ELEMENTS: Acquiesce Kathryn Andrews (guided reading books .TXT) 📖

It blew stronger with every passing second and the audience clutched their belongings tightly. Cordelia boldly stepped forward and that steely look appeared in her eyes. Unwavering in the wind, Cordelia leaped into the air and completed a faultless forward dive with two somersaults.

“Are you mad?” asked Breck as Cordelia emerged from the water. “You could have killed yourself.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

Cordelia glanced at the score boards, all displaying nines apart from Morwen who awarded seven. The rain continued to pour and water droplets bounced off the surface of the ocean as the water started to build momentum. There was one round of dives left. The mood in the crowd was tense and some of the competitors pulled out of the competition due to the adverse weather conditions. Rafe took his place on the diving ledge and leaped straight into a reverse double somersault. He was awarded nines - a point deducted by each judge for entry splash.

“Well done son!” shouted his father. “Looks like you’ve secured a place at the ball.”

“Nerissa Murphy,” announced Wade.

Against the force of the wind, Nerissa anxiously stepped onto the diving ledge and teetered unsteadily on the edge. She stared at the water for too long, waiting for the right moment to dive.

“Go on Nerissa! You can do it!” shouted Masika.

Nerissa took a deep breath and leaped from the rock but a gust of wind blew her sideways and she dived awkwardly into the water below.

“Masika Murphy,” called Wade.

The crowd was deathly silent as Masika took her spot on the ledge. Nerissa waited nervously, forgetting to breathe as she awaited her sister’s fate. Once in position Masika leaped straight into the air, somersaulting through the rain and slamming into the waves. Disappointed with her entry, Masika resurfaced and punched the water.

Cordelia watched the gannet closely as it nestled in the cliff. She could see through its innocent façade. She knew it was Arna controlling this storm. Then it hit her. If Arna could control the wind then so could she. Cordelia focused her mind on the wind, willing it to die down but Arna was strong. Fixed at loggerheads and neither backing down, tension rapidly built, charging the atmosphere and igniting an electrical storm. Fork lightning struck the clifftop where Cordelia and her friends were standing. Along with great lumps of rock they tumbled to the water below.

TWENTY-TWO

MEREN

A mid this raging tempest of wind and sea, white foam covered the ocean and from it emerged Nixie and twelve white horses, galloping through the waves. Cordelia couldn’t believe her eyes as Réalta came towards her. She reached out her hands and pulled herself onto Réalta’s back. Each horse found a rider and carried them away from the storm.

“Hold on!” shouted Cordelia over the storm as she watched Breck sliding from his horse.

The journey was otherworldly. None of them could quite believe they were riding ghost horses across the ocean. Cordelia glanced over her shoulder to see the town still cloaked in darkness, the storm seemingly chasing them. A wall of sheeting rain raced across the ocean towards them. With one fell swoop of her hand, Cordelia stopped the rain in its tracks. Frozen rain drops hung suspended in the air; a maze of ice beads to curtail anyone who tried to follow them. A lilac grey sea mist appeared on the horizon and as they drew nearer, they heard a conch shell sounding.

“Where are they taking us?” asked Breck.

“Meren,” smiled Cordelia, her eyes focused ahead.

Nixie led the horses through the mist into still waters. Cordelia gazed at the magnificent castle towering over her. It was surrounded by rocks just as Lana had said, and guards holding sea arrows. The conch shell sounded again as though to signal a warning.

“Are they expecting us?” asked Cordelia, turning to Nixie.

Nixie had gone and one by one the horses vanished too. The riders found themselves submerged, their heads bobbing about in this unfamiliar seascape. The guards stepped forward and aimed their arrows at the unfamiliar faces.

“What do we do?” asked Max.

“Don’t shoot,” called Cordelia, “we come in peace.”

Lana revealed her tail, prompting the others to do the same. The guards changed their stance, now aiming their arrows directly at Cordelia and Breck. Cordelia hesitated, she hadn’t decided whether she would reveal her identity but the decision was being made for her. The guards pulled back their bow strings to full draw.

“Show them!” said Lana.

Cordelia reluctantly revealed her tail which caused the guards to lower their bows and salute. Cordelia swam towards the rocks and the others followed behind. The conch shell sounded again but this time it wasn’t a warning, it was a welcome.

The group were ushered into the castle where they were filled with wonder at the sight of the gem covered walls that sparkled in the candlelight. None of them had ever seen anything like it.

“This way,” said a woman wearing a maid’s outfit. The woman led Cordelia away from the rest of the group.

“Why aren’t we staying with the others?” asked Cordelia as she hesitantly followed the woman up a flight of steps.

“You want to change into dry clothes, don’t you?”

Cordelia nodded and the woman led her into a chamber where two maids were filling a bath tub with water and another was hanging a beautiful dress at the end of a four poster bed. Cordelia brushed the back of her hand against the smooth, silk bed sheets. So lost was she in her thoughts that she jumped when the maid spoke again.

“Would you like to be bathed?”

Cordelia’s eyes widened. “No. No thank you. If you don’t mind I’d like some privacy.”

“As you wish.”

The maids curtsied before leaving the room and then Cordelia slipped into the bath. It was far more comfortable than the upright barrel in her chamber at the lighthouse. Cordelia lay back and allowed her eyes to wander over the contours of the ornate walls and gold leaf picture frames. Wondering if it may be all a dream,