Chapter 40
Marco's Island
Ash
About three hours later I came up to a huge island blocking my path, it was too big to go around. I'd have to go through. I walked up to the surface and onto the pristine white sand. It was beautiful. Tropical vegetation, vibrant flowers, palm trees. Ezmia yipped at me and scampered ahead. She paused and looked back at me then spirited away.
"Ezmia!" I shouted, running after her. She disappeared into the canopy of trees darting between bushes. I grabbed one of my swords to get the leaves out of the way and ran after her. For twenty minutes or so she sprinted ahead. What was she doing? Finally, she slowed down to a stop.
I gasped. We stood before a huge mansion. It was mostly made out of glass with a few dark wooden walls. Why did she lead me here? I walked up to the door. It was slightly ajar. I pushed it open and I blinked in disbelief. Ezmia had been right. Sofya was here. Here with someone else. My nails bit into my skin, threatening to break through. She was kissing some random blond-haired guy. I didn't bother to stay for the show. I turned on my heel and sprinted away.
Once I got to the beach I fell onto the soft sand, fisting my hand in my hair. Why was I so angry? Shouldn't this be good? She was moving on and that's exactly what I wanted, right? But no matter what was right I couldn't stop the pang of jealousy and sorrow that rang through my soul.
I whistled for neria to come. They all came scampering out of the woods, even Ezmia who I thought would stay with Sofya. They all rubbed up against my leg as if they could sense my pain. I knew Stella could, but it was a nice gesture from the rest. I shifted and took off into the sky. I flew higher and higher till I was above the clouds, the neria trailing behind me. I let my hand dip into the cloud, feeling the cool wetness. It felt so good to finally stretch my wings after months of not being able to.
Flying just felt so free, it was one pleasure, not even Alek could take away from me. I needed to find the others. But I had no idea where I was. I had to be close though because I was pretty far out. There wasn't any land I knew of near and I assumed the coralia would want to be away from people. I didn't know what Sofya was doing, wasting her time on that island with that boy but I was going to get our friends and she could come if she wanted. I'd make sure she was safe, but she could take care of herself.
I dove back down through the clouds, nose-diving into the ocean. I quickly put shields over the neria and myself as we plunged into the great deep blue. I rocketed all the way to the bottom before shifting back and sitting on the seafloor. My muscles ached, and my chest was still sore from being stabbed.
I stretched out and the neria huddled on either side of me. In the distance I could see the outline of coralia's castle, it was huge. Made out of something white that I couldn't pinpoint at this distance but it was striking against the dark blue of the ocean. A soft glowing golden hue hung around it, almost like a beacon.