Sera looks down, chagrined. “I’d probably have run out of the lake and never turned back.”
“I don’t believe that for one second,” I retort.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” she admits. “Drowning is—” She shudders “I just . . . I thought I was a goner and my family would starve without me. Father hasn’t been well sincehis accident, and Mother can only do so much. I worry for my little sister.”
My brow scrunches. “Your family will always be provided for as long as I’m living. I promise you that.”
Tears well up in her eyes. “Thank you, Rae. That means everything to me.”
Unable to stop myself, I pull her into a hug. “I was scared too.”
She laughs, wiping away her tears. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get into a lake again.”
“What do you think it was?”
“Gods, I have no idea. Something slithered around my leg and pulled me under. I didn’t get a look at it.”
I shudder. “I didn’t see it either, just a large, dark shadow that tried to get away from my light as quickly as possible.”
“Hey!” Alex shouts. “I think that’s it up ahead!”
Sera and I both look in the direction he’s pointing, and a thrill of excitement courses through me. We’re so close.
Despite the sunlight shining down on us, the island is cloaked in shadows.
“That doesn’t look ominous at all,” Sera drawls.
“Oh hush,” I reply. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“Famous last words,” Sera mutters, and I roll my eyes at her.
“Can we try to think happy thoughts?”
While I don’t want to admit it, a big part of me is terrified at what we’ll find . . . or perhaps what we won’t find. What if I got this all wrong and am leading us into danger? Cary’s worried face flashes in my mind along with his warning to stay in Elsmont. Is this a mistake?
Sera blows out a breath. “Fine.” The grin she pastes on her face is so fake, I burst out laughing, which finally makes her smile for real and loosens something in my chest.
“Raise the centerboard and rudder,” Alex calls out to Kian as we get closer to shore and the water grows choppier.
“Are we going to get wet?” Sera asks.
Alex opens his mouth to speak, but Kian shoots him a glare. “Don’t you dare.”
Alex shrugs innocently. “What, you don’t want the ladies to realize how filthy our minds are?”
“I’m no lady,” Sera says under her breath, and Alex’s smile grows impossibly brighter.
I flip my hair nonchalantly. “I’m a princess now, not a lady.”
“Semantics, love,” Kian teases as the small sailboat runs aground.
After the boat is secured, Kian helps Sera and me onto the beach. I glance around, half expecting a lion to pop out at any moment.That’s just a dream . . . he’s not actually in lion form, I tell myself, even though I honestly don’t know.
The beach is surprisingly cool as the clouds overhead cast a darkness over us and a shiver courses down my spine.
“It is a little eerie here,” Alex says, handing Kian his pack. “I hope we’re not making a mistake.”
“Have a little faith,” Kian says.
