A moment later, our friends emerged at the tunnel’s entrance, their heads popping out of the water as they gasped for lungfuls of air. They made their way to shore, sopping wet and sputtering. “What happened?” Leah cried. “We heard noises, felt the rocking— Oh shit, there it is.”
“Oh shit,” Stefan echoed, gaping at Daziel and his wings.
“The egg’s ready to hatch,” I said.
“It can’t,” Yael said, alarmed. “We’re underneath the river. It won’t fit through the tunnels.”
“The egg wouldn’t fit any better.” Daziel considered the roof. “We could open the top of the cavern and take it directly up.”
“The Lersach is up there.” I started to panic. “We can’t cause a hole in the bottom of the river.”
“She’s right,” Élodie said. “This is it; these are the coordinates. We’re under the middle of the river.”
Everyone was silent, staring at the dark roof of the cavern. Slowly, we considered the size of the egg and the tunnels. I couldn’t think of a better option. Our best—our only—plan was to make a hole in the bottom of the river and extract the egg through it.
“We need to do it while the hatchling’s in the egg,” Daziel said. “Right now, the hatchling’s environment is protected. It has everything it needs inside the egg. Once it’s hatched, it becomes fragile—”
He was right. “And moving it becomes harder. It might not be able to fly or swim—it might drown.”
“If we let the water into this cavern now,” Daziel said, “we could buoy the egg to the river’s surface. Get it somewhere safe to hatch.” He nodded at the cracks in the shell. “But we’d have to move now.”
Birra spoke, her voice breaking. “If the water comes in—this place is massive, but it’s still connected to the other caves. Would it flood them? Flood the city?”
If the river water rushed in here in one giant, fell swoop, the force of it might push up and through the caves and into Talum. “If we have enough magic to open the cavern roof,” I said hesitantly, “will it be enough to hold the river up? And, uh, levitate the egg?”
“We might,” Daziel said. “But you’re going to need to protect everyone against the oncoming water, dig the egg out of the sand—I don’t know if you’ll be able to stop the water as well.”
I looked at the others. I was in too deep, I had to try, but everyone else had to make the call themselves. “No one should stay if they don’t want to. It’s a big ask.”
“It is,” Yael agreed. She smiled, and it was so pure and girlish it took me aback. “You couldn’t make me leave for anything in the world.”
“Obviously I’m staying. This is badass,” Stefan agreed.
Élodie’s brow was furrowed, but she also nodded.
“I’ll be honest,” Gidon said with a high-pitched laugh. “I really don’t want to stay. But I’m going to.”
“You don’t have—” I started.
He cut me a deadpan look. “I do. You need a fourth caster, and I know the spell. I don’t have to want to do something to do it.”
“I can do it,” Jelan said. She, Birra, Leah, and Gilli remained. “I’m not as good a caster, but…” She shrugged.
Gidon lifted his chin, his face flushing. “No. This—we’ve been working on this spell for months. Iwantto.”
I blinked rapidly. I had underestimated how brave Gidon was. How brave they all were.
“The rest of you should go, though,” Daziel said. “Every additional person Naomi has to take care of during the spell is going to weigh on her. And in case the river does flood through the caves…go to Naomi’s aunt. Let her know what’s happening.”
Gilli pressed her trembling lips together. “But you should have a healer.”
Daziel shook his head, and unease slid through me. How difficult did he think this would be if he didn’t dare risk including one other person?
Hugging tightly, our group split in two. Jelan, Gilli, Leah, and Birra dove back into the water, vanishing under the black surface. When the ripples from their passage vanished, the rest of us turned to the egg.
“Should we cast the spell on it now?” Gidon asked. “Or wait until it’s hatched?”
I shrugged. “Now? I’m guessing it’ll be easier to carve charaktêres on the shell than on the talons of a squirming baby bird.”
