The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Chapter 21 ✰✦✰

✰✦✰ Chapter 21 ✰✦✰

" Dear Reader "

IT WAS THREE days later that Jacks came sprinting into the common area as we all played cards—unluckily for me, considering I'd been about to beat Miles—and claimed he'd solved the letter.

Relief washed over me with the fourteenth clap of thunder that hour. Luna and I were both sick of having to roll our eyes and keep Rinne and Miles from tearing each other apart. Meanwhile, Darius had won six out of the eight rounds we'd played so far. I didn't think I'd ever detest a person so much.

"What does it say?" I was the first to speak.

Jacks slammed the letter on the table and we all jumped up and surrounded it. Now that I had a real chance to study his face, I noted the hints of exhaustion plaguing his features. He'd set the original, aged letter beside the new one he'd written and began explaining,

"As we know," he said, "this is an ancient language. Ancient Goldarian. Language that people spoke back when the Olympians ruled over the thirteen isles, yes?"

We all nodded.

"And at first it was terribly difficult to decipher, given the state of the letter, but then I figured out who'd signed it"—He pointed to the apparent signature on the original letter—"and recognised the symbol, right there, above the last letter."

I squinted my eyes, desperate to try and see whatever it was that Jacks was pointing to but I couldn't notice it. It was like I'd gone blind.

Darius shook his head. "I don't know what you mean, mate. I can't see anything."

Thank you, I thought to myself at first, but then recoiled mentally at the thought of thanking Darius.

"There," Luna said, pointing to the same spot that Jacks had.

Still, it was too faint for me to properly distinguish.

Luna must've noticed because she chuckled softly before waving her hand in a singular motion. After she'd done so, a gentle light formed in her hand, casting the common area in an orange glow.

Miles gaped at her. "How did you do that?"

Luna smiled crookedly, like she was about to crack a joke. "You realise the ocean can be incredibly dark? Mermaids need lights to get around—even we aren't able to swim around blindly."

"So every mermaid has such power?" Darius asked.

Luna nodded. "We're born with it."

And before anyone could ask any more questions, she turned the light away from our eyes and focused it on the letter itself. A second later I was finally able to read what it said.

"Are you two finally able to see again?" snorted Sarinne.

I shot her a look but didn't say anything. Neither did Darius, though I kept my eyes trained on the symbol that I could now recognise:

◈

I cocked my head, examining the small design. "Isn't that—"

"Eche's symbol," Luna confirmed, her eyes widening with a sort of amazement. When she saw the confusion on Miles's face, she clarified: "Each Olympian has their own symbol, their own power, or trait of some kind, and their own isle."

I nodded.

"And this is Eche's—the Olympian of Atlantis Isle and whose power was water," Luna said.

"Does that mean we have to go there?"

"Yes," Jacks balled up his hands and rubbed them together. "Luckily, it's not far away. If we set sail tonight, we'll be there. . ." He blew his lips. "Tomorrow at noon?"

Sarinne shifted her weight, her brown arms crossed over her chest. "Okay, that's good news, but how come this took you three days to figure out? Especially when Luna noticed it not three seconds ago?"

"The symbol itself was very easy to recognise," Jacks explained coolly. "It was the rest of the letter that took so long to decipher and I still haven't been able to decode all of it. Ancient Goldarian is rarely taught and even when I was young, my teachers themselves could be sceptical of the language and what it all meant."

Darius's eyes were pinned to Jacks. "So we know nothing about the letter itself?"

"Not necessarily true," Jacks's smile was weak when he gestured to the letter. "Thankfully, I was able to translate all of it. Took me three sleepless nights but I managed it."

"Tell us then."

"Read for yourself," Jacks shoved the self-written letter into the middle of the table and we all began reading:

Dearest Reader,

I am ever so sorry that you possess this letter. I assume, since you are reading my words, that you are searching for the Chalice. I beg you—stop. It was never Agora's intention for things to go the way they did. He was never meant to turn on her—on us. We had no time to prepare. But he grew hungrier for power. He grew greedier for things he wanted but did not have.

She warned us. We did not believe her. Now she is dead and it is his fault. Still, she requested I write this—write it for The Aureate Witch. Whomever you are—you have my condolences, for this is a suicide mission.

Nonetheless, the deepest depths of my home hold answers. I was ordered by Agora to leave them there for the witch. For selfish, personal reasons, I must confess my happiness for her order. Regardless, I worry this witch will not be of much use, for I do not know if she possesses the power of song. If she does, she may become invisible to the drastic measures in place to keep my home secure. If she is not. . .I do not wish to plague you, Reader, of the horrors encapsulating my mind.

Good luck,

Eche ◈

"So?" I said. "Atlantis next, I take it?"