Part 2

My head weighed more than a bag of cement and when I tried to lift it, pinching pain shooting through my neck. I blinked, moaning as I cupped the back of my head. Tension squeezed my skull like a vice grip and my eyes felt as though they were about to burst.

Something hard rubbed against my ankle, its weight anchoring me to a bed of rock. I struggled, clear water churning around me. Weak light beamed into a small room through slats cut into a rock wall and I froze, a chain keeping from floating to the ceiling.

A cell.

I’d been cast into the prison beneath the Sea Queen’s palace.

A whimper slipped from between my lips in a stream of bubbles and I reached for the manacle clamped around my right ankle. Light reflected off black tourmaline bracelets that had been forced over my wrists, the shiny darkness sinister. Imposing.

I hovered at the edge of despair. “No.”

If the oblivion I’d woken up from was true death, then I had nothing to fear. May the gods grant me a peaceful slumber when the time came, but I wasn’t ready just then. I had too much to do.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the cold water filling my lungs making me shiver as I reached deep within myself for my mental and spiritual energies. I felt them in the beat of my heart and the yearning of my soul; the power to live and thrive present, but inaccessible. I couldn’t channel them, the black tourmaline suppressing my casting.

I blinked away tears, looking for a target to unleash my rage.

I kicked at the link connecting me to the rock. “Dorian! You rat bastard. Where are you? You can’t leave me down here.”

“Camilla,” he called, mock enthusiasm in his voice infuriating. “I’m so glad you finally decided to join us. Life’s so dull without you.”

I ground my teeth and swam to the slatted rock, gripping the rough columns of stone like bars. A large moonstone glowed in the center of a circular room, three other cells making up a ring. A gate on my right sealed us into our prison.

“I don’t have time for any more nonsense,” I cried. “Get these crystals off and let me go. This is ridiculous. What crime have I committed? Trusting a fool?”

He scoffed. “Don’t tell lies to make yourself feel better, dear heart. You came willingly enough.”

I clenched my jaw. “Dear heart?”

“Enough.” The voice was sad, grief-stricken. “Dorian, don’t tease her. It was wrong of you to bring a surface dweller to the Sea Queen’s palace. She doesn’t belong here.”

Tentacles curled around the rock slats in the cell directly to my left, a figure moving in the dimness. Another damnable octopus.

“Camilla here is a spell caster,” he snapped. “And a powerful one at that. Achta and the others only overpowered us because we were outnumbered. We almost had them beat.”

I shoved my hands through the slats in the rocks. “A lot of good my powers can do us now. I’ve never seen anything like these bracelets. I can’t get them off, either.”

The octopus bobbed about in her cell, trying for a better look. Her voice trembled. “You know our tentacles can grow back, right? You severed the other’s limbs because you know they’ll grow back.”

“Of course,” I lied.

She laughed, high and nervous. “Oh, good. That’s a relief to hear.”

I swallowed hard. “Who are you?”

“Allow me to introduce you,” said Dorian. “Camilla, this is my sister, Octavia. One of Maren’s many daughters.”

A pink tentacle drifted in front of my cell, the tip curling like a shepherd's crook. “How do you do?”

I smiled, pangs of guilt somehow making my headache worse as I took her tentacle in hand. “I wish we could’ve met under better circumstances.”

She laughed again. Only that time, she wasn’t so afraid, the merry gurgling lifting my spirits. “Good company can make even the worst circumstances seem pleasant.”

I liked Octavia right away and wanted to help her escape. No matter what.

“I’m really glad to hear you girls getting along so well, but Achta had me shackled to the wall. My fins fell asleep hours ago,” said Dorian.

“Has your casting been dampened?” I tugged on the bracelets squeezing my wrists to no avail. “I’m about as useful as a rusty old spoon with these on.”

Another pink tentacle floated in front of my cell, reaching. “Maybe I can help you.”

I recoiled, pushing away from the rock slats. I liked Octavia, but I knew better than to underestimate an octopus. “How?”

“My casting abilities are limited, my disciplines more focused on meditation and a strong connection to the mind rather than displays of physical strength and aggression,” said Octavia. “Your power has been dampened, but it is possible to resist.”

Dorian laughed, his clicking grating on my nerves. “Only with years of dedicated training.”

Ocatvia beckoned me closer. “He says that because he can’t do it. Come, Camilla. Just try. Our mother is coming and she will be furious.”

Maren’s wrath was a true terror to behold. I’d huddled in Temple basements alongside my family and neighbors while she and her brothers waged war, wind and waves pummeling the city. Wicked storms were one thing. Staring down an angry sea goddess was another.

I licked my lips, goosebumps making me shiver. Fear inhibited spell casting. That was the first truth adepts learned when they were accepted into the Mage’s Tower. Cowardice was a luxury I simply could not afford. I only hoped it wasn’t too late for Cass. Or myself.

I moved back to the slats, clinging to one and sliding a hand through another.

“Don’t be scared.” Octavia slipped a tentacle inside my cell. “I won’t hurt you.”

Her flesh was cool and smooth against my forehead as she pressed it.

“Wait.” I went limp, eyes rolling back into my head as strange visions formed in my mind’s eye.

Infinite color swirled, shades and hues shifting as shapes took form. Spinning geometric patterns burst into focus before my eyes. I had no body. No mind. I simply was.

Light surged and a spike of pain made me cry out, a needle probing my mind. Searching.

“Open up to me.” Octavia’s voice echoed. “Don’t resist. I will channel my telepathic energies to you, strengthening your casting.”

The pain went deep, sharp and red hot. A violent thrumming threatened to shatter my consciousness.

“Let go of your fear,” boomed Octavia. “Unleash your inhibitions.”

Fear held me back. I wanted to be a Mage more than anything, but I couldn’t abandon my siblings.

An intense pressure flowed into me, strange energy rippling into my limbs as physical sensation returned to them. I had no voice, but I felt my throat tear when I screamed.

“What do you fear, Camilla?” Her voice made my ears pop. “Responsibility? Or failure?”

My body went rigid, spine popping as I bent back. My wrists burned. I screamed like a woman on fire, a priestess caught up in excruciating ecstasy as I channeled Octavia’s energy into my arms, strange ripples spreading into my fingertips.

“Camilla!”

My body spasmed, pure energy coursing through me. “Might!”

The bracelets tightened on my wrists, power draining from me. Pain wracked through my body and I feared I would snap in two.

“Stop! You’re killing her!”

The intense pressure released, the rippling fading into nothingness as my body relaxed. A sudden fatigue swept over me, weighing me down.

I needed sleep. Or death.

Images blurred and came into focus. A shocking pink octopus with white eyes laughed, sweet in her innocence as a muddy brown male chased her through a maze of coral reef.

“Augustus,” whispered Octavia. “He is mortal, but his love is so wonderful that it’s worth the pain of losing him.”

My arm twisted in a tight space, my toes dragging on the floor. Something had chaffed my ankle raw.

“Is she alright?”

Dorian.

There was a sharpness to his voice that I didn’t recognize. An impatience I didn’t like. “We need her.”

“I spent eons without love. I’d forgotten how good it feels,” said Octavia, the images shifting.

A midnight tryst resulted in discovery. Four octopi, dark green Achta leading the way, coiled their tentacles around a shrieking Octavia. They dragged her from a shallow cave as two heavy-browed, beady-eyed mermen jabbed at poor Augustus with viscous tridents.

“Somehow,” continued Octavia. “He managed to escape. My love lies in wait for me close by. My mother’s toadies hunt him. She locked me down here. Says she won’t let me throw my life away on a worthless mortal.”

“Tayvie,” said Dorian. “Do you have your diadem? The aquamarine?”

My eyes opened, warm light fuzzy and inviting despite the cold.

“Have you ever known love, Camilla?” Octavia’s voice pulsed in my ears. “Have you ever wanted to make a life with another? To share one another’s happiness? Shoulder one another’s burdens?”

I grasped my wrists, the crystal bracelets smooth and eerily warm to the touch. It hurt to speak. “Did he say you have an aquamarine?”

She fell silent for a moment as reality came into focus. I wouldn’t suffer that cell a moment longer.

“Yes,” she said. “On my diadem.”

I latched onto wild hope, plans already forming in my mind. “Give it here.”

“Do it, Tayvie,” said Dorian. “I can’t feel my fin or my tail. I’m going mad over here.”

Vibrant light glittered, reflecting off the rocks as Octavia slipped a beautifully wrought silver diadem through the slatted rock face, a fat aquamarine at the center. Desire snaked its way around my heart. The crystal fit into my palm and I curled my fingers around that smooth, perfect oval.

“I want to try again.” My throat ached. “I can use the aquamarine as a conduit, amplifying my spells.”

“There we are.” Eagerness crept into Dorian’s voice. “That’s the spirit.”

“You’re absolutely sure?” demanded Octavia, her tentacles unfurling in my cell. “Because you could be hurt. Or killed.”

I laughed as I grabbed one of her limbs and pressed it to my forehead. “I’m ready this time.”

My head lolled onto my shoulder as I soared to that higher state of consciousness, blissfully free. At peace.

I had to let go.

I couldn’t use my family as an excuse to flake out on the Mage’s Exam and then resent them for holding me back. If I had ever really been truly serious about cutting them off, I’d have done it a long time ago.

I had to grow up.

Joy pulled me back into physical awareness, body tingling with urgent purpose. I couldn’t run from responsibility because I was afraid I couldn’t fulfill it.

A prickle of pain shocked me as Octavia’s telepathic energy rippled through my limbs, violent thrumming driving me to the edge of madness.

Her voice rattled my skull. “I will draw your energies to you. Seize them.”

Every nerve ending in my body fired as a piercing shriek shook me to my bones. I squeezed the aquamarine as hard as I could, channeling my energy into it.

Glass shattered and pain splintered behind my eyes. I screamed, but I didn’t flinch away from the discomfort as raw magic coursed through my body. I embraced the agony as I drew a deep breath, channeling my energies into my hands.

The voice that rumbled from my chest was mine, but different. It hummed with an echoing resonance as I shouted the incantation. “Might!”

A deafening silence swallowed all sound for a tense moment, the aquamarine vibrating in my hand as it absorbed my energies. I heard myself laugh. The spell burst from my hand in an explosion of light and sound, magic snapping and crackling as rock crumbled.

A man and a woman screamed in the distance. Fear burned the back of my throat and I tensed, too late for regrets.

Octavia wailed. “You have to stop! You’ll cause an earthquake! A tidal wave!”

Every muscle in my body contracted and I screamed. Ripples began to fade as the world around me trembled, the energy coursing through me weakening.

“Octavia,” I cried. “Sever the connection.”

She didn’t hesitate.

Something snapped in my hand and my body went limp. Life leaked from me.

I collided with a moving object and I was suddenly battered about like a single coin in a beggar’s cup.

“Go, Tayvie,” said Dorian. “Find Augustus and get the scepter.”

I drew on the magnetic force emanating from the palace, its energy sparking renewed vigor in my mind and body. My eyes flew open and I gasped, flailing as I bobbed against the ceiling of my cell.

The slated rock wall trapping me inside had been blown away, a pile of rubble heaped in front of the cells across from me. The moonstone had been buried, but the light emanating from the aquamarine in my hand made up for its loss.

Octavia scrambled over the rock, frantically calling to her brother. I took a deep breath, my lungs still able to draw life from the water, and swam toward them. The rock shook around us. Tremors made the water churn.

Octavia turned toward me, alien pupil locked onto mine, staring into my soul. “Help him. Use the aquamarine to blast the rock away.”

Familiar pain prickled in my skull, but I resisted, furious at her entitled intrusion. “I’m keeping this crystal.”

She recoiled as jets of bubbles burst, a chunk of rock crumbling away from the ceiling. “That’s a royal adornment.”

Dorian howled and I grinned.

She turned away. “Fine. Just get him out of there.”

I held up my aquamarine, channeling my energy into it. “Stand back.”

“I’m shackled to the floor-”

A beam of intense light shot out of the crystal and burst against the rubble with a crash. For a brief moment, the flash of blue illuminated the wide-eyed dolphin pressed against the wall. I could’ve laughed at the stupid shock in his expression, but I didn’t.

A black tourmaline band had been shoved over his tailfin. I swam to him, laying the crystal against a shackle around his middle. Energy surged through my arm into the aquamarine and the shackle shattered.

“There’s one underneath me,” said Dorian. “And the crystal on my tail.”

“Please hurry.” Octavia moved to a crumbling wall by the gate and peered through a gaping hole as the quaking intensified.

I slid my hand under Dorian, feeling for the smooth shackle.

He clicked, giggling. “That tickles.”

“You’ll have to figure out the black tourmaline on your own.” My fingers brushed the shackle and I grabbed it, wedging my fingers between the metal and the dolphin. “I nearly killed myself getting mine off. I can’t afford to break yours.”

The room shook and Dorian thrashed. “Just get me out!”

Energy surged into my hand. “Might!”

The shackle broke with a clangor and he darted off with a flick of his tail. “We have to hurry.”

I laughed as I swam toward Octavia. “I held up my end of the bargain. You’re free. I’m outta here.”

“You won’t be able to breathe on the surface until I undo my spell,” said Dorian. “Come with us.”

His cell collapsed behind me, the palace still quaking. There was no time to demand answers. I had to get out of there before it was too late.

Octavia slipped through the hole in the wall, pink tentacles furling and unfurling around her body. “Quickly! Before they think to check on us.”

Dorian hovered near the hole, watching.

I gritted my teeth, reaching for the opening. “I was serious when I said I’m keeping this aquamarine. You used me. And you’re a liar.”

He rolled his eyes, condescension somehow so evident in his dolphin form. Maybe that was part of his magic. “I already agreed to let you keep the crystal. And don’t you play the victim with me. I didn’t lie about anything.”

“You didn’t tell the truth.” I grabbed the jagged edge of the hole with one hand, a vice grip on my aquamarine with the other. “And you’re lucky I don’t have time to figure out how to undo your kissing spell on my own. Because I could. With my crystal.”

I pulled myself halfway through the hole, my legs kicking behind me, an especially violent tremor slamming me into the wall.

Octavia screamed up ahead.

“I’m coming!” Dorian drove his head into my backside, forcing me into a hallway as the floor split open, an immeasurable amount of bubbles washing over me.

I flailed, trying to right myself as Dorian darted by. Anger and even a little hatred kept me focused; kept me from losing my head. That sneaky fishman wouldn’t abandon me to die in the dark after doing his dirty work.

I grabbed his tailfin, my wrist rubbing the black tourmaline ring. It absorbed some of my energies, my crystal dimming.

Dorian lost momentum for a moment, deep cracks forming in the wall to our left. “Glad to have you along.”

He pressed on toward his sister’s shrieks, body sleek and smooth as he glided through the water. Moonstones spaced at even intervals along the walls shone with ethereal brilliance, illuminating the long hallway in gentle light.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dorian rounded a bend, ripping away from me with a fierce click. I slowed, tumbling head over heels in the water. It was almost enough to make me hate the sea. I clawed and kicked, my jaw dropping as soon as I righted myself.

Three mermaids, eyes dull with stupid cruelty, wrestled with Octavia’s tentacles, broken teeth green in the crystal light as they snarled and snapped. The old stories of beautiful sirens and benevolent sea spirits must’ve been based entirely in myth, a randy sailor’s lust-fueled fantasy. The haggard fish-lipped women, dark hair matted and tangled, were everything but beautiful and benevolent.

Dorian speared one of them in the belly as another bit one of Octavia’s tentacles. Otherworldly screaming filled my head; the souls of a thousand sailors, a thousand victims of floods and shipwrecks, beckoning me to the peaceful depths of a watery grave.

Being a mermaid wouldn’t be too bad. I’d have no real responsibilities or obligations. My desires would be the Sea Queen’s desires. My sole purpose to carry out her will. I wouldn’t even have to think. Or breathe air.

Dorian’s voice pierced those wicked fishgirl’s evil song. “The crystal!”

I gasped, fear rapidly fading beneath a tidal wave of fury as a boulder landed at my side. “I would die a thousand vicious deaths before I became a god’s mindless slave.”

I squeezed the aquamarine so hard it hurt, pouring all of my rage and all of my fears into it, my arm pulsing as mental and spiritual energy coursed through my veins. The crystal glowed pale blue, my energies arcing from its surface.

I held it up with a maniacal grin, the walls crumbling. A rail-thin mermaid sped toward me, her tongue as foul and black as her teeth as she snarled curses. Blue light shimmered on her dark fish tail.

“Might!”

A deep vibration pulsed through the water as a jet of crackling energy shot from the crystal. The force of the spell knocked me backward, water and light swirling around me as screams and shouts filled my skull. Something hard slammed into my back, driving my breath from me. I opened my eyes with a gasp.

A mermaid’s head floated by, violently bobbing against the ceiling as the coral and the rock began to break. Her face was shrouded by her mass of hair, blood mixing with the water. Octavia lashed out, coiling her tentacle around a mermaid’s neck as Dorian pecked at the other’s eyes, her claw-like fingernails tearing into his sides.

Cece was unaware, but she was about to write a ballad so epic and thrilling, the bards would sing it for a thousand years.

I held up the crystal as a tremor split the wall behind me. Dorian jabbed the mermaid’s eye, forcing the white orb from its socket. It floated away as she howled.

I took a deep breath, not caring where my spell landed. “Might!”

A bolt of light burst forth as the wall behind me gave way and I was propelled backward, bits of rock pelting me.

I held up the crystal, a desperate scream tearing my throat. My casting was my protection. “Shield!”

Light flashed as a sphere of energy fizzled into existence around me, rocks bouncing off the surface as the palace shook. I struggled to move the sphere forward as the ceiling began to collapse.

Octavia released her hold on the mermaid and turned toward me, reaching as Dorian bit down on the last mermaid’s throat, tearing it open. Pink tentacles slammed against my shield, rings of flesh on the white undersides adhering to the surface with a sucking sound.

“Hurry,” cried Dorian.

Octavia pulled, dragging me from the rubble. “Help me!”

“How? I’m worthless with this thing on my tail.”

Pain lanced through my jaw as I gritted my teeth. I didn’t have time for their squabbling. A large boulder fell from the ceiling, sea anemones screaming as the rock landed on two of Octavia’s tentacles.

She wailed. “I can’t get to you!”

I wasn’t about to be buried alive beneath crumbling rock and coral under the sea.

I slowed the flow of energy coursing through me, my shield dissolving in a shower of light. The aquamarine vibrated in my palm as I held it up to the boulder. Something hard and heavy collided with the side of my head and I swore, livid as Octavia’s tentacles twitched and spasmed beneath the boulder.

“Might!”

Blue light burst and the boulder exploded, a shower of tiny pebbles adding to the chaos. Octavia, sorrow in her voice as she cried, pulled her injured limbs against her body as she wrapped another around my waist.

“We have to move,” bellowed Dorian.

Octavia yanked me from the debris and we took off after Dorian as the tremors weakened.

The octopus pulled me through the water, light blurring as we twisted and turned our way through the Sea Queen’s palace. My stomach lurched around every corner.

Octavia screamed as more merfolk, a few mermen among them, swam around a bend in the hall, nasty teeth barred as they hissed.

Dorian reared, Octavia crashing into him. “Camilla!”

I held up the aquamarine with a cold grin. “Might!”

A bolt of energy shot from the crystal, the merfolk reeling with horror. It caught a male in the face, his head exploding in a burst of grey matter and bone.

“Might! Might!”

Two mermaids were blown apart as another clutched the bleeding stump of her arm, fingers still twitching as the limb floated away. Bone jutted from a merman’s tail as he tried to re-attach the fin, face slack with shock.

“By the gods,” muttered Octavia.

Dorian sped over the merfolk. “We’re so close, Tayvie. Don’t lose heart.”

She tightened her hold around my waist. “It’s faster this way.”

We followed Dorian into a wide, vertical tunnel and swam upward, moonstones arranged on the wall in swirling patterns. Some of them appeared to be missing. I pressed my hand against the side of my head, pain crashing through my skull, neck, and shoulder in waves.

The tremors had mostly subsided, though the occasional rumble made Octavia tense. I winced, her squeezing adding to my nausea. Her tentacle trembled beneath my touch.

“Not so hard,” I said.

She relaxed, voice shaky. “I’m sorry.”

Her fear troubled me and I couldn’t shake the suspicion that she and her brother were leading me into more danger. If those were gods, then no wonder our world was so broken.

“Please tell me what’s going on,” I whispered. “Where are you taking me?”

Her glance was tense; as though she wanted to tell me, but was holding back. She looked away. “To Augustus.”

I swallowed my anger. It wouldn’t get me anywhere with her. “Octavia.”

She kept her eyes on Dorian, the dark crystal around his tail glittering in the light. “Hm?”

“I need to know what you’re getting me into. If I’m properly prepared, I can be of more use to you.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. If pressed, I would fight tooth and nail to defend myself. But I wasn’t about to unwittingly pick a side in a godly squabble.

Octavia studied me and I forced myself to focus on her slit pupil, silently demanding answers.

Finally, she spoke. “Dorian has his faults.”

I snorted.

“But he is a good brother. You’re familiar with the stories, right? Our sister, Lorelei, was kidnapped by Boreas and Caelum. They imprisoned her in their sky realm.”

I cut her off, impatient. “And the Sea Queen rages in search of her. It’s supposed to be where storms come from.”

She continued. “Dorian wants to steal our mother’s scepter. It’s a very powerful magical artifact. He keeps saying he has a plan to rescue Lorelei, but that he needs the scepter to see it through.”

“How do you and Augustus play into it?”

“Everything we told you about Augustus and I being forbidden to marry is true. But my love also has plans to make the Sea Queen’s realms more equitable. He offered to help Dorian steal the scepter if Dorian agreed to help us,” she said. “I love my siblings and Augustus. I would do anything to free Lorelei and to be with the one I love.”

A domed stained glass roof came into focus overhead, the moonstone’s light making the colors sparkle. Pain and fatigue weighed me down and I closed my eyes.

I loved my family, too. Dawn was fast approaching.

“Octavia.” I opened my eyes, turning toward her. “Do you know how to reverse the spell that allows me to breathe underwat-”

“Tayvie!” A muddy brown octopus emerged from an opening in the wall, long tentacles unfurling as he floated toward Dorian.

“I’m sorry, my love,” called Octavia. “We’ll celebrate our reunion later. The time has come.”

Despite everything, I smiled. Those octopi were something else.

###

Upon closer inspection, the stained glass dome bore images of a giant black octopus, long tentacles circling the perimeter of the dome as sea creatures gazed up at her in adoration. Its head was the center, a glittering pink rhodochrosite where an eye would’ve been.

I had grown up praying to a dark-skinned, black-eyed woman with wild green hair.

“Maren is depicted as human in our Terrestrial Temples,” I said as we drew closer to the glass. “It never occurred to me that she would take the form of an octopus.”

“I’ve never seen her human form,” said Octavia.

Dorian swam in tight circles, impatient as we approached. Our gazes met and he blew a jet of bubbles from his blowhole. “If Camilla is lucky, she’ll never see the kraken. No human has looked upon her and lived to tell the tale.”

Augustus rushed past Octavia and I. “Camilla has nothing to worry about. We’ll be in and out in no time at all.”

My limbs trembled with anxiety and cold fatigue, my body at its breaking point. I knew better than to buy into Augustus’ determined optimism, but, for a moment, I indulged. “Then let’s get your scepter and get me home. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

Octavia released me, her gaze glued to her lover. “Slow down, Auggie. The whole palace knows that Dorian and I escaped.”

I swallowed hard. “Are you expecting a-”

Augustus brushed a tentacle over the pink rhodochrosite eye and it lit up, rosy light somehow out of place beneath the dark sea. The brown octopus was sucked inside the crystal and I gasped.

Dorian wasted no time, tapping the pink crystal with his beak and disappearing inside.

“I don’t under… I don’t know.” I tread water, panic gripping me. “What just happened?”

Octavia gently pushed me forward. “Humans don’t use rhodochrosite to create portals?”

It was as if the glass octopus’ eye stared directly into my soul, judging me unworthy of the Sea Queen’s hallowed halls. Thinking of which, I’d been underwater for what felt like hours, but I’d yet to hear the merriment of the good souls who’d drowned at sea. Unless that was all nonsense. The merfolk were certainly viscous enough to contain the souls of wicked humans, but there was no way to be sure without proper research.

I shook my head, intrigued by Octavia’s words. “No. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but I’d love to know more.”

She kept her tentacle pressed into the small of my back. “After we get the scepter and get you out of here. If you still want to stick around.”

I didn’t.

“This palace is one of many scattered throughout the world. Touch the rhodochrosite. It takes you to the throne room at the center of the ocean,” she said. “Don’t be afraid.”

I licked my lips. A prayer to Maren formed in my mind, but I let it die on my tongue, lest she smite me where I floated. Only a fool would beseech a deity to help her steal right out from said deity’s nose.

“Hurry.” Octavia shoved me forward.

I reached out, the rhodochrosite warm beneath my touch.

Intense energy yanked me forward as light burst, blinding me as I was pulled into an impossibly tight space between the Earth and the sea. Had I been able to open my mouth, I would’ve screamed like a soul on its way to eternal torment, pressure crushing every part of me as I was hurdled through a kaleidoscope of color and ethereal sounds.

Before I knew it, I was cast out of that crushing hell, bursting free with a loud crack. I drew a deep breath, my body able to draw life from the seawater. A tentacle slapped me in the face, the stinging pain filling me with rage.

“How dare you?” I grabbed the boneless limb, tissue soft beneath my touch.

I blinked against bright light, green flames crackling in seashell braziers along walls of pure white coral. Sea anemones shrieked as explosions of sound and flashes of spell energy churned the water. It was then that I realized the tentacle in my hand wasn’t attached to an octopus.

I let go with a gasp, disgusted.

Octavia appeared at my side with a pop, a petrified whimper out of her mouth before I could even take it all in. “Auggie.”

Augustus was an eight-limbed terror, four kriss swords flashing in the lights as he sliced a merman in half with the righteous fury of the oppressed. A teeth-rattling snap filled my head, ears ringing even after the sound had dissipated.

The click of a dolphin made me twist to my left, a man’s body emerging from the form of the sea creature. It was hypnotic in its own right; a strange logic present in the way fins shifted into arms; in the way the tail split into legs. Green light burst, illuminating a magnificent throne room.

Dorian.

He grinned like a madman as he rose in the water, a scepter clutched in his hand.

A raised platform sat in the center of the room, a solid pearl throne glittering in the light. Dorian lowered onto it, arcs of light crackling over the edge of the fat aquamarine mounted at the end of a silver scepter.

Achta emerged from the frey, her rage making the water churn. “Who do you think you are? How dare you sit on her throne! I’ll tear you-”

Dorian’s perfect face twisted into something hideous as he sneered, pale light shimmering around his head like a halo. A crown of pearls and aquamarines formed on his brow.

Octaiva gasped.

He pointed the scepter at a screaming Achta, her beak clicking as her tentacles unfurled. The water around me began to pulse, the light from the scepter blinding.

“Bow to your king,” bellowed Dorian.

A beam of green spell energy burst from the scepter, heading straight for the green octopus. Poor Achta didn’t stand a chance. She exploded in a burst of gore.

Octavia screamed along with her fellow octopi.

I clutched the crystal in my hand, cold terror sending me into a panic. That had been Dorian’s plan all along: steal the scepter and make himself Sea King. How could I have been so stupid?

Dorian raised his scepter high overhead, a whirlpool forming. The water began to stir, pulling us into motion.

His voice had adopted a regal resonance. “Swear fealty to me and I will spare your life.”

All of the remaining merfolk raised their gurgling voices, sheer terror on their faces. “Hail, Dorian! Long live the King!”

The current sucked me into the whirlpool, the violent tug restricting my movement. The octopi resisted, calling down curses on their new regent. None was more furious than Augustus.

He clutched his swords, black eyes bulging. “Traitor! You snake! Charlatan!”

“Maren,” cried a speckled yellow-and-red female. “Rescue us!”

Dorian pointed his scepter directly at her, crystal charging with arcs of energy.

“Why, Dorian,” wailed Octavia. “How could you? Mother-”

Augustus forced his way through the current, swords raised, toward the speckled female.

Octavia screamed. “No! Don’t hurt them!”

I held up my aquamarine, channeling my energies into it. My rage would only heighten my power. The other octopi called for Maren as a bolt of energy shot from the scepter.

“Shield!” I couldn’t hear my own voice over the sound of the water and the sea creatures.

A sphere of blue light formed around Augustus and the speckled female in the nick of time. Dorian’s spell collided with mine, an ear-splitting ring threatening to break me. The two octopi were knocked from the whirlpool, safe in their bubble. Augustus beat against the sphere.

Dorian whipped around, eyes tracking me as the water pulled me along. “You.”

My insides turned to ice.

“Camilla, blast me out of the whirlpool.” Octavia’s voice rattled around the inside of my skull.

I didn’t take my eyes from the usurper as he pointed his mother’s scepter right at me, the aquamarine glowing green.

“Grab onto me, Octavia!” I held up my crystal.

Her tentacle coiled around my ankle.

“Do what you did before.” My aquamarine glowed blue. “Help me-”

“Die!” Dorian launched a bolt of light at me, the crackling, flashing ball of energy targeting me as I was whipped about.

Octavia must’ve somehow understood. Her telepathic energy rippled up my leg, the light coming from my crystal turning purple.

“MIGHT!” Something tore in my throat, blood hot as I swallowed.

Our spells collided and it was as if time stopped, a deep thrumming reverberating through the water, vibrating my very bones. The whirlpool stopped, launching us from the water’s hold. Octavia clung to my leg, screaming.

I prayed for oblivion as my body ached with fatigue, but stopped before I finished. I couldn’t die yet.

“Auggie!”

Octavia moved away from me and I opened my eyes a moment before I crashed into the wall of coral, my crystal slipping from my grasp. A jolt of panic sent me into motion and I swam after it, clawing at the water like a drowning cat.

My whole future sank toward the bottom of the sea.

Dorian laughed, pointing his cursed scepter at my prize. “Aquamarine!”

My crystal stopped sinking for a hare’s breath before pelting toward that treacherous bastard, the grin on his face filling me with blind rage.

Mortals were simply playthings to the gods and their spoiled, egotistical children; objects to be used and abused to help them achieve their selfish ends. Slaves to their desires. I refused to be a pawn in their games.

I grinned back at Dorian, reaching.

Unfortunately for him, Summoning spells were my specialty. The aquamarine was smooth in my hand. Heavy. When I channeled my energies into it, the crystal warmed, its draw gentle.

I took a deep breath, reaching for the glittering crystal with my mental and spiritual energies. “Aquamarine!”

The crystal froze halfway between Dorian and I as a battle between merfolk and octopi raged before the pearl throne.

Augustus was winning.

He wielded his curvy swords with deadly precision and accuracy, slicing off a mermaid’s arm with a flick of his tentacle as he parried a jab from a merman’s trident. Octavia shouted curses at her brother as she protected injured octopi inside a crackling sphere of pink light.

I inhaled, drawing my aquamarine toward me as though I tugged an invisible rope. Despite everything, the researcher in me couldn’t help but wonder if she’d learned to cast a shield exactly the way I had while we were telepathically linked.

Dorian drew the scepter closer to his body, my crystal jerking as it inched closer to him. I gritted my teeth and curled my hand into a fist, increasing my hold. It was mine. With a sound like glass breaking, the aquamarine shattered, sparkling shards jettisoning through the water like arrows.

“Shield,” I cried, eyes stinging with tears and seawater, my heart broken.

Crystal shards tapped against my shield as Dorian threw his head back, laughing. The creatures down below began to scream. A tattooed merman clutched at his face, eyes bleeding.

With a swing of his sword, Augustus separated the merman’s head from his neck. He darted toward the would-be Sea King, skewering a screaming mermaid through the gut as she charged.

Dorian turned toward him, crystal glowing as he raised his scepter. I lowered my shield, kicking as hard as I could as I swam toward them. Octavia screamed.

“You could’ve been great,” shouted Augustus. “We would’ve worshipped-”

Dorian pointed the scepter at the brown octopus with one hand, his other reaching for me. “Die!”

A bolt of light shot from the scepter as I channeled my energies into my hands.

Augustus would not be harmed. “Sh-”

Dorian clenched his free hand into a fist and my throat closed, my spell dying as his caught Augustus on the head. The good octopus exploded. All that remained was a swirl of blood, three swords sinking to the floor.

Octavia shrieked, her heartbreak piercing my soul.

In truth, it was not my betrayal to feel, but I couldn’t contain the wave of fury that washed away all of my thoughts. I channeled all of my energies to my throat, forcing Dorian’s spell away from my body.

Water rushed into my mouth, life flowing into me. “Might!”

Octavia lowered her shield, tentacles flailing as she raced toward her brother. “You monster!”

He held up the scepter. “Sister, please. He was just a mortal.”

I reached for him. His bones would snap in my grasp. “Dorian!”

He hurdled toward me, feet first as I forced all of myself: my mental and spiritual energies, my anger, my very soul, into my palm. Blue light tingled against my skin as I raised my free hand to Dorian, the spell on my lips.

He somersaulted through the water, somehow able to upright himself. A spell of his own crackled at the end of the scepter.

The throne room shook, coral crumbling into dust as giant black tentacles broke through the walls. The remaining merfolk flew into a panic, scrambling over each other to get to the pink tourmaline crystal portal behind me. Fear flickered over Dorian’s pretty face and he paused.

I took advantage of his hesitation, focusing on his smooth, squishy blue eyes. I would crush one in my fist. “Eye!”

His right eyeball popped from its socket, red tissue trailing behind as it sped toward me. Dorian dropped his scepter with a howl and clapped his hand over his face. Octavia caught the silver rod, aiming the crystal at her brother.

The walls disintegrated before a massive kraken, her flesh black as onyx. Pink eyes scanned the room as my fingers closed around Dorian’s eye.

“Mother.” Octavia held out the scepter. “He killed them all!”

Dorian lowered his hands, face slack with dread as he whipped around.

Maren, the Sea Queen, ocean goddess, unfurled her mighty tentacles, what remained of her throne room not large enough to contain her magnificent glory. All my life I’d prayed to a human. From then on, I prayed to the kraken.

“Dorian must be punished,” cried Octavia.

Maren lashed out, slapping Octavia unconscious with a flick of her tentacle. Her voice nearly spit my skull in two. “I leave home for two days and THIS is what my children get up to?”

Dorian pointed at me. “She plucked out my eye!”

Maren whacked him upside the head, knocking off his glittering crown. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about this? That you could steal my scepter?”

Her pink eye landed on me and I couldn’t move, stunned silent in the presence of a god.

“I just want to bring Lorelei home,” yelled Dorian. “Why won’t you get her back?”

“A human,” said the Sea Queen.

My heart seized in my chest and I spun around, struggling toward the portal. Even with my casting, I was no match for Maren. Intense light burst behind me and I was yanked back, my ruined throat searing with pain as I screamed. A tentacle coiled around my waist and pulled me toward the kraken, twisting me around. Maren was even more terrifying up close.

Bubbles burst from my lips as I babbled. “All praises to the Sea Queen! How great, how awesome is she! Blessed is she who looks upon her beauty and-”

The tentacle contacted, squeezing me hard enough to make me grunt. “Spare me, human.”

My body went limp, my eyes rolling as the events of the past few hours began to unfold in my mind’s eye. Pain pounded my skull and violent tremors wracked through me. I trembled with fear as I watched myself summon Dorian’s eye from his skull.

Maren sighed. “Let me take you home. I’m sorry my children got you mixed up in their foolishness.”

She held on to me as she backed out of the ruined throne room, bubbles bursting against my skin as the water churned. We began to rise faster than my body could adjust, the sudden shift in pressure too much. I blacked out.

###

I woke up on the beach with a gasp, elated that it was air filling my lungs and not seawater. The sky had only just begun to brighten with dawn’s light. Deep purple. A royal color to herald in Father Sun.

I sat up, sore, but otherwise unharmed. Maren must’ve healed my injuries while I was unconscious. In my hand, I clutched an aquamarine about the size of a man’s eye. My own laughter was strange in my ears as I chuckled, a heap of smooth, fat pearls at my feet.

I gave Crispus three-quarters of Maren’s gift, the rest stashed away beneath my robes as he led me down to the filthy cells beneath The Frog’s Tail. Cassius had the audacity to smile sweetly at me through the bars as I approached. He’d been blessed with our sister’s delicate features and silver-blonde hair. It fell to his shoulders in loose waves, his linen suit a rumpled mess.

His voice was raspy and dark circles had formed beneath his eyes, but the stiffness melted away from his posture as he spoke. “I knew you’d get me out of here.”

Cassius at least had the sense to keep quiet as we made our way home, but I didn’t like the way his eyes kept darting to the lump under my robes after I showed him my pearls and aquamarine.

The front door swung right off the damaged hinges when he tugged it open.

Cecelia smiled at me from the wreckage, a lyre in hand. “I dreamed you were a blue dolphin.”

I collapsed into a chair, too exhausted to give much thought to her words.

“Play something merry.” Cassius pranced about the destroyed furniture. “I feel like dancing.”

She giggled and launched into a playful bop, gracefully leaping about with our brother while he sang nonsense.

I pulled out my aquamarine and channeled my energies into the crystal. It floated into the air and slowly rotated, casting shifting lights over us all. After I passed the exam and earned my first pay, I’d have it made into earrings. Cece began to sing about stars under the ocean.

I watched them dance, all the while praying for poor Octavia.

***** The End *****