CHAPTER 3
Here is the promised chapter. I am really sorry that it is a little late, but I can explain! I had rowing training and a party today so I was out of time. This one is just shy of 5000 words, so enjoy the extra-long chapter and read slowly, because the next chapter will probably be a couple of days at least, so please hang in there. Enjoy the chapter, and there is a small Author's Note at the bottom so please read it! Thanks!
CLARY POV
It was all dark. I couldn't see. The last thing I remember was my mother's smiling face, and then it was gone.
I was in my father's palace, Triton. It was the middle of the night, judging from the light from the surface, and I had been woken from my slumber by shouting in the courtyard outside my bedroom window. I had always been a light sleeper, and this particular argument would have woken the whole kingdom had it been anywhere else but the king's private courtyard for seeing off loved ones and soldiers. I swam through the maze of dimly lit corridors lit by mother-of-pearl lamps, avoiding the main foyer and the servant's quarters. The warren of less well known paths I was now traveling through were less well-kept and lit, giving off an almost eerie feel. As I reached the sheltered outdoor corridors on the outside walls of the palace, I slipped into the alcove closest to the arguing couple a hid behind the coral servant's door that was slightly ajar; a gap small enough for a petite 5 year old Calypsaï, but only just. My fiery red hair floated around my face and I hastily swept it back to keep out of sight.
My mother, Jocelyn's fiery red hair, so much like my own even at that young age, was floating around her in the clear, deep water. Her tail, green and silver in colour, swished angrily from side to side, floating her up to Valentine's height even though she was about 9 inches shorter than him normally. She had a thick sewn kelp bag slung across her shoulders and seemed to want to leave. Two high spots of colour on her cheekbones indicated her anger; by now they were so dark they were almost the colour of her scarlet hair. I had never seen her look so – livid.
Valentine was yelling at her, gesticulating wildly. His blue-gold tail was also swishing violently, and his eyes were ablaze with anger and frustration. It was the first time she'd ever seen him look so angry, especially after Jonathan's disappearance. Normally he just looked… defeated, and now his eyes were alive and wild with a challenge in them, almost mirroring Jocelyn's own expression, the only difference being the tear tracks down her cheeks, visible even underwater, while his eyes were filled with tears but they hadn't overflown. Yet.
"What about Clary?! You've lost one child, now you're leaving the other?!" he shouted. Why are they talking about me and Jonathan like that? I thought. Surely he doesn't mean that mother is leaving us…? My heart squeezed at the thought, and I tried to reassure myself that she wasn't leaving, that she was only going to market and she'd be back soon, but I had plenty of doubt.
"It's for Jonathan that I'm doing this! I have met a Eulysae who trusts me, and I am trying to find Jon through him! Don't you see, this isn't just about you losing me! I'm doing this for the kingdom, Valentine!" Jocelyn screamed. So she is leaving! My eyes filled with tears at the confirmation of my deepest fears. I've already lost Jonathan, now I'm losing Jocelyn too?! I thought in despair.
"I will not let you abandon us again, Jocelyn. The Eulysae's realm is the sky, and the sky is everywhere on Dry Land! It is likely that your 'friend' will stay away from water sources in order to stop threats by Calypsaï! Calypsaï are only powerful in their element!" Valentine yelled even louder. I had no clue what a Eulysae was, but it sounded bad if my father was getting so panicked about it. What if they are trying to kill us Calypsaï?
I cowered behind the door I was hidden behind, my parents' voiced ringing in my ears. Their conversation - shouting match - brought up unwanted and unstoppable memories of my older brother Jonathan. Jonathan, swimming through reefs. Jonathan, taming a dolphin. Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan. I missed him so much, but I didn't understand where he was. Is he in the sea? Or is he… on Dry Land?
"HE TOLD ME HE LOVED ME!" Jocelyn hollered. "HE TOLD ME I COULD CHOOSE OUR LOCATIONS! HE WOULDN'T LIE TO ME!" She sounded so desperate to believe what she had said, my heart broke a little more. Partly because she sounded so destroyed, partly because she sounded like she knew it was true.
"I think you'll find he would, Jocelyn. If this is how you feel, leave. Leave on your futile mission to save Jonathan. Leave, leave your family to die in the war. If that is what you want, the door is that way." Valentine indicated the coral gates to our kingdom with a long, lightly muscled arm. His voice was void of emotion and scary-calm. His eyebrows were almost touching and he looked down upon his wife, his lover, his Queen, with so much disdain that I could hardly believe that he had ever loved her at all. I knew that wasn't true though; for five years they showed their affection for each other through me. After all, if they didn't love each other, why would they have two children? But looking at them now, who would guess they ever loved each other in the first place?
"I don't love him back! I'm USING him, Valentine!" Jocelyn cried. The raw emotion in her voice caused my vision to blur with unshed tears. I didn't know if she was telling the truth anymore, didn't know I could trust her. After all, why would she leave if she cared? She could send pretty much anyone else after Jonathan. Looking at Valentine, I saw, heartbreak, betrayal and anger. I knew then that he didn't believe her, even if I wasn't sure if I did.
In his eyes, I saw a marriage gone horribly, inexplicably wrong. In a little over five minutes.
"But I will go, if that is what you want. I will leave, Valentine, and return with my son. So farewell, Valentine. I will stay in contact with Stephen Atlantis, since you won't stay in contact with me. I am trying to help, Valentine. If you need to find me, look for Lucian Graymark. Goodbye." and that was the last time I saw my mother, before she disappeared forever to the land where the sun shines, the land far above.
I woke up with a start, the vividly accurate dream ringing in my head. That same dream – or really a nightmare – had visited me on more than one occasion. In fact, it appeared most nights, especially when I was stressed. When most teenagers stressed, they get an outbreak of pimples. When I am stressed, I have a reoccurring dream about when my family was broken beyond repair. Salty tears had raced in wonky tracks down my cheeks, leaving behind a salty after taste and a slight crust under my fingers. My hair red brushed against my cheek, the now tangled curls matted and twisted against an off-white pillow under my head that was resting on a plain creamy sheet spread taut over the mattress in a dark, quiet bedroom. The blue, white and yellow polka dot comforter had been kicked off the bed long ago, during my thrashing while I dreamt of my mother and father's fight eleven years ago in the underwater palace that I yearned for… but didn't . The day when I lost faith in my lost mother and the day my father lost faith in himself. I was wearing a borrowed, too large grey T-shirt over my own underwear and some blue checked sleep shorts that had been rolled over at the waist to fit around my narrow hips. Who changed me? I thought. Panicking, I sat up straight with intentions of finding someone to ask and hastily flopped back down on to the soft bed once again as a result of the wave of dizziness that washed over me and the pounding of my head between and behind my eyes and on my temples. My throat was dry and sore from lack of water and my tongue felt thick and too large for my own mouth. Opening my sore viridian eyes once again, I saw a concerned-looking beautiful dark-haired woman who was no older than twenty five looking down at me from beside the queen sized bed. For a moment, my heart leapt, and I thought Izzy was with me, making sure I was okay after the mysterious events that resulted in my being here. But then I got a closer look and saw large bright, glacial blue eyes surrounded by dark lashes and eyebrows watching me carefully from a round, unfamiliar face and realised that she was a complete stranger. A pretty, kind stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.
"Oh, you're awake. I'm Cecily Verlac, Sebastian Verlac's older sister, and you must be Clarissa Fairchild. Here is some Tylenol for your - no doubt - migraine, and some orange juice too - you must be thirsty. From what I saw last night, you were drunk as a skunk when the boys brought you up here." she said kindly with a warm smile gracing her pale pink lips and lighting up the features on her face. I decided that I liked her, stranger or not. She reminded me of Ella, and I love Ella to bits. I gratefully took the small, ominous pink capsules and orange juice in my shaky hands, managing to swallow both pills and the glass of orange juice down, before I asked Cecily the dreaded question about my clothing. Or rather, how I got into my clothing.
"Who changed me?" I asked, my voice rasping and my throat feeling raw and unused to talking. Cecily laughed, tipping her head back to expose a slim, milky throat, and a sweet, quiet noise that brightened her delicate, feminine features and lit up her unusually blue-violet coloured eyes filled the otherwise quiet room.
"I changed you. Don't worry, I got those perverted excuses for boys out of the room for that. I think they're playing video games in the rec room, but they might be playing monopoly in the kitchen by now. Jonathan, Alexander, Jace, Jordan and Sebastian were all really worried about you because according to Jace, you fainted and were very pale. They were considering phoning a doctor last I heard of their plans." No! If they get doctors, the doctors will find a few things a little weird with my anatomy, and my general health checks would have some funny results too; my heartbeat was about half the speed of the average sleeping human, plus my breathing was different too – with an intake of 21% oxygen and an exhalation of 3% oxygen. The doctor would see no navel on my stomach, or any blemishes, scars or birthmarks anywhere on my slightly luminous pale skin. Cecily seemed to register my discomfort at the mention of a doctor, and smiled sympathetically with promising that she would ensure that no doctors came within fifty metres of me.
Yep, I definitely liked Cecily. I smiled weakly in gratitude, surprised at her ability to read my expression when she barely knew me and had met me yesterday. Something seemed to click in her mind, and Cecily stood up so fast it made my head spin. I'm sure that when I stand up next to her, she'll tower over me by at least nine inches. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'll go get the boys. I completely forgot about them! They were pretty worried, the last time I saw them, and I'm sure that seeing and talking to someone familiar will do you good after last night's trauma." I wanted to ask about Izzy and Ella – where were they? – but I couldn't find the strength to move or speak. Cecily left me to my own thoughts while she gracefully glided out of the room in her six inch black stilettos, smoothing down her navy dress as she went, to retrieve the boys from their occupations downstairs.
What had happened last night? I remembered that we went clubbing to the local nightclub downtown called Metropolis... Jace, Jon, Jordan, Alec and Seb were all there... I had a strong alcoholic drink... Or four... I saw angels falling from the sky. Wait, what? Oh well. But how did I end up here? I knew I was somewhere in Idris still, due to the grassy plains and panoramic beaches visible from the narrow crack in the midnight blue blinds in front of the window, but I had no idea how I got here, where Ella was, where Izzy was, or why I'm here. There is a big hole in my memory, and everything that happened after we arrived at that club, Metropolis, was hazy and one big blur. A fun blur, but it was still a blur. And that's what scared me. Did I do something last night that I will regret? Did I accidentally spill my secret to someone? Am I in danger? Are Ella and Izzy in danger? I had no answers to any of these questions, but the thing that worried me most was the one probably most important to me, right here, right now.
Where on Earth am I?
Just then, the door swung open and in came Jace, Sebastian and Jon looking nervous and disgruntled. They all came over and told me how worried they were when I 'fainted on them' while things were 'just getting good'. Looking at Jon made me think of my Jonathan, who did sort of resemble him, even for just the tiniest bit, and before I knew it, tears were running down my face again at the devastating memories of my broken family. I remembered what Camille had said about these boys being the ones, but she had seemed pretty adamant about the others too and look where that got us. Seb and Jon backed away at the sight of tears – was I really that scary? - but Jace wrapped me in his arms - surprisingly comfortable arms, given the amount of muscle on them - and patted my back as I sobbed relentlessly into his once clean, now tear stained, black button-up shirt. He was warm and smelled funny, a strange combination of an almost tangy smell, like citrus fruit – lemons, kiwi, oranges, limes - and sunshine, but it was remarkably soothing. Once I was content again and trusted my soft voice to speak without breaking, I raised my head from Jace's toned chest to peer up at his features, highlighted by the dim morning light streaming in from the window.
"Where am I? What happened?" I asked in a croaky voice. Jace looked down at me in concern, his gold eyes sad but serious, looking surprisingly protective for someone he just met and barely knows.
"Sebastian's beach house. You took a few too many daiquiris last night. They are over three quarters alcohol, and the rest a mixture of exotic fruit, and you had four or five. I took you home because I couldn't find or get hold of Ella or Isabelle." He replied.
"Actually, it's my beach house," a voice I recognised as Cecily's piped up. Jace rolled his eyes and turned back to me with a small smile on his face from Cecily's comment. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who liked Cecily.
"Do you want to come downstairs, or wait here for five more minutes while Seb tries to get hold of Ella again?" he asked softly. I nodded my head in the direction of the door, not trusting my voice not to fail me. He picked me up bridal style easily, as if I weighed nothing (which I practically did) and carried me down three storeys of stairs. The walls were all baby blue, decorated by tasteful abstract artwork every now and then. My favourite was one that was orange and blue and looked a little like a Picasso painting but with no facial outline, just whorls and blocks of bright colour. The polished, fragrant carved sandalwood banister bordered the staircase on the side opposite from the wall and the carpets looked fluffy under Jace's bare, tanned feet and were a creamy colour.
Jace carried me into a neat steel-and-granite kitchen a set me down gently on a pale yellow couch with blue throw cushions littered on it in the corner. The freezer, fridge, microwave, stove, sink and dishwasher were all stainless steel and looked brand new, while the walls were blue, the ceiling was white, and the floor was checked black and white marble - polished until it shone - in a chessboard style. The island in the middle of the room – that was surrounded by tall bar stools with yellow cushions on them – was granite and was dark grey like most igneous and metamorphic rocks, as were the counters on top of the plain white painted sandalwood cupboards and drawers, and stylish lamps hung down from the ceiling right above the island, casting a bright amber glow onto the shiny surfaces. A sandalwood table with matching wooden chairs with yellow and blue striped cushions occupied the far end of the room. Whoever designed this little beach house knew what they were doing. Was it Cecily who designed it? There was a small square window above the sink looking out to the road with potted parsley, basil, carnations and sunflowers on the window sill underneath it, and on the opposite wall were large French windows giving a panoramic view out onto the beach. ALICANTE COVE, a wooden sign said near the house. So Cecily's house is near our beach house, I thought.
"Clary, is there anyone I can call to come and pick you up?" Cecily asked politely. She sounded like a concerned friend's mother, when she couldn't be older than twenty-five. She cocked her head to the side slightly and indicated the open phone book with a flourish of her slim fingers, which I noticed were filed fairly squarely and slightly rounded off at the corners to stop her from getting scratches or ingrown finger nails.
"Uh, Ella-Jasmine Naen or Isabelle Trueblood, but I'm surprised that they're not looking for me already." I replied quietly. Jace opened his mouth to speak, and I turned towards him expectantly, but as if on cue, a loud toll rang throughout the busy household and ended all conversations; a doorbell.
Seb stood up and turned in the direction that the continuous ringing sound was coming from; the corridor to my left. "I'll get it," he announced. He strode past me with purpose and everyone swivelled around to face the corridor expectantly. Seb's footsteps rang through the silent beach house for a few quiet seconds and the opening of a door was just audible and two familiar female voices started speaking at once.
"Where is she? If she's hurt, I'll—"
"Is she here? Jace called us and said—"
Sebastian interrupted them both. "Girls, girls. 'She' is in the kitchen, but I still need to talk to—" Two sets of footsteps were audible as the girls shoved past Seb and headed towards us in the kitchen. Cecily, Jace and Jon stood up to receive them, while Jordan, Simi and Alec – who had been lounging in the kitchen when Jace had carried me down – sat up straight and turned towards the rapidly approaching heeled women. Ella and Izzy swung around the pale blue wall, their faces arranged into indecipherable masks, their slender bodies forming a formidable wall in the doorway and their stormy but worried eyes immediately scanned the room for potential threats before they locked on to me and warmed remarkably. They dashed towards me as fast as their heels would let them and enveloped me in a hug, smiling widely, before straightening up and addressing the room's occupants.
"I believe we've had the pleasure to meet Jace, Seb, Jon, Alec, Simi and Jordan already, but you, tall lady with the amazing fashion sense, we have not yet had the wonderful opportunity to meet." Izzy announced formally, looking at Cecily expectantly with a thin, perfectly plucked eyebrow raised at the woman in question.
"I'm Cecily Verlac, Sebastian's older sister, and it's true what they say about how great minds think alike, huh?" Cecily said with a smirk on her face. Izzy grinned ever wider, and accepted Cecily's hand to shake. When their hands touched, a smile fell off both of their faces and Izzy hastily backed away as if Cecily's touch had burned her. She whipped her head between the six boys and Cecily, before swinging to me.
"Well, I'll be taking Clary home now, if that's okay. Thank you for keeping her safe, but we really need to go. Sorry. Nice to meet you!" Izzy said with an obviously forced smile that looked more like a grimace as she started to gather her things from the floor where she'd dropped them to hug me and greet everyone in the room.
"Oh, please, stay for coffee. We would feel bad that our hospitality had not been enough for you." Cecily insisted with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. The girls stared each other down before Izzy turned away and grabbed my hand to pull me up with.
"Come on Clary, we need to go shopping, don't we?" Izzy said it politely, but her eyes, boring into mine, were urgent and wide with alarm. I got the message and stood up carefully, smiling gratefully at Jace and Sebastian, and with one more cautious glance towards Cecily we hastily left the house, followed by Ella who was thanking the boys and making believable excuses about our need to leave the Verlac's beach house. The smooth talker of our group, as always, and avoiding Cecily like she was a disease that Ella had no interest in catching anytime soon.
We leapt into Izzy's Lamborghini and she peeled out of the gravel driveway with squealing tyres and probably leaving skid marks in her wake as soon as we left the beach house. Once we had cleared the sandstone wall, she roared away from the house and Cecily without looking back. She drove along the winding coastal paths like a bat out of hell, and she didn't stop until we neared the confines of our own wooden beach house before she ushered us inside with a careful glance at the storm clouds in the sky.
JACE POV
What had gotten into her? I thought. Izzy was usually polite and bubbly, but she lost all of that façade as soon as her perfectly manicured hand touched Cecily's. Cecily was even weirder, trying to convince them to stay when it was obvious that they weren't comfortable with it. As soon as the Lamborghini pulled out of the gravel drive to Cecily's home, she whirled on us.
"Where did you meet those girls?" She practically growled. We all flinched simultaneously; usually Cecily is the calm one, the one in control. She basically scared those girls out of the door and here she is asking about our friend choices?
"At school, Cece," Alec said. "Why?" I looked over to Sebastian to see if he knew anything, but he smiled apologetically and shook his head no.
Looking around the room, I realised something was off. I just couldn't tell what.
CLARY POV
"So, what was up with Cecily today?"
Ella, Izzy and I were walking down to the pristine beach in Alicante Cove with our bikinis on and towels rolled up and tucked under our arms. It was early evening, and the setting sun was streaking colours of red, yellow, pink, orange and gold across the sky. The beaches were emptying rapidly because of the oncoming dusk and 'shark time' – when sharks are on the prowl for food.
"I'll tell you in the cave." Was Izzy's short reply.
We headed down to the Southern end of the cove where the cliffs loomed and caves had formed under the erosion from the wind and the sea. Gulls flew in lazy spirals above, the serene beauty of it all incomparable to the beauty of the submerged world, even now when pollution and litter is affecting our seas.
Ella chose a hidden cave that had stalagmites and stalactites protruding from the floor and ceiling like teeth in the gaping jaws of a shark. In the quiet evening, Izzy striking the flint against quartz to create a spark was like a gunshot; loud and startling. Once Izzy had set alight the dried driftwood collected by Ella and I, we unrolled our towels and relaxed against them, waiting patiently for sundown.
"Cecily is not what she seems." Izzy said. After a pause, she continued with her explanation.
"Cecily had the aura of a magical being; that's why I was so friendly. I thought she might be Calypsaï. But when I touched her hand, I didn't get that kind of energy – the lulling, calm energy that radiates from Calypsaï. I got the stormy, free, weightless energy that comes from the Eulysae."
EULYSAE MALE'S POV – SECOND PERSON
The boy quietly opened Cecily's bedroom door and poked his head inside. She looked at him with a delicate dark eyebrow raised. The boy sighed before explaining himself.
"I think you're going to have to be more careful." He said. "Izzy suspects, and the others will follow once she tells them her theories." He said quickly.
"I know." Cecily deadpanned. "But as Eulysae, our mission is to eliminate the Calypsaï, and we are in prime position to start with their precious princes. We'll just have to speed up our plans."
"Okay, Cecily. I'll do my best." The boy nervously squeaked.
Cecily turned to him, her expression like that of someone peering at chewing gum stuck on the underside of their shoe. "You'd better."
CLARY POV
Swimming was a release. The feel of bubbles running through your hair, currents rippling around you, the euphoria of swimming with other sea creatures like yourself; all of it combined was better than any mundane drug.
We were swimming around the headland because of the reef. The shallow water there caused waves to crest far above under the moonlit sky. There were fish galore; white ones, blue ones, red ones, white, blue and red ones; a myriad of colours, a range of shapes and sizes. The coral was equally diverse; brain coral in blue, pink and yellow, tree coral in red, purple and orange, and so much more. It was captivating.
Izzy, far ahead of me surfaced and hauled her slender body out of the water, her ruby tail glinting in the moonlight, half-submerged while dangling off the rocky layer. Ella did the same, lying on her back, just under the over croft near Izzy. They changed back into human form to relax and absorb the pearly moonlight. I stayed submerged, underwater. Hearing voices above the water didn't alarm me. What did alarm me was when a gorgeous blonde boy with an eight-pack leapt into the water three mere meters from where I was. I hastily changed into human form, hoping he hadn't seen the tail. I swiftly surfaced and got a shock at who I saw.
"Jeez, we just keep running into each other, don't we?" Jace grinned widely at me, his fine blonde hair plastered to his forehead with seawater. I smiled slightly at him.
"Hey Jace," I said. He looked around in the water for a minute before turning back to me. "I came in here because I thought I saw a mermaid," He admitted sheepishly. "Then I saw you, and I completely forgot about it. I guess it's just the full moon playing tricks on me. Weird, huh?" He laughed.
He obviously was a little embarrassed about his mistake, but the only thing I could think was, What a near miss.
ELLA POV
The boys had kindly walked us home over a path they found over the cliff we had swum near. It was concealed with vegetation and you wouldn't see it unless you were looking at it, but once you did see it it was hard to miss and even harder to lose again. Once we were on the street where our beach house was, we stopped at a house near our end of the road. "Thank you so much," I said.
Seb grinned. "Not a problem. See you at school, 'kay?" We smiled.
"Bye." Izzy said. Clary waved and gave Jace a hug which he returned after blushing slightly. Seb wolf whistled, grinning the whole time. Clary and Jace rolled their eyes, but broke apart, both blushing now. We turned and went our separate ways, with us packing our bags and leaving Idris before the boys we had met at school even arrived back home.
Thanks for baring with me, I know that the wait for chapter 4 will be tedious. I will try and make it fairly long, but it won't be quite as long as this one (my longest chapter yet). A big thank you to all the reviewers and followers and my one favourite, especially to:
Mortalinstrumentsgurl1 for her reviews every. Single. Chapter so far
Buffering for the reviews for all but one chapter
Beth (guest) for her second review which is still not showing up on FanFiction but I did get the email for it so thank you
Temptation94 for their follow
Thank you all for reading and reviewing, see you next time with next instalment of Triton and Atlanta.
-Physalie00
