“Get her, girl,” I muttered.
Pearl lowered her wand at the dog and hit her, dead in the nose, with a poison green spell.
Daisy yelped.
“Daisy!” Peter cried, as I leapt to my feet screaming, “No!”
The dog rolled onto her side and floated, unmoving, on the surface. Pearl, still lit in the glow of Peter’s wand, smirked, then turned her back and dashed away.
Cold dread flooded my stomach. Was Daisy alive? Could she breathe, floating in the water like that? Peter let out an anguished moan. “Daisy!”
I eyed the cold water and curled my lip, then reached down and yanked my boots off. Peter bent over and lifted the bottom of his pants, revealing tall, tightly laced leather boots. He fiddled with the knot with trembling fingers. I threw my jacket off, then yanked off my shirt so I stood in only my bra and jeans. “Really?”
“It’s police code,” he grumbled, stopping every few seconds to look Daisy’s way.
I unzipped my jeans, stepped out of them, and ran to the end of the dock. I dove in, wearing only my underwear and socks. I came up gasping at the freezing cold water, goose bumps covering every inch of skin. I didn’t have time to pause to catch my breath or ease in. I put my head down and kicked, my arms slicing the water in sharp strokes.
A flood of warmth hit me, like stepping into a hot bath. I turned my head and glanced back. Peter stood at the end of the dock, using one hand to yank a boot off, the other holding his wand, which was pointed at me. I shot him a grateful grin for the warming spell. “Keep her lighted.”
Peter nodded as he teetered on one foot, and I swam forward, pumping my limbs as fast as I could. I lifted my head now and then to make sure I was still headed in Daisy’s direction. As I neared the dog, a big splash sounded behind me. Peter, shirtless, churned through the water which, tall as he was, only reached his waist. He pointed the light of his wand on his dog.
Daisy’s wet fur shone in the bluish light, and I noticed, with gratitude, that her side rose and fell with her breath. I reached her and slid one arm under her head, the other over her middle, and hugged the huge mutt to me, righting her.
I whined. Days? You okay?
She looked up at me, then closed her eyes tight, scrunched up her nose as if she were in pain, and sneezed—wet and loud—right in my face.
All my concern drained, and I shot her a flat look. Seriously?
She sneezed again and again. Then shook her head, wet ears flapping. She let out a pitiful whine. That witch hit me. I couldn’t move. Her back legs twitched and then she scrambled toward me, her nails scratching my bare belly and arms.
“Ow! Hey!”
She threw her giant paws over my shoulders and I hugged her around her middle, now face-to-face with the dog, like we were slow dancing. I huffed and growled. Stop thrashing! You’re scratching me up!
She cocked her head to the side as her big, dark eyes blinked at my face. She groaned. You look like a wet rat.
“Okay.” I released her, and she splashed back into the water, front legs pumping as she swam in a little circle. I called over my shoulder back to Peter. “Yeah, she’s fine.”
Daisy barked and barked. Ooh! That witch! I want to bite her face off.
I barked back. You and me both, Days. I chugged through the water toward the gray outline of thatched buildings up ahead—the human mainland. I called back to Peter. “Cover us!”
“You got it!” Spells flew overhead, and the shaky light from Peter’s wand found Pearl again.
My socked feet scrambled over the loose pebbles and sharp grasses on the ground, the water low enough now to make walking faster than swimming. Daisy soon outdistanced me, but she zigged and zagged to avoid Pearl’s spells. Meanwhile, Peter kept firing on the woman from behind us. Between trying to fend off Peter and Daisy, Pearl slowed, and I soon caught up with her.
I dipped my head under the surface of the water, pushed off the bottom, and held my breath as I zipped toward Pearl. The flashes of the spells lit the water enough for me to spot her legs. Daisy’s paws kicked up sand and silt as she circled the witch, and once Pearl turned away from me, I wrapped my arms around her legs and pulled her under.
31
CAUGHT
Inspector Bon glared at Pearl with his beady little eyes. “Thought you were going to get away with it, didn’t you?”
She stood, dripping wet and shivering, with a brown wool blanket draped around her shoulders. A pool of water gathered under her bare feet on the docks, and a pair of magical, glowing handcuffs bound her wrists in front of her. She glared at him, black smears of mascara staining her cheeks. “It was a good plan.”
Bon scoffed. “It would’ve been! If you hadn’t gotten greedy and killed your sister.”
She scowled and bared her teeth. “I was just being smart.”
I curled my lip. Not a word I’d ever use to describe that woman, but okay.
“My sister was always jealous of me. I had to look out for numero uno! It was just a matter of time before she did the same to me—I just acted first!”
Wow. Almost made me glad I didn’t have any siblings. Of course, I’d grown up with a couple dozen other kids in the orphanage, so they sort of counted. And say what you would about a bunch of shifter kids from the Darkmoon District, but none of them had ever tried to kill me.
Peter and I stood nearby, similar police blankets wrapped around our shoulders. Luckily, he continued to cast the warming spell on us, so despite being half naked, wet, and shoeless, I felt pretty comfortable.
Chief McCray
