Chapter Thirteen
‘Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.’
C. Joybell C.
I buried my dress under a rock beside the dock where Macy’s rested before I dove deep into the ocean.
‘Amphitrite!’ I yelled, my voice weird in the water. It sounded like a weird combination of high pitches and gurgles, like a whale call. I repeated her name over and over, sending it as far into the depths of the water as possible. It was almost impenetrable - the dark - and the only luminescence at the sea floor came from my fins as they pulsed with radiance. My hair drifted around me, turning a paler shade of blonde the deeper I went. I had to have been right about her. That woman was Amphitrite, the sea Goddess and wife of Poseidon. I had to be right, otherwise this was all for nothing.
Eventually I grew increasingly exhausted and I knew I would have to rest, but I still hadn’t found Amphitrite. She had to be here. She simply had to. In curiosity, I swam to the surface and searched for the lights of the shoreline and gasped. I was further out than I had anticipated, the city bejewelled with glittering lights miles away. No one from the shore would see me out here, simply an insignificant speck to them unless they used a telescope. I sighed, wondering if this entire venture was a complete waste of time. My energy was waning, and if I didn’t go back now, the tide would drift me further out to sea. By morning, I would have no chance of finding home.
Finally, I began the long swim home. I knew the general direction now and I would have to swim the final length underwater when I got close, but for now I simply watched the sparkling lights ahead. The wind was beginning to pick up, an impending storm brewing in the air. I picked up my pace a little, feeling the water stir around me like a waking giant. I knew I would be lucky if I got home before the storm hit, but I would certainly try. When the wind began to pick up, lashing the surface of the sea, I decided to travel the remainder of the distance below the surface. My arms stretched out in front of me, two powerful entities as my gracefully webbed fingers powered me through the currents.
I was almost back to the docks when I finally heard her. She was singing, gracefully warming the waters with her beautiful melody. As I turned, though, the singing instantly stopped and she froze in place. She was beautiful, but her eyes were wide in shock as she stared at me. I raised a hand in her direction, offering her a smile but she instantly took off in the opposite direction.
I had to work to keep up with her. She dove down, and then back up within an instant. Numerous times I slammed my shoulders into the rocky sea bed, stirring sea life and scratching my skin. Silvery red blood seeped out from the wound but was carried away in the current as I powered after her. Why was she scared of me? Why was she running? I didn’t have much time to wonder before I crashed into another rock, some more sand, stirring more sea creatures. Finally the waters opened up and she moved more directly, offering me an unintentional chance to catch up.
It was the most I had been put to work since my birthday, my fins burning as they tried to keep up. Finally, a thought processed in my head and before I knew it, everything was frozen. I shuddered as the temperature dropped, the water turning hard as rock as it captured me. I moulded it around her, capturing her in a bubble of water where she was free to move, but only as far as my barriers would allow. She pressed her hands against the solidified water, the once-liquefied entity turning paler as it transformed into a cube of ice. Amphitrite made herself move as close to me as possible, her webbed fingers pressed wide against her prison as I moved my own adjacent to hers.
She seemed to stare at me in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping open. My chest ached as I wished for answers, wondering if she would be willing to give them to me. I sighed and dropped my hands, moving back away from the ice block. She offered me a sad smile of understanding and copied my actions, her hair flowing around her in much the same fashion as my own. Tears welled in my eyes but were carried away by the current, leaving me feeling part way between empty and hopeful. Amphitrite at least had some of the answers I needed, the ones that Nevada and Chris couldn’t offer me. I bit my lip, wondering if it was really the right time or if I should wait and bring Lainie with me.
Amphitrite looked at me, tipping her head on the side as though she understood exactly what was running through my mind. Who knew, she probably did. She was the Goddess after all. I didn’t know what she was capable of. Gently and slowly, she moved down until she was resting on the bottom of her ice prison, her fins wrapped to one side as she made herself comfortable. I needed to make a decision now: wait for Lainie and risk losing Amphitrite forever, or get the answers now. Unsure, I decided to go for the latter.
I cleared my throat, feeling weird now that I had to decide what to say. What do you say to a Goddess? I had no idea. Thankfully, I didn’t need to. Amphitrite moved forward until she was resting on her stomach, propping her chin up on her hands so her elbows took the weight.
‘Hello Iris,’ she greeted me. ‘It’s been a little while.’ Just like last time, her voice was beautiful and melodic, travelling through the water effortlessly despite the ice barrier I had set between us.
‘Hello,’ I returned, biting my lip. ‘Are you … Amphitrite?’ She grinned, her eyes crinkling at the edges though she didn’t appear any older. I guess being a Goddess means you don’t have to conform to a human rate of aging - if any. She watched me with open curiosity, like a mother watching her baby draw for the first time and seeing what they would come up with. She turned her hand on an angle, emphasizing her expression of curiosity.
‘Yes, Iris. I am Amphitrite,’ she answered me eventually. She rested her back against the side of the ice cage, making herself comfortable. ‘What more do you know of me?’ She was genuinely interested, her eyes glowing with anticipation. She was learning just as much as me, I realised. I cleared my throat and fiddled with my fingers, my little habit.
‘I know that you blessed my sister and me,’ I offered. ‘But I don’t know much more than that.’ I looked up at her, waiting for her reply but she simply watched me with that curious gaze of hers. Suddenly, she nodded and looked away, into the depths of the ocean. I followed her gaze, but whatever she was seeing, I wasn’t able to. She sighed, shaking her head to herself.
She returned her gaze to me. ‘I am Amphitrite, yes, and Poseidon is my husband,’ she informed me, repeating the knowledge that the Davies had fed to me not so long ago. I nodded, encouraging her to go on. She’d stopped though, chewing on her bottom lip in a gesture I had never thought a Goddess would be caught doing. She seemed to realise and stopped, looking down at her fingers laced over her fins.
I took a deep breath and settled my gaze on her, taking in her beautiful appearance as it swirled through my mind, chasing away all my questions until only one remained. It was difficult to think about, especially as Chris and Nevada’s lies cut deep into my heart. Through the invisible splinters, though, I searched, knowing that I had to get answers. Now more than ever, considering how difficult it had been to track her down, I knew I needed to get my answers before she disappeared completely. Feeling oddly breathless, I moved closer to the ice cage and pressed my fingertips longingly to the cold surface.
‘Are you my mother?’ I whispered, my chest tightening as the words escaped my head and through my lips. My quest for knowledge burned through my veins, securing my resolve of the issue. I watched her as she pursed her lips, her eyes wide from the shock of the question. Finally, she bowed her head and disappointment rang like a bell through my entire body. My fins - that had been working unconsciously to keep me in place - stopped, and both my body and the ice cage started to drift farther to the bottom of the sea.
‘Not quite.’
Those two words sparked a feeling of hope that zipped through my veins, igniting the quest in my heart. She appeared saddened by my reaction, though, but that didn’t matter to me. She knew things that could help me find my real family. My hand flattened against the ice cage, halting its gradual descen
t to the sea floor. Amphitrite noticed my hope, my fins pulsing brightly as it ran through me. She quietly moved toward me, pressing her hands against the wall of the ice cage once again.
‘I know the waters where we discovered your sister and yourself,’ she informed me, my jaw dropping open. ‘But I do not know who your blood relation is. It was what the humans like to call June fifth when we found you both. Poseidon was displeased with the humans at Santa Monica for littering the ocean, and so he released a tremulous and fierce storm on the city surrounding the pier. He reluctantly joined his brother and enemy, Zeus, in the effort to release havoc. To this day, I have no understanding of why they joined in arms to punish the humans, but I was there. I was in charge of patrolling the ocean, and limiting the damage to the sea life and sea bed.
‘I was about to rejoin my husband on his chariot when I felt the disturbance where your sister and you were drifting through the waves. I couldn’t understand how that happened. You were both completely human, but here you both were, drifting. Lainie was the first we noticed from her screams of terror, but when we gathered you from the sea, you were calm. You only stirred when you heard your sister’s distress, but even then you were simply acting in a familial need to protect her.’
I was caught in shock, surprised by Amphitrite’s willingness to cooperate. First, she’d tried escaping from me and now she was willing to cooperate? She watched me with a small smile, and I wondered to myself if she was actually telling me the truth. She may have been a Goddess, but that didn’t mean she was above lying to me. After all, she was the one who was cornered, and those who were cornered did not usually take well to it. Maybe she was leading me on, gaining my trust until I finally decided to release her, and then she would be gone. I sighed, my shoulders dropping along with her smile.
‘What is wrong?’ she asked. I opened my mouth to answer her, to tell her of my suspicions but she suddenly slammed back against the opposite wall. Her mouth floundered open and shut, her eyes wide as a series of tremors surged through the water. They were powerful enough to knock both the ice cage and my body to the side, and she surged toward me. She scratched her nails against the walls, desperate to escape.
‘What was that?’ I asked, the panic slowly seeping through my body. I couldn’t see much beyond the depths of the sea, so dark that had my fins not illuminated the waters, I doubted I would be able to see my own hand. Amphitrite met my eyes, running her hands over the walls.
‘You need to release me and return to the mainland,’ she warned me, the tremors now becoming a regular occurrence. ‘Please, you must believe me. Poseidon’s greatest enemy is rising.’ I held her gaze for several, quick moments that seemed to drag like hours. Finally, I decided to release her. She watched in awe as the ice cage began to split and crack, leaving me with a tight migraine as the pressure released. A large fissure marred the surface of the cage, and I watched in shock as Amphitrite gripped it between her hands and forced an opening large enough for her to slip through. When she was released, I relinquished my hold on the ice cage and it quickly sunk to the bottom of the ocean, melting as it went. I watched in disbelief at the formation I had created. It should have been impossible, but I had frozen salty water into an ice cage.
Amphitrite’s hand snatched my wrist, the nails scraping my skin in her haste as she quickly pulled me from my thoughts. She drew my face into her hands, looking sternly into my eyes. I could see the fear in her own, and knew that we were both in danger. She hadn’t been lying to me.
‘When I return you to the mainland, you must refrain both your sister and yourself from entering the waters until calmness returns to the currents,’ she instructed, her eyes glistening from her overwhelming need to protect me. I didn’t understand at first, but then I realised. She was my mother. Not by blood relation, but as much of a mother as Nevada had been to Lainie and me through the years. She offered me a quick, small smile and drew me into a tight hug. ‘I don’t know when I’ll see you again, but I promise you, we will.’ Then she released me just as fast and snatched my wrist once more.
I barely had a moment to react before she was powering through the waters, her fins barely moving though her body in conjunction with mine travelled inhumanly fast. Duh, I berated myself. Neither of us are human. We had barely been travelling for a minute before she quickly pulled us both to a halt below Macy’s floating establishment, and I turned to face her with my mouth half-open. She smiled fearfully, running her hand over my fins. I couldn’t pull my gaze away as she did so, her hand providing a blinding white light that I had no doubt could be seen from the surface.
‘I need to go now,’ she informed me, my eyes firmly planted where my fins had transformed back into legs. ‘The next time you enter the sea, your fins will return. Farewell.’ She grinned suddenly, shoving my summer dress over my head and down over my body. The next moment, I was being caught in a sudden and fierce current, propelled high up through the water until I crashed down onto the docks. I coughed from the impact, the jarring effect leaving my body void of breath. My lungs worked overtime to accommodate the sudden change from breathing in salty water to clear oxygen, and once I was able to breathe, I jumped to my feet.
The amulet at my throat pulsed dully as I ran across the street, noticing as the houses around me shut their windows and doors against the harsh winds. My dress clung to me, the fine sand granules from the roadside stinging my legs from where they’d been tossed in the wind. I could hear the waves behind me as they lapped against the land, spilling over the edge and onto the road. I wondered idly if we were safe here, but I dismissed the thought. Between my power of being able to freeze time and water into ice, I was more than adequately prepared against the storm that lashed against the land.
I shrieked as lightning tore through the sky above me, striking a tree just a few houses down from my own. It echoed through the night, the tree sparking as it dropped a branch onto the road. Nevada opened the front door when she heard my feet thundering across the front porch, shutting it the moment I was safely inside and Chris wrapped a towel tightly around my body. It was then that I saw Lainie, looking terrified as she took in my soaked appearance. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her body, her fingers digging into her sides.
‘Thank God you’re safe!’ Nevada yelled, barely audible above the sound of the rain thundering against the roof. ‘Thank God!’