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Chapter 5
My vision adjusted to the water turned murky. The witch’s realm was a wasteland. Decaying plants rippled in the current. Skeletons of fish and sea creatures scattered about the cave’s entrance. Sulfur hung strong in the water, clogging up my gills, and I could hardly breathe. It was as if death had sucked all the oxygen from the water. Red eyes blinked from all around. Sea eels. The witch’s spies.
Ice hardened in my chest.
Keep going, Nyssa. You have to save your father.
Up ahead, the witch’s cave awaited—an opening like the mouth of a shark with sharp teeth and jagged edges, enough to scare anyone away. But many had ventured here to make deals with her.
Expulsions of yellowed water blasted me, and I yelped, clutching my chest. This place gave me the creeps. It was safe to say that it probably frightened and deterred most creatures from visiting.
Something hissed in my ear, and I spun to face two eels. They darted forward, winding around me, and I gasped and shot upward and away from them. I glanced over my shoulder as I shot away. Their mouths curled up into smiles, and they entwined their bodies.
In no time, I reached the jagged cave entrance. My shaky hands gripped the edge. The rock was so sharp, it almost cut my skin, so I pulled away.
“Hello, Sea Witch,” I shouted over the lump of what felt like sand wedged in my throat. “Are you home?”
A sinister laugh boomed in my head.
“Come in, Princess,” said a voice more slippery than a mollusk. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
How had she known I was coming? Did she have some magic crystal ball or something? Or was she just psychic?
My mind begged me not to go. But my heart said otherwise. And I never followed my head.
Entering the cave, I wrapped my arms tighter around my waist. My muscles tensed in anticipation of a nasty surprise. Every nerve in me was on high alert.
More eyes watched me as I passed. Dead seaweed dangled from the ceiling, grazing my skin, and I yelped.
Poseidon.I had to get a grip, or I’d run back home screaming. A failure. Doomed to marry Faraall. Destined for a painful, torturous existence.
A magical green flame sat in a hearth, boiling the contents of a pot. All sorts of treasures rested in grooves along one wall. Jewelry, combs, daggers, sashes—even locks of hair tied with a bow. I recalled Nimian saying she’d had to trade locks of her hair for her spell.
The Sea Witch sat on a chair made of whalebones. “Welcome, Princess.” She smiled, revealing long, sharp teeth like those of a dragon fish.
Suddenly, I understood why all the bones were scattered about the place. Perhaps she killed all the fools who offered her silly deals.
She lunged off her chair to circle me, fluttering her necklace of sharks’ teeth. The witch’s movements were graceful and slow, intended to frighten me. Slender, with long arms and a long neck and octopus tentacles instead of a fish tail, she stood a good foot taller than I did. Her dark-red hair was shaped like a conical shell and held in place by three horns on her headdress. Unlike mermaids, she didn’t wear anything to cover her breasts, and her immodesty had me blushing, shying away with discomfort.
Breathing was close to impossible. Terror had my lungs seizing. Yet, they were bursting for air.
The two eels from outside the cave slithered around the Sea Witch, and she stroked them as if they were pets.
“What can I help you with, dear princess?”
My voice stuck in my throat.Shellfish. This wasn’t the time to be losing my ability to speak.
“What did you do to my father?” I stuttered.
She smiled, unveiling a mouthful of shiny, spiky teeth. But this was no ordinary smile. It was the creepy kind—one that would have scared the stripes off a leopard shark. This was a game to her.
“A little bewitching spell,” she said, admiring her claws. “That handsome commander of yours paid the highest price for it.”
I moved forward a few inches. “What price?”
“A dark spell of this nature requires something valuable, a sacrifice, like a soul or your life.” The words slammed into my mind.
Faraall was still alive, so he must have traded his soul. Shellfish. Did that mean I’d have to pay an even higher price to remove the spell on my father?
