Chương 175: Act 3, Chapter 29: The Ocean’s wrath

Day in the story: 12th January (Monday), evening"Can I go with you?" Zoe asked, her eyes were already swollen and shiny. She looked so vulnerable and unlike herself at that moment, it was difficult to say no.

"Sure, but I intended just to drop by, leave a few cards in the main chamber, and get the hell out—""I insist." Sophie raised her hand slightly.

"Don't leave me as the only one behind, okay?" The face she made was exaggerated, but the plea underneath it wasn't.

"Fine. You both really like to strain my soul."

"Teleporting two people in and out is nothing for you right now. Don't act like it is." She put her hands on her hips.

"We don't even have to get dressed, as it's hot in there."

"Are you two just leeching onto me to get to the beach with warm water in the middle of a crisis?"

"No, I am not. I just want to see with my own eyes if his Domain is still whole," Zoe answered silently, which made Sophie ease a bit on her stance.

"I might have." Sophie's eyes wandered downward.

"Come closer, girls, and Zoe please grab my crutches. Old age has made me less springy than I used to be." I joked to cheer her up, but failed miserably. She did as instructed though, and as my spellbook came to me from my own world, I asked it to take us into the heart of Peter's Domain. The crystalline interior trembled with a thunderous crack, and the shadowlight within it lashed in violent, erratic streaks. My gaze snapped to the core at the center.

A maelstrom of water and shadowlight churned there, twisted into a frenzy. The slow, deliberate weaving I had once admired—those patient movements that had reminded me of a quiet lake—were gone. In their place, waves rose and collapsed into one another, colliding, devouring, reforming without rhythm. Another thunderclap tore through the air beyond the fortress. All three of us ducked on instinct. I almost dropped to the ground entirely, but managed to hold onto the crutch in its middle point.

"This doesn't seem good," Zoe whispered.

"Why is this place so angry?"

"Honestly?" I tightened my grip on my crutches and started walking toward the wall.

"The only explanation I have is that it reflects what's happening in Peter's life." The girls stayed close behind me, both transfixed by the flashes of white and turquoise shadowlight that flared and vanished beneath the spinning surface of the core. The pulses were sharp and rhythmic. It felt like watching something alive struggle against itself.

"He's in distress?" Zoe's voice sharpened.

"We have to help him."

"I'll pressure those agents," Sophie said.

"Or their boss. We'll get his location."

"I doubt they'll tell you anything," I replied, pressing an infused eye-card against the crystalline wall. Vision bloomed in my mind from its new vantage point. Perfect angle. I shifted my weight against the crutch and made my slow way toward the next placement.

"If I had to guess, they sent him to Ideworld. Maybe even their version of Quantico. Our best chance is catching him here—or waiting for him to contact us."

"What if he's in danger?" Zoe asked.

"Oh, I'm certain he is," I answered.

"Otherwise his island wouldn't feel this ominous." I planted another card.

"Luckily he's indestructible, right?" Sophie tried, her tone too bright.

"He heals."

"Yes…" Zoe stepped closer to the soul core.

"I preferred this place when it was lighter and less thundering," Sophie muttered as her voice echoed off the walls. She reached me.

"Give me the cards. I'll place them." I handed them over without protest.

"It's Peter," I said, watching Zoe's silhouette framed in bursts of white radiance. Each flare carved her into shadow against the brightness.

"He's calm most of the time. But when he's angry, he says exactly what he thinks and does exactly what he wants. He fits the ocean." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"He's not like that, Lex," Zoe said quietly once Sophie finished.

"You think he controls it. I don't. It isn't anger that overtakes him. It's fury." She swallowed.

"I saw it once." My stomach tightened.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No." She shook her head immediately.

"It wasn't that. We were arguing about something trivial. He grew more frustrated. When he realized he wouldn't convince me, he left. And I… I did something I regret. I spied on him." Sophie blinked.

"Spied?"

"I shifted into my seer form. But for the first time, I wished to stay bound here. Near him. Even though he didn't want me around. My power responded." She stared at the core as she spoke.

"I saw my body lying on the bed. I hovered above it as a sphere of silver light."

"I didn't know you could do that," Sophie murmured.

"I didn't like doing it," Zoe replied.

"I followed him because I felt guilty. I wanted to see if he would…" She hesitated.

"Cheat?" Another thunder crashed overhead.

"Yes. I'm not proud of it." She drew in a breath.

"He didn't. He dove into the Hudson instead. Just dove into the river, like it was nothing. All the way to the bottom. And he started striking the water around himself. Violent currents spiraled from him. White and blue light tore through it. The water began to boil. He screamed underwater. I couldn't hear it, but I saw it. I left. I couldn't watch anymore. He came home later that night dry and calm. He apologized."

"I didn't know he did things like that," I admitted.

"His powers are still new," Zoe said.

"He couldn't have done this before."

"Maybe he's always needed physical outlets for that very reason," Sophie offered.

"Swimming. Running."

"Yes. For someone obsessed with truth, he hides a lot." Zoe's jaw tightened.

"I wish he'd share what weighs on him instead of carrying it alone." A thought struck me.

"Maybe that's my fault. When we were younger, he took care of me. When I came to the orphanage bruised, he patched me up. Told me it would be okay. Said he'd deal with Penrose and his thugs when he was older. That's why he trained so much and chose to study criminal justice. To be strong enough. Smart enough." I swallowed.

"He kept himself in check so I wouldn't have to carry his pain too."

"And now he's doing the same with Zoe?" Sophie asked.

"You don't know that, Lex," Zoe snapped, angry now.

"You just said you realized this now. You never asked him. You assume. I told you before—stop blaming yourself for other people's decisions. The world doesn't revolve around you." Her words landed where they were meant to.

"He's with me now," she continued, her voice shaking but never stopped being resolute.

"He will be a father, whether we're ready or not. And he will have to learn to share what he carries. I will share what I carry within me—with him and with the world." She stepped forward. One hand pressed against the soul core. The other rested over her stomach. For a heartbeat nothing changed. Then light detonated through the chamber. White radiance flooded every crystal surface, pure and whole. The maelstrom slowed.

The thrashing waves softened, their violence dissolving into the steady, deliberate weaving I remembered. Outside, the thunder ceased. The air stilled.

"What just happened?" Zoe asked, her voice thin with disbelief. She stared at the soul core as if it might erupt with motion again in any second.

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned," Sophie recited, far too pleased with herself. Zoe's head snapped toward her. She planted her fists on her hips, outrage written clearly across her face.

"I don't hate him. And I don't hate you, Lex," she said, her tone steadying.

"I might have sounded like that. Yes, I feel betrayed. He chose something else over me. Fine. I can live with that. It felt like his path. His first real decision for himself." Her jaw tightened.

"But it feels like he knew he wouldn't be available to me and did his best to cover it up. That makes me angry. And I am also angry at you for making it about you. Again." She raised her voice at the last word, but a reluctant smile broke through it.

"It's my and his problem, Lex. Thank you for helping, but—""I get it," I cut in quietly.

"You're right. I'll keep an eye on him. If he comes here, I'll pull him out. But I'll let you two deal with it. It's only your problem."

"No," she corrected.

"You were right about one thing. It concerns three people. The third one just isn't here yet." Sophie glanced between the calm, luminous core and Zoe's hand still resting near it.

"How did you calm it down?"

"I don't know," Zoe admitted.

"I just touched it and thought that I should be the one angry, not him. And that I miss him."

"Maybe it's coincidence," Sophie offered carefully.

"Not that I believe in that, but it could be."

"Fate is a myth," I replied.

"And coincidences of this magnitude don't exist. It shifted the moment she touched it." Zoe looked back at the soul core. Its shadowlight was steady, bright and clean, the water weaving in measured currents.

"Maybe he does listen to me after all," she murmured. Then she turned to us.

"Can we please finish that stupid movie? I feel like I just dropped the heaviest stone I've ever carried."

"Same," Sophie said, pointing at herself with both hands and squeezing her eyes shut in relief. I motioned for them to come closer.

"I know we're not technically related," I said as they stepped into my reach, "but am I going to be an aunt?" Zoe's expression shifted into something playful and firm at once.

"You better be a good one. Get your life together before then, or I'm not letting you anywhere near that boy."

"Boy?" Sophie asked.

"I just have a feeling," Zoe replied. They placed their hands on my shoulders. The crystalline hall dissolved, its light folding inward, and the steady glow of Peter's Domain gave way to the familiar dimness of my room.