Sea Spell (Waterfire Saga #4)(71)

Sera opened her eyes. It was time to go. As she started to rise, she felt something brush against her tail.

A goby or a blenny, she thought, remembering how schools would swim through the palace, despite the maids’ best efforts to keep them out.

She looked down, but it wasn’t a fish that had brushed her tail. It was a tentacle, thin, withered, and a sickly shade of green. Another tentacle wound around her tail, and then another. A face peeked out from under the settee. It was withered, too, but Sera knew it.

“Sylvestre?” she whispered, joy and disbelief mingling in her voice. “Is it really you?”

The little green octopus nodded. A tentacle wound around Sera’s wrist.

“I never thought I’d see you again!” Sera said. “What happened to you? Are you sick?”

Sylvestre nodded again and Sera, her heart filling with love for the little pet she thought she’d lost, leaned down to scoop him up in her arms.

And that was what saved her life.

Because a heartbeat later, a dagger sliced through the water behind her, missing her back by a scale’s breadth.





“I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY!” a malicious voice hissed.

Sera whirled around. She saw a knife blade glinting. A shadowy figure lunged at her again. Sera darted away. As she backed toward the mantel, she was able to get a look at her assailant.

“Lucia?”

The emotionless face, the long black hair…Lucia looked just as she had moments ago. The only difference was her clothing. She must’ve changed.

But how? Sera’s mind scrabbled for an explanation. How did she escape and get back here?

“I have nothing to say,” another voice whispered, to Sera’s right.

Sera’s head jerked around. “It can’t be!”

There was another Lucia. She was advancing on Sera, too, and she also had a dagger.

“I’m seeing things,” Sera whispered. “This must be an illusio spell.”

But then the Lucia at her right lunged at her, dagger out, and Sera learned that she was no illusion. She skirted the thrust, but not quickly enough. The dagger opened a gash in her arm.

Great Neria, Sera’s mind yammered. They’re malignos!

Sera’s crossbow was on the floor, all the way on the other side of the room. There was no way to get it. She panicked, but then remembered she had a sword at her hip, one she’d taken from the guard room in the dungeons.

She pulled it out of its sheath, and when the Lucia on her right attacked again, Sera parried its blade, then thrust with her own.

It pierced the creature’s chest. Sera drew the blade out, then watched in horror as silt—not blood—poured from the wound.

The maligno moved toward her again.

“I have nothing to say,” came a growl from behind her.

Sera twisted around. There were three of them now. They were closing in on her, pushing her back toward the lavaplace once more.

With a warrior’s cry, Sera lunged at the closest maligno, swinging her sword high. The blade severed the creature’s head cleanly.

The body fell to the floor, silt pouring from its neck. Sera charged the next one, decapitating it, too. By the time she’d killed the third, she was panting heavily. Her entire body was trembling.

She passed a shaking hand across her brow. Lucia had made these three things, plus one more—the one her fighters had taken to the dungeon.

Sera’s blood turned to ice as she realized what that meant: the real Lucia was still at large.

A click, sharp and metallic, sounded behind her.

Slowly, Sera turned around.

Lucia was floating only feet away from her, in the entrance to the tunnels. She was holding a speargun.

Before Sera could even scream, Lucia raised it.

And fired.





IT WAS OVER in a split second, yet in Sera’s mind, it would last forever.

In the hours and days and weeks that followed, images and sounds would come back to her. A blur of green. The sensation of falling. The spear hissing through the water. Stars exploding behind her eyes as her head hit the floor.

Pain, and a heavy weight. Crushing her. Squeezing the air—and the life—out of her. She felt something warm seeping over her skin, into her clothing. Her vision cleared. She could see the ceiling, covered with bright anemones, feather worms, and brittle stars.

And then Lucia was leaning over her, her face beautiful and cunning.

“So much for love,” she said, a mocking smile on her lips.

And then she was gone. Sera heard a soft whoosh as the secret door swung closed. She tried to move, to get up, but she couldn’t.

And then voices.

Neela’s screaming.

Becca’s shouting, “Get a medic in here! Now! Now!”

Yazeed’s: “No. Gods, no.”

Garstig’s: “She’s in the tunnels! Break the door down! Hurry!”

And then there were voices she didn’t recognize.

“Careful. Go easy. On three…”

The weight was removed. Water flowed into her lungs. She could breathe easily again.

“Get her up!” That was Becca.

Sera felt hands on her. Becca’s hands. Neela’s. They lifted her up off the floor.

The room swam as she struggled for her balance. Her head throbbed. Her thoughts were scattered and jumbled. She struggled against the confusion. Trying to clear her mind. To think.