart to a soft lullaby. But no sweet words, lovely melodies, or even magic, could stop her mind from going to the most catastrophic scenario.

She'd already faced the worst of them.

Her small pale hand started to tremble along with those perfect lips and her gaze was no longer focused on me. Leaning down, I cupped her angelic face, bringing her eyes back to center, and then placed a soft kiss on her mouth. Minka melted in an instant, along with the unease that slowly crept to the back of her mind the longer I kissed her. Her body pressed against mine but I sighed and pulled away from the embrace before I got lost in her once more.

"Be safe," my treasure whispered as I pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. The Pegasus stepped towards Minka, its feathery wing lightly stroking the side of her face. I was pretty sure Theia and Minka were destined for one another as well, their bond more tightly knit than her cloak.

"Infinitely safe," I winked at her smiling form as the sea roared behind me. Every muscle in my body came to life, begging to be submerged in the salty depths. The tide licked my humanoid feet, webs forming between my toes. "Don't get too close to those tidepools, Minks. I should be back in only a few hours."

She saluted me like I was her Commander, patting Theia on the side. "Yes, ma'am."

Chuckling, I shook my head as wildness and magic took over, and I descended into the Circadian Sea. The chilly water sent goosebumps rising upon my dark flesh, sending shivers in their wake, but I wasn't cold. Being born of the sea, I was made to withstand even the chilliest of temperatures.

My humanoid skin began to itch, becoming too tight on my form. The waves rose higher upon me, meeting my chest and drenching me. Like the sea was calling me to come home to its comforting embrace. Inhaling the salty air for a second longer, I listened to the Circadian's lulling song before diving into the brisk water.

Letting my body slowly shift, I stretched out my scale-covered tail followed by the cracking of my bones as my form adapted to one made for the ocean. The Circadian sang to my cold blood as my throat elongated, gills littering up and down my neck, behind my ears. Opalescent light flashed in the dark depths as I breathed in the sea, fully Siren once more. Webbed hands equipped with nails sharp enough to cut rock came into my view.

To be the predator again was invigorating.

Salty water vibrated around me as I swiftly moved through the debris of the once forgotten pirate ship in the abyss. We flew through the rain-trodden clouds all day just to check this location. Cracked wood, covered in barnacles and seaweed, fell away with every swish of my tail on the dilapidated vessel.

Mobs of anchovies, herrings, and menhadens flew past me in a flurry of scales and small fins. They were some of the smaller creatures of the Circadian, but not the weakest with their ability to swarm around one another to fight off predators like me.

But they were swimming away before they even saw me, retreating from a different threat surely. But then as quickly as the others left, another group of varied fish mobilized into the deteriorating passenger ship before retreating not even seconds later.

It was odd behavior, even for the darkest corners of the Circadian.

Inhaling once more, I let the salt invade my gills as tiny scales flashed by. My stomach churned as the metallic taste of horrid magic followed their fleeing forms. Like it was chasing them away. But for some reason, these sea creatures couldn't help themselves from being attracted to this mess of wood and ropes.

The odd thing was that it wasn't only the beings within the Circadian but also the ones that walked upon the land. The latest report from Jude had given away that this beach and ship had had an astounding amount of activity within the past few days. From divers looking for lost treasures to sea creatures swarming around the breaking hull. There was even one report of a troop of unmarked guards camping on the beach, their trash littering the shoreline.

But only for one day until they disappeared, no marching tracks left in the sand.

Everything happening was far from normal and this vessel was a hot spot in the Circadian—I needed to figure out why. It was even more off-putting that the ship had sunk years ago and there was no treasure to be found.

No lost jewels, chests full of gold, or even ruined paintings littered the ocean floor. Just debris and death waited for those who came down here in search of their heart's desire.

Pushing my body through the opening in the side of the ship, the water seemed to darken the further into the vessel I went. Instead of the deep blue the Circadian embodied, the salty sea was now murky, the water feeling heavier like I was swimming through sludge. My gills burned with every pass of water that entered my body and my initial reflex was to turn around and hightail it out of this haunted craft.

What the fuck was happening?

Shivers went down my neck the further into the darkness I swam. Goosebumps rose on my exposed flesh as sticky tendrils I couldn't see latched onto my fish-like body. The light from the sun had been blotted out the instant I entered but even with my enhanced vision, I could barely make out what else lay below that was calling to the entire realm.

Pure midnight. Never ending, all-consuming, unrelenting darkness.

Their tentacles thickened and tightened around my limbs, trying to secure me in a deadly net. My skin stung from the barbs digging into my scales, my torso and tail beginning to droop, heavy and numb.

With elongated claws spread out, I snarled and ripped through the webs that were trying to encase my turquoise tail. Pale blue light shot from my fingertips and palms as I slashed the dark coils of Medies trying to take hold of my soul.

The light fractured along with the murky tendrils surrounding me before I saw a similar light in the distance, further down into the keel of the ship that had broken in half during its wreck. It was soft and glowing, a warm and comforting feeling rather than the suffocating bleakness of this cursed place.

Willing my magic back into my hands, I let my power move through my body until my arms were fluorescent. Only a few feet in front of me illuminated, the darkness obscured the glow. My insides screamed and raged against me, begging me to turn back but that soft light flashed in the distance again.

Calling to me just like the sea.

Against my better judgment, I let my own soft light guide my path. I slowly swam down towards that luminous, disappearing color and closer to that fervor filling my bones. Like a Siren's call, my ears started to ring as a melodic voice permeated through the depths.

It was harmonizing with the Circadian's melody.

The light became brighter, more potent, the closer I got and so did the feeling of love and light and joy. The darkness faded away into nothingness as I saw that the light wasn't a separate one, but my own reflecting off a shattered glass mirror that lay on the sandy floor.

Gold etching on the black border chipped away as my tail flicked to clean it. The slow current carried away the debris, clearing up some of the murky water. Shards of glass were perfectly embedded into the mirror, not moving a single inch despite the reflective piece being irreparable.

Lessening my magic, my glowing arms retracted their light slightly so I could study the once polished glass without blinding myself. My eyes adjusted and even with the fissures running throughout the mirror, I could make out my distorted reflection.

It was me, but it wasn't .

My normally bright blue eyes were a muted color of brown along with my curly blueish green hair. Cut, precise cheekbones took the place of my usual rounded ones, almost hollow along with the dark circles under my eyes. No seashells hung from my coils, and even my deep skin had an absence of color. It was a stranger that felt and looked so familiar that my heart ached, straining against my ribcage.

The glass shifted the closer I peered into it and the reflection changed as a man appeared at her side, his rounded ears covered in golden hoops to match the metal one in his nose. Her skin was a darker brown, darker than my own, but it still looked off . Lackluster eyes, skin, and hair for both of them. Almost as if all colors were muted in the reflection.

Heart pounding in my chest, goosebumps rose once more as I gripped the sides of the mirror. Pain radiated from my hands like a scalding burn as I hissed and more bubbles came from my mouth. Coils of darkness wrapped around the mirror's golden edges, pulling it steadily back to the ocean's floor. Clutching my aching hands to my chest, I looked down and saw scorch marks against my russet skin with that golden paint burned into them.

The erratic beating of my heart filled my ears with its uneasy rhythm and I couldn't stop myself from trying to cover my ears to lessen the sound. It was filling every part of me—my chest, my head, my fucking soul— with its incessant pounding but nothing would make it stop.

My hands ached the harder I pushed them against my skull but the pounding just got worse, stronger than before as I tried to calm my pulse. My gills slowed their inhalation of water along with my heart but the beating didn't cease. It only got louder, more profound until I looked back towards the glass and saw red blood leaking out from the cracks and turning the water to a crimson-black color.

Bright blue eyes shone in the reflection as brown hands pounded onto the glass, cutting her supple skin with every movement. Voices came out muffled and I couldn't hear them over the banging of flesh being shredded with each pound of her fist. There was little I could see through the endless fissures and fractures but those eyes .

I would know those cerulean eyes anywhere.

Pale hands joined in the procession next and a glimmering ring of gold and sparkling emeralds cracked the glass as more blood oozed into the water, filling it with a metallic tang. Webs of darkness surrounded me as I clawed at the glass of their cage, cutting my own scaly hands in the process.

I needed to get them out.

Needed to… I needed to save them.

I couldn't stop the tears from overflowing and making the water even saltier as my voice cracked, "Mother!" I slashed again at the gore-covered glass as my parents pounded against their mirrored prison. "Father!"