It didn’t take long before these black waters morphed from her struggling against her husband’s tight grip, fighting for a breath, into the moment Circe was running down the shore under the moon during the witching hour, Hedera’s hand in hers. Only her and Hedera, how it was always supposed to be. And then I was feeling what she was feeling. I was standing as her, seeing Alec across from me, and feeling the warm, hopeful smile stretching across my face.
And this smile is too soon and shouldn’t be there, not yet, because anything could happen. It all could be taken away, but I can’t stop smiling because he’s smiling, and we’re almost there.
I swam deeper, trying to keep up with Alec, trying to hold on to this moment.And we’re running, my heartbeat like a clock in my ear, teasing me, rushing me. Until I’m crashing into his arms.
“Oh, Circe,” he whispers, holding me close, his mouth coming over mine. And I taste him and his warmth spreads through my body. He pulls away only to scoop Hedera into his arms. He spins until he’s facing me, then grabs my hand and walks backward with a smile that melts my heart. “Are you ready for an adventure?” he asks. And this isn’t how it happened, but this is how it should have happened. And before I know it, we’re climbing into the Wistoragic, the stars reflecting off the ocean waves, on our way to Bone Island.
This wasn’t their love story.
This was the ending Circe imagined as she was dying, an imprint in these waters. Their happily ever after. This is what she thought of, and I was watching it until she fell unconscious and my fingers touched the bottom.
My fingers scraped the bottom until it pushed against a small rock. I picked it up easily from the floor. Then the next, collecting all the pieces I could find, sweeping back and forth to not leave any behind. My feet lay flat on the floor, and I pushed off, propelling myself back to the top.
It was more difficult with only one free hand to move me up through the water. About halfway up, my lungs began to burn for oxygen, and my pace had slowed. My heart began to race, panicking, as I choked on a bout of nothingness. Trying not to drop the sapphire pieces, I swam faster.
The spring became a coffin, six feet under and suffocating, inky waters as dirt.
I didn’t know how much time had already passed, and all I could see was black. All I could feel was this burn, this pressure squeezing my insides.
Stone’s smile crossed my mind.
“You are absolutely fierce,”he whispered.
I kicked faster. Harder. And just before the black abyss took me, two hands hooked under my arms, and pulled me right out of the water, laying me on a rock. Water spilled out of my mouth, and I coughed, squinting my eyes as he moved hair from my face.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
And then I was up, wrapping my arms around Stone’s neck, pulling him to me, my chest caving and rising uncontrollably. Circe didn’t get her happily ever after, but maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for us.
Stone kissed my cheek, then my lips. He dropped his forehead to mine, stroking my wet hair. “I’m so proud of you,” he said with a smile.Oh,that smile.
“There were four pieces.” I dropped them into his palm.
Phoenix approached, and Stone handed them off.
“I told you, man,” Beck said. “I don’t think there’s a fifth.”
While Phoenix moved them around in his palm, we all watched with anticipation as I wrung water from my hair.
“No, one’s fucking missing,” Phoenix whispered, disappointment curving around every word. He lifted his golden eyes. “There’s a fifth somewhere.”
Julian turned in place, scanning the cave. “Spread out and start looking. It has to be here.”
Shivering, I wrung the water from my clothes as much as possible before slipping the sweatshirt over my head, the sweatpants over my pajama shorts. We all spread out, and as I started to help look for the fifth piece, a figure emerged from the shadows near the bend.
It took me a second to understand who it was. “Alice?” And then I remembered how she’d betrayed me, and the hot breath of anger blew under my skin like a simmer. “You have a lot of nerve following me.”
“I know you’re angry with me, but it was for your own good,” Alice said, taking another step closer. I looked around, and the Heathens surrounded, watching carefully, caution and confusion passing over their faces. “I couldn’t have you leave with Stone,” she continued. “I couldn’t let you go to Norse Woods. I needed you to stay close to me, Adora. Only you were able to gather the broken pieces from the spring.”
I looked for Stone. He was staring at her, furious, as he paced toward me.
He didn’t stop until he was at my side, a hand wrapped around my arm.
“I’m only trying to help you,” she said. “That stone is very special. It can save your mother.” My jaw snapped shut, and my eyes darted like bullets between hers, finding a hole in her sentence. If it were true or not. “Yes, Adora. That sapphire, once pieced together, can bring your mother back. But I need you to trust me, and I need you to hand me the broken pieces.”
I took another step back, closer to Stone. “I don’t have the broken pieces.”
“Sullivan, who’s this?” Julian asked with a cock of his head.
