by Sarina Dorie
“I don’t have time for this.” He waved his wand at my room. The door unlocked and popped open. “This girl needs a change of clothes, something clean that hasn’t been touched by any man. Put it in a bag with some towels.”
I crossed my arms. I was not going to let him get all dungeon master on me. Vega said I needed to be tough and be smarter. I would use this moment to my advantage. “I know how these things work. If I do a favor for you, I can ask for a favor in return. I want information.”
“We don’t have time for this.” His face turned red, and he clenched and unclenched his fists. “She’s going to be snatched by Fae if you don’t come with me.” The sternness in his expression softened, and the grief in his eyes was as palpable as if it had been my own. “Please.”
The magic word. Part of me still wanted to say no, to make him strike a bargain with me. At the same time, a student’s life was at stake. For him to barge into my class and ask for my help probably meant it actually was important. I wanted to fit in with this world—and be savvy enough to live in it—but I didn’t want to be like Vega and use people, only helping others if it meant helping myself first.
I selected clothes for the potential student. Thatch waved his wand over his arm while I did so, muttering an incantation of healing. I didn’t have any towels in my room. I got those from the bathroom down the hall and put them in a quilted bag my mom had made me. Thatch tapped his foot in impatience. The moment the bag was packed, he pulled his Count Chocula move, and circled an arm around me. A cloak of blackness engulfed me, squeezing the air from my lungs. I closed my eyes and clung to his coat. Air whipped around us.
The moment the turbulence ended, I sucked in a breath of salty air. Seagulls cried in the distance. We stood at the edge of a forest, a gray line of ocean visible in the distance. A rocky ledge before us overlooked a river that emptied into a wide bay. About fifty feet below, something thrashed in a shallow pool off to the side of the estuary.
Thatch descended a rocky path in the side of the cliff. His long legs glided down the steps with ease. Wind that smelled like dead fish whipped my hair into my face. I slipped and slid, clinging to the wall. I tried not to lean away from the ledge in case I lost my balance and plummeted to my death.
I trailed after him, the space between us growing as I lagged behind. “What am I supposed to do? Why do you need me?”
He stopped. “She’s afraid of me.”
“Gee, I wonder why. You’re not at all the intimidating type.” I slipped on a clump of moss and stumbled into him.
I clung to his sleeve, my face buried against the warmth of his back. He tensed. His feet remained as grounded as the roots of a tree. Self-consciously, I released him, my apologies lost in the howl of wind.
The water below was a deep azure. From the chill of the wind and the gray of the sky at this time of year, I guessed we were in the Northern Hemisphere. The Douglas firs of the forest hinted we were in the Pacific Northwest, but that was only a guess.
He made a face at me. “Less talking, more listening. You need to gain the girl’s trust and get her out of the water before the Mer Court snatches her. She’s caught in one of their traps. They set them up all over the world, trying to lure Witchkin and lesser Fae in order to capture them and enslave them.” He continued down the path more slowly. He didn’t complain about my death grip on the back of his jacket.
“I had no idea there were traps like this out there.” A mist of spray sprinkled against my face, the cold chilling me to the bone.
“Haven’t you ever heard of leprechauns?” Thatch asked. “Gold at the end of the rainbow?”
“Well, yeah, but that’s real? And it’s a trap?”
“Merlin’s balls, you’ve led a sheltered life.” He sighed in exasperation. “You need to be careful when you go down there. Avoid touching anything that looks like treasure or food. Call out if you need help.”
“You aren’t going down with me? What am I supposed to do?”
“Calm her and convince her we aren’t going to hurt her. Tell her we are bringing her to the school where she’ll learn magic so she’ll be safe from Fae. I’ll work on the magic trapping her as you talk to her. Do you understand?”
I nodded. Thatch stepped aside, pressing himself flat against the rocky ledge so I could pass him.
Talking to this girl did not sound like the kind of reconnaissance mission that allowed me to return to class any time soon. I wondered if I was going to miss next period. Would I get in trouble? I wanted to assume Thatch wasn’t going to get me fired, but I never knew how anyone was going to react to anything at Womby’s.
The rocks of the path were slippery with moss and moisture. I walked slowly, using the wall as a handrail.
The siren froze when she saw me stumbling down the path toward her. She was beautiful, her skin pale and transparent, reminding me of someone who had dove into an icy river and swam for too long. Her eyes were a vivid azure that matched a summer sky. White hair laced with streaks of green trailed over her shoulders. She was naked, but clearly not ashamed from the way she made no attempt to hide herself. The net she’d gotten tangled in looked like normal fishing net aside from the flickers of green and blue light overlaid on top.
She hissed at me and floundered backward.
I set the bag of clothes down on the driest rocks and held up my hands in a placating gesture. “I come in peace,” I said.
“Go away!” She sounded young and scared.
I tried to project confidence and calm, unlike someone who was afraid of being bitten by a feral teenager. “I’m here to help you. How are you going to get out of that net on your own?”
“You’re with that man, aren’t you?” She sank lower in the water as if trying to hide herself. “You smell like him.”
“I assume you mean Professor Thatch. Yeah. I’m Clarissa Lawrence.” I waved and tried to act casual, not epically awkward like I felt.
She submerged herself in the water up to her nose. She made no offer to tell me her name.
I walked slowly, trying not to startle her. “We’re from Womby’s School for Witches. Have you heard of it?”
She lifted her face out of the water. “I’m not a witch.” The net pushed her white hair into her eyes, obscuring her face.
“Technically you are. You’re Witchkin. That’s what they call people like us who are descended from both Fae and humans. We have the ability to use magic.”
“I’m not like you.” Her voice rose, an edge of uncertainty present. “I’m not like anyone.” She pulled at the net. It twisted around her neck. The blue and green lines of the netting flashed each time she moved.
I sat down on the rocks. “Do you want me to help you get out of that?”
She moved back. “That man said he was going to help me, but he was lying.”
“Why would he be lying?”
“I know how men are. They say they want to help, but all they really want is for me to help them get a hard-on.”
My chest tightened at her words. She looked young, too young to be so jaded and knowledgeable about sex. I could see why Thatch had wanted a female teacher.
I tried to act casual, to show sympathy, but not overpower her with it. “I get it. I know how that is.” I scooted closer to the edge of the pool.
“Do you?” She scooted back into the rocks, pressing herself as far away as possible. Blue and green shimmers in the net over her face caught the light. “Do you know what it’s like to be desired and hunted by men when you would rather they leave you alone? To be beaten if you refuse and blamed for their lust? You aren’t a nymph or a siren. You don’t know what it’s like to be forced by your affinity to seduce these men and then get told it’s your fault for drawing them in.”
I thought about how Satyr Sam had once asked if I’d cast a spell on him. And there had been Julian. I wouldn’t have known how to save myself if Thatch hadn’t demonstrated how my affinity worked.
I swallowed. “Actually, I do.”
She regarded me with open curiosity. She came closer. “What are you?”
I cleared my throat. “I’ve been told in the Witchkin community you aren’t supposed to ask that question. It’s considered rude.”
“Fine, then. Don’t tell me.” She splashed water at me.
I dodged back. This time as she moved, I noticed the net had stopped flickering blue and green. I didn’t know if that was a bad sign or a good one. If Thatch had undone the magic of the net, it was now my turn to convince her to go with us. I had to show her we were safe. That meant taking risks.
“I don’t actually know what kind of creature I’m descended from,” I said honestly. “That’s probably why people don’t like to talk about it. There are a lot of orphans out there. Are you an orphan?”
She crossed her arms and looked away.
“Someone told me my mother was a succubus,” I said. “I don’t know if that was true, but I do have some … unusual tendencies that I can’t help. I get myself in trouble for not being able to control my magic.”
“What kind of trouble?” She swam closer. “Have you ever killed a man?”
“Um… .” My mouth felt like the Sahara. This wasn’t exactly the kind of information I typically told teenagers. It would be unprofessional. But in this case, I suspected she needed to hear she wasn’t the only one out there with weird powers she didn’t understand. “Yes. I had to. If I hadn’t, he would have… . It was self-defense.”
“Me too.” She slipped an arm across the rock where I sat. “That man from the school, you trust him?”
“Yes.” Mostly. “I trust him not to hurt me or force me to have sex with him.”
“He doesn’t try to touch you? Ever? Really?”
“He doesn’t touch anyone. He tells me not to touch people—men—until I can learn to control my powers.”
Her gaze raked the rocky path above me. “So he’s helping you too?”
“He’s trying. Will you come with us?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know if I want to go to your school.”
“Maybe there’s somewhere else you can go. It isn’t safe here.” The wind gusted, and salty spray splashed into my face.
“I can’t get out of the net.”
“I’ll help you. Can you sit up here next to me?”
She offered me a tentative smile and scooted up onto the edge of the rock. She was naked, aside from a belt made of seaweed, shreds of fabric, and netting that held seashells. Her body was a slender hourglass figure that would have made men lust for her and women envy her. But her eyes were round and childlike.
“How old are you?” I asked.
She pushed at the net, but it remained twisted around her. “Fifteen.”
She didn’t look fifteen. She had the body of an adult woman. And apparently that was how men had treated her.
“I’m Maddy,” she said.
“How’d you get tangled in this net?” I asked. Thatch should have suggested I bring a pair of scissors or a knife, but a sharp object might have triggered her.
“I was looking for something to eat, and I found a treasure. Do you want to see it?” She reached into the net at her belt and held up a large oyster with a giant black pearl inside.
The abalone dazzled my eyes, and the pearl called to me. Thatch had told me something about treasure, but the pearl was so beautiful, I couldn’t recall what he’d told me. I yearned to touch the shell.
“Pretty,” I said breathlessly. It felt like magic was at work, bewitching me into yearning for the treasure. My hand lifted of its own accord to reach out for it.
“You can look, but not touch,” she said, pulling back. “It’s my treasure.”
I grabbed at it anyway, falling into the alcove with her.
Cold water embraced me, awakening my senses. Maddy splashed water in my face and shoved me away. That pearl was way less worth it now. I hauled myself out of the water, shivering. I had a feeling these drenched clothes were what I would be wearing to the rest of fourth period.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “You can bring your precious with you if you want.”
She hugged it to her chest as she climbed back onto the rocks.
I tried to untangle the net, but I couldn’t do it. “Stop moving. You’re making it worse.”
“I’m not moving,” she said.
The net jerked from my hands, and she fell back into the water. Her eyes widened with fear. “They’re here.”
“Thatch!” I called.
She dropped her treasure into her belt and clung to the rocks. All slack in the net was gone. I grabbed Maddy around the waist, trying to haul her out, but she was bigger than I was. Something had ahold of the net, something far stronger than either of us.
She was jerked away from me, this time downward. Her head sank below the water. She flailed, coming up for air and grabbing onto the rocks with one hand. I grabbed the other.
“Thatch!” I screamed. “Help!”
Her hand slipped from mine. I dove, one hand on the rocks, the other fumbling for the net. I would not let Fae snatch her. They wouldn’t get this student for the dark side.
Maddy was yanked away. I held on, sinking below the depths of the water.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Under the Sea
The shock of the frigid ocean closing around me forced a cry out of my lungs. The sound was lost as salty, fishy water rushed into my mouth, which I promptly swallowed. I held on to Maddy’s hand, not wanting her to be stolen away. She clutched a fistful of my shirt and one of my arms, terror in her eyes.
As I was pulled down into the depths, the net tangled around me as well. I couldn’t surface. My lungs burned from holding my breath, and I fought the urge to cough.
The net churned the water, causing bubbles and seaweed to cloud the current around us, making it difficult to see. I battled with the net, trying to push it away and yank Maddy up to the surface, but it wasn’t working. More air escaped my lungs and bubbled out of my mouth as we struggled. We continued to be pulled deeper into the dark waters. I’d never been so cold in my life.
Where was Thatch? Why wasn’t he coming after us?
I was going to drown. I twisted around in panic, looking for some way to escape.
The net bit into my hands and pulled away. It glowed blue as it thickened from thin twine to wooden bars. We were enclosed in a cage. My chest ached, and my head grew lighter as I thrashed and kicked at the bars.
Maddy slapped me across the face, hard enough to shock me out of my panic. A bubble of air escaped my mouth.
“You can’t breathe, can you?” Maddy spoke underwater, her voice beautiful, like the voice of an angel. A trick of siren magic.
I shook my head.
“Exhale,” she said.
I didn’t know this girl, but I had no other choice but to trust her.
I exhaled what little breath I had left. She grabbed me roughly behind the neck and pulled my face closer. I didn’t understand what she was doing until she covered my mouth with hers as if performing CPR. My eyes went wide in surprise as she exhaled into my mouth. The air flowed out my nose. She rolled her eyes before she pinched my nose and tried again. My lungs filled with glorious air.
Maybe I wouldn’t die.
She did this several times as the wooden cage descended. We traveled out of the shallows, away from the incline of the coast. We passed through long flowing ribbons of kelp and seaweed. Through the dancing green strands a figure emerged. Maddy’s fingers dug into my arm.
It was Thatch. His hair floated beautifully in the water behind him. He shook his head at me, clearly annoyed. “If it’s not one thing with you, it’s another.”
Was I the only person who couldn’t breathe and talk underwater?
Maddy grabbed me and performed mouth to mouth again.
Thatch made a face like he’d eaten sour grapes. “That’s highly
unprofessional. I would have expected you to be able to perform an underwater breathing spell by now.”
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. I was more concerned about surviving than propriety.
He waved his wand, blue sparks flaring in the water, defying physics. He uttered an incantation. The words reminded me of Russian or some Eastern European language. My neck tingled where his wand touched my skin.
Our cage passed out of the kelp forest. Thatch floated alongside us, keeping pace as he worked the spell.
Instead of getting darker as we descended, the gloom around us lifted, and the water grew more azure. My ears ached from the changing pressure. Through the bars of the cage, I spied an ocean floor that grew rockier. Barnacles and shellfish covered the ground. Schools of fish scurried out of our path.
Thatch’s spell was taking too long. My lungs burned, and I still couldn’t breathe.
Behind Thatch, an ominous shadow loomed, meandering left and then right. At first the shape reminded me of a fish. Then it grew too large to be a fish. Perhaps it was a school of fish. It kept growing, the definition less murky. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
Maddy stared, eyes wide. I tugged on her arm. She breathed into my mouth again. When I next turned to look, the outline of the creature was clearer. The black silhouette of the dorsal fin against sapphire water clued me in it was a shark. Great jaws opened behind Thatch. His eyes were closed as he cast his spell.
I screamed, but bubbles escaped my mouth as I tried to warn him.
“Look out!” Maddy said.
He turned just in time to see. He ducked and launched a defensive spell. Red light lanced out of his wand and struck the shark. It steered to the left. The tail slapped against the wooden bars and the cage slammed into us.
I tugged on Maddy’s sleeve. She gave me more air. When I looked again, Thatch batted the shark away with a fiery spell. Even underwater and holding my breath, I could “smell” the ozone and dusty pages of Thatch’s magic. It mingled with the sharp, sour taste of defensive spell.
The shark fell away. Thatch turned back to me, taking up his spell once again. My neck tingled anew, and my lungs constricted.
