Lure Read online

  Chapter 20

  CEARO

  I did not need to get my bearings. I needed a moment out of the water. Not entirely possible here with the fog, but at least the branches could hold me above the swamp.

  What are you doing to him, Water?

  I knew the answer was nothing. My Water had been trying its hardest to get to him, but I had wrenched it back to me. That did not mean the rest of the water elementals had left him alone though. He should have been cold like his brother, but instead he seemed as accustomed to the dampness as I was, not affected at all.

  This was not proof.

  But what if he —

  “David!” Eric’s yell sounded over his splashes. I jerked around, ready to reprimand him. But I choked off my words. He was running away. And so was David.

  I leaped after them at the same time as Willa. We all called for David. He did not turn. He ran like he had not even registered our voices. We cried out again and again, but I knew there had to be a reason for his lack of response. My only hope was that I would catch up. I was almost to Eric, but David was faster.

  A light became visible past him when it moved sideways. A wisp. They hunted by entrancing humans with their magical light and leading them to their deaths. I put on a burst of speed. I had to get to David first.

  No. No no no.

  He dropped into the water. There in front of me one second, gone the next.

  No no no no no.

  Eric was just a few feet ahead of me. He plunged in after David. I did not pause to figure out if it had been done purposely or accidentally. David would not be dead yet. Not yet.

  I dove. A current took me instantly. That was not normal. A wisp could not do this. It could lead a human to deep or fast-moving water, but those things had to exist already. This was not natural for a swamp though. I looked everywhere for what could be doing this.

  There. At the bottom, already reaching for David, was a siren. Her song was whirling the water into chaos. The current became stronger as her excitement grew. It had been quite some time since any creature out here had caught a human.

  I kicked faster. The siren’s current pulled me toward them. Getting back to the surface would be much more difficult though. I begged Water to help me, to help David, if it was so fond of him.

  Bright blue appeared to one side of the siren. It caught her attention. It caught mine.

  It could not be.

  But there they were. Water elementals. While I had one in me, the free ones never showed themselves. Especially not to me. Not since —

  Grab David.

  Right. I could reach him now. I used the siren’s distraction and pulled David to me. My Water did as I asked and helped propel us upward.

  The siren’s attention came back to her prey, now stolen. She screamed in anger and the current picked up again. We were too far for her to catch though. We broke the surface and I scrambled to get us out of the hole. David was unconscious, but he was able to regurgitate some water. I began dragging him away as soon as I felt him breathe again.

  “David! Where’s Eric?” Willa asked me. She tried to examine David while searching for Eric at the same time.

  “He fell in. Or jumped.” I continued carrying David away.

  “I’ll take David. Go get Eric,” Willa said as she tried to take him from me. My instincts were selfish. My instincts made me grip him tighter.

  “There is a siren. He is as good as dead.” I continued carrying David away.

  “What?! You’re just going to leave him?!”

  “I cannot help him.” I continued carrying David away.

  “But — you — Eric — ”

  I continued carrying David away.

  Suddenly, she cut off her own stuttering and jumped down toward the siren and her probably dead son. I paused. Willa might survive a siren. Especially if the siren was already full. I would give her three minutes.

  I used the time to check David for injuries. He had no obvious ones, other than his lungs that likely still contained too much water. I flipped him and pounded his back until more came out. Then for good measure, I spread all that remained of my ground unicorn horn on his chest, back, and head.

  He would be alright. He would wake up. Water would not kill him.

  Willa burst out of the water at two minutes. She dragged a body out with her. I was mildly surprised. The body jerked and coughed. I was more than mildly surprised. Not that anyone would be able to tell. My eyebrows twitched up for just a second.

  She turned a rage-filled gaze on me. “He’s not dead,” she snarled.

  I could see that now. I was impressed that she had managed to get him away from the siren. But was I less interested in hearing the story as in getting out of this swamp. I resumed carrying David away. She hauled Eric along behind me.

  I thought it was going to take ages to reach dry ground. David was not the heaviest man, but he still outweighed me. To my continued surprise though, Eric woke up after only a few minutes. We paused to let him cough and gain his balance. He was woozy, but he could walk on his own. Willa came to lift David’s feet. Together, we carried him much faster. We did not speak along the way.

  David groaned, but he never fully came to. We set him down when we reached dry land. He stopped making sounds then. He should have seemed better, more peaceful, without the groaning, but instead I worried it meant he was further from waking.

  I immediately set to work weaving a mat we could use to drag him. My arms were tired, but I forced them to move fast. I did not want to waste time here. Willa did not help until it came time to move David. As we heaved him onto it, Eric asked, “Why is he still knocked out?”

  Willa answered him before I had the chance. I doubted I would have taken the chance anyway. “Probably a side effect of the trance he was in. He may be out for a while.” She held a hand out to him to help him up. They were ready, or as ready as they could be, to keep moving. I was too. We had caused quite the scene in the swamp. There was a chance the Seelie had seen or heard something. So why were my feet refusing to move?

  David had not stirred since we had left the swamp.

  He needs Water.

  Experimentally, I dipped my hand back into the swamp water and flicked some onto David’s forehead. He groaned.

  “Come on,” Willa prompted. “Do you need me to help pull him?”

  “No.” I gathered a tiny bit of the water in the air into a drop. It landed on his forehead. He groaned again. “Alright, go.” I took the handle I had woven into the mat and we moved forward.

  It was a bumpy ride. The ground here was half covered with protruding roots. I tried to find the gentlest paths but it was nearly impossible. I hoped the jostling would help wake him rather than hurt his head further. I sprinkled him with condensation every few minutes. He stirred more and more. Soon he was coughing. Most of the water was out of his system now. He let out the last in a particularly violent cough.

  A crash sounded from ahead. Eric had turned back at David’s hacking and tripped. Now he was rolling on the ground, cursing. Willa loudly fretted over him. I stayed by David. I dripped a little more water onto his face. He shifted slightly. He no longer coughed. I was sure he had gotten it all out. If he would only wake up now. Damn wisps and their maddening mind tricks.

  “I think it’s sprained,” I heard Willa saying. “You shouldn’t walk on it.”

  “How are we supposed to get out of here if I can’t walk?” He tried to stand, but he obviously could not put any weight on his injured ankle. He hopped a few paces. He was not going to get far that way. Definitely not home. Willa stopped him.

  “Let’s make another of those mats.” She set him back on the ground and got to work.

  Eric crawled closer to David to check on him. “At least he isn’t coughing up his lungs anymore,” he said, I think to himself. He looked at me from the corner of his eye. He seemed to be in a dilemma. Stay near his brother or get away from me? I did not care about the outcome of his internal battle.
I stayed where I was. Staying with his brother eventually won out, but he turned his back on me and refused to look at me anymore. I still did not care.

  More drops on David’s head. David squeezed his brother’s hand and turned his face toward me.