Page 50 of Summer L.A.W.

Something inside her shifted. She rose and faced the tidal witch. “NO!” was all she said, then extended her hands, intending to push her away. The blue glow exited her fingertips, and she punched the Sea Witch with everything she had.

The Sea Witch doubled over like a cresting wave, then exploded as if she were hitting the beach. Everything went silent for a moment. Bird swooped in as the water receded and picked up something in his beak.

He flew over to Crystal, where she had collapsed, and dropped it in her lap.

Mason leaned over her shoulder and remarked, “A black pearl.”

Warmth spread through Crystal’s chest, melting the cold. She pictured not the endless dark, but every ridiculous, infuriating, tender thing about this man. Like the way he brewed coffee strong enough to strip paint, and how he slept diagonally across the bed, but mostly how he always reached for her first in a storm.

Love. It had to be.

She closed her fist around the pearl and pumped it high in the air. “I’m not yours, Sea Bitch!”

Water twisted upward, turning to vapor. The storm had folded in on its own and vanished with a soundless implosion.

Mason jerked as heat seared through the compass in his hand. It cracked down the middle, then went dark.

Silence fell.

The witches froze mid-motion, listening. No more wind. No more sea. Just the slow drip of water from the porch roof and the faint hum of surviving wards.

Joell lowered her blade. “Status?”

“All wards stable,” Rayna said.

Sahara glanced at Lioness’s drawing and exhaled. “The ley line’s back to normal.”

Magda brushed damp hair from her face. “The connection’s severed, for good this time.”

Lioness leaned against Sahara, panting, her sketchbook dropping to the floor. “Someone please tell me it’s brunch o’clock.”

No one laughed, but the tension eased a fraction.

Crystal sagged against Mason, exhaustion overtaking relief. “You shouldn’t have followed me,” she murmured. “But I’m glad you did.”

He smiled, forehead resting against hers. “Good thing I don’t take orders well.”

The first light of dawn filtered through the shattered windows, turning the fog into gold. Outside, the sea was gone. The lawn steamed in the bright sun, as if the mansion had dreamed the storm.

Inside, the League stood among the minor wreckage, soaked, shivering, alive.

And for the first time since the ocean called her name, Crystal felt completely, blessedly free.

EPILOGUE

The mansion looked as if the storm had never happened. Not a crack in the marble, not a puddle on the floor. The chandeliers gleamed, the drapes hung crisp and dry, and even the books had returned themselves neatly to their shelves. If not for the faint scent of salt in the air, one might think the day before had been a very strange dream.

Sahara stood in the foyer with a stack of scrolls under one arm and a quill hovering beside her. “I still have to file paperwork with Bas for magical property damage,” she grumbled. “Do you know how hard it is to get reimbursed for an act of the Goddess?”

Rayna swept past, carrying a steaming mug. “File for emotional damages while you’re at it. And make sure the policy covers caffeine deprivation.” She took a long swallow and sighed. “Ahhh... Sanity restored.”

Magda crossed the hall, sunlight glinting off the gold trim around her teacup. “The wards have fully reset.”

“I added a little desert air to the ventilation,” Sahara said. “Just to keep the place dry.”

Joell leaned against the banister, clipboard forgotten at her side. “Debrief?” she asked hopefully.

No one responded.