Her innermost flame was the only void she had left, and it relished the addition of some dispensable magic. It sucked it up like a Hoover and clamored for more.
She lifted her head and smiled at Quill. “Thank you,” she breathed. “You were right.”
“This time,” Fox muttered.
“Come on, little man,” Quill said with a grin at Fox. “Be a big enough man to say you were wrong.”
“I said it,” Fox said.
Sagely turned to Guthrie. “Let him go.”
“What?” Guthrie demanded. “He just attacked you.”
“I’m with them this time,” Fox said. “He needs to go.”
“No, let him attack,” Sagely said. “I may not be in this friendly mindset again. I want my magic back.”
Guthrie’s eyebrows drew together. “Are you sure?”
“No,” Quill and Fox said in unison.
“I’m sure,” Sagely said.
Guthrie released Eli, who immediately began shooting little balls of magic at Sagely. She gasped in pain each time one hit her and her body instinctually tensed. But then she forced herself to welcome the magic and the pain. After a couple minutes, Eli had run out of magic to throw. With a growl, he leapt onto Sagely. Quill and Fox dove for him, but Sagely had already bucked her hips to throw Eli off balance, then slammed her hand into his chin and rolled over onto him.
“I’m not your enemy,” she said. “I just shared magic with you. Or, I let you share yours with me. So thank you.”
Eli drew back and spit into her face.
“Now, that’s not very gentlemanly,” Sagely said, wiping her cheek.
He used her distraction to throw a punch, but she blocked it with her forearm and grabbed his hand and pinned it down.
“You’re a good person,” Sagely said, locking eyes with him.
“I just tried to kill you like ten times.”
“Despite that little outburst, I still believe you’re good,” she said. “You can choose to be good. Your magic may be dark, but you’re not. You can change it back.”
“I don’t want to change it back,” Eli snarled. “Leave my magic alone. I’m here to deliver a warning. Join the coven, or we will find you and destroy you.”
Sagely shot a look at Quill. So this was what Viziri wanted. Not just her magic, but to get rid of her. It made sense. Why would he leave her alive, knowing she could challenge him if she ever found more void magic?
“We want nothing more than for the coven to find us,” she said. “So if we keep you, I assume they’ll come looking for us?”
“You can’t keep me,” he spat. “I’m not your familiar.”
“We won’t force your magic to change,” she said, now understanding Quill’s earlier comment. “But I know you’ll come back to us. To Ingrid.”
“You don’t know anything about Ingrid,” he said, but his words lacked conviction. The magic he shared with all the coven, his earth magic, flickered.
“I know she loves you,” Sagely said. “I know she’d still love you no matter what shade your magic is. Just like I loved Quill when his magic turned dark. I know if she were here, she’d hold you and tell you she’d love you even if you had no magic at all. It’s you she loves, not your magic.”
As she spoke, a bit of the roiling bitterness around him began to dissipate. It was working. Hell yeah! She could do this, even if she sometimes nearly killed everyone with her magic outbursts.
As she continued to coax Eli back, the others gathered around him. Not just Shaneesha and Quill, but Guthrie and Gale and the other witches from their coven. When at last Eli had enough light in his magic for her to trust him, Sagely stood and took his hand. “All these witches are here to help you,” she said. “Just let us in.”
“Whenever you’re ready, we can do a cleansing ceremony,” Quill said. “To get you back to normal.” He put his arm around Eli, and Eli looked up at him with a shadow of the hero worship he’d once had.
“I—I’m sorry,” Eli stammered. “I don’t know what happened. I seem to have…gaps in my memory. Did I attack Sagely?” He scratched his head and gave her a look of chagrin.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I kicked your ass.”
Eli smiled a little, but his face went dark after a moment. “I wasn’t myself. Sometimes the master has us go out and do things…bad things…”
“You’re safe,” Quill said. “You didn’t do anything. Viziri did those things, using you as a weapon.”
“What if he takes control of me again?” Eli said with a shudder. “He does that. He’s never there, but he randomly picks members of the coven and takes us over. I don’t remember anything when I’m back to myself.”
“He’s controlling them from afar,” Shaneesha said.
“That kind of power…” Quill said, shaking his head. His own magic flickered darker. “No one should have that kind of control over someone else.”
“Too bad we don’t have any way to know where he is,” Fox said with a meaningful look at Sagely.
“I didn’t know Raina would run off with the first mermaid we came across, okay?”
“I can tell you where the coven is,” Eli offered.
“That would be great,” Sagely said, squeezing his hand. This time, he didn’t recoil.
“I made breakfast,” Guthrie said in his gruff voice. “Let’s eat while we talk.”
“There’s a man after my heart,” Shaneesha said.
They followed Guthrie to a cluster of weatherworn, wooden picnic tables in the middle of the campground. The small Coastline Coven was mostly seated at the tables, which stood on a small bulge in the sand, with the grass crushed down from frequent foot traffic. Unlike the Winslow Witches, they didn’t have a school separate from the coven, so kids ran around the campsite and parents mingled with teenagers.
They all sat, and Guthrie began to scoop frittata out of large metal serving pans. Quill went to get them plates, then sat next to Sagely. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Now I am,” she said, taking a huge bite of the salty food. The flavors of vegetables and eggs and cheese flooded her deprived taste buds. All the excitement and cold the night before had made her ravenous, and she closed her eyes and moaned at the deliciousness of real food. After eating cold beans from a can on most of their trip, they were getting royally spoiled by Guthrie’s culinary skills.
“Wow,” Quill said with a wry smile. “You never moan for my cooking.”
“Shut up,” she said, elbowing him. “Your cooking is made with love, which makes it way better than this.”
“Nice save,” he said. “But I’m still liking this Guthrie guy less and less the more I see of him.”
Sagely rolled her eyes. “Seriously? I had to deal with you being friends with your ex for months. I barely know this guy, and hello, he hates me.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” she said, feeling unduly irritated by his assumption that all guys would be interested. Guthrie was hellish hot, sure, in a rugged, growly kind of way. But he obviously did not return her admiration.
twenty
Raina
Every night that week, Raina and Seeley went out and lay on the rock while Yvonne sang. Sometimes, she’d see a boat and slip off the rock into the water, pulling Raina with her. Raina lived for their nights on the rock with Seeley cradled in one arm, watching the siren sing her magic into the night, then making love and finally retiring to bed near morning.
On the fifth night, like all the previous nights, waves crashed a steady rhythm on the shore and lapped against the base of their perch. The stars prickled the velvet night overhead and danced on the water. Nothing mattered but Yvonne and her voice, her hair blowing in the wind, the moonlight glimmering off her scales.
Suddenly, she reached down and shook Raina’s shoulder, as if she suspected her of sleeping. Raina sat up, sliding Seeley into her lap. “What is it?” she whispered.
Without ceasing her song,
Yvonne pointed. There, on the horizon, a ship’s sails had appeared. In the moonlight, they glowed white, the only thing in the entire ocean besides the scant light reflecting off the water.
Raina opened her mouth to speak, but Yvonne’s song grew louder, drowning her senses. She fell back against the rock, overwhelmed by it. It tore at her chest like a thousand cranes were inside her, flapping their wings to get free. She wanted to cover her ears, to block out the painful beauty of the song. It was so true, so solitary. It carried in its melody all the sadness and longing and dashed hopes of her life.
Gasping for breath, she tried to tell Yvonne to stop, but she couldn’t force the words out. And she didn’t really want to. She wanted the song to go on forever, giving voice to her sense of isolation, of being different and alone.
The ship grew closer, until Raina could make out the multiple sails, could even hear the heavy canvas slapping against the wind. Her chest buzzed with excitement. Suddenly, her magic flared up with an undeniable warning. There were supernaturals on board.
As the ship drew near, agonizingly slow in its progress, her heart began to hammer. Something was swimming alongside the ship.
Her magic searched for River’s, for something familiar and yet foreign. Her failure to recognize it sliced through her heart. She should know her brother, even if he’d been only a boy, not a warlock, when they were separated.
But then she remembered the words of Queen Thalassa, the sea goddess and queen. If she became a mer, she would lose her magic, too.
Was that what had happened to him? He couldn’t come back to find her because he was a mer, and she couldn’t sense his magic for the same reason. He had traded his witch magic for the magic of a song.
When at last the ship drew close enough to see the black flag atop the mast, Raina’s chest tightened painfully. Beside the ship, something flipped in the water. It was him. It was all she could do not to dive off the rock, into the water, and swim to him. But just as she was about to ask Yvonne if it was time, something strange happened.
Though the night was cloudless and still, a wall of mist came out of nowhere, creeping across the water. It swirled around the ship, enveloping it within seconds.
“Did you do that?” Raina cried, turning to Yvonne. She’d said she’d help Raina find her brother. Not that she’d obscure him the moment he came close. Was she jealous?
But Yvonne looked as anguished as Raina felt.
“It’s a disguising spell,” she cried, pushing herself towards the edge on her hands. Raina ran to the edge, Seeley in her arms, and dove feet-first into the water. It enveloped her in its icy grip, and she released Seeley and swam for the surface. Seeley dove up along her chest, helping buoy her. She hadn’t bothered with her bubble, and her eyes and nose and mouth were filled with salt when she surfaced. She began to swim hard towards the spot where the ship had been.
A second later, Yvonne popped up beside her and pointed not out towards the ship, but off to the south. A ways off, a shimmering trail of ripples cut through the water. “They’ve cast an invisibility spell over the ship, but they can’t cover their trail,” she said with grim determination.
“Was that my brother swimming beside the ship?” Raina asked. “Shouldn’t we go under and find him?”
“I need something to bring back to the queen,” Yvonne says. “She expects to collect from all the singing I’ve been doing. It’s finally going to pay off.” Yvonne’s glittering eyes and manic smile were a bit disarming, but her enthusiasm was contagious. Raina swam beside her, trying to keep up.
“They’re trying to throw us off by creating a fog to confuse us,” Yvonne said. “But I’ve seen that trick before.”
“What are we going to do?” Raina asked. “Do you think they have treasure for the queen?”
“Better,” Yvonne said. “They have magic.”
“What do you mean, they have magic?” Raina asked, creating a current to stay close to Yvonne.
“I’m a siren,” Yvonne said. “I can absorb the magic of any supernatural.”
“What?” Raina gasped, her stomach sick with the thought.
“Like, you’re a witch, so you can’t use mage magic, right? And they can’t use yours. But I can use both.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raina asked, feeling unaccountably betrayed.
“I have to have magic to sing,” Yvonne said, her tail splashing in the water. “It’s like food for my magic. The elements replenish you. I have to feed, too.”
“Okay,” Raina said reluctantly. It couldn’t be as bad as it sounded. It wasn’t like Viziri, sucking up magic from witches and putting out their flame, leaving them empty-eyed zombies. After all, Raina had known her for a week, and Yvonne hadn’t taken any of her magic.
Maybe she only took magic with permission, like a donation. She’d take only a tiny bit, so little that no one would miss it, and it would be replenished before the person felt its loss.
Before she could ask for further explanation, Yvonne dove under the water and disappeared. Raina swam hard, cursing her stupid legs. Yvonne had gotten her a pair of flippers for her dive suit, but it didn’t make her as fast as a mermaid. She was constantly using magic just to get around, and it had started to drain her. Every day, she had less than before. Finally, she saw churning in the water ahead—a tail splashing frantically. Raina was already lagging in the water, but adrenaline shot through her and she raced forward.
When she reached Yvonne, the water around her was churning red. “Oh my goddess,” Raina gasped, grabbing Yvonne under the arms. She was wrestling with something protruding from her middle. Raina’s stomach lurched, and she fought back the vomit rising from her stomach.
They’d shot her lover with a harpoon.
“Look out,” Yvonne gasped, pointing.
Raina looked up in time to see another one flying their way. Instinctively, she threw up her hand, and a tube of water rose from the ocean like a geyser. It knocked the harpoon off course, and it crashed benignly into the water. A shout of alarm came from the invisible ship.
Now that she’d seen their savagery, Raina didn’t care if Yvonne sucked out all their magic against their will. They deserved it.
Anger welled inside her, and she gathered the water closer. Seeley’s head popped up beside her, and she drew strength from him. With all the indignation at what they’d done to Yvonne, with all the frustration of not seeing her brother, she concentrated her magic and threw it. A huge wall of water rose from the sea like a tidal wave.
She heard shouts from the ship, but she’d turned her attention to Yvonne. If the ship didn’t capsize, they’d know better than to mess with her siren.
She commanded Seeley to chew through the rope, concentrating all her energy to communicate her will to him. It was a difficult command for a familiar, but after a minute, he began to chomp at the rope, and soon, it snaked free in the water, and Raina was able to stop trailing after the ship.
Grabbing Yvonne under the arms, she swam back towards the rocks. With her bubble, suit, light, and flippers, she could make it back down to Yvonne’s home. There, she could heal her without threat of being impaled.
If she’d been a mermaid, too, she could have helped. She could have been on the lookout for weapons while Yvonne had been going on the attack. If she’d been a mermaid, she wouldn’t have needed all this extra gear, wouldn’t have slowed Yvonne down. She could have saved her instead.
Just as she’d nearly reached the rock, she saw something that made her breath catch. It wasn’t another weapon, though it looked as sharp as one. A fin cut through the water towards them, attracted by the blood swirling around them.
“I’ve got to get you out of the water,” she cried, kicking furiously as the triangular fin cut towards them.
But as hard as she paddled, dragging Yvonne was slow going, and her muscles were already aching with fatigue. Suddenly, the shark was on them. She saw its snout as it opened its jaws, its tiny eyes, its killing teeth.
; “Punch it,” Yvonne yelled.
Raina’s fist slammed into its eye as Yvonne struggled to flip her tail free of its reach. Raina cursed her stupid water magic, which wouldn’t stop a predator who made water its home. Again, she punched the shark, though she wanted nothing more than to turn tail and scramble onto the rock. But Yvonne was injured, and Seeley needed her protection.
After the second blow, the shark put its nose in the water and began to circle again. Over the swells of a few waves, Raina saw another triangular fin.
Shit.
She scrambled onto the rocks while Yvonne kept her back safe. Then she turned and grabbed Yvonne under the arms and hauled her up. But her tail still dragged in the water, and the shark made its move.
Yvonne screamed and lifted her wide tail, smacking it down on the shark’s nose.
Raina took a moment to marvel at Yvonne’s strength and resilience before she turned to see Seeley clambering up on the rocks. She almost sobbed in relief to see him safe.
Just as he was struggling up, he slipped and slid back into the water. Raina leapt for him, but her clumsy flippers slowed her, and before she could reach him, another shark surfaced. She screamed as sharp teeth cut into Seeley’s slick pelt.
The teeth seemed to rip through Raina, too, so she stumbled and almost fell. But she kept her feet and threw a ball of magic at the shark’s eye. It sizzled across the monster’s skin as she snatched Seeley from its clutches and retreated onto the rock, cradling his shaking body in her arms.
Without thinking, she opened the channel of magic between them. It was second nature to heal him as she’d heal herself—before she’d heal herself. She let her magic flow into him, and his flesh began to stitch together immediately. Tears streamed down her face as she rocked him, and his screams soon turned to snuffling whimpers. His big black eyes seemed to pool with tears, too, though she knew she was imagining it.
“Do you think you can pull this out?” a sharp voice interrupted.
She looked up, guilty at having forgotten Yvonne and her torture. Reluctantly, she set Seeley down and knelt beside Yvonne. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help Yvonne, or that she thought an animal was more important. But Seeley was her baby.
Sister of the Sea Page 11