Excerpt
True
Love
When
I returned to the lair, the Sea Witch was much too distracted gutting her catch
of shark to care much about my adventures. She had no idea that I had found Ian
and kissed him. I wanted to keep it that way. For all she knew, I spent my day
with Napa, and I most certainly didn’t fight my sister to the almost death. I
made sure to heal my wounds before she saw me.
I
hid the pendent, dagger, and lock of hair in a satchel and hoped the Sea Witch
wouldn’t be able to sense the magic. I also had to hope that she wouldn’t sense
any special magic in me. It was odd that I wasn’t fatigued from my battle.
Instead, I felt energized. My magic was leaking out of my body. I tried to keep
my movements limited and to remain completely calm.
Unfortunately,
somewhere between the chewing of our dinner, the Sea Witch cocked her brow at
me in suspicion. “Did Napa bring you a new gift?”
“Why
do you ask?”
“I sense new magic.”
I panicked on the inside, but I would not
allow that panic to the surface of my thoughts. Of course, she would have been able to
sense the pendent. I reached into my satchel and handed it to her without any
fuss, and I hoped she didn’t ask any questions about the other item of interest.
“Napa didn’t know any better.”
“Interesting.”
It only took a moment for the Sea Witch to analyze what it could do. I don’t
know why I was so surprised when she disappeared. “This would be more useful on
the surface world.” She tossed it back to me and became visible once more.
“Quite interesting.”
“Very.”
I grinned hard and continued feasting, but I had the sense that she knew I was
hiding many details from her. It’s not that I didn’t trust her. I just wanted
to make sure she would take the news well, so I didn’t have to worry about her
killing everyone outside of our immediate sphere.
It
wasn’t easy. I wanted to tell her about Ian’s infatuation with me. It was
flattering after my father threw me away. I wanted to tell my mother how his
smile enchanted me, and now, I was under his spell. I tried to get him out of
my head, so the Sea Witch wouldn’t find out, but while I brushed my hair and
stared into the broken mirror Napa gave me, I began to imagine that I was
staring at myself from his point of view, and I knew I was truly as beautiful
as he made me feel. The thought of never seeing him again was crushing my heart
and suffocating my insides. There had to be a way to see him again beyond
tricks, smokes, and mirrors.
“Luna,
what’s wrong?”
I
saw Ian’s face too clearly in my mind. She must have known that I was thinking
about him, but that wasn’t so strange. I could still hide the truth for a
little while. “Why would something be wrong?”
She
floated in front of me with a furrowed and curious brow. “Because you never
sing.”
I
hadn’t even noticed. I was singing the same song I sang to Ian when I first
said goodbye. If he had his hooks in me that deeply, was there truly any
escaping him? “You’ll think I’m being a fool.”
The
Sea Witch surprised me and held me by my shoulders from behind. “Out of the two
of us, I’m the one that made a blood oath with your father. You could be
foolish for a thousand lifetimes and not end up as foolish as I once was.”
Perhaps
I was being unfair to her. If she were trying to be a real mother, she deserved
a chance. As my elder, she might have sound advice to put my mind at ease.
“Napa told me that humans believe in true love. I know it sounds childish, but
I think I’m experiencing it. I’ve found true love.”
I
was so embarrassed that I kept my eyes focused on the teeth of the comb in my
hands. I was responsible for ruining Ian’s childhood, and I delayed his life
afterward. I didn’t deserve to feel such a consuming joy, especially if Ian
were the root cause.
“I’ve
heard of true love.” The Sea Witch nicked my chin up with her finger to force
her eyes into mine. “The humans teach it like a fairytale, but true love is not
a myth; it’s mystic. It’s a force in the universe that draws two people
together, resulting in incredible power, for either good or chaos.”
“Chaos?”
I laughed. Frankly, it was difficult to believe that there was an actual
explanation to how I felt. Napa referred to love as “irrational logic”. I
wasn’t sure if having a legitimate reason was worse or better. “How can what I
feel ever lead to destruction?”
“I’m
not saying that it will, but true love is a dangerous magic.” The Sea Witch got
uncomfortably close to my face. I tried to back away, but she swam around to
observe me fully. Nothing about me had changed physically, but I’m sure she
wasn’t seeing with her natural eye. “I can sense it on you. Your magic is
stronger.”
I
thought of how quickly I defeated my sister, but then, I quickly pushed that
out of my mind. “How is that possible? Is it just because I have feelings for
Ian?”
“No.
That would be ridiculous, but it is possible that you’re drawn to each other
for a reason.” She, once again, became agonizingly uncomfortable. I didn’t back
away or cower from her glaring and curious eyes. I tried to be firm while I
blanketed my mind with thoughts of training battles, meditation, and the past
few lonely years of my life. I would not think of Ian, and I certainly wouldn’t
think of the kisses we shared!
Except,
I completely did.
I
don’t know if my sudden memory of Ian’s kiss was vivid enough to burrow into
her brain, but she certainly seemed more suspicious after I indulged in it.
“You must have seen him again!” I covered my face. I would have hidden in my
clam, but she was already inside of it with me. She grew impatient and pulled my hands away from my
flustered face. “I did. Napa found Ian, and I went to see him. He gave me the
dagger I had been searching for, and we spoke.”
“That’s
not the only thing you did.”
I
straightened out my body and tried to look a little taller and mature than I
had been acting a moment ago. “We did share a kiss, yes.”
Instead
of lecturing me, she twirled around the cavern, shrieking in delight. I hadn’t
seen her genuinely happy or excited over anything, so I was a little terrified.
“Did he have magic?”
“He
didn’t seem to have knowledge of having magic.”
“Perhaps he’s an amplifier,”
she suggested with much intrigue.
“What do you mean?”
“They are extremely rare,
but an amplifier can increase your magic, even without being able to use it.” She swam to me and
clasped onto both my hands and smiled. “If you were to mate, you could create
new magic for your offspring and leave your own power intact. If that’s true,
you should definitely mate him.”
“Uh...”
My mouth opened in shock. The desire to feel and be more of an adult was ripped
away from me. “I’m not ready for this conversation.”
“Why?
Do you love him?”
“It’s preposterous that I love him!”
“But you do!” She
chuckled. “I see it in your eyes. I feel it through your magic. He’s made you more powerful. If Fate is pulling
you to love this man, don’t push back. There’s no sense in fighting what will
be.”
Was
it truly possible that Ian made me feel stronger? Was he the reason why I could
use my magic to fight my sister so effortlessly? Even if it were true, what did
it matter? I only wanted to control my magic so it wouldn’t accidentally go
dark. I had no desire to be the greatest sorcerous in the world.
It
was silly to think that I could take human form and live with Ian. I hardly
knew him. But, for some reason, the thought of leaving to discover the world
with him began to fill my chest and gut with a ticklish light that turned into
a glorious rumbling. I clutched onto my chest as I felt it vibrating. My entire
body was radiating heat. I tried to convince myself that I was merely
embarrassed, but my hands were tingling.
“The
thought of escaping with that human is causing your magic to burst from you,”
the Sea Witch said. “You can’t deny what you want or may very well need.”
