Page 48 of The Spark that Ignites
Vesper spoke but his words were lost in the air between them. He leapt to his feet and ran toward her. What was happening? But before he reached her, she stumbled backwards.
Once. Twice.
The chalice fell from her hands and struck the grassy floor.
Thrice, her steps teetered.
Emmery’s vision winked out, her world consumed by darkness. Blind, she staggered, her arms flailing in the newfound black.
No, this couldn’t be happening. What had she done?
Vesper’s shouts were too late. He couldn’t reach her in time.
Her body was lost. Emmery disappeared into her mind before she toppled into the dark water of the spring.
Chapter Seventeen
An endless dark ocean replaced the spring and salty water burned her eyes and nose. She opened her mind’s eye to the trial as freezing water sank into her bones. Directionless, Emmery gagged, desperate for air. Despite her futile attempt to stay afloat, the water dragged her down as if sandbags weighed her limbs.
The resurfacing past had always prevented her from learning to swim, making it impossible to even edge into water. It was the heaviness, pressure, and the choking, sputtering panic that smothered her. Here she had no choice. Fully submerged and chest aching, she battled the ocean.
She had one chance. One moment to face her worst fear and summon her bravery. She needed to get her shit together and get out of this damned water before her chest combusted.
Emmery thought of her sister. For Maela she would do anything. But she needed to do this for herself too.
This is your birthright.Vesper’s words breathed into her mind.
He was right. Thiswasfor her. And only she could do it.
Gaining her composure, she spotted bits of seaweed on the ocean floor surrounding a large rock with a shrouded figure. Hands bound behind their back; a rope tethered them to the ocean floor. They floated—unmoving. The figure wore a cloak hood over their head, and the colour startled her.
Purple.
No. It couldn’t be. Maela?
Gods, no. Not again.
Spurring bubbles, Emmery’s clumsy hands and feet lashed out.
She needed to move faster but she was a bumbling moron in the water. Luckily the unexplainable force of the downward current guided her.
She grasped a piece of rope and reeled herself in. Praying Maela was alive—if that was possible—she yanked back the hood.
But it wasn’t her sister.
Silvery hair suspended in the water, shimmering like moonlight and a golden vestige engulfed them, like Vesper’s white mist but brighter. The woman's eyes flew open, and the honeyed hue struck Emmery in the chest.
Staring back in a cold expression was her face. She choked and water spilled into her lungs. The woman with her face surveyed her, cocking her head, and sizing Emmery up like prey.
Emmery yanked the waterlogged rope, loosening it to slip the woman’s wrists through, but it was too heavy, especially with her numb fingers. Remembering her daggers, she retrieved her blade and sawed at the rope. A lit match burned inside her chest, her lungs screaming for air.
How long had she been here? Could she truly drown in her own mind?
Emmery’s hands quickened, back and forth, her teeth grinding, until the last strand snapped. Sheathing the dagger, Emmery grasped the woman's arm to drag her to the surface. But how could she when she couldn’t swim?
The woman, unblinking, studied her and a sick, oily feeling seeped into Emmery’s gut. Something wasn’t right. A nightmarish smile crept onto the woman’s face, splitting its mouth as jagged, black teeth punctured through lips and flesh sloughed off, washing away in the current.
Emmery shrank away, putting space between her and thatthing.
