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I change as quickly as I can, needing the steady stroke of a swim to help me feel more grounded. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve swum and my body is craving the activity. I don’t think too hard about how that craving could have been assuaged with Gideon yesterday morning, or with Hardin back in London.Nope.This is a much safer option.
There’s a lifeguard at the far side of the pool, and I lift a hand in greeting, but the rest of the pool is quiet. Maybe no one feels the need to work out on the first day of the quarter. Maybe everyone is too busy catching up after the few weeks apart.
I dive in, loving the feel of the water closing around me, of the drag and pull of my body through the gentle resistance. I lose myself in the activity, letting my brain wander from one problem to the next, letting my heart feel what it wants while my mind tells it to get with the program.You aren’t going to forgive them so easily and you aren’t going to just fall into bed with them, Rosalind Juliet.
I spend some time reviewing what I learned in the witchcraft book, and then I go over everything in my classes too. Swimming has always helped with my studies, has always helped me remember the important bits of information. I have no idea why that is the case, but it does.
Feeling marginally better, I stop at the side of the pool, breathing heavily as I rest my arms on the tile, letting my legs float free. I have made no decisions about what to do about the guys, but I feel calmer, more in control, which is definitely something I’ve needed.
I prickle of awareness filters over me as I float there, making me glance around at the empty area. The lifeguard is gone. I frown. That’s not right. It’s barely four. There should be at least one other person in this pool with me. Can’t the lifeguard get fired for abandoning his post when there’s a swimmer in the water?
I’m surprised beyond belief that Fielder hasn’t tracked me down, hasn’t stormed in here and demanded that I leave with him, explain why I would take such a risk.
The trickle comes again, slipping over my skin, making me shiver. It starts at the top of my head and moves down my neck, over my shoulders and onto the rest of my body, still hugged by the warm water.
Something is wrong.Everything in me goes on high alert. I need to get out of here, to find another living person and I will be safe. Ignoring the trembles of fear rolling through me, I push up, hauling my body out of the water, only to be pulled right back down.
A shriek leaves me as I fight against the downward motion, the muscles in my weak arms screaming as I try to kick at whatever is intent on pulling me down. When I look, there is nothing there. Just water. Just fuckingwateris trying to pull me under, wrapping around me in ropes of sharp liquid.
Gideon? He has water power.
I shake away the thought almost as soon as I have it. Gideon wouldn’t try to kill me, right? But someone else in Hand and Tome might. Someone with the power to control water.
The force pulling on my body creeps up over my thighs and ass up my back to my shoulders, where it exerts even more pressure. My arms scream at me and panic drags at me.
I lose the battle. My arms give out, water closes over my head, and I just barely suck in a breath before it does. I hold it, refusing to give in to the need to panic now that I’m down here. And I meandown here. My hip bumps against the tiled floor and I feel the force pushing my whole body down, pinning me under the water.
I let out a stream of bubbles, just a small one, still holding most of the air in my lungs, while I try to figure out how to survive this. I’m honestly not sure I’ll be able to. It’s not like I know the first thing about accessing my magic. I don’t know the first thing about protecting myself from a magic attack. The three chapters I read of the children’s book on how to use magic are pointless. The one portion of my power I’ve unknowingly accessed, illusions, will be useless against this.
Fuck.
I shouldn’t have ditched Fielder.
They had a point about me needing them for the time being, needing their presence to keep me safe. Even if I hate being around them.
Don’t lie to yourself, Rosalind Juliet. You don’t hate being around them. What you hate is that you like being around them when you think you shouldn’t.
Apparently, I want to share some hard truths with myself before I drown.
My lungs are aching, and I release another stream of bubbles. I’m almost out of air in my lungs, my heart is pounding louder and there’s a burn in my chest that tells me I’m fighting a losing battle here. I thrash against the power holding me down, but I hardly move even an inch. While I’m doing that, the last of my air leaves my lungs.
Fuck!
I try to make my mind focus, to find the power I know is somewhere inside me, to call it forward to get it to help, but there’s nothing there.Absolutely nothing. I can’t feel it, not like the book said I should be able to. I’veneverfelt it before, even when I’ve apparently used it to make myself into Gany. It’s never felt like an outside force or a heat or energy or anything I’ve heard described in books with witches in them.
Black spots appear in my vision, my body thrashes even more violently, and it’s not because I want it to, it’s because it’s panicking, going into survival mode, trying to fight its way to the surface. But I’m not going to make it.
If I wasn’t under water, I’d probably be crying now.
The burn in my lungs is getting harder and harder to ignore and I know I’m moments away from giving in, from breathing in liquid when what I need is air and as soon as that happens, I’m going to die. Whoever is doing this isn’t going to just let me go as soon as that happens. No, they’ll hold me here until they can be sure I’ve left the world.
I wish I had learned about magic long before two weeks ago. Maybe if I had, I’d be more prepared for this.
I’m sorry, Desi. I’m so fucking sorry.
My eyes close, my mouth opens, my lungs work, and where I expect a flow of choking chlorine filled water instead, I get air. Sweet, wonderful life giving air.
My eyes snap open as I take in breath after greedy breath. I’m still in the pool, still at the bottom, but a pocket of air has opened around me, the water pressed back and off me. I look up at the side of the pool and see a blond-headed figure in a black suit standing over me, distorted through the water that still separates us.
