I jump down to the lower deck. The mast is gone, causing a huge gap in the railing. Then I see her, white shirt, brown hair. Rosalina lies limp, her body against the remaining intact railing.She’s so close to the opening.
“Rosie?” I rush toward her.
“Dayton!” Someone grabs the back of my shirt. I spin. Wrenley.
“What are you doing here?” I scream, grabbing her by the shoulders.
Tears or rain melt down her face. “I couldn’t leave you.”
I shove her toward the stair railing. “Hold this and don’t let go. I’ll come back for you.”
She nods, terror clear in her eyes. She followed me … Was it the pull of her bond? I can’t wonder about it. Right now, I have a princess to save. I run across the deck, sliding and lurching forward.
“Big one incoming, captain!” Huxton shouts.
I look ahead. Rising a hundred feet above the ship is the biggest wave I’ve ever seen, black with a foaming white maw.
“BRACE YOURSELF!” Huxton yells.
I grab what’s left of the mast and hold on. Icy water pours over me as the ship dives deep into the waves. The rope on the mast scrapes my palm bloody, and just when I think the damn ship will never rise, the water falls away and we bounce back into the storm.
My heart sinks. Rosalina is gone, fallen overboard. I run toward where she was, knowing I have only a few precious moments.
“She went over!” Huxton yells.
“I know!”
“The other one too!”
I stop and look back to where I’d left Wrenley, clutching the railing.No …
Two opposite sides of the ship. I won’t be able to save them both. Might not even be able to save either.
One of them is my only chance at ever breaking my curse, at not becoming a beast forever and the other …
The other is Rosie.
“See if you can spot the girl and throw a barrel and rope over the port side! Keep the crew safe,” I yell to Huxton, and then leap onto the railing. Below the sea is a roiling eddy of black water. It’ll be near impossible to stay afloat. Ridiculous to think I can find her. The roar of the storm fills my ears, drowning out all other sound as I leap off the edge.
The icy water swallows me whole as I sink deeper and deeper into the darkness. Its grip is suffocating. I’ll never be able to keep an oxygen bubble steady in this water. I’ll just have to hold my breath.
I open my eyes. It’s so dark. Lightning flashes, illuminating sinking wood and spiraling ropes.Where are you? Where are you?
Something ignites in me. Deeper. She’s deeper. I descend, propelling myself down into the endless ocean. In another flash of lightning, I see her, brown hair floating around her face as her limp body sinks deeper and deeper and deeper.
I force myself downward, willing the ocean to carry me faster. My magic hasn’t felt this strong in a year. The lightning fades, and it’s almost entirely black, but I know where she is. She’s right in front of me.
Fingers straining, I connect with cloth, then hook my arms around her waist and kick to the surface.
Breaking through the storm-swept waves, I hold her tight in my arms. There’s nothing around us but thundering water, no sign of the ship, only the broken pieces it left behind.They’ll get through it and so must we.
Holding Rosie against my chest, I swim to a large plank of wood and haul her body onto it, before crawling up after her. She’s not breathing.
Panic swells in my chest. I lean down and part her lips, breathing oxygen into her lungs.
It does nothing.
I pull her lifeless form tight to my body. “Rosalina, I swear to all the stars, if you wake up, I’ll never have another drink in my life.” I press my mouth to hers again, breathing into her lungs. “Baby, please wake up.”
