Page 168 of In Rising Tides

It was as if she were a fish on a line, and something was reeling her in.

Wilder remained perfectly still.

The magic spooled back into Jordania and the light winked out.

They stared expectantly at Wilder. He searched every crevice of his mind for her. Her voice. Or even just the feeling of her.

But his thoughts were still his own, and nothing lurked in the recesses of his mind.

Maelys rubbed her eyes. The annoyance that had once flickered there had vanished when she opened them again.

“Well?” Otto asked expectantly.

Wilder opened his mouth to break the bad news that it hadn’t worked.

There wasn’t a bridge between their minds.

But before he could speak, the color drained from Otto’s face. His moon-white skin blanched to a ghost-white as his mouth dropped wide open.

Maelys screamed something unintelligible while clamoring to her feet.

She violently threw her arm and finger as she pointed at something behind Wilder.

Ridge was powerless to her plight as she flew out of his arms.His arms were left open and empty.

Wilder turned. His heart stopped beating in his chest.

On the sandbar meters behind them lay a mass of auburn hair and lavender scales.

He didn’t remember moving to standing or moving his limbs to run.

There was nothing that could stand in the way of him reaching her now.

Water splashed, drenching him as he raced through the water. He brought his knees up high to step over the incoming waves.

His eyes didn’t leave her as he tried with all his might to reach her.

Lyra wasn’t moving.

His chest was near exploding as he held his breath, still struggling over wave after wave.

“LYRA!” Her name burst through his lips like an opened dam.

Every feeling from their time apart raged swiftly through the current.

Every second of anguish and fear polluted the water as it poured from his eyes.

She twitched, and a sob wracked his chest.

Lyra sat up slowly and pushed her mass of auburn hair out of her face. Her limbs appeared longer, but that could have been the steely pointed talons on the tips of her fingers.

She looked up at him. Their gazes locked, and not even the end of the world could have unlocked them.

The green of her eyes was glassy before she rubbed them.

He kept pushing, kept struggling to reach her. He was nearly there.

One more wave.