Chapter 28

Rose

W ill and Adrian spent the better part of the next three hours teaching me and the kids magic and practicing with what we already knew. Jesse and Callie were, unsurprisingly, much more confident and practiced at using their magic than I was, but they consoled me by teaching me the "ancient art of bending water" or something like that. They assured me this was definitely, one hundred percent a thing I needed to know to be the coolest siren in all the oceans… all while holding back snickers as I copied their movements.

When I wasn't being trolled by two ridiculous little goblins in mer-suits, I was able to get some real practice in as well. Not with merfolk magic but with what I could do as a Keeper of the Keys.

"With intent and the cooperation of the Heart, you can shape the land to be what you want," Vi told me. "It's how Thomas Golden made his castle: he and Nora's Heart discussed what he wanted and needed, and they worked together to bring Golden Castle to life."

Nora's Heart sang a happy note of agreement.

"That's so freaking cool," I replied, giddy.

"Why don't you try it now?" Vi encouraged.

In the end, after lots of thought, the Heart and I made something simple, and it ended up being so easy that I nearly doubted it was real. I made stairs for Vi to use to get in and out of the water in the tunnels rather than having to jump in and out like us fin-havers. I patted the smooth stone steps at least seven times just to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.

Nora's Heart just laughed at me, trilling happily at how easy things were when working with me. Want to try something else?

What else can I do? I asked, tilting my head.

Anything you want. Your imagination is the limit.

I looked at my work, then I closed my eyes. Without thinking about it too much. I imagined the stone steps beneath my fingers being the same make and color as the stairs in my and Vi's old house. I could picture the hand-carved banister, the well-worn grooves in the wood. A little piece of home in these hidden depths.

When I opened my eyes, the once-simple stone steps were an uncanny echo of my memory of where we once lived. I ran my fingers over the railing, thinking I would feel wood, but despite its appearance, it was still stone. Regardless, I marveled at my work, surprised.

"Oh, Rose," said Vi, coming to stand next to me. "It's beautiful."

A deep sense of homesickness coursed through me, but I couldn't voice it. It was my fault, after all, for angering Joseph so much that he burnt our house down. He never would have gone after Vi if I hadn't pissed him off.

My aunt wrapped an arm around me and gave me a squeeze, almost as if she could hear my thoughts. "Thank you for a little piece of home."

"It's the least I could do." I laid my head on her shoulder, weary to my soul. "Besides, it will be easier for you to get in and out of the water now."

"You're the sweetest, Rose, truly." She kissed me on the cheek. "I think I'll use them now to go in and start lunch. I imagine it's hungry work bending water."

I snorted. "It really is."

After one last hug, Vi started toward the stairs and was about to ascend them when Adrian swam up to us, Will and the kids trailing behind him.

"I'm going to go check the wards before heading to the kitchen," said Adrian. "I'll be right back."

He reached out and stroked the backs of his fingers over Vi's cheek. The adoration, the love in their eyes made me look away. But it made my heart warm.

Maybe everything will be alright after all, I thought. Maybe after all this is over, we'll both be able to move on and have the lives we always wanted… Gods know my aunt deserves happiness after all she's been through.

"Alright," said Vi after a moment, "let's head to the kitchen to get some grub."

Jesse and Callie jumped out of the water, ignoring the stairs I'd made completely and landing messily on the stone lip, Callie on her feet and Jesse on his hands and knees. They took a moment to dry themselves off like they'd been taught before looking back down at us. Vi and I walked up the stairs like I'd intended for them to be used. It took only seconds to use my magic to dry her after.

"Thank you, Rosie," said Vi, happiness lighting her from within. "Not just for the stairs, but for giving me the chance to experience this. It was… it was amazing."

"I love you," was all I could reply at first. "I can't wait for the day when we can show you the ocean and how beautiful it is around here. It's indescribable."

"I can't wait to see it," she replied. She opened her mouth to say something more but decided against it, instead turning to the kids. "Let's go make some lunch, shall we?"

"Yeah!" the kids said in near unison.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up in a minute," I said, giving her a smile . "And you better save me some or I'll have to nibble your toes for lunch instead!"

I pretended to lunge for the kids, and they giggled, running into the cave. Vi just rolled her eyes and followed after them, but Will hung back for a moment. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to my temple. I couldn't help but melt.

"You did wonderfully today, sweetheart," he said. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you," I whispered, then got onto my tiptoes to kiss him properly. "I'm going to recharge a little in the water, but I'll be right there, okay?"

"You sure you're okay?" he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

"I'm okay, I promise. Even super-powered mutants like me get tired."

"Alright."

He seemed reluctant to leave, hesitating for a moment. So, I kissed him again and reassured him with my body that I was fine. He nipped my bottom lip before pulling away. "Pretty girl, if we weren't at your aunt's house with children nearby, I'd have my wicked way with you right there against the wall."

I laughed. "Maybe later, when there aren't small hooligans to dodge."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

With that, he finally departed, heading toward the kitchen, giving me a lovely view of his ass before he conjured clothes for himself to wear—apparently, Vi had a rule about naked people sitting on her furniture, one she currently was shouting about to the kids further in the cave. As he walked away, I sent him one last thought, Have I ever told you that you have the best ass?

Oh, you're asking for it, pretty girl, he replied, heat in his thoughts. You can slobber over my naked body as much as you want when we get back home.

I'll take that as a "Thank you for ogling and complimenting me, Rose."

He just laughed and disappeared down the hallway, leaving me able to slip back into the water.

In truth, I wasn't really tired at all. Mentally, perhaps, but not physically or magically. I wasn't willing to try to push the limits and risk burning myself, hence staying in the water a little longer. My eyes slipped shut, and I let myself relax into the happy hum of Nora's Heart for a moment.

A disturbance in the water had me opening my eyes sooner than I wanted, and I waited for Adrian to come around the corner. My heart thumped against my ribs as I questioned again whether I should do this or not, but it was too late to flee; he saw me waiting for him. When he did, his only change in expression was a slight lift to his eyebrows.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, stopping just in front of me.

"Yeah, everything's fine," I said, though I wasn't sure whether I said it to reassure him or myself at that point. Shoring up every last ounce of my pitiable amount of courage, I took a deep breath before continuing. "I just wanted to thank you for your help a few days ago. I know it must have seemed really silly for me to freak out about something that is so normal for you, but I really appreciate your kindness and patience."

"It truly was no problem at all, Rose," he replied with an earnestness that surprised me. "Otherkind life is hard to get used to at the best of times, and you seem to have been put through the ringer with your transition."

"I mean, you're not wrong about that." My cheeks heated. "It's just that I'm a stranger to you, and it really must be awkward to have me emotionally vomiting around you so often."

He leaned against the wall across from me, settling in and shifting into his human form. "Well, perhaps I am a stranger to you, but you're not much a stranger to me. Between everything Violet has told me and what Cornelius told me after moving to Nora, I've known of you a long time."

My nerves gave way to confusion. "Eli… talked about me to you?"

There was a shade of Eli in the way Adrian's lips curved into a gentle, somewhat wistful smile. "All the time. He told me about how you met and how much the kids loved you. He always told me you were like the eldest daughter he never had."

The dull ache in my chest, where the memory of Eli lived, morphed into a sharp pain, a slice of claws across still-healing wounds. Grief poured from the now-opened scars, flowing freely. I pressed my hand to my heart, holding back the tears that sprang to my eyes in the wake of Adrian's words.

The lump in my throat cut off any words I may have wanted to say. Thankfully, Adrian didn't push me to respond, his patience seemingly infinite. But what could I say to that? How could Adrian, Eli's older brother, tell me that so freely when I was there when he died… when I was the cause of his death? He would have lived had it not been for him saving me, and that truth haunted me.

"I–I don't deserve that," I finally managed to whisper. "Not after what happened."

"I honestly don't believe that at all, Rose," he replied. His expression gave me no reason to believe he was being facetious or outright lying to me, but I couldn't believe it.

"How? You lost your brother… Vi, her boyfriend… and the kids, their father. All because of me."

"I don't see it that way." He closed the space between us to put a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Cornelius—Eli—loved you as his own, and there isn't a single thing he wouldn't do for those he loved. I have no doubt in my mind that he did what he thought he must to ensure you lived."

"If I hadn't made him bind the talisman to me, he could've survived. We could all be happy." I looked into his eyes and willed him to understand where I was coming from. To understand that Joseph would never have come after him and killed him were it not for me.

"But the talisman being bound to you was what saved your life, was it not? I understand that perhaps your life wouldn't have been in danger from the hunters were it not for the talisman, but to me, it seems like it saved you in the end. I know Eli would have wanted that most of all. He would want you to be happy and healthy, just as much as he wanted that for me, Violet, and the kids. You mattered to him. You were important." He cupped my cheek in his hand as he gave me a look of such tenderness, I could no longer hold back my tears.

Adrian pulled me into his arms, wrapping me in his strength just as he had before. "I hope one day you can forgive yourself for what happened and can free yourself of the guilt you carry," he continued, still as calm as ever. "And for what it's worth, not in a million years could I ever blame you for what happened that night. But if you need to lay the blame at anyone's feet, lay it at Joseph's, and when you're strong enough, take every bit of pain you feel out on his hide."

His calm demeanor broke then, his words turning hard, sharp. I pulled away a little to look up at him. There was no hint of his usual stoicism in his face, only rage and the desire for retribution… both of which I understood. Both of which mirrored what was in my own heart.

"I swear to you, Adrian, Joseph will die for what he's done," I vowed, not for the first time and certainly not for the last time, either.

"Good." He pulled away, but only enough to take my shoulders in his hands, his ocean eyes storming down at me with an intensity I'd never seen from him before. "You must remember, Rose. Merfolk were born of blood, grief, and pain, of betrayal and vengeance. It's in the very magic that gives us life. When the time comes, tap into that and let it guide you. Unlike the Call, it has the wisdom of a million merpeople. It won't lead you wrong."

His words echoed deep within me, down to the well of power I held. The slivers of divinity vibrated, shimmering in recognition of the truth. Each one of the souls within me, even the ones I'd already sent to the afterlife, knew intimately the feeling of ending the life of those who'd wronged them. It bound us together in an ancient camaraderie. But most of all, there was a harmony, an acquiescence, from them that told me they would help me in whatever way they could.

I wrapped my hands around Adrian's forearms, squeezing them. "I will."

No matter what happened from here on out, there was only one outcome I could live with, only one way to true peace and happiness in my life. And that was Joseph's soul ripped from him, his body dead and broken at my feet.

Lunch was a joyous affair, even if the kitchen table wasn't quite big enough to sit all of us, especially not after Milo was able to join us when the dispute he'd helped his father handle was dealt with. Though, he was very much not in the same condition I left him in, not when he had a black eye, a split lip, and torn up knuckles. The anger that sparked in me… the ground shook with it.

"Sweetheart, it's fine," he'd said, trying to soothe my rage. "The other guy looks worse."

I went over to him in an instant, my hands on him before I could even think about what I was doing. Will's lesson came to mind instantly, and after a breath, my power flowed into Milo. His knuckles were the first thing I healed, as the wounds there were more superficial aside from the tiny hairline fracture on his right middle finger. Then I moved to his lip, knitting the skin there back together before turning my attention to his eye. It took a little longer to return his black eye to normal given how delicate the area was, but within minutes, he was right as rain.

Didn't stop me from needing to be held back from meting out some justice of my own.

Despite my ire, lunch was amazing, and afterward, Aunty Vi assigned everyone their cleaning task before telling me we were going to head to the library. This I definitely didn't mind. I may or may not have blown a raspberry at my boys before skipping away from the kitchen to the sound of Will and Milo's boos.

"So," I started once I plopped down into one of the chairs in the library, "have you ever shaped the islands in any way?"

Vi tilted her head, thinking for a moment, then said, "I had the Heart help me fortify the foundations of the house and the shop after a particularly bad spate of rain. Other than that, there wasn't really anything for me to do without outing myself, especially after Joseph came."

I nodded. "Is there anything you would change?"

"To be honest, not really," she admitted. "I love the islands as they are. The only thing I would change is having to hide what our family does for the islands, but with everything that's been going on, I'm not sure that will ever happen." She let out a long breath. "Though, now that I think about it, I might add more to the tunnels now that I can access them without scuba gear, just in case this place is discovered."

My whole body went still. The very idea of Joseph or any of his people finding this place made me want to throw up. It was my nightmare.

"W-What would happen if Joseph were to find this place?" I asked, terrified of the answer.

Stress lined her usually soft features. "There are measures in place to ensure he can't find this cave. But if he does and makes it past the maze of the entrance tunnels, he will have access to the whole place. He wouldn't, however, have access to any of the material here in the library. The Heart and Thomas Golden worked hard to spell the place to ensure only Keepers would be able to even perceive the contents in here. It's one of the reasons you have that mark: it's a way to allow you access to what's here."

"Could he destroy the library anyway?" I asked, wringing my hands in my lap.

"From what I understand, no," she said, her expression softening. "But I promise you that I will do what I can with the Heart to make sure it doesn't happen."

I chewed on my bottom lip as I considered this, my gaze drifting toward the brightly shining light in the hallway leading to the Heart. It was so easy to imagine Joseph coming in here and wrecking everything, burning and desecrating the history contained within this room. He'd done it so easily before. He'd dismantled the whole of Nora. The destruction he'd do here wouldn't even merit a bat of his eyelashes with how little energy it would take him ruin this, too.

However, that paled in comparison to what he would do if he discovered the Hearts. The ability to shape the islands to his whim, to bend the land and nature to his will… A shudder ran through me. I didn't want to imagine the gnarled, twisted things his imagination could produce.

Worry not, dear Rose, the Heart whispered to me. Only I can choose who I bond with and can wield my power. Even if that vile creature were to lay hands on me, it would only harm him.

The Heart's confidence was not as reassuring as I wanted it to be. "Still. Is there anything I can do to safeguard this place?

You can bond with my siblings.

"I am not allowed to." My jaw clenched until I thought I'd grind my teeth to dust. "The kelpies have banned me from Alexander completely. The krakens have sealed their Heart away. We both know that the Shiojis aren't going to let me anywhere near theirs, and I'm not sure why the selkies haven't allowed me access to theirs. I don't know what to do. It's not like I can take on any of them and force the issue."

The Heart and Vi sighed almost at the same time and were quiet. It was my aunt who broke the silence, patting my knee. "We'll figure something out, and in the meantime, you and I will fortify what we can here."

Having something actionable to do eased the tightening knot in my belly. Vi, much like myself, was someone who needed to be busy in the face of difficult situations, and in that moment, I was so incredibly grateful that she knew me as well as she did. I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Where would you like to start?" I asked, pushing aside the bad feelings.

"Well, we can start with reading up on the history of the Keepers here, and then we can add your energy to the wards here in the library."

I smiled and hopped to my feet. "Then let's get started."