Chapter 23
Arkkaukari Islands
Sofya
A few months have now passed since the ball and the five of us me, Ash, Lucy, Maxon, and Nico constructed a completely brilliant plan to go defeat Alek and get Ash's brother back but they didn't know the second part of the plan, since Ash probably didn't tell them his secret. Also, Ash had been avoiding me all this time, which was seriously irritating.
I pushed my crazed feelings to the back of my mind, for now. I couldn't deal with all the chaos all at once, I needed to take one thing at a time. I still hadn't found a way back to The Land of Dreams and I didn't know what to do. I was worried about Zane and how he was all alone again in his gilded prison. He didn't deserve to have his only friend taken away. I would find a way to free him, I had to.
Today we were leaving. We were going to have to be sneaky, because we didn't tell anyone we were doing this, and Ivanna would be pissed if she found out. She would think we weren't ready, but we were. I most definitely was. I had trained extra hard and surpassed everyone in the magic department, well everyone but Ash he was undefeatable. He had never lost a single fight or lost anything for that matter. I had thought I was supposed to be the one with the most power, but I guess that prophecy had been wrong or someone just misinterpreted it. I wondered what else it could be wrong about. A lot of things, I dared to hope.
I climbed out of bed and put the book I was reading, The Selection by Keira Cass, maybe for the seventh or eighth time, down on the table next to the bed, then made my way to the bathroom. I combed my hair and tied it to a tight high ponytail. I chose to wear a black T-shirt with a purple dragon design, black leather leggings, my favorite black lace-up combat boots, and stuck my best daggers in them, they were pure silver with violet hilts. I grabbed the pack I was bringing with all my supplies and whistled for Ezmia to come and we went out the door.
I walked over to Ash's hut, that's where we were meeting, unfortunately. I knocked on the door, Lucy answered it, thank god, with a smile. I gave a weak smile back. I wasn't nervous or anything. Lies. I wanted to make the bastard pay, but I was also worried about what would happen after it was all over. I walked in everyone was sitting on the huge couch, Nico, Maxon, and Ash, who avoided my gaze. Asshat. I plopped down next to Lucy. Ezmia scampered away to join the rest of the neria, wherever they were.
"When are we leaving again?" Maxon asked quietly, breaking the silence. He was still a bit reserved but I could tell that Nico was getting him to open up a bit.
"In three hours," I replied. It was nine pm right now so everyone would be asleep by the time we left. We decided that we would travel mostly through the ocean, me and Ash would create a protective shield then we would head to Alek's main base, and home, which was located in the Underworld, in the city of Elysium. There was a certain point in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where there was a ley line Maxon knew of and he could teleport us through. The minutes ticked by very slowly as I kept checking the clock.
Finally, the clock reaches midnight. I stood up and threw my pack over my shoulder. I whistled for Ezmia and she came bounding into the room and hopped up onto my shoulder. I looked at the others who were getting their stuff together. Ash had changed into dark leathery pants, a black shirt with a jacket over made of an unfamiliar looking material, black combat boots, an onyx sword hung at his waist with two twin katanas on his back, and on his left wrist was his silver bracelet with a single red gem hanging off it.
He looked downright menacing and sexy. I scolded myself, no not sexy, definitely not sexy, only scary and menacing. Stella, his neria climbed onto his shoulder as he grabbed his pack. I gathered up my courage and walked over to him.
"You ready for this?" I asked. He looked at me and his expression softened a little. I scowled. I didn't need his pity.
"Yeah." He replied, speaking to me for the first time in weeks. I nodded then turned around and walked to the front door. It was time to focus. I swung it open and stepped out. It was a little chilly, the sky was midnight black with only the moon providing little light.
We walked past all the huts and over to the north side of the beach. I neared the edge where the water met the sand. Huge waves crashed on the rocks splaying water everywhere. I held my hands out conjuring up my magic as I had done thousands of times before, power flowed through my body, just as something else stirred in the background. I shivered and waded into the water putting up a protective shield before I could get wet. Ash did the same standing next to me and the shields conjoined.
"Come on," I said to the others who were standing a few feet away, waiting. They entered the dome and we started walking forwards till the ocean swallowed us. All around were various fishes and colorful corals. My mouth fell open in awe.
About two or three hours later we took a break. I was sitting on a rock next to Lucy, who was passed out. How do you pass out on a rock? Few have such a great talent, you clearly don't. I scoffed, talent shmalent. Ash and I were taking turns keeping a watch out and the shield up. It was Ash's turn right now but I couldn't sleep, too much was on my mind and my anxiety was eating my insides.
I stood up, my legs trembling after sitting in an uncomfortable position for so long, and went over to where Ash was sitting. "Hey," I said plopping down. He nodded acknowledging me, then went back to brooding. "Do you want to sleep, I could take over," I said.
"No, I don't think I would be able to sleep, you should sleep while you can." He replied, briefly glancing at me.
"I can't, I have too much on my mind," I mumbled, my hand uncontrollable shaking in my lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a blob rushing towards us. What the heck, I stood up and went to the edge of the dome. I put a smaller shield around me and stepped out. The blob rushed closer and stopped right in front of me. My mouth fell open. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and the same ridiculous smirk. "Enzo?" I said quietly.
The shield around me dissolved as I was distracted and I got soaked. I was at the bottom of the ocean and Enzo was standing in front of me. I looked down and panic spread through me. A fish had eaten the bottom half of Enzo, it was a sparkling silver and blue. Enzo embraced me tightly. I started kicking at screaming at the fish, choking on the seawater before realizing I could breathe it in. Then I realized Enzo was yelling out in pain.
"Sofya stop! That's me you're kicking." Huh? I froze, was Enzo a mermaid? No, he's a beluga whale, or maybe a starfish. A unicorn? No, no, I got it. He's a potato. The voice in the back of my mind piped up.
"What, How, this." I stammered. Enzo looked me in the eyes, but before he could say anything I felt strong arms wrap around me and dragged me back to the bigger dome. We threw and collapsed in a heap on the ground.
I looked up to see Ash kneeling over me with one hand on the ground and one under my head. My heart warmed, he was still protecting me even if he was trying to avoid me. My mouth curled into a small smile. He looked worried, like freaked out worried.
"Sofya are you ok!" He practically shouted, waking the gang up. Jeez, he acted like I was getting eaten by sharks. But I suppose that could have possibly happened. But as of now, sharks sounded like puppies compared to Alek.
"Yeah," I mumbled. Relief flashed through his eyes and he stood up and pulled me up. He grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes.
"Are you hurt?" He asked going back to panicked worry, I had never seen him panic, ever, I didn't like it. Not even when he was whipped and bleeding. I quickly shook my head. Everyone had gathered around me with worried expressions. I waved them off. I was fine.
Ash took me and sat down placing me on his lap, cradling me close, using magic to dry me off. "Don't ever run off like that again. You could've been killed." Ash yelled. I glared at him and anguish flashed through his eyes. I felt a little bad but I wasn't about to be scolded by Ash on what was right and wrong. I made my own decisions.
"I'm sorry. What happened?" He asked gently, still checking if I was injured. I stood up getting my senses back together and looked back out just as Enzo in human form stepped into the bubble. Ash jerked up and stood shoving me behind him and protectively standing in front of me. "You." He said growling, hands up prepared to strike. Enzo took a step back, a glint of fear flashing through his eyes. I rolled my eyes and stepped in front of Ash before he could do anything. I turned to face him.
"Ash, he's a friend, remember." Then I turned to Enzo. "You have a lot of explaining to do," I said with a jab of my finger.
After we all sat down like civilized people and talked. It turned out that Enzo was a coralia, which was a creature similar to mermaids and mermen. They had tails like mermaids but could go back and forth between that form and human form. I was pissed at Enzo for not telling me this, but it's not like I told him about me. That would be hypocritical, even though I actually had never shifted before or knew what I was, but he had already suspected what I was anyway so it didn't matter. Ash did not like Enzo, that was for sure.
Even after I settled the "not human" commotion and convinced him that Enzo was a friend and not a supernatural foe, Ash kept glaring at Enzo every few minutes. Not that he hadn't done that when we were at school. If I didn't know better I'd have thought he was jealous. Enzo explained he had finally found me after months of searching. Since I just disappeared into thin air.
Once Enzo was done explaining everything, he had to go back home so his mother wouldn't worry. Also apparently his mom was the queen of the coralia and he explained how his parents were a tad psychotic and controlling.
After he left everyone went back to sleep but me and Ash. I sat next to him, my head resting on his shoulder. I needed his comfort, even when he didn't really provide any, well none with words. Just being there helped my anxiety.
Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by exhaustion and ended up passing out. But before I did, I whispered into his ear before I forgot to tell him. "I have thought about what you said after the ball and at first I was a little scared and hurt, but I realized that even after all of that mess you are still trying to protect me, before and now. Please stop pushing me away, Ash. I beg of you, let me in. I know who you are, don't pretend to be the cold monster everyone else seems to think you are."