Page 17 of Unmoored

Hazel gasped for air, choking and coughing as she expelled saltwater from her mouth. Her eyes were shut, and I feared she had already gone too long without air. I gently tapped her back, using a small amount of magic to create a pocket around her face so she could breathe without getting rain or ocean water in her airways. After a few moments, her body seemed to start working again, and when she opened her eyes she let out the most guttural, heartbreaking sob I’d ever heard.

10

HAZEL

I’m dead. I have to be dead.

I’d jumped off the jetty and drowned in the Atlantic, and the last bit of oxygen left in my brain was giving me wild hallucinations.

Instead of the churning waves swallowing my weakened body, I’d landed in the arms of my angel, my friend, my terrifyingly beautiful sea creature.

He was there, holding my head above the surface, making sure I could breathe through the waves and storms crashing around us.

I couldn’t help the choked sobs escaping my throat, seawater and mist mixing with my tears. He stared at me, deep blue eyes searching my face with more care than I’d ever known from anyone besides my mother, and I felt as if my soul was breaking.

After a moment, I realized I could still feel my body. Everything hurt, and my lungs felt as if they’d been filled with water. My throat burned as I coughed it back up. I wasfreezing, shivering, and my legs were kicking slowly on their own, weakly treading water.

Perhaps I’m not dead?

11

DRAYA

Itried to hold her steady in the turbulent sea, keeping her head above the surface until she stopped choking. Part of me wanted to kiss her, and the other part of me wanted to crush her. How could she be so foolish? Jumping off the jetty into the open water, conjuring a storm that could drown her! What was shethinking?

After a moment of confusion, she turned to face me, and I assumed she’d settled. I thought maybe I’d be able to explain things, but I was very,verywrong.

The inclement weather swirling around us weakened, allowing me mere seconds to readjust before she began thrashing and shrieking as if she were being attacked by a wild animal.

“Hazel, please!” I pleaded, trying to make my voice as calm as possible.

“Let me go!” She rasped, clawing and kicking at me. “Just let me go!”

I released my hold on her waist, not wanting her to feel restrained, but she was thrashing so hard shecouldn’t tread the water. Maintaining the pocket of air around her face was becoming increasingly difficult as she wouldn’t stopmoving.

In a last-ditch attempt to calm her, I started to hum. Reminiscent of our time on that desolate rock, reverberations from deep in my chest permeated the air and water around us, soothing her wounded soul. Gently, I grabbed her by the hips and pulled her against my chest, not caring that she was still scratching against my skin and gills.

“Please,” she choked out, her voice no more than a whisper, her head shaking back and forth. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Her movements slowed, and instead of thrashing, she resorted to clinging onto me so tightly I thought she might draw blood. She kept muttering the same words over and over,I can’t do this anymore,but I didn’t understand what she meant.

“What’s wrong, Hazel?” I asked, trying to get her to focus on me. “Tell me what I can do. I’m not going to hurt you.”

She went quiet, her body slumped against mine. I trailed my hand up and down her back, urging her to breathe.

“I waited for you,” she cried, her voice cracking on the final word. “For years, I’ve waited. I dreamed of you.”

She paused for a moment, shaking her head and looking up to meet my gaze. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her cheeks were so hollow I worried she hadn’t eaten at all since I’d left her on that horrible island.

But I noticed the cuts on her cheek had disappeared. Interesting.

“They were right,” she whispered. “I’ve truly gone mad.”

I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but hearing her so dejected made me angrier than I’d like to admit.

“Hazel, please,” my voice was firm. I was tired of this battle. She should have been thanking me for saving her from drowning, yet again.

“This isn’treal. Youaren’t real!” She choked out, squirming in my arms.