I'm sorry this took a little long, but my final exams are in a few weeks and I'm loaded with work. I'll do my best, but it'll probably be matter of uploads every one-two weeks, as opposed to every week.

Two days later

The iceberg reminded Melody of a simpler time, when she had been only twelve, where Morgana was the most dangerous thing in the sea. But she had had no idea. She sat on the chunk of ice, running her fingertips through the light dusting of snow that had settled on it. What on earth was she going to do about Zafrina? Icarus had been dead for almost four days, and although she was beginning to move through the stages of grief, Zafrina was far from her normal self.

Her anger towards Melody had cooled, but there was still resent. She didn't snap at her every five minutes, it was more so blunt and cold. Melody supposed that it was a lot better than Zafrina subtly insulting her whenever she got the chance. Finn and Bay seemed to be getting on better though, but Melody was still struggling to restore her relationship with her cousin. Zafrina had given her a little hope earlier, by asking her if she'd come with her to investigate something. But it wasn't the same.

What was she even doing on this iceberg? She should be helping them find Circe's hideout, not staring into space, watching a few seals on a distant chunk of ice. They'd reached the end of their route, and the sand was now black, as Triton said it would be. They were searching a lump of rock for any signs that someone might live there. Melody had strayed, distracted by the first floating piece of ice they'd seen.

Her head turned slightly towards the casket which lay in her hand. There it was again - a sound. Not the manipulative voice that tormented Zafrina, as Melody was unaware of, but a strange high-pitched sound, like the splintering of ice. The jewel itself seemed to fall dormant, the light dimming at night, before glowing during the day, as though it fell asleep and woke again. It was like there was something inside it, like a...

Melody opened the casket and took it in her hand, where it's glow was bright this time. Without thinking, a fleeting wish crossed her mind, like it had done when she'd wished to see Finn's dreams. Immediately, the jewel glowed, and Melody released a startled gasp as her surroundings disintegrated like sand, like it had that time.

This time, she wasn't inside Finn's mind. It felt much more real - a place she'd seen, recently. Melody looked around, noticing movement in the corner of her vision, brought to reality when she heard heavy clanging. Something crouched with its back to her, hammering a sword with a large stone - without success, it seemed, with the pile of broken rocks beside him. The creature turned to face her, sensing a presence, and when their eyes met, Melody went cold.

"What..." she stuttered. Something told her who it was.

He was the creature on the cover of the fake book. There was no doubt. The skin, deathly pale with a bizarre translucency and sickly yellowish tint, with gills in his neck. His hair was white, the eyes a piercing - and startlingly familiar - yellow. The reptilian hands had a large metal claw on the right thumb. The other fingers ended in genuine claws. Beginning from the sternum and running diagonally across the collarbone to the top of the left shoulder, there were three long, ragged scars, with another slicing into the cheek. He stared at her, a rock in hand, where he'd been trying to destroy a sword. There was a burn on his arm - it resembled the same kind of scar left by the trident's beam...

Finn noticed Melody's light red fins dropping into the water. He briefly considered knocking the ice to give her a little scare, but he could see a yellow glow through the relatively thin chunk of ice. He broke the surface, but what he saw alarmed him. "Melody?"

Lysidus saw the Abraxia stone in her hand, and without warning, he lunged towards her. Melody raised her hands to shield herself, but Lysidus went right through her. She spun round, facing him. Yet as he stalked back towards her, she knew he couldn't hurt her - she could still feel the iceberg beneath her. He didn't say anything, mesmerized by the stone in her hand, and she flinched away as he reached for it, even when his hand harmlessly phased through it. Realizing she was intangible, Lysidus shoved the sword, almost protectively, into his tattered cloak. Before it disappeared from view, she noticed red, eerily glowing stones embedded into the black. He'd been attempting destroy it, why?

"What's going on?" The question escaped from Melody's lips. Lysidus appeared confused, but not as much as she was, somehow. He gave her a strange look, as if plotting how this would benefit him. He said it coolly and smoothly, as if he'd been prepared.

"So. Have you been tinkering with my stone?" Melody twitched, unsettled by his voice. It was smooth, yet cold and - somewhat familiar, as if she'd heard it before. She stared at the aquademon before her. She tried to think of something.

"We're about to find Circe. You've lost..." She tried to sound brave, but he didn't look afraid at all.

"Have I?" Lysidus circled her like an orca around a seal. "Your little group is falling apart at the seams. Your cousin is in turmoil over a silly accident you caused." Her initial thought was how Lysidus could know about their conflict, but the mention of Zafrina shook her more.

"It wasn't my fault! Icarus made the decision. If I didn't do anything, Finn would be dead..." Wait. How did he know about Icarus, too? Her heart started to race with fear at how nothing seemed to add up.

"You won't win. I'll get that stone if I have to kill every single one of you to do it." Lysidus came closer, but Melody was assured that he couldn't touch her. Yet that didn't mean he couldn't hurt her. "It's a shame about your grandfather. I would have liked to have seen that, or been the one to do it. How much did your grandfather tell you about the war?

"He told me enough." Melody said, bitterly. "You killed my grandmother's family, and countless more. You tried to kill my entire race with that stone, and if it weren't for -"

"Your entire race?" Lysidus laughed. "Look at you, pretending you're something you're not, with that human blood that runs through your veins."

"How could you possibly -"

"Your precious grandfather has more blood on his hands than he'd be prepared to tell you!" Melody couldn't hear anymore, but it was here she heard her name being called - Finn.

"Melody! Melody!"

Her grasp tightened around the stone and then Lysidus and their surroundings vanished. She was back on the iceberg, laying flat on her back, with Finn above her, where he'd been shaking her. His eyes flooded with relief. "Thank goodness!"

"Finn?"

"What happened to you?"

"What? What was I doing?" Melody was so confused.

"You don't know? You were laying here in a daze! Talking about the stone and Icarus..." Melody clung to his arm, shuddering as she realized, but it was more so from what she had just seen.

"I saw him. I saw Lysidus..." It took Finn a few moments to register what she was saying, before his lips parted in silent realization. Melody looked at the stone in her hand, hearing Lysidus's voice still filtering through, but she wasn't the only one.

"I can hear a voice." Finn said. He looked at the stone. Melody frantically shoved it into the casket, and sealed the lock properly - the voice fell silent. "Mel, what is going on? What do you mean, you saw him?" He placed a hand on her arm, searching her eyes. Melody felt drained from her experience.

"I wasn't thinking, I just briefly wanted to know, and it took me there... It glows and doesn't, I just wanted to know why, and for some reason it brought me to him... he was trying to destroy a sword, and I know it was him, I know it was... Finn, it was so strange, he seems to know about us -" Finn's grasp on her tightened slightly, unintentionally, with his fear.

"He knows about us? What are you talking about? How could he know?"

"He knew I was human, that our group is falling apart, he was talking about something my grandfather did..." Melody looked, stricken, at Finn, who looked mortified. "Finn, I'm really scared - I've had this sinking feeling over the past weeks. Things my grandfather was telling us. Some things don't add up, he left things out, I'm sure of it. You don't think it's a bit strange, how he wouldn't tell us why the aquademons were dying out? Who put them away, why Circe never showed up after who knows how many years?"

"Melody, I don't think that's important right now..." in truth, Finn didn't want to know. He had a terrible feeling that the truth was an ugly thing buried. "You saw Lysidus, in person. Where was he?"

"...oh, no. It was... It looked familiar. Like we've seen it recently." Melody realized the weight of her words. Finn had dug his hands into his hair.

"Of course, they can move faster than we can... oh, no. Melody, we have to get moving. We have to get this stone to Circe, and destroy it. Before he finds us -"

"What's going on?" Zafrina startled them. Her head and shoulders appeared in the water just below the chunk of ice. "Having a rest?" Her voice wasn't very light-hearted or teasing. Melody looked at Finn, heart thudding - would he tell her? She hated keeping things from Zafrina, but if she found out she'd used the stone to see Lysidus in person... Finn looked as though he might, but Zafrina lost patience. "Don't bother. We've found the entrance." As she disappeared below the surface, Melody and Finn glanced at one another. Melody gave him a long look, eyes large and dark - surely, Zafrina would hate her more, knowing she had used the stone. Finn looked back, hesitating, but her look of fear persuaded him.

"Maybe it's best we keep this between us. Afterall, we won't have this for much longer now. And we shouldn't cause unnecessary upset." Finn gave her hand a gentle squeeze, although he couldn't hide his concern. Melody followed him, for some reason, not feeling particularly relieved. The end of Wundagore was a strange place, where the sand turned black, as Triton had told them. But there was something else, something dark and forbidden, almost.

They followed Zafrina to a cave entrance, which, oddly, had been sealed by an ice barrier before Bay had shattered it with Melody's staff. He handed it back to her, lifting a lantern to a carving. It was a language Melody nor Zafrina recognized, but Bay and Finn did, since Nia had wanted her army to be multilingual.

"...Good luck." Bay glanced at Finn, making sure he had read it correctly. They turned to Melody and Zafrina. "What does that mean? Good luck?"

"...not the faintest idea. Mel?" Zafrina used her more affectionate term for the first time in days. She looked at Melody this time, her eyes not as angry, as this new information and what they faced made her forget about Icarus. Melody shook her head a little, to show she didn't understand either. They looked into the black hole, feeling a deep coldness from within, as if no living soul had passed through it for years. But it had to be Circe's home...

"How do we know it's hers?" Melody asked, for some reason, not wanting to go down there into the blackness. Bay and Zafrina looked paler than usual, they suddenly noticed.

"We opened the entrance. There was a voice, the moment it opened. It said, "Go away." But there was nobody there." There was a long silence.

"Her magic?" Finn asked, quietly.

"...possibly."