Page 29 of Sustaining
Tonight, I’m going to a haunted island.
Twelve
A Sea of Glass
Three a.m.is considered the witching hour. It’s said that a lack of prayer so late into the night creates pent-up supernatural activity.
So what better time to set sail to an eerie island?
“Isolde Island. Sounds poetic. Heartbreaking in a way.” Sinister flicks his wrist, and another perfect ship slams into the ocean right next to his first. He doesn’t look away from his creation, and with another turn of his fingers, big white sails catch against the fierce wind. He’s even made a door on the far side of the ship, a room that I can only assume is the captain’s quarters.
Suddenly, he really does look like a master boat builder.
“What’s on Isolde Island?” Rime’s gaze lingers along the dark, starry horizon. The amount of hesitant uncertainty in his tone tells me all the things he’s thinking but isn’t saying.
“There’s a mage my mother grew up with hiding on the abandoned island. I want talk to her. I want more information on Ellise.”
“Fucking Ellise again.” The ice dragon’s teeth clench, and Chaos and I are both watching the flexing anger that’s spasming in the sharp angle of the shifter’s jaw.
Chaos turns away from his brooding friend. “Isn’t there another way? Can’t you just ask Agatha?”
“I never asked Agatha about the Solstice Queen because I never realized she was the cause of outlawed mage magic. For me to ask her now, I’d have to travel back to Valencia.”
“And that’s not happening.” Rime throws one more negative comment onto his pile of negative comments.
So helpful.
“This mage is just miles away. It’d take no time at all to hunt her down on the tiny island.” My voice quivers involuntarily at the end, and it only makes Rime narrow his frosty gaze even more.
“But?”
“But what?” It’s a shrieking retort that has me rolling my eyes at myself.
“But what aren’t you saying, Tamer?”
Sinister, Chaos, and Rime all wait for my reply. And damn, do I make them wait.
“Isolde Island is said to be haunted.”
A strangled sound of disbelief fans from Rime’s lips. “It’s about to be haunted by dragons in about an hour.”
“No, really, there are tales surrounding the island. That’s why it’s abandoned.”
“What kind of tales?” Sinister searches my eyes.
“The island is said to attract water women.”
Chaos’ lips part, but he doesn’t say anything.
It’s Sinister to who finally speaks. “Like mermaids?”
“In a way, the water women are said to be similar to the lore of mermaids. They’re alternative mermaids. Cruel. Deadly.”
“Have you seen them?” Sinister seems engulfed in the tale of this mysterious island.
“I’ve never been to Isolde Island. There were always kids who would sail out and try to get as close as they could, but as far as I know, no one ever stepped foot on that land.”
A span of quiet follows my words, and nothing but the crashing waves and howling wind settles in. The manic gleam is back in Rime’s gaze. I can’t decide if it’s his mind racing or if it’s a reaction to fear, but it’s a startling sight in his pretty blue eyes.
