Spring shook her head. “No,” she replied as she wiped another tear from her cheek.
Carmen walked over and wrapped her arms around her daughter’s thin shoulders. Creon’s heart melted at the sight of his mate and their oldest daughter. They looked so much alike with their blonde hair and delicate features. He covered Carmen’s hand with his own when she looked at him with fear and worry on her face.
“We’ll find her,” he promised.
“There was something else,” Spring suddenly remembered, looking at him with a troubled expression.
Carmen stepped around Spring and stood next to Creon. She still clung to his hand, and they both looked at Spring with the wild, desperate hope of parents with a missing child. Spring was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. The uncertainty on her face tore at him. She was always very protective of Phoenix.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Carmen encouraged.
“For the last few days, Phoenix has been acting different,” she confessed.
Creon frowned. “What do you mean, honey?” he asked.
Spring clasped her hands together and held them to her chest. “She’s been really distracted. I kept asking her what was wrong, but she always said that everything was alright—but, I know that isn’t true. Sometimes… sometimes I can see what she sees, what she does—when I’m not actually there with her,” she admitted, bowing her head.
Carmen’s soft gasp of surprise echoed his own. They had wondered if their twin daughters would have the same type of connection that the fabled Valdier Twin Dragons did. Now they knew.
“What did you see?” Carmen asked.
Tears coursed down Spring’s cheeks. “I heard a voice—begging for help. I didn’t think it was real. It woke me up last night. I thought it was Phoenix. She…. Phoenix was muttering in her sleep. She kept telling whoever it was that she would help them,” Spring said in a barely audible voice.
“Who needs help? Where was this person?” Creon urgently demanded.
Spring shook her head. “I don’t know. The voice was so faint, and I only saw a glimpse of the cave before Phoenix woke up,” she said.
Carmen gently gripped Spring’s arms. “What did the cave look like? Try to remember, honey. Any little detail can help us find your sister,” she encouraged.
Spring closed her eyes. A tiny frown furrowed her dainty brow as she concentrated on the memory. She licked her lips before she spoke in a halting voice.
“It… it’s on an island with lots of rocks. The… the cave is dark… and cold. I saw… there were stairs leading up to a doorway, but… but there was nothing on the other side. It was a doorway to nowhere.”
“What else did you see, Spring?” Creon murmured.
Spring opened her eyes and stared into his. “A river. There was a river, only it wasn’t like any river I’ve ever seen before,” she whispered.
Creon got a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He took a deep breath, lifted his hand and cupped Spring’s cheek while Carmen tenderly stroked her hair.
“What was different about the river?” he asked.
Spring stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “It was made of gold—just like Little Bit, Stardust, and Harvey,” she answered.
“Creon,” Carmen whispered, her own eyes filling with tears.
He shook his head and stood. “Stay with Spring,” he said.
“What are you going to do?” Carmen asked in a tight, emotion-filled voice.
He caressed Carmen’s cheek with one hand and Spring’s with the other. A sense of resolve filled him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to his family.
“I’m going to bring her home,” he promised.
Isle of the Monsters:
Lake of the Sirens
“Asahi, can you take the wheel?” Nali asked nearly an hour into their journey.
“Of course,” he replied.
She stepped aside when he reached for the wheel. Unable to resist the urge, she slid her hand across his lower back when she moved away. Heady pleasure coursed through her at the smoldering look in his eyes.
A movement in the water next to their vessel reminded her of why she wanted Asahi to take over the steering. She crossed the deck to the bow and sat down. Holding onto a thick cleat, she leaned over and looked into the clear water. Dozens of Water Sirens danced in the boat’s wake.
She closed her eyes and listened to what they were saying. The whispered words sounded like a song. Their almost childlike voices were threaded with worry and fear.
“The darkness is coming, Empress.”
“Where did you see it?” she asked.
“It has taken over one of the giant eels at the mouth of the lake. Even as we speak, it moves along the bottom of the lake, heading for the Mystic Mountains,” the sirens responded.
“Warn the changelings,” she instructed.
“They know and have taken refuge. We will try to slow it down,” they replied.
“Be careful. Do not let it near enough to touch you,” she warned.
“We will be careful, Empress,” they promised.
Nali watched the sirens swim away from the bow of the boat and disappear back into deeper water. Haunted by the images of blood and death revealed in the Goddess’s Mirror, she stared at the mountains ahead of them. She was afraid—not for herself, but for her people, for her world, for the many worlds out there that would perish if they failed.
She brushed her hand across her cheek. Looking down at her fingers, she stared at the moisture. Another droplet landed on her palm, and she realized that she was crying.
She took a shuddering breath and curled her fingers into a fist. She looked up in determination at the mountain shrouded in clouds. They would reach it in another couple of hours.
“Return as quickly as you can, Ashure. I need you,” she whispered into the wind.
Isle of the Dragons
Ashure wobbled on the Adze’s back for a moment before he straightened. He pressed his booted feet against its side to keep from sliding off, so of course, the
