Witch Fall(112)

She looked at the devastated city. That they were still alive was a miracle. “You’re right,” she breathed. She forced herself to stand, her bad leg bent to take less weight. “Han’s right. We need to swim for it now, before we’re too exhausted to reach the surface.”

The other witches exchanged wary glances, but no one argued. Staying wasn’t an option.

Lilette stared at the sky, as Han had done. She was raised by a fisherman—she knew the sea. “You’re going to be tempted to breathe. Fight the urge. When the water comes in, everything will be blurry, and the debris will probably be stirred up. Follow the bubbles. And don’t stop kicking.”

The witches nodded.

“When we reach the top,” Han said, “swim for each other. We’ll be safer if we stay together.”

“What about . . .” Nassa cleared her throat. “What about Merlay and the others?”

Han took a deep breath. “If they’re up there, hide. It’s all you can do.”

They all nodded grimly. Lilette tried to prepare herself, but how did one prepare to die? She looked at the surface, speckled with flotsam and so far away. And she accepted that she might not make it. If so, she had at least saved some of her people. She could die knowing that.

Han took her hand. “Sometimes you just have to move.”

The other witches stopped singing. Cracks appeared in the barrier’s surface, and it was as if the pastel purples and blues caught fire and smoldered to ash.

Lilette took a deep breath and held it as water roared toward them. She instinctively turned away from it, burying her face in Han’s chest. He held her tight as the water slammed into them. But even the strength of his arms couldn’t hold her as the water hit, ripping them apart. When it stopped dragging her, she was blinded by debris again.

She spun in the water, pain piercing her ears. When she finally came to a stop, she was surrounded by debris, so thick she couldn’t see up or down. It was too dark to even see bubbles. Her lungs burning and raw, she turned in the circle, searching for the surface.

And then something registered in her brain. There was tension at her neck. The chain attached to the pendant was pulled taut to the left and down. It had been activated. Han was trying to find her. That meant up was that direction. The thought shocked the fear out of Lilette, and she clawed and kicked at the water. She suddenly broke free of a pocket of wreckage. Morning light shattered across the surface in golden waves.

But she’d been down too long. Of its own volition, her body took a breath. She coughed more water into her lungs, the brine abrasive and foreign inside her. Her eyes fixed on the surface. Just as everything began to grow dim, something touched her head. A hand latched onto her hair and yanked.

Her body was pulled through the water and she surfaced. Han squeezed her chest violently, forcing water from her lungs and sending a blaze of pain through her. It made room for her to draw a little air, which she devoured greedily. She coughed more water from her lungs and gasped in the barest trickle of air. Han wrapped his arm around her upper shoulders just as a wave slammed them into them, forcing them underwater again. But the hands holding her never let go. His legs kicked, and she forced hers to do the same. She came up again, choking out half the ocean. Water streamed down her face, brine filling her mouth.

Han swam with powerful strokes as the coughs locked up her whole body, making it a struggle to keep her head above water. He hauled a chunk of wood through the water toward her. “Grab onto this.” She hugged it to her chest, too consumed with coughing to do anything else. “We have to get away from all this flotsam!”

She realized with a shock how loud everything was compared to the stillness of the water. She could hear cries in the distance—people and animals. “We have to help them,” she said between coughing fits, her voice sounding rough and raw.

Han made a helpless gesture. “How?”

He was right. There was nothing they could do. “Where are the others?” Lilette asked.

“There.”

She turned in time to see four of them holding onto ropes that pulled them onto a Harshen ship Lilette hadn’t noticed before. Nassa and Doranna were among them. Her relief was immediately overshadowed by sorrow. There had been eleven of them on the ocean floor. “Are you sure that ship is ours?”

A broken piece of wood came rushing at them, and Han had to let go of her to shove it away. “We don’t have much of a choice. It’s too dangerous to stay here.”

He lugged her toward the ship. As they came closer, Harshens shouted at them and threw ropes over the side. Lilette took hold of a rope and held tight as they pulled her onboard. She collapsed onto the deck and lay panting in a puddle of water.