Page 9 of Crown of Tides and Fury

I held tight. “Trust me!”

She shook her head. “What can Wickham do that I cannae?”

“You’d be surprised. He can get her off there without getting wet!”

Though her eyes were brimming with tears, her jaw set with determination, she finally nodded and stopped resisting me.

“We’ll stand right here where she can see us. If she wakes up, you can keep her calm, right?”

Fallon stood still and sure-footed as water sprayed and splashed up the sides of the rock. It was like the sea was climbing, clawing, hungry just for a touch of her hem, almost reaching her, retreating to try again. The image put a thought in my head, and I didn’t need to ask if it were true.

I asked anyway. “She’s a Third, isn’t she?”

Annag glanced to the side, then back to the child. After a moment, she nodded. “But she’s never shown the first signs of power! Not one!”

Since I was unfamiliar with the evolution of such things, I could only guess that power didn’t come at birth, but would be brought on later, like puberty. Or maybe it was much earlier…say, on a child’s fifth birthday? Made me wonder if the storm wokeher…or ifshewoke the storm.

A particularly aggressive wave threw itself at the tower and the water splashed high, over Fallon’s head. I held my breath as I watched it rain down on the tiny form. Annag’s hands clenched my upper arm, pinching me.

The little arms raised to the sides and Fallon shrieked. She looked at her feet, at the rock she stood on, and an ear-piercing scream filled the night, drowning out the waves and the wind.

The sky darkened again, but not from any movement of clouds. A massive black shadow descended toward the rock, like a great seabird diving for the ocean, for a fish. But instead of crashing into the tower or the child, the wings opened, and it stopped on a dime. Hovered.

Griffon!

Annag’s hands went slack. The pinching sensation moved from my arm to my heart.

Griffon is here. He’s found me.

He squatted before the tiny screaming girl. With the distance and darkness, I couldn’t see his features, couldn’t read his expression. The dark wings lowered, flexed, then shadow and nightgown hurtled into the sky, moving too fast to track. The screaming stopped.

Kitch and Wickham halted beside us, breathless. Wickham cursed, over and over while he paced to the edge of the cliff. Annag’s hands clenched my jacket and she shook me, as if I had been the one walking in my sleep. “What was that? What was that!”

“Relax,” I said. “An old…friend. He has her. She’s safe.”

The woman freaked out. She pulled me around until our noses touched. “My granddaughter is in theskyand you think I can relax?”

I forced a smile. “He’s taken me up there before. A couple of times. It’s a little cold but—”

“Tell him to bring her down. Now.”

Kitch laid his hand on Annag’s shoulder, shook her a little until her grip on me loosened. “Lennon cannae contact him. We shall have to wait. He’ll bring her back. Ye’ll see. He’s…”

“He’s a teacher,” I said. “He won’t harm a child.”

For the next half hour, Wickham walked around the staff and café customers who had seen too much, altering their memories, until they exchanged cheerful “goodnights” and went home or back to the Sea Witch.

My neck throbbed, but I never took my eyes off the sky. My mind raced with possibilities until I finally had to tell it to shut up, that all I could do was watch and wait, but it wouldn’t listen. Though the wind and waves had immediately settled once Fallon and Griffon were gone, my emotions were still roiling, still crashing against the cliffs in my mind.

Fear he wouldn’t bring her back. Exhilaration at seeing him again, even from a distance. Dread he might take out his frustration with me upon the child.

Of course he wouldn’t…

When Wickham insisted we all go back inside, I was relieved. I had to find a new train of thought. Fallon had been saved. That was all that was important now. And if I didn’t stop obsessing about Griffon, my heart would melt like a hollow chocolate bunny in the hot sun. Soon it would cave in on itself and I’d be useless.

Please, God, don’t let him take it out on her…

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