With each passing second, nothing changed. I kicked, stretching my arms, and thrusting the thick water back with my cupped hands, but the surface seemed just as far away. My lungs felt like they were on fire. The ceaseless burning made me want to open my mouth and gasp. That’s when things got weird. At first I thought it was from the lack of air. I heard voices crying in the darkness like lost children. Going against every urge I had, I stopped struggling and remained still. I didn’t swim, or kick. I waited. I waited to hear it again.

Holding my breath, I watched as a girl formed in front of me. Her body was small and lean. Blue hair floated around her face. “Please save us. Please. You’re the one. You must be...” She wore a pinafore. It moved under the water, like a piece of paper caught in a stream. Desperation was as visible on her face as it was in her voice.

I stared at her, thinking I must have opened my mouth and died. I must have drowned. The dead weren’t supposed to be able to speak. They shouldn’t have been able to talk—but I heard her. Fear entered my mind. There were things I wanted to do—things I’d left undone. Collin. Regret smashed into me, nearly making me open my mouth and scream. The girl must have recognized the look on my face. She reached up, keeping me from opening my mouth, and pressed two fingers to my lips. A burst of fresh air rushed into my lungs. Coughing, and slightly shocked, I looked at her with wide-eyes. Just when I thought I had a good grip on things, it turned out I didn’t.

I thought I drowned, but couldn’t make sense of what was happening, “Did I die?” was all I managed to ask.

Smiling, she shook her head sadly, “No, you’re still alive. Keep breathing. The magic will keep you alive. There is nothing down here that can hurt you. Not anymore. Not since he left.”

Her little fingers stayed pressed to my lips. I breathed again, slower this time. When I exhaled little bubbles rushed out. I watched them rise and fade in the darkness. Looking back at her, I asked, “You mean the Guardian?”

She nodded, “He controlled us. We were forced to destroy anything that touched the water, constantly adding more souls who could never escape. The Pool is magic—dark magic. Although the Guardian is gone, we still cannot leave.” Her head tilted sadly to the side, “But, you can save us. You can free us.” Her fingers remained pressed to my lips and I continued to breathe. My hair floated around me as I watched her glowing face. “We are neither dead nor living. Kreturus drains our power for his own use. Destroy the Pool and you’ll lessen his power. You’ll make him weaker.”

The little ghost girl watched me as I asked, “I thought this place was filled with the dead. How...?” My mouth moved but I didn’t know what to ask.

Another girl, an older girl, appeared. My heart lurched. It was the soul of my sister—Apryl. “We’re not what you think we are. We’re souls with no bodies. There is no form to cling to. No comfort. No warmth. We’re trapped in an eternal grave that cultivates us for our power. A soul contains endless power as long as it’s separated from flesh. The living are weaker. They die when he uses their power. But we do not. And until now, no one has been able to penetrate the waters and live. And yet, here’s my little sister.” She smiled and my gut twisted with remorse. She saw it flash across my face as she floated closer to me. Her hair billowed around her face, but lacked the normal color of a fiery sunset. Instead it was a cold and pale greenish blue like everyone else trapped down here. “You’ve already mourned me. There is no saving us. Not one of us can walk the world again. We’re stuck here, Ivy. There is no rest, no peace for us as long as we are trapped here. Do you know what that’s like? To die a violent death, and know you’re trapped forever, only to be used again and again? We’ve made him invincible. But you can undo him.” She pointed at the sliver tooth in my belt. When I saw it on the bottom of the Pool, I didn’t know why I picked it up. It was spontaneous. Now I wondered if they compelled me to do it. I could feel their desperation all around me. Her thin fingers pointed at the tooth. “You can alter this. If you add your power to the fang and stab the surface of the Pool, you’ll free all of us.”

She watched me, never blinking, waiting for an answer. If I made it to the surface alive, I didn’t know what I would find. The beast was up there. Suddenly, it didn’t matter. I could do this—if it was what they wanted. And any help I could get in defeating Kreturus was help I’d take. But it felt like I was destroying them—all of them.

I found my voice, “Are you sure this is what you want? All of you?” I looked around now seeing hundreds of faces nodding. They encircled me. The sorrow in their eyes was fathomless. I stared at my sister. Was she a shadow? A ghost? What was a soul anyway? “Where will you go? And how do I add my power to the fang?”

Apryl smiled at me. “You’ll know. Stab the Pool, little sister. The rest will be revealed over time...” And she faded into the darkness.

I glanced around and all the faces surrounding me were swallowed by shadows, until only the little girl who pressed her two fingers to my mouth remained. I smiled at her, swallowing hard, I said, “I’ll do it. Help me get to the surface.” I had no idea how long I’d been under, but when I emerged, I didn’t expect to see what I saw.

The beast was half crippled with one of its wings hanging at an odd angle down its scaly back. It stood on hind legs where its talons gouged the rock in long, deep scrapes. Collin stood in front of a lifeless Eric, still sprawled on the shore. He’d been fighting the beast, waiting for Eric to wake up. A smile formed on my lips. Collin was fighting the creature. That meant he was free—the blood bargain was really broken. Somehow my botched spell freed him from Kreturus. And he needed help. Collin couldn’t hold that thing off forever. But first things first.

I looked down at the Guardian’s tooth in my hand. The beast didn’t notice that I’d returned from the depths. It screeched at Collin as its claws and beak tried to snap him in half. The side of Collin’s head was covered in blood. He fell to his knees. Sweat covered his body. Ignoring the massive amount of blood that trailed behind Collin, I lifted my hands and felt the air move around me.

In my mind, I repeated: Destroy the Pool. Destroy the Pool. It would alter Kreturus’ power. It would make it easier to win. But there was so much blood... I averted my eyes, ignoring Collin’s bleeding form. Focus! But I couldn’t. I had to help him.

As I called my power, it snaked from my belly and curled into my palms like a sleeping cat. The pain price could kill me. I had no idea how much power it would take. And it was too soon after using my powers from before. Doing something of this magnitude back to back was suicide, but I had no choice. I could see the desperation on Collin’s face. I couldn’t ignore it. He needed my help. Altering my intended spell, I held my hands palms up, toward the roof of the cave. Magic snaked from my fingers into a thick shadow. The inky blackness crept toward the creature and wrapped around its neck, squeezing. The beast continued to fight as I continued to strangle it. Its massive jaws snapped once at Collin’s shoulder, tearing its beak through his soft flesh. Then he swiped twice with his claws. One swipe missed, but the other made contact with Collin’s chest and knocked him to the ground.

My jaw locked as tension lined my chest. The animal should have fallen already, but it continued to fight, ignoring me. Rage flashed through me, fueling my hatred. Another swipe would kill Collin. I couldn’t allow that. My fingers clamped tighter and I tugged the shadows - hard. The sudden yank caught the creature’s attention. A blood red eye zeroed in on me and it turned. And then charged. My hands pulled tighter and harder as the beast barreled down at me, shortening the slack in the black rope. I didn’t flinch as its massive bladed beak came within inches of my face. With a twist of my wrist, I yanked the dark rope to the side - hard. A loud crack echoed through the cavern as the rope tightened, turning to steel in my hands, and shattering the bones of the beast’s neck. The creature’s eyes became hollow, no longer seeing. The beast’s body crashed onto the ground at my feet, its neck snapped.

Releasing the steel rope, I sank to my knees as the pain price hit. The surge of agony forced me forward and I fell into the shallow waters of the Pool of Lost Souls. Pushing myself up to my knees, I lifted the silvery tooth from my pocket. When Apryl’s soul told me to add my power, I wasn’t sure what she meant. But in that moment, I knew. My power was within me, beating in my heart, and coursing through my body—my blood. Taking my comb from my hair, I cut my palm. Blood flowed from the center of my hand, covering the silvery fang. I raised it over my head, watching my blood drip off the fang and into the clear water. The red drop dissolved, disappearing from sight instantly. A wild scream tore from my throat, as the pain price rippled through my body and new powers were unleashed.

I thrust down the bloody tooth in one hard strike. The tooth hit the surface of the water. My arms jarred on impact like I’d struck a solid surface. Red lines—my blood—spidered out from the point where the fang sat wedged in the water like it was ice. The scarlet veins spread across the surface of the blue waters, widening and lengthening as they spread. And then the Pool exploded like a pane of glass. Shards flew through the air in a blinding shimmering mess.

I covered my face with my arms, falling to the ground, no longer able to watch. As the pain price ripped through me, demanding my full attention, my body writhed without my consent. I curled into a ball, waiting for it to pass, but it lasted longer and hit me harder. Each successive use of dark magic cost more. And more. The venom in my chest burned. Clenching my teeth, I waited.

Eric remained motionless a few feet from me. Collin moved slowly toward me, holding his hand on his bloody side. I was barely aware of the souls screaming as they raced past us, emerging from the shattered surface of the lake. The souls shot between the shards with ease, climbing higher and higher, until their ghostly bodies dissolved into tiny specks of pure white light.

CHAPTER THREE

“Ivy,” Collin’s fingers pushed a curl away from my face. My eyes flicked opened. Every inch of my body felt like it’d been broken. “Are you all right?” I nodded faintly, trying to push the screaming pain coursing through my body to the back of my mind. A smile spread across Collin’s bloodied lips. Sapphire blue eyes looked down at me. “You’re a bad lair.” His gaze darted over to the remains of the beast, and then back to my face. He hesitated to touch me, like I might still be unsure about him.

He knelt next to me, and continued, “The Pool of Lost Souls was one of Kreturus’ main power supplies—and from the looks of it, you completely destroyed it and killed the messenger he sent to grab you. As badass as that was, we can’t stay here.” My eyes slid across his face, searching for him—for the Collin I knew. A crooked smile lined his lips as he offered me his hand. I took it and he helped me sit up. The cavern spun as I reached for my head. “There’s a reason why I didn’t just effonate you out of here. It seems we have another problem...” His voice trailed off as he glanced over my shoulder.