Page 105 of Of Salt and Air

But I drag myself ashore, certain that I won’t regret listening to what my heart is telling me.

Zephyr always shows up for me. Now they need someone to show up for them.

I pull the knife from my boot and hold it at my side, trying to catch my breath in this tight, heavy dress. The moon is nudging up even higher, and I have to make it across the island by the time it fully rises.

I trudge through the rain and wet sand, feeling as though I’m walking on knives. I only have to make it across the island.

Once I find Cosette, I’ll take care of her and toss myself into the bay.

“Please be ok,” I whisper to my pendant, but I’m not sure Zephyr can even hear it. “I’m coming.”

Further down the shoreline, the beach has emptied out. People race through the sheets of rain, clogging the main path to the village.

A lone figure is left standing by the sea.

“You look like you could use some help, little mermaid.” Kyle the Kelpie cocks his head as my Ocean Voice trills through the whistling wind.

“That’s mine.”

“Then I’m assuming the sea witch is using it for her own purposes.” A water droplet slides down his cleft chin. “What are you going to do about it?”

I twist the blade to show him.

“Excellent.” He flashes his jagged fangs. “You’re in luck because I happen to have a personal grievance with Cosette. Hop on my back. I’ll take you to her.”

“What?” I slide my blade into my bodice for easy access.

“Hop on.” He shifts, his limbs lengthening into four long, black legs. His mane falls past his neck in dark seaweed-like tendrils.

I grab a handful of it and wince as I skip back, then throw one leg over him, using my momentum to spring the rest of the way forward in my cumbersome dress.

Hugging his body with my aching thighs, I lean forward, and he lopes into the blanket of fog rising from the ground. Lightning cracks overhead, and I nearly slip off his back, the chafing agonizing.

My hair hangs in wet ropes over my puff sleeves, and my petticoats are pushed past my knees. Every movement rips my torn skin further, but I can endure this pain for a while longer.

I will Kyle to go faster.

We’re monsters riding together, his red eyes glowing through the wall of mist while I snap my teeth, my throat trying to recreate the sound I gave away so readily after spending my whole life being told my Ocean Voice meant nothing.

He breaks into a full-on gallop.

It takes sheer willpower to hang on until we reach the cottage. The rain is coming down in torrents, but a sliver of clear blue sky slashes through the clouds swirling above Cosette’s cove.

“I can’t enter that place,” Kyle the Kelpie says as I slide off of his back. “But I wish you all the best.”

I watch him disappear and lug my soaked train up the porch steps, ready to face Cosette alone.

Her door is already open. She’s waiting for me.

“Come in, come in,” she says, but I can’t see her. I can’t see anything past Zephyr lying on the floor.

CORDELIA

“What have you done to them?”

I knock candles over, their flames failing to catch on my wet skirt as I rush to Zephyr. They’re lying on their belly, a pair of shears held loosely in their fingers.