She wore a white dress with pink and blue flowers stitched into the neckline.Kieran remembered it from his childhood—she’d worn that most days, not caring when it got dirty as she sat in her garden and stared out at the mountains for hours at a time.Kieran’s father would always promise she was just relaxing, but Kieran knew it was more than that.His mother smiled only when she had something to prove; the rest of the time, she had that same faraway look in her eyes, as if she were simply too numb to feel anything but emptiness.
For a moment, a cocktail of emotions overloaded the logical half of Kieran’s brain.It had been half a year since he’d seen his mother’s face.He hadn’t spoken to her since the curse broke, even though there were days when he had to fight the impulse to call her up and chat.That was the hardest part of their estrangement.He’d always been closer to his mother than anyone else in his family, even though she’d been overly coddling and rarely spoke about anything other than herself.
As a child, though, Kieran hadn’t cared about that.He’d been her favorite, and it had made him feel good.Even when he’d realized, years later, that her favoritism wasn’t so much a love ofhimas it was a love of how the family treated her for having him.She wasthe tragic mother, doomed to lose her only son to the family curse, which had made her a martyr among the Pelumbras.That kind of attention had fueled her for years, even at her most depressed.
For a second, staring at her floating there in the water, all Kieran wanted was to throw his arms around her.Despite himself, he missed her.He missed the way she’d always made him feel special and talented andgood.
Everything he hadn’t felt since the curse broke.
“Mom?”he whispered.
“It’s okay, my sweet boy.”She floated closer to him, reaching out a hand to smooth his hair as she always had when he was a child.“It’s just us now.I’ve got you.”
As Kieran looked into her eyes, the world around him seemed to blur.The fear that had gripped at him moments ago was gone.While part of him screamed to look away, to escape, it was growing quieter by the moment.In fact, that part of him wondered why the idea had even occurred to him.Why had he ever thought some scepter hilt was important when his mother was right here?
“I missed you,” Kieran admitted.
“I know.”His mother’s arms encircled him, hugging him tightly.She felt warm and steady, an anchor holding him safely in place.He sank into her embrace, squeezing his eyes shut as she whispered, “I’ve missed you too.And I’m so, so sorry for everything that happened.”
That, however, made Kieran pause.
He’d always wanted to hear those words come out of his mother’s mouth.Even in those final moments in the basement of the Pelumbra mansion, when Delilah had broken the curse,part of him had been silently begging her to apologize.To admit that she’d been wrong about how she treated her children, to own up to the pain she’d caused both twins.Because then, maybe, he could still have a mother.
But she hadn’t.Because part of her, Kieran knew, simply couldn’t.
This isn’t real.
Kieran blinked, and all at once, the scene around him came back into focus.Where his mother’s arms had been before was only kelp.It was wrapped around his arms and legs, and a piece was beginning to encircle his throat.
And staring directly into his eyes, barely a foot away, was the enormous head of the lake spirit.Its jaws were open, massive teeth poised to bite Kieran in half and swallow him.
Instantly, he thrashed, tearing at the kelp with his fingernails.The stalks around his legs clamped down harder, and he swore he heard a faint, shrill scream as he ripped off the one on his left wrist.He grabbed the one around his throat and tore it off, more shrill screams filling his head as he did.They were all in his mother’s voice now, begging him to stop.
The spirit’s jaws opened wider, preparing to consume him.
“Wait, wait!”Kieran cried, voice muffled by the breathing device.“Stop!I can help you!”
The spirit hesitated.Kieran couldn’t be sure, but recognition seemed to show in its eyes.Maybe it could understand him.It had, after all, been granting the townsfolk’s wishes for years—it would make sense that it would be capable of listening, even in this corrupted form.
Which is probably my only shot at getting out of this.
“Hattie explained to me that you’ve spent centuries helping this town,” Kieran told the spirit.It hadn’t so much as blinked since he’d first opened his mouth, making its stare even more intimidating.Still, Kieran continued, “That’s a long time to spend taking care of others.Maybe you could let someone helpyoufor once.If you do, I swear I can fix this.”
Suddenly, the lake spirit paused.Its mouth closed slightly, and there was something…confused about its expression.As if it had never considered that someone might want to help it.
“You must be lonely down here, huh?”Kieran said.As he spoke, the kelp began to loosen around his limbs, withdrawing into the water.“All this time, you’ve been alone.And you must have felt extra lonely after the scepter’s magic changed you.Is that why you lured the townsfolk down here?Because they stopped leaving you presents and you got sad?”
The spirit let out a small whimper.Its mouth closed all the way now, and it hung listlessly in the water, as if all the anger had been drained out of it.Now it just seemed…broken.
Ever so gently, Kieran reached out and touched its otter-like snout.“I understand.I used to be lonely too.My family treated me like there was something wrong with me for something I couldn’t control.You’re the same, aren’t you?You’re not a monster—you’re just angry they abandoned you.”
The spirit bowed its head, whimpering again.Kieran rubbed its scaled cheek.
“I might be able to help you change back,” Kieran said.“You just have to let me pull that Hilt out of your head.Is that okay?”
The spirit regarded him, unsure.After a moment, though, it drifted closer to him, its head bowed and the Hilt just inches away.Kieran swallowed his terror past the pulse pounding in his throat.He grabbed hold of the Hilt.
It slid free of the creature’s head with a burst of light.
