The Lost Talisman: Ocean Academy, #4

By Austin Baillio

A complex magical potion has the ability to unlock the secret resting place of the lost talisman, a magic so powerful that it could end Coral's struggle against the Master. But obtaining this power will leave her loved ones exposed to the ravaging of her greatest enemy. Can Coral sacrifice everything to defeat the Master, or will she relent to save those she loves?

Coral is forced into hiding to recover from her near defeat at the hands of the Master. But she is not alone. With an unexpected mentor by her side, she embarks on a voyage to discover the resting place of the lost talisman—a magical item so powerful that it could change the tide of her fight against her true enemy.

However, obtaining the talisman stretches Coral further than she could ever imagine. The Master lays waste to Coral's former life, turning the entire ocean against her and the Octopods. With each passing day, the life she fought so hard to create is dismantled, piece by piece. When Coral's friends are targeted, Coral is torn between sacrificing everything she holds dear to finish her quest or returning to fight for those she loves.

Will Coral endure and claim the lost talisman, or will she abandon her vendetta to save her loved ones?

The Lost Talisman is the fourth installment in the Ocean Academy series. If you enjoy reading stories filled with impossible odds, dangerous quests, self-sacrifice, and powerful magic, then you'll love the fourth year of the Ocean Academy—Sarah Elizabeth's innovative addition to the Academy genre.

Buy your copy today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Baillio
• Release date: Jun 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393611905

Book preview

Chapter One

King Magus stalked his prey through the Expanse, a thrill coursing through his body at being so close to catching his prey. He could almost smell her fear in the water. She had no chance of escaping—not this time. He had positioned Drake, his familiar, in the path he chased her into. One way or another, this would be her last swim.

He had been wrapped up in this chase for several weeks now, and he was eager to see it finished. It shouldn’t have been this difficult to trap her, but she had proved more resourceful than he had given her credit. However, in the end, no one could hide from him.

A flurry of moray eels dashed out of his way, clearing the view in front of him. There, he said to himself. He reached out a hand and the water twenty feet in front of him coalesced into a giant trident. He thrust his other hand out and electricity coursed from his hand, through the water, and into the hydrokinetic trident. It glowed with sickening brilliance.

Closing the distance between them, he thrust his hand forward, and the trident flew through the open water between him and his quarry. The trident traveled at an incredible speed, striking his target directly in the back.

The trident slammed into the woman, pinning her to bottom of the trench. The King could already smell the burning of flesh as the trident electrified her body.

He slowed his approach. No further need to hurry. The King had caught his prey. He gloated as he drew near. Magus could see how much pain she was in, simply by looking into her eyes. He relished it and sneered at her.

She fought desperately against the trident, trying to escape. He bent low so she could look him in the eyes. You really thought you could run from me? She tried to escape his gaze. He struck her across the face, splitting her lip, and blood spilled into the water. She continued to squirm, but couldn’t get free of the hydrokinetic trident. Foolish girl. We both knew this day would come.

Please, no . . . the girl muttered. It took great effort for her to say anything trapped as she was. Master . . .

The King laughed haughtily at her. Your loyalty won’t save you from this fate. The minute you agreed to work with me, your life became mine to do with as I saw fit.

The mermaid clenched her eyes shut, tears dribbling out the sides. But, why? she asked, a pained expression on her face.

Her struggle amused him, and he grinned as he pulled on a pair of gloves and animated them with a bit of hydrokinetic energy.

What are those? she asked, her lip trembling.

He lifted his hands to show off his invention. These gloves are a clever device I created to hurt my real enemies. Do you see how my magic has reanimated the tissue?

She stammered, blinking rapidly as he showed off his gloves. Octopus tentacles? Why?

The King’s grin grew wicked. You will see soon enough.

The suckers on the gloves wriggled, and he pressed his hands against her face, smothering her. The suckers on the glove created a seal, and the King pressed down with his might. The mermaid pushed against the ground, trying one last time to escape the trident and his grasp, but it was useless. She was going to die.

He whispered into her ear. You served my interests in life and you will continue to do so, even in death.

The mermaid flung her tail wildly at him to push him off. But the electricity had done its job, weakening her to the point where her strength had been completely sapped. As he suffocated her, he could feel the life slowly fade from her body until she went limp.

Once he knew she was dead, he dissolved the trident and the energy animating his gloves. He carefully pried the gloves loose from the mermaid’s face and admired his handy work. Sucker marks dotted her face. He had successfully recreated an Octopod attack, making it appear as though this poor mermaid had been suffocated and killed by a tentacle.

He called over his familiar. In no time, the great shark was at his side, eager to do his bidding. Take her to the edge of the city and leave her body somewhere easily found. The big brute circled around and grabbed the mermaid by the tail with its mouth. It didn’t bite down as the King had taught it, and the shark swam carefully back toward Moray’s Expanse, the dead mermaid in tow.

He drifted in the water for a time, slowing his heartbeat and regaining his composure. Magus would need to return to his kingly duties and wanted to be in the right frame of mind when the mermaid’s body was found. He needed to appear surprised and outraged to keep up with the charade. The King summoned the hydrokinetic energy inside of him to create a portal which he used to travel back to a waypoint he made in his bedroom in the Palace. He stepped through and said goodbye to Moray’s Expanse. When his senses reoriented themselves to his Palace quarters, his wife stood waiting to greet him.

How did it go, my love?

Excellent. I finally tracked her down. She won’t present a problem for us any longer.

Wonderful, she said as she slid her hands over his cheeks and kissed him. Things are turning around for us.

They are, indeed, he said, placing his hands on her hips and guiding her into the bedroom. Losing Coral to Aquatica had been a devastating blow to his plans. Out of rage, he had spent the last several months hunting down and destroying his network of spies. He suspected Aquatica had infiltrated his network somehow and so he eliminated any loose end Coral and Aquatica could tie back to him. It wasn’t until they had almost decimated half his network that his wife suggested he use the deaths to his advantage. She reminded him they could use every death to further their cause. She had been right, of course, and he quickly devised a way to use his failed network against Aquatica. At Queen Verona’s suggestion, he had killed a large squid and fashioned the gloves from one of its tentacles. He now used the gloves to frame Aquatica and Coral for each of his spy’s deaths. The smear campaign had been extremely effective, and the entire ocean feared the treachery of the two Octopods.

He stared into his wife’s eyes and caressed her long, flowing hair. He loved how cunning she was. She made him a better King, and on more than one occasion, she had enabled his plans to move to the next stage. She had been, and always would be, his most valuable asset. It filled him with gratitude that she stood by him in their noble quest to cleanse the ocean.

What’s our next move? the Queen asked as he moved her onto the bed.

He kissed her neck several times and intertwined his legs with hers. The pressure to locate Aquatica is intense. They can’t hide forever. Now that I’ve turned the entire ocean against them, someone will give them up.

She pressed up against him, reaching her arms around him to caress his back. What will you do once they are discovered?

I will make an example of them, publicly. It is time our people joined in our vision for the ocean. This will be the tipping point.

She kissed his chest a few times and then laid her head against it. Will you be strong enough to capture them both?

The King tugged on her shoulders so they could lock eyes. Do you doubt my abilities, my love?

Never, she said, strength exuding from her countenance. But it is my job to protect you from the things you cannot see.

He kissed her softly. And what am I blind to?

Coral still has the third talisman and Aquatica has grown powerful in her exile. If they have combined their powers, they may prove more deadly than before.

He stroked her hair and thought about how wonderful it felt to be held by this powerful woman. You are right. Their power has exceeded my expectations. I can’t afford to underestimate them. Not again.

She laid her head back down on his chest. What will you do to increase your power, then?

It is time, he breathed.

She lifted her head, and he could see eagerness in her eyes. Are you serious? she asked.

You disagree?

No, not at all. I think the conditions we have created in the ocean will make this the perfect time to proceed.

He kissed her again. I agree. No one will question my motives or fear my power. We have given them a distraction from what is really going on.

Queen Varuna disengaged from their embrace and swam over to the desk, where she pulled out a book. I cannot wait to get started, she said, pawning over the book.

He swam over to her, chuckling. My Queen, you are a force to be reckoned with.

She smiled at him. I will begin preparations immediately.

The King reached into his mouth and pulled gently on a shark tooth tucked in the back of the top row. He had fastened the tooth to his own teeth with some wire. As he pulled, the tooth slipped free from its mooring. He studied the old shark tooth—grown dull over the centuries—and remembered the effort it took to retrieve. One of his spies had ambushed an Adaro family while traveling and took it from them. The King has ensured that his Troika killed what remained of that Adaro bloodline, so no one would go looking for it—the talisman over electric charges.

Having freed the tooth, he then unclipped an armband from his left arm and slid it off. The armband belonged to another Nymph family that he had grown up with. They had passed it down from father to son for generations. It was made of pure gold and had been the source of that family’s power. The talisman gave the bearer control over hydrokinesis. His friend got the armband on his eighteenth birthday in a traditional rite-of-passage ceremony his family had performed for decades. His friend had been too foolish to understand the great gift he had received. So, Magus took it from him and used the power to eliminate any trace of the family. He then used the talisman to rise to power and seize control of the kingdom. It had been his first and most rewarding conquest. He had come such a long way since then and was dangerously close to completing his plans to cleanse the ocean.

He handed the two talismans to the Queen. Soon, he would use the combined power of the talismans to unleash fury on the entire ocean. Do it. Forge the two talismans together and create a weapon more powerful than the ocean has seen in a thousand years.

Chapter Two

Coral woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She stared up at the dank cavern ceiling of the room where she had lived for the past three months. The space was small and devoid of any water, which really chapped her hide—both figuratively and literally. Her shoulders and arms always felt dry and stiff, which were ever present sensations that she hadn’t grown accustomed to yet. She expected to acclimate to being out of the water during the roughly three months since Aquatica brought her here to this cave, but her body had been slow to adapt. Sleeping on a hard surface had been brutal and still made her body ache. She missed the feeling of being weightless, especially when drifting off to sleep.

She looked around the small den and rested her eyes on the shelves carved out of the rock wall. She reached up and grabbed a small vial off the shelf next to her bed and uncorked the contents. The smell of coconut and whale blubber wafted to her nostrils, and it took her back to her first year of the Ocean Academy, mixing the potion with Finn in the faculty bathroom. She missed Finn fiercely. Their separation had been so abrupt—too abrupt for any real closure. Not that she wanted to end their relationship. She still hoped one day they could be together again, but for now, she’d have to be content with daydreaming about him and reminiscing about their time together. Coral hated being without him. She hadn’t been away from him this long before. It wasn’t fair.

Frowning, she downed the contents of the vial, the thick liquid coating her throat as it slimed its way into her lungs. She lapped her tongue against the top of her mouth, trying to eliminate the taste of the odorous liquid. That was something else that bothered her about living on the surface. Everything tasted different without the constant presence of sea water. Coral had quickly learned that certain flavors did not agree with her and whale blubber was definitely one of those. She had learned to get over it, however, because she would suffocate without her daily dose of Liquid Lungs. She and Aquatica set aside time at the start of each week to mix a batch of the potion. They made enough for each of them to have a twenty-four-hour dose every day for the entire week, with some to store as a spare. She had almost suffocated the first time she had set foot on land as she struggled to fetch a coconut for her potions class. She never wanted to experience suffocation again.

She set the vial back on the shelf next to a row of identical vials, still full. Coral uncurled her tentacles, placed them on the icy floor of the cavern, and lifted herself out of bed. She stretched out her limbs and yawned, giving the Liquid Lungs time to settle in before moving out of her room and into the main chamber of the cave. She heard sounds echoing through the corridor and knew Aquatica was up, most likely making breakfast.

Coral didn’t know what she would have done without Aquatica. She certainly wouldn’t be alive. King Magus had nearly succeeded in getting her talisman and finishing her off. Coral shuddered to think what her fate would have been had Aquatica not come when she did.

Living with Aquatica had been surreal. She had a family again. The feeling of belonging somewhere filled her with profound happiness. And yet, that feeling was mixed with a sense of frustration, seeing as she lived every waking moment in the most foreign environment she had ever been in. The conflict made it difficult for her to fully embrace her new reality—her new home. If it weren’t for Aquatica’s patience, Coral would have fallen to pieces so many weeks ago. Fortunately for Coral, Aquatica had made living on land seem very normal. Aquatica was strong and fearless. Coral looked up to her and seeing Aquatica thrive in this new environment gave Coral hope things wouldn’t always feel so foreign to her. She now took things one day at a time, trusting that she and Aquatica could turn the tide in the fight against King Magus so they could return to life under the water.

She moved into the main cavern and squinted against the sunlight creeping through breaks in the cavern ceiling. The light cascaded down haphazardly, bathing the room in a warm yellow light. Coral took a few moments to let her eyes adjust. Once her vision cleared, she spotted Aquatica at the far end of the room, standing at the stone table where they typically prepared their meals. Aquatica didn’t seem to notice Coral enter the room and continued working on something Coral couldn’t see. The only clue Coral had to go off was the clanking sound of Aquatica’s metallic tentacle as she battered it against whatever she held down on the stone tabletop.

Out of everything Coral had discovered in this new world, Aquatica’s fake limb shocked her in the least. Aquatica explained she had discovered a potion that allowed her to bond metal to her skin, which she was forced to do to save her battered tentacle after her escape from King Magus almost thirteen years ago. Although Coral had seen nothing like it before, the replacement limb seemed like a smart idea, especially for an Octopod who relied on tentacles for almost everything. Aquatica found the metal limb extremely useful and had recommended on more than one occasion that Coral consider undergoing the transformation herself. Not quite ready to embrace all the quirks of Aquatica’s life above the surface, Coral had respectfully declined.

Coral cleared her throat and Aquatica turned around, still blocking Coral’s view of whatever she worked on.

Good morning, Coral. How did you sleep?

Coral gave her a grimace. About the same as I always do, she said, rotating her shoulder to show Aquatica her pain points. I don’t see how these humans sleep feeling so heavy all the time.

Aquatica laughed. You eventually get used to it. Just give your body some time.

Coral rolled her eyes, having heard the excuse several times. Contrary to what Aquatica claimed, time didn’t seem to help. It’s been about three months since I started sleeping out of the water and my body seems to hate me more today than the first day I came here.

Aquatica smiled. Her other tentacles—including the bionic one—still working furiously away at what Coral had guessed was their morning meal. These are growing pains. Think of it this way. Each morning you wake up sore, remember that your body is becoming stronger. No pain, no gain. Soon, sleeping without being weightless won’t hurt anymore.

Coral nodded, having had some form of this conversation with Aquatica several times already. How long did it take you to get strong enough?

Aquatica tapped her chin. I would say something like six months, if I remember correctly. She motioned to Coral’s room and added, But I wasn’t sleeping on something as comfortable as you. You’ve got it easy.

Coral scratched the side of her face. You couldn’t find oarweed to sleep on?

Aquatica shook her head. I barely made it out of the ocean with my life. I was too scared to go back there, especially in the condition I was in. I considered myself lucky just to fall asleep.

So, you slept on the bare cavern floor?

Yep, Aquatica said as she turned back to her meal preparations.

Coral winced just thinking about having to lie down on the cold, jagged floor of the cave. She disliked how it felt against her tentacles when she walked. She couldn’t imagine how awful it must have been to sleep on. No wonder it took you six months to adjust.

Aquatica turned and pointed at Coral. Which means you should acclimate very soon. Give it some more time.

Fair enough, Coral said, inching closer to Aquatica.

Coral watched as Aquatica turned back to her work, smashing something with her metal tentacle. Aquatica’s long blonde hair fell across her shoulders and swayed against her back as she worked on the stone table. Aquatica grunted, and Coral eventually heard cracking noises.

What are you doing over there?

You’ll see in a minute. I’m not finished yet. She looked over her shoulder. And no peeking. I want this to be a lovely surprise.

Can I make a few guesses at least? Coral said, creeping even closer.

You may, as long as you stay right where you are.

Coral froze, uncertain how Aquatica knew she tried to sneak closer. It always seemed to Coral that Aquatica had a sixth sense about her. She had an uncanny ability to perceive things around her that were usually outside the normal range of an Oceanid’s senses. Coral had asked Aquatica questions about it before, but she had never really answered clearly. Aquatica’s background remained largely a mystery.

It must be something related to breakfast, seeing as you are always making breakfast at this time of morning.

Correct, Aquatica said in between additional cracking noises.

Those loud cracking sounds must be part of it . . . Coral said, playing with the end of one of her tentacles. . . . maybe the cracking of shells?

Oh, you are good. Such a keen ear. She looked over her shoulder at