Always Remembered (33 page)

I kicked him before returning my attention to
Evan and Vesh. They watched me with a mixture of respect and awe.
“What? Never seen a girl kick butt before?” I asked them. I tried
to be all Laura Croft badass, but with one hanging arm, I wasn’t
sure I pulled it off. When they continued to stare, I asked,
“C’mon, how do we stop this thing?”

“It took Blue Men power to create it. I
imagine our power can destroy it, too,” Evan said. “I was able to
undo Ken’s work in small amounts before, but this is much bigger.
Vesh, can you lend me a hand?”

“Sure thing.”

They knelt at the edge of the fault. Evan
held his hands over the fissure. Vesh covered Evan’s hands with his
own. A stream of bright blue energy flowed from their joined hands
into the chasm. The lava began to cool and solidify. It was
working. We grinned at each other in relief. Unfortunately, it was
a moment too soon. The ground shuddered and groaned, then the
solidified lava cracked and the red liquid bubbled through,
fighting against the magic.

Evan and Vesh increased their power. The
blast of magic hit me in the face. The ground solidified again, and
then the process repeated itself. By the tired expressions on the
guys’ faces, the hot lava was winning.

“The magic is too strong. Ken must’ve
recruited help and been feeding the plume for days. I—” Evan
faltered, his voice cracking with emotion, his face beaded in
sweat. “I’m not sure we’re powerful enough to stop this.”

“Let me help.” I stepped forward. The air was
so thick with power that I felt like I was moving in slow motion.
Would this be it? Would my magic help destroy the plume or would
the magic of the Blue Men destroy me as it had my ancestor, Zane?
It was a risk I had to take. The lives of my family, my people,
were at stake. If my life could save theirs, it was worth it. We
couldn’t lose so many. We couldn’t lose our home.

I placed my hands on top of Vesh’s and drew
on my power. My bright orange energy mixed with theirs to create a
sickly purple brown. It didn’t look promising. At first, nothing
happened, and then it started to work. The lava cooled again, but
more than that, the ground began to seam together. My heart rate
quickened with excitement. We were doing it!

Then the magic backlashed, and I couldn’t
hold back a scream. My body was on fire, inside and out. Heat
prickled along my skin. Was my body tearing in half? It felt like
it.

Evan looked up and held my gaze, gritting his
teeth.
Hold on, Meara. Hold on if you can.

I clenched my jaw and focused beyond the
pain. I thought about Kieran, my dad, my aunts, my uncles, the
triplets, and yes, even Arren. Then I thought of Mom, Grandma Mary,
and Grandpa Jamie. They would be proud of me.

My power flared and for a moment, the pain
subsided. Our combined power burned brighter as we fought against
the mantle plume. The ground healed inch by aching inch until it
had almost reached the water’s edge. Then our power flickered and
started to fade. We were exhausted. We couldn’t fight much longer,
so we were going to lose.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a mass of
red curls. Then Ula’s hands covered my own. The energy changed,
blazing white.

“Ula, don’t!” I shouted, but it was too
late.

Her face crumbled in agony, but her eyes
pierced mine. “My choice, Meara. This is my home, too.”

The white energy poured into the fault. The
ground stitched itself together as we watched until only a slight
scar remained. We couldn’t see into the water, but I was confident
that the ocean surface was healing too. The combination of equal
parts Selkie and Blue Men seemed to be the secret ingredient. The
question was—how much longer would we have to keep at this? I
didn’t have much more in me, and Evan and Vesh had been at it
longer than the rest of us.

From below, Evan made a strangling sound. I
looked down and gasped in shock. If Vesh and Ula hadn’t been
sandwiching my hands between their own, I would’ve broken the
connection by accident. The color was draining from Evan’s body.
His hair was white, his eyes gray. His skin was slowing losing its
pigment. He was desaturating like a black-and-white photograph. Was
he dying?

Don’t let go, Meara. I’m okay.
I
sighed in relief as Evan’s voice slid through my mind.
Azuria is
here with me. She told me it’s okay.

Azuria? Why wasn’t she showing herself to me
too? Was she telling him the truth?

To my right, Ula made a soft noise. Her hands
slid off mine, and she collapsed on the ground. I was focusing so
much on Evan that I didn’t notice what was happening to Ula. Her
skin was now the same turquoise as Azuria, her long, curly hair a
deeper shade of that color. I glanced between Evan and Ula in
confusion. It was like the color that drained from him had siphoned
into her. How did that happen? What did it mean?

When Ula fell, she broke the connection. The
magic stopped flowing. The earth was still, but so was Ula. I
dropped beside her and placed my ear against her heart. With
relief, I heard it beating, steady and strong.

“Ula?” I tapped her cheek lightly. “Can you
hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered and opened, and I jumped
back. They were the same bright blue as Azuria. Her face was both
foreign and familiar. My vision split, and I saw a double
reflection—Azuria’s face superimposed over Ula’s. Then, Ula’s
normal coloring returned, bleeding through the blue. What happened
to her?

“Is she okay?” Vesh stood over us, supporting
Evan. His skin was still smooth and youthful, but his hair was pure
white. When he raised his head and looked at me, his eyes were
light gray, almost silver. If it didn’t look so alien, I would’ve
thought his new eye color was stunning. As it was, I was once again
reminded of a muted photograph.

Ula blinked a few times, her gaze moving from
Vesh to Evan and back again.

“Can you sit up?” I asked her.

“I’m fine.” She sat up and brushed off her
jeans, frowning at them as if she were confused by what she was
wearing. On the ground where she had been lying was a pile of
ash.

“Your backpack!” I pointed at the remains.
She frowned and twisted to look behind her. The back of her shirt
was stained dark from the ash. Her Selkie skin was gone, burnt to
nothing. What did that mean?

She glanced up at us, and her expression
cleared. She didn’t seem worried, if anything, she looked pleased.
“You’ve done so well. You all have.” She offered her hand to Vesh.
“Help me stand, please.”

The Ula I knew would never have the
confidence to ask her crush to help her up. She certainly would be
more worried about her skin. This was not the same girl; I knew it
in my heart. Vesh did as she asked, offering her his hand. She took
it, and with a fluid movement, she stood. Her image shivered and
wavered in the setting sun, flickering from Ula to Azuria and back
again.

Azuria?
I asked.

Yes. Yes.

In an echo, I heard both Azuria and Ula’s
voice. Now, I was scared. I took Ula’s shoulders and peered into
her eyes. The eyes that stared back at me were ageless and alien.
“What have you done with my aunt?” I whispered.

The figure that had been Ula whispered back
in an odd, monotone chant, “I have changed your aunt into something
new, something more. She is the new queen of the Blue Men. This
moment begins an age of peace.”

The dual image wavered again, and then split
in two. Azuria stood beside Ula in her spirit form, wearing a
benevolent expression. She kissed Ula’s cheek, although Ula
appeared not to notice, then she approached me.

You saved your people, you gave me the
opportunity to save my sons, and you freed me to be with Zane.
Thank you, Meara.
She kissed me, and it felt like the flutter
of icy butterfly wings on my cheek.
I will be forever in your
debt.

She stepped back and sighed, closing her
eyes. Her peaceful expression turned to joy.
I can see him. I
can see Zane. He is beckoning to me.
She opened her eyes and
grinned. The first real moment of happiness I had seen on her face
since the vision she showed me of her time with Zane.
Goodbye,
Meara. You will live long and well. Your offspring will be blessed.
These are my gifts to you.

I felt her blessing settle on me like a warm
embrace. Her image slowly faded until all that was left was the sea
beyond. Azuria was gone.

Evan couldn’t remember the last time he was this exhausted and
disoriented. It was worse than when he had mononucleosis freshman
year, worse than when Ken was conducting all those experiments on
him last summer, and even worse than the last few weeks he spent
working with Ken on the mantle plume. A slight buzzing filled his
skull, and everything was out of focus. He shook his head, trying
to clear it.

“What happened?” Evan asked. “I feel so
strange.”

Ula’s beaming face swam into view. She
wrapped her arms around him, much to his surprise. Since when did
they have any kind of relationship? He glanced at Meara in
confusion, but she was staring out at the ocean with an odd
expression on her face.

“You were magnificent, Evan,” Ula said. “You
have saved your people and the Selkies.” She kissed his cheek, but
her eyes were sad. “You gave the most precious of gifts, but it is
one that you cannot have back. Your essence is gone. You are no
longer one of the Blue Men.”

“What do you mean?” After all that happened
in the last few months, he was finally adjusting to his new life.
It didn’t mean he stopped praying to be human again. While his new
body offered some advantages, like breathing under water, it
frequently felt more like a curse than a gift. Did she say what he
thought she said?

“You are completely human.” Ula confirmed his
question as though she could read his mind. “With a few
alterations.”

She shaped her hands into a circle. A
reflective bubble formed between them, the surface as smooth as
glass. Evan stepped closer and stared at his reflection. His hair
was white as snow and his eyes were pale gray. Tentatively, he
touched his hair. The white made him look much older. “What
happened?” he asked.

“When your essence drained from your body,
your pigmentation went with it,” Ula explained. “Unfortunately, I
can’t change you back.”

“Why would you be able to?” Vesh asked, his
voice bewildered. “Can Selkies normally do that?”

“She’s not a Selkie anymore, Vesh.” Meara’s
voice trembled with emotion. She watched her aunt with a mixture of
pride and uncertainty. “Your mother changed Ula into something
else.”

Ula touched Evan’s hair and continued as if
Meara hadn’t spoken. “I understand humans have products that can
change your eye color and hair.”

Seriously? Was she telling him to buy
contacts and use hair dye? Evan fought the urge to laugh at the
absurdity of it. He wasn’t troubled by it. Like Ula said, hair and
eye color could be changed. The fact that he was human again was
the reward. If the cost was white hair, so be it as long as Deanna
was okay with the changes. Would she continue to love him?

“You are still you, Evan.” Ula smiled at him.
“She will love you the same.”

Evan nodded, too surprised for words. Ula
could read his mind! She never communicated with him before, and
she had the chance. Why now?

Vesh studied Ula carefully. She met his
curious gaze and asked, “Something on your mind, Vesh?”

“I know I only met you yesterday,” Vesh
began. It was the first time Evan had seen the other man appear
nervous or unsure. “But you seem… different… than before.”

Ula laughed, and the air filled with the
music of tinkling bells. “I am different. Evan’s essence has
changed me.”

Standing in the middle of the group, Ula
closed her eyes and raised her hand. The air shimmered around her
as her human façade melted away. Wearing a shimmering gown of
aquamarine with a silver crown on her head, Ula stood before them.
There was no mistaking that she was the new queen of the Blue Men
of the Minch. Power poured off her in waves. Despite his now-human
state, Evan could still feel it. Ula looked like herself—petite
with long, curly hair, and more—her skin and hair were the aqua
blue of the Blue Men. She also exuded more confidence and
sovereignty than she did as a Selkie.

“My queen.” Vesh bowed deeply to her. When he
straightened, his expression was pained. “May I speak freely?”

“Of course, Veshian,” she said. “You have
that right.”

He seemed to consider his words. “I know you
are my queen, I feel the rightness of it, but you do not look like
my mother. Your appearance favors the Selkie, Ula.”

The bells rang again, and her face lit with
joy.

“I
am
Ula. Azuria transferred her
power to me, which fundamentally changed me and made me your queen.
She also shared select memories with me. Things I will need to know
to rule the kingdom, but your mother has finally moved on. She is
at peace.” Ula smiled. “We will have time to discuss the
technicalities of the transformation later, although some of the
details are even unknown to me. Right now, our first order of
business is to stop this ridiculous war.”