The waves calmed for a moment, making the water’s surface look mirror-like.
A mirror.
Could it be a portal?
Water was a reflective surface, and all practitioners knew that any reflective surface could be used as a gateway. If it were a gateway, where did it lead?
I knew of only one way to determine the truth. I would have to go through the portal to find out.
Chapter 12
The blaring of a tugboat’s horn echoed through the harbor as I stood over the whirlpool. Going through the portal was extremely risky on all sorts of levels. I was glad Kull wasn’t here to chide me on what a rash decision I was making, but I had to find Mochazon. And all roads led to this point in time—to this exact spot. I couldn’t move forward until I found out what was on the other side of that portal.
I knew Geth didn’t want Mochazon dead. Not yet, anyway. And he had no reason to imprison me. I was helping him find his flower—not by choice, of course. But it wouldn’t make sense for Geth to stop me. Nevertheless, that didn’t mean the portal was safe. Geth could try to manipulate or torture me. And what if Geth wasn’t on the other side? What if it was someone worse?
There were too many unknowns, and standing here mulling it over would get me nowhere. I stood at the edge of the dock with the wind tousling my hair. Dark water churned beneath me, splashing occasional cold droplets on my skin. I didn’t want to, but I needed to get this over with. Crouching on the dock’s edge, I leaned forward, reached out, and touched the water’s surface with my palm facing down, fingers splayed.
At first, I only felt the damp water chill my skin. I closed my eyes and called my Earth magic. It didn’t come as quickly as Faythander magic would have. I waited, my impatience getting the better of me as I regretted not having my fairy magic. Slowly, it came.
I focused, and soon the dizziness started. I no longer stood on the dock. My body was suspended somewhere, while the sounds of lapping water died away. A cold embrace engulfed my body, chilling my skin and then reaching into my heart. I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight the chill. It held me in its grasp, as if I’d been wrapped in an icy cocoon.
My head pounded as pulses of grayish light formed around me. I opened my eyes to get my bearings, only to find skeletal faces of specters blurring in and out of my vision. Their screams pierced my soul, though I didn’t hear them with my mortal ears. Despite the chill, a clammy sweat broke out across my body. My heart pounded. My breathing sounded ragged and too fast.
Soon, the blurriness cleared, and I fell in a heap onto a cold floor.
The dizziness and nausea made it difficult for me to sit up, but I managed to crawl to a wall and leverage into a sitting position. Breathing heavily, I sat with my back against the wall and tried to get my bearings.
A single torch lit the dungeon-like room, revealing stone walls and a cobbled floor. The air smelled musty, and the drip, drip, drip of leaking water echoed far in the distance.
A cloaked figure entered the room. I shuddered when I recognized the man as Geth. His eyes never failed to frighten me. They glittered in the torchlight, radiating a cold hate that chilled me worse than the gray mist. He held his goblin blade at his side.
Except for Earth magic, which I wasn’t even sure I could access at the moment, I had no weapons.
The sound of booted feet echoed through the chamber, and soon, two more people entered the room. I recognized them as the two men from Chester’s memories. They moved together to surround me.
“We’ve been expecting you,” Geth said.
I rubbed my forehead as the dizziness lingered. “Expecting me?”
“Yes,” he answered. “You have been searching for the pixie man, have you not? You have been following my men. We knew that after we captured the pixie, you would soon follow. So yes, we have been expecting you.”
The two men crouched beside me, grabbed my hands in front of me, and tightened a rope around my wrists. I winced as they pulled it tight.
“You’re capturing me?” I asked.
“For our own protection, of course.”
His own protection? What did he think I could possibly do to him?
“It has been quite some time since we last spoke,” Geth said. “Much has changed since then.”
“Yes, it has. Our world will die soon, thanks to you.”
“Die? I think not. The death of Faythander is not my intention.”
“Then what is?”
As he paced in front of me, his two men stood behind him, their shadowed eyes watching me. The firelight gave their eyes a milky white sheen, reminding me that these creatures, who appeared to be men, were truly goblins.
“I seek equality,” Geth finally answered. “What do you know of my people’s history?”
I swallowed. He’d hit on a touchy subject. Only recently, my father had revealed that goblins had not evolved with the rest of Faythander’s species. Eons ago, before recorded history, there were elves born with the ability to manipulate liquid elements. Elves without this ability had grown jealous and had begun torturing the potion makers, eventually warping their minds and bodies until they no longer resembled elves. But I’d sworn to never reveal what I knew.
“Goblins,” I answered, “evolved with the rest of Faythander—”
“No!” he yelled, cutting me off. “Do not feign ignorance. I know who your father is—a member of the
