Page 120 of Cursed Evermore

When we finally reached the steps leading up to the deck, moonlight spilled down in silver streams, painting everything in ghostly shades. Waves lapped against the hull in a steadyrhythm, while wind whistled through the rigging. Something deeper groaned in the timber. Old, restless magic.

“Almost there,” Grandmother breathed, gripping my hand tighter.

Freedom was so close I could taste it. We emerged onto the deck and the night air filled my lungs. The moon hung low and heavy over the water, so huge it seemed to fill half the sky. Its light turned the sea to liquid silver, beautiful and terrible all at once.

Each step felt like walking through a dream. That surreal space between sleeping and waking where anything seemed possible.

I couldn’t wait to see my mother and Emabelle. I couldn’t wait to hug them, and when I did, I didn’t think I’d ever let them go.

Eagerly, I scanned the dark waters for them, but there was no rowboat that I could see, nor a magical portal shimmering in the air. Just endless ocean stretching to the horizon. Maybe Grandmother had cloaked them.

“How are we getting off?” I whispered. “Is there a boat?”

Grandmother squeezed my hand gently. “Don’t worry about that. Just follow me.”

We continued to my little spot where I’d been through the day, then she guided me toward the railing.

“Elariya!” Arielle shouted my name from the distance, startling me.

Shit.We’d been caught. It was only a matter of seconds before Arielle would alert Wolfe and the others.

I spun around and saw her at the other end of the deck, racing toward us, her platinum hair rippling like starlight in the wind.

“Don’t leave with her!” she cried, moving faster.

“Come, child, hurry.” Grandmother squeezed my wrist, pulling me into a run.

“Elariya!” Arielle screamed, but strangely, she sounded farther away instead of closer, though she wasn't that far from us. “Elariyaaaa!”

She ran faster but slammed hard against something invisible. I realized it was the shield Grandmother placed up.

Arielle bounced off like a fly hitting a window and went tumbling backward. She looked hurt from the impact.

I gasped and slowed, guilt clutching my lungs.

“Come, child.” Grandmother tugged harder on my hand.

We'd almost reached the railing, but I couldn't look away from Arielle. I just needed to see she was okay.

When she moved and rolled to her knees, I released the breath I'd been holding and refocused on leaving.

“Elariya, that's not your grandmother!” Arielle screamed, pushing to her feet.

“Yes, she is,” I cried back. “I have to go.”

“She’s a Ruskiel. A sea witch!”

A chill raced through my core. I looked back at Grandmother and noticed a strange red glow pulsing from her skin.

“Grandmother.” I tugged on her hand, trying to pull her to a stop, but she kept going, kept pulling me, kept leading me away.

Her grip was impossibly strong and not like her at all. The sudden sense of wrongness filled me, clawing at the edges of my mind. What if Arielle was right?

Shards of lightning crackled off the shield in streams of fractured ribbons as Arielle chanted a loud spell.

On seeing that, Grandmother released me and shoved me behind her. She raised her hands and chanted, too, but in that creepy language that made my soul want to flee.

Her voice changed, growing deeper and gravelly, hissing like a basket of snakes. “Nan senck selli ninoma. Nan senck selli nimoma.”