Page 15

FIFTEEN

Wren

“Run!” Ruby grabs my hand. Energy sizzles between us as I boost their already amazing speed until they’re pulling me with them while we race the torrent through the ditch.

My feet hardly touch the ground as I pant and grip Ruby’s hand so tight that mine feels cold and bloodless.

“There! We head for those vines!” Through the increasing rain I can barely make out a cluster of ivy snaking down the side of the ditch ahead of us.

I don’t waste breath answering but hold even tighter to Ruby’s hand and concentrate on not tripping as she continues to propel us forward through the mud. Behind us the water roars like a living thing.

We reach the vines. Ruby hurls me forward and up. They toss me onto the leaves and roots above them, but I am still several feet from the top of the ditch. At that moment the wave of muddy water reaches us. It grabs Ruby and begins to drag them under. I’m no longer touching Ruby, no longer amplifying their magick, so when they attempt to scramble up to me they slip and slide down into the muddy mess. The water rises, surrounding Ruby waist deep. Their feet are swept out from under them and they cling precariously to a single length of vine.

I wrap one hand around the vines and lean down, reaching the other out to Ruby. “Take my hand!”

Ruby stretches her hand up toward me, but our fingers are about a foot apart. As I lean down farther and stretch for Ruby, the raging torrent sucks her down, pulling her away from me.

“Ruby! The raindrops!” Lily has raced to us and shouts down from above. “Look at the raindrops!”

I try to make sense of what Lily’s telling us. The rain is pelting us so hard that it’s difficult to see. Hastily, I wipe water from my eyes as Ruby gasps. The rain isn’t just rain. The huge, driving drops are sentient. They have round faces that sit on top of stumpy, drop-shaped bodies that end in whalelike tails. Their eyes blaze neon blue at Ruby.

“They’re Water Elementals!” Ruby shouts. “Lily! Can you reach Wren?”

Lily drops to her stomach and stretches her arm down to me. I can easily reach her hand. I ignore it and yell down at Ruby, who’s continuing to sink into the raging flood. “No! I’m not leaving you.” I lean down again and reach my hand to them. “You can do it! Try to dig your feet into the sides of the ditch and climb up to me.”

Ruby shakes their head. “Boost Lily! She can calm the Elementals.”

I finally understand what Ruby wants and quickly shift my position, reaching up to take Lily’s hand. Lily’s other hand traces beautiful patterns in the air as I direct my magick into her.

“Hey there, Water Elementals!” Lily has to shout to be heard above the roar of the flood, but her tone is light and happy, like she’s greeting old friends. “Look how cute you are! There’s no need to be so angry. You know Ruby, right? They’re friends with the Elemental who’s been gifting us with fish every day. Ruby, Wren, and I really appreciate those gifts. You Water Elementals are amazing.”

The change happens quickly. The rain doesn’t stop, but the huge drops, the ones with faces and chubby bodies, slow to hover around Ruby.

Ruby’s hands, wrapped in the slim rope of ivy, are the only things keeping them from being sucked under the rushing current of muddy water that’s risen to their shoulders. Ruby’s face is white with strain and their breath is coming fast, but when they speak their voice is steady and calm. “Do you know my Water Elemental? She and I have become friends. I’d like to be friends with you, too, and I want you to know that Wren, Lily, and I wish you no harm. We would never try to control you. On that I give you my oath.”

Lily quickly says, “You can believe Ruby. They always tell the truth.”

“We’re not completing the ritual to boss you around or to even change you,” I add. “I’m the maiden, and you have my word on that. When the ritual is completed I promise that the only thing that will change is your ability to decide your own future.”

Ruby slips another inch down the vine, but they nod and smile at the fat little droplets hovering around them. “You will be free to do what you want—not what a human commands you to do.”

The Elementals make strange gurgling sounds. They don’t sound malicious, but there are so many of them surrounding Ruby that looking through them is like trying to peer into a round fishbowl. Too late, I see the rope of ivy they’re clinging to break and Ruby’s brown eyes widen with shock as the torrent sucks her under.

“No!” Lily screams.

“Help me! Pull me up!” I shout as I claw my way toward the top of the ditch. Lily yanks on my hand and I’m on solid ground. I don’t let go of her. Instead, I pull her with me as I run along the bank, staring down at the roiling mess of water, mud, and chunks of trees. “Lily, call Ruby’s Water Elemental while I boost you!”

Lily’s sobbing and her body shakes so violently that she’s having a hard time tracing the magickal patterns that will focus her Moonstruck powers. My stomach twists. I’m going to be sick. Ruby’s not surfacing. The power that should be building within me to match Lily’s energy is only a flicker of warmth and not a blast of heat.

Suddenly it’s like someone has turned off a spout; the rain stops. Then, with the majestic sound of a whale surfacing and blowing air, Ruby appears below us. They’re clinging to the back of a huge Water Elemental who looks very much like the creature who almost drowned me during my second Trial. I blink rain from my vision. The sight is so incredible that a burst of laughter bubbles out of me. The whalelike Elemental is made up of hundreds, thousands of those squatty little drops that hovered around Ruby just before she was sucked under the surface.

Lily’s still sobbing but manages to shout, “Ruby! Are you okay?”

Ruby turns their head. They’re completely drenched. Muddy water streams from their hair and clothes, but Ruby’s smile blazes white. They shift positions to sit on the water creature, riding it like it’s an aquatic horse, and pump one fist into the air as they shout, “I’m great! Follow us!”

Lily and I jog along the soggy bank, following the Water Elemental as Ruby whoops joyously and the Elemental glides smoothly through the calming water. The ditch curves and then cascades into a stream where Ruby’s Elemental emerges from the water, smiling toothily and trilling a sweet call to the whalelike creature.

“Oooh!” Ruby cries as the whale creature makes a mighty salmon leap, belly flopping from the muddy mess of a ditch into the sparkling stream. It swims to the Water Elemental, who pets it like it’s a big dog as Ruby slides from its back.

Lily and I are a lot slower to join them. We have to carefully pick our way down to the stream, which flows into the beginnings of a very Pacific Northwest–looking forest of mixed pines, oaks, maples, and clumps of thriving ferns. I don’t have to check the map to know that we’ve come to the end of the water test.

As we reach the edge of the stream, Lily bows to the Water Elementals. The whale creature leaps up, breaches, and then explodes into thousands of chubby drops of rain. The friendly Water Elemental we’re familiar with tosses a fat salmon onto the bank before she waves a greeting to us and then disappears under the crystal surface.

Ruby rushes from the stream and Lily hurls herself into their arms.

The fierce one did well. They won the allegiance of the creature who almost drowned you.

Viento appears beside me and my legs give out. I flop down on my butt. Without looking up at Viento, I say, “That one was terrifying.”

More so than the bridge?

“I didn’t think anything could scare me more than that bridge, but when Ruby went under that water…” My words run out and I shiver.

“Hey there, Viento. Good to see you’re back.” Lily smiles at the Elemental as, hand in hand, she and Ruby join us.

Ruby cocks their head to the side and studies me. “You okay, Wren?”

I shake my head in a quick, sarcastic no as I drawl, “Oh, fiiiine. Juuuust fine.”

Ruby offers me their hand and they help me to my feet. “Bet you didn’t think about Lee for one second during all of that.”

My brows lift. “You’re right.”

Ruby sends me one of her rare, blazing smiles. “You’re welcome.”

I wipe my hands on my soaked jeans. “Three down.”

“One to go!” Ruby and Lily say together.

As Ruby collects and quickly cleans and filets the salmon I wonder what this last test will bring. I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve already survived. Right?