My Merlin Awakening (27 page)

I don’t know what I was looking for, but I didn’t find it. I saw nothing but black rock. Vane pointed me to a particular spot. Through a mesh of seaweed, he pointed to a barely discernable break in the stone. I peered around the curtain of seaweed. In a valley, amid a mountain of rock, stood a pair of giant pillars.

Gia, Blake, and Grey caught up to us first. Matt came up behind them. I moved to allow them a closer look. The rest of the group stopped swimming also. Matt peered through the curtain.

“The pillars of Hercules,”
he thought to me.

Two long, seaweed-covered columns supported a hulking expanse of rock that loomed above them.

“But how can two pillars hold up an entire city? This can’t be Aegae
,” I told Matt.

“Let’s find out.”
Matt signaled us to go through the curtain.

We went, one-by-one, through the fissure. Vane went first. I, after him, then, Matt. As soon as I crossed to the other side, I stopped. The very substance of the water seemed to change. From its hiding place, Excalibur screamed in warning.

“Matt?”
I cried.
“Do you feel this?”

The water became darker. Its slimly film covered my skin. A sensation infiltrated my newly formed gills and seeped through with something more than merely menace.

The place reeked of evil.

***

One-by-one, everyone came through the curtain. The gargoyles, except for Grey, all changed as soon as they hit the dark water. They all halted. Blake took Gia’s hand. The gargoyles closed around Grey, forming a band of protection. The wizards did the same around me. We all felt the danger.

Vane kept swimming. He turned and frowned when he saw us not moving. He gestured for us to advance, then returned to swimming toward the island. Everyone looked at Matt.

“I have to go. Too much depends on it,”
Matt told me grimly.
“You should go back. Take the others.”

He swam after Vane.

I eyed the curtain. The urge to flee ran through me so strongly, for a brief moment I almost obeyed. I touched Excalibur and I knew I couldn’t leave Vane and Matt. I gestured to Grey and Colin to go back through the curtain. Grey gestured back “And you?”

I shook my head.

He shook his.

I looked at Blake and Gia next.

Blake gestured, “We stick together.”

With a nod, I started to swim after Matt and Vane. The others followed right behind.

It didn’t take long to reach the pillars. Up close, I saw they were smooth and definitely not part of a natural rock formation. The construction looked very similar to the pillars at the Parthenon, except that these pillars had been made for giants.

Vane swam up to the two pillars and went between them. He signaled for us to go up. We swam straight up to the rock the pillars supported. At the top, we found a framed hexagonal opening. An entrance.

He went through without hesitation. Matt went next. I followed. The others came in behind me. It was a short swim before we surfaced. We emerged and found ourselves in a darkened cave.

“Look behind you,” Vane said.

I turned. The cave had one opening—a set of crimson gates with a gold carving of a bull.

“This is what we saw,” Matt said.

Vane swam up to the edge of the water and pulled himself out.

“Stay in the water,” Matt commanded and swam to the ledge.

I followed him without a second thought. A mass of jagged rocks made up the ledge. I hissed when I slipped and hit my chin on a sharp point.

“Don’t you ever listen?” Matt said in exasperation. He leaned down and helped me out.

Blake, Gia, Grey, and the others reached the ledge and started getting out. Ahead of us, Vane lit a fireball.

I put a hand to my mouth at what I saw. Nausea welled up inside my stomach. The bit of light, a lone spark in the abyss of the cave, exposed only horror. A mass of casually tossed human bones littered the ground. Matt knelt on the floor and picked up a long femur. Ridges and sharp scrapings marred the bone.

“These aren’t battle wounds,” he said.

Vane knelt down and picked up another one. “These people were eaten.”

“Gross,” Gia muttered. She and the others remained by the ledge. I wondered if they wanted to jump back in, like I did.

I said, “The bones lead back to the door.”

Matt walked to the door and touched its frame. “This stone isn’t the same as the pillars. It’s different. But I feel as if I’ve seen it before.”

“It gets better.” Vane floated the fireball in the air. Dead crying faces, skulls of the long departed, had been somehow glued onto a triangular slab of stone that made up the top of the doorframe.

“I’ve seen this,” Grey, Blake, and Gia said simultaneously, before coming up beside me.

“From limbo,” Grey said.

“A trilithon,” Blake said. “Two stones on the sides and one across the top.”

“A trilithon doesn’t have a triangle on top,” Gia pointed out. “Or skulls.”

“Triton’s been modifying the original design.” Vane went to stand in front of the door. He stared at the bull.

“They are right,” Matt said as he walked into the shadows at the side of the door and disappeared.

“Matt!” I ran after him.

“I’m fine,” Matt said. He lit another fireball. It illuminated the space behind the door.

There was nothing.

Nothing stood behind the door. Matt walked around it and came out from the other side. It was empty.

“What?” Blake said.

“Why is the door here if it doesn’t lead anywhere?” Grey said.

“Because we haven’t opened it yet,” Vane said. “I think this bull may be a lock.”

“The Minotaur also had a bull’s face,” I hissed at him. “Didn’t the Minotaur eat people?”

“You
are
a tasty morsel,” Vane said.

“Helpful, Vivane,” I retorted.

“He is right though,” Matt said. “If the bull is the lock, we surely have the key.” He drew out the compacted trident and lengthened it. I pulled out Excalibur.

Matt nodded. “Everyone else, get your sword. I may as well do this at once.”

Blake, Gia, Grey, the gargoyles and the wizards all pulled out knives. Matt waved his hand. The knives instantly became swords.

“You don’t need those. There’s only one key. Most likely the same key that opened the trident will open this.” Vane crooked a finger at me and motioned for me to come.

“Most likely?” I crossed my arms and stood where I was.

“I could make you,” Vane said.

“Try it,” I challenged.

“If you insist,” he said and took a step toward me.

Matt quickly crossed the door and slapped a hand on Vane’s chest to stop him. “Try to practice some self-control,” he muttered to Vane. Matt looked at me. “He’s right.”

Making a face, I walked to him. I took Excalibur, peeled back the wetsuit a bit on my arm, and sliced myself. I hissed when Excalibur greedily cut into my skin more than I’d intended.

Vane raised a brow. “I would have done it better.”

I slammed the wound against the bull’s head.

The bull’s head twisted. Light formed around the door. I heard the faint aria of music.

Vane yanked me back.

Then, everything seemed to happen at once. The fireballs winked out. A full-bodied wail exploded into the cavern, accompanied with white light that shone from beyond the door. It knocked me off my feet. I fell to the floor and landed on my side, facing Vane, and on his other side, I saw Matt. Vane’s hand still held mine. He and Matt had managed to fare a bit better than I. They had been pushed only to their knees, only to be frozen in place. I couldn’t move either.

Through a haze, I watched men stream out of the gate with gold shields. They wore what appeared to be Ancient Greek uniforms—armor-breasted tops with red leather skirt-bottoms and armored leg plates. Yet, the armor looked unlike anything I’d ever seen. It glowed an odd shade of platinum and gold, giving them a futuristic look instead of a medieval one. Their skin was tinged with a hint of green.

Long, red cloaks hung on their backs. On their heads sat golden helmets that extended to their cheeks. The top sported a ridge from which a short line of thick, red hair fanned out. Not only were their uniforms the same, but also their bodies. Every single one had the physique of a body builder.

A bulky barbarian of a man with arresting green eyes marched up to Matt and Vane. He kept his shield in front of him. “Why are these two not asleep?”

To my surprise, I could understand them perfectly. A faint heat from Vane’s hand on mine flared briefly.

An older soldier came up beside the barbarian. He wore a gold chain with a small emerald. “They have gills. Yet, can you feel them? They have much power.” He touched Matt’s head. The emerald on his chain glowed. “This one can barely contain it.”

“Look at their blue skin. Wizards,” the barbarian spat.

Matt let out a breath.

“He’s breaking through the paralyzing spell. We should behead him now.” The barbarian raised his sword to strike.

No!
My mind screamed. I tried to move, but couldn’t. I tried to speak, but couldn’t. I could only watch. I could only breathe.

The barbarian swung the sword.

CHAPTER 13 - MERMAIDS

CHAPTER 13
MERMAIDS

The older soldier turned to Vane and hissed. “Wait!”

The barbarian halted the sword mid-swing.

I exhaled.

“Do you see this?” The older man leaned down and picked up the trident. “This one is a son of Poseidon.”

“Fine,” the barbarian said unhappily. He slammed the side of the sword into Matt’s head. Matt fell to the floor. “That should keep him in check.”

“Leonidas,” another soldier called from somewhere behind me. “I count thirteen here. Six are gargoyles.”

The barbarian, Leonidas, grinned, showing yellow-stained teeth. He lowered his sword. “Really? This could be fun.”

A foot shoved me and I fell over on my back. Another soldier, an angular, yet muscled teenager with even yellower teeth, peered down at me. He sniffed the air and then leaned down to sniff me. I noticed gill slits on both sides of his neck. The pale green of his skin deepened to hunter green around the gills. A mermaid. Even his eyes were slightly green.

“Her blood. Smells tasty,” he said. “This one is mine.”

He grabbed my hand and dug his fingers into my cut. I would have screamed if I could. He hauled me up, presumably to put me over his shoulder. But I was heavier than he realized and he only managed to get me up halfway. My head flopped forward and my hair curtained my face.

“Wait. Look at her ears.” Leonidas marched up. “You cannot claim her.”

“No one will claim her,” the older soldier said. “They must all go to the King.”

The teenager tightened his hold on me. Excalibur slipped from my other hand and fell unerringly into the boy’s foot. The boy screamed and dropped me. I hit the ground. One side of my face slammed against a rock. Leonidas laughed and lifted his sword. He stabbed the boy in the heart. The boy fell backwards.

“Leonidas.” The older soldier frowned.

“He showed disrespect.” Leonidas slid the sword out of the boy. The blade ran red with blood. “How did this one get invited into the service?”

“He managed to make it through training,” mumbled the older soldier. “He was a skilled thief. Fed himself well.”

“That much I can see.” Leonidas grabbed Excalibur and hooked the sword in his belt. He leaned down, hauled me up with one hand, and put me over his shoulder. I noticed, oddly enough, that his ears were pointed also. He crossed to the red door. We stepped into a blue-grey world of water.

My gills started breathing for me. The green-skinned barbarian carried me tightly. We swam up and up and up. Above us, a beacon of white light called. It was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes.