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

wearing the captain’s armband that he’d kept from his time as a student at the school and although Cordelia couldn’t make out his words, it was clear that he was instructing Rafe on how to perform his dives. Max on the other hand did not appear to be greeted by anyone. He sat on the spongy cliff top waiting for the contest to start. It was the first time that Cordelia could see past his tough exterior. The rude, overly confident, bolshy boy she had come to know seemed lonelier now than ever. He lowered his head and pulled blades of grass out of the ground. Cordelia sensed that she had found his Achilles heel. Perhaps they had more in common than Max would care to admit.

The morning sun drenched the sleepy town in soft, golden light. It was the time of day when most of Kilfearagh was still sleeping. It was the time when wild creatures woke from their slumber and creatures of the night returned to their dens. It was the hour the annual dive competition took place every summer. The chatter and excitement began to fade and standing in a rowing boat at the bottom of the cliff was Triton.

“Good morning,” he said, through a handheld megaphone. “We couldn’t have hoped for better conditions, could we? Don’t worry, I won’t keep you. I’d just like to thank you all for being here at this early hour, especially those of you who’ve travelled from afar. I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing all of our contenders the best of luck.”

A roar of cheering and applause erpupted from the crowd.

Cordelia spotted Flynn and Breck walking towards her and she breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought you weren’t coming,” she said, hugging Breck.

Then she turned to Flynn. “Thank you.”

“How could I stay angry with you?” said Flynn. “I should have been honest about Breck from the start. You weren’t to know you had a brother. Now that everything’s out in the open, we can move on, as a family.”

Cordelia took a step back. “He’s not my brother, we don’t share the same blood.”

“Not this nonsense again,” said Flynn, rolling his eyes. “I thought you were over this. You’ve not seen the lad for weeks.”

“Where do you think he disappears to every morning and evening? Or are you too drunk to notice?”

Breck’s eyes darted about, wary of who might be listening. “Can we talk about this later?”

“There’s nothing else to say,” said Cordelia and she pushed her way through the crowd to the diving ledge.

“There you are,” said Mazu, putting an arm around Cordelia. “We thought we’d lost you.”

Cordelia smiled but was not in the mood to speak. Thankfully her wounds had healed since she’d stopped carving her feathers out and so far, news of her wings had been kept a closely guarded secret.

“You can do this,” said Nerissa, standing beside Cordelia.

Cordelia hugged her friend, “Good luck,” she whispered.

A flurry of nervous anticipation filled the air. It was every parent’s dream for their child to place in the competition. Attending the ball put them in good stead to work directly for the King when they finished their training. Guarding Meren was considered to be a highly respected job amongst the Merfolk community and guaranteed a comfortable lifestyle for the entire family. The crowd waited on tenterhooks for Wade Bo to announce the first competitor.

“Rafe Hurley,” said Wade through the megaphone.

Rafe took his position on the diving ledge.

“Go on son! You can do it!” shouted his father from the crowd.

If ever there was an over zealous parent in the crowd, he was it. Of course, Rafe performed a perfect back dive and the crowd erupted into applause. Triton, Mazu, Morwen, Marilla and Irvin formed a judging panel on the rocks below. They raised their score boards in the air, each displaying a respectable nine.

“That’s my boy!” shouted Rafe’s father, applauding wildly and beaming from ear to ear.

“That’s my son! Takes after his father.”

“Maxwell, have you jumped yet?” asked a rather plump man who looked like he’d been chewing a lemon.

“No father.”

“Good,” said an even plumper woman in an ill fitting dress. “You’d think they’d have waited for us to arrive before they started.”

“Make sure you nail it Maxwell, our entire future is riding on you,” said Mr Jordan.

“Don’t put too much pressure on the lad,” said Wade. “Let him enjoy it.”

“He’s my son,” said Mr Jordan. “I’ll put all the pressure I like on him. Shows I care.”

“He knows he’s not to let us down, don’t you Maxwell?” said Mrs Jordan, wiping beads of sweat from her brow with a handkerchief.

“Yes mother,” mumbled Max.

“That explains a lot,” said Cordelia.

Max scowled at Cordelia but she knew it was through embarrassment rather than hatred towards her. For once, Cordelia knew that she wasn’t to blame for someone else’s feelings.

“Nerissa Murphy,” announced Wade.

Masika hugged her sister and wished her luck before Nerissa made her way onto the diving ledge. Nerissa inhaled deeply as she tried to control her nerves. She wasn’t used to diving solo. She closed her eyes to help her focus. Standing on the cliff top, Cordelia anxiously bit her thumb nail as she waited for Nerissa to perform her dive. Thoughts of Nixie’s fatal accident flashed through her mind and she silently prayed that her friend would be safe. In the blink of an eye, Nerissa performed an almost perfect back dive but she knew the entry splash would lower her score. The audience clapped less enthusiastically than they had for Rafe as mixed scores of sixes and sevens were raised in the air but her parents couldn’t have looked prouder. As Nerissa climbed back up the rocks, Masika took her position on the diving ledge. Without any hesitation, Masika performed her dive beautifully without any splash at all. She ripped straight through the water with the skill of a seasoned champion and the crowd went wild as the judges scored eights and nines. Cordelia congratulated her friend