The blackness had almost taken me over, when two strong hands grabbed onto me and yanked.
I tumbled through hot air, then cold—warphole energy—and landed on something hard. I sputtered. Someone began pounding on my back, and I sputtered more. It felt like an ocean full of water was exiting me.
“Move over! I know CPR!” Diana’s voice cut through me, and I forced myself back to the moment.
I couldn’t slip off into unconsciousness. Fae and witches still battled all around me, and the guy I’d pulled from the globe might be dead.
“Odie! Are you okay?” Eva squatted in front of me, while Diana and Andre tended to the guy I’d saved.
“Hey! Help us!” another voice called out.
“She can barely breathe!” Eva clutched me and screamed back.
Shit. The other water sphere.
“Eva, I have to help. I’m the only one who can,” I said as I worked myself out of her grasp.
“Dammit! Of course you are.” Eva’s voice cracked as she helped me to my feet.
“Make sure Andre watches my back,” I said, sparing her a smile before turning and jogging toward the other sphere.
This time, I created a warphole on the fly, and dove back in.
As soon as my body hit the water in the second globe, I gasped. The current here was much stronger than that of the first water sphere. It felt like a riptide, and tore me away from the drowning girl after a single stroke. I glanced around in panic and noticed that this globe was larger too, its size comparable to that of a backyard shed.
It wasn’t that big seconds ago . . . Oh, that little shit.Fury rushed through me as the truth of my situation became clear.
The fae who controlled this sphere was manipulating it to screw with me.
Using all my strength, I kicked and paddled. The effort gained me a few inches, but the girl’s body was still much too far away. My heart began to beat dangerously fast. I still hadn’t recovered from saving the guy, and I’d already lost more oxygen than the first time. I had seconds, maybe less, to save the girl and get out of the globe alive.
I gnashed my teeth together, determined to give it one more go before backing out.
And then, three goddamned piranhas appeared in the water and zoomed straight at me.
I flipped around and swam the opposite way. I’d almost made it to the warphole, when one of the little assholes bit my leg. I let out a scream, releasing the rest of my precious air.
Another bite, another drowned scream. Within seconds, my entire leg was on fire. My vision clouded, and my body began shutting down, giving up.
God, I’d been so stupid. Why had I tried to save her when I hadn’t even recovered? Now we would both die in this damn bubble.
A piranha moved up my leg to my hip, but I could no longer find the energy to fight it. I was through. The fae controlling this sphere would drown me. Then the piranhas would eat my body.
Or at least that was what I thought until I caught a flash of crimson light. It streaked across the lawn, straight toward me, and pierced the water bubble. My eyes popped open as the red light connected with my totem, and a sphere of air surrounded my head.
Alex. I didn’t know where he was, or how he’d given me oxygen, but he’d saved me. Him and his totem.
Gratefully, I breathed in the fresh air, and my strength returned. The fish were no longer an issue, Alex’s magic had killed them on impact.
That gave me an idea.
Just as I had done the night we faced Ishtar, I grabbed my totem and asked for help. Immediately, the necklace created a bubble around me. Thanks to Alex, I already had air, so I figured the bubble must serve another purpose. I pressed the side, and ever so slightly, it moved in the direction of my applied pressure. My heart leapt, and I pressed my hand toward the girl. The bubble responded, moving closer to her. The harder I pressed, the faster it rolled, like I was a hamster in a wheel. I reached the girl in no time and pulled her inside my protective sphere. Then I directed the bubble back to the warphole.
Finally, when I was right next to the warphole, a hand reached through. Dark fingers waved at me—Andre’s. I extended my hand to grasp his, and he wrenched us out of the sphere.
This time, when I emerged from the water sphere, I shoved the girl into Andre’s arms, instructed the others to perform CPR, and scanned the lawn. A flash of crimson helped me find who I was looking for, and when I laid eyes on my boyfriend, my heart stopped.
Alex was battling the freaking dragon.
