Soul Ties

Chapter 60: Birds of A Feather

We wait, the hours dragging by so slowly that my head feels like it might implode. Thirty-seven hours in a day seemed like such a blessing when I thought I'd be spending that time with Seren. But now it feels more like a curse. I pace back and forth, my lungs burning from the insufferable heat. Thankfully, the sun has set enough that the sting from the rays on my skin has dulled.

Unlike me, Estella sits patiently, her eyes staring at nothing but the same spot of water for hours. How is she so calm? Every part of my body was screaming for time to hurry up and for us to get going. My mind keeps wandering to thoughts of torture and dehydration. And yet Estella hasn't moved a single feather.

"It's time," she finally announces, stretching her entire body.

"Thank the Goddess," I mumble. We both step to the edge of the field, but instead of diving in like before, we slowly dip our bodies in until we're completely submerged. Estella told me earlier that since the waters would be almost completely still from everyone being indoors, a splash on the surface could cause too much attention.

When we're both under, I peer out at the quiet waters. The darkness covers almost every inch, the only light coming from the moon above us. Not one ship moves throughout the ocean. The only thing traveling around besides us are the fish.

"We need to stay low," Estella explains. "The darkness of the floor will keep us covered until we make it to the buildings. Come on."

We dive, Estella ahead of me with her wings close to her body and me following her. When we get to the shadows, her body goes from a beacon of light to a fading ember. She was right when she said the darkness would hide her. I knew I'd become almost undetectable. My blue skin already matches the water so much that I sometimes feel like I'm one with the ocean.

But I was worried about Estella for nothing. You couldn't really see her unless you knew what you were supposed to look for. And since none of the guards had thought of her as a threat, this was the perfect plan.

We sail through the silenced waters, my tail only moving when I need enough force to push myself forward. We swim around the building both our homes are in, around another glass building behind it, until the waters have nothing but rocks and trees left. Estella looks back at me and points ahead to a forest. I follow her lead.

A ray of moonlight touches her back, making her wings shimmer. She almost looks like the golden threads wrapped around all of our fingers. When she plunges back into the darkness, I look down at my pointer. Scorpius was okay, he had to be.

Moving through the trees as silently and as quickly as we could, I felt more at ease. This underwater forest gave us the cover we needed. Reaching for the trunk of one to pull myself forward, a school of angelfish swim above me. The burn in my throat is almost too much to contain. It's like everything around me reminded me of him. I don't want to let myself feel guilty for letting him get captured, but it's hard when it was my fault in the first place.

Maybe I wasn't the mate for Scorpius. Maybe after I saved him I'd let him know that loving me was doing more harm than good. Even if I was healing that torn part inside him, physically I was doing nothing but hurting him. Maybe he would see that none of this was worth it. In the end was I just meant to be alone? My mother had managed life without a mate, was it possible I could do the same?

The trees come to an abrupt end, plunging us in an emptiness that makes me feel so exposed. Even though we're still closer to the ground than the surface, I feel like I'm being watched.

"Estella?" I whisper, but she brings her finger to her lips to silence me. She points, bringing my attention to two huge boulders jutting out from the floor. They split in the middle to what appears to be a man made path separating them. We both swim faster.