“In
through the mouth, out through the gills,” Kailey muttered as she swam across
campus. She didn’t need the reminder, of course. Breathing water came naturally
to her, much easier than sucking dry air. Still, she repeated the phrase. It
calmed her, kept her mind off Finn’s dwindling magic.
She shook her head, trying to focus. Otherwise, the creature she was supposed
to tame today would rip her apart. Or worse, she’d be stuck swimming the ocean
instead of riding a powerful, magical mount. As she approached the stables, she
summoned her magic, winding it into a fiery coil at her core.
While
Mistress Spinner hooked her to other students, Kailey wished she’d thought to stand
closer to Mariana or Zephyr. Instead, her clips held her to mages she hardly
even knew. She treaded water, determined to avoid unpleasant piles on the
ground. On the other side of the stables, the vortex swirled invitingly,
granting safe passage from the deeps to the twilight and sunlit zones.
As
Kailey entered the funnel, Spinner blasted the mages forward like chunks of
rock from a volcano. Not that the current was hot. Once Kailey calmed down, she
enjoyed the wild ride. It seemed familiar. Too familiar. Her body tensed. She
fought panic as her mind flooded with memories of another ride, years before,
when she breached the ocean’s surface for the very first time.
She had been very small, clinging to
someone as they bobbed in the gloom of the twilight zone, waiting for the ride
to begin. A swift kiss brushed her cheek and she gazed into mournful green
eyes. Tritey’s eyes.
“I
shall miss you, angelfish.”
Gentle hands looped a shimmering
strand around her neck.
“Wait,” someone cried. “What if they
can’t breathe?”
“I’ll send an elemental. If
necessary, she’ll bring them back.”
The elemental arrived, her gold hair
trailing her like streamers. When her current hit, Kailey screamed, first in
fear, then delight. They stopped in a secluded cove. What happened next was
horrible, the stuff of her nightmares. As her face broke the surface, she choked
on the cool, dry air. Every breath had been torture, searing her lungs like hot
smoke.
She
felt feverish just remembering it. Yet now she swept upward into the brilliant
turquoise of the photic zone, despite her desire to stop. Her fingers clenched
involuntarily.
Surely
we’re tracking underwater mounts.
As
her anxiety escalated, Kailey struggled to restrain her magic, desperate not to
shock the sprites on either side of her. She trained her gaze on clouds of
orange and white clown fish and shoals of silvery anchovy to distract herself.
Still, the sea floor rushed upward. The ocean grew shallow. Finally the group
drifted to a stop alongside a towering kelp forest.
Kailey trembled with relief. The kelp
canopy kissed the ocean’s face some hundred feet above. No chance of accidental
surfacing. Still a little shaky, she unhooked her clip then settled alongside
Mariana and Zephyr in a thick carpet of seaweed and fluffy sponges.
Who are some of your favorite fictional characters and why?
