Page 51 of Keldori By Daybreak

I wrapped my arms around him and kicked towards the rising sun.

The momentary peace broke with the water’s surface, and I craned my face away from Ciarán, trying to unstick his dark hair from my face.

“Stay awake, okay?” I gasped, trying to keep my mouth above water. The shore was farther than I’d like, but we weren’t dead yet. We still had time. Not much of it, I was sure, but I had to try.

If Ciarán passed out, I would dissolve into nothing. He would drown. Maybe I was coming to terms with the fact that Ciarán was Liam, or maybe the weight of his life felt so much heavier because of the number of times he’d now saved mine, but I could not let Ciarán die.

I begged my body to turn less dense and more buoyant, but I was pulling on dregs of Skal, and every drag of magick from the bond between us weakened Ciarán that much more.

“Come on,” I begged him through gritted teeth.

Webbed toes. I needed webbed toes.

Ciarán had to have enough consciousness left to at least give me webbed toes so I could get us to the shore faster.

But when I focused on my feet, I realized I didn’t have feet at all. Or legs. My form was dissolving as Ciarán passed into unconsciousness, and water filled my mouth and lungs just to then pass through my shifting shape.

I tried to scream as the lake sucked up and over my head, but I no longer had a mouth to scream with and I watched in horrified, stifled silence as Ciarán’s glowing eyes rolled back into his head and his body sank beneath me.

“Ciarán!” I bolted awake, ignoring the burning protest of my ribs. Dawn broke over the lake, and Fana jumped at my shout from where she stood at the shore.

“Wren!” She slipped over pebbles to reach me, clutching Jonquil in her arms, but I was already halfway standing.

“He’s in the lake,” I sobbed. “He’s drowning.”

Fana spun to face the water.

“That was you?” she asked. “Falling from the sky?”

“You saw us?” I grabbed her by her slight shoulders and spun her to face me. Jonquil fell from her arms with an indignant chirp. “Where, Fana? Where did we land?”

She shook her head, her eyes wide and frightened. “I don’t know. Maybe—”

She pulled away and traced a finger through the air, replaying our free fall, until her finger pointed to the east.

“There?” I asked. “How far out?”

“Maybe a mile? Far, but not too far. Is Ciarán dead?”

“Not yet. I can still feel him.” And I could. His presence in my head was faint, now a distant whisper as opposed to his usually buzzing. “The others are coming. Wait for them, but be ready to move!”

I grabbed a bottle of Skal from my pack, and I ran.

Lakeshore rocks shifted underfoot as I sprinted to the east. Adrenaline dulled the ache in my ribs, though a hot pain was spreading in my stomach.

He’d been sinking in the water when I’d last seen him, his dark hair curling up around his face, but the lake stretched for miles in every direction.

I looked up at the mountain peaks as I ran, trying to triangulate where we’d been when we’d plummeted into the water, but everything looked the same.

Panic hitched in my chest.

Ferrin had taken Liam from me again. Ferrin had killed him twice.

No, not yet.

There was still a chance. I just had to keep running. If I stopped running, if I gave up, those chances dropped to nothing. As long as I kept moving, I could still save Ciarán.

And he was still there, floating at the back of my mind. I clung to his presence, holding onto it with every running step. Maybe with enough will-power I could keep him alive through our tether.