Page 46 of Broken Hearted
With a resigned sigh, the man relented. “All right. If the sea takes me, then she takes me.”
“The sea isn’t taking anyone,” I announced. “We’re going to get through this.”
But the tanned and weathered men just gave me polite smiles. Like they didn’t agree.
I glanced at Adrien in panic and he slipped his hand into mine and squeezed. A calmness spread over me then. We were in this together.
“All right men, and lady,” Adrien announced. “Prepare for some wind. Mathis, ready when you are.”
The young fae swallowed hard and pulled his water-shriveled hands out of the ocean and held them up, palms to the sun.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
I tensed, unsure of what to be prepared for. Choppy waters, wind, waves? Adrien hadn’t let go of my hand and now his grip tightened as a breeze picked up around us.
“Try to concentrate the wind on lifting the water beneath us. Create a wave to carry us to shore,” Adrien coached.
The boy gave a stressed frown, but nodded. The wind whipped harder, spraying saltwater in my face as the water began to churn.
Our bodies jolted left and right.
“Push the wind just against the waterbeneathus,” Adrien tried to coach him. Mathis seemed unskilled but powerful: a highly dangerous combination.
Finally, a huge gust of wind slammed into the water next to us, and then we were lifted a few feet as the water rose up around us. Mathis had created a wave and we rose with it high above the rest of the water.
“Now push the wave southeast,” Adrien called over the wind.
Mathis pursed his lips together as if concentrating deeply and then all of a sudden, we were moving.
Some of the men and I gave a shriek of surprise as we went from being stationary to blazing forward, our bodies cutting through the water as quickly as if we were on a boat. The force of speeding through the water so quickly pushed into my legs and stomach, yet Mathis miraculously kept our heads above the wave.
“You’re doing great,” Adrien encouraged, but I could hear the nerves in his voice.
This wasreallyfast. And we were quite high. If anything went wrong we could be dragged under and drown.
We whipped through the sea with the wind batting against our skin and water spray dousing us. Though I couldn’t complain because after about fifteen minutes, I saw land dotting the horizon.
“Land ahead!” Adrien cried just as the wind stopped and the water dropped out from under us, sending us plummeting down.
I wasn’t able to take a deep breath in before I plunged under the water. The wave broke, which sent me into a spin and dragged me under deeper.
I kicked both feet and moved my arms to work my way back to the surface, but I quickly realized I’d been pushed too deep and I wasn’t sure which way was up. Dizzy with panic, I twisted left and right trying to get my bearings.
Finally, I caught a glimpse of sunlight above me.
I kicked and clawed my way up toward the light, but my stupid nightgown tangled my legs.
I wanted so badly to inhale, but I knew my lungs would only fill with water if I did.
The surface still looked to be a good twenty feet above me when weakness overcame my limbs. I cursed the stupid rune stuck on my back. Without it, I’d simply use my power to propel myself to the surface. Now I was going to drown just feet from my goal.
I breathed involuntarily, my body unable to hold out any longer and took in a huge lungful of water. That’s when Adrien swam into view and grabbed me by the waist, yanking me upward.
My throat burned as we reached the surface, and Adrien immediately began pounding me on the back. Hard. I hacked up a mouthful of water, struggling to get air into my lungs.
“I’m so sorry. There was some interference. My power just … stopped. Like I was overridden,” Mathis said as he panted beside us.
Adrien rubbed my back, patting me as I struggled to breathe. My throat and lungs burned but I was able to get some oxygen in my lungs.
