Page 33 of Wicked Depths

I move toward it, my fingers trailing lightly over the rim.

The water pulses beneath my touch, answering my call before I even summon it.

My magic stirs, restless.Eager.

It has been too long since I’ve used it freely. Since I’vefeltthe full force of my power surge through me.

And now, with this?

I could do more than just pull at the droplets in the air, more than just whisper to the tides beneath the earth.

I could reach beyond.

Beyond these walls.

Beyond this world.

I exhale slowly, rolling my shoulders as I place my hands in the water bowl, fingers sinking into the cool, liquid silk. The moment my skin meets the surface, a shiver ripples through me, a connection forming like a tether snapping taut across an infinite distance. The magic of my realm stirs, sensing me.

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, summoning the power that thrums in my veins.

Deeper.

I whisper to the sea, to the abyss that has always obeyed my call, the home that is stitched into my very being. The water shifts beneath my hands, but I don’t just draw from the small, stagnant pool before me—I pull from the ocean itself, from the tides that still remember me.

The air thickens with power, tingling against my skin.

Stronger.

The water swirls, stretching beyond the confines of the bowl, twisting into spirals of liquid silver. The currents expand, bending space itself, forming more.

A ripple. A tremor.

Then—

The portal erupts to life.

It does not appear within the bowl, too small and insignificant to contain it. Instead, the air before mecracksopen, the sheer force of it shuddering through the room. A vortex of shifting water swirls across the far wall, an expanse of glowing blues and deep violet, bioluminescent streaks pulsing like veins through the portal’s surface.

A direct tether to my world.

I feel it immediately. The weight of the sea pressing against the threshold, whispering to me, begging me to step through.

To return.

But I do not need to leave.

I only need to reconnect.

I press my hands deeper into the water, exhaling as I let it wash through me, filling me.

My magic recharges. Strength bleeds back into my limbs, rushing through me like a tide breaking free from its dam. It’s intoxicating—the raw pulse of my realm’s power, surging through me like lightning, like a siren’s song calling me home.

I breathe it in. Let it fortify me.

I am not stealing, not taking as I always have.

I am receiving.

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