Witch Born(104)

Cord curled his tail under him and stared at it in disbelief. She swam to him and bumped him with her nose. He gaped at her with liquid seal eyes. Using her sensitive nose and whiskers, Senna swam toward the smell of seaweed.

When she reached the side of the island, she swam until she found the telltale sign of seaweed growing in the shape of a gibbous moon. She discovered the entrance to the cavern—a black mouth almost completely obscured by seaweed—and swam forward.

Something lunged out of Velveten’s mouth. Senna only had time to register the flash of steel in a burst of lightning before Cord threw himself in front of her. His back arched and he let out a bark of pain.

Pain reeled dizzily through the link. The metallic taste of blood filled Senna’s mouth above the salty, mineral taste of the water. With horror, she saw a harpoon sticking out of Cord’s side. Rich blood clouded the water around the wound. Senna pivoted, searching for their attacker.

Flaring his limbs and then pulling them tight like a frog, Pogg shot through the water. He was already loading another harpoon. Haven must have sent him to guard the entrance from any Witches in a seal’s disguise. She barked at him, but he couldn’t understand.

Gently taking Cord’s flipper in her teeth, Senna pulled him through the water, pumping as hard as she could for the entrance. She shivered. The realization that she felt cold shot through her—the first sign the potion was wearing off. There was no way she could swim the distance as a human. She had to get them out of the water or they would drown.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pogg aim the second harpoon. She dove, taking Cord with her. She bit too hard into his fin. Blood seeped into her mouth, but there was nothing she could do. The harpoon sliced through the water above them. Senna shot forward again. Her skin shuddered and a tingle started in the middle of her tail, where her legs ached to split. Using her fins to steer, she pumped her tail, weaving along the bottom of the sea.

Pogg aimed at her. She put on a burst of speed and shot into Velveten’s mouth as another harpoon embedded itself in the rocks behind her.

It was pitch black inside. Senna had to rely on her keen sense of smell and her whiskers to guide her through the cavern. Far above her, she saw a circle of wavering firelight. The tingling in her tail became painful before her skin split apart. Fins became feet and hands.

Her speed floundered as her spindly legs kicked at the churning water. She gripped Cord under his arms and pulled for the surface. Already her lungs were burning. She wasn’t going to make it, not with Cord’s extra bulk.

He wanted her to leave him—wanted it without restraint. But she couldn’t bring herself to abandon him, and he was too weak to fight her.

Pogg burst into the cavern behind them, the harpoon clutched in his hands. He aimed it at her before his eyes went wide. He dropped the harpoon, then snatched Senna’s and Cord’s shoulders with his padded fingers and burst upward. It wasn’t a steady progression, but one filled with stops and starts.

Senna’s vision was beginning to go black around the edges. She touched Cord, using the link to tell him how sorry she was.

Pogg put on a final burst. Suddenly, Senna broke free of the water and took her first desperate breath. Pogg shoved her toward shore. Her muscles were locking up from the cold. Knowing he would see to Cord, Senna swam for the dock.

“Helps her!” Pogg cried.

“Pogg?” a voice called uncertainly.

“Helps!”

Senna tried to pull herself onto the dock, but her muscles refused to bear her weight. Panting, she dug her numb fingers into the wood. She felt the vibration of footsteps. She looked up to see a dozen muskets pointed at her face. It had happened so much over the past few days that she simply waited for whomever it was to decide whether or not to shoot her.

“Brusenna?”

She forced herself to look past one of the black barrels to the face of the man holding it. “Collum?”

He set the musket down, then gripped her arms and hauled her onto the dock. “Brusenna? What? You’ve been banished. How did you get past the Tartens—swim in this freezing water?”

She pointed to Cord. “Help my Guardian. He’s hurt.”

Two of the Haven Guardians bent to take hold of Cord.

Climbing up beside them, Pogg trilled a high-pitched keening that made her ears hurt. He hugged his knees and rocked back and forth. “Poggs not knows seals was Senna! Poggs not knows!” He repeated it over and over again.

Collum’s eyes widened. “Who’s this?”

Senna crawled to Cord’s side and gaped at the harpoon sticking out of him. “He needs a Healer.”

“You’re the only Witch who isn’t fighting.” She recognized the speaker as Beck, Reden’s second.