The dark waters| ✓

31. TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY

Cordelia. Wake up.

I let out a deep breath and try to move my hands. They are tied together by something rubbery and smooth. My eyes feel heavy for some reason, and it takes me several tries to open them completely. Everything is blurry at first but I can definitely make out someone standing in front of me. I feel a sharp pain on my forehead and  my head slops to one side. I let out a small grunt.

"So the half-breed wakes up.Greetings. I'm Kai. You would have heard of me from the mouths of the petty- what do they call themselves- 'Fidelists'. Huh, where are they now dear?"
Kai. I gulp. He has an odd accent which would have been a tad bit funny if I wouldn't have been trapped inside his chambers.

"You look a lot like your dad you know?" He says. "Oddly you also remind me of someone else."

"I don't care who I remind you of. Let me go right now." I open my eyes again and try to focus better. But that just brings a headache and my eyes shut close in pain. Kai starts laughing and his voice bounces off the walls of the room and sounds a lot louder.

"The half breed has courage."

"My name is Cordelia Lynn and I will only respond to that." I say with as much contempt as I can put in my voice. I try to open my eyes again. I'm hit with another wave of blurriness but it slowly starts clearing up. I start making out small details of Kai, like his olive skin, and dark blue unnatural eyes.

"Okay Cordelia. Do you know where your father is?" He says.

"No I don't." I try to say with a straight face. I blink my eyes carefully two three times and my vision clears completely. The sight I see makes my hair stand at its end. I almost jerk back in fright.
In front of me, is a creature with green fish skin with leathery dark green parts. The gills move occasionally in a lazy movement floating around in the water. His body ended in a tail, a deadly but beautiful one, bouncing off the light. It was at least twice his torso alone, having iredescent scales. He looked deadly. But beautiful.
"See the reason I got you here is simple. Your role is as a replacement. You see, I had made a very clear announcement earlier, that I was going to hold a public execution of Llyr. The people of marinus are now dissatisfied. They didn't get to see an execution. So I thought why not bring you into the picture? I think you'll do."

"You're a monster Kai. But the people of Marinus aren't. Stop doing this in the name of them. Everyone knows it's you who likes murdering people in cold blood. Not the people." I say.

"Ah if you insist, yes I do." He says chuckling. "And hence I shall be delighted to rip your head of with my own hands. But not now" His eyes gleam with a deadly malice.

"Guards look after our guest. Don't let her die till today evening. She's a special one." Saying this he leaves the room, looking behind one last time and smiling, revealing his sharp fangs.

All the emotions collide back in my head. The pain of my previous wound lances through and it's unbearable.
The world seems to collapse inwards and the last thing I see before giving in are his eyes, cruel black eyes, and then i drown in their black void.
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I get a dream.
Of me and Lee sitting in one of his treehouses, drawing on a rectangular sheet of paper and colouring with broken crayons against the rough wood surface. Lee looks just like I remembered. Short cropped golden hair, pink tinge on his cheeks, long eyelashes curving down as he coloured with the blue crayons which made his tiny fingers look blue.
Lee lifts his head and looks at me with the same blue eyes.

"What are you doing?"He says in his sweet childish voice.

"Nothing." I say surprised to hear my own high pitched voice.

"Well you should do something." He says.

" I don't understand."

"You have to do something!" He says shouting. I feel confused and lost. Lee gets up and stomps towards me. His small eyebrows are drawn together and he looks at me with anger.

"Wake up Leah! Wake up!"
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I jerk open my eyes and gasp.

At first I think I'm in the same dream. Because I see the same blue eyes looking right back  at me.

"Oh thank god. Leah..."

"Wait are you real?" I ask the first thing that comes in my mind.

"Of course I am dumbass." Lee says. Relief floods through my body and I feel safe again. Lee is here.

"How did you know?"

"Nerida's message. I left as soon as I got it." Lee says smiling. He looks just the same as he did when I left. "Come on we gotta get out of here before he comes back." I nod and he removes a sword from the sheath that was strapped across his waist.

"Wait do you know how to use it?" I ask.

"Not really. But I won't  accidentally kill you for sure." Lee says winking. I roll my eyes. Same old Liam Anderson. He goes behind the marble pillar I am tied against and stops. I prepare myself for the impact and close my eyes. There is a tearing sound and I move my hands. I move forward and look around.
The room I'm in is different than any other I've been to in marinus. It looks beautiful with its large marble pillars and beautiful tapestries. The glass chandelier above is huger and more beautiful than the one I saw in the fidelists headquarters. It has more luminous flowers of different shades and shapes making different shadows on the room floor. There is a bed nearby that has a leather covering and beside it stands a stone basin. The stone basin looks beautiful under the multicoloured lights, the gems sparkling like stars and the engravings of ancient runes standing out. They seem to be in a strange and mythical that give a strange but interesting vibe to me.
" let's leave." Lee says.
I hear what lee says but can't seem to get the basin out of my mind.

"Leah?"

"Yeah lets go." Saying this we rush towards the door. Before closing the door slowly, I chance a quick look at the basin and catch a glimpse of it moving.
Strange. I think before rushing towards the empty corridors end. We swim silently, but cautiously. Lee thrusts his neck out in the next corridor and moves out suddenly. I'm about to shout at him when I hear Nerida's voice from the left end. I take a turn into the left corridor and see her standing there. Unlike Lee, she doesn't look the same. There are bruises on her checks and her neck. There are ghastly wounds on her arms that look fresh and make me shiver from within. I smile at her.

"I would hug you, but these scars are hella painful." She says smiling. "Come on, get a sword we need to leave. Now." She says tossing me a sword to me. I catch the hilt of the sword and it fits right in.

"We need to meet at the entrance. That's where everyone is."

We swim further down the corridor and take a left. After going through many such corridors, we come across a large set of stairs. At the bottom of them I see Dylan and Llyr standing there. Dylan's eyes meet mine and I almost feel the relief flooding through them myself. I look around and see Noelani staring at me. She smiles when I make eye contact. I'm starting to hate her. We swim down and reach them. To my surprise Llyr swim towards me.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He asks.

"No I just have a headache but that nothing. Why?"

"Good. You need to get ready for a fight."
"What? Why" I say.

"We have run from Kai for too long. Today is the best chance." He looks at me with seriously.

"Get ready cause we're taking the fight to him."