The creatures’ faces were fine like marble statues
with skin a cold bluish gray hue against the brown water. They sailed forward,
effortlessly propelled by rippling fins that fluttered like wings from their
backs. The black tentacles streamed behind them, fastened somewhere beneath the
feathery fins. Their long legs trailed gracefully through the water. They must
be the scylla, I thought feeling defeated and slightly awestruck.
As we neared the cave’s mouth, the current
strengthened and pulled me from behind the scylla toward the dark portal. The tentacles
began to slip around my arms, loosening their grip, slowly relinquishing me to
the current of water flowing rapidly into the disorienting dark. Finally, my
arms broke free, sending me tumbling into the black void. Then my body slammed
into a surface so hard I was certain my Shadow was smashed to pieces.
When I awoke, I lay on a dry slab of rock. The
sound of water dripping echoed around me. Soft silver light, like that of the
moon, illuminated the cavern.
“Welcome to Merepen Hallow, Eliza.” Said a voice
like the tinkling of a wind chime.
I lifted my head from the rock floor and searched
for the owner of the startling voice. The stone slab sat before a still black
pool of water. The walls of the cavern were pocked with dark holes of all
different sizes.
A small spritely nereid stood not a foot from
where I lay. She looked similar to the nereids I’d already seen except for her
size. She was markedly more petite, almost childlike in stature. Her large
almond eyes shone like polished amber and vivid red hair curled around her
shoulders.
“Keepers!” She called in a shrill tone that
probably would have shattered my eardrums, if I’d brought them.
There was a loud whir and flapping noise, like
bats in flight and a flurry of shadows bounced around the cavern fracturing the
light. Cold hard hands clamped around my arms and pulled me to my feet.
The scylla stood next to me once again, sleek and
hard as statues. Their paper-thin wings and tentacles tucked tightly against
their backs.
“Eudora will be so pleased… to meet you.” The
sprite nereid said, her tinkling voice sharpening like the edge of a razor. As
she spoke, a set of mossy green wings slowly expanded behind her, glittering
with smooth scales.
“Escort Eliza to her room.” She ordered before
flitting into one of the tunnels leaving behind the faint sound of beating
wings.
The sentries remained stone faced and I wondered
if they could speak since their expressions certainly gave no indication of
emotion. Without so much as a glance my way, they began to flap their large
wings. Trapped between them like a mouse in a hawk’s talons my feet lifted off
the ground. My toes skimmed across the floor of the cavern as I was carried
with increasing speed toward one of the larger holes in the cave wall. The
sentries tightened their grip as we soared into the tunnel. The walls of the
tunnel were smooth and shiny, illuminated by the same strange silver light of
the cavern, giving the pale rock the appearance of marble.
As we moved into the depths of Merepen Hallow, twisting
and turning down passageways, we passed endless openings to other tunnels.
Before long, I was certain that I would never be able to find my way back to
the cavern I’d entered alone. After what felt like hours of travel, we arrived
at a door. There, fixed into the stone, was a deeply stained wooden door with a
vintage crystal doorknob, an exact replica of my childhood bedroom door. The
sight of it made my skin crawl with suspicion.
The sentries released my arms and turned their
expressionless faces to the door. I fell to the ground and rocked back and
forth from heel to toe grasping the floor beneath my feet. My arms ached from
the sentries grip and I alternated hands, rubbing each arm in an attempt to
soothe them. The doorknob sparkled and the aged brass keyhole shone in the
crystalline light. A dull nail protruded from the top of the door where my
wooden nameplate had hung years ago.
Why would the nereids have my bedroom door? My
mind raced and heart pounded as I considered how poorly prepared I was to spar
with this adversary. I glanced at the sentries’ faces waiting for them to make
a move but they just stared blankly ahead. I reached out and touched the
doorknob, remembering the cool glassiness of it in my palm, and pushed. My
breath caught in my chest.
Beyond the door was my bed with yellow rosebud
sheets and little bookshelf lined with all of my favorite books. Save the
window, which was absent, the room appeared to be not just a replica but my
exact childhood bedroom. I stepped inside marveling in astonishment until I
heard the door creak. I spun around just in time to see it slam shut, trapping
me inside.
* * *
Time passed slowly and unremarkably as I lay on
the bed staring at the ceiling fan circle lazily above me. There were no clocks
in my room and the only light was the unchanging pale moonlight that seemed to
exist everywhere in Merepen Hallow independent of origin.
I didn’t grow hungry or tired in the predictable
manner that I normally did which made it difficult to determine just how long I
had been waiting for something, anything to happen beyond the confines of the
room. I tried to pick the lock of the door and pry it open to no avail. I
banged on the door and shouted demanding freedom but no sound, not even a
footstep or flutter of wings, could be heard on the other side. For all I knew,
I could have been abandoned in the room until I died… or at least my body gave
up waiting for me. The thought made me panic and pace the floor until I
remembered that the spritely nereid had said Eudora would be pleased to meet
me, which meant at some point, they would have to let me out.
At last, the doorknob turned. In a blink of an eye
the sprite nereid stood in the open door frame, her eyes sparkling and mouth
tweaked in a malevolent smile. I shot up off the bed and dashed toward the door
but the nereid had her wings spread firmly blocking the exit.
She stared at me with a cunning expression for
several moments and then, without a word, stepped aside. I lunged forward,
expecting it to be my opportunity to leave the prison but halted when I noticed
a figure lurking in the dim light of the tunnel. I struggled to believe the
vision before me.
“Mother?” I heard my own voice float from my lips,
vulnerable and hopeful.
The figure stepped closer confirming her identity.
“Mother!” I shouted excitedly and dashed toward
her.
But as soon as I reached the door, she disappeared
like smoke in the wind. I frantically peered into the depths of the tunnel but
all I found was the nereid grinning maliciously at me.
“What happened to my mother?” I demanded fiercely
losing my patience with her games.
She glared at me, her eyes narrowing and expanding
as she watched me grow angrier by the moment. It was only a glance but I
noticed her large amber eyes flit toward the amulet on my chest. Recognition
flashed in her gaze and I seized my opportunity.
“You’ve broken the covenant. You have no right to
keep her here or me for that matter!” I spat.
The nereid’s expression relaxed. “Eudora will be
the judge of that.” She responded coolly.
And the door slammed, trapping me once again
inside my room.
Suddenly the amulet grew warmer and throbbed like
a heartbeat against my skin. My fingers protectively curled around it. The
keyhole grew dark. The rhythm of beating wings echoed loudly in the tunnel
beyond the door. It swung open once again but this time, the sentries waited on
the other side with their wings spread wide.
Join us… You will join us… Join us.
The words swirled around my head like the rustle
of fall leaves on the breeze. My gaze narrowed on the sentries’ blank faces.
Their mouths were frozen and expressionless yet I was certain it was their
voices I heard, dancing around the room.
“No way.” I stated boldly just before the
tentacles shot into the room ensnaring me.
They bundled me tightly like a fly in a spider’s
web. This time, the sentries aggressively weaved and swooped through the
tunnels but all I could see was the path we left behind from the space between
the tentacles on my face. Finally, giving up all hope of remembering a path
through the intricate catacombs, I closed my eyes, thought of my mother and
hoped I could get us both out of this mess.
As the sentries pace slowed, the light brightened
and the tunnel expanded until we emerged into a high ceilinged cavern. The
tentacles cocooning me unraveled and I floated like a feather onto the glossy
floor.
“Eliza. At last, we meet.” Said a voice as smooth
and dark as a shark.
I scrambled to my feet preparing to meet the
adversary who held the key to my mother’s fate.
Eudora was perched in a divot, shaped like an egg,
high on the wall. Her pale face was framed by a mass of black hair that swayed
like the tentacles of an anemone in a current, an intriguing contrast of light
and dark.
I raised my chin, feigning confidence.
“You know why I’m here. I’m not interested in
getting to know you.” I replied firmly.
Eudora slipped out of the base of the egg and
instantly a brilliant set of black and white wings edged with shimmering
ultraviolet scales spread behind her. She sailed gracefully to the ground.
“Ah, so defensive.” She quipped lightly as she
flitted closer to me.
Her large purple eyes gripped mine.
Instinctively I grasped the amulet, its rhythmic
throb intensified with every inch Eudora crossed.
“You broke the covenant. You can’t keep us here.”
I said hostilely.
Eudora’s long slender hand reached for my neck and
took the amulet from my fingers.
“Cannot and should not are different things.” She
said bitingly.
The chain fell against my neck and I looked down
in horror to find the amulet missing. Eudora held up her palm, her purple lips
drawn in a line. The amulet melted, leaving a scarlet pool of liquid in the
cove of her hand.
“I think it’s about time to reclaim that promise.”
She said and crudely licked the liquid from her hand.
I stared at her in shock. It felt like the battle
I’d come to fight was already over and I’d lost.
Eudora fluttered her massive wings and circled me
slowly.
“I’m not completely without scruples, dear Eliza.
Bear in mind, your mother came to Merepen Hallow willingly. I did not take her
against her will.” She cooed flitting in and out of my range of sight.
I spun around trying to face her.
“My mother may have come with you willingly but
she didn’t intend to stay!” I snapped fiercely.
Eudora laughed, a sound like crystal smashing
against the walls.
“Your mother doesn’t remember her intentions, much
less you, Eliza.” She said.
Anger bubbled in my stomach.
“What do you want? You’ve trapped my mother and
hunted me. We have something you want. What is it?” I baited her
contemptuously.
At once, Eudora stopped circling and stood before
me, bobbing from one foot to the other. Her vapid purple eyes widened and
turned black.
“Eliza Gowan, I’d like to make a new covenant.”
She said, her voice as slick and sticky as oil.
I glared at her. “Really? Like the one you just
ate?” I spat.
Her lips stretched into a smile.
“That covenant grew stale centuries ago. Besides,
I have something you want, rather someone, don’t I?” She said.
I scowled at Eudora as her eyes narrowed, boring
into mine.
“Your mother and I made a deal, you see. A gift
was given to her but she gave nothing in return. She broke the contract and she
owes me a gift. One you are qualified to give.”
I shivered.
Her wings fluttered dramatically. She rose off the
ground and hovered menacingly over me.
“Give me your powers and you and your mother may
leave.” She offered. “Refuse and you remain here, in Merepen Hallow for all
your days. One way or another, Eliza, I will claim the power you hold.” She
said venomously.
I cowered below the expanse of Eudora’s massive
shimmering wings and piercing gaze. Cora’s warning came to mind.
Nereid’s can’t be
trusted
. There had to be another way out of this place besides striking a
deal with Eudora but I couldn’t think of an alternative.
“Give me a little time… to consider your offer.” I
answered quickly and stumbled backwards away from her encroaching wings.
Eudora’s eyes widened again and her lips twitched
conveying her amusement.
“Certainly, Eliza, you are quite welcome to take
as much time as you would like.” A twisted smile stretched across her face.
She obviously didn’t know that I was fully aware
of how dangerous it was for me to stay in Merepen Hallow. Every moment I spent
in the catacombs taxed my senses threatening my tie to the human world and
ability to reason. I had no intention of staying much longer but I desperately
needed time to come up with a plan.
Eudora’s wings fluttered. She drifted back high in
the air and resumed her perch on the wall. The sentries returned to my side and
quickly cocooned me in their slick tentacles. My heart sank as I bobbed around
in darkness carried back toward my prison.
25
I lay on my bed, the scent
of sun lingered on the pillow. How clever the nereids were creating a prison
that looked, smelled and felt like the safest place in the world to me. The
place that reminded me in every way of how important my mother was to me, the
place where we spent our last moments together. The place so saturated with
emotion that I had difficulty thinking straight.