Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) (34 page)

Chapter 68

Zayden

I dreaded having to do this but it didn’t make Troy wrong. It was something we would all have to face at some point.

Darius and I went down the hall and saw Troy in the room alone, sitting next to Jaylyn while holding her hand.

“Troy?” Darius called.

“I don’t want your pity.” Troy said as he kept his head down.

“Look, we’re sorry.” I said. “We didn’t mean to jump to conclusions. We just noticed you’ve been getting close.”

“Any ideas as to why?”

“We said we’re sorry. What more do you want?” Darius answered.

“I want my family back but that’s something you could never understand.”

“You’ll get them back.” I said.

Troy only laughed to himself as he looked at us for the first time. I could see the hurt in his eyes. “You know as well as I do that that’s not true. If we don’t see a change in them within five days, they’ll die and my life will be over.”

Darius and I shared a look. Troy was smart. He knew what was happening but it just made it harder that we didn’t know what to say to this.

“I won’t survive if I lose her.” Troy muttered, his eyes gazing down on Jaylyn. “She’s the only thing that’s ever shown me peace.”

“Fate wouldn’t be so cruel, not to us.” I said. “And we need to believe it. You will see them again.”

I’m sure he was going to reply with more doubt when he looked at us again but Jaylyn’s arm moved. Troy jumped to his feet and leaned over her.

“So, I wasn’t the only one who saw that?” Darius wondered as we stepped closer to the end of the bed.

“No.”

“Jaylyn?” Troy touched her face, sounding much more hopeful than before. “Can you hear me?”

She slowly started to respond by moving her head towards him and slowly started to open her eyes. Troy was so happy he was almost in tears as he fell to his knees next to her.

“My son. Where’s my—” Her voice was muffled and slow but she paused to take a few slow breaths.

“Shh.” Troy said. “Just relax. He’s next to you.”  Jaylyn was very weak but she was able to slowly turn her head to the other side and got a glimpse of Bryce next to her, still unconscious. She started to get upset when she saw him and Troy got to his feet to calm her down by turning her head to him. “Jaylyn, it’s all right. He’s still with us.”

The next thing we knew, the girls were rushing into the room like they heard her name.

“Jaylyn!” They all raced over to the bed.

“You’re back!” Cadence continued.

“Barely.” Troy replied. “She’s still very weak.”

Jaylyn slowly lifted up her hand towards Naomi and Naomi walked over to her, taking her hand. Troy moved out of the way and Naomi sat on the bed next to her.

“Don’t be worried.” Jaylyn said, softly. “He still has time. He’s my son. He won’t leave you like this.”

Troy looked up at Cadence and Lana and they both slowly started to move so he could get to her again. “I’m going to take her back to our room. Are you going to be okay to stay in here at night, Naomi?”

She was upset but nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I’m happy that she’s going to be okay for your sake.”

She then glanced down at Bryce and we were all starting to feel it.

“Bryce will be too.” I said. “You just have to believe it and we’ll be here to take care of you until then, all right?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I leaned down and kissed her head while Troy began to pick up Jaylyn to bring back to his room.

This was all a step in the right direction. All we needed to do now was wait a little longer and I was sure Bryce would come back to us. He needed to.

Chapter 69

Naomi

Four days went by. There has yet to be any change in Bryce and I hear Jaylyn wasn’t getting any better. I was at my last nerve because I knew time was running out for Bryce if he didn’t wake up soon. Every second I spent at his side, I dreaded the moment I would look up at him and he would no longer be breathing. I know the others did the best they could to keep my stress down but my hopes were fading in his survival. I refused to leave his side and tried everything I could to just get him to wake up, even if it was only long enough to get some food in him until he got his healing power back.

I always sat next to him on the bed and was too afraid to fall asleep. I didn’t want to stop looking at him. I haven’t stopped crying for a few hours while laying over him and Troy walked in the room. “Naomi? Naomi, you need to get some sleep.” I couldn’t move from here. Troy had to come over and pull me away from Bryce. “Naomi. Think of the baby. You can’t be like this.”

I fell into his arms and cried. “I’m going to lose him. I don’t know what else to do.”

“It’s the hard truth but there’s nothing you could ever do. It’s up to him to find his way back to us and he will.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better. I can’t live without him, Troy. I just can’t!”

“If it comes to that then you’re going to have to.” Troy pulled me away so I would look at him. “There’s a part of him that will always be with us and it’s in you right now. You cannot let this destroy what he’s created. You must stay strong.”

I understood but was still in terror of the idea.

“Now, get some sleep.” Troy turned me around and I climbed in bed next to Bryce. “I’ll come back first thing in the morning to check on both of you, okay?” I nodded as I wiped my eyes and Troy kissed my head. “Good. Just relax. You need to sleep.”

I turned over, facing Bryce and hugged the pillow as I closed my eyes. Even after he was gone, Troy’s words kept running through my mind until I finally drifted off to a hopeless sleep.

I woke with the sun just starting to rise and I instinctually rolled away from the light and faced Bryce again. I moved his arm so I could put my head on him more comfortably and my eyes got wide when he brought his arm up and held it around my shoulder, keeping me close to him.

I immediately sat up and looked at him. “Bryce?”

Most of Bryce’s energy was drained but he was able to get his eyes open a little bit and looked at me.

I was in tears of joy to finally see his eyes looking back at me again. “It’s really you! I don’t believe it!”

“What’s happening to me?” He asked very quietly and slowly.

“You’re sick.” I tried to explain while holding back my tears so I could speak.

“How?”

“The comet on our wedding night striped us of our powers. We thought we were going to lose you.” Bryce tried to speak again but I put my finger to his mouth so he wouldn’t. “Shh. You need all the energy you can get to get better.”

He took my hand and I truly smiled in that moment. All my thoughts I previously had vanished. He was going to be okay now. I leaned over him and kissed his lips for the first time in a while. I couldn’t express my happiness any other way.

Chapter 70

Troy

I went back to their room that morning to check up on them like I said I would just when Naomi was about to go out the door.

“Oh, you scared me!”

I instantly noticed she said it with a smile and even laughed a little, something we haven’t heard her do in quite some time. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m great. I’m just going to get some breakfast for Bryce.”

My eyes widened and I let Naomi keep walking while I rushed in and looked towards the bed. Bryce was laying there still but his hand was covering his eyes. “Bryce! You’re awake!”

“Father.” His voice was just like Jaylyn’s was when she woke but I was just happy to see him being responsive.

“How do you feel?” I pulled up a nearby chair and sat next to him.

“Awful. What of mother?”

“She’s in the same condition as you, I’m afraid but she woke up days ago. A group of the others set off south about a week ago to Madam Carla’s but they won’t be back for another two weeks with our gifts.”

“It will be too late for me by then.”

“Don’t say that. You’re awake now. We can get fluids in you and get you back to normal.”

Bryce used what energy he had to lightly laugh but let out a cough after. “I’m dying, father.”

“No.”

“I know I am. I can feel it. Just don’t tell Naomi. I don’t want her to worry.”

“Bryce, you need to stay positive. Naomi has been in tears from day one and you’ve just given her the first sign of hope. Don’t take that away by giving up. Think of your child. Naomi doesn’t want him growing up without a father.”

“Him? How do you know?”

“Just a feeling. You wouldn’t want your son to grow up without his father, would you?”

“No but I’m not in control how this ends.”

“Neither am I but I can guarantee you one thing, I will not burn a son. Got it?”

Bryce slight smile to my determination and we even shook hands on it. I was not going to let him give up now. He was going to make it through this, whatever it took. It just had to be long enough for the others to return with his gift. I hoped they’d hurry.

Chapter 71

Adele

It took us what seemed like forever but the group that chose to travel south to Madam Carla’s arrived with me at the coast. We rode up over the small hill and looked across the water towards the island.

“Oh, no.” I noticed the first sign of bad news.

“What is it?” Seth asked.

“There’s no smoke.” Ruby said. “She’s gone.”

“Great.” Dirk muttered. “Now we’re greeted with despairing tides on two sides of the world? That’s nice.”

“Did we just come all this way for nothing?” Seth wondered.

“No.” I cut in. I wouldn’t let this be for nothing. “We go across and make sure.”

“Awe! Does anyone else smell that?” Rory covered his nose with his sleeve and a disgusted expression. “It smells like—”

“A rotting carcass.” Jinx had his horse on the far right side of the bank and was looking on the beach.

I feared this but rode over. Kiki was washed up on the beach and seagulls were gathered all around her, squawking over her rotting flesh.

“Oh, shit!” Seth said. “It’s a shark.”

“This is bad.” I muttered. “If Kiki is dead then that means Madam Carla is too.”

“How do you know?”

“Kiki has always been Madam Carla’s other half. They’re sisters, caught under a spell for hundreds of years. They can’t survive without the other. It’s always been her down fall.”

“So what now?” Rory asked.

“We go over there.” Ruby and I got off our horses first.

“You mean swim?” Dirk wondered.

“We have to.” I said. “The bridge is broken.” Everyone else sighed at the same time but they all got off their horses too. We tied them up to some nearby drift wood and started out towards the shore. “We must make this quick. We’re running out of time.”

We got into the water and started swimming towards the island. It took us several minutes and when we reached the other side we were all tired.

“I really hope we figure out something here because there’s no way I want to do that again.” Seth said. “Swimming in real time sucks.”

“Then let us hope she left us something.” I said, starting walking towards the old familiar cottage.

We walked inside and everything was destroyed. There was broken glass everywhere and all the shelves where bare.

“This doesn’t exactly answer our needs.” Dirk said.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Hey, Adele! Come look at this.” Ruby called me to the back room where we were first given our gifts but it was empty. “What do you make of this?”

“I don’t know. It’s odd.”

“Hey! Over here!” Jinx called from the doorway of the other back room. “I found her.”

Ruby and I quickly went to him and looked inside. It was her. She was laying on her bed but she looked like she had been dead for years.

“Madam Carla.”

“More bad news?” Rory wondered.

“Shh!” Seth snatched.

Rory kept to himself but I still tried to get some answers. “You knew this would happen and we need your help. Tell us what to do.”

It would have been nice but nothing happened.

“Adele.” Ruby reached for Madam Carla’s hand and freed a key hanging on a chain.

“A key. I remember this but she never takes it off.”

“Maybe she wanted us to use it.” Seth said. “What’s it go to?”

I paused and looked around. Then I leaned down and reached under the bed. I pulled out a small chest and set it on the table next to the bed.

“How did you know that was there?” Jinx asked.

“I’ve seen her open it once. Let’s see what she left us.”

Everyone gathered around as I unlocked the chest and slowly opened it. Everyone leaned in and looked inside but it was empty.

“Well, that’s helpful.” Dirk sighed.

It couldn’t be empty. There had to be something else. I kept looking in the chest and noticed a small loose piece of cloth in one of the corners. I reached my hand in and pulled on it and the bottom of the chest opened up, revealing a secret compartment. Everyone got a smile on their face when I revealed it and pulled out a folded up piece of paper.

“Let’s see what this is.” I opened it up and everyone looked at it.

“It’s a map.” Ruby said.

“But of what?” Seth wondered.

“Kiki’s cave.” I answered. “It’s located under the island.”

“And that’s where we have to go?” Dirk asked.

“This is showing an air pocket, here.” I said, pointing to it. “I think it’s where she hid everything.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Seth turned from everyone and started towards the door. We followed and walked outside to the eastern shore.

“We need to be careful. It’s a long way and we’ll have to do it in one breath.”

“But what about light?” Dirk asked. “How are we going to be able to see where we’re going? I’m sure it’s dark down there.”

“I’ll lead the way.” Rory drew his sword and his eyes glowed white.

“I still don’t understand how you can do that.” Dirk said. “We’ve lost our powers. How come you haven’t lost yours?”

Rory shrugged pompously. “Maybe it just didn’t think you were worth it.”

Dirk was about to hit him with whatever strength he could muster but I cut in before he could. “No. The sword is a part of the comet. It can’t take away its own power. Now, let’s go. We’re wasting time.” They let the bickering go and we all got into the water. “Okay, now there should be a drop off somewhere around here.”

Dirk fell and went under water just after I said it. Everyone looked over as he came back up and shook the water out of his hair. “Found it.”

I smiled and everyone approached him and stood on the edge. “Good. Now, remember, one deep breath and make it count. It has to get us all the way there.” Everyone nodded and got ready. “Okay. Here we go and watch out for sharks.”

“Sharks?” Seth wondered. “Great.”

“We’ll be fine. Dive on the count of three. Ready? One. Two. Three.”

Everyone took a deep breath and all jumped down off the ledge at the same time. I swam next to Rory in front of everyone and made sure we went the right way. We swam deep under the island and came upon the tunnel that would lead up to the air pocket. Shadows were moving all around us as we continued as quickly as we could.

I nudged Rory and pointed up to light above us. He nodded and we started to swim a little quicker. We surfaced first and took a few breaths as the others surfaced and did the same. The cave was lit up with torches and I saw the three reclined chairs in a circle that used to be in that back room.

“This is it.” I said.

“But what about the potions?” Ruby wondered.

Jinx approached a large chest sitting off to the side. “They might be in here but it’s locked.”

I walked over and kneeled down to it. “It’s a different key from before.”

“But we didn’t find another key.” Dirk explained. “How do we open it? I doubt I could break it being this weak.”

“Seth, your sword.” I said. “It can break through anything.” Seth nodded as he approached the chest and drew his sword. “Be gentle. You don’t want to break any of the bottles.”

Seth nodded again as he put the tip of his sword over the lock. He lifted it up and drove it down on it, breaking the lock clean off the chest.

I smiled while moving the broken pieces so I could open it. “Good. Now let’s see what we have.”

I opened up the chest and there were about a dozen bottles inside in a variety of colors.

“Whoa. That’s a lot.” Dirk muttered.

I picked up a letter that was sitting on top and opened it. “There’s one for everyone in here. She knew who was going to be at the palace.”

“Well, let’s take it and go.” Seth replied.

“No. We won’t make it in time.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Rory asked.

“We have to get there quickly.”

Everyone looked over at Seth and he took a step back. “No. I can’t. I mean, I don’t have—”

“This?” I held up a blue potion and gave it a little shake.

Seth sighed. “Well, yeah, that.”

“It will only take a couple of hours.”

“But I thought we didn’t have time to waste?”

“A couple of hours is worth taking if it means we’ll get back within a day rather than eleven.”

Seth sighed but he had to know I was right and took the bottle. “All right. What do I do with it? Do I drink it?”

Ruby laughed. “Goodness no. That would probably kill you.”

“Then how?”

She stepped aside and held out her hand to the three reclined chairs in a circle. “Sit and you’ll find out.”

“That worries me.”

“You’ll be fine. It doesn’t hurt, at first.” Seth’s eyes got wide. “There’s two left. Who wants to do it with him?”

There was a pause as the others looked around at each other.

“You do.” Seth said as he pulled Dirk forward by his arm.

“I do?”

“Well, you said you couldn’t survive if you’re normal. Just do it.”

Dirk sighed as he went over to one of the chairs. “All right, I’ll do it with him.”

“As will I.” Rory added as he stepped forward.

“Okay, good.” I took the potion back from Seth and led him over to one of the chairs. “Now, take off your shoes and sit with your feet up. We’ll have to make sure we get this right so there’s no mistakes.”

“Can’t have that.” Dirk replied as he slipped off his boots. “I don’t exactly want anyone else’s powers.”

I laughed and Jinx approached with five other potion bottles and set them on the small table in the middle of the chairs. “Here are the others and don’t worry, I double checked.”

“Good.” I said. “But let’s just do one at a time. I don’t want to risk anything by doing both.”

“Okay, so Dirk, which one do you want first?” Jinx asked as he held up both his potions. “Do you want the Touch of Death or Infinite Power?”

“Hmm. Sorry mother but I want to be strong again.”

Ruby laughed again. “It’s all right. You are like your father.”

“Okay, I’ll leave this one and put the others back.” Jinx place the Infinite Power potion back on the table and picked up Seth’s other two potions.

“Well, let’s get started shall we?” I picked up Seth’s Hastily Response potion and walked over to him.

“How badly is this going to hurt?”

“Just a pinch. The bottle attaches to your skin to stay in place with these spikes.” I pointed to the bottle showing the five spikes around the top, keeping the cover sealed.

“Oh, great. Let’s do it.”

“You need to remain completely relaxed until you’re body absorbs all of the liquid.”

“How is it going to do that, exactly?”

“Like this.” I lifted up the front of his shirt, exposing his bellybutton. “I place it here and you have to stay still until it’s finished. It’s very important that you do that.”

“Okay.” Seth laid his head back and closed his eyes. “I’m relaxed.”

“Good. I’m doing it now. You’re going to feel the pinch and it will start to sting but it will go away.” I placed the bottle upside down over his stomach and the spikes popped open, attaching to his skin around his bellybutton. He flinched for a moment but it faded when his body started to absorb the liquid. “You must remain like this until I tell you you’re done.” Seth lightly nodded as I picked up Dirk’s Infinite Power potion and walked over to him. “Ready? Just relax.” I reached for his shirt and started pulling it up.

He laid there with his head back and took a relaxing breath. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.” I looked up at him and lightly slapped him in the face but Dirk immediately looked down at me. “Hey, that’s not what I meant. Although, I’m starting to think about it now.”

“Dirk!” Ruby shouted from behind.

Dirk smiled and put his head back and closed his eyes again. “Sorry, mother. I’m relaxed now.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

Dirk paused and took a deep breath. “Yes. Go ahead. I’m ready.”

I placed the bottle upside down over his stomach and the spikes popped open, attaching to his skin around his bellybutton. He flinched for a moment just like Seth but it faded when his body started to absorb the liquid. I then turned back to the table and picked up Rory’s Mental Sound potion and walked over to him next. “Relaxed?”

“Yup and ready.” He had his eyes closed, ready to go.

I lifted up his shirt, placing the bottle upside down over his stomach and the spikes popped open, attaching to his skin around his bellybutton. He flinched for a moment too but it faded when his body started to absorb the liquid. “Okay, remember to stay relaxed and don’t move until we tell you. Try falling asleep. It helps.”