Gwen smiled. She yanked the amulet out of the ocean and held it high. “Can you feel it, Rory?” Her eyes were closed as she slipped it over her head. “Can you feel its power?” She held a hand out in front of her, palm facing the horizon, and the wave retreated into the ocean—but slower than it should have, too slow to be natural.
Both mobsters took several steps back. The bigger one pointed to the water. “The ocean ain’t supposed to move like that!”
Gwen pulled her hand in, like she was pulling a door shut, and the ocean wave returned, bigger and stronger than before, sweeping the beach with ice-cold water up to Rory’s knees.
The mobsters swore loudly, their panic nearly palpable. Gwen turned to Rory, and her eyes were focused and clear. “I see you.” Her eyes widened and a brilliant smile lit her face. “Not your magic.You.”
“I see you too,” Rory said, through clenched teeth. “I see you’re nuts. Leave the ocean alone!”
She only smiled, brilliant and true. Then, with a sweeping motion, she sent the wave back into the sea, too fast and too far out, leaving too much beach behind. Rory’s heart leapt to his throat. “Be careful—”
“Careful?” She laughed. “I’m going to be a goddess of the sea. I’m going to drown Baron Zeppler. And I’m going to see Ellis without his magic choking me.” She raised both hands in front of her and curled her fingers, beckoning.
The wave began its return to her, unnaturally slow. The henchmen turned tail, kicking up sand as they sprinted toward the boardwalk. Rory took measured breaths and prayed that he hadn’t made an enormous mistake.
The wave paused an inch in front of her toes and stayed, like a hunting dog tensed and waiting for an order from its master. Gwen’s expression was soft, almost serene.
And then she frowned.
“What’s happening?” Her outstretched hands began to shake. “What’s going on?”
Rory looked up at the sky. “I left something out.”
At her feet, the ocean began to simmer, like water coming to a boil. Her eyes grew wide. “I’m not doing that.” She whipped her head toward Rory. “What didn’t you tell me?”
Rory pointed up to the stars and the bright light. “Full moon.”
Mrs. Brodigan had a hairpin up her sleeve.“Bless you, you wonderful woman,” Arthur said under his breath, fingers closing around the metal. He kept his body still as, behind his back, he worked the pin open.
Eyes on the pacing Ellis, he’d just maneuvered the end of the pin into the keyhole of his handcuffs when he heard the shouts.
“What the hell—” Ellis began.
But Arthur could hear it too, the pounding of boots on the boardwalk, the sound of terrified men running for their lives.
Arthur hurriedly twisted the pin in the keyhole as Ellis sprinted to the edge of the platform. “Where are you going?” Ellis shouted down, as the boots thundered past the Wonder Wheel.
“She’s got the goddamn ocean on a string!”
“Run for your lives, we’re all gonna drown!”
The mobsters on the platform didn’t need to hear it twice. They abandoned Jade, scrambling across the platform and off the edge. Ellis ran after them. “Get back here—”
But the men were gone. Ellis whirled toward Arthur in a rage, and Arthur froze, handcuff almost sprung—
A woman’s cry came from the beach. Not triumph. Fury.
“Gwen!” Ellis didn’t give Arthur a second look as he leapt from the platform in the direction of the boardwalk. “Gwen, I’m coming!”
“Hang it all. He really loves her.” Arthur moved the pin and the handcuff opened like a dream. He pushed up on shaky legs, lingeringly weak in the aftermath of Gwen’s handiwork on his aura.
“Arthur, dear.” Mrs. Brodigan gestured with her chin to her heavy winter coat. “My pocket.”
Confused, Arthur crouched with some difficulty and fished into the large pocket in the front of her brown coat. He closed his hand around something small and too heavy. “Oh, you are full of surprises,” he said in delight, as he withdrew the ring box. “I could kiss you.”
“I think Rory might have something to say about that.” And before Arthur could find words through his surprise, she said, “Now go save my nephew.”
Arthur forced himself to his feet, stumbling as fast as he could move on pins and needles toward Jade. “Do you need—”
