The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) (7 page)

“
Yes, sorry, I’m fine,” said Serena,
forcing her hands back to work. “I just got wrapped up in the
story, that’s all.”

The old mermaid beamed.

“
Would you believe I only had to take the one
potion? My voice came back and it’s stayed back ever since. I
could even hit some notes better than before.” Serena cringed,
wondering what human girl or mermaid lost their voice so this old
mermaid could have what she thought was hers back. “I’d
probably still be singing in Adamar if I’d been able to keep
my grandson out of trouble. He was in and out of prison so much that
he only spent one birthday at home between seventeen and
twenty-five. I had to get him away from there. Anyways, there I go
telling too much. But that Moira woman, she’s a miracle
worker. Should’ve gone back to her and seen if she could do
anything to set my grandson straight.”

She’d probably make him think he was a sea
star or something
, thought Serena.
That
would mellow him out. Yeah, she’d think that was real funny.
And don’t forget, ‘No refunds.’

She couldn’t believe someone else in Arcanus had
mentioned her mother. Calling her a miracle worker was new. So far
during her time in Arcanus, she had heard Moira called “powerful,”
“gifted,” “something special,” and “a
rarity among mermaids.”

Annabelle had been the first merperson to mention
Moira. One night, when Annabelle invited Serena over for dinner not
long after they became friends, they had told each other why they
had come to Arcanus. Annabelle grew up in a poor household and had
been mercilessly bullied all through school. She had thought of
running away many times but never had the courage…or the
anger.

“
But then, two years ago, a shark smashed into
our house while it was chasing a seal,” Annabelle had told
Serena. “It was demolished. It really wasn’t much of a
house anyways, of course, more like a hut. My parents didn’t
have the time or the tools to carve a house of stone and didn’t
have the money to commission one to be built with the Trident’s
magic. We had nowhere to go, and it was the middle of winter, so we
couldn’t just sleep out in the open while we rebuilt the
house. We requested an audience with the king and queen and asked if
they could restore the house. We didn’t ask for a better one,
just the old one back. King Poseidon said that magic didn’t
come for free. He said, ‘It’s the rarest resource in the
ocean, and it costs accordingly.’ We couldn’t afford
what he wanted. We couldn’t even afford the cost of having
royal guard members come help us rebuild it by hand. My mother cried
for days, and we did end up sleeping outside. One of the Arcanus
recruiters showed up on the third day. The rest of my family
wouldn’t come, but I couldn’t stay there any longer.”

Serena had felt like she’d been smacked in the
face. Why had she never heard stories like this before coming here?
Probably because I had no friends
,
she had thought. But how could the king and queen be so cruel? They
were supposed to help people. Whenever they made public speeches
they sounded so sincere; they wanted to make Adamar a better place,
a safe place, a place where all creatures were treated equally.
Amphitrite doesn’t think I should be
treated equally,
she thought.
She
lets those rich girls hang all over Triton, and I can’t even
look at him.

Then Serena had told Annabelle her story.

“
That sounds just like the queen,”
Annabelle had said, her lips a snarl. “The royals are a bunch
of evil, selfish snobs.”

“
Triton isn’t like that,” Serena
said. “He looked really upset when she was saying all those
awful things to me.”

“
Why didn’t he say something then?”
said Annabelle, looking doubtful.

“
I…I don’t know.”

Annabelle’s face had softened when she’d
realized Serena was close to tears.

“
He’s probably scared of her, of both his
parents. He’ll have to get over that, though, if he’s
going to be a good king,” she said.

“
Or if he’s ever going to speak to me long
enough to realize we’re perfect for each other.”

“
If you really want to be with him that badly,
you know what you should do?”

“
What?”

“
Get a love potion. There’s a sea witch in
Adamar named Moira, and merpeople say she’s scary powerful.
She can do anything.”

Serena’s
face had lost color in shock, and Annabelle had misinterpreted it as
fear at the idea of magic.

“
Don’t
look so scared. It’s not dangerous. Yeah, it’s a little
unusual to snag a merman with a love potion, but think about it. You
could ask her to make one that’s breakable. That way, you
could just use it long enough to get his attention, let him get to
know you. Then you could take it off of him, and if you’re
really perfect for one another, he will have actually fallen in love
with you anyways!”

Serena
had just smiled and acted like she thought it was an amusing little
fantasy, and at first she had cast the idea aside as ridiculous. But
it kept coming back to her more and more, tugging at her mind as she
lay in bed each night. It wasn’t just a fantasy. She knew her
mother could actually do it, but her mother’s magic was bad
news. Wasn’t it?

Not
long after that night with Annabelle, Serena had been casually
talking to another new friend, a merman named Alec whose blonde hair
reminded her of Triton’s, when all of a sudden, he had brought
up Moira.

“
Have you ever gone to see a sea witch?” he
said.

“
What? Me? No. Have you?” she said, her
voice sounding a little too high pitched in her ears.

“
I was thinking about it,” he said, looking
down and picking at his scales.

“
Why?”

He looked at her with a shy smile and said, “It’s
a secret. But I have a buddy who says he knows about this witch in
Adamar named Moira. Says she can do anything. He travels a lot, and
he says he’s been to a lot of different sea witches, but
Moira’s something special. ‘A rarity among mermaids,’
he called her. ‘The most powerful witch in the sea.’”

“
I would be careful, Alec,” Serena had
said. “Just because she’s the most powerful doesn’t
mean she’s the fairest or the kindest.”

“
Yeah, I guess so,” said Alec, looking
slightly disheartened.

Serena had hoped she had deterred him, at least for a
little while, but she hadn’t been able to completely ignore
the little spark of pride his words had ignited. She had never felt
that way about her mother before. It felt good. It felt right. But
at first, she had scolded herself and listed all the immoral things
she knew her mother had done.

Now, rubbing ointment onto the last patch of fungus on
the old mermaid’s tale, that little spark of pride blazed
again, a little brighter this time. Perhaps her mother really had
restored this mermaid’s real voice instead of stealing a new
one from someone else.

“
All done,” Serena said.

“
Thank you, dear.”

“
Now take the rest of this one, and I’ll go
grab you another full one for you to take home with you, too.”

— — —

Serena
almost turned back on her way to Casius’ home, but she shook
her head and swam on. This was it. She had made her decision. Living
in a place where every two out of three merpeople were criminals
made her uneasy, despite the fact that she had made new friends. She
stopped swimming again. Her friends. She couldn’t leave her
friends. She had gone so long without friends; she couldn’t do
that again, could she? But she wouldn’t be leaving all of her
friends…hopefully. And really, Casius was the friend she felt
closest too.

Deep
down she knew the real reason she wanted to leave Arcanus. She
dreamt of Triton almost every night now. The familiar ache of fierce
desire was back stronger than ever. Amphitrite’s words had
lost their sting. She knew the truth now. Queen Amphitrite and King
Poseidon were cruel, selfish, unfit rulers. She couldn’t let
them influence Triton. She wouldn’t let Amphitrite force some
pretty, wealthy, bubblehead who didn’t care about the kingdom
(or anything except her hair) on him. He needed someone who could
help him reach his full potential. Encourage his kindhearted nature
towards his subjects. He needed her. And if she had to use a love
potion to make him ignore his parents’ objections and make him
see she was perfect for him, then that’s what she would do.
Even if it meant asking Moira for help.

Casius’
home was not a house. He lived in a large crevasse under a giant
piece of volcanic rock. She gently pushed aside the sea weed he had
strategically laid over the opening like a door.

“
Casius?”
she called.

“
Serena,
what a lovely surprise,” said Casius, emerging from the dark
space underneath the rock, tentacles first.

“
Casius,
I’m going home to Adamar. Will you come with me?”

Chapter 4

“
There
it is,” said Serena, parting two stalks of kelp to reveal the
family cave in its little clearing in the kelp forest. “I
think you’d better stay out here for a while. She’s
going to be furious, and octopus beaks and tentacles are used in
quite a few potions.”

“
I’ll
be waiting, then,” said Casius, not sounding too concerned.
“Don’t let her bully you.”

“
I
don’t let her bully me. That’s why she hates me so
much.”

Casius watched her
swim into the glowing blue mouth of the cave and wondered if he
should have spoken up. He had wanted to tell her that a love potion
was probably not the solution. Triton shouldn’t need a love
potion to fall for her. If he did, he wasn’t worthy of her
anyways. But he had held his tongue because she was finally taking
the first step to embracing her talent, and he was sure that was the
right decision. He sank to the ocean floor and changed his skin to
blend in with the sand so he would not be disturbed…and maybe
he could catch himself a little lunch.

A purple cloud of
smoke was rising from Moira’s cauldron when Serena entered the
cave. Magic was imperious to the effects of water, and the smoke
acted just like smoke above the surface. Moira swished it out of her
eyes when Serena entered.

“
Well,
well, well,” said Moira, “look who decided to come
swimming back home. Have you been wandering out on the edge of the
reef crying for a whole month?” Moira laughed at Serena’s
disgruntled look of surprise and anger. “You thought I didn’t
know? I’ve been keeping a close eye on that slimy eel who
calls herself a queen. I saw the whole thing from right here.”
Moira pointed a finger down at her cauldron with a smirk. She
twirled the finger in the air, stirring the potion, and then grabbed
a glass bottle from the shelf and threw in two flying fish fins. The
smoke turned blue.

“
Poor,
poor Serena,” said Hazel, appearing from the green-lit hallway
to her room. Her face was pulled down in a mocking pout, her eyes
ablaze with giddy joy. “Rejected by her prince. How rude of
him to laugh in your face like that.”

“
I
was surprised you had the guts to finally speak up. At least you
kept your head held high,” said Moira, making Hazel’s
eyes narrow. “You disappointed me, though. Sniveling in front
of Amphitrite like that. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
You’re a constant disappointment.”

A wicked grin spread
across Hazel’s face at that.

“
And
then she swam away like a little baby,” said Hazel, puffing
out her lip in a theatrical pout again.

“
Yes,”
said Moira, dunking a clean vial into the cauldron and stoppering up
the blue liquid, “poor little Serena swam off because she
didn’t get her way. You swam like you have always swum from
your destiny, your powers. You let that weak, insecure little tuna
fish of a queen and her precious little brat get the best of you,
beat you down, drive you from your own home. You’re a
disgrace. Did you come back because you were hungry? Because you
were cold? You’re so sure you’re better than me, so sure
you don’t need me or my magic, and yet you come swimming back
to me when you need something.”

“
I
didn’t come back because I was hungry or cold,” said
Serena, her anger quickly overpowering the small twinge of guilt
Moira’s words had brought on—she had let Amphitrite
drive her out of Adamar, and she had come back to Moira because she
needed something. “If you had bothered to keep track of your
own daughter like you keep track of the queen, you would know that I
went to a new city to start over.”

“
If
you would let me train you, you would know that my window spell
doesn’t have the range to see things outside of Adamar,”
said Moira.

“
I
know that, Mother,” said Hazel.

“
Oh
bravo, should I give you treat?” said Moira.

Hazel hung her head
and glared at Serena.

“
I
was just fine without you,” said Serena, ignoring Hazel.
She
should know better by now
, she thought.
But
she always has to be such a kiss-up.
“
I
had a real job in Arcanus. I worked as a nurse. I could be one here
if I didn’t have your name hanging over me.”

A purple spark caught
flame in Moira’s eyes and her tattoos vibrated.

“
You
should be proud of my name, you ungrateful polyp! My name is power.
My name is feared. My name is respected—no matter what your
handsome prince’s mother thinks. What have you done? Who knows
your name? You think your little prince remembers it just because
you bumped into him once and flashed your eyes and wiggled your tail
at him?”

Serena looked at
Hazel, hurt at the betrayal. Hazel tried to muster a sneer, but the
look of broken trust in Serena’s eyes made her cast down her
own and rub her right arm with her left hand in discomfort, as if
her shame was making it ache.

Moira’s words
hurt even more than Hazel’s betrayal. She was right. Unless
something changed, Triton would never know her name. And for the
first time, Moira’s rants about her name being powerful and
respected did not ring so false in Serena’s ears. Serena
sucked in a deep breath, preparing to do what she’d sworn she
never would.

“
You’re
right, Mother,” she said.

Hazel’s head
snapped up so fast she hurt her neck. She rubbed it, glaring at
Serena with suspicion and something like terror. The flame in
Moira’s violet eyes was choked out, and her snarl smoothed
into a look of surprise that she quickly covered up with a sly
smile.

“
I’m
sorry, darling, I didn’t quite hear you. What did you say?”

Serena clenched her
jaw, seeing how much her mother was enjoying this, but she couldn’t
back down now. She had made up her mind.

“
I
said, you’re right, Mother. He doesn’t know my name, and
I mean to change that.”

Moira cocked her head
to one side and leaned it back slightly, her eyes narrowing and her
lips pursing quizzically.

“
Finally,
you’re ready to take what you want. I can see it in your
eyes.”

“
Yes.”

“
And
you plan to use magic to get what you want?”

Serena hesitated,
digging her nails into her palms. Hazel wasn’t breathing. Her
eyes were darting back and forth between her mother and sister, pure
panic on her face. Serena forced herself to look away from Hazel and
focus on Moira. She locked her dark eyes with Moira’s violet
ones, trying to show that she was in control here; she was not
giving in—she was stepping up.

“
Yes.”

Hazel’s held
breath came out as a gasp.

“
You
plan to do this magic on your own?” said Moira.

You
know that I wouldn’t have come home if I could do it on my
own, you old witch,
thought Serena. She took
another deep breath to keep herself in check.

“
No,
Mother. I would like you to teach me.” Serena chewed on her
lip for a moment before adding, “Please.”

Moira held her arms
open and beckoned to Serena with her fingers.

“
Come
here, darling,” she said with the warmest smile Serena had
ever seen on her face. It still wasn’t exactly motherly, but
it took Serena’s breath all the same.

At first she was
confused. It couldn’t be. Her mother had not truly hugged her
since she was a child—and even then, hugs were a scarce
commodity. But Moira beckoned again, opening her arms wider, and
Serena’s heart sped up with involuntary delight. She swam into
her mother’s arms with a feeling of unreality. She pressed
herself against her mother’s warm chest and had to fight the
urge to cry when Moira’s arms settled around her.

“
My
darling child has finally come home for real,” said Moira.
“I’m so proud of you, Serena.”

“
Thank
you, Mother,” said Serena, her voice unsteady.

Then Serena caught
Hazel’s eye over the top of Moira’s arm and was startled
by the force of the hatred burning there. It was then that Serena
realized she had just erased the one thing that made Hazel special
in Moira’s eyes: her willingness to learn magic when Serena
would not. Serena gently pulled away from her mother, wishing she
could tell Hazel that she didn’t have to worry, that she did
not plan on learning how to do anything except create a love potion.
But she couldn’t say that out loud just yet, or Moira might
decide not to help her at all.

“
Does
this mean that you’ll finally stop taking all of your
hostility out on me?” said Moira. “You’re always
blaming me for your unhappiness, but really you were unhappy because
you wouldn’t take action for yourself. You know that now,
don’t you, darling?”

“
Yes,
I guess you’re right, Mother,” said Serena, biting her
tongue against her objections, reminding herself that she needed
Moira’s help just this once.

“
Good,
dear. I’m so very glad.”

Serena had never heard
her Mother’s voice so sweet, and now that she was out of the
warm, unusual comfort of the hug, it made her nervous.

“
Triton
will be lucky to have you. You’ll make a wonderful queen. Much
better than that eel in a crown Adamar has now.”

“
Thank
you, Mother,” said Serena, slightly flattered despite her
suspicions. Having her mother speak to her in such a way, so
encouraging and kind, gave her a light, happy feeling in her chest,
and part of her didn’t care if the words were false, so long
as Moira kept this disposition.

“
Won’t
she make a lovely queen, Hazel?” said Moira, the sweet smile
turning into a smirk as she turned to face her younger daughter.

“
No,”
said Hazel, her sulky voice just above a mumble. “She doesn’t
look anything like a queen.”

“
What
would you know about it?” said Moira with a curt laugh. “Your
hair looks like dead seaweed. Serena has my looks…though, not
my body type.”

“
I
like Hazel’s hair,” said Serena, the familiar anger
rising in her again as Hazel’s face crumpled in on itself in
pain like it always did. The stab at Serena’s waistline didn’t
faze her. Serena knew it was Moira’s way of keeping her in her
place. Serena looked Moira in the eye, her jaw defiant, daring her
to start a fight and ruin her chances of teaching Serena magic.

Moira looked angry
only for a second, her angular features predatory, and then that
strange, sweet, and frighteningly beautiful smile pasted itself back
on her face. Hazel just looked at Serena with even more fury in her
red, teary eyes.

“
So,
what sort of magic were you wanting to learn to snag your handsome
merman, darling?” Moira said, placing a tender hand on
Serena’s shoulder and gently pushing her towards the cauldron.
“A love potion, I assume?”

“
Yes,
but I don’t want it to be permanent,” said Serena, her
voice and eyes stern to show Moira it was a non-negotiable
condition. “I want to be able to break it whenever I choose.”

“
Oh,
I understand perfectly,” said Moira. “You just want the
potion to get his attention, get him to stand up to his mommy about
you. But you don’t want a merman who only loves you because of
a potion. You want to break the spell once he loves you of his own
accord. And really, why shouldn’t he? You come from a long
line of beautiful and powerful mermaids. And you’ve got great
power in you, Serena; I’ve always said so, haven’t I?”

“
Yes.
I suppose we’ll see if it’s actually true.”

“
I’m
never wrong. I knew that one,” she pointed a thumb over her
shoulder at Hazel, “was going to be a disappointment ever
since she was a baby. But you? You’re special, Serena.”

“
Please
stop talking about Hazel that way, Mother,” said Serena,
knowing she was beginning to push her luck but unable to bear the
guilt brought on by Hazel’s crestfallen face. Hazel’s
chest had begun to go up and down in little, silent, hiccupping
sobs. Serena wished she would just go to her room so Moira wouldn’t
keep throwing harpoons at her with her wicked tongue.

“
Don’t
tell me what to do, darling,” said Moira. That sweet smile was
still plastered on her face, but a snarl was growing underneath it,
and her eyes blazed for a second. Her voice was as sharp as a
swordfish nose.

“
Sorry,
Mother,” said Serena through gritted teeth. She was sick of
playing this game.

“
Good,”
said Moira, her voice soft once more. “Let’s get started
then, shall we?”

She reached towards
the highest shelf and then paused halfway there.

“
You
know, Serena,” she said, slowly retracting her hand and
turning to face Serena with a thoughtful look, “a love potion
may land you Triton, but it won’t get you Amphitrite’s
approval. The love potion will make him love you, but it won’t
erase his love for his mother, and he’s quite the momma’s
boy, you know. If she objects, they’ll be no wedding
trumpets.”

Not for the first
time, doubt in her plan made Serena bite her lip. The thought of
coming so close only to lose him once again because of Amphitrite
was unbearable.

“
You
can’t know that for sure, Mother,” said Serena, but she
was having a hard time convincing herself as she remembered Triton’s
uncomfortable silence in the face of his mother’s wrath. “If
that does become a problem, I’ll just have to deal with it
when I come to it.”