The first thing I finally felt when we turned onto the different hiking path was the freezing temperatures. I inhaled deeply, the ice cold air rushing to fill the expanse of my lungs as I squatted down and shut my eyes. It was like a shock to the system, not unexpected, just not what I was prepared for today.
The winds were much worse than previously predicted, but we always knew to prepare for that. What we hadn’t been expecting was this much snow fall, it was predicted to hit next week. It was hitting any open skin like a paper cut, thanking my pre hike self for packing snow goggles and encouraging everyone else to.
The four of us agreed to rest here for a few hours, or even overnight, before we started the new path, as this was the warmest we would be for the next few hours.
As I inhaled again, not as deeply this time to avoid the pain, one of my hiking partners, Joel, was saying something I couldn’t hear, but his soft, almost harmonious voice somehow carried over the sound absorbing snow, as if the Snow itself wanted to hear his melodical rhythm, filling the space with an almost whimsical feeling. I wondered if him and Rowen were discussing the terrain again, they’d been arguing non stop about tall tales that took place on these trails.
Footsteps trudged towards me, the owner sounded grumpy from the heaviness pressing into the snow, I could almost feel the heat coming off them and happily embraced the idea of their presence. I stood, ready to face what was next.
“Celeste, a word.” Amara said sharply, the steam billowing out of her mouth, masking her, clinging to her skin like it was only trying to show me only the silloutte of my best friend. I simply nodded. I knew this was coming.
My eyes focused on the snow at our feet, glistening, shining so beautifully, I couldn’t look away. For one moment, everything had stilled in peace in the forest. Then, just like that it was gone.
I sighed, my breath coming out like hers as well, almost like a cold lipped kiss goodbye. I forced myself to focus on the disgruntled girl in front of me. Her body puff layer was covered in small sticks, stones, and snow. Gloved hands shaking violently from the freezing temperatures. We marched over a few feet away but still within sight of the others.
I was not really surprised this was happening, as much as I adored Amara, her “Type A” view on life got in the way of the spontaneity of our trips some times. It comes in handy though when you value safety, so I try to take everything she says into account.
“Yeah, Amara? Are you alright?” I asked calmly.
“Yeah, if by alright meant “already on the verge of frostbite! We’ve been on the trail too long. You know we’re likely gonna have to sleep out here too.” She said, clasping her freezing gloves so tight to my cheeks “these conditions can get bad, Celeste, we know of people dying in better conditions than this, we need to go.”
“Don’t worry.” A voice from nowhere came.
What was that? I immediately turned to where I thought the voice came from. Nothing.
“Mars… did you here that?” Uncertainty trailing in my voice. The fog of my breath felt even colder now as well. It seemed to freeze in front of me, Like crystal kaleidoscopes, somehow, my perception seemed off, brighter.
“What?” She said a bit loud, I turned to face her, she was basking in the frigid breeze herself, eyes closed, somehow enjoying the biting air whipping around her.
“Nothing.” I shouted back quickly.
I turned back to face the kaleidoscope air. It was Gone. I breathed out again, harder this time. Nothing. Whatever was there was lost, or maybe my brain malfunctioned for half a second. Somehow I felt a pull in my head, like a tether, calling out to me.
I knew better, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. I felt the pressure of the cold around me like time stopped in that second, it was so heavy, like all of the ice around me was being absorbed into my bones.
“Amara, go to Rowen and Joel, get them to stop fighting and figure out the plan for the night, you’re right, we will have to stay here until first light, we have all the supplies we need, we should be okay….” I paused, fighting myself internally, “hey, uh, I need to use the little girls room, if you catch my drift. I’ll meet you in a few minutes.” I needed an excuse to find the tethers source. Something was telling me I needed to see this.
“Of course you do. Yeah, make sure to dig deep tracks in case you take too long, need to be able to navigate back, I’ll do the same from here.” With that she turned and stomped her way up to where Rowen and Joel were still looking over the map, trying to keep the wind from taking off with it.
Once I ensured the focus was off me, I inhaled deeply, fighting the icy, chilling pain deep in my lungs, I needed to center myself, the tether could go at any moment, just like the kaleidoscope. After several, painful deep breaths, I trudged as deeply as I could through the snow, not wanting to risk an injury in these temperatures, it’ll definitely be below negatives tonight, I really couldn’t risk myself like this. The sun would be setting soon.
The tether was taking me at least twenty meters away, in this, I hadn’t realized the wind had lessened for me, or that the snow around me began to fall peacefully, unlike the raging storm that seemed to be approaching before.
I realized I stopped to realize the tether had sent me to a clearing. The chilly air and falling snow making it harder to see. What was supposed to be here? I heard something snap near me, suddenly everything in me felt primal, but I felt glued down by the snow around me, as if I’d become a fixture to this forest as well.
I turned instinctively, seeing a cave entrance to the right of the forest, another ten or so meters from my friends. I looked back, only able to see where Amara and I spoke, my footsteps still visible. Good. I began the trek to the cave, it looked almost…. Ethereal. Like it wasn’t meant for me to see, the way the glow from inside called to me again… what?
Suddenly, I thought back to the arguments of Joel and Rowen. What had they been talking about?
Ancient times, the legends of the Fae ruling here for millennia, the stories of snatchers. Could it truly be? It wasn’t possible…. These things are just stories we made up to feel better about our own existences. It couldn’t be true.
I rushed to the cave entrance, not caring about my trail anymore, if I could see the cave from the clearing, I should be able to see the clearing again. I struggled over a few rocks as I slipped into the cave, it was almost like a complete 180.
The temperature was still freezing, but it felt humid somehow, like there was steam emitting from somewhere. Lit drops of mineral water spilled to the floor, creating an almost oceanic atmosphere on the floor, slick and beautiful, like ocean glass.
Where was I? Perhaps I shouldn’t have thought this was an idea worth trying. I still needed to see something though, it was still calling me, making me ignore everything around me, every fiber of my body screaming at me to turn around and get out of there, but the allure of the bioluminescent lights and the water dripping so softly down my face felt so relaxing me in a way I’ve never felt before.
Bioluminescent rocks were everywhere, leading me to the main source of the glowing light and the steam.
It was like I walked into a dream I’d only had when I was a young child, filled with imagination beyond belief. It was a beautiful, iridescent pool, the water so still on top, like a rainbow glass was placed to just float there, the billowing steam grew more, I looked up, the stalactites dripping their beautiful blue magic into the pool, the only thing that swayed it’s marble esque waters.
I did the stupidest thing out of a moment of intrusivity. I dived into the water. The water wasn’t boiling hot. It was just warm, like a jacuzzi. I looked up, it was like being in a different world entirely. The water dripping from above came down like small, blue pearls. I wanted to breathe in my surrounding. My tether was gone, I’d found where I needed to be, Then I did something I didn’t think was possible. I took a breath. I didn’t inhale water. I inhaled air? When I breathed again, it was pink luminescent bubbles. I giggled, the bubbles of my laughter mixing with the bioluminescent blue pearls falling around us. I pirouetted underwater for what felt like hours. Forgetting everything around me, forgetting about the cold, my situation on this mountain, even my friends. I just released everything pent up inside and allowed myself to feel the freedom.
After awhile, the guilt of my friends looking for me finally had me resurfacing. I could feel the difference down to the atoms of my DNA. I felt a newness inside myself, like an extra glow deep down within me.
“So you found it. You truly are a pure, new soul. Ah, and you’ve been Reborn. How lovely. What is your name, darling?” An alluring voice sounded near me. I tried to look for the source, but I could only make out a black silhouette of a boy, taller than me, but bigger in build.
“Who are you? What do you mean I’ve been reborn?” I asked cautiously.
“My name is Neptune, not the god unfortunately, but mother did have higher aspirations. Ah, you, my dear, you’ve unlocked the power of the fae’s water spirit. You already had the blood, now you’ve passed the test of the waters of the blessed. Now, what is your name, child?”
I glared slightly, I knew of the tales, of the missing children, my mother’s confessions.
“My name is Maude, Neptune.” I said curtly. It was instinct to not say my truth, I knew his intentions, I would not be trapped here, not with a gift like this. If my mother was right, my power was unimaginable, a true gift. One that could not be snatched away.
He glared back, as if sensing that I knew, not just about the siren blood, but about the Fae blood as well.
“So, are you my half brother or full? From the looks of it, dad had different interests.” I said dismissively, I needed to get out of here, but u couldn’t unleash the powers just yet. I had to wait for the right time.
He smirked, “your little fae mom was smitten, she was so in love with him, she didn’t see how much he truly despised her, it drove her mad. He loved my mother even after she departed this world. Your mom was some little tart with googoo eyes. She even tried to introduce you to us, but my father laughed in her face and slammed the door. I always despised you as well, but I needed you, everyday I knew I would somehow need to get you back.” The end of his monologue had a bit of craziness in his eyes, what was he implying?
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my blood turning to ice, despite the pool temperatures. Something stirred inside me, dark and protective. Murderous.
“Well, I don’t need you, per say, just your magic, and your womb. Together we would create the most powerful child, and raise a new world, as a god and goddess. I don’t have to love you, and vice versa, of course, I just truly want revenge on those stupid little humans, they think so much of themselves I’m now resigned to living in this cave.” He rolled his eyes, with his arms crossing his chest.
The darkness of the cave barely made out the sinister look on his face, but it sent chills through me nevertheless. I could tell he was fully naked. I felt disgust run through me. I needed to flee, everything in me telling me to run.
Suddenly, I felt the shift of both bloods settling in me. I knew what needed to be done.
“But we’re brother and sister, I will not be your queen, much less your breeder. This is wrong. Our powers were never meant for this” I plead, trying to speak for reason into him. “It would be wrong to play with the fates this way.” I said defiantly.
“I’m four hundred years old, you are nothing but a whiny brat to me. You carry more than just power, you carry balance. You and I together, we will make this world powerful for our kind again.” As he said this, something flickered inside of me.
“I will never be your puppet!” I shouted, suddenly seeing the inner workings of the tunnel in my mind being mapped out, like I tapped into something I’d never had. I used the fae side of my magic to help ensure he couldn’t feel as I closed off the exits with a haze of water, like a prison, slowly trapping this mongrel I was related to in. I knew his greed would destroy everything, I could feel it in my soul. If I submitted to him, the whole world will lose.
I smiled, knowing every entrance, except for the one behind me was shut. Another bioluminescent drop fell onto my hair, giving me a burst of magic I’d never imagined.
“Brother, I cannot let that be, you know this. I always knew my mother wasn’t lying, I knew your bastard of a father was never coming back. So I tracked this place down myself, to unlock all my magic.” I begun to rise from the water, everything suddenly connected between me and the earth. Water rose with me. “I’m sorry, brother,” I sneered, “but you will never leave this place.” With that, I willed the water to shoot me out of the cave, sealing the door with my water magic, like a glass prison. I heard my brothers screams as I sealed it shut, and willed a rock wall to cover the entrance.
That should do the trick. I could feel the frost again, but it was still daylight out. Had I been gone all night? Oh no, had my friends come looking for me? I looked ahead, another odd thing.
My snow tracks looked the same as before, untouched, some deeper than the others.
I sprinted, fear soaring through me, if I led them to their demise I’d never forgive myself.
I was even more shocked when I got to the campsite. Rowen and Joel still looking over the maps, but now with Amara. They all turned to look at me, surprised by the shock on my face.
“What didn’t have to go?” Yelled Amara. I was so relieved to see her again.
“Yeah. Nerves, I guess.” I replied.
“Well we can’t seem to find that cave entrance your mom wanted her ashes spread in-“ I cut off Joel.
“No need, there’s a beautiful river just west of here, she’d have liked it better.” I smiled at my friends, preparing for the bittersweet night ahead.
