Hearken (Daughters of the Sea Series) (26 page)

             
One looked to have a crudely made crown of branches set atop her head, while the other had strung together flowers, which offset her red locks perfectly. The hauled themselves up onto a boulder, but that didn’t stop one from continuing her pursuit of the other. I expected them to have bathing suits or at the very least, wet play clothes. What I hadn’t expected was the amount of bare skin that was showing. They were…completely naked. With skin as pure and white as porcelain, they jumped and splashed through the stream with ease. I looked around for the clothes they had surely discarded, but found none. 

             
With no knowledge they had an onlooker, the girls continued playing tag and I meandered out onto a nearby rock and sat down. I hung my legs over the edge and dipped my feet into the water. The hem of my long skirt skimmed over the surface and I sighed with relief. It was cool and refreshing, and I found myself leaning back on my arms, allowing my head to drop back into the sun and closing my eyes.  I listened to the girls squealing and splashing as the water energized my soul and the sun warmed my skin. Just as I had the random thought about not having sunscreen on, a shadow came over my closed eyes and I sensed a strong presence.

             
“Our earthly elements are a wondrous gift, indeed,” a voice reflected in Greek above me. I opened my eyes so fast I almost fell backwards, but quickly regained my balance and stood with lightning speed. Just as her gaze settled onto mine, I realized I was still camouflaged.

             
“You can see me?” I croaked in Greek, with a little more aggression than I meant to.

             
“Of course,” she mused with a bright smile. “I can see all of Earth’s creatures. Even the chameleon.” 

             
I felt my hackles rise at the comparison I’d heard my entire life, but remained calm on the outside. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to it.

             
“You are an outsider,” she stated as fact. I watched in awe as she walked by me gracefully, with her eyes now fixed on the two young girls playing. She was simply an older version of them. She had the same long, fire red hair, bright green eyes, and alabaster skin. She couldn’t have been much older than myself. And she was also naked. Did I stumble across a red-headed nudist colony and not realize it? 

             
“I’m here with Anastasia,” I spoke carefully. “I’m a member of her Council.”

             
“Anastasia,” she repeated casually, and then peered back at me. “She is a Goddess of the sea, no?”

             
“Yes.” I nodded stiffly.

             
“And are you a Goddess of the sea as well?” The twinkle in her eye told me she was only humoring me. Her wide smile instantly calmed my nerves and I began to relax.

             
“Not quite,” I laughed.

             
“We are all Goddesses in our own right,” she proclaimed with authority.

             
“I like to think so.”

             
She turned to me and actually took my hand in hers. I wasn’t used to being touched so openly, especially by a naked woman I didn’t know. I instinctively tried to move away. She simply stepped with me and clasped my hand harder. A small red stone strung around her neck on a small, thin rope caught my eye before she spoke.

             
“Come,” she instructed simply. “I’d like for you to meet my daughters.”

             
She led me down the muddy bank and toward the two little girls, who immediately noticed their mother and came running. I had already peeled away my camouflage, and suddenly felt very out of place. The woman and her two daughters oozed nature and an inherent reverence for the earth. The white of my clothes seemed blindingly inappropriate in their presence. 

             
“My name is Maera,” she introduced politely. “And these are my daughters Eva-“

             
“And Chara!” One of the girls jumped in front of her mother and curtsied to me, making her sister Eva giggle.

             
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” I curtsied back to Chara with a smile. “My name is Olivia.”

             
“Have you come to play with us?” she asked me in Greek. The genuine excitement shining on her face made me want to say yes. She jumped up and down until I finally answered.

             
“I’m afraid I can’t stay,” I declined gently, and watched their beautiful faces fall with a heavy heart. “I have something very important to take care of.”

             
“Can we come?” Eva piped up behind Chara. Maera chuckled and sent me an apologetic smile.

             
“I’m certain Olivia will get along just fine without you two tagging along, talking to every tree you pass and gathering animals to bring home to dinner.” She shook her head at them lovingly. I tried to tell myself she was speaking metaphorically, but I had a bad feeling she wasn’t.

             
“I really appreciate your offer,” I told Chara formally and knelt down to speak to her face to face. “But sometimes there are things a girl must do on her own.”

             
“Why?” she asked innocently, with her head cocked to the side.

             
“To prove to herself that she can,” I answered simply. She watched me intently and then her eyes lit up.

             
“Like when I killed a rabbit for the first time?” she leaned in closer to me. “I was really scared but I wanted to show myself I could do it! The rabbit wasn’t sad, either. She understood.”

             
I stared at her for a moment too long and realized I needed to say something. “That’s right,” I confirmed. “We never know what we’re capable of if we never take risks.”

             
“Olivia, will you be my friend?” she asked plainly, and I heard Maera giggle. “I can show you how to kill a rabbit! I bet you could do it, too.”

             
“I would love to be your friend.” I smiled at her. “But right now I have to get going, okay?”

             
“Promise you’ll visit?” she pleaded with hopeful eyes. “We live in the city-”

             
“Chara, your new friend needs to be on her way,” Meara prompted her daughter. “Tell her goodbye and take your sister to get washed off in the stream.”

             
“Yes, Mother. Bye Olivia!” Chara bounced away with her sister in tow. 

             
“I wish you well,” Maera placed a loving hand on my shoulder. “If you need anything, we live in the city. We are a tightly knit community. Simply tell someone you are looking for Maera – they will point you in the direction of our home.”

             
“Thank you so much, Maera.” I stepped over the boulders to cross the stream.

             
“And Olivia,” she called out as I made it to the other side. I turned at her voice. “If you get lost, ask the trees. They’ll tell you where to go.”

             
With that, she turned and joined her daughters in the water. Just when I had started to think she was perfectly normal! Well, as normal as a woman walking around naked in the wilderness could be. 

             
I jogged for several miles before coming to the field I had been searching for. Ahead and to my left was the root bridge we’d crossed the night before, and my heart rate spiked with excitement. I smiled and began walking towards it, feeling proud of myself. Unfortunately, as I drew closer a figure became visible. Leaning against one of the large rubber trees that provided the roots for the bridge, he watched me approach. I slowed my walk but didn’t stop. 

             
“Ah…vraziliániki̱ omorfiá mou.” His blue eyes twinkled and he crossed his arms. “Must you
always
do things the hard way?’

Chapter 26

Finn

             
“So what’s the plan, bossman?”

             
Ricker kicked his feet up on the rustic coffee table of the tree house and raised an eyebrow at me. I strode by and swept his feet off the table with my hand. As to be expected, he put them right back up there once I was past. He, Ian, my lead Paradigm Sean, and Liam had gathered at my appointed tree house. Ricker, Ian, and Sean would be staying with me for the remainder of our stay on Atlantis, while Liam was given his own to share with several of his closest Tritons. Thankfully my house was only a couple down from Stasia’s. 

             
“Yeah, we need to find Menoetius and send his ass back to Tribeca where he belongs,” Ian announced from the kitchen. He closed the fridge and tossed a Red Bull to Ricker before downing his own in one sip.

             
“I say we send Luna back there with him,” Sean agreed from an arm chair. “It’s not like anybody’s going to miss her.”

             
“We don’t know for sure she’s the one that’s orchestrating all of this,” I told them warily. “We need to figure that out first.” I had a feeling that if Menoetius was free, Atlantis would be the first place he’d go. And if Luna
was
behind this, she’d more than likely be with him. 

             
“The first thing we need to do is find that crystal,” Liam announced as he walked out of the bathroom. His normally healthy appearance had withered over the last couple of days since Willow’s death, and I worried about him constantly. Dark purple circles hung below his blue eyes and his usual light, confident walk was now measured and forced. His scraggly blonde hair had the disheveled, just-rolled-out-of-bed look, and he reminded me more and more of a picture I’d seen on Lorelei’s website of a student who’d been busted for making meth in his dorm a few years back.

             
“I agree.” I nodded appreciatively at Liam. “If Menoetius is seeking revenge, I have a feeling the crystal will be his first priority. With that kind of power, he’d be able to do whatever he wanted.” I slipped on my shoes and glanced out the window. I could just make out the side of Stasia’s tree house, and wondered how she was doing. The stress of the last week had undoubtedly become unbearable, but I’d expected her to bounce back a little quicker than this. 

             
Thankfully Amphitrite was watching over her while I handled this debacle of a situation. I hadn’t told either of them what Mom had divulged to us back in Wilmington. I figured the less people who knew the dangers, the better. I wanted Amphitrite to concentrate on caring for Stasia, while Stasia just concentrated on getting better. Besides, this had become a personal vendetta for the Sons Order. As well as for me.

             
“
I’ll be thinking about you, Pasha
,” I sent my thoughts to her.
“I love you.”
While I was waiting for a response that never came, I realized Ricker was talking to me.

             
“You have any treasure maps up your sleeve to get us there?” Ricker’s dark eyes watched me hopefully.

             
“I’ve got all we need right up here,” I countered with a smile and tapped my temple. 

             
“We’re screwed,” Ian mumbled with a conspiring grin. Ricker pretended to wrap a noose around his neck and tighten it. 

             
“You know, I can arrange that…” I threatened Ricker.

             
“Go ahead and put me out of my misery,” he pleaded with a roll of his eyes. “The last time we went on a hunt based on the plethora of horrible ideas in that head of yours, we ended up bloody, bruised, and naked; lying in the middle of a nymph’s river.”

             
“Sounds like a good time to me…” Sean wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

             
“Well
this
particular river nymph was a six foot-five inch behemoth with a rockin’ mullet and a bad case of the shakes,” Ian stated plainly and shook his head in disagreement. “I didn’t know whether to kill him or send him to rehab.”

             
“If I remember correctly,” I rubbed my chin, “and I always do –
I
was the one who killed him and saved your sorry ass from being eaten alive.”

             
“Nuances.” Ricker shrugged his shoulders.

             
“You were picking rice out of your hair for weeks!” Ian laughed.

             
“That’s because you left me there for thirty minutes while you ‘figured out a plan.” Ricker used air quotes and cut his eyes at Ian. “Unfortunately your plan had a few flaws in it – namely the part where you were supposed to
rescue
me.”

             
“I’m pretty sure the words you used were ‘I got this Ian – go find Finn’,” Ian recalled. “Plus, I couldn’t resist seeing you made into a giant sushi roll.”