Thedagger’scallwasa relentless pounding, like invisible drums beating against her bones, reverberating in her blood. And she couldhearit—a low hum that echoed straight into her core. She didn’t understand her intense certainty, only that she must be experiencing what her ancestors spoke of in their diary entries. A beacon, a song sung in a melody meant only for her.
This was it. The dagger was here, and Sebastian was on his way. Her time was out.
Isla focused on inhaling and exhaling as she hurriedly changed into a shirt that wasn’t quite so loose. She felt like she was already beneath the waves, the crushing weight of what came next pulling her deeper and deeper.
Thehumkept ringing through her ears.
She rushed back to the main deck and found Kai patiently waiting, her blonde hair braided and twisted around her head like a crown. Even with only a dim lantern to illuminate her face, Isla could see Kai’s bright sapphire eyes shining excitedly. She was practically vibrating with anticipation. With the wind whipping loose hairs across her cheeks, gray leggings and a tight undershirt hugging her body, and the midnight waves crashing at the ship in the background, she truly looked like a sea goddess primed to command her realm.
“Ready?” Kai asked, extending a hand.
“Absolutely not.” Isla reached out and took it.
They walked to the gangplank on the port side of the ship, where the pull to the dagger was strongest. Her heartbeat quickened. “How are we going to see down there? It’s the middle of the night! And won’t it be cold? What if you can’t keep the bubble of air that long?” Isla rambled, her breaths coming in short spurts while blood roared in her ears. She was more terrified of this moment than almost any she had faced yet. A campsite full of murderers? Give her a bow and arrow, no problem. But this turned her bones to rubber.
Kai rolled her eyes as they stepped past the railing, nothing but a small piece of wood between them and the pitch-black, watery grave below. “So little faith.”
Then they jumped.
The icy water seared Isla’s flesh and shocked the breath right out of her chest as they hit the surface and sank. Even the incessanthumthat hadn’t stopped since she first felt the dagger was drowned out. She couldn’t draw in any air through her frozen lungs, couldn’t see her own hand in front of her through the dark, tumbling waves. The sea was aggravated by their intrusion, the strong wind above causing the current to pull at her hair and roll into her body, twisting her this way and that until she didn’t know which was up or down. Kai’s grip on her fingers slipped as a slimy sensation slid across her legs. Kicking her feet frantically, she connected with something solid. When she screamed, mouthfuls of salt water poured down her throat. It burned and scratched, and she wanted to hit herself for being sostupid. She was suffocating on the sea and on fear.
Suddenly, the water disappeared from her mouth. The frigid temperature rose until it was almost comfortable. Isla took a breath without even thinking, shocked when fresh air filled her chest. She wasbreathing. Underwater.
She blinked and when her eyes opened again, Kai was in front of her…and she was glowing. A golden hue radiated off the elemental, allowing them to see a few feet in all directions.
“Well, you were quite dramatic. And that was me you kicked, by the way,” Kai said as Isla’s mouth dropped open.
They were enclosed in a bubble, wide enough to fit both their bodies and allow space for movement. It was full of clean air and entirely void of water—although, as she moved her fingers through the golden light, silky strands danced across her skin like waves. Looking down, her stomach dropped at the sight of the endless black hole beneath her kicking legs and the small bubble. She still had to go through the motions of treading water to stay in place and still felt its pressure against her arms, but it was like she was swimming through empty space.
Reaching out a hand, Isla touched the bubble. She could see the entire circle surrounding them, for Kai’s gold light emanated against the boundary. Isla’s fingers pressed against the edge of it, and it folded to her will, then sprung back into place when she retreated.
It was hard to see much through the water beyond their little cocoon of light; it continued to rush and swirl wildly, completely ignoring the anomaly.
“How is this possible?” she breathed.
“You’re in my kingdom now. Anything is possible.” Kai’s eyes shone with pride and power, and Isla was in awe of her. The immortal was beautiful on land, but seeing her in her element…she was a goddess.
Hum. The pounding continued, the lure of the Dagger of Volnus beckoning Isla. She hardly heard Kai over the vibrating in her veins. It knew she was close.
“Come on, we don’t have much time. Stay by me,” Kai said, flipping gracefully and diving deeper into the ocean, the circle of air staying perfectly intact around both of them as Isla followed. She was much flimsier and uncoordinated than Kai, but without having to worry about holding her breath, swimming was easier than expected. Even as they descended further and further, there was no change in pressure. No uncomfortable build-up in her ears or lungs, as she imagined such depths would bring. It was truly unbelievable the way they were defying the laws of nature.
After only a few minutes of diving, Isla’s arms and legs already ached. She wasn’t used to expending this much energy in unused muscles. Her shoulders groaned with each push through the phantom water, her thighs and calves shaking as she kicked.
The darkness was constant, the call of the dagger overwhelming, her breath ragged.
The idea that any manner of creatures could be mere feet away, outside of the light from their glowing bubble, made Isla’s skin crawl. Still, she was captivated by what little shecouldsee—fish of varying colors drawing closer to the light then flitting away, bubbles rising to the surface in their wake. Some had scales that shimmered like jewels, others were striped or speckled, and still more were neutral-toned with bright splashes of color flecking their fins. An enormous fish with gray, tough, leather-looking skin and fins so sharp they could cut flesh meandered up to them, and Isla froze in fright, almost forgetting to keep kicking. She’d never seen one before, never had experience with ocean creatures besides the occasional cod or salmon—but she knew this was a shark and could easily swallow her whole.
But the shark simply nuzzled its face against the bubble. Isla watched in fascination as Kai rubbed its head before it swam away. Isla blinked several times and shut her gaping mouth. It was all so incredible. And terrifying.
“The shipwreck is up ahead,” Kai reassured her, the sweet chimes of her voice echoing slightly in their enclosed circle. Isla had already known they were approaching it; the unnaturalhumhad been growing stronger until it filled every pore of her body, pulling her closer to the source.
Sure enough, within a minute, the outline of the giant wooden beast came into view. The ship rested on a platform of sand and dirt, which Kai had called a shelf. As they drew closer and the area became more visible by their glow, Isla observed that the shelf stretched to the left as far as the eye could see and dropped off like a massive cliff to the right.
They approached the bow of the ship—at least, what was left of it. The destruction from the wreck and centuries of decaying at the bottom of the sea left much to the imagination. Isla faintly made out an ancient wooden figurehead, now lying broken and on its side in the sand. It looked like a statue of a naked woman with long hair and full breasts, a trident in one hand, and a crown of coral atop her head. The trident was split in half and chunks of the body were rotting and falling off, but it still looked remarkably like…
“Is thatyou?” Isla asked in disbelief.
Kai faced her and smirked. “I’ve looked better, don’t you think?”
