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  “Don’t touch me!” Carmen lashed out at him and narrowed her dark eyes. “Pleasures of the flesh have no place here.” The crushing disappointment that washed over his features clenched my heart, but as always he recovered with ninja-like speed. Carmen was not in her right mind, but I knew that didn’t ease the pain he braved at her rejection. I had gained a great deal of respect for him over the last week; taking care of Carmen as well as protecting Finn. His normally charismatic light blue eyes had dulled; shadowed by the dark circles hanging underneath. His black hair that stuck out at odd angles hinted at restless nights.

  “Phoebe, please assist Ricker with making Carmen feel at home,” Natasha nodded towards one of the downstairs bedrooms as she stepped out of the kitchen with Charon on her heels. “Stasia, Willow let’s get settled upstairs.” I clutched my bags and inspected the staircase. Sleep pulled at my eyelids as I concentrated on not tripping. My sluggish legs burned in revolt, and I couldn’t wait to lie down in a soft bed after riding in an airplane for thirteen hours.

  Willow vanished into one bedroom while Natasha peeked into another before regarding me.

  “Finn’s in here. Why don’t you sleep next door,” she suggested. “Charon and I will be right across the hall if you should need us.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. Armed with the knowledge that Finn’s body was so near, the absence of his warm darkness was unsettling and threatened to destroy what was left of my splintered heart. I met Natasha’s eyes as she moved closer and kissed me lightly on the forehead.

  “Sleep well, dear. Tomorrow will be a long day.” The warmth and empathy in her eyes was unmistakable, and appreciation for her consistent strength and support warmed in my chest.

  “Thanks Natasha,” I exhaled and smiled sleepily. After closing the bedroom door behind me, I flipped on the lights and set down my bags. A long canvas painting hung above the bed with blue lines that resembled rolling waves. Light yellow walls offset the white furniture, and a prestigious palm tree stood watch in the corner. Not bothering to change out of my jeans, I dissolved into the bed. The cushioned pillow top felt absolutely amazing to my tired body, and the feather pillows provided a pool of softness to dive my head into. The smooth sheets created a cocoon around me and miraculously I drifted off to sleep without pause.

  Vertigo slammed into me when I gazed down upon the dark, crashing waves far below. My feet were firmly on the ground, however the ground dropped off abruptly only inches away; leaving a massive drop down to the life-ending rocks and boiling water below. On either side of me, the cliff stretched for miles; its stone face watching over the rolling sea. It was an amazing and captivating scene that was hard to look away from. I breathed in the smell of sea salt as I plopped down with my feet hanging over the edge. Despite being in the relative safety of a reverie, my pulse quickened at the height.

  Come to think of it, this was the first unprompted reverie I’d had in a while and something about it was incredibly peaceful and serene. I felt as much a part of the cliff as the agave rosettes dotting the landscape behind me. I leaned back on my arms and faced the moon above; closing my eyes and allowing my senses to disperse and wander effortlessly. The pale moonlight on my skin seemed to seep into my pores and revive my tired soul. I grinned up at it as I sensed a pull from below. I opened my eyes and peered down into the water. The longer I hesitated, the more powerful the pull became.

  Somehow I knew I was still in Cyprus, just farther up the coast. My inner compass had sharpened since completing my essence. It was an odd, but very freeing feeling. Scientists marveled at the ability of sea turtles to find their way back to the beaches where they were born in order to give birth themselves, but I completely understood it now. Not that I could explain it, but I understood it.

  I peered down at the water once again and smiled as the pull tugged at me again. I took a breath, stilled my nerves and pushed myself off the cliff. Being lighter than air, I floated down slowly toward the waves below and awaited the all consuming feeling of the ocean as it opened its arms to me.

  I swam for what could have been hours. The silky water gliding over my skin was therapeutic and energizing. The fish I passed appeared to awaken at my presence and happily follow me around, darting back and forth. Schools of rainbow fish, parrot fish, and goby kept me company as I swam. I felt so alive, so complete. A couple of minutes later, a familiar presence halted my forward motion and I looked around with anticipation.

  She appeared to fly up from the depths as she approached me silently. Her age and wisdom surrounded me with peace and I smiled as I held out my hand. She nudged it with her head and I lovingly rubbed my hand over her shell as one of her fins brushed my side. Dwarfing my slight frame with her size, the sea turtle gazed up at me with large, steady eyes. I froze as images flashed across my vision: sunning on a flat rock as the ocean sprayed over her warm shell, nibbling on sea grass with the rays of the sun filtering through the water. Image after image was shared with me until she broke my gaze and circled me. I reached out and curled my fingers around the edge of her shell, hoping to go for a brief ride.

  Reading my mind, she propelled us towards the shore. We glided effortlessly along the rocky bottom of the shallow coastline. I patted her head gently when I let go and she swam away; fading into the black of night. That’s when I felt the unmistakable warmth of darkness.

  Chapter 7

  My eyes scanned the inky water carefully, anticipating that someone or something would emerge from the endless space surrounding me. When no one materialized, I concentrated instead on where the darkness was coming from. I made my way past a bed of rocks, drawn to a depression in the sand just past it. It seemed innocent enough, but the intensifying darkness that swirled around it intrigued me. What was a random spot of darkness doing off the shore of Cyprus?

  I circled the indention of sand to make sure that it was the source of what I was sensing. As the moonlight danced through the water, the sand took on a metallic sheen and appeared to shimmer beneath me. I inched closer to get a better look. It reminded me of the bronze and gold tones of the Underworld. I tentatively reached out a hand and ran my fingers along the fine grains of sand. They glittered even brighter and I smiled at their beauty and the warmth that ran up my arm. It touched a part within me that was still young, still new. The part of my soul that had absorbed the darkness from the pomegranate rejoiced and I had to stop myself from rolling around in it like a dog in the grass. As I reached out to touch the sand again, I was surprised when it reached back.

  Climbing up my wrist and around my forearm, I froze with fascination, which quickly changed to horror when the sand collapsed in on itself. The sand around my arm refused to release its hold and I shook my arm as it began to pull me down into the sandy abyss. If this was anything like quicksand, I wanted nothing to do with it. Suffocating in a sandy grave was not my idea of a good time.

  The darkness within me was calling out to me, urging me to stop resisting. But the rational side of me took over and I fought with all of my strength to wrench myself free. The movement only created another sudden collapse and soon the sand was up to my shoulder. As I lost my balance and the sand pulled me the rest of the way under I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut. The sand surrounded my body and shifted back and forth against my skin. I knew I was dropping quickly, but to where was a mystery. Drowning in sand would not have been my first guess as to how I would die, but then everything just….stopped. Until I fell several feet and landed hard on my stomach.

  As I listened to the sound of water rushing nearby, I took a quick inventory. Breathing..check.

  Ability to move…check. Lying on the ground…check. Clothes now completely dry…check. Terror inching up my spine…check. I took a deep breath and peeked out of one eye while I tried to figure out how I could be completely dry when only seconds before I had been underwater. Did the sand dry me off? Those thoughts were erased as my open eye soaked up my surroundings. Silver grass. Bronze dirt. A shiny rock near my left arm.
Was I…in the Underworld?

  I tried to roll over and shrieked in surprise when I helplessly made another unexpected rotation and hit water. Panic shot through me and my muscles automatically took action; pushing me back to the surface with lightning speed. Spotting a bank in front of me, I pulled myself back up. So much for being dry. I recognized the marsh before me without pause. It was Charon’s marsh. I was definitely in the Underworld! How a patch of quicksand took me here I had no idea, but those thoughts leapt out of my mind as another, more urgent thought broke through -- Finn.

  Hushed voices sent a shot of adrenaline through my veins and I scampered into a thicket of bushes nearby. I watched between two branches as three women dressed in odd looking robes leisurely strolled by, smiling and laughing as they passed. I held my breath until I was sure they were out of ear shot. I had to move fast.

  All this time I had tried to find him solely in the Living realm. Not once did I consider the possibility of continuing a reverie into the Underworld. But, then again I wouldn’t have known how to get there if I’d tried. I would have to rely on my reverie ability to find him as it had so many times before. I relaxed my muscles, took a deep breath and allowed my mind to pull up his handsome face, the feel of his strong arms, and the startling blue of his eyes. I remembered his crooked smile and how it lit up my world. I thought of the way he gently kissed me and held me close. His smell, his darkness, the sound of his voice. Finally, I began to feel movement. I let go completely and allowed my ability to take me.

  The temperature suddenly decreased and everything stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes at the deafening sound of rushing water right above my head. I looked up toward the sound and gasped in surprise. I was…beneath a river? How was that possible? And why could I see the water rushing over the rocks and boulders above? The silver moon high in the sky sent just enough light through the water to allow sight. It was awe-inspiring. As I spun in a slow circle, I realized I was in some kind of underground cavern. The walls were smooth and continuous, with no entrance or exit visible.

  A low moan to my left put me on the defensive and I crouched down instinctively. As a familiar darkness, tinged with power and innocence flowed over and around me, I let out a desperate cry and ran to the slumped over form that was still moaning. I carefully dropped to my knees and reached out to touch his leg. That same leg jerked and he stiffened.

  “Finn!” I moved closer and placed my hands on either side of his face in an attempt to wake him up. “Finn! Wake up!” A pair of unfocused blue eyes slowly met mine, widened slightly and then closed again. In my panic, I shook him a little harder than I intended. The last thing he needed was a concussion.

  “Finn, it’s me! Can you hear me?” My relief in finding him was overshadowed by the dilapidated shape he was in. What had she done to him? His wrists were bound by something I’d hoped I’d never see again after my last run-in with Nadia. The iron clad white vines were coming out of the wall and holding him captive. Dried blood caked his wrists and arms. His face was bruised and sunken in with malnourishment. He was immortal now; he was supposed to be strong! Why wasn’t his body healing itself like it should?

  I searched the cavern for some kind of clue. I assumed the river rushing above was Nadia’s river, but I had no idea how far upstream we were or how it was possible to physically get in here. I ran my hands along the walls for any sign of a lever, a rock to push; anything. I rolled my eyes at myself when I found nothing. I mean, this wasn’t an Indiana Jones movie…there were no heart-stealing nine year olds down here. Unless you counted Nadia, and I definitely wouldn’t put it past her.

  I found a very suspicious-looking trunk that sat against one wall, but it was locked with something more than your normal combination lock. Besides that, the cavern was completely empty. I sighed in frustration and heard another low moan escape from Finn. I sat down next to him and attempted to wake him once more.

  “Finn! Open your eyes! We need to get out of here!” I called to him over and over. An unsteady breath rattled from his lungs and his confused eyes cracked open. His entire body stiffened at my presence and he fought against the vines to move away from me.

  “What kind of sick joke is this?” His voice was a gruff whisper, barely audible.

  “Finn, it’s me - Stasia!” I pulled him back towards me, which was alarmingly easy to do.

  “Stasia?” he stared at me for several seconds, as an inner war waged inside of him on whether or not I was real or an illusion. As something seemed to click, his eyes softened and then widened in panic.

  “You have to leave!” he managed through a painful sounding cough. “You can’t be here!”

  “I’m not going anywhere until I get you out of here,” I scolded him with conviction.

  “She’ll drain you, too,” he pleaded with me. “You have to leave.”

  “Drain me?” Had she morphed into a vampire? That would be my luck.

  “Our abilities…” he coughed and moaned again, “…don’t work...down here.”

  His eyelids fluttered and fell closed as his body relaxed and succumbed to unconsciousness once again. My heart sank into my stomach.

  “Finn!” I begged him, tears beginning to burn behind my eyes.

  “Well look who came to join the party!” Her piercing voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

  Scorching anger flamed in my heart and I whirled around right as Nadia materialized before me.

  “What have you done to him?” I demanded and moved towards her, my rage inflamed with adrenaline.

  “I’ll do whatever I want with him. He’s mine ,” she growled, as the gray smoke lifted from her skin. A blood chilling smile spread across her lips, “And now - so are you.”

  A pair of white vines erupted from the ceiling, wrapped around my body and slammed me into the wall of the cave with a sickening thump. Almost without thinking, I closed my eyes and imagined my bed, the sheets, the darkness, the feather pillows beneath my head….and waited. It wasn’t working.

  “Aw,” Nadia pouted cynically, “didn’t Prince Charming tell you? Your pathetic abilities don’t work down here.” She smirked, knelt down, and her golden eyes bored into mine as she continued, “You’re welcome.”

  The vines squeezed tighter, making it incredibly hard to breathe. For good measure, she slapped me across the face with a smug grin. As I felt blood trickle from my nose, I smiled right back at her.

  “You hit like a girl,” I laughed, trying to buy some time while I racked my brain for a way to escape.

  “I could rip your pathetic soul in half with the flick of my finger. Don’t test me!” she fumed; her features darkening into a cross between malevolence and hysteria.

  “Where is your soul, Nadia?” I asked, genuinely curious. “How did you become so cruel?” I was getting very good at hiding my fear. Or maybe my growing confidence in my own strength diminished it. Either way, hatred swirled around in my veins and collected in my tone.

  She walked over silently and kicked me in the stomach with as much force as a runaway freight train. The wind swiftly left me and I slumped over onto the floor in excruciating pain. I closed my eyes, fought to catch my breath, and attempted to return to my body once more to no avail.

  “How’s that working out for you?” She cackled. “I told you not to test me. It’s not my fault you don’t listen.”

  I wrenched my eyes open to glare up at her, but was met instead by sliver of moonlight shining through the river above. I watched as individual rays of light splintered and fractured; shooting into my eyes and spreading throughout my body. My muscles stiffened with renewed strength and my vision instantly focused. Taking advantage of this sudden and unexpected turn of events, I once again imagined the smooth sheets beneath me, the warm comforter on top of me. Chagrin, marked by surprise flashed in Nadia’s eyes as she helplessly watched me fade away.

  I sat up quickly and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through my stomach, along with painful coughs. Undeterred, I flung the covers asi
de, and ran next door to Finn’s room, wiping the blood from my nose as I went. As I ran to his bedside, I realized someone else was already there.

  “Stasia?” Natasha stood with alarm.

  “Natasha!” I ran around the bed and threw my arms around her. “I found him! I found him!”

  “Calm down, dear” she gripped my shoulders as I clutched my stomach in agony. She did her best to hold me upright; allowing me to catch my breath. “Tell me what happened.”

  Chapter 8

  The sun was just starting to make its way over the Mediterranean sea as we gathered around the kitchen table of the villa to discuss my newest reverie. After relaying the details several more times my nerves were shot, and all I could think about was getting back to the Underworld to get Finn away from Nadia. I knew he would receive the punishment for my premature departure, and I couldn’t let that happen; especially now that I knew a way into the Underworld.

  “So how exactly did I get to the Underworld through a random patch of sand at the bottom of the sea?”

  “There are portals everywhere…for those who can feel them,” Natasha explained as she smoothed down her dark hair and winked at me. “They can be large or small and located just about anywhere - you just happened to find one underwater - which are usually the type Finn prefers.”

  Maybe I had been searching for Finn in my reverie after all.

  “Which ones do you prefer?” I pressed.

  “I used to frequent a particular portal near our house on the Isle, but I haven’t been in quite some time.” She observed her hands and inspected a silver ring on her thumb. Before I could ask more, Charon interrupted our conversation.