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The harpy gives a shriek of triumph, tearing through the sky and flying over the river.

And then⁠—

It drops her.

I watch, helpless, as Rosalina plummets like a stone. She hits the river with a loud slap and disappears beneath the black sludge.

“No, no, no, no! Rosie!”

She surfaces, gasping for air. But then another face appears beside her, the twisted features of a hag.

Black water roils around them as the hag’s claws clamp around Rosie’s waist. Its greasy seagrass hair coils over her face as she cackles, dragging Rosie along with the current.

I look down at my hands. Useless. I could have fucking drained this river dry six months ago. Could have sucked every ounce of water out of that damn hag’s body. But now all I’ve got is this fucking frying pan.

“Farron, you’ve got to have something else!” I cry.

Farron’s ukulele is in splinters, and he’s abandoned the spatula. “I don’t, Day! Didn’t you bring anything?”

No, of course I didn’t pack anything. In my pack, all I’ve got is a canteen of water and my horn from Delphia.

My horn from Delphia.

My horn from Delphia!

“Please fucking hear me, Del.” I drop the skillet and thrust my hand in my bag. A harpy charges me, and I snatch it around the throat, barely keeping its beating wings off my face. My fingers clasp the smooth instrument, carved from the horn of a pegasus.

A gift from the Huntresses of Aura. My little sister gained their loyalty and gave this to me the last time I was in Hadria. Help us, Del.

With all the air left in my lungs, I raise the horn to my lips and blow.

A sound as clear as a Summer’s night rings out over the hag’s horrible crescendo, over the shrieks of the harpies, and over my beating heart.

I cast one look to the sky, then sprint.

I don’t know if I’m breathing. I don’t know if I’m bleeding. I just run.

There. I catch sight of Rosalina gasping for air as the hag drags her farther away.

But I’m a faster swimmer than I am a runner.

My brothers are screaming behind me, my name and Rosalina’s, but I don’t stop. I dive into the river. It’s like swimming through the congealed blood of a long slayed beast. Whatever’s in here stings my eyes and burns my skin, but I press on, cutting through the water.

I take a gasping breath, spotting the hag and Rosalina again. The hag sees me and growls. How do you like not being the fastest in the water anymore, sea bitch?

Muscles flooded with everything I have left, I arc through the sludge and water. Rotten corpses of fish and goblins bounce off my shoulders, and vomit rises in my throat from the smell. It’s just me and the river.

I dare to open my eyes underwater, catching the shimmer of scales. I snatch out my hand, grasping the hag’s slippery leg. She gives a gurgling screech before I surge to the surface, grappling her, prying her claws off Rosalina.

“Day!” Rosie screams.

My heart stutters. She still has breath.

“Yummers!” the hag snarls, and she pulls back from Rosalina.

I nearly let loose a sigh of relief…before the hag’s claws drive for my throat.

She wraps her spindly fingers around my neck before I have a chance to take a last inhale. Her face, a sickly blue color with eyes large as saucers, comes in close to me, and I can smell the fish on her breath. “You’ll do. Yummers. You’ll do.”