Windburn

Breath.

Heartbeat.

The boat lifted up with no warning, straight into the air before tipping to one side. Cactus went flying with a yell, but Peta and I dangled from the boat as it flew through the air. Flashes of scales, a coil crashing down in the water. I lost my grip on the wood and fell separate of the boat. I didn’t land in the water, though. I landed on the sea serpent.

Straddling the coils, my legs stuck out to the side, like a child riding a wide-backed horse. I slipped to the side and into the water, pushing off the creature with my feet. Its head spun around and it grinned at me.

“Tasty morsels, oh so fine. Elementals out of their element.” Water sprayed as the serpent spoke, its voice high, and distinctly feminine.

She drove her head straight at me, jaws wide. One gulp is all it would take to suck me into her maw; I’d barely be a single bite. I flung myself sideways at the last second but she caught my left leg, right at the ankle, and bit down.

I was going to lose my foot.

And go mad like Coal.

I sat up and dug my hands into the ridges around her eye. I didn’t think, I reached out and let Spirit guide me.

Her mind was a tangled mess. In it I saw the hand of another Spirit user. Someone darker than me.

“I am not him,” I whispered. A shudder went through her.

She spat my leg out and lowered me into the boat. I didn’t let her go, knowing the connection of touch was the only thing keeping her mind easy. “I am not myself any longer. The cloaked one did this to me. I was a familiar once, to the Undines’ king.”

“Finley’s father,” I said. Her big eyes blinked in confirmation.

“Yes. I would have stayed. But the cloaked one took my mind. This respite . . . I am not sure it is welcome, for I know the danger I represent.”

Cactus tugged on me. “Stop playing with the snake, Lark. Let’s go.”

I ignored him. “Serpent, I can’t heal your mind.”

“I know.”

She didn’t move, but her tongue flicked out and touched the tip of my spear. “You could save me from this.”

Peta stepped closer. “You could be healed. There is another who wields Spirit. More experienced than Lark or the other one.”

Her eyes flicked to my cat. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Peta bobbed her head.

The serpent let out a sigh. “I still do not know if you can get past me. Why are you here?”

“Looking for The Bastard,” I said.

She snorted and salt water sprayed over us in a fine mist. “There is no love lost in him for supernaturals or elementals. I will wish you luck with him, and me.”

I softened my touch on her face. “How do we pass by you?”

Her eyes fluttered closed as she slowly lowered us and the boat to the water. “Put it in my mind that there is better prey elsewhere. It is the only chance you have.”

I closed my eyes and thought about fish to the south of us, schools of fish fat and lazy, replete with a feed of their own. “Here we go,” I said, and slid my hands away.

Without a word, the serpent jerked away, her eyes going to the south of us. One snap of her jaws and she dove under the waves.

I put a hand to the smoky diamond and blew hard, scooting the skiff along the water. An hour at a wicked pace took us far enough away that I finally felt I could ease off, and sat down to catch my breath.

Peta put her big head on my lap. “That was unexpected.”

A laugh escaped me. “You said I would bring trouble to us.”

“Yes, but even I didn’t think you would bring a sea serpent. There aren’t many left.”

I nodded and leaned back on the wooden bench. Using the diamond tired me out. Or maybe it was the fact that we’d narrowly escaped death.

Peta butted me with her head. “Finish what you would say about Cassava.”

Damn. I was hoping we’d skip by that.

“She killed my mother and little brother, Bramley. Manipulated my father. Blocked me from my power. Tried to wipe out our family with the lung burrowers. What more reason do you need? She is the cause of our latest problems. I know it.”

Cactus leaned forward as he steered the boat. “It’s not about reason, it’s about facts. Evidence. How do we prove she was the one to do this? That is what you want, isn’t it? To prove she is behind everything wrong in your world.”

I knew he wasn’t being mean or trying to upset me, yet a part of me wanted him to believe me. To say I was right, Cassava was a bitch, and that was all there was to this story.

“Unless she confesses in front of the right people, there is no way to prove it. It’s her word against mine. And we all know she is too smart for that.”

“Why would she take your father?” Peta asked, stretching her back in a perfect arch. She yawned. “Surely your father is stronger than her in his connection to the earth.”

I nodded. “Yes, he is. But his mind . . . it’s so broken, I don’t know how easy he would be to manipulate even without Spirit. If Blackbird is working with her as we think he is, then . . .” I didn’t have to say the rest. All three of us knew Blackbird could control Spirit.

The desire to believe he, my father, was still the man I remembered from my childhood was strong, yet I knew it for what it was. A last desperate hope that he could be saved not only in the physical sense, but from mental deterioration too.

Cactus shook his head. “Why would Blackbird work with her? He carries all five elements; he doesn’t need her.”