Page 31 of The Lost Child

“I knew I smelled draken.” Her eyes took in the scars on my body. “You’ve been in captivity,” she told me.

I didn’t want to talk about myself.

I pointed to Nerissa, lying still on the driftwood behind me. “Please, help. I can’t fly. Is she dead?”

The sea witch glanced behind me, eyes flaring when they landed on Nerissa.

“Interesting,” she said succinctly, eyes wide. “There is a coven just off the mainland. We do not have a treaty, but I will take you there. I want to know more about who you are and where you’ve been. The other drakens have been gone for centuries.”

I tried not to show my confusion. Covens?Drakens?The word stirred something in my chest, but the name didn’t give me any further knowledge. Master sometimes said it about me, but I didn’t associate much with it.

“I … am draken?” I asked tentatively.

The sea witch whistled through her teeth. “Definitely a captive. If you clutch more tightly to the wood, my sisters and I will guide you to the coven off the shore. I want to speak to Alkdama about you.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. “You will help her then?”

The sea witch did a double take back at Nerissa. “Oh! Of course.” Before I could react, the witch flipped onto Nerissa’s bit of dry wood and punched her in the chest with the flat part of her hand before I could stop her.

Nerissa’s eyes flew open, and she threw up water and bile all over herself.

“No magick required!” the witch trilled happily.

I stared, gaping at her.

Four more heads appeared out of the water behind her, all blonde. All staring at me with those eyes the color of the sea.

“Hang on, dragon boy.”

I barely had time to grasp the side of the driftwood before the sea witches pushed, propelling us forward and through the ocean at an impossible speed. Nerissa groaned and rolled toward me with the force of the motion, and I caught her around her waist in one hand. She didn’t stay awake, but she wasn’t as still as before; she coughed and twitched, her chest rising up and down reassuringly.

As soon as we arrived at this place of witches, I would take care of her like she had taken care of me.

The witches kept staring at me, but I remained silent because we were traveling faster than I could have managed with waterlogged wings and holding onto Nerissa. I glared at them, but that only made them smirk, fangs flashing in the bright sun.

While we moved through the water, I clutched tightly to Nerissa and started to think. Master would expect me to report back. He would be angry that I disobeyed him, but he had no medicines on the island. He wouldn’t have the power to come after me right away. I knew this because I had never been healed before Nerissa. She had been the first to ever offer me relief or tend to my wounds at all.

No one could help her on the island.

Master would prefer if she remained alive. At least, I was mostly sure he would. He was angry with her, but he wouldn’t kill her. He’d never yet killed me, no matter how many times I wished he might. Life was hard, but easy. Obey. Kill. Eat. Every punishment had been earned. Well, until recently.

My world was cracking around me, and it had started with the female in my arms. What was once clear was now muddy and unsure. There were tricks and tests and lies, and I hardly knew which way was up and which was down.

She coughed against me again, and I held her closer to my chest. The only thing that was clear was Nerissa. Her foul smelling pastes, and her scent lingering in my nose. The way her eyes held mine with only kindness and hope, and not fear and anger.

“Ahead!” called the one sea witch, pointing toward a small sliver of land that appeared in the distance. She had mentioned something about the mainland. Was it like my cave or very different?

Soon enough the land filled our sight, vast and stretching out beyond the horizon. I’d never seen so much land before! The witches dragged the wood toward the shore until my feet touched a sandy bottom. I wanted badly to stretch my wings and take off—to fly above this land and see if there was any danger. But I wouldn’t. Nerissa came first. So, I merely flared them wide and hoped they dried quickly.

I kept Nerissa wrapped in my arms, trying to push the coldness out of her skin with my own heat. The sea witch eyed me oddly, then snapped her gaze to the tree line just above us. She gave out a piercing cry and received one in response.

I carried Nerissa as I slogged through the shallows and onto dry land.

“Meruse! What brings you here?”

A voice called out from the trees, and I assumed a defensive stance, growling. A witch with dark skin appeared before us, giving the sea witch (Meruse?) a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Then she saw me.

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