Page 24 of Cursed By Seas and Darkness

“Oh?” she asked, smiling, a mischievous glint in her eye. “You should lead with that next time.”

I smacked my hand to my forehead. “Hopefully, there won’t be a next time. Can you tell me the ingredients now or not?”

“Oh, oh, yes. Back to that.” She flapped her hand up and down. “Ahh, yes. Hmm. These might be a tad difficult to find. To even attempt to break the curse, you will need the moonflower pearl.”

Shock washed over me. “The same one your sister wants?”

“She wants the moonflower pearl?” Coraline asked, surprise in her voice. She frowned, swimming toward her books. “That explains it. She must have tied the curse to it somehow. Though the pearl itself is powerful enough to break curses like this one.”

She opened another book and read through it. “You must never give her the pearl. Promise me.”

I clenched my jaw. “All right. Let’s go, Kaga.”

Coraline held up a hand. “Wait a second.”

With a snap, she closed the book. She floated to a small chest beside her bookshelf, opening it up and drawing out a few vials. She hummed to herself happily, then twirled around to the cauldron. “Come close, both of you.”

Kaga and I both drifted toward the cauldron, almost touching the black pewter. My heart raced as I stared into the purple liquid boiling and popping inside. Coraline began throwing her vials into the cauldron, and Kaga’s hand reached for mine. She began singing a spell in the same ancient language her sister had when she cursed Kaga.

His hand tightened on mine, and my heart pounded as we stared at the bubbling liquid. Tendrils snaked out, wrapping around my face, covering my eyes. My breath quickened as my world became a giant smudge of purple. I wondered if it was happening to Kaga, too, but he wouldn’t be able to answer if I asked.

Coraline’s song continued, then I heard a faint popping sound, and all noise stopped. The tendrils dissipated, flowing out into the water in tiny bright purple bubbles.

She sighed happily. “There, that should make it much better.”

Make what better? It’d be nice if people explained what was going on once in a while.

I stood there dumbfounded, and Coraline grinned slyly at me. That was Kaga’s voice. I turned toward him and stared.

Why is she looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?

“No, nothing on your face,” I answered, my eyes still wide.

Wait…did she just answer my thoughts? Oh crap. Kaga, hurry, clear your mind!

My free hand flew up and covered my mouth, a snort escaping. His face reddened, and my heart leaped at how adorable he looked.

Coraline laughed, then floated to Kaga and took his other hand. “Look at me.”

Kaga obeyed, his cheeks still red. She closed her eyes, chanting low. A minute later, she stopped, opening her eyes. “Now only when you direct your thoughts to Allura, she will hear them. Nothing else will get through. No one else will be able to hear them, unfortunately. Allura can because she’s here, touching you. Try it now.”

Allura? Can you hear me?

I nodded at him, a wild grin on my face. It was nice to hear his voice after so long. His own grin mirrored mine. “Thank you, Coraline. This is going to make finding the pearl so much easier.”

“I know,” she said loftily. “Why do you think I bothered to use my magic in the first place?”

Coraline put a hand on one of mine and Kaga’s shoulders. Her face became serious, with a hint of sadness. “Listen. This is very important. The pearl is necessary for the spell to work, and it still might not break the curse. You need to understand that there is a good chance it will not work. If it doesn’t, which it probably won’t, my sister will be the only one to break it.”

“No, we have to try,” I said. “She wants the pearl in exchange for Kaga’s voice.”

She waved her hand. “There’s no guarantee she’ll break the curse, though.”

“And you will?” I asked dubiously.

She nodded her head gracefully. “Of course, I want nothing more than to help my fellow sea creatures, especially the merpeople.” She stared at us. “If my sister gets the pearl, she’ll escape. And destroy everything you know.”

Chapter 19

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