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Two seconds was all it took him to get in there, and already Loren was almost at the bottom, reaching out her hand for him as the water wraiths dragged her down…

Down…

Down…

The wraiths—aquatic specters that took the form of crones—were made entirely out of water, no heartbeat, blood, or aura, which made it impossible to detect their presence until they were already trying to drown you.

Impossible to kill, too. Magic didn’t work on wraiths. You had to physically be strong enough to break free of their hold, and if you weren’t, you drowned. It was that simple.

Three wraiths against one human were not good odds.

A dark shape rippled at the bottom of the pool. It was a jagged scar—black, smoky, and pulsing with sinister energy that cracked the pool floor. To simply look at it made Darien feel dizzy. The wraiths were dragging Loren—kicking and thrashing—toward that scar, their liquid fingers wrapped tightly around her ankles like shackles.

Darien swam as fast as he could. A Surge was breathing down the back of his neck, but he managed to keep the black out of his eyes. If he failed, he wouldn’t be able to see properly.

He should already be at the bottom. But the farther he swam, the deeper the pool got. His lungs were burning from lack of oxygen, but he kept moving, diving impossibly deep while Loren was dragged and dragged anddraggedfarther away from him.

The water got darker. Deeper. It got harder to hold his breath.

Something shifted. The water pulsed, and the atmosphere seemed to peel open, as if he were entering a Crossroads. The temperature plummeted to subzero, the drop so sudden it was a shock to the heart.

Loren didn’t take her eyes off him as she kicked and pushed against the cackling wraiths. She was getting too close to the black mark in the floor. If the wraiths dragged her down one more meter, she’d be gone.

And Darien would lose her.

With a deep, reverberating rumble, the mark split open wider, a mouth poising to devour?—

Fuck.Fuck, fuck, fuck.Darien kicked harder and swam deeper, forever reaching out his hand.

Come on, baby, come on, baby,he thought.Fight, Loren!

FIGHT!

As if she’d heard him, she did. She wrested her arms and legs free of the wraiths’ watery grip. Booted one in the rawboned face and kicked herself up through the water, fingers splaying as she reached for his hand.

Their fingers touched?—

Rainbow light fuckingerupted.

He shouted in surprise, a burst of bubbles rushing out of his mouth. But he did not let go of Loren’s hand, not even as he was forced to shut his eyes, the light too blinding to see through.

The wraiths fled for the shadows with piercing screams garbled by the water, their bodies steaming in the heavenly light.

Darien kept his stinging eyes half-shut as he felt around in the water for Loren. As soon as he got a firm grip on her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, hauling her against his body, and swam up. Together, they kicked for the surface.

As the light faded, he fully opened his eyes and chanced a glance down at the floor of the pool.

The scar was rippling shut, the black seam stitching together with smoke-like wisps. It seemed to be retreating—as if fleeing from the rainbow light. From Loren’s magic.

That scar…

It was a fuckingportal.

And by the grace of the gods, Loren had just closed it.

They burst through the surface with ragged gasps and gulping breaths.

“Are you okay?” His question resounded through the building. “You okay?” he said again. He pulled her harder against his chest with one arm, his other hand brushing strands of wet hair out of her face as she coughed and coughed, the whites of her eyes red from the chlorine.