The Girl Who Pulls the Tides - ONC 2021

chapter 18

"Fionn!" Jack roars over the thunder and rain. "Swim to the boat!"

"Where is it?" I shout.

"I don't know! Just swim!"

I open my eyes, keeping them focused on the overturned boat ten yards away from me. I force my frozen limbs to move, to kick, to swim against the tall, merciless waves. I see Jack. He's standing on the hull, the pale underbelly of the turtled Sea Beauty, holding out his hand to me. I reach for it, but another wave beats me backward, saltwater filling my mouth and nose as I lurch through the water. And that's when I see Jack diving in after me.

"No!" I scream. "Go back!"

His strokes are swift and strong as he cuts through the water. I kick towards him, moving my arms the way my mom taught me, propelling them through the water like rotating windmills. When Jack's hand grabs mine, a relieved sob racks through me. Together, we make our way through the waves. We've almost reached the boat when I see a white, snakelike tail whip through the air and disappear beneath the surface.

My stomach plummets. This is it.

Jack must know it too, because he stops swimming for the boat and wraps his heavy arms around me. I grasp onto him.

"Together," he says, like it's a promise.

"I love you," I whisper.

We're lurched out of the water, a wall of water encapsulating us as we're lifted into the air, and...we don't die.

What?

I whip my head around.

Evyana.

She's hovering above the water like a silver-eyed goddess, her arms outstretched as she commands the ocean surrounding us—like a cocoon of saltwater—and sets us down safely on the boat's overturned hull. Then she tears through the water, ripping out of the sea and landing beside us on the hull, all in the space between seconds.

"Fionn!" She cries, flinging her arms around my shoulders. I'm still clutching onto Jack, so she ends up holding both of us. I collapse into her embrace, my body soaked and shaking, my lungs racking with sobs. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," I answer between shivers. Over Evyana's sinewy shoulder, I can see dozens of sea spirits battling the white sea dragon, moving as gracefully as waves through the ocean.

The Nereid clearly in charge is a woman. Her voice is loud and deep as she shouts orders in a foreign language—Evyana's language. The woman is carrying a sharp, three-pronged trident, and she's wearing a thin band of gold that wraps around her forehead, hooking around each ear. The gold stands bright and proud against her dark gray skin. Evyana once told me that the matriarch or patriarch of each family wears one of those to symbolize their status and wisdom. Amora, I think. She must be Evyana's mother.

Amora sends her trident spearing through the water and into the dragon's side, turning white scales red. Then, she shouts an order rapidly in Evyana's direction. After a few moments, Evyana lets go of me and yells a response.

"What did she say?" I ask.

"She told me to get you two out of here."

"How?"

"Fastest swimmer of the century, remember?" She sends me a fierce smirk. "Hold onto me."

I immediately entwine my fingers with hers. Jack hesitates.

"C'mon, Jack. She's a friend. You can trust her."

Jack opens his mouth as if to ask a question. Then he must realize that it's neither the time nor place, and he snaps it shut again. Jack tentatively puts his hand in hers.

"Close your eyes and hold your breath," she says. "Are you guys ready?"

We both give her stiff nods.

She plunges into the ocean, dragging us with her.

I pinch my nose shut as we shoot underwater and speed through the cold, deep sea. The feeling is similar to racing down a waterslide...but if the waterslide went a hundred knots per hour.

Finally, we reach the sandy shores of Pemaquid Cove. Jack and I gasp for air as we crawl onto the beach, collapsing on our backs, drenched and half-drowned and shivering. But alive.

Somehow, amazingly, still fucking alive.

Evyana kneels down between us, putting a hand on our arms and drawing all the moisture from our clothes. Soon after, we stop shuddering. I pull both Jack and Evyana to me, wrapping my long arms around both of them.

"You two saved my life tonight," I say around the knot in my throat. "Thank you."

Evyana tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, smoothing a finger over my cheek. Then she kisses my face, softly brushing her lips against the spot between my eyebrows. Again, I feel my heart lurch. (Pleasantly, for the first time tonight.)

"She's the girl from the picture," Jack says.

I nod.

"Huh," he huffs. "So she's not nobody."

I nod again.

"I called it," he says, then falls back onto the sand, exhausted.

I turn back to face Evyana. Her silver eyes stare into mine as she runs her fingers through my hair. I catch her restless hands and hold them in mine.

"I know this might not be the best time," I say, smiling despite it all. "But I need to ask you one last question."

"What is it?"

"Will you go to a dance with me?"