Forever Night
Chapter 14
Magic Mirror in My Hand
The palace, she saw, was a great open structure. Beautiful with great stonework and filled with colorful sea grass and corals. There were merfolk with jewel-hued tails dancing in and out of the delicate structures, but – like those she had already seen – they seemed content to focus on what swam in the water than what hovered above.
Okay. Here I go.
She took a deep breath. Traced a symbol over her mouth, and let her breath fill that symbol. Let it grow. The bubble formed, smaller than the one that she had used with Gajeel and Lily because she needed her glasses free to show her her surroundings. She could not afford magical light. It would give her away. It would waste her energies.
She needed her energy.
Another deep breath.
She drew another symbol. This one small, round; a mirror. She reached her right hand to touch the skin over her left shoulder, just beneath her fluttering wings. Her fingers brushed her guild mark, and her mouth formed a simple word:
Find.
The word emerged, solid and shining, sinking into the mirror. It twisted, compacted, and reformed as a reflection of her own guild mark. It shrank. And shrank. And dimmed.
But did not disappear.
They were here, but not close. Fine. That was fine. As long as they were alive, that was fine.
She pointed her toes and drew a final symbol. The wings vanished. There was a brief moment of hanging euphoria, and then she fell.
She fell.
Her stomach twirled in excited terror. Her lungs clinched, drawing the bubble small with her instinctive gasp.
She entered the water with very little sound. Her toes parting the water with little effort. She slipped into the water with grace.
But that was the only point of ease she would be allowed, and she knew it. She would not be able to hide herself for long. She had to move quickly.
Now. Where to look first? Holding the two of them will be difficult, and so much of the palace seems very open. Beautiful though it is, I doubt open places are good for keeping prisoners. Will there be rooms underground?
Through her enchanted glasses, it was if the water was as transparent as air. The buildings all had a slight transparency to them. Not exactly see through, but not exactly solid either. There were three areas that appeared thick with many walls hidden from the outside.
Three, and each as far away from the other as possible, forming a triangle on the deep-ocean side of the palace. The moment she entered one of those areas, the likelihood that she would be caught was pretty much 100%. She really, really needed to find them on the first choice.
So, which one?
At this distance, her mirror still showed nothing but that faint outline of the Fairy Tail symbol. It would be no help until she got closer.
Dangerous.
Necessary.
She swam.
She thought about using the weight again, but decided against it. There was a possibility that she would need to rise quickly, and the weight would hamper that. Not to mention that she shouldn't waste any more magical energy than she had to.
She was losing enough physical energy already.
Swimming wasn't exactly easy. Especially not after hours of flying.
She kept one eye on the mirror and another on her surroundings. Dangerous, dangerous. No question that her heart was beating hard and fast. How easy was that to hear? She wasn't even sure how well selkies and merfolk could hear. Merfolk with their humanoid ears, and the selkies with their seal ears. She'd made a study of many sea creatures after her first visit to the cove, but she remembered nothing about simple traits and abilities.
Not good. But she'd have to deal with what she had.
The water deadened her ears. By necessity, it could not do the same thing for the merfolk. They lived the vast majority of their lives in the water, and so their ears must be shaped to work well in that environment.
Selkies …
Well, they spent more of their time on land than the merfolk. Or at least leaping and playing on the surface. So maybe ….
But no. They barked. They 'spoke'. That meant they could hear. Not surprising. Not helpful either.
Still. She would manage. She was small. She could fit herself behind those grand columns of coral. She might not be fast, but she could be covert.
And she might not be strong, but she was determined. And it was that determination, along with her intelligence, that made her one of the most respected mages in her guild. She had vowed to save her guildmates, and she would do so.
There was no failure in her.
She looked at the mirror again. The symbol was larger, and less transparent.
Good.
She passed some of the … courtyards? … and several sea gardens. Drawing ever nearer to the building closest to her.
Why is this place so big?
Her body was tense as she swam as quickly as she could. She couldn't waste a moment with being tired. Anything could happen at any time. She wanted to think that Merrei wouldn't kill them. That Merrei, who was always so lenient with her, would show some leniency with them.
But she wasn't sure.
She didn't know.
She thought probably not. If she were honest with herself: She knew he wouldn't spare them the way he spared her. Though she wasn't sure why exactly that was.
She had to make it. She had to make it. She had to make it.
I will make it.
Author's Note: So, things progress some. Though not much in the plot department. Not much to say at the end of this one, so ... thanks for reading, and please share your thoughts and review! Much love.