The magic flowed through me, strong and steady, but not so horrible this time. Yet I hesitated to use it. To remove the cavern’s roof, to let the river’s water flood down upon us, seemed ludicrous. What if it didn’t work? What if the force of falling water crashed down and I couldn’t stop it, and it crushed us? What if it knocked us off the egg—smashed the egg—and drowned us all?
Daziel squeezed my hand. “You can do this.”
I wasn’t sure I could, but I didn’t see what other options we had.
“Remove the roof of the cave to let the water in so it lifts the egg safely to the top of the river, and don’t let the water go past this cavern. And let’s extricate the egg from the sand safely too, please.”
Daziel looked slightly amused, but specificity seemed like a good idea.
Then the magic ripped through me.
It hurt. It hurt worse than it had at the Rocks. I was pulling so much more of it, so much faster. I threw myself at Daziel, who seemed like the one solid, real thing in the world, clinging to him with all my might. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t do even that.
Water rushed in.
I noticed the sound first, a sonorous roar crashing over and around us with such totality the others shouted. Sheets of water slashed down. It felt like it came from everywhere, like a suffocating curtain had fallen. It fell in a tidal rush directly onto us but slid off in a bubble around the egg. I looked up, mouth gaping, and saw nothing but black water. If the cavern still had a roof, it was obscured.
But there was no roof anymore. I’d gotten rid of it.
“Don’t look at it,” Daziel said. “Look at me. Hold on to the magic. Hold on to me.”
I tried. I tried to look at him, at the boy who I loved. But it was hard to concentrate with the roar of water, with the thick darkness, with the surge of magic whirling within me. Daziel stroked my face, his own pained.
Then I felt the egg start to sway.
“It’s working!” I heard Gidon call, thrilled. “We’re rising!”
We were. Wrapped in our safe golden cocoon, we were rising atop the egg as water filled the cave below it, buoying it up and out of the sand. This was, without a doubt, more bizarre than anything I’d ever imagined. A floating magical egg? Hardly the stuff of legend to make people take you seriously.
As the egg rose, I wobbled, losing my footing. My concentration smudged, and I lost my grasp on a small piece of the magic. Water sluiced through the shield, and I heard screams.
“Ignore it.” Daziel gently tugged me into a cross-legged seat on the egg. “Ignore everything. You’re doing great. Everyone’s fine; they’re just wet.”
I wrapped my arms around Daziel’s shoulders, digging in hard. I pulled on his magic, channeling it through me, picturing the way he combed his golden magic at home. I tried not to focus on anything but the magic. I was combing his magic, I was the comb, it was too much, but it was okay, I could breathe through it. I had to.
Around us the water poured in torrential black streams, flooding the cavern and raising the water level, and the egg with it. We bobbed back and forth, everyone hunkered down and holding tight to their handholds. Everything around us was dark and strange, the sound slowly fading, then stopping, the rush of water vanishing as we reached the top of the cave and the waters met. The cavern had been completely filled—now we floated serenely from it into the bottom of the river itself, protected in a bubble of air. Everything was completely silent now, no rush of water, and the visibility grew as the water calmed. Light filtered down from the sky far above as we rose through blue-green darkness. Startled fish darted around us, streaks of yellow and orange and silver.
We’d made it through the first hurdle. Could I stop the water from spilling through the caves into the city? Nope, I couldn’t think about the city now; I couldn’t think about anything but keeping us safely on the egg and the egg rising.
Then, suddenly, the egg did not want to keep rising. Or the river didn’t want us to. The current started pulling us, and the water turned wild, like we’d entered a silent submarine storm, buffeted by forces we couldn’t hear but could strongly feel.
My father had told me sailing stories about having to hold the sails firm, the wheel steady, and I wondered if he had felt like I did now as I focused all my intent on urging Daziel’s magic to raise us farther. I felt like I was talking to the egg too.You can do it, I whispered silently.We’re almost there. Just a little farther.
Then, with a final, abrupt surge, we surfaced, the shield surrounding us pushing up and out of the river and into the middle of a storm. Rain lashed at us, and winds tore down the river. We’d emerged from absolute silence into the chaotic roar of waves and cawing.
I hadn’t been prepared for the winds—I hadn’t known I needed to be—and they slammed against the shield. The whole egg dipped sideways, bobbing furiously, and the others shouted and slid. “Anchor,” I whispered, picturing everyone anchored firmly to the egg. Gidon slammed against the hull, and I winced. At least he wouldn’t fall off.
“Naomi,” Daziel said. I felt his hand on my cheek. “Bring us to land.”
Yes. Right. With painful force, I brought my attention to bear, forcing my thoughts upward and out of the strange, dark murk. “Land.”
Like a ship, the egg cut through the raging Lersach. My grasp on the magic slipped again, and rain poured down onto us, the protective shield broken. I scrambled for it, but it was lost. I couldn’t hold it; I couldn’t make myself.Steer, I thought. That was all that was important. Nothing else.
A scream—I turned and saw Élodie sliding off the egg, toward the water. Stefan lurched for her, grabbing her arm. Oh no. Without the shield and anchor, they had little protection besides the handholds. “Anchor,” I tried again, but I was too weak to direct the magic. It was too strong. It didn’t want to protect humans; it wanted to rage.
“It’s okay,” Daziel said. “They caught a handhold. We’re almost there.”
We were? I forced myself to look through the lashing rain. We were. The islet rose before us. I’d never been onshore, and it looked like a strange place, the land barren save some red succulents clinging tenaciously to the earth.
