“Under the water, Lark,” Finley said softly. “Requiem has sent his enforcers after us.”

Belladonna started to cry. “You mean the sharks again?”

Dolph nodded. “Yes. But we are not without our own familiars.”

Finley handed me a small vial. “Drink this, it will numb the pain of the hooks now that they are out, and slow the blood leaching from them.”

Without questioning her, I took the vial and drank it down. The liquid was sweet, thick like syrup and it clung to my mouth and throat. Within seconds, the singing nerve endings quieted and I could think clearly again.

“You just always happen to have a healing potion with you?” I mumbled, my tongue a bit numb from the syrup.

“Yes. There are far too many dangers not to carry a tonic with us at all times. Every aid kit we have has at least one healing potion. Most have two or three.” Dolph said.

I clutched the edge of the boat, the last of the pain from the hooks fading under the realization our situation was about as bad as it could get. We were in a tiny boat, no land in sight, and a pack of sharks were coming.

“Bella, can you reach the earth?”

Her crying eased. “What do you mean?”

I pointed to the bottom of the boat. “Can’t you reach your power? There is sand below us.”

“It’s too far away. Why, can you?” Her eyes still shimmered with tears and something I had never thought to see. She trusted me to get her out of this.

“There is nothing you can do, unless you have a familiar that can kill a shark, and there are not many capable of that.” Dolph leaned over the edge of the boat and dipped his fingers in the water. Blue streaks of light shot from his hands into the water in a pulse. Beat, beat, pause. Beat, beat, pause. He pulled his hand up. “We will have some help, but it may not get here in time.”

Belladonna grabbed my arm, fingers digging into one of the wounds. “Lark, I don’t want to die.”

“You aren’t going to.”

The boat rocked under us with two big bumps that set the small wooden conveyance bouncing back and forth, hard enough to bring the edges to the water’s surface. Dolph reached across and gripped both sides of the boat, using his body to offset the rocking. “This is going to be close, my familiar can help, but she has been kept at bay for so long by the sharks, I’m not sure if she’ll get here in time.”

In time. Before we were all torn apart.

There had to be something we could do. I couldn’t just sit there and let the sharks take us out.

My life for Bella’s; that was the deal. I grabbed my spear and stood. “How many sharks can your familiar take out?”

Dolph glanced at the water, his eyes unfocussed. “Two. Maybe three before she’s killed.” I shivered thinking about what kind of creature could take out two or three sharks.

“And how many of Requiem’s pets are out there?”

“Six, maybe seven, from what I sense.”

Ice slid down my spine as I contemplated what I was going to do. Knowing it was the only chance my sister and Finley had. “Bella, tell Father I did what I was supposed to.”

“Wait, you can’t go in the water!”

Dolph stood with me. “Lark is right. We are Enders, and your lives come before ours. Lark, aim for the eyes if they come at you. And if you can get under them—”

“I’ll open them up like an overripe fruit.” I curled my hand into a fist and held it out to him. He did the same, bumping his fist against mine.

“Dive deep, they will not follow us. They are focused on the boat,” Dolph said. I nodded, breathing in and out in big gulps prepping my lungs. Triangular fins cut through the water toward us, not huge, certainly not the biggest I’d seen.

“Bull sharks. They’re aggressive, and fast,” he said.

“Awesome,” I whispered. Dolph leapt from the boat, rocking it hard. Belladonna let out a groan.

“Please, Lark, don’t leave me up here.”

I stared at her for a moment, then looked to Finley. “Princess, you need to be the one to fight if Dolph and I don’t come back. Can you do that? Can you keep the both of you safe?”

She straightened in her seat. “No one has ever asked me to fight before. Is it allowed?”

“You have to or you won’t survive. None of us will. Use your power, use everything you’ve got. Do you understand?”

Her face solemn, she placed her hand over her heart and nodded.

I took one last deep breath and dove from the boat. Hands out in front of me, spear clutched tight under my arm, I kicked hard to get as deep as I could as fast as I could—to get past the sharks. Dolph was below me, floating. I swam to him, my lungs not yet burning. With a puzzled expression, he reached out, pulled me close, and I thought he was going to kiss me, giving me air. But he touched the metal hook Niah had pierced my upper ear cartilage with. His eyes held surprise and he mouthed one word: breathe.

I shook my head before realizing he held me there, keeping me from going to the surface. He mouthed the word again, touching the earring. Breathe.

Niah’s words came back to me. “You’ll need this going to the Deep. Bunch of mouth breathers there.”

Every instinct I had screamed at me to keep my mouth shut, and the air in my lungs where it belonged. There was no time to question if she had been telling me the truth. I sucked in a mouthful of water . . . and it didn’t choke me. No time to think about how Niah had known, Dolph pointed up and I looked.