World of Aluvia 2 by Amy Bearce Read Free Book Online Page B

that destroyed that poor merman. Maybe the elders were wrong, and Tristan’s mother was right.
    The others exchanged glances, but Sierra just said, “We don’t know that for sure yet. Let’s talk about that in a moment. First, though, what happened after this thing, whatever it was, grabbed you?”
    Phoebe took a deep breath and continued. She briefly touched on the strange shadow she had seen as she lost consciousness, which distressed the others, but by the time she finished explaining what happened with the blue light, everyone’s jaws reached the floor.
    Sierra, for once, seemed at a loss for words.
    Micah asked a question no one else had yet. “You said there was a
blue
light, when the water wraith held you, and then it let go?”
    Phoebe nodded. “The light was bright blue, like sapphires. It pulsed once and was gone. I thought Tristan had done it, but he said he saw nothing near me when he arrived.”
    Micah was silent, though Phoebe noticed Sierra eyeing him with suspicion. They were keeping secrets! That was most definitely a keeping-things-from-Phoebe-again face.
    “What do you know that you’re not telling me?” Phoebe demanded. She stood up on the pallet, feeling the need to be taller and more grown up than sprawling on her bed. “Why didn’t anyone tell me there’d been new threats against us?”
    Here the other three had the grace to look abashed. “I didn’t want you to worry, Phoeb’,” Sierra whispered. “I know I shouldn’t keep things from you, and I really am sorry, but you were so frail after we got you back and you still, well, you still get upset sometimes. You know how you get?”
    Phoebe hung her head. She’d tried to keep the worst of the panic from Sierra but apparently had failed.
    “You don’t see your old friends. You don’t go anywhere except to the ocean. What if I had told you my worries and made your… episodes… worse?”
    Sierra’s eyes watered, and Phoebe teared up in response. For once, she wished she wasn’t so quick to cry with others. She wanted to impassively stare down at her sister, but impassive was never a word anyone would use to describe Phoebe Quinn.
    “You’ve been really depressed, Phoebe,” Corbin added, patting her hand. His kindness made tears press harder against her eyelids.
    “I’m sorry,” Sierra said, “I am, but I’m supposed to protect you, got it?” She hugged Phoebe like she’d never let go.
    Part of Phoebe wanted to stay wrapped in those arms forever. Sierra had protected her from their father before he died. Since their mother had died birthing Phoebe, Sierra had taken the place of mother and father both.
    But the other part of Phoebe, a newer part, knew those protective arms were an illusion. Something had changed inside her. Clearly, no one could keep her safe forever. And in the meantime, her dear friends were in danger.
    “We’ve got to help them!” Phoebe said. “I’ve got to at least warn them! They won’t know a water wraith has risen again, if that’s what I saw. They had no idea what it was when I described it. Tristan dismissed it as a rare strange creature accidentally floundering from the depths. What if the evil sea beast is back, too? What if that was the dark shadow I sensed before I fainted?”
    “That’s a giant leap to make. We don’t even know that what you saw is definitely this wraith thing.” Sierra’s jaw was clenched.
    Corbin looked at the floor.
    “You know.” Phoebe’s voice was soft. “You know, and you don’t want to admit it.”
    “That’s not true,” Sierra snapped.
    “But you won’t let me go warn them tonight, will you?”
    “Tomorrow is soon enough. I’ll go myself, but they won’t be expecting anyone tonight. You don’t need to go back to the sea at all. You’re at risk there!”
    Phoebe groaned with frustration. “Sierra! These are
my
friends. And tomorrow, they could be dead, attacked by the wraith or maybe even the sea beast itself.”
    “Or maybe Tristan was