Magnus

“I… I smell water again,” Amalia said, lifting her head and sniffing at the air.

Her hair hung lankly around her shoulders. After our last swim, her braids had come undone, and ever since we encountered Bale, she’d been distant.

“I have to… to… wash,” she said and glanced at me from under the thick fringe of her multi-hued lashes.

“I understand.”

We should continue our search, we were getting closer to the monolith, but she needed a break, and I couldn’t push her when she looked so beat. Besides, the last time, the water revitalized her and hopefully it would again. The other jinn thrived on the life force they spread through here while every new one wilted Amalia like a plant denied sunshine for weeks.

Though, there hadn’t been any lightning in a while.

I briefly contemplated going back to see if anyone from our camp remained in here, but I didn’t want to waste the time it would take to return.

Amalia headed for a crevice in the rocks that was barely large enough for us to walk side by side through.

“I hit Bale,” she said after a few feet. “I pulled her hair too.”

“I saw.”

A crease ran across her delicate forehead as her pale eyebrows drew together over her nose. “I never believed I was capable of doing such a thing.”

I now understood her brooding demeanor. “If it’s any consolation, you didn’t hit her very well.”

A small smile quirked her mouth, but her eyes remained sad. “There was no need to fight behind the seal.”

“There is on Earth and in here.”

“I’m not a fighter.”

“You’re more of a fighter than you realize, and if you want to survive, you need to learn how to fight well. When we are free of this place, I will teach you.”

“And I will learn,” she murmured. “But I don’t like it.”

“Self-preservation is a good thing.”

“I know that, but I didn’t hit Bale for me, I did it… I did it because it made me so mad when she hurt you.”

Her eyes reflected her confusion as they shifted to the color of honey. “It’s not…” She shook her head and looked away. “I shouldn’t have done it. I’m not violent.”

“There is more than fae in you; there is also jinn,” I reminded her, “and all demons are violent. The fae are dead now because they wouldn’t fight.”

“And the original jinn no longer exist because they were too violent. Just because something has always been one way, doesn’t mean it should remain the same.”

“You want demons to be less violent?” I asked incredulously.

Her hand trembled when she brushed her hair over her shoulder. “I understand fighting is necessary for survival, especially now, but I can dream maybe one day we will experience a better, more peaceful world.”

I couldn’t shatter her hope by telling her that would probably never happen. Besides, maybe I was wrong in my belief and she was right to dream of such things. No matter who was right or wrong, I determined that if I could, I would bring her this better world she envisioned.

The pathway opened to reveal a small pool of water at the end. Amalia kicked off her pink slipper shoes as she approached the pool, and I winced when she revealed the oozing blisters on her feet.

“Your feet,” I said.

“They’re fine,” she replied. “The slippers have rubbed them raw since our swim, but they’ll heal now that the shoes are off.”

“You should have stopped wearing them.”

“Hmm,” she murmured, her attention already focused on the water.

I walked over to stand beside her and gazed down at mine and Amelia’s reflections on the reflective surface. Either the water was the slate gray of the rocks lining the pool, or it was crystal clear.

“I’ll be quick,” she said and plunged into the water before I could reply.

I watched her sink toward the bottom before turning to survey the small space surrounding the pool. Stalking around the perimeter, I searched for another way into this place. After careful examination, I saw no one else or any other entrance into this place aside from the path we took to get here.

The walls rose thirty feet into the air, and at least fifty wilted trees dotted the top of the walls. Many of their barren branches leaned toward the pool.

• • •

Amalia

Sinking deeper into the water, I relished the feel of it against my skin as it rinsed the death from me. Bubbles rose from between my lips as I scrubbed at my flesh. I smiled as I waved my arms before me and sank further into the water. The multi-colored hue of my hair fanning out around me reminded me of the sunrises on Earth.

I loved those sunrises, Earth, and anything beyond the seal, but there was something about this place, and especially the water, that called to me.

“But you are more fae than the rest of us, with your coloring and your telltale eyes. The Abyss is not for you.”

Rislen’s earlier words floated across my mind, and I wondered how right she’d been. The Abyss exuded loneliness, but a part of me belonged here, and it was not the jinn part.

By the time my toes touched the bottom, my lungs were starting to burn, but I wasn’t ready to rise again. I could hold on for a minute more.

Gradually, I became aware of warmth spreading from my feet to my ankles and slithering around my calves. Closing my eyes, I savored the feel as the fire in my blistered feet eased and my skin repaired itself.

Rislen may have been wrong about the Abyss being more difficult for me, but she was right about my strong fae connection. I felt the lingering power of the fae here all the way to the center of my being; I needed to experience more of it.

I became acutely aware of the growing discomfort of my thin dress against my skin and the fact it was keeping me from experiencing the water all over me. Reaching down, I yanked the dress off and let it go.

The water moving freely over my bare flesh soothed me further. Running my hands over my breasts and down between my thighs, I cleansed myself of the last of the death as the heat from the stones climbed into my belly and spread upward.

Slowly, I waved my hands back and forth before me as the spreading heat encompassed my breasts and my nipples puckered. Tipping my head back, I discovered Magnus’s face wavering in the water as he leaned over the pool to gaze down at me. Unexpected yearning ripped through me, and I nearly cried out from the intensity of it.

While I stared at his troubled countenance, the heat encompassed my entire body, and something clicked into place. At that moment, I realized two things… I’d come into my immortality within this pool of fae water, and I needed him.