Peter strode into the kitchen and lifted the bottle of white wine on the counter. The outside sweated, and he rubbed his wet fingertips on the thighs of his uniform pants. “It’s still chilled. Pearl can’t have gone far.”
He pressed a fingertip to the magical device in his ear. “Hey, Edna. I want you to tell all units to be on the lookout for Pearl Litt. Mm-hmm. Yeah, me too. Turns out she’s alive and has likely killed her sister. She’s trying to get off the island, so be sure to send units to the airship station and the—”
I startled as I remembered something Ralph had told me. “She’s afraid of flying.” I waved at Peter to get his attention. “She won’t be at the airship station.”
He frowned. “Hold on, Edna—” He licked his lips. “If she’s not flying, then where would she go?”
I glanced out the front window. The sky was lightening to a pale gray, which meant it was nearly dawn, which meant the tide would soon be out. During the day, with the tide low, Bijou Mer became connected to the human mainland and accessible by foot. Only every evening, when the tide rose, did our mountain become an island and safe for the magical folk to be out and about in public.
Peter’s eyes widened as he apparently followed my train of thought. He touched the device in his ear. “Edna, send as many units as you can spare to the marsh. She’s going to be heading to the human side.”
He plucked the device from his ear and shoved it in his pocket. He jerked his chin toward the door. “Come on! We’re on one of the lowest levels of the island, we may be the closest ones to intercepting her.”
30
MAKING A BREAK FOR IT
Peter, Daisy, and I raced down the mountain and along the slippery path that led to the ferry dock. The water level had just recently dropped enough to reveal the top of the submerged wall, and my boots slipped every few steps on the slick, mossy stones. Peter spelled the locked gate open, and our footsteps thudded along the wooden planks to the end of the dock.
A thick mist hung over the water, sticks and grasses barely poking out over the surface of the dropping sea. In the distance, a few faint lights twinkled among the shadows that made up the tiny human village on the shore. Peter muttered a spell, and the tip of his wand glowed blindingly bright. He shone the light out over the murky water as Daisy stood with her paws at the very edge of the dock, ears pricked, whining with eagerness.
Where is she? Where?
A few bubbles surfaced next to the dock, and she jerked her head toward them, body tensed.
I narrowed my eyes and scanned the water where Peter’s light touched. Pearl had a head start on us—she might even have reached human lands by now. If so, it’d be hard to find her.
Peter wouldn’t have jurisdiction, and it took a lot of paperwork and special permits to even be allowed to set foot on human lands, much less use magic to track someone. No one I knew had ever been across the water. If Pearl made it, she’d probably get off totally free. And even though our merkles weren’t human currency, they were made of gold, so… she’d be rich, too.
I frowned down at the cloudy water. If she were smart, she’d use a spell to breathe under water and stay under the surface to be even less detectable. Then again, you’d have to be a pretty good swimmer to pull that off, and from what I’d seen of her on stage, she hadn’t looked the most athletic.
“There!”
Peter’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to find him pointing. I followed his gaze and searched the pool of light his wand cast, about halfway between us and the shadowy land on the other side.
Pearl’s terrified face whirled around to look back at us. I leaned forward, peering into the semidarkness and caught sight of her dragging a large brown sack behind her. She thrashed away from us, submerged to her chest in dark water.
A flash of red light burst from the end of Peter’s wand. It warmed my cheek, then zipped out across the water and exploded a few feet away from Pearl. Her eyes grew wide, then narrowed.
“Duck!” Peter threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to the ground. I dropped into a crouch beside him, my palms pressed against the wet, rough wood of the dock to keep from falling forward. An icy blue spell whizzed over my head.
I shot him a grateful look. It’d have hit me square in the chest if I’d still been standing.
Daisy barked. I’m going to bite you, you witch! She launched herself off the dock and crashed into the water, then chugged forward, ears back, swimming faster than I’d have guessed possible.
“I have to cover her!” Peter leapt to his feet, firing spells over Daisy’s head at Pearl. The woman kept thrashing forward through the water, turning now and then to fire spells back at us. I bit my lip, antsy. I longed to help, but without magic, I could only stay crouched to avoid being hit. I clenched my hands into fists and bit my lip, willing Daisy on.
Peter kept Pearl distracted enough with his attacks that she didn’t notice Daisy until she was only about twenty feet
