Forsaken (29 page)

              The good news was that I had found Kira.  The bad news was that I had found Kira.   

             
“Like a moth to a flame,” Isadora literally cackled at me, once I’d woken up from the blow to my head. “You made it way too easy.  Really Anastasia, it’s pathetic.” She looked at me with mock sympathy.  My hands and feet were both bound in chains and I was leaning up against a tree at the edge of the beach.  The chains themselves pulsed with a silvery glow and I knew Isadora had enchanted them somehow.  Kira was a couple yards away in a similar position.  Her mouth was taped, but I could still see the panic in her green eyes even as the sun began to sink below the horizon.  Her face was beaten and bloody, just as I’d seen it in my vision.  I clenched my teeth. 

“
Why are you doing this? What do you want?” I growled at Isadora.

“Oh, if it were only tha
t easy,” she smiled down at me, shook her head and continued pacing between Kira and me. Her dark hair fell down her back in waves and her long black skirt dragged in the sand as she walked.  I got the feeling we were waiting for something or someone, I just didn’t know what or who that was.  After several minutes passed, Isadora strolled over and kneeled down in front of me.  Her bright green eyes burned into mine.

“This isn’t about what I want.  This is about what never should have been.  And you, de
ar Anastasia,” she squeezed my cheeks hard with her fingers, “never should have been born.” I tried to wrench myself free of her grip, but failed miserably as her fingernails dug in to my skin. “But don’t worry; we’ll be rectifying that situation very soon.”

“You don’t know anything about me!” I yelled at her through squished cheeks.  She turned my head side t
o side as if inspecting my face and laughed.  Her breath smelled like stale coffee.

“I know everything about you.  You are the one who’s clueless, child.” She pressed my head up against the tree. “What a waste.  So much power hidden in that scrawny little body
of yours and Mommy Dearest was never around to teach you how to use it.” She shook her head and tsked, “She thought she was being so careful, so smart by blending you in with the humans.  Make no mistake, she is the reason you’re about to die.  It’s her fault you are in this situation.”  I didn’t want to believe what she was saying, but unfortunately it was true.  If Thetis was my mother, she had given me away instead of preparing me.  She had hidden me instead of teaching me about this world.  How could she leave me so vulnerable?  She had taken the cowardly way out.  And now I was the one who would have to pay for her decisions.  In the hands of Isadora, I was at a distinct disadvantage.  I didn’t know if I was angrier at Isadora or Thetis.  And what about my father?  Where was he in all of this?  Was he still alive?

“What does any of this ha
ve to do with Kira?  Let her go!” I demanded through her hand.  My cheeks were beginning to ache and my teeth were digging into the sides of my mouth.  I tasted blood.

“Patience, patience. 
No need to fear for her life, she was just the bait.  And what an excellent bait she turned out to be.”  She turned and cast an appreciative glance at Kira, who was staring daggers at her.

“
Then let her go!” I yelled.  Isadora let go of my cheeks and wrapped her hand around my throat.  Her frigid green eyes were suddenly blazing with hysteria, and her nails were slicing into my skin. 

“Silence!” She squeezed harder and my breaths were
suddenly much harder to come by.  She quickly composed herself, and the emotion slid off her face.  She smiled so coldly at me; frost bite started forming on my heart. “She is still extremely useful to us.  You’ll see.”  She winked at me and I wanted nothing more than to tear out of my bindings and rip her head off.  She stood and began pacing again.

“You see, Kira has been more helpful
to us than Nicolet ever was.  Nicolet had so many good theories, so many good ideas.  She was closer to the truth than anyone else.  But unfortunately for her, she wore out her welcome and we had to get rid of her.  A pity, really.” I saw Kira’s eyes widen at what I already knew.  Nicolet had been murdered.  But I still didn’t know why.  Did Nicolet know about me somehow?

“
You killed her because of me.” I decided to throw out my own bait to see what information she was willing to divulge.  She shook her head at me and a grin slithered across her beautiful face.

“Oh you poor dear, don’t flatter yourself.  You’re just an orphan.  Your own
parents dismissed you; abandoned you like a fleeting memory.” She turned and pointed at me, “You. Are. Nothing.”  I could feel the tears burning my eyes at her harsh words.  Unfortunately I had no way of challenging them.  “Your mother on the other hand, she had everything. She was the most powerful Neried and she wasted it!  All of it!  Her status!  Her power!  She was a fool!”  Part of the puzzle suddenly clicked in my mind and a savage storm began boiling inside me.  I narrowed my eyes at her.

“You murdered
her.”  It was a statement, not a question; and by her expression I knew I’d hit the truth on the dot.  Behind Isadora I could see the tears running down Kira’s bruised cheeks.

Isadora’s
eyes turning frigid. “So much power and she wouldn’t use it against us.  Virtue is a weakness, Anastasia.  The merciless will always prevail.  Your father, however, was much easier to deal with.  So weak.  So pathetic.  You remind me of him.”

I stared back at her
as a burning anger centered in my soul, simmering and hardening into bitter resolve.  This woman had taken my parents from me.  She deprived me of the family I had so desperately needed.  Even if they had given me away, at least I could have found them…tried to reconnect with them. But now that was impossible.  I had finally found my true home, but there was nothing to come back to.  Most importantly, there was no one to come back to. 

“You will pay fo
r this,” the venom in my voice was palpable.  Isadora laughed.

“Enough!”  I could tell the booming
voice had caught her by surprise, too.  Panic swam in Isadora’s eyes and she swiveled around in one quick movement.  Priscilla glided out of the shadows of the forest, looking ravishing in a long red dress; her collection of sapphire jewelry shining brightly.  Her piercing blue eyes and grim face were locked on Isadora. “I don’t have time for this.  Get the ring.”

“Yes, Priscilla.”  Isadora
produced a velvet pouch from a small bag in the sand.  The pouch was peculiarly similar to the one my necklace had come in.  She opened it and handed the contents to Priscilla. 

“We need to make sure you’
re the true Anastasia before we go about killing you, now don’t we?” She sauntered toward me as her blonde hair blew in the ocean breeze, giving her an unearthly quality.  I didn’t understand how someone so beautiful could be so corrupt.  She wrapped her long skinny fingers around my left hand and slid the ring on to my finger.  It was a stone shaped like a tear drop in a black metal setting.  An aquamarine.  It reminded me of a drop of pristine water the color of my eyes.  It took my breath away and matched my necklace perfectly.  I examined Priscilla’s face unsure as to why she was giving this to me now.  She was staring intently at the ring as if waiting for something to happen.  Confused, I glanced back down too.  The large aquamarine stone sparkled brightly and the skin beneath warmed, slowly growing hotter.  The heat spread up my hand and wrapped around my wrist to my trace.  The heat turned to a burning fire and I watched in awe as the trace on my wrist began to expand.  From the three spirals, the seaweed began creeping and twisting outward creating a beautiful design in and of itself.  It wound back around my wrist and up toward the ring.  Finally it encircled my finger and stopped.  In shock, I looked up at Priscilla.  She was leering at me with wicked excitement. 

“Excellent.” She
slowly walked back to Isadora.  I stared at my newly elaborated trace with bewilderment.  I looked over at Kira who was now crying so hard, her whole body was shaking.  The fiery resolve cloaked my heart once more.

“Why are you doing this!?” I challenged Priscilla.  She twisted around, appalled at my outburst.
  I thought I heard her hiss.

“
You
are in our way. 
You
are the only thing that stands between the Sirens and complete and absolute power of all Tydes.  Keto is our true leader now and nothing,” her approaching steps were menacing as she stared daggers at me, “nothing is going to stand in her way.”

“You can
’t kill me.  Everyone will be looking for me.  They’ll figure out what you’ve done.” I informed her calmly.

“We’r
e already two steps ahead of you, sweet Anastasia.  We won’t be killing you tonight.  Your precious Kira will be doing the honors.” She smiled at Kira, who was now screaming and struggling against her bindings.  Isadora opened her mouth and began to sing.  Kira’s body went limp as she stared dumbfounded at Isadora.  I immediately blocked out the song, not allowing it to enter my conscious.  Priscilla smiled at me knowingly, and then slowly bent over Kira, undoing her bindings.  She ripped the tape off of her mouth, but Kira didn’t even flinch.  She continued to look fixedly at Isadora.  Priscilla handed her something I recognized from a previous vision.  A long silver dagger. 

“No!  You can’t do this!” I screamed at Priscilla.

“Of course I can,” she smiled at me innocently, then allowed the evil to drip down her face.  She radiated darkness.  And not the good, comforting kind like Finn.  This darkness was all-consuming, devouring anything in its path.  She stepped aside as Kira got to her feet, grasping the dagger tightly.  Kira’s gaze shifted to me and I noticed that her usually warm green eyes had turned into hollow black holes.  Panic started to build in my chest as I watched her slowly slink towards me.  I had to concentrate.  I had to think.  I was the direct descendent of Thetis!  I had her essence running through my veins.  I was destined to be stronger than any other Tyde or Neried.  But I didn’t know what to do.  My essence was useless if I couldn’t figure out how to use it.  I let my resolve turn back into unadulterated rage and handed it over willingly to my heart and soul.  I relaxed as I allowed it to engulf me; strengthen me.  I felt my necklace and ring warm as the inner glow spread outwards again, drenching every cell in my body with energy. Wind, sea, and shore. Wind, sea, and shore.

As she stepped
closer and closer, I concentrated on the sand around me.  I planted both of my feet firmly and drew a circle with my eyes.  My imaginary circle in the sand began to tremble and I waited for Kira to step inside.  She was still staring at me blankly, blade drawn and pointed directly at me.  The moment her back foot breached the circle, I raised my bound hands and a wall of sand shot up around us, blocking out the rest of the world as well as Isadora’s poisonous song.  Kira was instantly released from her trance and looked around confused.  She gawked at the knife she was holding, then at me, and threw it down in disgust.  She ran to me in a panic.

“Stasia!  Oh my god!  What was I about to do!?”  The
waterworks had started up again.

“It was Isadora,
not you.  Listen to me, Kira,” she tried her best to hold in her sobs and took a deep shaky breath, “I need you to untie my bindings.”  She nodded and frantically unfastened the bindings around my legs and hands. I could tell that this had been an incredibly traumatic experience for her already, and I wished there was a way I could protect her from the reality of our situation.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

I
let the sand cocoon collapse, and it came crashing back to the ground with the force of an avalanche.  I immediately accessed our situation.  Both Isadora and Priscilla appeared to be in shock, still trying to figure out what had just happened.  The instant they realized I was free from the bindings and Kira was out of her trance, they both began singing.  Unable to block them out, Kira once again fell under the guise of their songs.  Even for me, it took a great deal of effort to block them out.  It felt like several hundred pounds of pressure weighing down on my entire body, threatening to crush me.  In my fight to withstand the onslaught, I didn’t see Kira retrieve the dagger from the sand.

With Kira bearing down on me again
, I decided to try out my other supposed abilities; I began channeling every morsel of red hot rage that had been culminating inside of me. I took a deep breath and as I projected outward, a gust of wind exploded outward from around my body, pinning Isadora against a tall palm tree.  The force of her body hitting the dense bark of the tree broke her song and I quickly dodged Kira’s strike, easily knocking the knife out of her hand and into the sand.  Priscilla appeared in front of me, wrapped her hand around my neck and swiftly lifted me off the ground.  She tossed me like a rag doll against a jagged rock, slicing my arm open and knocking the wind out of me.  I watched helplessly as she charged Kira and threw her to the ground in a heap.  Then, she lunged for the knife lying in the sand and advanced on me. I tried to move, but the pain in my abdomen wouldn’t allow it.  She picked me up by my hair and flung me down in the sand.  While I struggled between the need to fight and the excruciating pain, she jumped on top of me, held me down by my throat and lifted the knife in the air with a sickening smile.  Squelching the pain, I channeled it into my arms instead and pushed her body off of me.  She flew off of me, crumpling on the sand beside me.  I scrambled back to my feet, ready to defend myself, but she was unconscious.