In my twenty-two years of waiting, the wave was stronger than ever, wrapping around my ankles, grabbing the man, grabbing me, trying to pull us both into its current. I clung to the rock and clutched his body close to mine until the desperate wave passed, taking the spiders with it, collecting them.
The sea left us shivering from the frozen water-world I’d saved him from. His skin was as cold as ice, and his unusual clothes were stiff from the frost. He wore linen pants and a shirt that was stained with fresh blood.
I turned him slightly over, seeing a large, jagged piece of glass wedged into him under his ribs. A dreadful breath escaped me, and I looked around, not knowing what to do next.
Behind us was the cave that hid in the bend of the cliff.
I laid him on his back, stood, and grabbed his wrists, trying to pull him.
He had to have been close to two hundred pounds, and it took every bit of strength from me. The snowy beach felt like quicksand, and each time I looked back, there were still so many more feet to go. I dug my heels into the sand, sucked in a breath, and yanked until I was gaining traction and leaving drag marks in my wake.
Once inside the cave, my arms felt weak and heavy, but I still managed to free him of his wet clothes down to his undergarments. There was no time to make sense of anything or think about whether the man was dangerous. Glass protruded from his bloodied flesh, and if I did nothing, he could die.
If I ran for help, the Order would take him away.
They would only save him to kill him.
Kneeling at his side, blood pounded hot and fast in my ears, imagining him surrounded by people he didn’t know who were shoving him inside the Wicker Man. I could smell the ghastly scent of gas and burnt wood, and just before the fire touched his feet, he’d give me a helpless look. One that clawed my insides until my cold heart bled.Why didn’t you help me?he’d whisper. And I wouldn’t know what to say because the truth didn’t make sense to me anymore.
Because I was doing what I was told.
The sight of his striking features caught my gaze, and my bottom lip trembled. The thought of the Order taking and killing him instilled terror inside me. A different brand of terror I’d never felt before.
At last, the sea had given me something in return.
I had to protect him. I was his only chance, so I couldn’t tell anyone.
I studied the angle of the glass in his side, knowing there was no time to run back to the cottage for supplies. I could pull it out, but he’d bleed to death without something to close the wound. The only way to heal him was through magic.
Mom once told me how much power water possessed, and the human body was made up of at least sixty percent of it. I’d never accessed the kind of magic it would take to save him, and I didn’t know if I had it in me. There were still a few more months until my twenty-third birthday when I would ascend, but even if I could heal him, that magic was forbidden. And Lena’s punishment flashed in my mind.
If I used magic, and Augustine found out, would he burn my brain to a crisp before I had the chance to save Mom? Was this stranger worth the risk?
I studied his stone-cold face, his glacier-blue lips, something telling me that,yes, he was worth it. After what I’d done to Lena, I couldn’t let him go, too. I had to help him, or at the very least, try.
“Okay, okay,” I chanted, slipping out of my coat. I wrapped one of the sleeves around my hand so I wouldn’t cut myself, gripped the glass, and pinched my eyes closed as I yanked out the sawtooth piece.
The stranger lay unconscious as blood gushed out. In a hurry, I tossed the glass aside and pressed down on his wound. Warm, thick blood slipped under my hands and between my fingers as I summoned any power buried deep inside me.
Outside the cave, the ocean’s waves crashed around shallow rocks, and I became mesmerized by it, allowing the sea to shape my thoughts and guide me. I tasted Her brine on my lips and breathed Her in until a song emerged from within and rolled off my tongue. I squeezed my closed eyes tighter, imagining his body repairing from the inside out.
My song surrounded me.
My mind felt dizzy. My arms went numb.
But I didn’t open my eyes or let go of our connection.
Not until my body gave up on me, and all I saw was black.
It didn’t happen all at once.
First, there was the sound of a beating heart thumping in my ear, then I felt the slow rise of a chest against my cheek. Lastly, the taste of brine coated the inside of my mouth and tongue, my gums numb from it, as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of ocean water. It took a moment for me to blink my eyes open again. When I did, I found myself in the cold, damp cave, snowflakes leaping and spinning like tipsy ballerinas just outside the opening.
My mind then settled on a single thought.The stranger.
And everything came rushing back.
I lifted myself off his chest, and his wound had been repaired from the inside. Blood still seeped from the gash, but it wasn’t heavy and not enough to kill him. I pushed out a relieved breath.
