Page 39 of Unseen Lord

Lightning sizzles around her and her scream turns to a laugh as she looks past me, towards Arias and Elias.

She raises her arms and pulls all the lightning into her, then directs that power against the rocks that we are on, tearing them apart.

Arias and Elias slip into the water, rocks and debris pulling them into the chaotic waves. Theo is still unconscious on shore and Duke can't do much from where he is.

"Choose, Watcher. Me or them." She pulls her sword out of me and absorbs her power into her once again, allowing it to electrify her.

"I can see the weave of the worlds now," she says, apropos of nothing. Her eyes are unfocused and her voice distant. "I can do things I never imagined. Everything will be different now." With a wave of her hand, lightning burns out of her and tears a whole into the night sky, revealing a portal to another world. She looks at me again, her eyes refocusing. "They're dying. Better save them, little Watcher." Then she jumps into the portal and disappears into another world.

I have a split second to make a decision. To try to follow her or save Arias and Elias.

I turn towards shore and dive into the water, avoiding getting knocked out by a rock as best I can. My shoulder throbs and leaks blood into the ocean, and I say a quick prayer that there are no sharks or people eating critters around here. Then I dive again, searching for the Vane Spero brothers.

It's dark. The storm has gotten worse, if you can imagine, which I'm pretty sure you can't, since I couldn't have before this mess. And I cannot see for shit.

But they are dying. I have to find them.

"Elias! Arias!" I scream with a hoarse voice over the tempest. With all the strength I can, I swim, dive, search, and swim some more. I won't give up. I can't. But my strength is fading. My eyes burn with tears of fear and rage. I don't know how to keep going.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see something in the water. A shimmering gold tail. A mermaid. The one we saw sunbathing the other day.

She dives deep and pulls someone out of the water. Arias it looks like. It's his armor. Leaving him ashore, she dives again, and I dive with her. I see Elias before she does and grab his arm, pulling against armor and pain and the currents of the water. She joins me, reaching for both of us, and helping us gain traction against the waves. When we reach shore, she hovers in the water, her golden eyes bright, and falling on Arias. "I cannot help more," she says.

"You've helped so much," I say, overcome with emotion. "Thank you. You've saved us all."

She nods, casts one more glance at Arias, and then disappears into the water.

I crawl over to Elias and tip him to the side, using mouth to mouth to clear his lungs. Then I start CPR, as I beg and pray for him to be okay. "Wake up, damnit. I'm not done with you yet."

After a few minutes, he sputters and coughs out a sea of ocean water and I cry hug him. "I thought I'd lost you. Again!"

"Like I said, I'm hard to kill," he chokes, his voice raw.

"Check on your brother, I have to see about Theo."

Elias doesn't look super excited to do mouth to mouth with his twin, but I don't give a shit. We don't have time to be picky here. I stand on wobbly feet and get to my best fur buddy as fast as I can. Duke has been tending to him, but he looks so lifeless, it crushes me.

"Hey Theo. Hey buddy. Wake up. I need you." I pet his head and hug him, rubbing his fur to warm him up. He rumbles, low at first, then louder, and his form shifts into his smaller kitten version. But he opens his eyes, curling into my hands and meows.

My heart nearly bursts with relief. "You okay, little dude?"

He meows again, and I create a makeshift wrap for him to keep him close to my skin, though keeping him dry right now is impossible. We're all so wet I don't even remember what it feels like to be dry.

Elias and Arias walk up, both looking worse for wear. Duke whines and shoves his big head into Elias's hand. He's rewarded with a scratch behind the ears. The giant wolf regards Arias with intrigue and suspicion, sniffing him cautiously.

"We need to get under cover," Arias says. "This storm will only worsen."

He begins to hike inland, and we follow, because where else are we going to go, right?

"I know where Kayla and Tavian would have taken the people. We had a back up plan in place in case the Spirit ever became unstable." He drops his head, rain pouring over it. "I never thought we'd have to use it."

Elias reaches for my hand and I squeeze his. There's so much to talk about. So much to figure out. But 1: it's way too hard to communicate out here and 2: it's not really the time.

So we share a look and keep moving, as Arias leads us to a section of the island I haven't been yet. It's deeper into the jungle, away from the shore and the village. I frown and tug on his sleeve. "What about Ari?"

Elias jerks his head at that. "My mother's here?"

Oops. "Yeah, sorry, I was going to tell you, but… well… " I shrug as if to say, when? When could we have had this conversation?