City of Kovabasa in the Undersea Realm

Sophia landed with a splash. Bubbles floated up around her, giving her body a chance to complete her transformation. Her gills pulsed on her neck in time with her heart.

Where am I?

Sophia took in her surroundings. Blue water encompassed the landscape in a beautiful cerulean. To her left and her right stood tall buildings.

Well this is…new.

“Watch out!” a tiny voice shrieked.

Sophia jumped to the side and gasped. The two sprites she’d seen in Fairtide were now here with her. Wherever ‘here’ was.

“You!” Sophia pointed a finger at them. “Where am I?”

The dark-haired sprite—Merial, she remembered—looked at her companion, who nodded. “You’re in Kovabasa in the Undersea realm.”

Sophia frowned. There was a whole realm underwater? The more she thought about it, though, the more it made sense. Mer were meant to be secretive creatures. They weren’t supposed to be known by the humans, yet some—like Sophia and her coven—could live among the humans without anyone the wiser.

“How do I get back?” she asked.

“We’ll bring you back,” the other sprite replied. “But we need your help first.”

“With what?”

“Follow us.” With a flick of her tail, the sprite took off in a jet stream followed closely by Merial.

Sophia sighed and whipped her legs behind her into a tail.

The sprites were tiny but fast. Sophia caught up as they approached a creature she immediately recognized.

A seahorse? That’s why she was dragged out of her home? Sophia raised her eyebrows.

“It’s a seahorse,” she stated plainly.

“Ugh, not again! Merial, I told you this was wrong.”

“Chill, Linnet.” The sprite glared at Sophia. “You can’t see his true form? Look closer. What do you really see?”

Sophia blinked, the water around the seahorse shimmering. No, glowing.

“He…he’s a dragon?”

The dragon-turned-seahorse snorted in approval, nudging Sophia with his nose.

“So can you help us?” Merial looked up at her expectantly.

“I, uh, I can try?” Her response came out more like a question. “What exactly do you need me to do?”

The seahorse sneezed, sending a stream of fiery bubbles out of its nose as he was launched backwards. Sophia and the sprites shrieked as they each flew in a different direction.

“Does that happen often?” Sophia asked when she and the sprites swam back to each other.

“The point is that it’s not supposed to happen,” Linnet said. “You see, we, um, were playing with Cyprus here up in the Enchanted realm and kinda got a bit carried away with an enchantment.”

Merial rolled her eyes. “No, Linnet got carried away. I tried to stop her.”

“Regardless,” Sophia said, urging the conversation along. “How do we get him back to normal?”

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Linnet bit her lip. “That’s the hard part. We don’t really know. But since you have the ability to see us, we thought you would have the ability to help.”

“So, wait. I’m really not supposed to see you?” Sophia asked.

Merial shook her head. “The only way you could is if you tangled with Andromeda.”

Andromeda, right. The beautiful witch who wanted to make her a Syfire.

Sophia touched her lips with her fingers. She could still taste the woman on her mouth, feel her on her skin.

“You have enough power—we hope—to send Cyprus back to normal,” Merial said. She tapped Sophia’s necklace.

Ever since she arrived in the Undersea realm, it had begun to glow. And now that she looked closer, Cyprus’s body was glowing as well.

Cyprus whimpered next to them. This time, his sneeze launched him high up and a puff of green with the odor of cut grass released behind him.

“Ew!” the sprites chorused, flapping their wings and flying around to rid themselves of the smell.

Sophia frowned after Cyprus. The way he was sneezing was almost like he was allergic to the water.

No. That was impossible.

“You turned an H2O intolerant dragon into a seahorse?!” Sophia asked in disbelief.

“Kinda.” Linnet winced. “To be fair, we didn’t know he was intolerant until we got him here.”

“So how did you get him here?”

“Through the portals,” Linnet replied.

“That’s why we need your help,” Merial explained. “We can open a portal to get him back, but we can’t exactly change him back.”

Sophia sighed. This really wasn’t going to be easy. “Okay, let me see if he’ll approach me.” She held out her hand.

He snorted happily, rubbing his little head against her hand. His bony exterior was rough to the touch, not unlike a…well, a dragon. His skin warmed and her locket hummed against her chest. She hadn’t felt its power like that since the night in Saeburg.

Sophia focused on the energy that coursed through her veins. Cyprus’s form wavered in front of her. For a second, he returned to his original dragon form before reverting back.

“Okay, I have an idea,” Sophia said.

Sophia would use her powers to turn Cyprus back. Linnet would follow by protecting him inside a bubble to shield him from the water. Finally, Merial would open a portal to the Enchanted realm and they’d transport Cyprus back to where he belonged.

And so it began.

Cyprus’s eyes grew wide as Sophia’s power connected with him. He morphed—seahorse, dragon, seahorse, dragon—and Linnet immediately encapsulated him in a safe sphere.

“Now!” Sophia yelled out.

Merial nodded, twisting her hands to open a portal. The atmosphere changed. Sophia grabbed the two sprites and they shimmied upwards and landed with a thud.

Linnet released Cyprus from the bubble, and he snorted happily. Tufts of steam escaped from his nostrils.

Merial smiled, throwing her arms around the dragon’s neck. “You did it!”

I brushed my fingers over his scales. “Why me, though?”

Merial’s smile wavered. “You were chosen by Andromeda. I don’t really know much beyond that.”

“Hmm.”

Cyprus dipped his nose under her fingers and she smiled. Maybe there was a good use for her power after all.

“Come on, buddy,” Sophia murmured. “Let’s get you back to your family so I can get back to mine.”

The dragon snorted out a puff of smoke and followed Sophia along the grass. As she got further away from where the portal had dropped her, she realized the sprites were still following her.

“Why are you two still here?” she asked.

Merial fluttered her wings nervously. “We sort of were tasked to keep an eye on you. After you delivered Cyprus back to his home, we were told you must go back to the mortal realm.”

Sophia frowned. “And who told you to do that?”

Merial looked over to Linnet. “We’re not at liberty to say.”

Chills ran down Sophia’s back.

If they couldn’t tell her, it meant only one person could’ve given them those instructions. And that didn’t fare well for Sophia.

Wings flapped in the sky above them. Shielding her eyes from the sun, Sophia looked up to find several dragons flying above her head in a V formation.

Cyprus let out a tiny roar and flapped his wings, barely getting a foot off the ground. He let out a whimper.

Sophia glanced at him. One of his wings was bent; she hadn’t noticed that before.

Her locket glowed warm against her chest.

Just this once, she thought to herself, clutching the silver heart between her fingers. She closed her eyes and let the energy run through her veins. With her hand pressed to Cyprus’ snout, a warm glow surrounded her and particles floated in the air toward the dragon. Before her eyes, the dragon began to float up in the air as his wing mended itself.

He flapped it in the air, gaining speed. Sophia let go of her locket and Cyprus continued his flight up to join his clan.

Looking down at Sophia, he roared and let out a puff of smoke toward her. She waved at him.

“Goodbye, friend,” she whispered. Then turning to the sprites, who were now misty-eyed, she said, “Okay, I’m ready.”