Elemental Shadowed by Helen Scott

3

Griff

Watching Finn go off into the water like that should have worried me, but I was too focused on Tessa. My brother in arms was a grown ass man, if he couldn't make decisions for himself then he shouldn't be on our team, besides he asked for my trust so I had to believe he knew what he was doing. Even if I didn't fully understand it.

It was the faith that I had in him that allowed me to turn my focus to Tessa. Her chest was still rising and falling with her breath but only just. Every once in a while there would be a pause as well, one that made my heart seize in my chest.

I had no idea what was going on with Tessa and Finn, and I honestly didn't want to know. If the two of them were together then I'd know there was no hope for me, and right now I needed hope. I needed it because if she died here, on the beach with just me, I'd never forgive myself for not telling her how I felt, for not doing something about it because I was too worried about stepping on Finn's toes.

As I watched her I couldn't help but notice how much she'd changed in such a short amount of time. The muscle she'd had was mostly gone, and she'd lost weight that she didn't need to lose. She looked emaciated, like she belonged in a commercial for a charity or something.

If we could save her with these mythical beasts of the deep then how far did that go? Would she just have the magic removed from her? Would they repair all the damage done to her body? And if they didn't, then how could she heal from something like this? She would have to be in the healing pools for months to help her body recover, if it ever did. There were so many questions and though I wanted Finn to have the answers, I got the feeling he was just as clueless as I was. He seemed to be working on blind faith, which was fine, so long as it worked.

The rebel faction that wanted one realm might not have killed her outright, but if we couldn't get her back in shape so she could do whatever it was she needed to as the key then they might have won anyway. My hope was that these beasts from the depths would just fix everything, but the thought made me feel like a child relying on their parents to make everything better. It was an illusion, one that would be shattered eventually.

In some ways I saw the rebel's point, having one realm would be easier than the four of ours and Tessa's, but it was the amount of death that would happen along the way that I couldn't accept. Plus, the fact that they wanted to control everything and get rid of all of our different cultures wasn't exactly my favorite idea either. We were all talented in our own ways and that deserved to be respected, let alone the people from Tessa's realm. They wouldn't understand any of it, which I imagine would only lead to more fighting and death.

"Hold on, Tessa," I murmured as I gently stroked her chestnut hair away from her face. "Finn's gone to get help."

I spent my time watching her and occasionally glancing into the ocean to see if there were any signs of Finn or these beasts he was talking about. As far as I could tell there weren't any.

"I can't believe this is where you arrived, well, somewhere around here. This is an amazing view of Atlantis. I'm glad this was your first experience and not the palace.

"The water is so blue, I had no idea, and this sand is incredible. We aren't allowed out here usually, visitors from the other realms have designated areas where they can go, so I've never seen this before. It's almost as beautiful as you are."

Ugh. That sounded so cheesy. I was thankful she probably didn't hear it.

As though Finn knew he needed to save me from myself he chose that moment to emerge from the water, though he was still a little ways out and all I could really see was his head.

His skin was pale, as though he was in shock and when I saw a giant shape appear out of the water behind him I figured it was because one of these mythical beasts had actually responded to him.

Fog seemed to swirl around him as his form changed, returning to the man I knew. It wasn't that I had never seen his merman form, I just rarely saw it so when I did it freaked me out a bit. The same went for the others though for some reason their alternate forms didn't weird me out quite so much.

He came staggering out of the water and practically collapsed onto the sand next to Tessa breathing so hard he couldn't get any words out for a moment.

Eventually he said, "We need to get her in the water. It can't help her on land."

"Am I allowed in the water?"

"You're going to have to be, I'm too weak to swim her out there on my own. I didn't realize how far out I'd gone in my panic."

That explained why he'd been gone so long and why he was so exhausted now. We sat for a second while he gathered his strength and I had a moment to be thankful that we all had to learn how to swim and fight and all of that if we wanted to go to Tessa's realm. It meant that I could help him with this whereas most people from my realm wouldn't be able to since we don't have any way of learning how to swim.

"I'll carry her into the water then you can direct us," I said as I gently scooped Tessa up. She was feather light and I was honestly worried that she would blow away in the breeze coming off the ocean or maybe even dissolve once we got into the water. There seemed to be so little of her left.

The waves lapped at my feet, the water surprisingly warm, as I went ever deeper until my feet no longer touched the bottom. I kicked as hard as I could to keep my head above water and keep us moving forward with Finn in front of us the whole time. I knew how to swim, but that didn't mean I was great at it, and I hadn't practiced swimming while carrying someone since our training days, so occasionally my head dipped under the water. I got a sense of coming closer to something massive.

It was that sensation that had me slowing down, and struggling to keep my head up. I forgot how much work swimming was. Finn was there a second later and I felt his arms slide under Tessa's frame.

"I've got her, just tread water for now," he said brusquely.

As he took her from me I had to fight the urge to try and hold on to her. This was what we needed to do apparently if we wanted to break the magic that was binding her. I got that. I did. It didn't mean letting go of her in water that she could easily drown in was easy to do.

He swam away with her and I felt bereft. I was alone in a vast amount of water, the likes of which was incomprehensible to my people, and my best friend had just swam off with the woman I cared about toward what could be a deadly animal for all I knew. I had to swallow the panic down. This would be fine. It had to be.

Besides, if I knew one thing, it was that Finn wouldn't put Tessa in any unnecessary danger.

I could almost feel them communicating, or maybe I was feeling the magic, but it was like the water was alive around me, like it was reaching out and touching me instead of just resting against my skin. The sensation came in waves, literally, lapping against me and each one was stronger than the last until I knew I was being pushed away from them. I began swimming toward where I thought they were but it was no use, the waves just got even stronger.

There was a voice in my head whispering that the mythical beast didn't want me around for some reason, which made me nervous. I had to accept it though, this thing could control the water, which meant it could push me all the way back to shore and there was nothing I could do about it. I was kind of surprised I was still as close as I was when it clearly wanted me gone.

I stopped fighting it and let it send me away. I didn't want to be the reason that it didn't take the binding off Tessa. It was when I was about halfway back to the beach that I felt the pulse of magic. It was so intense that it took my breath away and made my skin break out into goosebumps.

The pulse came again and this time I actually wanted to get back to shore. I didn't want to be in the water while this was going on, since I wasn't sure how it would affect me. The last thing we needed was for my magic to somehow be triggered and me wind up in the dungeons of Atlantis for using my magic outside of the allowed areas. And after what happened with the queen and Tessa? Somehow I didn't think they'd listen to anything I would have to say seeing as how it was one of my people that had nearly killed them both.

Finally, my feet touched the bottom and with the next wave I felt another burst of magic, this one stronger than the rest, and I had to fight to control my own response to it. My instinct was to let loose a burst of flame but I had to lock it down. If someone was able to sense it then it would just cause more trouble.

It did make me wonder though, had the beast been successful? I could only hope that they were. There was nothing I could do other than head back to shore though.

I sat on the beach, letting the waves lap at my feet as I waited for any sign of Finn and Tessa. A knot had started to form in my stomach and I didn't realize how tight my chest was until I saw him emerge from the waves and with what seemed like a small miracle, Tessa was clutching his shoulders. She wasn't completely conscious but she was there enough to hold on for dear life.

He crawled onto the beach on his hands and knees and gently detached Tessa's arms from around his neck. She collapsed back on the sand and was breathing hard.

"We need to get her back to the healing pools so her body doesn't give out now that the magic is broken," Finn said with a cough.

"I can carry her," I replied.

He nodded. His exhaustion was evident in the pallor of his skin and the slump of his shoulders. The Atlantean was spent, which meant that it was up to me now, and I'd give it everything I had. The last thing I wanted was to let all five realms down.

She was our last, greatest hope, and if her body gave out now we were all screwed beyond measure. And seeing the way Finn looked at her as she lay there I knew that he was well and truly smitten with her. We'd started this by hoping that she'd survive the trip out to the ocean, now we were hoping she'd survive the trip back to the palace.