Page 97 of Raven's Dawn

It took a moment of staring, a moment of blinking hard at it, to understand what I was looking at. Even then, I couldn’t fully comprehend it.

A bald, bluish head. Two eyes that took up most of its face, black in color and almond-shaped, with a thin circle of violet in the middle. Two holes between them, like a person without a nose. Thick lips that stretched all the way to its ears, which were really just open holes in the head. Gills fluttered on its cheeks. Rainbow, iridescent scales shimmered just below them, ascending down its neck.

“Are all of you ready, mil?” Rania asked.

Webbed fingers stretched out for her.

Rania cupped the creature’s hand in hers.

With a smile, Rania nodded slowly. “You will be repaid for this.”

Rania rummaged on the floorboard for the bag of crystals. She passed the ruby to the creature. The creature dropped beneath the water, and another one, incredibly similar in appearance, peeked their head up behind her. Again, Rania passed them a crystal.

“They’re beautiful,” I murmured.

“They are,” Luci said. “Has Graham told you about them?”

I shook my head, watching the next one poke its head out of the water, extend a hand with webbed fingers, accept the crystal, then dip back into the ocean.

“Merrows,” Luci said. “What you would call a mermaid.”

34

WARREN

Rain was excited when she got back. I wasn’t sure what about. I would’ve asked her, if not for being hushed several times, and told to do as I was told.

That was fair, but I was curious. I didn’t have time to ask her about it, though, since Rania immediately summoned a second boat. This one was bigger, and even had its own crew. And it appeared—literally—out of nowhere.

As we boarded, I took my time admiring it. Not to say that I held anyone up, but, in many ways, I was a typical man. If I saw a beautiful car or boat, I had to stop and appreciate it.

I owned my own one on Earth. Not a massive yacht, but a small one with a decent cabin below that I’d taken Ezra and Rain on a few times.

This one was far more immaculate than mine, but in vastly different ways.

Rather than a little sail, this one towered two stories off the ground. Instead of plastic and wood, or whatever the hell else my boat was made of, this one was Elvan ore from the pole on its sail all the way to the base in the water.

There were little details everywhere that reminded me it was made by the Fae, aside from the Elvan ore. These people seemed to incorporate art into everything they did, and I adored that about them. Even the grooves underfoot to give traction to the damp surface were beautiful. Instead of simple lines, they were shaped as vines and flowers. Every wall was covered with them, some carved into the surface while others jutted out of it. Even the railing looked like a vine, and the wheel looked like a wreath.

It was roughly thirty-foot by sixty-foot deck adorned with all the usuals. Anchor, sail, railing, and a mop to sweep all the water that splashed overboard out. There had to have been a small cabin below, but we were to stay on the deck. We were only using the boat to get close enough to the crystals so that we could cast the spell.

We stayed silent as we approached. Truthfully, I couldn’t believe that it was that simple. No one had seen or heard us coming. We were taking them completely off-guard. All because of a few spells.

It got me thinking about what Caeda had said. That I had Elvan blood in me. I needed to ask the others about that. If I had Elvan blood, did that mean I could master spells? Could I, one day, after enough training, cast spells like Caeda and Rania had today? Could I be as strong as they were? Would I be able to help people?

Did I have any power that wasn’t centered around death?

Because I wanted to do what they could do. I wasn’t as quick a study as Ezra, and it didn’t come so naturally to me like it did for Rain, but I wanted that. I wanted power that wasn’t inherently corrupt.

I was prepared for what we were about to do, but that didn’t make it any easier. It was for the best. Although the ability may have been inherently bad, that didn’t mean that I was. But I wanted to be able to help people without killing others in the process.

Gradually, we drew closer to the island in the distance.

Caeda whispered something to the captain. He nodded and gave a hand signal to another worker. The crew member hurried to the anchor and began winding the crank. It was louder than any of our breaths, but I could still hear my heart thump over it.

“Join hands,” Rania whispered.

Rain took my left, Ezra took my right, and we all formed our line. Laila, Jeremy, Connor, and Naomi took the center. Caeda and Rania took the edges. The rest of us were sprinkled somewhere throughout the line.