Page 62 of A Touch Enchanted

“You can’t just say that and expect me not to look.”

“And?” I moved her in front of me and ran at her heels.

“I wish I hadn’t looked.”

I glanced behind me. Nirah had taken the form of a beast. Black spikes peppered his head and arms. His body was gray and waxy, as if it were in the process of decay. Six-inch nails sharpened to lethal points that could tear through our flesh without effort. Two bloody stumps rose from his back where he might’ve once had wings. He walked on snakes instead of legs.

He moved slowly. Like he wasn’t in a rush to catch us. Like he knew something far more terrifying waited for us in the ocean. It was worth the risk, though.

We reached the opposite side of the well and jumped into the clear water without pausing to see if it was safe. We had no choice but to take the chance. We couldn’t fight Nirah directly. Not without Finn and Thora to heal our injuries.

The water was cooler than it had been in the River of Life. It looked and felt like ocean water. The salty taste and the smell of brine and water reeds were as familiar to me as Violet’s coconut and lime scent. Without waiting around to see why Nirah seemed so unbothered by our escape, we swam toward the open mouth of the underwater arch.

When we surfaced on the other side, we could see tall black rock towering over the hidden archway. The cliffs that the curse had tried to keep us away from. It didn’t want us finding the Well of Rebirth. It didn’t want us to know what would happen when the dark finally swallowed the light. Judging by the broken, jerky motion of Nirah’s gait, the curse would punish him for revealing as much as he had when the smoke cleared from his eyes.

“Um. Beanie.” Violet’s breathy voice was tight with worry. “Not sure what to do here.”

I tore my attention away from the imposing cliff before us to the five black fins that circled us. Sharks. Not real ones. These had been created by the curse, making communication with them impossible. And they were closing in.

“Should we try to swim through them?” Violet whispered. As if she feared speaking normally would make them more aware of our presence.

“I think we’ll have to.” I wasn’t as strong a swimmer as Violet, and I hoped I could keep up with her. “Let’s call for help, though. Anything is better than doing this alone.”

We ducked underwater and called for whatever could hear us. The curse’s sharks couldn’t understand us, but they could sense the rhythm of our hearts, the tension in our muscles, and the strain in our vocal cords. Their agitation increased. One of them broke off from the rest and charged forward. Its massive body slowed it down, allowing us to narrowly avoid its sharp teeth as it snapped its jaws.

But that only encouraged the others. Three came at us from opposite directions as the first one tried to maneuver its massive body to turn around. I lost track of the fifth, but couldn’t pause to search for it. Our timing had to be just right.

As the sharks moved in closer, jaws open, I grabbed Violet and used my weight to pull us both further under the water. Above us, the three sharks crashed into each other and began to tear each other’s throats out. Their blood ran black in the water. As their flat eyes rolled back and their bodies went limp, they evaporated in a cloud of smoke.

That left two sharks we still had to deal with. It should’ve been a relief, but even having one hell-bent on killing us sapped our dwindling energy. Using this much magic for this long took a physical toll. Exhaustion began to set in and my legs and arms began to cramp, but I couldn’t rest yet. Not until we were on shore.

“Where’s the fifth?” Violet asked.

I looked over my shoulder. “Back there.”

Violet had called in her own shark to battle the curse’s creations. The enormous gray and black beasts fought to the death. Each of them took turns biting chunks off the other. Blood flowed into the ocean in black and red ribbons.

The first shark had finally gotten itself turned around and prepared to charge us again. It sliced through the water with an intelligence in its eyes that suggested it could anticipate our next move, and it wouldn’t miss this time. I told Violet to swim away from me, hoping I would serve as the bigger, juicier target.

Just as I prepared to swim for my life, a school of silver fish darted through the water toward us. Hundreds of them surrounded the shark in a whirlpool of metallic scales that sparkled in the sunlight that just barely filtered through the water. The great black shark snapped its jaws at the fish, getting lost in the distraction.

Violet and I reached for each other. With one last push of our magic, we swam as fast as we could for the shore. The sharks were well behind us, but the threats were far from over.

As we closed in on the shallow waters of the beach, the eels didn’t waste any time blocking our path. Hundreds of them surrounded us. They couldn’t burn us, our magic coated our skin in a protective layer that was impervious to electric shock, but they could still hold us up. Their rubbery bodies stirred up sand, clouding our vision, and formed a rope-like barrier that prevented us from passing.

Out of the murky waters, more teeth closed in on us.

“I forgot about the fucking crocodiles.” I took Violet’s hand and motioned toward the cliffs. “We can try to go around them.”

She shook her head. “That will take too long. More sharks will come for us in deeper waters.” She squared her shoulders. “The only way out is through.”

I hated that plan. Hated it with every fiber of my being. All of my instincts were screaming at me to find another way. But in my head, I knew she was right. We couldn’t afford to stay in the water any longer. Even with our power being specific to this environment, the curse had more might than we did. The best we could hope for was an escape.

“I’m with you,” I said. “Just tell me what to do.”

“We charge forward, squeeze through the eels as well as we can. I hope the fact that we’re swimming toward the crocodiles will confuse them. And we have to split up.”

“What? No.” I’d do anything she wanted, except that. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

---