Chapter 3

“Fernicus!” She screamed at the flames, but no reply came to her, except that one window shuttered from the heat spooking Kropka, who stood on her hind legs in fear. “Woah, whoa. Calm down, girl,” she said to Kropka, trying to soothe her.

Grabbing the reins, she led the horse to the other side of the lake. They both went to the other side of the lake, where it was safe. “Stay here. I will take care of it.” She patted the animal to comfort both of them and to prepare herself mentally for what she had to do next.

Cordelia walked to the small lake that separated her and the burning wreckage of her home. She took her shoes off and rolled her legging just above the ankles. As soon as her toes touched the water, she felt the calm and familiarity take over her. This was a part of her. Water was a part of her.

As the water was sloshing and moving against her ankles, there was something missing, a part of her missing. The mermaid part of her was gone, leaving just a small piece behind.

The punishment was a few mistakes the triplets made were severe. One sister stuck on the dry land, another gone and the third in hiding. The price for what they have done was high and now they have had to live with it.

By closing her eyes and focusing on the water, Cordelia felt the faint connection she had to the element. It moved significantly, welcoming her. Saying to her it still remembers her.

The lake had a small underground river that ran to the ocean, which meant that Cordelia was standing in water that used to be her home. A place which she called her safe place, a place that she never thought she would have to leave. But here she was now, in the world above, as she used to say, paying for the mistakes.

Cordelia concentrated on her connection to the ocean. She felt the music of the water running in her veins like blood. She lifted her arms high in the air, focussing on commanding the water to do her bidding, and it did.

The water in the lake rose, now standing high like a living wall, causing Cordelia to grunt lightly in concentration and effort. Now on dry land, her powers weren’t as strong as they used to be. Obeying her commands, the water advanced like an army, marching towards the burning cottage.

Like a glittering beacon in the moonlight, the water moved gently towards its target. Although the wave of water hit the edge of the lake, it continued to advance. Cordelia pushed the wave with her powers and it obeyed, moving closer and closer until it reached its destination.

The water hit the cottage with enormous amounts of force. The fire was dead in a few seconds, leaving the cottage now smoking with the aftereffects of the fire.

Cordelia put her arms down from her uplifted position and collapsed on the floor into unconsciousness. Living on dry land has its cost. Her water powers were feeble and unremarkable, lacking much strength.

As Cordelia lay there on the hard ground, she thought of those wonderful memories she had with her two sisters. Cordelia and her twin sisters were always together, forming triplets, but now she was left to her own devices because of a couple of mistakes made by all of them.

The sun was now in the middle of the blue summer sky when her heavy from exhaustion eyes finally opened. She grunted as she got up into a sitting position, all her muscles hurting from the strain of last night’s power usage. Her powers were so much weaker than what they used to be. Now she only had a fraction left.

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The sight of the burned cottage made the blood from her head drain once again. There wasn’t much more smoke that was coming off the building. The roof was thoroughly gone, walls half destroyed, with whatever was left covered in black remnants of the fire.

Cordelia turned her head around to the sound of Kropka whining not too far away from her, safely tied up to a tree branch with some grass in her mouth. “Hi sweety, I am sorry I left you all tied up for a few hours.” Cordelia said as she petted her. Kropka was a medium-sized body, gray with black spots dotted around her whole body.

“Let’s take care of you first and then we will see what remains of our home.” Cordelia untucked, brushed, and fed the horse in what felt like a trance as she completed the chores in her mind and contemplated various scenarios of what might have happened here. Thinking of the worst scenario where Fernicus was dead made her stomach turn upside down.

Cordelia might have not seen his dead body yet, but she felt that something was missing, someone was missing. Fernicus was her best friend on the dry land, he was the one who found her washed up on the Mauve Beach. The beach on which she entered the new world, with the sand the color of the lightest shade of violet, in some light some might call it pinkish or white. But under the surface of the water, the sand had a vibrant shade of violet.

Fernicus was the one who took her in and showed her how to live on the dry land, away from water that used to be her home. He was the one who saved her from certain death. As when Cordelia surfaced, she was in so much shock that she didn’t move from her spot where she lay for three days.

Three days she laid there thinking about what had happened to her and thinking how she lived now. After those three days, he found her and brought her home. That was over six years ago, and now she was on her own, yet again.

Cordelia shook the memories out of her head as there was no time dwelling on the past. She had to find out what had happened here and who was responsible for this tragedy.

She made her way towards the ruins of her new home. The slow gray smoke was still escaping the building into the light, summer wind. The plants that used to grow on the walls have all burned down to a crisp. Fernicus used to love these climbing plants that covered the walls, making the whole hut look like it was a part of the forest. She smiled a little at the memory of him pruning and checking the plants like they were his children.

Cordelia walked carefully over to what used to be their front door. Now it was just a hole in a wall and stood in the remains of her home. Not everything seemed to be completely gone to the ground. Cordelia arrived quickly and reacted quickly, which saved some of the furniture and decorations around.

“Fernicus!” She yelled into the wind, she knew it was hopeless yet a small part of her wanted to hope that maybe her gut was wrong, that maybe Fernicus has survived by some sheer dumb luck or that he protected himself by using magic.’’Fernicus!’’ She screamed louder into the wind with no reply.

She searched each of the rooms in the hut, looking for any clues about what has happened here and, most importantly, what has happened to Fernicus. Each room looked similar to the previous one, damaged and unrecognizable.

There was no sign of him anywhere. She collapsed on the floor in the kitchen and started crying. She was sobbing for a good amount of time when she heard a sound outside of the cottage. Something was out there. Someone was out there.

‘’Hello!? Anyone home!?’’ sounded a voice not too far away from where Cordelia was sitting on the floor of what used to be their kitchen. No one was supposed to be able to find their home. Fernicus has put special spells on the cottage so that no one but her and he could find it.

The stranger’s ability to find their home could be another sign that Fernicus was dead, as his magic had failed. No! I can’t think like that. Cordelia slapped herself in her mind and got onto her feet. She was low on the ground, not showing the stranger her position. Who knows who he is and what he wants?

Cordelia took the sword from its secure location. She prepared herself for battle, determined to protect their home and uncover the truth about what had happened and where Fernicus was.