In Deep

HOLLY

I walked along the ocean floor, sending bubbles up to the surface several feet above my head.

Someone had cast an underwater breathing spell on me, and I could only imagine it was the voice that had called me into the ocean in the first place.

I didn’t feel scared as I continued on, or cold…

Only curious.

~Who is calling me?~

I continued, moving gracefully through the water as I never had before.

The spell allowed me to see clearly. The seafloor was dark and populated by flitting schools of fish and willowy seaweed.

I went deeper as calmly as if I were walking down the street. The surface grew further away until it was several leagues above my head.

Then I saw the lights. So many lights.

As if a whole city was right here, underwater.

I continued toward it, drawn like a fish into a net.

As I grew closer, I realized that the lights surrounded a sunken ship. The ship must have wrecked over a century ago.

It was covered in green algae and looked like it had come from another era.

But, though it looked deserted, it was bustling with life.

Mermaids and mermen chased each other in and out of the portholes, and schools of fish swam beside them.

Sea witches, sisters I had only read about in books, mingled with the mermaids, looking glamorous with their long, beautiful hair that flowed weightlessly in the water.

“~Holly~,” the voice called again.

I was under her spell, like a sailor hearing a siren’s call.

~Like the captain of this ship…~ I thought, but the dark thought immediately disappeared.

“~Holly.~”

I moved toward the ship, which rose above me ominously.

“~Holly.~”

The voice drifted down from a porthole, and I swam up toward it.

When I reached the source of the sound, I peeked in through the porthole—hoping to spy while remaining unseen.

I saw a sea witch in the corner of the throne room. Her long, blonde hair fell over her bare breasts, and she wore a white, silk skirt that glittered like fish scales.

She was gorgeous. Her features were of another era, another world—a world of sirens lost at sea.

A world of creatures so divine they couldn’t be real.

And yet, here she was.

Then, she turned her head, and her ice blue eyes settled on me.

“You made it,” she whispered calmly, sweetly, rising from her throne.

As she moved toward me, I couldn’t help but do the same. I swam through the porthole.

The sea witch giggled, then turned and smiled at me over her shoulder.

It was so strange that even though I was in the cold Atlantic Ocean, I was blushing and nearly overheated.

I was soaked, but I felt quite comfortable in this underwater world.

In fact, being a league beneath the surface was hardly an inconvenience at all. I could hear the sea witch clear as day.

I couldn’t help but follow her, this magical creature, as she moved toward her throne.

“Please,” she called. “Come sit next to me.”

Obedient as a puppy, I took the throne beside her.

“Holly,” she said, in the same coy voice that had lured me down here.

“How do you know my name?” I asked, finding my voice for the first time since I’d gone underwater.

“I could sense you,” she replied. “A witch as old as I can sense when a powerful sister is near…and I had to meet the one who radiated such ~potent~ magic.”

I was caught up in her response, even though she hadn’t answered my question.

~She could sense my power.~

But even in my dreamlike state, my logical mind warned me.

~Don’t fall for every pretty face who compliments your power…~

The similarity between this enchanting woman and Professor Zillana was not lost on me.

But being with this witch felt different…

“What’s your name?” I asked, bubbles rising from my mouth.

“Freya.”

~Freya.~

Finally, I tore my eyes away from the sea witch and took in the room around me.

Above us, elaborate chandeliers hung from the ceiling, illuminated by one hundred tiny, enchanted candles.

The room had two thrones: the one I was sitting on, and the one Freya sat on.

Along one wall, there were huge bottles with elaborate ships inside them.

In the center of the room, a chest spilled out gold coins and chains.

The place was beautiful. But the decorations, though lavish, had a strange irony to them.

“What is this place?” I asked again.

She tipped back her head and laughed.

“Have you heard of Atlantis?”

I nodded.

“Well, this is ~nothing~ like that. Atlantis is so tacky. When a ship wrecked here nearly fifty years ago, my coven took it over.”

I nodded again, finding it hard to look away even though Freya was done talking.

I noticed she had a way of responding without really answering any of my questions.

Then, her icy eyes fixed on something across the room, and I followed her gaze. A small seahorse had drifted through the porthole and swam elegantly toward the ceiling.

But then, suddenly, its head wrenched back and its spine snapped. It began to drift, slowly, to the floor.

When I looked back at Freya, she was smiling, twirling a strand of hair around a finger.

“Care for a snack?” she asked. “And we have some fabulous rum still left over from the ship.”

Though I wanted to stay, the seahorse’s death had pulled me from my fantasy.

“I can’t stay,” I told Freya.

Her smile disappeared, and she looked as if she might cry. I felt my heart break… I didn’t want to disappoint this beautiful woman.

“You’ll come back?” she asked. “To share a drink with me? I have so many questions for a witch as powerful as you.”

I nodded.

“Good,” she whispered. She reached over and gently touched my hand, resting on the arm of the throne.

Her skin felt electric against mine, and though it became even more difficult than before, I knew I had to leave.

I swam through the porthole and then through the water as if I were flying through balmy air.

I found myself smiling—even as a ghostly chorus filled my ears with a droning, repeated line:

~“Stay away…as the sailors say…stay away…” ~

ROSE

I had just finished my hundredth round, securing the house from evil spirits, when I saw her.

Holly’s hair was still damp, and she walked with her face turned up to the sun.

The girl was happy. Which was very bad news, indeed.

“Where have you been?” I demanded, stomping over to her with my hands on my hips.

“Oh, Rose!” Holly sighed, and that was the exact moment I knew we were in trouble. “I just met the most ~fascinating~ sea witch in a—”

“A sea witch is never to be trusted,” I interrupted her.

Holly’s smile faltered, but only for a moment.

“You don’t understand. It felt so…warm…even though it was cold. And light even though it was dark.”

I bit my lip for a moment.

Holly was so powerful that I almost forgot how young she was…how easily she could be swept up in illusion.

“My dear,” I began, picking my words wisely. “Have you read ~The Odyssey~? Have you heard of these women, the sirens?”

Holly nodded.

“These are sea witches! Not to be trusted! Their bodies are beautiful, but their souls are dark and shriveled.”

Holly bit her lip, as if holding something back. But then she said it anyway:

“Don’t you think you’re being kind of hypocritical? ~Your~ coven was the cruelest in existence.”

I sighed. Of course Holly was right. But she was completely missing my point.

“I left the coven for that very reason,” I reminded her. “I don’t want to see you make the same mistake.”

“Well, good thing I’m not you, then.”

We were silent for a moment as Holly floundered.

“I didn’t mean that,” she said quickly, avoiding my gaze.

And with that, she walked away toward the house. I watched her go.

I knew Holly thought she had hurt my feelings, but my years in a coven of bitchy witches had not been for nothing.

My problem wasn’t wounded pride…

If I was going to make Holly listen to me, I would need a new strategy.

“Take a shower!” I called after her. “You smell like rotting fish!”

BAMBI

“Two more steps,” Ekon told me as he held my hand down the stairs.

Two steps later, I felt the sand beneath my feet.

“Now we’re at the beach,” he said.

I smiled because, even though I was blind, I knew ~that~.

He had been so sweet to me since we’d arrived here, and reliable in a way that I had never known him to be before.

It was like the fact that I needed him took precedence over the things that normally plagued him—like anger and his need for alcohol.

The realization made my heart well up with love for the man I was mated to.

As the waves crashed to our right, I felt like there was nowhere else I would rather be.

“Thank you, Ekon,” I whispered.

I could feel him draw closer to me.

“For what?” he asked.

“For being here. For teaching me.”

He kissed my cheek, which surprised me, and at that same moment, my foot caught on a piece of driftwood.

I tumbled down into the sand, scraping my hand on something…maybe a shell.

“Ouch,” I grunted.

Not a moment later, Ekon was on the ground beside me, demanding to know if I was okay, taking my hand in his.

The combination of stimuli made me feel so overwhelmed that I started to cry. ~Again.~

“Am I bleeding?” I asked tearfully. Without my sight, I didn’t know.

“No,” he replied. “Don’t cry, Bambi. Don’t cry…”

I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just feel so overwhelmed all the time.”

Ekon’s arms wrapped around me and supported me.

Here, in his arms, the world felt less scary. It felt manageable. Ekon made everything feel okay.

“I understand,” he told me. “I understand completely. Your other senses go into overdrive, and everything becomes more intense—but then, eventually, you adjust.”

I nodded, holding onto his strong arms.

“I wish I could see you,” I whispered.

“I know, Bambi. Of course I know that feeling.”

I thought of when we’d first met, and how I had felt insecure with him. Because I thought he wouldn’t have been happy with what he saw.

But now, as I held onto his chest, I understood how wrong I had been.

I felt magnetic attraction to him, and it didn’t matter that I couldn’t see him. I sensed him through my fingers on his warm skin, the way he smelled…

Oh, and how he held me!

I turned my face toward him, and he leaned down to kiss me.

At first, the kiss was soft, but I wanted more. I teased his lips with my tongue, opening my mouth and inviting him inside.

I grabbed at his strong chest, pushing him back onto the sand and climbing on top of him, feeling his arms wrap around my waist, holding me down on top of his growing erection…

“I want you,” I whispered, “but I don’t know how…”

With that, he rolled over so my back was against the sand.

“Don’t worry…” he whispered in my ear as he kissed my neck and the sea breeze brought out goosebumps on my legs.

“I’ll take the lead. Don’t do a thing, Bambi.” I whimpered as he held my waist in his strong hands. “Just let your senses take over…”