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“You’re scaring me, Cove.”
“I’m not as scary as those things up there, Malia. We have to go.”
I grab her hand and lock our fingers together. I know my grip must be hurting her but she doesn’t make a sound, just stares at me with those huge fearful eyes.
“Ready?”
She nods.
A lie. She never actually tells lies if she can help it, but I’ve come to realise that her non-verbal ones are a dead giveaway.
I place my foot on the edge of the boat and get ready. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to exude calm, for Malia’s sake.
“Take a deep breath. Three… Two…”
I don’t get any further as the first Shikari decides it’s had enough of waiting and dives for the boat. It slams into it, making it rock so violently that we almost topple overboard. I tighten my grip on Malia and go with the momentum of the boat, plunging us inelegantly into the icy black water below.
Fuck it’s cold.
The presence of the Shikari has definitely lowered the temperature by a few degrees. It’s like the fucking Dementors have arrived from Harry Potter, only they carve up your body while searching for your soul, rather than just sucking it out with a ‘kiss’.
Utter bullshit.
I try to peer through the murky water, but the salt just stings my eyes. Everything is blurry. Using my one free hand, I tread water against the current, keeping Malia alongside me. I don’t want to move too far from the boat. Whatever’s left of it. Malia was right; we’ll never swim to shore, but if we can wait out the Shikari, we may be able to get back to the boat and I’ll steer us safely home. Somehow.
She’s never going to want to go out on a date with me again.
Looking above us, I can make out the Shikari’s strikes hitting the surface of the water. The black depths are lit up by their magical attacks, similar to the way the fireworks lit up the sky, just with none of the beauty.
My lungs burn with the need to breathe, but I ignore it. I can tell Malia is panicking from her frenzied movements but I don’t think it’s safe to break the surface yet.
She won’t be able to hold her breath for as long as I can, so I need to do something. I spin her to face me and pull her into my arms, clamping her close. Malia wraps her legs around my waist and fuck me, I know the timing is all wrong but I can’t help but think of ten minutes ago when everything was perfect and I was buried so deep inside her it felt like I was home.
Just as I begin to feel lightheaded with the need to breathe, my magic kicks in and oxygen floods my body. I press my lips to Malia’s and kiss her, sharing my breath, giving her life.
I lose myself in kissing her, and I swear we could be losing days down here.
Eventually she pulls away and I risk the burn of the saltwater to stare into her eyes. She’s looking at me reproachfully, distrusting. She knows something isn’t right. Now is not the time for kissing.
I suspect the coast may be clear up above because everything has gone dark, so I hold my finger to my lips and then point to the surface. Malia gives me a tight nod.
We break the surface of the water into the pitch black night. The skies are deserted, but the boat is destroyed. Malia gasps for air even though I know she was breathing just fine a moment ago with my help. Maybe it's a human habit. I know I felt the need to breathe until my magic activated and allowed me to breathe underwater. I guess it helps being descendant from a ‘lost’ underwater race and part of the Queen of the Ocean’s Guard.
Malia lets go of my hand to tread water and I notice that she puts distance between us. It hurts, but I can't blame her. There have been too many secrets.
It's time to come clean.
For all of us.
In the quiet of the night with just the water lapping at the boat, Malia’s pants are painfully loud. She sounds petrified.
“Malia?” I ask, tentatively reaching out to touch her shoulder. I mean for the gesture to be comforting but she flinches away from me like I’m one of the Shikari who just tried to attack us, not the one who saved her life.
When she turns around, she stares at me with horror in her eyes.
“What are you, Cove?”
