Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (15 page)

"Can you shoot barebow?" a British accent asked behind me.

"We're about to find out," I teased, and turned around to face the voice.

O
LIVIA

As the archery Captain measured me up with a keen eye, I was instantly drawn to the dominating scar running the length of her striking features.

"I'm Blythe," she introduced herself, although it sounded more like a threat.

"I know." I winked at her and chose a couple arrows to shoot. She followed me as I stepped up to the first of the precision targets. They were set in a straight line, ten in all, each one smaller than the one before. I secured the leather bracer to my arm and took a moment to admire the intricate designs showcased along its cuff. I secured the finger tab on my string hand and set my feet with purpose.

Sensing Blythe's gaze as well as that of the other participants, I took a deep breath and blew it out forcefully to relax my shoulders. I steadied the bow at the right height, pulled back the bowstring, and aimed. Without the distraction of modern sights or optics, I immediately noticed something was different. Apparently immortality and a full essence had more perks I wasn't aware of before: inhuman eyesight.

The middle of the first target appeared so clear, I could almost reach out and touch it. As I decided on my exact point of contact, something else happened. An instinctual calculation moved my bow slightly upward and lessened the amount of pull on the string. Knowing undoubtedly that it would hit its mark, I let the arrow fly.

It split the wood of the target exactly in the middle and I wasted no time in stepping forward to the next target. An intoxicating rhythm I didn't know existed infiltrated my entire body as I stepped, aimed, and hit the mark again and again. In less than a minute, I made it to the tenth and smallest target. Fueled by instinct, I aimed and shot, splitting the small piece of wood in half. A moment of complete silence filled the Arena as I let out a breath.

"Huh," I marveled with a bewildered grin. The next moment a roar erupted amongst the Tydes who witnessed my display. The fellow archers rushed up to me with amazement and a million questions. I glanced back at Blythe, who was still watching me from several yards away. An appreciative sideways grin found its way to her mouth and she raised her eyebrows in approval.

I felt Stasia's cooling essence wash over me as she all but appeared out of nowhere. The participants scattered at her command, but her eyes were gazing up to the castle.

"Amphitrite's here," she informed me; eyes still glued to the castle. "She needs to talk to us."

"She is?" I searched the area she observed, seeing no one. She had already begun to walk back to a side exit, so I grabbed my things and followed her, leaving the archers to watch my back in disbelief.

"Did you see that?" I called out to Stasia. "I had no idea I could do that!"

"Show off." Two strong arms gripped my waist and lifted me into the air, spinning me around. I tried unsuccessfully to fight him off, ultimately settling for trying to bite his bicep playfully. He finally set me back onto my feet as Stasia glanced back at us with worry adding a distinct heaviness to her expression. We followed her in silence across one of the bridges and up the beach towards the stairs.

As we reached the castle veranda overlooking the lagoon, Amphitrite made her way out of a glass door with an obvious panic etching deep lines into her beautiful features. She appeared thinner and seemed to be hunched over in pain. She winced and held her stomach, but brushed it off when she saw us. She immediately embraced Stasia and set to inspecting her traces, her eyes - before moving on methodically to me.

"How many times have you felt it?" she questioned us with knowing eyes.

"Twice," Stasia answered simply. Her answer appeared to meet some kind of expectation as Amphitrite's frown deepened and she swallowed thickly. She was about to turn away when her wise eyes became trained on my new arm decoration. I watched in horror as her face paled and she sucked in a breath; placing a shaking hand over her mouth.

"It cannot be true," she mumbled to herself in Greek as she swept us inside the castle amidst a cloud of urgency.  We followed her up a master staircase and around a short banister before arriving in a spacious bedroom where Finn was gently lowering a limp body onto the bed.

"Psamanthe?" Stasia hurried to the woman's bedside and squeezed her hand. "What happened?" I heard a sob behind me as Phoebe pushed her way past me and onto the other side of the Nereid she was descended from.  I'd never seen Psamanthe up close, but I knew from pictures that she was supposed to be as bronze as a sunset with rich, auburn hair and warm, caramel eyes. She was said to encompass the sand of every beach in the world; radiant with exuberance and zeal. Yet the Nereid lying before us was anything but radiant.

Her ashen skin pulled at her bones and punctuated the black circles hanging beneath her stale eyes and sunken cheeks. Her once shining hair lay limply on a pillow, dull and lifeless. She slowly diverted her tired gaze to address Phoebe.

"Shhh..." She rubbed Phoebe's arm lovingly. "I'll be alright. It's going to be alright."

"What's wrong with her?" Phoebe screeched at Amphitrite and then to Avery. "Somebody needs to help her. She needs to be healed!"

"That's why I'm here, my child," Psamanthe soothed her fears softly. "They are taking care of me now." With an unspoken agreement, Carmen nodded at Amphitrite and led Phoebe out of the room. Psamanthe rested her head back on the pillow with exhaustion and it was then that I noticed her labored breathing. I had a feeling her optimistic words were for Phoebe's benefit only. She didn't actually believe them herself.

"We're beginning to die," she disclosed to Stasia with a grave tone.

"Impossible." Stasia focused on Amphitrite. "I don't understand."

"In the last twelve hours, we've all begun to lose our abilities, our energy, our essence. I was able to make it here," Psamanthe explained with sorrow, "but the others may not be so fortunate. I fear for them, Anastasia."

"But why?" Stasia asked desperately. "Why is this happening?"

Amphitrite gently clutched my arm and led me to the foot of the bed. She gestured toward the symbol on my arm as if it was supposed to give some kind of answer. Psamanthe closed her eyes as tears were shed from her weak eyes, but the rest of us could only wait impatiently for an explanation.

"I believe Selene has given you that exact answer, my dear," Amphitrite interpreted.

"But we looked! We haven't been able to figure out what the symbol stands for." Phoebe reappeared behind Carmen in the doorway, her face streaked with tears.

"It's a warning. A threat. A promise." Amphitrite looked closer at the symbol. "And I believe she is attempting to lure you in, Anastasia."

"But what does it mean?" I pressed. Amphitrite and Psamanthe exchanged glances and I couldn't figure out what the big secret was. My frustration flared. "We're Stasia's Council, and this thing has been burned into my skin. We deserve to know."

"The ocean...lives," Amphitrite began. "She sings. She breathes life into us. She keeps the Nereids...immortal."

"I've heard her song before," whispered Stasia with a hint of nostalgia. 

"Those worthy always do." Amphitrite smiled at her with equal amounts of approval and sadness. "But she is being attacked."

"Attacked?" I asked incredulously. "How do you attack an entire ocean?"

"The crux," Finn determined with wide blue eyes, and the look of disbelief on his face did nothing to ease my worries. "I always assumed it was just metaphorical."

"It is very much real, Finn," Amphitrite confirmed wearily. "Though extremely secret, and for this very reason. How Selene could not only find it, but access it as well, is mystifying. And quite worrisome."

I felt Sebastian move into the room behind me and place his strong hands on my shoulders. I leaned into him and allowed his warmth to flow through me; strengthening me.

"But what is it exactly?" I imagined a storm the size of Antarctica circling our world under the guise of a hurricane. I couldn't figure out what else the symbol on my arm would be.

"The crux of the ocean," Psamanthe continued from the bed, "is the very life force of the ocean. It is a powerful force that cleanses and provides essence to all of the Nereids, the true Daughters of the Sea. "

"It is said to be a whirlpool," Amphitrite gestured to my brand, "resting within a ring of earth; an island, of sorts. But that's only what it looks like from the surface. Below the surface it resembles something of an hour glass. Its center is a place where the past meets the future, where death and creation are forever joined as one, and a point where time itself stands still. Only Nereids have access. At our very basic level, we are the sea. And it, us."

A whirlpool was infinitely more frightening than a hurricane. But it did explain the symbol.

"And if the ocean's essence is compromised, our very existence is as well," Psamanthe admitted; eyes closed in pain.

"But Olivia isn't a Nereid," Carmen so eloquently pointed out. I thought I heard a glimpse of jealousy in her tone. "And she can feel it. That doesn't make sense."

"For all intents and purposes, Anastasia isn't either, dear. Not in the traditional sense. But they are a rare few who were Chosen and have fulfilled their Nereid essence, which makes them immortal...as well as our equals."

And here I thought becoming immortal was going to be a good thing. Ironically, it could be the very thing that killed me. Destiny really was a bitch.

Our conversation was interrupted by a small woman who entered the room with a silver chalice. Finn stepped forward once more as Psamanthe fought to sit up. He held her upright as she attempted to hold the chalice, but to no avail. The maid carefully poured some of the liquid into Psamanthe's mouth for her and it suddenly dawned on me why Psamanthe rushed to Atlantis. The golden liquid filling her mouth immediately brightened the color of her eyes and brought color to her cheeks. Ambrosia.

Out of nowhere, Stasia's name in the Book of Souls flashed before my mind's eye, followed swiftly by the last lines of her prophecy; a prophecy I had been forced to memorize since the ninth grade. A prophecy not many were privy to read in its entirety, and the ending of which was about to become very, very real.

S
TASIA

"The ambrosia elixir will remedy Psamanthe's condition for a short time," Amphitrite explained. "But it cannot reverse it, nor stop it. It will simply slow it down. And there is only so much available from the castle garden at one time." She nodded gravely in Olivia's direction.

"So why hasn't it affected me and Stasia this much yet?" Olivia asked, eyeing the gold liquid flowing between Amphitrite's pale lips.

"You are both newly immortal and still young in years." Psamanthe swallowed and winced. "Stronger. It will simply take a little longer. But I can assure you, it will happen."

As an abrupt understanding raked across the frenzy of my thoughts, I began to experience an aching desperation. The life I had come to learn about - had just started to experience - was in danger of being destroyed. Everything my mother had built, fought for, even died for, could disappear forever. I couldn't allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen.

"What about...us?" Phoebe countered with watery eyes. "The descendants?"

"I imagine your essence would eventually become diluted as you marry into humanity or other Orders.  Generations will pass. Slowly die off. It is the natural order of things."

Anger exploded within my heart and I wanted nothing more than to hit something. Selene had no right to hang the fate of an entire Order in the balance as blackmail. If it was me she wanted, that was exactly what she was going to get. I looked up to see Olivia watching me carefully.

"She's not going to get away with this," I vowed and made a decision within myself. "I'm going."

"Stasia, you're not immune," Amphitrite warned. "You are younger, thereby stronger, but not immune. Your strength and abilities will soon begin to deplete as well. This is not something you can do on your own. We must take our time to prepare and come up with a plan."