The Secret of the Emerald Sea (23 page)

He held the ball, which was cool now, in his two hands and willed it reveal everything. The ball only flared a couple of times with flashes of brilliance, like lightning in a cloudy sky. Then it went all smoky and pearly again. Blake supposed you had to be a witch to make the thing work, and he thought of all the books in his father’s library.

There must be some sort of spell, somewhere, or some evil text in all that huge hall of books,
he thought wildly, packing the ball up once more and picking up his rifle. He headed down the hall, glancing at a clock. It was two minutes to midnight, and he walked as gently as he could for only his own butler was awake now, standing watch. “Or, at least, he’d better be,” Blake muttered, letting himself into the wood-paneled library.

He searched the volumes, which had been passed down through generations, hoping for some dusty tome that would give him the spell he needed. “My father would burn any such book if he knew it existed, and besides, I would have found it long ago,” he whispered, irritated. Still, he began to look through the ledger that kept a record of every book and where they were placed in the room.

Blake could find nothing. It was past midnight now, and he sat in a chair, feeling anger build in him. Anger at the witch, anger at his father, who had been so hard, anger even at Jane, who had said she loved him and then disappeared.

He picked up the crystal ball and raised it up, ready to toss it into the fireplace as hard as he could just to hear the satisfying crash as it hit the bricks and shattered. His face was contorted with anger. It was night, and the effects of the weak tea were long gone.

For the first night in many nights, he could feel all of his feelings, and they were impossible to bear. He had never felt angrier in his life. As he prepared to hurl the ball into the fireplace, sleeping servants be damned, it lit up and warmed slightly in his hand. He lowered it and stared at it in wonder. The smoke inside was gone, replaced by a crimson glow that reminded of him of the demon in his dream. He sat down and watched the flames swirl inside the ball, although it did not grow any hotter to the touch.

Blake saw an old woman in the flames. She was
screaming
, her papery white skin growing black and charred before his eyes. She was ugly and old, and he knew...
somehow
, that it was Liesel, but he did not know
how
he knew. He watched the ball relentlessly, feeling the hatred churn in his belly and flood his senses.

The ball cleared and then revealed a new vision. He saw a forest with melting snow on the dark branches and a little cave. Inside, there were three figures huddled close to a fire. He saw the pale golden hair of Jane, turned almost red by the light of the flames. Beside her was the most handsome young man he had ever seen with a face like an angel. Jealousy burned in his heart as he watched the two talk quietly. He could not make out the face of the third figure, hooded as it was, but he thought it might be a woman.

Suddenly, the ball turned dark, and Blake sat and stared at it, willing it to show him more, but there was nothing. He hid the ball where no one else would find it and went to see that his mother was well and safe. His rage had burned down to ashes, and all that was left was the desire to destroy the old crone, wherever she was, and send her to Hell forevermore.

Chapter Fifty-Five

In the Underworld, Hecate laughed and put her own crystal ball aside. Tonight, she would take her due, and nothing could stop the events that were unfolding. The boy was angry and confused, and he felt betrayed by the princess and also by the young woman named Liesel, who would be young
no more
after this night. She had shown the boy the witch’s true face so that he would know, deep in his heart, just who and what she was. She had given him that dark knowledge, which like so many truths, was painful...so that he could play his part.

Hecate went out to the River, pleased with herself. The boy would find them all, she was sure, for she could see into his heart, but only when it was filled with hate, and his heart was like stone. Since Liesel had failed in her task to find the girl and Minerva, Hecate must try something else.

Inside every human being, there was some grain of hatred, which could grow malignant, giving rise to all manner of violence and evil. The boy’s eyes had been dark with rage when he’d seen the girl and her companion in the crystal ball. She was sure he would seek them out in the forest and that the old witch would follow. Liesel would never again see youth in a looking glass, for Hecate wished her to be intensely angry when she found the girl and Minerva. She wished her to know there was no longer any chance with Blake. Then, Liesel would turn on the boy, too. The witch would have nothing left to win or lose...only vengeance.

In the forest, all would continue as she wished, and Minerva would suffer at the old woman’s hands as Hecate’s magic flooded her body and granted her power.

Hecate gazed out into the deep scarlet pool of the River, deaf to the groans of Sisyphus, and looked across to the palace of Pluto and Proserpina.
I am the only one who can grant him this,
she thought, smiling,
I am not as beautiful as his queen, but I can give him something even more important
.
I can give him power, power over all of them, in the Sky
.

In her heart, she wished to rule as Queen of the Underworld, but she could not. She could not usurp the beautiful daughter of Jupiter. Proserpina was her rival, though she showed her every respect, but deep down, she wished Proserpina would go back to the Sky where she belonged so that she, herself, could walk the palace floors, trailed by ghosts, and be the devoted queen of her beloved king. Perhaps this coup would help to make her wishes come true.

Chapter Fifty-Six

The next morning, Minerva and her two young companions awoke in the cave and packed up their things. They would set out for safety, away from the village. Minerva planned to take Jane to the sea and have Neptune’s men meet her there. The boy, she would take with her to the Sky where he would be reunited with Venus. The pair did not wish to be separated, but Minerva explained, in her calm and logical way, that is was only temporary until the Cupid’s spell could be removed, and that Jane would be safer under the water.

Jane had asked her how she could ever go back below the surface of the Emerald Sea. Her eyes had filled with tears as she remembered the storm Neptune had caused and the way she had floated for such a long time, lost and alone. Minerva frowned at the girl’s anxious face and took her in her arms, hugging her close. “I swear to you, he is sorry, Jane,” she said softly. “He loves you dearly, and wishes only to be with you. He has changed...” Minerva felt a little ripple of love as she spoke of Neptune, and she smiled, thinking of seeing him again.

* * * *

The Cupid felt sad about leaving Jane. All his coolness with her has disappeared, and he loved her well. He wanted to see his mother, and he wished above all things to have the terrible curse he lived with removed from him, but he was not sure what it would be like in the Sky. Minerva told him his mother was the most beautiful and charming of women, and that she would cry tears of joy when they met.

“My mother,” he whispered trudging forward over hard, icy pathways. He thought of the evil spell that had left him alone on the island, unable to remember anything about Venus or who he really was. It made him angry, and he thought of the other arrow in a quiver on his back. He longed to use it on the person who had ruined his life and interfered with his destiny.

* * * *

Minerva glanced over at him, noticing the set jaw and angry blue eyes of the tiny boy, who insisted on walking on his own, though Minerva would have carried him. She saw some darkness in the boy that Jane did not possess. She supposed his childhood, if you could call it that, had been lonely and strange.

She hoped that the damage done to him could be undone beyond the spells of Pluto, but she felt some unease for he had long been alone, and he was not so simple a creature as the young girl. For now, though, she must put such doubts out of her mind.

Venus, too, could be unpredictable. That she knew well, and she bore that in mind as they all moved forward through secret paths that Minerva had devised. They moved through the endless forest toward the shores of the sparkling Emerald Sea.

* * * *

Jane thought of Blake as she walked through the forest. The Cupid was just a little boy now, and she could not see him the same way when he was...little. She missed the young Lord Blake like she had never missed anyone except her own grandmother, but she knew there was death and black magic in the village, and she felt she might be killed if she went back there.

The feeling of doom that filled her heart when she thought of the village was like a cold hand clutching her arm and squeezing it too tight. Never before, even in the sea when she had been lost and alone, had she felt such dread. It hurt her to think of Blake surrounded by evil magic, and still so wounded by the strange demise of his own father.
I’ve failed him like Neptune failed me
, she thought in despair.

She might go back to Neptune, for now, but she would never forget his anger and cruelty, and how those things had set all of these events in motion. And yet...had she not gone to the island, she would never have met Blake, or found the Cupid, her dearest friend. She thought of her mother and her hatred of the Sea, and she felt a storm of conflicting emotions.

Would her mother want her safe with her father, or should she continue trying to live her life on the land? With the grandmother she loved? The sea was so warm and comforting, so right...and yet it could change in an instant into a place of terror or violence J
ust like the village
, she thought, sad and depressed. It had been so sweet, and then, bad things had come and it had, so suddenly, no longer been safe or happy.

Nothing lasts
, Jane lamented, her eyes focused on the distance. She walked and walked, feeling her body longing for the sea as a cold winter rain fell on her frail shoulders. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and tried not to think, or feel, anything else at all.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Up in the Sky, Jupiter listened as the gods and goddesses sat and argued and debated the best way to handle the serious problems they were facing. Jupiter was still enraged at his brother, still filled with the desire for revenge. He also knew, in the more logical part of his mind, that Pluto presented a threat to humanity as well. He was a dangerous god, and the keeper of souls should not be so devoid of compassion or respect for the souls he held in his hands. By placing the souls of humanity in the care of Pluto, the gods were doing the human world a real disservice.

Jupiter had no doubt that he, himself, was the most powerful of all of the gods, but he knew that Pluto had the same parentage, and that he was strong...terribly strong. Feeding off of the souls of the dead had indeed increased his own power. It was a difficult problem to solve for the gods could not be killed in the standard manner. They were immortal. And Proserpina should never have been married to Pluto at all. It was an abomination.

* * * *

Neptune has waited a few days for Jupiter to cool off, and then he had taken his best trident and gone up for a private meeting with him, a meeting Neptune dreaded. He had sat and told Jupiter everything so that he could protect Minerva. Lately, Neptune had realized something odd. He seemed to care more about the Goddess of Wisdom than he did about anything else except his daughter. Indeed, he seemed to care more about the goddess than he did about his own self.

His eyes had filled with tears down in the Sea as he thought of all the sacrifices the goddess had made for the sake of him and his Jane. Minerva had done everything in her power to help him, and now, she was in the human world, surrounded by dangers. Pluto was an enemy of all of those up in the Sky and beneath the Sea. He would harm Minerva if he could, and so Neptune decided he would tell Jupiter everything. They all loved Minerva, none more than Jupiter, and they must all work together to ensure that everyone was safe.

The Sunlit Cloud turned charcoal gray and icy cold as Neptune told his story. Jupiter glared at the Sea God with piercing blue eyes as Neptune shivered against the cold. The sky started roiling with storm clouds and strong winds, and Neptune had to hold tight onto his trident else it blow away from him. Jupiter closed his eyes for a moment, perhaps imagining the terrible danger his daughter was in.

“What have you done?” he yelled in Neptune’s face. “Don’t you know Pluto has many emissaries on the Earth?”

“Before Pluto threatened you, all was peaceful, and this had already begun,” Neptune said quietly. Tiny sparks were coming out of the end of Jupiter’ fingertips, a harbinger of bad things.

“You should have gotten your girl back yourself!” Jupiter barked. “And left Minerva out of it!”

Neptune hung his head. He knew this was true, but the goddess had been so helpful and so persuasive. “She said it would be easier for her to...pass...as a human...” he told Jupiter, who only stared coldly at him. Jupiter sighed, some of his anger receding. Minerva was a good, helpful goddess, and he knew she would not be pushed into anything that did not seem right and just to her. He pushed away his rage and shook his head. “It’s not a good time for her to be away from us down in the world,” he said wearily.

Neptune was startled at the sudden change in the god, for he had never before seen him display any weakness or any emotion beyond basic good humor or anger.

“I love Minerva,” Neptune said shyly. “I love her well, and would have her for a wife if she’d take me, Jupiter.” Neptune waited nervously for Jupiter’s response, his eyes downcast.

“Perhaps she loves you, too, if she would do this for you. I have never known her to be in love...but there is always a first time, I suppose.” He told Neptune he had noticed that Minerva no longer mocked Neptune and his showy trident, and his large entourage of mermaids.

Before she disappeared, he said, he had wondered at the change, but had not commented on it. In fact, he had also noticed the way Minerva’s eyes grew soft and caring when she spoke of the Sea God, and found it puzzling indeed. Now the pieces were falling into place, and he did not know what to think, or how to feel.

“If she will have you, I give it my blessing, Neptune, for she is a good girl, and I think, despite your many weaknesses, that you would care for her. It matters not that she is my daughter and you are my brother. None of that matters here. She was not born conventionally, after all, and we are the gods.”

* * * *

Neptune relaxed as the cloud grew brighter, and warmer. These changes were easier to understand and measure than the mercurial nature of Jupiter himself. He felt blessed by his brother, who had just assuaged his deepest fears and worries.

“She is bringing my daughter to me, and we will perhaps be a family, of sorts. But there are many dangers now that Pluto is bent on our destruction. It worries me that she walks the earth alone, and I have made a fine army and trained them to come to her aid when she needs them.” He explained to Jupiter about the pearl ring, and how Minerva was meant to use it.

“I shall be there for you, as well, at the first sign of trouble, and I will go to her by myself, if necessary. For now, I must stay here and plan my own magic, my own defense against my...brother. He caused me to neglect my own daughter in her time of need—and he has stolen my other girl, too.” Jupiter stood up quickly, signaling an end to the meeting.

Neptune rose as well. “I am sorry for involving your daughter in this, but I know there is no one in all the worlds who could be wiser or better for this task.”

“Yes, you are right. Minerva has never given in to temper or flightiness like most of us have. She is balanced and fair in all things.” Jupiter’s eyes grew cloudy as he imagined the pleasure Pluto would take in harming his daughter or stealing her, just as he had stolen Proserpina. While Proserpina learned to adapt to her circumstances by turning to darkness and power like her cruel husband, Minerva would never resign herself to the Underworld. Never. She would die inside.

“When your armies are called, I will know,” Jupiter told him quietly. “I will be watching everything and I will be guarding Minerva from the Sky. You should have told me of this before, Neptune. That was poor judgment from you, and from Minerva. Did you think I would be angry?”

Neptune picked up his trident and faced Jupiter. They were both giants of men, both rulers. “Yes,” Neptune answered quietly, staring at Minerva’s father. “And so did she.” He turned and walked away, leaving Jupiter to his own thoughts.

It’s done
, Neptune thought
. He knows now, and there are no more secrets
. He hoped Minerva would not feel betrayed, but her safety, and the safety of his child, took priority. Anything that could be done to help them make their way back to him must be done.

No longer would he protect himself at the expense of another. He would try to be a better god from hereon in, and his only regret was that he had waited so long to see the truth in himself, and to change from what he was.