Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (29 page)

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"I bring with me news of...of the Witch Order," Arabella informed my mother carefully, glancing at the rest of us with apprehension. Her ghostly form blurred and shifted as her emotions rose and fell in cadence with her words.

"Come, child. Please. Sit." Mom offered her a chair before commanding the attention of Kailani. "Will you prepare her some tea?"

I was beyond words as I fought to connect the dots in my head. This girl was mistaken. What was Mom doing, acting as Hecate? Why? The consequences of doing something of that magnitude would be irreversible.  She, of all people, knew that.

"You have risked too much," Mom informed her steadily. She was one to talk.

"I felt it needed to be done. I am willing to pay the consequences," Arabella replied stoically and then with sorrow, "I have already lost everything."

"Tell me what you know," Mom prompted her, at the same time Kailani handed her a cup of tea. I met the perplexed dark eyes of Olivia and shrugged my shoulders lightly. She winced in pain and glanced down at her palm with a scowl.

"She's been collecting us for several months now," Arabella continued.

"Who, dear?"

"The Reaper," she whispered. "Nadia." Her name was like a razorblade across my skin. I met my mother's gaze, but she looked away before I could speak.

"You risk even more than I previously thought," Mom said with sudden alarm. "Your soul...is hers?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Mom-" This was going too far. Her focus didn't shift from Arabella, but her expression became pained. She pulled her hair back from her shoulders, something she did when she was nervous.

"How many?"

"One hundred descendants."

"One hundred. So many lost." Tears welled in Mom's eyes. "This is my fault."

"Your fault-?" I broke in, but she shushed me with her eyes. This witch was going to go back and tell Nadia exactly where we were. How did we know we could trust her? And if Nadia found out Mom was impersonating Hecate...

"What are her intentions?" Mom continued her questioning.

Arabella peered around the room for a second time, unsure as to what she should divulge amongst her present audience. I stepped towards her instinctively. She noticed, but made no movements or open display of fear. "We are being forced to assist Selene, the moon Goddess. She's...draining the crux of the ocean."

"Draining?" Olivia whispered in disbelief, and then a little too forcefully towards Arabella she added, "You're killing all of the Nereids. They're dying! I'm dying!"

I placed a hand on her arm with understanding, but communicated a warning with my eyes. She needed to think before speaking. She was too quick to place blame. "Once the Reaper takes proper ownership of a soul, it is impossible to refuse her commands."

"Yet she made it here," Olivia continued to challenge Arabella's loyalties.

"Which took a great amount of courage," Mother commended her with an approving smile.

"How do we know we can trust you?" I eyed her narrowly. "What do you have to gain?"

"Retribution," she challenged my deadly stare with one of her own before her tone softened. "And peace of mind. She's hurting so many."

"What else have you seen?" Olivia confronted her. "Who else have you seen?"

Arabella considered Olivia's question for a brief moment before her eyes lit up. "Luna's daughter, Fallon."

"Last time I saw her, she was cozying up to Selene," Olivia prompted with disdain, which appeared to confuse the young witch.

"She's being used, just as we are," Arabella defended her before turning to Mom. "I spoke to her, but just briefly. She was in a lot of pain. A powerful coven is keeping her bound."

"How do you know she wasn't playing along with a plan of Selene's?" Olivia tested, wincing and clenching her glowing fist.

"Arabella has a myriad of powers, Olivia," Mom mediated with pride. "One of which is the ability of heightened intuition. She simply...knows."

"I can promise you that her intentions are pure," Arabella informed us pointedly.

"Tell us how you're being used," I prompted, attempting to get the conversation back on track.

"Our numbers, coupled with Selene's power and her Auras, can slow the crux's revolutions," she explained. "Fallon is the conduit."

"Conduit?" Olivia questioned.

"The way Selene is draining the crux. If we slow it enough, she can use Fallon as a sort of magnet to pull the essence from the crux and strip it of power."

"She's literally draining the ocean's essence." I shook my head in disbelief.

"And the other witches?" Mom pressed with concern. "Are they okay?"

"I think so. We just try to stay busy until she needs us, which seems to be a lot."

"We are on our way to the crux now," Mom told her, eliciting a beaming smile from her youthful face and a dreadful groan from me and Olivia. Although Mom clearly trusted the small witch, I had no intentions of doing so until I had a good reason to.

"So you'll help us?" Arabella leaned forward with anticipation, hope eclipsing the sorrow in her blue eyes.

"Not in the way you need me to." Mom choked up, looking at the floor with shame. "I am still banned; my full essence stripped."

"What are you talking about?" I ran a hand through my hair in frustration.

"You're hiding something." Arabella furrowed her brows with suspicion. It wasn't an accusation, but rather a stating of the facts. "There is a way."

"There is," Mom stated plainly, and blanketed me in a heavy gaze that overflowed with meaning. She seemed to be at war with her own thoughts.

"What is she talking about, Mom?" I stood stiffly, my pulse rising. "A way to do what?"

"I cannot. I will not." She placed a hand over her mouth and hot tears ran down her cheeks. Arabella's gossamer face fell with disappointment before a wall slammed shut and her jaw clenched with resolve. Her light eyes dulled with animosity and she took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She rose to her feet slowly with a forced smile. "Thank you for speaking with me. It was an honor."

With that, she blurred slightly and vanished completely. Mom collapsed into tears, leaving me even more confused. I pulled her close; refraining from asking any one of the barrage of questions eating at my thoughts. Olivia handed me a fistful of napkins and Kailani excused herself to the bridge to navigate once we reached the Azores.

"Mom?" I attempted to wipe her tears and send her some calming essence. Her essence overflowed with remorse and heartbreak, and my heart broke watching her crumble in my arms. I just wanted to fix it. Make her smile again. "It's okay, it's okay."

"We must talk, sweetheart," she primed me, her voice cracking with emotion. I helped her into a chair and retreated behind the counter to find the pot of coffee. I refilled her cup and settled in beside her, holding her hand in mine and giving her my full attention.

"Uh, guys?" Olivia interrupted, staring at her palm with disbelief. A relieved smile found its way across her face as she held it up. "I think she's going to be okay. For now."

Her now latent trace gave me solace and I closed my eyes briefly, allowing my nerves to still. She was safe. She was okay. We still couldn't get to her fast enough, though. I needed to hold her. See her. I felt as if a part of my soul was missing; lost.

"I should probably leave." Olivia cleared her throat uncomfortably before Mom gestured for her to remain seated.

"You should hear this as well, Olivia."

"What's going on, Mom?" I prompted. "Why did you lie to her about who you are? You know how much trouble you could be in if-"

"I wasn't lying," she cut my concern short, holding my gaze emphatically. "I am, in fact, Hecate."

"Mom, seriously..." My words trailed off as the pleading in her eyes intensified. If not for her obvious emotional vulnerability, I would have laughed outright. But nothing came out, not even a nervous giggle. Stifled by the shock I felt, I simply sat there staring at Mom's solemn expression, failing to find the words I wanted to say. Thankfully, Olivia never had that problem.

"You can't be," she stated plainly. "I've seen pictures. Hecate's more... well..."

"Dazzling? Flamboyant? Beautiful?" Mom chuckled lightheartedly but I caught the sadness in her tone. "Indeed. I used to be infinitely more dramatic."

"Used to be?" I caught her use of the past tense. She sighed and squeezed my hand.

"When I was pregnant with you, I had to make a choice. Your father and I...we agreed on your future. As the direct male descendant of Charon, your destiny was clear. Mine, however, was not."

"I don't understand," I pressed.

"You are, and will always be, my priority. To prepare you for your future, you needed to grow up in this realm with your brothers," she explained. "Unfortunately, Persephone would not allow me to leave simply for your benefit. My soul belonged to the Underworld. My only option was to give up my station, sacrifice my essence, and become mortal. It was the only way."

"You're telling me you were Hecate...and you threw it all away?" I gawked at her. "For me?"

"You gave it all up? For Finn?" Olivia's eyes widened in fascination as she unknowingly repeated exactly what I just said. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"For my son," Mom clarified as fresh tears spilled onto her cheeks. "My only child. For you, I would sacrifice anything."

"But you go back," I considered out loud slowly, as if that would help me understand faster. "Five times a year."

"It was the only reprieve gifted to me by Persephone. I was grateful to receive that much."

"And you've kept this from me... my whole life?" I grasped for anything resembling logic. Instead, I sputtered incoherently. "All these years...? I thought... But you... So I'm a direct descendant of Hecate?"

"Not quite," Mom cringed. "When my essence was stripped, left with only enough to qualify as my own descendant, it was taken from my unborn child also. Which is why you are limited in those types of abilities; a sacrifice I was forced to choose for you as well."

"Damn," Olivia blurted out.

"For me...?" I muttered with double meaning. She gave up her identity, her essence, for me. For my future. She shouldn't have done it. It was too much. She sacrificed everything. For me.

"It was kept quiet," Mom continued. "The witches. I...abandoned them. This they know, but they were not aware to what extent. My Council members were the only ones privy to this knowledge, besides Persephone and your father. If anyone found out that the Order was without a Leader, it would descend into chaos."

"Nadia," Olivia considered with a gasp.

"I fear she has somehow learned of my renouncement and is taking full advantage," Mom admitted.

"But how did Arabella know?" Olivia asked. "How do you know she's not Nadia in some kind of ruse?" I hadn't thought of that. I stared at Mom with alarm.

"Her mother was on my Council." Mom grinned at the memory. "She always did have trouble keeping secrets."

"Wow," was all I could say. Everything  I thought, everything I believed about myself - my life - was wrong. My Mom wasn't who I thought she was. I inspected the curves of her face, suddenly not recognizing her. The same dark eyes searched mine. The same lips pressed into a thin line with worry. But I didn't know her anymore. Betrayal slammed into me so hard, I lost my breath. Her sacrifice, her willingness to abandon her Order for me was trumped by my inability to reconcile who my mother is and who I thought she was. My trust was splintered in a way that blindsided my thoughts and poisoned my perception. I needed time to think. I needed to be alone. I stood, unable to move my legs at first.

"I need to think," I spewed my thoughts out loud. "I can't..." I didn't finish my sentence. As my chest heaved with overwhelming exhaustion, I finally persuaded my legs to take me from the room. I continued walking as I heard my Mom - Hecate, I now knew - calling my name.

The dim light of my cabin matched the flickering bleakness in my heart and I sat numbly on the end of my bed staring out into the vast blackness of the ocean I knew lay beyond the wall of windows. When I tired of staring at nothing, I laid back motionless with closed eyes and a locked heart. I willed my thoughts to clear and my emotions to straighten themselves out. I wanted to talk to Stasia. I wanted to look into those eyes. They contained a vast ocean filled with the secrets of a thousand years, and I needed the endless supply of hope she possessed; a promise that there was always a way. I needed that right now. I needed her.

I had just convinced myself to sneak out of the boat's claustrophobic walls, immerse myself in the openness of the ocean, and go find Stasia when the cool mist of an oceanic rain shower settled upon me. It was like a glass of ice water on a scorching summer's day. It was her essence. I tumbled out of the bed and walked toward the windows, but all I could see was a void. She wasn't out there. She was nowhere close to us. She was out there, facing demons I couldn't protect her from. I fell to my knees with overwhelming exhaustion and cursed the world. How could nature possibly create anything that could so closely resemble Stasia's essence and then torture me with it?