The pieces were starting to fit together. “My mother saw the Ricardo collection a week before she was murdered. She was murdered because of a ring, the ring I found buried under my oak tree, the one I’m wearing now”—I held up my right hand and showed him the ring—“not because that man was after me.”
“Your mother saw the Ricardo Estate?” His arm dropped away from me as his back became rigid. “You told me you thought there was a connection between the estate and your mother’s death, but I didn’t understand how you’d made that leap.” He watched me for several seconds, terror washing over his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I only found out a couple of weeks ago. From a friend of my parents.”
Collin leaned forward, looking like he was about to be sick. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Fuck.”
“Why are you so freaked out?” Collin was always in control when it came to the curse and all things supernatural. The only time I’d seen him panic was after Wapi attacked me in the ocean. He’d suddenly realized the danger I was truly in from the gods and demons and was hit by the full impact of what he’d done to me. So what had him freaked out now?
He glanced over his shoulder at me. “We’re just pawns in some monumental game. He’s been planning this for centuries.” His voice sounded strained.
I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right. I just didn’t know what to do about it. “So Ahone let that man kill my mother?”
Collin shook his head and turned away. “I don’t know, Ellie.” He ran a hand over his scalp, refusing to look at me. “Maybe . . . Probably.”
In light of everything else, I didn’t doubt it.
“Then Ahone killed my mother and my father,” I whispered as the horror washed over me. “He took them both from me. Why?” Tears slid down my cheeks.
Collin grabbed my hand, linking our fingers and holding tight, still staring out into the ocean. “I don’t know.”
We sat in silence, watching the waves together. Tears burned my eyes. Ahone was a monster too. “I have his fucking mark on my back. I want it off!”
He turned to me, pity in his eyes. “It’s too late. You’ve been picked.”
“Oh, God, Collin.” My voice cracked as I desperately tried to keep control, but panic was overtaking my senses. “I feel so disgusted and used and—”
“Betrayed.” His voice was full of resignation.
“Yes. Betrayed.”
His mouth twisted into a sad smile. “I know exactly how you feel.”
I should be angry. Where was my anger? But all I felt was a numbing iciness. “Why? Why would he do this?”
“I don’t know. He’s a god. Was he bored? Was it fun for him to set this all up? But you can’t trust anything he says or does.”
Collin was right, and part of me hated him for that. He’d tried to warn me, but I’d refused to listen. “What about Okeus? Are you suggesting that I should follow him instead?”
“No. He’s just as bad, although maybe Ahone is worse. Okeus was still trapped after the curse broke, but he sent his messenger to me. Kanim told me that Ahone had used me, just like Ahone had used Manteo years before to create the curse. If I pledged myself to Okeus, he said, I would be rewarded for my loyalty.” He looked away. “At least Okeus is fairly up-front about his deviousness. Ahone masquerades as a kind, benevolent god.”
Tears welled in my eyes and my throat burned, but I was too shocked and devastated to cry. What little I knew about the curse was all a lie, which meant I knew absolutely nothing.
Collin stood and reached down for me. “Come here.”
“What are you doing?” I asked as he pulled me to my feet and started for the water.
“You need the ocean.”
I dug my heels into the sand. “No. It’s from Ahone. I don’t want any part of it.”
“Don’t be stubborn, Ellie. You need it whether you want it or not.” He continued to drag me. “And it may have been Ahone’s idea to invest us with the power of the earth and the sea, but they belong firmly to us. Especially you. You’re the witness to creation. And there’s no way he could have given that to you.”
“How do you know that?”
“Ellie, you saw it yourself. You were present at the birth of the gods. They have no control over that part of you.”
I still resisted. I knew it was stupid, but to go into the ocean felt like accepting what Ahone had done, and there was no way I’d ever accept it or him again.
Collin stopped pulling and I fell against his chest. He took advantage of me being off balance and scooped one arm around my back and the other under my knees, picking me up and holding me to his chest.
“Put me down, Collin!”
He was in the water in only a few strides, walking farther out until the waves hit his waist and he dropped my legs into them.
The power hit me as soon as my toes touched the water. I started to fall as the onslaught of power shot through my entire body. This was my most intense experience yet, and I struggled to stand once my feet hit the sand.
Collin wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me to his chest. “Fuck, Ellie. You’ve been without the ocean for longer than a week.”
But I was too overwhelmed to answer. Before I realized what he was doing, his right hand reached for mine, pressing our palms together.
The Manitou of every living thing filled my head at once, and I felt like I was drowning in the sea of life. Collin and I were even more powerful than the last time we’d joined our marks. His emotions pushed through our connection—guilt, worry, love. Deep love and deep lust.