The beauty of the castle was a trap. Because inside lived the monster that destroyed without care or conscience.

  The undead army shuffled steadily forward. I saw Mayi on the balcony, her white hair whipping in the current. Her shimmering wings glowed green in the light from the castle. Seeing her there in the open was so tempting. But she wasn't my real target anymore.

  If I could get my sister away from her, I could stop her. I could save Avia and end this, all in one swoop.

  My eyes searched the murky depths. There was an underwater mountain just behind the castle. There. Avia had to be there. She was in a cave when Donaloo scried her. And she couldn’t be kept far from Mayi. She had to be there.

  Emotion bubbled in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or anticipation. Probably some combination of both.

  I pointed at it and told Posey, "If what you say is true, my sister will be there."

  My knights and the part-flower sprite all turned to study the mountain.

  Posey nodded. "We'll need a hedgewitch." She waded off through the water before I could ask what she meant.

  The undead still kept our group tight in the middle of their ranks as they fought. And they did a great job of warding off most attacks. The biggest threats that made it past them were the cold currents that pressed against Ryan’s power and forced him to use all his willpower to keep his column of air from collapsing. We were half a mile closer to the castle when Posey returned, an undead woman missing her two front teeth tromping along behind her.

  "This is Lizza." Posey’s vine fingers unfurled to point at the woman.

  Lizza was short and a bit hunch-backed, her hair stringy. There was one bald patch on the top right. At first, I thought the hair had simply fallen out in that spot, but she gave a small bow and I realized the skin had fallen off there too. There was only skull left. Lizza entered Ryan's air column. And without another word she began muttering a spell sprinkling salt onto the ground from one of the many pouches at her waist.

  I’d hardly had time to process the fact that her salt was dry, not soaked mush, when she pulled open another pouch from the many strung about her waist.

  Lizza yanked out a wedge of green, moldy cheese. "Each of you take a bite," she commanded imperiously. Her voice had a low rattle, almost as low as a man’s.

  My eyes flitted to Posey. They asked, what the hell?

  Posey tapped Lizza. "The living often want an explanation."

  Lizza’s eyes widened. "Oh. Yes, I forgot. This spell will help make you invisible to enemies. It’s what our scouts are using. I’m also adding a bit of a spell to let you all breathe underwater and give this poor fellow a break," she gestured at Ryan. “Bite the cheese and pass.”

  Declan took the first bite. From the way his eyes nearly popped out of his head, I could tell it was awful.

  I gagged when it was my turn. Blue spit his out and had to take a second bite as Lizza scolded him for wasting her magic.

  “Never thought I’d say this, but I miss Donaloo’s tablets,” Connor whispered.

  Lizza pulled out a cinnamon stick and chanted as she waved it at each of us.

  Posey turned to us. "Lizza was undead before the army even started. She's been an undead for nearly five centuries. Isn't she in great shape?" Posey smacked Lizza on the back. "She uses her powers to stop her decomposition."

  Blue's thoughts suddenly projected to all of us. Oh my gods. That decomposition is a full body thing, isn't it? The image of a rotted penis suddenly appeared in all our minds.

  Quinn mentally shouted, Undead army is not an option! I repeat, not an option, do not die.

  I nearly choked on laughter.

  Lizza waved her stick one more time and it caught on fire. She extinguished the flame with her fingers and said, “Ok. You can step on into the water. The invisibility spell only lasts about an hour. The breathing is permanent. It will allow you to breathe in air or water from now on, because I don’t have time to be coming back here every few days or years to fix it.”

  Years. Shite. I didn’t want to need this for years. I swallowed.

  One by one, we abandoned the column of air. I was nervous to walk into the water, but when I stuck my hand into it, it felt the same as Ryan’s column. I took a step forward, immersing part of my body. But I couldn’t feel a difference. It felt like I had stepped outside on a cool day. I pushed my head into the waves. While my hair did float around me, everything else felt the same. I stared down at my hands in the murky ocean light. I waved them. They moved naturally.

  I opened my mouth and said, “This is amazing!”

  Ryan sighed in relief as he let the water collapse. “Why the sarding hell didn’t we do that ages ago?”

  Lizza stared up at him. “I was busy creating spells for soldiers who actually know how to fight in water,” she said dryly. “Besides, every man could use a bit of work on his stamina.”

  With that, Lizza turned and disappeared back into the crowd of undead soldiers.

  I turned to Posey. “If she decides eternal rest isn’t for her … I’d love to have her as a castle mage.”

  My knights narrowed their eyes at me. I shrugged. “First off, this magic is amazing. Secondly, and very importantly, she can’t die. I mean, not unless the amulets work and she wants to.”

  Connor sighed, bubbles escaping from his lips. “Good point, Bloss Boss. But we need to make it back to the castle first.”

  I nodded. “Well, we’re invisible now. So, let’s go steal a princess!”

  The cave entrance we found was high on the mountain, much closer to the surface than I expected. I should have thought of that, considering that when Donaloo had scried my sister, light had filtered down into her cave. It didn’t matter now, but it had taken us hours to find the entrance while the battle raged on by the castle. Mayi raised shipwrecks and brought them hurtling through the water to smash into the undead. But the army just rose up, limbless, headless, legless, and continued to attack.

  Her howl of frustration echoed off the mountain. It was music to my ears.

  As we slipped into the cave entrance, I took one last look backward. The undead army was scaling the walls of the castle with any soldiers who still had arms. Mayi shot arrows and spears of ice through them, her wings fluttering as she flew through the waves. But ice didn’t stop them. They kept pressing forward with ice shards protruding from their chests.

  I left the battle, disappearing into a long, dark cavern. I blinked, but the darkness was so complete that my eyes couldn’t adjust. I lit the path with my peace magic. Connor and Declan walked in front of me. Posey walked just behind me; her ‘supervisory’ duties apparently didn’t end until the enemy was defeated. Behind her, Blue and Quinn set their ears to the rough rock walls, searching for thoughts. Ryan guarded the rear, a thick timber from a shipwreck in his hands.

  Left, Blue told us. I hear thoughts to the left.

  We took the first turn in the cavern that led left and the water grew colder around us.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked Posey, as shivers started to wrack my body.

  She shrugged. “Mildly. Most of my nerve endings have been injured over the years.”

  I turned my head and my hair swirled around my face. I had to bat it away as it floated in front of my eyes. “Ryan. Can you reduce cold and multiply heat?”

  Next to me, Posey added, “How about reduce darkness and multiply sunlight? The sea ghosts are sensitive to sunlight.”

  Ryan nodded but his face was haggard. He looked exhausted as he dragged his injured leg without a cane. But, ever the warrior, he wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t quit. He moved the timber to one huge hand and lifted the other to blast the cave with sunlight.

  As the passage lit up around us, I heard the shrieks of ashrays. Their glowing eyes popped open as they abandoned the nooks and crevices in the cave wall around us and fled down the passage.

  “Shite! They might as well be trumpeting our arrival!” Blue cursed.

  “Declan, can you try to suck out some of their panic?” I said as I shot peace at the jelly-like creatures.

  But it was too late. Ten merguards swam through an archway on the far side of the cave. Their blue tails straightened in alarm when they saw us.

  Shite! Lizza’s invisibility spell must have worn off! Blue stated the obvious.

  The mermen’s tridents lit up with orange magic. And then they attacked.

  I redirected my peace magic from the ashrays to the mermen, but only managed to make two of them look relaxed and dopey. Declan soon had one cowering in the corner, shaking and holding his head as happiness drained out of him. Blue and Quinn ran among the rest, using their speed to take quick swipes at the half-fish. Posey unsheathed her sword and calmly walked forward, ignoring a merman whose trident dug into her side. She simply kept walking into the weapon until she was close enough to take off the merman’s head.

  The battle space was confined. The fighting was quick. It felt like I had hardly blinked before Connor cried out. A trident was lodged in his chest, just above his heart.

  I tried to rush forward, but Ryan held me back. He launched his boat timber at the merman who’d stabbed Connor. And then he changed his magic. With a burst of yellow light, Ryan swapped all the water in the cave for air.

  The merman fell to the cave floor, gasping. My knights and Posey made quick work of them as I rushed over to my best friend.

  I was so scared I could hardly see. Blackness danced on the edge of my vision. He had to be okay. He had to. I had never lived in a world without Connor. Even my early memories were full of him. He was a constant in my life. Even when I’d run, I’d talked to him in my head, in my letters. I needed Connor.

  I knelt and put my hand on his unruly mop of brown curls. He gave me a weak smile.

  He already had his hand to his own shoulder and was using pink magic to heal himself. He took a shaky breath and said, “Pull that sarding thing out, Bloss!”

  “But—”

  Ryan reached around me and yanked the trident out in a single pull.

  Connor screamed in pain and smashed his fist into the ground.

  I smacked Ryan’s leg.

  “Hey, he couldn’t heal himself with that thing in there,” Ryan protested.

  Connor simply put both hands to his chest and then let his head sink to the floor. His eyes rolled back in his head and his hands lit up with bright pink light. “Go on,” he murmured. “I’m gonna be here for a while.”

  I leaned over him, checking his pulse. “Are you sure you’re gonna be alright?”

  Connor nodded weakly. “Go. Get Avia.”

  Declan and Blue offered to stay with him and keep him safe.

  I pointed a warning finger at them. “You call us back here if anything starts to happen.”

  Blue’s thoughts accidentally projected. She looks like a hot tutor right now.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. Focus.

  Sorry. Random thought.

  Keep him safe.

  Yes ma’am.

  Ryan, Quinn, Posey, and I ran down the passage the mermen had emerged from, assuming they’d been guarding Avia. But the cavern twisted and turned and looped. There were so many offshoots it was a maze. We had to have Quinn speed ahead in order to figure out the right path. Even so, we took the wrong passage a few times and had to backtrack.

  The entire time, my heart pounded. My body was on high alert for more ashrays, more mer creatures. But Ryan’s blast had cleared the caves of water, and that might have made all the difference.

  When we finally came to the cave I’d seen in the scrying stone, a large cavern with a circular hole at the top which let in a ray of sunshine, we found my sister.

  My heart glowed the brightest white; it felt like it was lit directly by the moonlight outside. My face hurt instantly as a barrage of tears threatened to overtake me. I had to use every ounce of willpower to shove them down.

  Avia was on the floor, her legs splayed out, and cheek in the dirt. Her beta-fish-like wings spread on her back limply. The orange and purple coloring on them formed a limp little rainbow as the wings wilted on the floor. Avia’s scales glittered on the outside of her arms, but they were the only part of her that looked healthy at all. In fact, it looked like she was gasping for air.

  “Ryan, she needs water!”

  Shite! Shite!

  I rushed forward scolding myself: Why didn’t you think of that earlier, Bloss?

  Ryan quickly multiplied a little pool of water around Avia. I splashed through it and grabbed onto her hand. It was a minute before she opened her eyes. When she did, she blinked slowly, as if she wasn’t quite sure what she saw.

  My hands cupped her cheeks. “Avia?” I asked gently.

  “Bloss?” her eyes, now the most amazing lavender color, filled with tears. “Is it really you?”

  I pushed back the golden locks that were now her hair, the brunette color they’d been enchanted with long gone. I nodded and pulled her into a hug, so relieved I’d finally found her. So relieved and happy she was alive. I felt whole again for a moment.

  But my sister didn’t hug me back.

  Avia whispered, “Prove it.”

  My heart crashed like a star ploughing into the dirt, light extinguished.

  If she was saying something like that, I couldn’t begin to imagine what Mayi put her through.

  I glanced up at Ryan and Quinn, who waited at the entrance of the cave, guarding us and giving us space. Ryan gave me an encouraging nod.

  I racked my brain for a memory that only Avia would know.

  “When you were eight, I tried to convince you that you were actually from Lored. I tried to get you to leave with their royal party at the end of a visit. Remember?” my voice cracked.

  Avia gave a shaky laugh. “You let me get into their carriage! I think you might have let me go if Connor hadn’t stopped you.”

  I shrugged. “Not far. I would have said something by the time you’d gone over the drawbridge.”

  Avia smacked me, her eyes a mix of laughter and tears. “Another. Prove it again.”

  I took a moment to think and then said softly, “When you were twelve, you remember how you invited several of the courtiers’ daughters to your chambers for a round of games?”

  Avia nodded. “And one of those nasty girls dipped every one of my tiaras in ink. I ended up with a black line across my forehead the next day—the day we went outdoors for an archery tournament against the boys.”

  I cleared my throat. “The nasty girl might have been me.”

  Her jaw dropped. And tears did start then as my little sister hit me repeatedly. “You. Did. Not.”

  I shrugged apologetically. It was the best I could do. “I always told you that you’d be the better queen.”

  She gave a bitter laugh. “Well, now I believe it.”

  We both dissolved then, into a fierce hug—heavy with unspoken words, apologies and love. It felt like sunshine flooded my body. And for a moment, I was content. But we were still in danger. We’d found my sister, but we hadn’t rescued her.

  “We need to get out of here,” I told Avia, pulling back to look at her.

  Avia shook her head. “I can’t live out of the water right now. She transformed me into this monster!”

  I stared at my sister, who was staring at the shining scales on her arms with disgust. Horror crept into my heart. A dark shadow fell over me. I realized … Mayi hadn’t told Avia.

  Avia had no idea this was her true form. She had no idea Mayi was her mother.

  “Sit down,” I said, stomach churning.

  I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want this burden to fall on me. But I was her older sister. I was supposed to protect her and tell her the truth and keep her from all the bad things in the world. I failed. I constantly failed. But I loved her too much to let her keep believing a lie.

  I told my sister everything about Mayi, mother, and the heart. I didn’t leave anything out.

  When I was done, Avia looked as if she’d been hit by a runaway carriage. She stared at me for a long minute, not blinking, not saying a word.

  I waited. I tried to wait patiently, knowing that if my entire existence had been turned upside down, that I’d need time to adjust.

  Avia’s eyes were dull as she stared at me.

  I searched her expression for any sign of what she was thinking, feeling, but I couldn’t tell. Her face remained flat.

  Finally, her eyes traveled over me, as if she were coming out of a trance and seeing me for the first time. She leaned forward and gave me a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  She turned and her eyes went to Ryan and Quinn. She nodded and floated toward them. She tentatively bowed her head toward Posey, always polite, even when faced with a living corpse. “Thank you for helping my sister.”

  Posey nodded in response.

  Then Avia held her hands out toward my men, waiting for a hug. Ryan stepped forward first. He was careful not to touch her wings as he wrapped his arms gently around her waist and lifted her up.

  Quinn was less restrained. He hugged her hard, picking her up and swinging her around. When he set her down, she looked at the jagged dagger he’d won. “Is that one of theirs?” she asked.

  He nodded. He pulled out the blade and handed it toward her.

  Tell her how I got it, Dov—

  Quinn’s thought was cut off as Avia plunged the dagger right into her own chest.

  It felt like she’d stabbed me instead. Disbelief shackled me. Hopelessness grabbed her whip, ready to strip me of all the happiness that had just been within my grasp. Despair whispered in my ear.

  What the sard?! Why?

  I had to shove back all emotion as I ran forward, splashing through the pool as my sister collapsed in the water.

 

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