Page 103 of Mirror of Malice
I faced him. “Then why do all of this? Why train me? Why initiate me into your academy? You have to believe in me, Penn. Someone has to.”
He studied me for a long moment. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
We stood on the cliff,the vine that Penn had produced with his magic now secured around my waist. Penn held the other end, tying it around his own waist, my anchor.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “The treasure chest is right there, Penn. We’re so close to getting it.”
Something like guilt flashed across his face, gone so quickly I thought I must’ve imagined it.
“Okay.” He pointed to the cliffside. “Make sure to always keep both hands on the vine as you climb down. Use your foot and find the ridges. When you get down there, you run as fast as your legs will carry you and open the chest to get the weapon, then I’ll pull you up.”
I nodded, heart hammering in my chest. “I’m ready.”
I made my descent, going slow and steady as Penn coached me through it. I held onto the vine with my hands while I used my feet to walk myself down the side of the cliff.
“How are you doing?” Penn yelled.
“I’m good,” I said, even though my muscles were beginning to shake from the effort.
A blast of sea water sprayed the cliff, and the rock shook under my feet. I swallowed at the thought of being down on the sand in just moments, of the waves crashing over me and threatening to sweep me under.
Finally, my feet touched the sand. I spun and sprinted toward the chest. A wave plowed into the shore and the waterslammed me back against the cliff, my head ramming into the rock. The vine tightened around my waist.
“Liliath!” Penn yelled. “Are you okay? Talk to me!”
I touched the back of my head, and my fingers came away with sticky blood. My temples throbbed, and I coughed out seawater, but then the wave receded.
This was my moment.
I raced back toward the chest and clicked it open. I blinked a few times. It was filled with gold, rubies, sapphires, all kinds of valuable trinkets. How was I supposed to know what the weapon was? I dug through it frantically, throwing out gold coin after gold coin.
“You need to hurry!” Penn yelled.
“I don’t know what the weapon is!” I plunged my hand deeper, feeling for anything that might be it.
“I’m pulling you up. This is too dangerous.”
The vine tugged at my waist, and I resisted, digging my feet into the sand. “No!”
A wave crashed over my head, and the vine snapped as the ocean yanked me away. A storm of water pushed me this way and that, everything going dark as I sunk deeper, deeper. My lungs burned, and I kicked and thrashed wildly, but it didn’t help. The sea had me in its grasp now, and it wasn’t letting go.
A rush of water pushed me further down. I wheeled my arms, trying to get any traction I could, but it was no use. My entire body grew cold, and my vision blurred. I wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
Then I felt it. Two vines wrapping around both my arms, another around my waist, and they lifted me up, up, up, until I could see a light. I surfaced from the water and took a gasp of air.
Penn stood at the edge of the cliff, hands out, commanding the vines that stretched from his palms. “You’re coming back up. I’m not risking your life like this. We’ll find another way!”
I gritted my teeth as I landed with a plunk on the shore and looked behind me, the vicious wave receding.
“I can do this,” I shouted and raced toward the opened chest. Using all my strength, I dumped it over, watching as gold and gems spilled out. And then I saw it, a glimmering vial, full of what looked like dust.
“Lilypad.” Penn’s tone held a note of warning, but I held up my hand.
“This is it,” I said. “It must be.”
I snatched the vial just as the vines lifted me to the cliff.
