ELEMENTS: Acquiesce by Kathryn Andrews (snow like ashes series .TXT) 📕

FOURTEEN

SMALL MERCIES

Flynn’s eyes slowly opened, he inhaled the earthy scent of the pit and lifted his head, peeling his cheek from the cold, hard rock. He steadied himself, blinking several times to focus his bleary eyes. For a fleeting moment he’d forgotten where he was but his wet clothes and the sound of the pounding waves on the rocks below soon brought him crashing back to reality. Flynn held his trembling hands out in front of him and he watched the blue aura dancing between his finger tips. He blinked again and pulled at his fingers, trying to discard this mystery phenomenon. He pulled and pulled at each fingertip but it only made it worse. Flynn rose to his feet and kicked the wall of his cell. With his hands on his head, Flynn began to breathe rapidly. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, opening them again to see the iron bars securely in place above him. Enraged, Flynn reached up to grip the bars above his head. When his hands made contact with the iron, a surge of energy rushed through Flynn’s body and a bright blue light radiated from the hole, illuminating the sky like the bright, dancing lights of the aurora. With his newfound strength, Flynn ripped the bars free. The light display attracted attention from all directions.

The ravens’ fell silent, their heads turning sharply towards the hole. Zamira flapped her wings and took flight, landing solidly at the edge of the island.

“Oh my, what have we here?” asked Zamira calmly, her dark beady eyes peering into the hole.

Flynn stared up at her, brandishing an iron bar, his eyes burning into her soul. He lunged towards her, grappling with the mud and rock as he tried to pull himself out. Zamira stepped forward and dug her sharp talons into Flynn’s hand, just as she had done before. Blood rushed to the surface and Flynn felt an overwhelming strength building within him which intensified as Zamira’s army surrounded the hole. Flynn swung the iron pole hard against the ground where the Sirens were standing. An enormous surge of blue energy exploded before them, causing the rock to crumble and sending Flynn spiraling through the air into open water. The Sirens scrambled to take flight as they fell with fragments of rock hitting their wings, and croaky cackles filled the air.

“Breck!” screamed Cordelia from the tip of George’s Head as a bright blue figure descended into the ocean.

Irvin Seymour watched Cordelia through his binoculars. She removed her boots without hesitation and with reckless abandon dived from the headland into the sea. So preoccupied had Irvin been with the girls that he hadn’t noticed what was happening southwest of the lighthouse. He turned quickly to see the commotion at Slate Island, ravens squawking and flapping their wings in furor. He reverted back to the headland that Cordelia had foolishly dived from and was horrified to see Lana and the twins following after her.

“Holy mother of God!” he cried before running down the stairs to find Triton.

When Flynn hit the water, an energy field formed around him like a bubble, saving him from drowning and protecting him from the ferocious attack of the ravens. The mermaids glided through the water to the landing site at lightening speed. Approaching the scene from beneath the surface, Cordelia could see the bubble, half in the water and half out. The ravens attacked but the shield repelled them every time. Wiping hair from her face, Cordelia peered into the bubble, her eyes widening when she saw Flynn. She rubbed her eyes and peered in again. Overwhelmed with joy, Cordelia gasped for air, then smiled. He looked back at her, his eyes welling up. He looked much stronger than the last time Cordelia saw him but her happiness was short lived. Her eyes darted about looking for Breck and in a panic she dived further down to search for him. Flynn lurched forward, watching Cordelia’s tail disappear into the navy Atlantic.

Flynn was fast learning that life in this great wilderness was more complex than he could ever have imagined but he knew little about energy carriers. Lana and the twins were circling the bubble below the surface like a pod of dolphins protecting a human from a shark attack. They kept their vigil for thirty minutes until the ravens seemed to lose interest. When the ravens retreated to their sea stack, the mermaids surfaced. Flynn was surprised to see three beautiful mermaids surrounding him, though he wasn’t shocked. Nothing could shock him now. Relieved to be finally off that dreadful sea stack and free of the ravens, Flynn began to feel less angry and as his anger faded, so did the bubble. Within seconds, Flynn found himself submerged in the freezing waters of the Atlantic. Lana and the twins grabbed him, then they saw the ravens returning in full force, turning the sky black. It was reminiscent of the time Masika gashed her leg at the rock pools. It was a scene from the Apocalypse.

“Where’s Cordelia?!” shouted Flynn.

The four of them looked around frantically but there was no sign of her.

“We have to do something!” exclaimed Nerissa.

Lana’s emerald eyes watched with intent as the ravens flew closer. The croaking cackles were unbearable.

“What do we do?” asked Masika, panicked.

“We fight!” said Lana. “It’s time to put everything we’ve learned to the test.”

“We have to stop them,” said Nerissa. “At least long enough for us to get Flynn to safety.”

Suddenly, a seething wall of water rose so high out of the ocean, it appeared to touch the sky. It was menacing. Flynn’s eyes almost fell out of his head, he opened them so wide. Like a stricken ship floundering in heavy seas, he had no control over this situation.

The mermaids turned to see Cordelia commanding this colossal wall of water.

“Freeze them as they fly through it!” she commanded.

Flynn and the mermaids waited on tenterhooks, their heads bobbing above the surface in this