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  She had started down the right tunnel, following her same pattern of dropping green stones, when she found another hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. Could it be an exit? Could it be another cavern with air? She kicked her legs and swam hard for the opening, and broke the surface with a huge gasp. There was air. Yes!

  But this cavern was the same as the other, filled with glowing stones and completely empty. She didn’t want to spend too much time dawdling, so she took another breath and kept swimming. She swam to another fork in the tunnels and another dead end. Mina needed air and more stones, so she retreated to the second cavern and refilled her bag of red and green stones. She could do this, she thought to herself. If there were caverns with air all around down here, she might just make it out…alive.

  Mina was on her fourth tunnel when she began to start feeling lightheaded and dizzy. This was becoming too much for her. She was about to swim back to another cavern air pocket when she saw a bigger opening and more light coming from above. Was it a way out? She pushed off the ground and swam hard for the beacon of light above her. It looked different, so she prayed for it to be an exit.

  Her head broke through the water, and she felt a cool breeze against her face. She smiled in relief. Treading water, she wiped her eyes, only to see that she hadn’t exactly escaped. It was just another larger cavern filled with even more glowing stones. Her heart plummeted. She was still trapped.

  Something moved in the corner, and Mina’s intrusion startled it. At first she thought it was a snake, or a pile of leaves because of the way it rustled and moved, but a head slowly raised itself off the floor and turned to look at her. There was no mistaking the black cat-like eyes of a sea witch. It hissed at her and began to crawl across the floor in her direction. Mina screamed in fright and dove under the water to try to swim away from it.

  It was a terrible choice. She didn’t get a great breath, and her fear and adrenaline were making her escape clumsy. Mina took off down a tunnel that she hadn’t marked with stones. She looked back behind her and saw something green plummet through the water on her tail. It was fast—faster than she could swim. She knew it. There was no way she could out-swim it; she was going to have to fight it.

  She turned and pulled out the knife off her thigh and waited for the witch to come to her. The witch’s black eyes filled her with terror, but Mina held the blade in front of her and continued to tread water. The monster barreled straight at her, its long claw-like hands reaching for her, when something shot out of the darkness and smashed the witch into the wall.

  Mina had never heard a scream like the one she heard under the water. It was awful as the two beings fought against each other. It was Nix. He was smashing the witch against a cavern wall, using his full weight to keep her pinned. He was physically bigger than the sea witch, but it was obvious that since he didn’t feed on innocents, he wasn’t as strong as she was.

  His voice pounded into her head. The tunnel to the left. Hurry.

  She grasped her head in pain, but she didn’t waste the time Nix was buying her. Mina swam as hard as she could to the tunnel, and, sure enough, she could see it: the exit. It was an opening twenty feet across and ten feet high. But it seemed so far away. Her lungs burned for air, but she focused on her goal and kept swimming. Her legs felt like lead weights and her arms like Jell-o. But she continued swimming until she passed through the opening and headed upward. She could see it. The sky. It danced across the water through a sea of glass. Her heart sank when she realized it was farther than she could hold her breath. Even now, bubbles were escaping from her lips, and she was out of strength.

  Her body’s lack of oxygen was causing her to hallucinate, and all of a sudden she could see Brody’s smiling face floating in front of her. She reached out to touch it, and it disappeared, to be replaced by Jared’s angry one, yelling at her.

  Swim, Mina! Fight—don’t give up!

  “I’m tired, Jared. I can’t. I’m so tired,” she mentally called back before her body betrayed her and her muscles cramped underwater, and she felt herself sinking lower and lower.

  NOO! She heard a scream and was unsure if it was her own hallucination of Jared or someone else. Something hard and rough grabbed her around the waist, and she was being propelled through the water faster than she had ever gone in her life, straight for the light. But Mina knew she wouldn’t make it. Her body went limp, and her eyes had closed on their own when something warm pressed against her lips.

  She didn’t have the energy to fight, and was surprised when her mouth was forced open and life-saving oxygen passed into her mouth. She opened her eyes in surprise to find Nix’s lips pressed to hers, kissing her. No, breathing for her as he continued to swim upward. Her hands reached up to grab his face and hold it to her mouth hungrily as if her life depended on his kiss—which it did. His kiss fought off the darkness of death, and her mind began to function again. She was kissing a monster!

  A few seconds later they broke through the water, and she pulled away from his lips to breathe on her own. Nix carefully held her and swam toward shore. Mina only had the strength to roll over on her back and let him pull her to safety. He had now saved her life three times.

  Rocks brushed against her feet and she tried to stand up, only to fall to her knees in the rocky shallows. Nix held onto her arm and tried to support her weight. He desperately pulled her away from the water, and even though they were on the shore, he didn’t stop. He tried to coerce her to move, but she couldn’t. Mina collapsed on the ground.

  She felt warm arms wrap around her, and then she was being lifted through the air. Nix had picked her up and continued to run away from the lake as far as he could. A short time later, he found a small clearing in which to stop, and he gently put her down. He was out of breath and collapsed on the ground, watching the path behind them, looking for a pursuer.

  Mina rolled on the ground, her body shaking from the cold and the near asphyxiation, and stared at Nix’s muscled green back in utter confusion. She thought he had abandoned her to die, that he didn’t want anything to do with her or the Grimm curse. If so, why did he save her…again? But her thoughts continued to dance as she felt herself slipping into an exhausted sleep.

  Mina awoke with a start and listened carefully to the sound of footsteps treading quietly past her. She tried to move her arm, but it was numb from her sleeping on it awkwardly. Instead, she played opossum and watched through lowered lashes as the sound came again and a shadow passed by her. Her heart skipped a beat when her vision was filled with a green silhouette. She immediately thought the sea witch had found her, but then she sighed when she realized that it was just Nix. He had found a stick and climbed one of the odd twisted trees.

  His tall, nimble green body slithered up the tree, proving that he was just as agile on land as he was in water. Nix swung the stick with ease at the nearest branch, and two pieces of fruit fell to the ground and rolled along the grass. He dropped the stick and began his descent.

  Mina touched her fingers to her lips as the memory of his life-saving kiss came flooding back to her. She was grateful that he couldn’t see her cheeks burning in embarrassment. Deciding that the immediate threat was over, she slowly sat up and stretched. Her whole body ached from head to toe, and she couldn’t help but feel like a ton of bricks had landed on her chest. Nix came over and handed a small piece of fruit to her. It was only slightly bruised from the fall.

  “Here, eat this,” he commanded, before moving to sit across from her. His skin looked lighter under the morning sun, less green.

  “I don’t think I’m supposed to eat the food in the Fae world,” she said.

  “That’s true for most food here. It can be addicting to your kind, but as far as aftereffects go, this is the mildest fruit there is.”

  Mina took the odd-looking purple fruit and sniffed it carefully before rolling it between her fingers. She was starving, but even the simplest temptation could endanger her whole reason for being here.

  “What
happened back there?” she asked, hoping he would know she was referring to the sea witch. “And why did you save me, when I thought you were leaving me to die?”

  Nix looked at her carefully over his own piece of fruit before raising the fruit in the air like a toast and taking his own careful bite. “You had an unfortunate run-in with one of the oldest and strongest sea witches around…my mother.”

  “Your mother? I thought that…well, I don’t know what I thought. I just figured that you and Raina were the only ones left.”

  “We are, I mean…were, the only nixies left. The rest have all changed. So I try to stay out of their waterways as much as possible. But you, you trespassed right into her home. You’re lucky I came when I did, or you’d be dinner. But I’ve got to hand it to you. You’re either crazy stupid or crazy brave for what you attempted. You’d almost made it out.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I was crazy either way, but I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I was going to die in that cave. You could have told me you were going to come back.” Mina paused in thought and then said in a softer, uncertain voice, “You were going to come back, right?”

  His shoulders dropped, and Nix looked at the ground. “I needed time to think, to decide what I was going to do with my life. You killed the one person I loved.”

  “But she was a monster. You said so yourself.”

  “Yes, and I know no one has ever come back once turned. But after running into you, I knew that I would be pulled into whatever quest you’re currently embarking on. I, too, know of the book and the deal made with the Grimms. I also know of how the stories end for most of the nixies. Not good. So I had to decide if I was going to purposely turn, or join you on your quest and die sooner rather than later.”

  Mina’s fingers dug into the purple fruit, and she stared at him in disbelief. “So you left because you couldn’t decide if you were going to kill me and join the monsters or help me. Talk about peer pressure,” she replied sarcastically. “So much for going out all noble.”

  Nix stood up and began to pace back and forth. “No, you see, that’s what I thought at first. I thought living near Raina, even though she was a monster, would be enough for me, but now that she’s dead, I thought I should be the one to take revenge for her death, but I can’t. I told you before that we are gentle creatures until we turn. So I decided that if I can’t live with Raina, I don’t want to live without her.”

  He stopped pacing and sat on the ground, eye to eye with Mina. His hands crumpled into tight fists. Mina could tell this was a difficult conversation for him.

  His bright green eyes looked deeply into hers, pleading with her to understand. “I turned seventeen last month, and, like Raina did, I’ve lost my ability to hear the creatures of the water. And I can no longer control the currents. I can feel myself getting older, becoming weaker. It won’t be long now…I’m dying, Mina. ”

  Mina stared at the passionate Nix with utter shock. She could tell from the way he spoke that he was serious.

  He swallowed cautiously and didn’t stutter one word when he valiantly said, “I would rather die now helping you in whatever quest you’re on than to live as a monster without her.

  She repeated his own words back to him. “You’re either crazy stupid, or crazy brave.”

  “Either way, I’m just crazy.” He chuckled softly.

  “Well, crazy always likes company. So, do you think you’re up for a dangerous quest that will probably get us both killed?”

  Nix got up, only to kneel before Mina. His green hair still mysteriously swayed, but now that they were farther away from the water, it moved less. His piercing green eyes were filled with determination as he grasped her hand and muttered, “I don’t fear death—death should fear me.”

  Chapter 22

  Mina couldn’t believe her luck. After she told Nix her story and about her quest to save her brother Charlie, he was actually even more gung-ho to help her. Probably because it was a life-saving mission. What was even more unbelievable was that Nix knew how to get to the Fates’ palace. It seemed too easy, too simple. So she knew better than to take it for granted. But first they had to make it to the palace, which, according to Nix was at least two days’ journey on foot.

  “I really wish we had a faster mode of transportation,” Mina said, after she tripped over another tree root and fell face down in a pile of leaves. That was the third time she’d tripped in the last two hours.

  “What’s a mode of transportation?” Nix asked, and helped her back up.

  “Um, an automobile, a car…you know, vroom vroom.” She made a driving and sitting motion. Goodness, she sounded stupid.

  Nix just looked at her in confusion, and then his face brightened. “Oh, I get it. This way.” He motioned for her to follow him, and he walked back toward the river they had very carefully been skirting. They’d been careful to follow it so they wouldn’t lose their way, but he always carefully kept a wary distance. He paused at the river and hesitated.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “I don’t know if they’ll answer me. I haven’t been able to talk with them. They may not even come, so don’t get your hopes up.” He walked along the riverbed amongst the tall grass until he found a blue speckled reed. Using a sharp rock, he quickly carved out three holes and another toward the top.

  Mina watched in fascination, and once his whistle was done, Nix waded out to the middle of the river and began to play a silent song. His hair began to come to life again and flow widely with the rushing water. His mouth blew, his fingers moved, but Mina didn’t hear a single note from the flute. On and on he played his silent flute, but nothing happened. After two more songs, he walked out of the river and sat on the bank solemnly.

  “I couldn’t hear anything,” Mina said.

  “That’s because you’re human. You can’t hear the beautiful music I played for them. It would have paid for our passage, but I don’t know. I couldn’t hear the music, either. I had to play from memory.” He flopped onto his back and stared at the sky.

  “They’ve never before taken so long to come. I’m sorry. I failed you,” Nix groaned.

  “Who, Nix? Who were you trying to call?”

  “The kelpies. But I should have known it wouldn’t work.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and let out a really long sigh. “I haven’t been able to hear them in a while.”

  Mina knew he was thinking about the consequences of staying a nixie, and everything he had lost.

  “It’s fine, really. I don’t mind the walking.”

  “No, it’s not fine. I think we’re being followed, and I can’t stray too far from water without weakening further. We need the kelpies if we want to outrun her.”

  “Who…you mean the sea witch is still after us?” Mina asked, balking.

  “Yes, it’s because I helped you escape. She’s tracking us. I keep crossing the streams, following along different paths, but she knows and I know that I can’t stray far from a water source.”

  “Why is she so set on getting us?”

  “It’s because I interfered. This isn’t just any sea witch following us…it’s my mother, and she won’t stop until she’s found us.” Frustrated, he lunged up from his sitting position and hurled the reed flute into the middle of the river. It made a plunking sound, then disappeared. Nix had turned and begun to walk up the riverbank toward Mina when a loud rushing sound caught their attention. He turned back to the river; a wide smile formed across his face.

  “They came,” he said in awe, as if he hadn’t really believed they would come.

  Mina turned to watch the middle of the river become a vortex of swirling, rushing water. The waves collided against each other, and the noise was loud, like a crashing waterfall. An otherworldly sound erupted from the middle of the river, and a glorious translucent head came from the center of the vortex. It was a horse made of water. Then another one stepped from the middle of the river, and then another. Six beautiful translucent
beasts stood before them, shimmering and reflecting back Mina’s and Nix’s own images.

  The horses walked toward them but stopped at the water’s edge. The lead horse separated from his brethren, and as soon as he touched his hoof to the rocky shore, he transformed like a snake shedding his skin. The lead horse’s coat turned white, while the others stayed in their translucent Fae form, safe in the water’s embrace.

  Nix ran to the horse and pressed his face to its muzzle. The white horse pressed against him in mutual delight. A second or two later, Nix pulled away with a frown on his face. “Oh, how I wish I could hear your sweet voice again.”

  “Will they take us?” Mina asked. She was somewhat hopeful and scared of riding the beast at the same time.

  “I can only ask.” Nix leaned forward and began to speak with the kelpie, but all Mina heard was a soft clicking and popping nose, similar to how a dolphin would speak.

  She watched closely for the kelpie’s reaction. The lead horse walked back to the others, and they started to step back into the middle of the river.

  “What’s going on? Are they leaving?” she asked fearfully.

  “I don’t know,” Nix said slowly.

  The white horse was still in a physical form, and there seemed to be a bit of a discussion going on between them. One of the horses neighed and rose up on his hind legs, his front hooves kicking the air in displeasure. Others danced about sideways, while some shook their manes.

  “Oh, geez, Nix, you didn’t tell them I was a Grimm, did you? Probably not the surest way to gain their trust or help,” Mina said sarcastically.