Breakwater by Shannon Mayer Read Free Book Online Page B

sister, and faced the oncoming water. I pushed past the fear of the pain, reached for the power beneath our feet and felt . . . nothing.
    You have no right to chastise me, Larkspur. The mother goddess spoke to me, her voice firm and calm. Apologize and I will allow you access to the earth again.
    I couldn’t do it. My anger was too new, too raw.
    With a snarl, I grabbed Belladonna around the waist. “Hold on.”
    “Are you serious?” She screeched as the wave swallowed us whole. For just a moment we floated in a stillness that seemed peaceful before we were thrown forward, farther up the beach. The water was murky and I struggled to see through the churned up sand and plant life. We brushed against the top of a tree and I grabbed hold of the branches. Belladonna clung to me like a monkey and at first, I thought we were going to make it.
    Then the wave began to recede, the water pulling on us with the force of an entire ocean behind it. Belladonna slipped, her grip nowhere near as strong as mine. Letting go of the tree with one hand, I grabbed a handful of her hair and buried my fingers in deep. She might have a few less strands when we were done, but I couldn’t lose her to the water.
    Not when I was the cause of the tsunami in the first place.
    The ocean dropped around us, our bodies slowly lowering until we were standing on firm ground. So to speak. The branches of the tree tangled around us. Below me, Belladonna gave a groan. “Let go of my hair, Lark.”
    “You’ll fall,” I pointed out.
    “LET GO OF MY HAIR!” she screeched. I did as I was told and opened my fingers.
    She tumbled down through the tree, her dress tearing more than once before she hit the ground below with a thick thud.
    I shimmied down, dropping beside her. Carefully, I put a hand on her back, her body shivering under my fingers. “Belladonna, are you okay?”
    She slapped my hands away. “What the hell is wrong with you? What are you trying to do, show me up?”
    “No, of course not.”
    What was she talking about anyway? It wasn’t like there was anyone to see what had just happened except her and me.
    “I’m telling Father about this the second we get home.”
    I let out a sigh. “I would expect nothing less from you.”
    Her eyes shot to mine and for just a second I saw the little girl I’d experienced through her memories.
    “Mama, why don’t you love me?”
    Shaking my head, I held a hand out to her. She let me help her to her feet at least.
    “I need a new dress. This one is ruined. Which is fine by me, I hated it anyway.”
    “I can fix it,” I pulled a dagger from a strap on my calf.
    “What are you doing? Lark, stop it!” But I’d already cut the train off the bottom and sliced through some of the thick material leaving the bottom edge jagged. With tiny cuts, I split the material and then pulled each slit apart. The full skirt became a loose, many pieced hula type dress. Belladonna shifted her feet and the tiny slices moved around baring bits and pieces of her smooth legs.
    “That’s actually not bad.” She patted me on the top of my head absently. As if I were a servant. Did she know what I’d seen of her memory? Probably not. The only reason Ash had known what I’d seen of his the first time I’d Traveled was that he’d known it was a possibility. My mother, Ulani, had the same ability. Or curse, depending how you looked at it.
    “Let’s find a boat.” I stared past her to the devastation that had occurred. How the hell were we going to find a boat with this mess? Trees were down, human garbage was everywhere and—
    “Will that work?” Belladonna pointed toward the water’s edge. A rowboat floated, oars sitting balanced across the middle. As if that were a normal occurrence immediately after a tsunami.
    “There’s no way that just showed up,” I said, pulling my spear from my side. With a swift twist, I connected the two pieces and held the weapon out in front of me as I approached the bobbing