I immediately use The Sight to search the castle for my parents. But I am too exhausted to glimpse anywhere outside the safe room, and the attempt leaves me lying motionless on the bare floor. My limbs are as heavy as an anchor, my breathing chaotic… I need to get out of here, and the sheer impossibility of moving is pushing me into a blind panic.

  It’s been hard to remain strong. So, here in this room, away from everyone, I allow myself to be flooded with fear. All the death! All the destruction! My life as it has been is over… What has happened today has such a deep and dark undertow that it will be impossible to swim away from unscathed.

  Images of those I love come unbidden into my mind. Mother. Father. Gloria. There are too many people relying on me; I can’t fall apart now. Consciously, I slow my breath, and my heart rate lowers as I do.

  It’ll be okay. I swear it’ll be okay.

  My eyelids grow ever more leaden, and I drift into a fitful sleep.

  I wake to the incessant throb of my body’s aching. I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but surely my parents will have been taken by now. Or dead… I swallow hard to cut off the thought. I’ve wasted enough time on fear; I need to turn my attention towards what can be done.

  When I used The Sight, the cavern had appeared as radiant amethyst, but now it’s a bare-bones stone enclosure. It is filled with crates of food and water, but has no entrance or exit. My sleep provided no real rest, and I’ll need more strength to conjure the void water membrane needed to leave this chamber. If I try it now, the acid water will eat my skin and bones.

  As much as I want to resume my search, I can’t do that while I’m feeling this tired.

  My aching shoulder reminds me it’s not just rest I need—it’s healing too.

  Protocol dictates that there must be medical supplies stored here. I tear through crate after crate until I find a pile of boxes with the stylized blue shell logo, indicating medicine. I open them and pull out a few vials of healing ointment.

  Thank Bhutaimael that my injuries aren’t worse. Those claws, fangs, and fire… It’s a minor miracle that I wasn’t cut or burned severely. The ointment stings as I apply it, but the bruise’s ache is almost immediately diminished.

  As the pain clears, my mind also regains focus. It’s going to be an hour or more before I have the power to summon void water. Until then? The cold stone offers refuge but little comfort.

  I find a compressed sea-jelly chair and sprinkle a little water on it. A briny scent fills the air as it squelches to a size and shape suitable for me.

  While it does that, I unpack some stored provisions.

  Kelp and dried mungfish are valued for their nutrition and portability, not their flavor. But as I sit down and eat, it doesn’t matter. I’m too distant to enjoy even a meal cooked by the head chef.

  After I finish the meal, there’s nothing left but to wait for my vitality to return. Fortunately, I was wearing my earrings when the bombardment started. I press the coral, and the songs of whales bring me the first taste of real calm I’ve had in hours. Using my meditative training, I fall into a light trance.

  ***

  It’s a few hours before I can enter The Sight again. It takes everything I have, but I cast a wide net and try to sense as much of the castle as possible. There are a few faint stirrings, but the castle is mostly devoid of life.

  How many had died in the raid? There were nearly a thousand people who called this castle their home… I’m sure some were captured, but the ships could only fit so many. The rest? It’s unthinkable to imagine them all dead. And my parents? What has happened to them?

  I need to find out more, but my brain is burning, and I have to drop The Sight just minutes after entering it.

  I drink more water, eat a few more bites of bitter-tasting kelp, and return to my trance state.

  Finally, I’m strong enough to resume my search. I send out an emergency flare of light—visible only to those on the Royal etheric wavelength. Not an S.O.S., but a beacon. I need to know if my parents are okay.

  To send a flare across so much area… the sheer effort required leaves me retreating to trance again.

  I curse my own weakness at not being able to sustain The Sight longer, and my frustration makes it harder to get into a meditative state. It’s only when I tune to the whale’s highest pitches that I manage it.

  Hours later, I’m ready to dive back in.

  A pulsing green flare awaits my next entry into The Sight.

  My parents have responded!

  They’re alive, but the color indicates that they’re in enemy hands.

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  I know without being told that the Baron is responsible. And if those were his forces that invaded, then the Hellhounds… Their presence means he has made a demonic pact. Those never come without a cost. While the Baron might want the family gems, that won’t satisfy a demon. But the energy contained within their royal souls? That would be a meal worthy of the effort.

  My involuntary shiver has nothing to do with the chamber’s temperature.

  If the fleet took days to reach us, that means it’ll take about the same time to return to the Baron. I have time. I have time. I’ve got to believe that, but there won’t be much.

  Unsure if I’m well enough, but unwilling to risk further delay, I mouth a silent prayer as I build up a membrane of void water. It covers my body, but the effort of creating it leaves me close to collapse.

  I switch from soothing whale songs to the piercing whistle of an oyster toadfish. The shrill tone ramps up my adrenaline and keeps me focused through the danger.

  I touch the ground. A pulsing rectangle of light grows in the center of the floor. I take a deep breath and dive down through the portal.

  I’m tense. Too tense. The waters’ churning slams me against a tunnel wall. I turn off the shriek and tune inwards. I remember back to when JayMay, in dragon form, danced around me in the ocean’s depths. That’s the inspiration I need! I find the rhythm of the water and embrace it. It’s not an enemy, it’s a dance partner.

  Past the pain, past the fear, past the doubt—there is a truth in the water. If I can follow that truth through to the other side, I’ll be safe.

  The glowing painting of my grandfather appears in mirror image. I’ve made it to the doorway. With one last burst of energy, I push out from hiding and return to the castle.

  ***

  The castle, filled with just rubble and corpses, is a lifeless husk of its former glory. It breaks my heart that centuries of glamor were stolen in such a short time, but even worse are the many familiar faces among the dead.

  I wander, searching for anyone still living. It’d be easier if I hadn’t exhausted The Sight leaving the safe room. It was a minor miracle that I had the strength to stand.

  I pry a fallen rifle from the hands of a royal guard. The invaders stole all the gold, pearls, and gems, but left many weapons behind. Biometrics made stealing them not worth the time. That they didn’t even bother to destroy the weapons shows how little of a threat they consider the survivors. I’ll make sure that they regret that decision.

  Muscles tensed, I continue forward.

  “P-princess? Thank the seas you’re safe!” I turn and find a man holding a pistol. He looks too young and inexperienced to be wearing torn rags that were once a guard’s uniform. His skin is such a pale shade of purple that it’s almost pink. He holsters his gun, and his subsequent formal bow looks out of place amidst the devastation.

  “Guard!” I ignore his bow and rush to him. “How long ago did they leave? Have you managed to save others?”

  “The remaining guards… we’re combing the ruins, m’lady.” He stands upright. “We’ve gathered what survivors we’ve found in the stockade—the most easily defensible area.”

  “Including the guards, how many have survived?”

  “Far fewer than would be hoped, m’lady. Maybe fifty in total.” His voice is strangely cold—as though he’s lost the ability to feel things emotionally.

  The news is like the fresh sting of a jellyfish—sharp and painful. A burning anger rises from deep within my gut. Hundreds slain… Such an unbelievable loss.

  The castle is the heart of our archipelago, and with it cut out? Prince Adro’s family will use the opportunity to take over the entire coregency.

  “Your name, guard?” I try to pull my attention back to the present.

  “Lucien, m’lady.”

  “Lucien, the Kingdom thanks you for your efforts. Now tell me, how much of the castle has been searched?”

  “Three quarters so far. The royal chambers are blocked off by debris, but that’s where I’m heading next.” He casts a glance in that direction.

  Before I can answer, I’m buffeted by a familiar surge. The pendant I gave JayMay—it’s nearby! Coming from the very chambers he was heading towards.

  If she had never left, this might not have happened—but none of us knew what was coming. I can’t blame her. In fact, her arrival gives me a better chance of saving my parents. With JayMay nearby, I will soon leave the castle. It will be better for morale if the survivors don’t know what I am about to undertake.

  “Lucien, I’ll take care of the royal chambers; you regroup with the others and continue your search elsewhere.” After all I’ve been through, the regal tone of voice I use comes almost as a shock to me. All that training has done its job well.

  “Of course, m’lady.” He bows once more and then returns down the same hall he’d entered from.

  With him gone, I rush towards the chambers. I find the hall filled with debris from floor to ceiling. Had I been too hasty in ordering him away? I could have used his help clearing, but I will have to make do.

  Fortunately, for all my height, I’m quite lithe. Instead of removing a wall’s worth of rubble, I spy a series of small openings I should be able to snake through. Stone presses at me from all sides. Dust and grit choke me and make my eyes water, and for one moment, I almost can’t continue further. The whole ceiling could come crashing down on me and leave me trapped, but with luck, I make it to the other side dirtier but otherwise unscathed.

  I stretch deeply and drink in the joy of open space. Then I hear them—voices!

  I run in their direction.

  “The Princess? Did they take her?” JayMay, wearing her strange form-fitting neon garb, asks Gloria, who is huddled and shivering in the ruins of one of my wardrobes.

  “I don’t know… We got separated, and I didn’t, I didn’t see. I’m so sorry, I failed.” She lets out a pitiable sob, and it’s all I can do not to run to her and give her a hug.

  I swallow my excitement at finding them. What’s ahead weighs too heavily on my heart for me to get sidetracked by such comfort.

  “They didn’t get her,” I respond.