Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (26 page)

O
LIVIA

"If the crux is like a black hole, wouldn't it just suck in the entire ocean?" Phoebe frowned at Finn and then looked back down at her phone, baffled. "Or the whole planet, for that matter?"

"He said it's like a black hole," Carmen clarified with a hint of annoyance. "Not an actual black hole."

"It's fueled by essence," Finn explained further. His square jaw was tensed with stress and the gray shirt he wore was wrinkled, boasting a couple smears of dirt. He ran his fingers through his dark hair absentmindedly. "So it attracts essence and then feeds off of it."

"So it's a soul-eating monster of the deep," Sean observed matter-of-factly. His small, beady eyes sat a little too close to his nose and reminded me of googly eyes when he rolled them. His thin nose twitched slightly as he held back a snicker. We all glared at him, somewhat tired of his consistent inability to be serious.

"More like a filter." Finn eyed him severely. "Circulating essence and revitalizing it."

"Like a filter," Avery mumbled to herself. She picked at the linen skirt she was wearing in deep thought.

"I wish I knew more, but unfortunately I just know what I've heard from my father," Finn delineated. He closed his eyes and downed an entire can of Pepsi; crushing the can and tossing it to Sean, who was fumbling around in the kitchenette. It hit him on the side of the head and bounced down to the floor.

"Not a trash can, dude," he mumbled.

"Close enough," Finn threw back at him with pleasure.

We were gathered on the fourth level of the ship trying to come up with some kind of plan. It was becoming difficult, considering we were limited in our knowledge of the crux or how it operated. Selene obviously had a great deal of understanding if she was succeeding in draining its power.

I had been leaning on the fact that if we could eradicate Selene, our problems would be over. Find Selene, kill Selene, save the day. Unfortunately, Finn and his Paradigms proceeded to shoot a thousand holes through my theory. With the massive number of unknowns, they wanted to do a reconnaissance mission before we stormed the crux with guns blazing. Planning usually wasn't my strong suit.

"I think we're putting too much thought into it," I considered. "A whirlpool spins, right? Without the constant forces that make it spin, it wouldn't exist. So Selene has to be messing with those forces. It's self-sufficient, otherwise."

"Unless she stops it altogether," Sean argued with a mouth full of chips. "Then what are we going to do? Hit the re-start button?"

"I'm assuming she won't get that chance." I sat forward, elbows on my knees and glared at him. "I'm an optimist. So sue me."

"My apologies, I was blinded by your sunny personality," he sneered at me.

"Sean," Finn warned knowingly, one dark eyebrow arched at me in warning as well. In response, Sean winked at me playfully. Where was Sebastian when I needed him?  Avery suddenly surfaced from her deep thinking, saving Sean from any further insults I'd already begun to form in my mind.

"A white hole." Avery's blue eyes flitted up at Finn in astonishment. She waved her phone in the air. "Every black hole has a white hole."

"And look!" Phoebe pointed at the screen of Avery's smartphone, initiating Carmen to peer skeptically over her shoulder. "Both of them together look like the underwater part of a whirlpool!"

"Oh wow," Carmen conceded with surprise.

"Need I remind everyone we aren't in space?" Sean ridiculed us with disdain.

"Don't be an ass," Carmen said, and scowled in his direction.

"But he's so good at it," one of the other Paradigms chimed in with a laugh.

"It actually makes sense." Finn studied Avery's phone with renewed hope. "Think about it. The black hole sucks in mass and rips it to shreds, and the white hole reconstructs it before spewing it back into space."

I leaned over and inspected the diagram that depicted both black and white holes, joined in the middle at their narrow-most points. The black hole absorbed anything that dared to come near, funneling it downward and into the white hole. On the flip side, the white hole emitted light and whatever else the black hole had devoured on its trail of destruction. Together, they reminded me of a stretched out hourglass.

"Huh," I noted intelligently.

"And look." Finn used two fingers to expand and tilt the diagram. "The top looks a lot like a whirlpool, so the bottom could be the same...just at the floor of the ocean."

"How close do you think we can get to it before it eats us for lunch?" Oddly enough, Sean actually raised a good question as he chomped down on his sandwich dripping with excess mustard.

"We'll just have to be cautious," Finn deduced, and then held my gaze intently. "You'll need to find a way onto the island without being pulled into the crux below it."

"We'll have to swim for it," I declared. "Depending on the amount of the crux's force, we'll be able to stay near the surface and out of its range."

"How good are you at rock-climbing?" Finn asked, meeting the bewildered gazes of Carmen, Phoebe, Avery, and finally, me.

"Depends on what you define as 'rock-climbing'," Carmen divulged. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume the cliffs of the island aren't rigged with ropes and hand-holds like the climbing wall at Inner Peaks?"

"You go to Inner Peaks?" Sean sized up Carmen with cynicism.

"Went," she clarified mid-laugh. "Once. It didn't end well for me, the harness, or my spotter."

"I got all the way to the top." Phoebe beamed proudly. "Only slipped once."

"These rocks will have no holds or spotters," Finn warned us. "You may be able to find a way into the island without having to climb, but it's definitely a possibility to think about."

"Hopefully the elixir will help in that department." Avery inspected the delicate skin of her palms with obvious doubt. The sound of Natasha clearing her throat in the kitchenette interrupted our conversation.

"Sounds like you guys have everything figured out," she said, and grinned at us with a little too much amusement. I could tell she'd attempted to make herself appear rested, noting that her black hair was now secured in a complex braid and subtle makeup adorned her pinched face, but the dark circles beneath her eyes told a different story. "I remembered something else Thetis said."

We waited attentively as she poured herself some coffee. "She described the whole of the crux underwater as something like an hourglass. She hypothesized that as the water swirled down the top of the hourglass, it contained weak essence; released by those recently deceased or simply given off by use of essence-fueled abilities. She theorized that it was pulled apart at a molecular level and then condensed once more at its middle; thereby re-strengthening it and sending it back out into the ocean at large. I've always pictured it as an hourglass full of sand."

"So if we get too close and are sucked in, our bodies will be ripped to pieces and our essence would be...recycled?" Sean asked tentatively.

The comical smile on Natasha's face at Sean's crass description did little to prepare us for her answer. "Exactly."

"Good to know." He nodded and swallowed thickly.

"Olivia?" She turned her focus to me, suddenly remembering the reason for coming into the room. "The Captains are asking for you."

S
TASIA

Flanked by a juvenile sand shark with an insatiable curiosity, I circled the monolith's base before breaking away towards the crux's island. Under the silver rays of the moon, the ocean was clear as glass and I easily spotted the remnants of ancient volcanic eruptions littering the ocean floor. The rolling hills of the centuries-old lava flow hosted a rich ecosystem teeming with sea life. Gliding across the flow, I ran my fingers along the sea grasses blowing in the current. Several yards away, a vent released a column of gas, sending schools of fish scurrying in every direction.  The stalking sand shark bumped me with its nose and I felt a sharp energy scatter across my skin. I rubbed his nose lovingly before he squirmed away.

It was quite obvious that my own energy was continuing to falter at an alarming rate. My mind and body were increasingly lethargic and the short swim from the cliff had me out of breath. It was a foreign feeling that I hadn't experienced in some time. Since becoming immortal, I'd become accustomed to the infinite source of essence which I now knew was provided by the dying crux.

The glass vial secured around my neck bounced lightly against my collarbone with each movement, making up my mind. It was probably a good idea to take a sip of elixir, considering I was on my own. I found a soft patch of sea grass bursting with sea urchins and a plethora of ornery triggerfish. A brave pufferfish inched its way towards me while I uncorked the glass vial, and I quickly took a big sip before it could escape into the water.

My eyes closed automatically as it trickled down my throat and was quickly absorbed into my body. My distressed muscles found renewed strength and a wave of relief hooked my lips up into a smile. After several more seconds, my thoughts sharpened along with my vision. A deep breath of sea water and the adoring nipping of the same courageous pufferfish gave me much needed optimism. I set my sights on the pulsing crux I could already feel churning nearby.

A pang of guilt slowed my progress when my thoughts turned to Finn. He would've loved to have been there with me. I knew I had to leave him behind, though. I knew what I needed to do and I couldn't allow my loved ones to sway me. This wasn't about Finn or me, or my Council. This was about the future of the Nereids and the Tyde Order. My wishes and needs were now rendered secondary.

My breath caught in my throat as the monstrous body of the crux appeared up ahead like a ghostly apparition in the mist of twilight. My intense reaction was no different the second time I laid eyes upon it. It was indescribable; both haunting and majestic, yet menacing in its all-consuming greed for essence. The knowledge that it was also the force that provided essence was trumped by its violence and perilous ability to kill me.

Unfortunately for my body, my curiosity was undeniably smitten. This time I would indulge my propensity to obsess over life-threatening natural wonders. I had no intentions of getting myself in trouble, but I had every intention of collecting as much information as possible. If that meant walking the thin tightrope of fate, then so be it.

I decided to open up my body to its power; its song. I kept somewhat of a protective bubble intact around me in order to stop it from overwhelming me, but I needed all of my senses right now. All of my abilities. I surrendered to the arms of the ocean and my wall of protection quickly dissolved into an open field.

I fought to control the subsequent influx of essence, pressure, and the electrified frenzy of vibrations coursing through the water. I heaved for breath and realized it was quite possible that no living being was strong enough to withstand this type of power. The fragile bonds that kept my skin and organs intact seemed to stretch and pulse in an effort to make room for the power infiltrating its every cell.

The ocean's song blasted its way into my mind, creating its own reality within me. Swirling and thrumming inside my head, all the while echoing its cadence in my ears, promising to crush my skull and rip my eardrums apart. A splitting agony swelled from the base of my skull and slid down my spine, while my mouth yawned open to allow an escape route for the scream building in my chest. However, what came out was anything but.

My voice was no longer my own. It was...hers. The ocean's song. Her song. It flowed from a place inside of me I didn't know existed. My vocal chords were absolutely silent, eclipsed by the power of the melody soaring through me. As each note erupted from my mouth in a haunting, beautiful symphony, the pressure inside my body began to release. Each second that ticked by provided a drop of reprieve. Soon, relief was raining down upon my body in a waterfall of comfort and opulence.

I closed my eyes and became lost in the gift rippling through me. I realized it wasn't meant to be contained, nor blocked. Like the currents circling the globe, its power was meant to flow continuously, unmarred by any physical obstacle. It was meant to be embraced, to be ridden like an ambling wave crashing onto the shore. As this truth resonated within my heart, I forgot the boundaries of my physical body. I lost all understanding that I was separate from the ocean swathing me in its arms. I forgot who I was. I forgot I was in danger.