"What do you think it means?" Gerrard asked.
We were on Anoki's dragon-form back again, flying over the ocean. We had left Nina's apartment early in the morning because we had a long day of traveling ahead of us.
Gerrard was currently examining my arm, tracing the linked Trinity crest up my arm with his rough fingers. His finger ran over the staff, which began at my elbow, and then traced the delicate chain link down to the sword, which was at about my forearm, and then down to the dove with a fig leaf that rested at my wrist where my pulse was. Each was linked to the next by a decorative chain and then linked to each other, too.
"I don't know," I told him, as his fingers lingered on the dove. "My mother had a tattoo of the Trinity crest on her upper arm, too. But hers was just the crest. My tattoo has all of the elements linked," I said.
"Yeah, I remember seeing that on her arm. There has to be a reason for it," Gerrard said.
"Master Yoqi said that every individual's markings are unique," I said. "What are yours?" I asked him, out of curiosity. Gerrard pursed his lips, as if debating on whether or not to show me his markings. Then, he lifted his shirt off, catching me slightly off-guard. I felt my cheeks flush slightly as he turned a little on Anoki's back to show me the side of his torso. Going up the muscular side were markings that appeared to be a language that I couldn't read. I reached out with cold fingers and traced the letters.
"What does it say?" I asked.
"It's Aeryan," he told me, "It says guardian." I looked up sharply and met his gaze, holding it for a few moments as my fingers lingered on his skin. I pulled my hand back and looked away as he put his shirt back on.
"Your markings are fitting," I mumbled. Gerrard gave me a small smile and then looked out at the sea below us. I continued to watch him.
Guardian. That's what Gerrard was to me. He had always been there for me, watching over me, making sure I never got hurt. Elijah had mentioned that even before Gerrard had approached me that one night when I was at Trinity High, he had been watching me. When I had first met Gerrard, he always tried to appear tough, like he didn't care. He always pretended to be a flirty bad boy player, but he always did small things that made me realize that it was all a facade. He would constantly be pulling me out of harm's way, protecting me, holding me, shielding me.
Guarding me.
The first time had been when he held me after I had witnessed my first torture done by Elijah. I had been so scared, but Gerrard had been there. He always was. And I knew that I would not have been able to complete this journey without his constant support. He kept me sane, he helped me figure things out, he pushed me to be a better witch. He had this unwaivering faith in me that I was so grateful for.
I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek. He looked at me and I smiled.
"Thanks," I told him. He raised his eyebrows at me and then shook his head.
"You need to stop thanking me all the time," he said.
"It's nice to hear it once in a while," I replied. He rolled his eyes at me and I shook my head at his stubbornness. Then he pulled out an orb of water from the ocean below and brought it up to his hand. It hovered above his palm, the water swirling around an invisible sphere.
"What are you--" I started and then he launched it at me, drenching me in water. I gasped and sputtered as the icy cold water dripped down my front. Gerrard roared with laughter, falling back on Anoki's scales. Even Anoki let out a rumble of laughter. I glared at Gerrard.
"That wasn't funny, you asshole!" I exclaimed. "Way to kill the moment!" I shouted at him. He continued laughing.
"That was the point," he said, sitting up and wiping his eyes. "I don't do mushy feelings. Not verbally at least."
"I hate you," I said, still glaring at him.
"Sure you do," he replied, a grin on his face.
"I'm going to get you back. Just you wait," I said.
"I am so scared," he replied sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled.
"But anyway, back to what we were talking about before," he said. "Look," he said, lifting my other arm where the bracelet my mother had given me dangled. He held out the dove charm to me. I brought both my wrists together, holding the dove charm next to the dove marking on my other arm.
"Significance?" Gerrard asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"When my mother gave me this bracelet, she wrote in her letter, let the dove on this bracelet serve as a reminder of what you are fighting for," I recited.
"The dove symbolizes peace," Gerrard said.
"But that's not what I'm fighting towards, though. I'm trying to find the countercurses," I replied.
"True," Gerrard said, scratching his chin. "But if you think about it, you kind of are," he said after a moment.
"How do you figure?" I asked drawing my knees up to my chests. I was shivering now thanks to Gerrard's little prank. He noticed this and reached for the bag that I had stuffed all of our things into. He extracted one of his sweatshirts and threw it at me. I pulled it over my head and relished the warmth it brought me. It smelled distinctly like him.
"Well, you've gone to at least one of each elemental nation. You met with leaders there and informed them of the oncoming war. You called Queen Maya and the Sultan out for their isolationist tendencies and told them that they should be helping out their Magii brothers and sisters. I think, to a certain extent, you are somewhat of a peacekeeper," Gerrard said.
"Then why do I have all three elements on my arm? Why not just the dove?" I asked. He was silent for a moment, pursing his lips while he mulled this over.
"I have no idea," Gerrard said finally. I frowned.
"I guess I'll have to add that to the growing list of questions to ask our sneaky Twin," I said.
"If we ever find him," Gerrard mumbled. I sighed and nodded.
If.
Our next stop was Greenland. We had flown the width of the Atlantic and were at the Northern-most part of it now. We stopped at a shabby motel for the night. Anoki shifted once more into a cat and Gerrard and I got a single room. The night was cold and dark and restless. And this pattern continued for the rest of our journey.
Fro, Greenland, we flew back to Europe, landing in England. From England, we went to Quebec in Canada. From Quebec we went to Spain. From Spain to Maine. From Maine to Morocco. By that time, we were exhausted. Anoki was tired from flying. His limbs would ache when he was in his human form. Gerrard and I were sleep deprived. We weren't used to the shifting time changes. It had been nearly a week of traveling and we were tired.
We stayed in Morocco for a few nights. Anoki had lived in the country for a few years, so he knew of a town where only Magii resided. It was there that we set up camp in a hotel to rest up and re-evaluate our strategy for finding Atlantis. So far, we were wildly unsuccessful. And after a week of finding nothing, we were wasting time. It was almost the end of March now. The school year was supposed to be coming to end by the start of June. And that's when I was supposed to be back home. I still had yet to find Atlantis and the countercurses. I was wasting precious time that I didn't have. We needed to figure out a faster way to search the Atlantic.
While we ate at a small outdoor restaurant, we discussed the best way to re-strategize.
"At the pace we're going at, we'll be lucky to find Atlantis in a month. It's already been a week and we've only covered the northern part of the Atlantic," Gerrard said.
"I do not believe that I will be able to last that long," Anoki said, a grim expression on his face. I pursed my lips, frowning.
"I know. We're all tired. And we're running out of time," I said.
All around us, people were chatting in a Magii form of Arabic. We were speaking to each other in hushed tones so that no one could overhear us, but even if they did, it was likely they wouldn't understand what we were saying.
"We need a more efficient way of finding this place. Did you find anything else in your research? Any clues at all as to where Atlantis could be?" Gerrard asked, as our waiter brought us our food. The waiter paused as he set down our plates.
"You are looking for Atlantis?" he asked, surprising us with his fluent English.
"Uhhh--" I trailed off, unsure of how to answer him.
"No. No, of course not. Atlantis is a myth..." Gerrard covered, waving his hand.
"My great, great, grandfather went looking for Atlantis. He never came back," he told us, his expression serious. Gerrard, Anoki and I exchanged a glance.
"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear--" I began again.
"Would you like to sit with us for a moment?" Gerrard interrupted, pulling a chair from a nearby empty table.
"I have work to do--" the waiter.
"Please, sit. We insist," Anoki said, pulling the young man down into the chair. He looked flustered, as if regretting that he had ever opened his mouth. Gerrard leaned in towards him, scrutinizing the young wizard, who looked like he had probably just recently received his powers. He had bright amber eyes, light brown skin, and a strong, yet youthful build.
"What's your name, kid?" Gerrard asked.
"Yonis," he replied, sinking in his chair slightly at Gerrard's intense gaze.
"How about you tell us a little bit about your grandfather, Yonis," Gerrard said, backing up a little to give him some space. Yonis grimaced slightly, his cheeks flushed. I was willing to bet anything that he was woefully regretting saying anything to us.
"It was over a hundred years ago. My great, great grandfather was a water master. This was during the time that Aghbad had control over much of Northern and Middle Africa. Atlantis had not yet relocated by that time and there were a few water masters here in Morocco. They lived by the coast, but most were subjected to slavery under the fire masters. My great, great grandfather was a slave. But as the story goes, he was very handsome and his owner's wife had taken a great liking to him. She forced him to have a secret affair with her, which brought about the existence of me and my family. But my great, great grandfather was never wanted. He was always subjected to cruel conditions and mistreatment, as most water masters were at that time." Yonis recounted the story.
His eyes glazed over as he reminisced and I wondered how many times he had heard the story. He had amber eyes, which meant that his great, great grandfather's genes were never passed down to him. They had probably been lost among generations of fire masters.
"The war against Atlantis escalated quickly during that time and that was when Atlantis had had enough. It sought the help of an air nation and was lifted into the sky and then disappeared. No one knew whether it was floating in the air, on the water, or if it was submerged. My great, great grandfather believed that it was floating on water somewhere," Yonis continued. I smirked at Gerrard, who was too engrossed in the story to pay any attention.
"The Sultan at the time issued a reward to anyone that could find Atlantis and report to him the whereabouts. The reward was a large sum of money and an enormous plot of land. My great, great grandfather took up the offer immediately. His owner had found out about his wife's affair with my grandfather and my grandfather's life was worse than ever. Even though he knew that the wife was pregnant with a child--his child--he gathered a few men, built a ship, and went out to sea. He went searching for Atlantis so that he could create a better life for himself. But after he left, he never came back. No one knows if he ever found Atlantis and refused to return or if he died searching for it like hundreds of others did," Yonis finished.
I chewed on my lower lip, thinking about the story.
"Where did he think Atlantis was?" I asked.
"He decided to sail horizontally, towards the West. There had been stories from pirate merchants during that time that there was this area of great danger to non-Magia. It was an area where there were storms and where many ships got lost at sea. He had believed that Atlantis was there. It has a name nowadays. Something with a rectangle or square--" Yonis trailed off.
"The Bermuda Triangle," I whispered, my eyes widening.
"Yes! That!" Yonis exclaimed, nodding furiously.
"Of couse. How could I have been so stupid?!" I hissed to myself, reaching for my bag to extract a book, my mind reeling with thoughts.
"Thank you for the information, Yonis. You helped us a lot. You'll find this tip more than generous for your time. You may leave now," Gerrard said, ushering the waiter away.
"But are you actually--" Yonis began.
"Goodbye, Yonis," Gerrard said, pulling me up by the elbow and hurriedly leading us away from the restaurant as I rummaged through my bag. I extracted the book I was looking for just as we rounded the corner.
"How lucky are we to have found someone with that information?" Anoki mused as we walked towards our hotel. I was too busy to pay attention, though. My attention was focused on finding a particular passage that I had paid little attention to when I was researching with Kiya back in Aerya.
When we got into our hotel, we pushed off everything that was sitting on the cloth-covered ottoman table and I set the book on it, sitting crosslegged on the floor.
"Here. Listen," I said. "The Bermuda Triangle, sometimes known as the Devil's Triangle, is located in the North Atlantic. The triangle formation was first coined by Vincent Gaddis in the 1960's. It's vertices are defined as Miami, San Juan, and the Bermuda island. The whole area is roughly...blah blah blah..." I read, skimming the section in the book. "To many non-Magia, the Bermuda Triangle has been a source of great science fiction as many inexplicable incidents have occurred in the area. Many believe that the cause of these mysterious incidents are due to paranormal or extraterrestrial causes. Still others believe that the area is simply dangerous and the mysterious incidents are due to natural causes. We in the world of magic have a different theory," I continued.
"We agree with the non-Magia theory of natural causes. The waters of the Bermuda Triangle are particularly rough and even lethal. The violent waves and cyclones are enough to cause any small ship or plane to be lost along with their inhabitants. There are reports of strange chemicals emitted from the waters, too. However, what causes these cyclones and lethal conditions? We believe they are a form of a type of force field, an experiment with magic gone wrong..." I read.
"And then that's pretty much all it says. It talks about the history of water masters trying to experiment with different protection spells and that the violent waves are a consequence of those experiments," I said, looking up at Gerrard and Anoki who were both listening intently. Gerrard was scratching the stubble on his chin. Anoki was leaning forward, completely engrossed. He sat back when I was done.
"How does that help us, though?" Anoki asked.
"What if those violent waters aren't just a consequence of an experiment gone wrong? I initially disregarded this book because I thought it was just wild speculations. But what if they aren't? What if they're, in part, right?" I asked.
"It's possible. They could be intentional. The waves and cyclones and the lethal gasses and whatnot," Gerrard said. "They could all be forms of a protection spell. If there was a city that didn't want to be found by Magia, but also didn't want to raise suspicion from non-Magia, natural occurrences would be the best option to cloak themselves," Gerrard said, catching onto what I was saying.
"Exactly. What if it's the people of Atlantis? What if they're the ones that are making all of those things happen? And then Yonis's story. What if his great, great grandfather found Atlantis? What if that's why he didn't come back? He was a water master after all. And he was sailing right towards the Bermuda Triangle. There's a strong possibility that he could have found it and that's why he never returned," I said.
"These all seem like extremely wild guesses," Anoki said.
"But it's all we've got. A wild guess is better than wasting endless days searching an entire ocean. I say we give it a shot," I said.
"I'm with Caley on this one, mate," Gerrard said to Anoki. Anoki furrowed his brows.
"My concern is the violent weather patterns. I don't know if my wings would be able to withstand that much force," Anoki said.
"We can try to use magic to counter the force or something. Or place a shield over you or something," I suggested. "I really think that we should give this a try," I said, pleading with him with my eyes. He frowned and thought about it for a minute.
"I guess it is better than flying around for ages..." he mumbled. I let out a whoop of excitement.
"Yes! Thank you, Anoki! You won't regret this!" I said, hugging my shape-shifting companion.
"I most certainly hope not," he said.
~**~**~**~**~**~
The next day, we set out. We went back to the restaurant to thank Yonis for his help. After that, we set off towards the outskirts of the city we were in. We went to the water's edge and Anoki dived into the water to transform into a dragon and put his invisibility spell over himself. Gerrard and I followed suit and jumped on his back as he rose from the water, a great black and red beast, and cloaked ourselves with our own spell immediately. Then, we were off.
We were going to fly horizontally until we saw the Bermuda Triangle, the closest vertice from our side. I felt a jittery nervousness in my stomach. This was it. This was the day that I would or would not discover a city full of people that were exactly like me. The thought of it made my stomach in turn for many reasons. Out of excitement because there was the possibility that I was not alone in this. Out of nervousness because I didn't know what to expect. Out of anxiousness because I didn't know whether or not I was building my hopes up for nothing. I was feeling so many different emotions, that I knew that I needed to calm my nerves.
So after a few hours of flying, I climbed up towards Anoki's dragon neck and crossed my legs. I needed to meditate. Mostly, I just wanted to clear my mind. I would need to keep all of my emotions in check in case we came across the lost nation.
After nearly 12 hours of flying, we saw it. The island of Bermuda. Anoki made sure to rise up higher as we passed over the luxurious island. Even though we were invisible, we didn't want to risk anything. Once we had passed the island, everything was quiet. Darkness had fallen on this side of the earth and there were thick clouds in the sky. The temperature had decreased considerably and I had to pull Gerrard's old sweatshirt out of the bag to keep from freezing.
Anoki dipped down lower so that it was easier to see. There were dark clouds full of moisture floating above the ocean and they made it difficult to see anything below. We went below the clouds and I squinted in the darkness to see if I could make out anything. But the further West we went, all I could see was an increasingly violent ocean.
"Do you see anything?" Gerrard shouted over the roar of the wind and Anoki's wings. I was shivering and cold feel the cold moisture from the air freezing on my face as my teeth chattered.
"Not yet! Can you go lower, Anoki?" I yelled.
"I don't think that's a good idea!" Anoki shouted back. But he dipped down a little lower, nonetheless.
The winds were even more violent down here. The waves were black, darker than the night sky, and colder than solid ice. They curled up over each other dangerously, crashing up so high that they licked Anoki's talons as he flew over the water. The further we proceeded, the more violent the waves got and the more fierce the wind was. Anoki had slowed down because the winds were too powerful against his wings. My eyes were watering as icy water droplets splashed into them. It felt like we had flown right into the eye of a hurricane.
"Caley, hold on tight to Anoki's scales," Gerrard said beside me. He didn't have to tell me twice. I was already clutching onto Anoki's back for dear life.
"You two might want to look ahead!" Anoki shouted over the roar of the waves. We both looked forward and gasped. We were heading straight towards a mass of swirling wind and water. We were heading straight into a cyclone.
"Turn around!" I shouted, fear and dread filling me to my very core.
"I...can't...!" Anoki yelled back, letting out a strangled roar as he tried to fight against the wind. The gusts were so strong that I found myself flying off Anoki's back at time. Gerrard held onto me with one hand while the other grasped Anoki's scales tightly. We really should have harnessed ourselves in.
"We need to tie ourselves to Anoki so we don't fly away," Gerrard shouted in my ear, reading my thoughts. I nodded.
"There's rope in the bag," I said. Gerrard let go of me for a second to reach for the bag that was over my shoulder, but that was all it took.
With a particularly violent gust of wind and an extremely large wave, my grip on Anoki's back slipped and I flew backwards. I shouted as I was thrown backwards from the force of the wind. Gerrard yelled, trying to grab ahold of me from the bag before I flew back completely, but all he was left with was the bag in his hand. I flew backwards and managed grab hold of Anoki's tail, which was flailing in the wind.
I could hear Anoki shouting something, but couldn't make out what it was. We were flying closer and closer to the violent cyclone that was quickly sucking us in. I felt tears stream down my face and freeze there. Gerrard was shouting something at me, beckoning me to try and climb back up to him. He was slowly inching closer to me, his hand outstretched. When were only inches away from each other, another brutal gust of wind hit me and made me fly backwards. But this time, I didn't have Anoki's tail to hold on to.
I let out a terrified scream as my body flew backwards away from Anoki's massive dragon form. My hand was outstretched, still reaching for Gerrard, whose hand was still outstretched for mine. My entire body was filled with fear as the wind and gravity worked together to pull me closer to the raging ocean below. The thick rain and waves splashing obscured my view of Anoki and Gerrard. This was it. I was going to drown.
Just as I had accepted my looming death, though, I heard a shriek that sounded both terrifying and soulful. It almost sounded like a giant bird and I wondered if I was going insane. This was quite a way to die: going mental while falling to my doom.
But then I felt it. The scratch of what felt like daggers digging into my both my clothes and my flesh. I let out a shriek of pain as I felt the sharpness slice through my shoulder blade, but it was drowned out by another birdlike shriek. My vision was going black from the pain, but I looked up nonetheless to see what was digging into my shoulder.
The last thing I remember before completely blacking out was a pair of round, luminescent sapphire blue eyes.
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A/N: I love this chapter. Or at least the end of it. I hope you do, too. And I really hope you can visualize the storm that Caley & Co. were stuck in. I hope I did a good job of describing it.
Anyway, what the hell do you think just happened?
Leave me a comment! And don't forget to vote!
Until next time...
XOXO