Page 96 of Keeping Sarah

My skepticism got the best of me. “Have you ever done anything like this before?”

“We will need to be absolutely silent in the water. Otherwise, my focus on the illusion could break.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out.

“Shh.” She closed her eyes to concentrate. Slowly, she slipped into the water and held out the femur for me to hold. She nodded and waited.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.I sat with my legs over the edge of the deadly water, waiting for something to grab me and pull me down. When nothing did, I dipped my body into the water, withpanic surrounding me as much as the water did. I reached up for the bone and pulled myself back to the surface with it. Then, I nodded to Omen, and she began to swim with one hand in front of her and one hand on the femur.

Her kicks were beneath the water, not splashing at the top. No noise. I prayed to all the gods I could think of, while I clutched the femur and floated next to Omen. Something touched my foot, and I gasped to scream, but she shot me a harsh glance, before she kept swimming. I tucked my legs tight to my body, but that made me move too much in the water, and I almost bobbed onto my side. I had to let my legs dangle slightly, or I would sink us both. Thankfully, whatever had touched my leg did not return for me.

Once we reached the other side, I carefully pulled myself out of the water and ran into the trees for some comforting distance between me and the moat. Omen jogged to keep up and we wrung our clothes out as best we could. She laughed and tucked her femur back into her robes.

“That was interesting.”

“Interesting? Your interests and mine differ wildly.” I took a deep breath and stared at the moat. “Never thought I’d go into that thing willingly.”

“I didn’t think you would either.”

“I’m just glad your illusion held up.”

“Yeah.” She smirked and said, “So, you wanna hit the stables, see if we can find an available carriage? Going on foot—"

“Omen, your illusion…”

“It’s going to take a long time to get to the arena, especially with all the rioting.”

I braced my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes on her. “The illusion was what got us through the moat, right?”Surely it could conceal us through the city.

She smiled with pity in her eyes. “Do you really want to know?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Remember how I said you can always count on me for brutal honesty?”

“Yes.”

She almost grimaced before saying, “I didn’t technically use an illusion to get us through the moat.”

I thought I might throw up. “But something touched my foot and then it left me alone, so why—"

“I told you to keep quiet for a reason. Most water beasts hunt by sound. We kept quiet. So, in effect, we were invisible to them. It’s…kindof like an illusion,” she shrugged innocently. “An illusion you were participating in.”

I ran my fingers through my wet hair. “After all of this is over, we’re gonna have a talk about your idea of brutal honesty, Omen.”

“What?” She flashed me a saucy grin. “It worked.”

“Alongtalk.” I stomped toward the stables.

“You can say thank you any time, Jac, for me saving your ass.”

I stopped and turned back to her. “Why do you even have a spare femur?”

She arched a brow. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

I huffed and headed for the stables.

CHAPTER 27

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