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She looks pleased, and it fills me with warmth.
“Thanks, Mom. I’m glad you’re happy,” I say, because I am. That’s all I really want, for the people I love to be happy.
Happy and safe.
She nods. “I am. So is your father.”
“That’s good.”
“Things are right on track for your Covenant Ball. Announcing your engagement to Landon that night will be perfect.”
“I think so, too. I can’t wait.”
“Really?” she asks, studying me.
“Really.” I smile and turn back to the sea. The waxing moon plays hide-and-seek with the clouds, coming into view and glistening on the surface of the water before disappearing again.
I’ve been looking forward to my Covenant Ball my whole life, so eager to bind myself to my coven in front of all my friends and family. If I’m being honest, that’s the part I’m most excited about. I worry that announcing my engagement that night might take away from my Covenant, but my mom is sure it won’t.
I suppose it makes sense. I’m marrying Landon to protect my coven; binding myself to them and protecting them all in the same night has a beautiful harmony to it.
Most of the witches are just starting to hear rumors about Landon and me, just like the mainlanders. My mother has kept the secret of our betrothal for most of my life in case it fell through, and the witches will be overwhelmed when it’s announced.
I turn around, but my mother is gone. A lullaby jumps into my mind unbidden, and I hum it softly to the sound of the waves.
Soft like magic, calming tea,
give your power to the sea.
If they should turn,
come after you,
your weakness will ensure your doom.
Soft like magic, easy glee,
you cannot stop this violent sea.
I’ve always wondered who wrote it, where the words came from. It’s clear it was written as a warning, likely from the witches who refused to give up their dark magic and adhere to the new order. There was only one coven who refused, a small subset of witches who would rather have put us all at risk than convert to low magic, but no one has seen or heard from them in many years.
It’s as if they vanished.
The prevailing belief among new witches is that they eventually died out—it was a small coven to begin with, and as time went on, there probably weren’t enough of them to sustain the group. No one wants to practice dark magic when it means you have no security, no safety, no home. When it means you could die in a jail cell on the mainland.
Still, the words dance through my mind, but they don’t scare me the way they used to. The mainlanders can’t turn on us once I’m married to the governor’s son.
A shrill sound comes from somewhere in the distance, and I jump back from the railing. I squint into the darkness, looking for the source of the cry, and find a sea lion thrashing in the water, trapped in a current.
One of our currents. My heart aches as I watch the animal helplessly, wishing I could do something but knowing I can’t. There is nothing to do.
The sea lion swirls in the water, roaring as it goes around and around and around. The sound is awful, tearing at my insides, sending bile up my throat. I run to the railing in case I get sick, and I swear the animal looks right at me. My eyes fill with tears, and I want to tell it I’m sorry, so sorry that the currents we caused are taking its life.
Ivy rushes over to where I’m standing, grabbing my hand as if she’s afraid I might dive in.
“There’s nothing we can do,” she says. I’m leaning over the edge, as far as I can go without falling over, and Ivy gently pulls me back. We watch as the animal turns in the water, wailing into the night.
Then it’s pulled under the surface and the sound abruptly stops.
