Kyma opens her eyes blearily and lets out a yawn. The room is still dark, but a thin line of golden sunlight has crept around the green curtain to lie in a thick band across the floor. Kyma stretches, unfurling her legs from their curled up position. She tosses the blankets off of herself and emerges from her room, finding her mother in the kitchen. Kyma rubs her eyes with the back of one hand, trying to clear the remnants of sleep away. Her mother hears Kyma's soft footsteps and turns. There is a bowl of porridge in her hands, and she places it in front of Kyma on the stone counter. Kyma's stomach growls at the sight of food, her plate last night wasn't very sustaining. At the noise, Lahira lets out a laugh.
"Did you even eat last night before you passed out from exhaustion?"
Kyma's face reddens slightly and she takes a bite before speaking. "I grabbed some food, but it apparently wasn't as much as I thought it was."
Lahira nods. "I know you were training yesterday, but how long were you even training for to be so exhausted?"
Kyma gives her mother a sheepish smile. "The entire day."
There is a noise from outside the house and both of their head's snap up. They hear pleading coming from outside the front door.
"Please let me through! I must see the Queen!"
The guard to respond is one of the Queen's personal guards, Cato. "Regardless, we cannot let you into the Queen's home, Surfaceguard or not. If you have a matter to discuss with Queen Lahira, wait for her in the throne room."
"Please, this is urgent!"
Lahira doesn't wait any longer and walks over to the front doorway to speak with the Surfaceguard. Kyma follows her, and finally pins the familiar voice to a face. The guard was one of the land bound Surfaceguards, the ones who are stationed at the old military tower on the island. She had always wondered how they were able to get the humans to let them stay on the island, and one of the guards had finally told her. There was a high ranked land bound merrow in the human military, and he was in charge of the tower. All of the land bound merrow guards who wished to be stationed at the tower to help their people that way would be assigned to him and he would station them at the tower. Lahira finally speaks to the Surfaceguard.
"What do you need to tell me so urgently, Dathan?"
He bows. "My Queen, there is a boat heading for the island. It's not one of the tourist boats."
Kyma feels a chill of fear run down her spine. "Could you see what the boat was named?"
He nods rapidly. "Yes, Princess. She was called the Océane."
The chill runs down Kyma's spine once more and her face pales. She turns her head slightly to speak directly to her mother. "That boat belongs to Dr. James. I saw it while I was in the Facility."
Lahira's face darkens in anger and she looks to the Surfaceguard. "How long do we have until he arrives?"
"Half an hour, my Queen."
Lahira nods sharply and turns to Cato. "Get all merrows capable of shifting to the Sea City and make sure everyone stays inside the city. He won't be able to find it."
"Including the guards, Queen Lahira?"
"Everyone." She looks to Dathan next. "Take the land bound merrows and the children too young to shift to the tower. This monster won't try to interfere with what he believes is his country's military. So he won't approach the tower. Both of you, go! We don't have much time." Dathan and Cato dash off in their respective directions, Cato dragging the other Crownguard with him, and Lahira finally looks to Lyss. "Take Kyma to one of the sídhe. The sídhe will protect her and she will be hidden."
Lyss doesn't question the decision and grabs Kyma's arm. "Let's go."
Kyma pulls against her. "Wait! I need to grab something!"
Lyss comprehends what Kyma is about to retrieve and releases her. It only takes Kyma a heartbeat to grab the pouch out of her bag. It only takes her another heartbeat to grab the bag and everything on her nightstand ledge and shove it into her chest. She doesn't want to leave any evidence for Dr. James that she had been there. She returns to the front of the house to find thst her mother had left already, presumably to get everyone to where they need to be. Lyss glances over Kyma quickly and waits for Kyma to quickly tie the pouch around her waist before taking hold of Kyma's wrist and breaking into a sprint. She leads Kyma through the trees towards the first sídhe they had been in and stops just before the entrance.
"I'm going to wait out here, I'll try and guard the sídhe form outside so I can see if he comes. If he somehow gets in, the sídhe should help you."
Kyma nods and slides through the sídhe entrance. She looks back up to see Lyss smoothing the tall grass back into place, plunging her into darkness. Kyma creeps back in the empty space until she is hidden in the darker shadows of the far wall. She swallows painfully, her pulse racing in fear.
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Things are getting really interesting now! This book is now longer than Stars of Memory, too. Do you think Dr. James will find her? What else do you think will happen? Tell me your thoughts!
Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!
~Goddess of Fate, signing out.