He treads water and looks back at me, blood running down his face from a large gash on his forehead.
“Is Landon on the boat?” he asks, his voice frantic.
“Not yet. I’m going to find him now. How many of you were aboard?”
“Four of us. Our family plus the captain.”
“Get to the boat. I’ll find your son.”
I dive back beneath the water and head toward the current. It begins to shift, slowly releasing the wreckage from its hold, debris surfacing and sinking, wooden shards everywhere. Landon is trapped somewhere in this mess, and my heart slams against my chest, desperate to find him.
I cast my light as far out in front of me as it will go, and finally, finally, I see him, his suit jacket caught on a large piece of debris dragging him down, down, down.
He settles on the Passage floor before I can get to him, totally lifeless. His arms and legs drift from side to side, moving with the sea. I follow after him, kicking my legs and thrashing my arms, letting air out of my lungs to swim deeper.
Light comes from behind me, and I know Wolfe is close by, bringing more moonlight with him. When I finally reach Landon, his eyes are closed and his lips are blue. His skin looks gray, all the life in him gone.
I try to pull him off the seafloor, but he’s stuck, his jacket pinned beneath the debris. I struggle to get him free, worried I won’t be able to do it in time, but then Wolfe is by my side, holding Landon up. There’s blood all over his white shirt, a deep red circle that seeps out in all directions. My lungs burn. When he’s finally clear of his jacket, I wrap my arms around Landon’s torso, careful to avoid his injury, and begin to kick.
I gasp for air when we pop out of the water. Wolfe surfaces a second later, and he reverses the current he created, sending us sailing back to my parents with Landon’s limp body.
“Mom! Dad!” I yell as we get closer, and both of them lean over the side of the boat, stretching out their arms. “He’s hurt,” I say when we finally reach them.
They lift Landon out of the water, and I pull myself into the boat, desperate to help. Elizabeth is standing out of the way with a blanket wrapped around her, and the captain is sitting on the bench seat with his face in his hands.
Landon’s father begins CPR, pressing on Landon’s chest and then breathing air into his lungs. Wolfe climbs over the edge of the boat and kneels on the floor next to Landon, holding his hands over the injury.
“I can help him,” Wolfe says, his voice urgent.
My mother reaches out her hand, fear on her face. “He’s speaking of magic.”
“Do it,” Marshall says without hesitation, and it’s clear he doesn’t understand what kind of magic he has agreed to.
Wolfe closes his eyes and whispers a spell so fast and low I can’t make it out. His hands are covered in red. I stand off to the side and, without thinking, reach for my mother’s hand.
She doesn’t pull away from me. She doesn’t take a step back. Instead, she takes my hand and squeezes it tight. “He’s going to be okay,” she says in that calm tone of hers that makes me feel as if everything in the world will be well.
Another crack of thunder tears through the night sky, and I jump.
Wolfe opens Landon’s shirt, and I watch in wonder as the blood stops seeping and his skin begins to heal itself. My mother turns away, but Elizabeth has her eyes fixed on Wolfe. High magic wraps around Landon and moves through his body, healing him in a way that shouldn’t be possible. The captain’s mouth hangs open, and Marshall’s hands form fists at his sides as he watches Wolfe use a magic he thought had been eradicated.
Everyone is too quiet, too still, too rigid.
Then, finally, Landon breathes.
forty-one
We drop Landon and his family off on the mainland, where an ambulance is waiting to take him to the hospital. Whatever Landon told his parents about me seems to have worked, because I’ve gotten several judgmental glances, but I’m glad for it. If they believe I’m personally the problem, they will still pursue the alliance. It can still be achieved.
“Wait,” my mother says before anyone gets off the boat. She turns to Wolfe. “Erase their memories of the current and your magic. They need to believe the storm is what sank their ship.”
“I beg your pardon?” Elizabeth says, reaching for Marshall’s hand.
“You are forbidden from doing that,” Marshall says, giving my mother a look that sends a chill down my spine. “We’re leaving.”
“Do it now,” my mother says, her voice rising.