“No, wait. She said I had to do the next part alone.”
“We talked about this,” Kai said.
“I know. I promise. I’m not trying to be the hero. She said I have to release the book, and I have to do it alone. Just wait here. I’m sure it will take me like five minutes.”
“If I get to six, I’m coming after you, Princess,” Fen warned.
“Calm your rage. I’ll be right back.”
I reached into the bottom of my bag and pulled out the alluring book I’d carried. Something about this place must have spoken to it because I could hear the voices screaming at me not to go farther toward the water.
As I did, I realized Aibell was right and it was not just water. It truly was a deep basin full of haunted souls. Or at least that was what I had to assume they were, based on the troubled faces floating by. I knelt, and just before I stuck the book into the water, a high-pitched scream came from within its pages. Then a deep, dark voice laughed. I dropped the book without a splash and watched as the souls swarmed it, devouring it.
Still kneeling, I looked back over my shoulder. The team stood watching me carefully, but no one came forward. They had respected the boundary, even though they hadn’t liked it. I could see the anguish on Fen’s face. I carefully slipped a blade across my palm, dripping my blood into the water.
The souls within scurried away as if I’d used a weapon to threaten them. I realized I’d heard of this water before. I hadn’t thought it was real. The Water Beyond The Mists was a poison from my bedtime stories. So deadly a fae would die nearly on contact. No wonder Aibell had told me not to touch it. I shuddered as I remembered the rumors that said this was the water that took Fen’s mother from him. I took a small step backward and watched as a familiar face crested the water.
“I know you.”
“Shy little Ara has come a long way, I see.”
“Why are you all the way up here, Mikal?” I asked, staring at the water nixie from the Neverwood lake in the forest behind my parent’s cottage.
“Why are you?” He leaped out of the water, a trail of droplets following him. “You’ve brought friends this time. Didn’t your mother tell you to trust no one?”
“He’s my Guardian, they are my friends,” I said through gritted teeth. “Tell me why you are here.”
“I have been called by Nealla to guide the way for you, little Ara.”
Again, he dashed into the sky, changing from a mermaid to something with tentacles before landing without a splash. “Only you and your Guardian may pass, so please call him forward.”
I turned and motioned to Fen. He prowled forward ready to attack Mikal. The moment he stepped away, The Mists returned, engulfing the others.
“Don’t touch the water,” I warned Fen. I turned a lethal gaze onto Mikal. “What happened to them?”
“They will be fine. Waiting there just as you left them when you return. Hello, Fenlas.” Mikal looked at him oddly. He twisted his head back and forth and tsk’d. He waved his hand, and a small boat appeared before him. “You must take this boat across the Soul Repository. Nealla waits for you on the other side. However, if any secrets lie between you, now is the time to set them free, or the boat I have crafted will disintegrate. You must truly be one to cross.”
He jumped into the air once more and slipped into the water, not splashing a single drop of the deadly poison.
“Ready?” I asked, lifting my foot over the edge of the small boat.
“Wait,” Fen said, stopping me. “We can’t go yet.”
I turned and saw the panic on his face. Something twisted in my gut. Something I’d pushed aside, distracted by his smile and those damned eyes. Nausea rose as I took in his face, pale with fear. I forced the painful words out. “So, you are hiding something?”
“I didn’t want to scare you away.” He reached for me.
“Tell me,” I said, feeling the panic set in. “What are you hiding?”
“Honestly, it’s not anything you shouldn’t have guessed already.”
“Tell me right now, Prince.”
He dropped his broad shoulders and looked to the ground. His mistake was written across his face. “When our fates were read, when you were a baby, the prophetess said something else that I haven’t told you. I didn’t want it to matter. I wanted it to happen naturally, like you did.”
“Spit it out,” I snapped, moving away from him.
“It’s just...” He scratched the back of his head and looked away. “We’re mates, Ara. That’s why I could feel your magic before, that’s why you could find me in The Mists. It’s the reason I scented you in the tavern in Hrundel.”
