Could Nadia force me into a reverie, or did she have to wait for me to fall asleep before taking me captive? Whichever her method, it was successful every time. I had to figure out a way to block her advances.
I concentrated on the sprinkling of sand near my feet that had been tracked in by Nadia’s shoes, and sent my energy flowing towards it. I willed it to draw together and create sole pile, but not even the smallest of grains so much as moved a millimeter. Next, I concentrated on the breeze that flowed in the window. I tried to wrap my energy around it and pull it towards me. Still nothing. Had she taken all of my essence!? Was that even possible? Or had she just created a vacuum similar to the one in her cavern? The inability to draw on my essence resulted in a sharp pang of panic and a dread that hovered over my throbbing head. Although I knew I didn’t know how to harness most of my abilities, it was still comforting to know they were there. The army of spiders that surrounded me did nothing to ease my nerves. I closed my eyes and forced my ears to strain and listen.
“Don’t crown yourself Queen of the Underworld just yet, Nadia. There is still much to be done,” a smug voice replied with contempt. A smug voice that I recognized from my vision on the plane. A smug voice that belonged to the woman with the glowing, pulsing orb…the same orbs the Auras wore around their necks. Suddenly the woman from my vision, the Auras, and the velvety voice floating up to me in that moment collided into a dizzying mass of understanding. Selene, the moon goddess. She was the woman in my vision. She had descendents at Eventide. And she was…working with Nadia? Things were going from bad to worse.
“Selene is right as always,” purred a third voice. I recognized it, but its owner eluded me.
Most importantly, there were three voices belonging to three women. My vision couldn’t be far from coming to fruition. My eyes darted toward the window, which glowed with the colors of the sunset.
Night was approaching. “Tonight’s ritual will prove to be the turning point. Without the Prime’s full essence, there is a good chance this will not be successful.” Unfortunately, the speaker’s next words revealed her identity and clicked the last puzzle pieces into their final resting place; tombstone and all. “We don’t know the extent of her powers yet, so it is imperative that I am as strong as possible. I will NOT be overthrown by Thetis’s bastard child. Do you hear me!?”
Keto. Keto wanted our essence, not Nadia. And she was going to use it against me! So the worst possible scenario had come to pass. Keto and Nadia had teamed up against me. Add the goddess of the Moon to the equation, and you’re left with one very screwed Stasia.
Nadia’s laughter singed my ears; reheating my anger. “Which brings me to my next announcement. I have a little surprise for you.” I could picture the proud smirk on her face, and my blood boiled.
“Oh?” came Keto’s intrigued reply. As their voices faded, I had a bad feeling I knew exactly what Nadia’s surprise entailed. Footsteps sounded outside the wooden door that sealed my arachno-prison, and I struggled against the enchanted chains around my ankles. They instantly squeezed tighter, cutting off the circulation to my feet.
“We may not have all of Finn’s essence,” I heard Nadia’s arrogant voice outside the door as it creaked open “…so I brought us someone with an even more powerful essence. I give you…Thetis’s bastard child.”
As they swept into the room, a shocked expression filtered through Keto’s wild green eyes, while a calculating glimmer shone from Selene’s silver ones. Each woman’s presence was magnified by their proximity. Keto wore a long, simple black dress that accentuated the green highlights throughout her hair and the scales running up her arm and neck. Selene was as ethereal and stunning in person as she had been in my vision; her pale skin standing in contrast to her dark, unruly hair. The calculating instability of her silver eyes matched the shifting layers of her silver dress. The same strips of fabric I had seen in my vision hung from her wrists and gathered around her ankles. As a cold wave of evil washed over me, I instinctively pushed back Nadia’s essence and locked my eyes onto her golden ones so she would know that I was aware of her attempted violation. She sneered happily at me as if she had been expecting my reaction. Her arrogance only angered me more.
“Let me go!” I countered; resulting in three very toothy smiles.
“Ugh, give it a rest.” Nadia rolled her eyes at me and regarded the other two women under her breath, “I don’t know what he sees in her. She’s really quite annoying.”
“Go to hell,” I growled with hatred.
“And quite rude as well,” Nadia scolded me with a smirk. “She certainly needs a lesson in etiquette.”
“Quiet,” Selene held up her hand and sent us piercing glares. “Both of you.”
“This is quite the accomplishment, Nadia.” Keto glided across the stone floor to stand over me with a smile. “Well done.”
“Defeating her will be no problem if she is already under your control,” Selene added.
“Yes – however, her essence shall not be left to its own devices. I will still require your assistance, dear friend.” She gazed at Selene lovingly, but I didn’t miss the threat in her voice. “She could prove very valuable down the road as well.”
“You will not control me, and I refuse to let you take my essence!” I threatened her.
“It would appear that you have already been proven wrong on both accounts.” Keto nodded at Nadia. “More. Collect as much as you can. And make sure she cannot escape. We will begin the ritual when the moon has reached the highest point in the sky.”
“No!” I protested uselessly. With a gallant twist of their heels, Keto and Selene disappeared from the room; leaving me with the Princess of the Underworld, who clapped her hands together in delight before retrieving the now-empty syringe from the window sill.
“Maybe when Keto makes me Queen of the Underworld, I’ll let you live in my underground room,” she quipped. “But don’t get your hopes up.”
“The only throne you should be sitting on is your toilet,” I shot at her with venom.
“After mother’s taken care of, I’ll decide who should and should not do what. Lucky for you, you’ll be scrubbing my throne and toilets for the rest of your pathetic existence.” She knelt down beside me and grinned wickedly. “You’re welcome.”
As she grappled my arms and brought the syringe closer to my trace, I realized how weak I had become when my muscles wouldn’t budge beneath her hold. The last thing I remembered was the sound of her humming my now-most-hated nursery rhyme, the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
The next time my eyes cracked open, it was to a slight knocking sound farther down the same wall I was leaning against. Instantly on the defensive, I instinctively searched my surroundings with my sixth sense, only to realize it just wasn’t working
The knocking commenced several feet away, more urgent this time. With every ounce of energy I had left, I scooted several inches toward the sound, and then rapped my knuckles against the wall as hard as my pain threshold would allow.
“Hello?” A deep voice murmured from behind the wall.
“Who’s there?” I asked hoarsely.
“I heard you crying out. You sounded like you were…in pain.” His voice trailed off. I gently touched my face to find fresh tears. I swallowed thickly before answering.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
“I’m a prisoner. Like yourself,” he answered solemnly. A vision of the group of people floating above the sand, their souls hovering above their bodies flashed in my memory.
“How many others are there?”
“I’m not positive,” he conjectured. “Fifteen? Maybe twenty?”
“My vision’s coming true,” I muttered in defeat. All of those people would die. All of those souls would be drained of their essence. “Are you a Tyde?”
“No. I’m…nothing,” he said with bitter finality.
“Where are we?”
“The ancient Isle of Doulos, which means the ‘Island of Slaves’ in English.”
“Slaves…” I repeated breathlessly.
“You have to find a way out! You must escape as soon as possible!” His voice took on a more urgent tone as his emotions rose.
“I can’t…” I managed, the effort of talking leading me closer and closer to sheer exhaustion.
“They’re draining me…I can barely move.”
