Lily Pondwhisper's Arc

Chapter 6 of 12

Lily hovered over the black water. She knew the truth now. To break the curse she had to dive down and bring the trapped caster up. But the lake was cold and blind. She had no way to breathe below. She had no way to see in the dark. She would drown or lose herself before she found anyone. Her cat landed on a flat stone at the shore. Its butterfly ears twitched. Lily dropped beside it and searched her small hands for anything useful. The locket. The rod. The dark spectacles still on her nose. None of them would let her breathe underwater. "You cannot go down," said a flat voice. Lily spun. The winged guardian crouched at the edge of the water. Its red eyes burned. This creature had chased her for days and kept the caster locked beneath the lake for years. She braced for the claws. But the guardian did not lunge. It watched her the way a tired man watches rain. "I buried her down there long ago," it said. "I call it a mistake. I have watched this water ever since." It lifted one clawed hand toward the lake. "I want her gone from me. I cannot reach her myself. The water is not made for me." Lily did not trust him. "You tried to pull me in." "I wanted you to try," it said. "Small ones can go where I cannot." It stepped back into the reeds and pulled something loose. A slender wand. Light bloomed at its tip, soft and white, like a bit of moon on a stick. "This light does not drown. It burns under water. Follow it down. It will keep the dark off your eyes." Lily took the wand. It was warm. The glow pushed the black back a few inches around her hands. It solved half her problem. She could see now. But she still could not breathe. "The breath is not mine to give," the guardian said, as if he read her face. "The water took her breath and it will lend you one. Go under with the light. The lake will hold your lungs while you carry its light. That is the trade. Stay too long and it keeps you." It was a thin promise from a jailer. But it was the only way down. Lily looked at her cat. The cat pressed against her leg and did not run. She gripped the glowing wand. She filled her chest with air out of old habit and dove. The black water closed over her. The wand's light held steady, a small bright circle in the deep. Her lungs did not burn. The trade was real. Far below, in the reach of the light, something long and pale turned toward her and began to rise. Lily kicked down toward it, no longer blind, no longer choking, straight into whatever the lake had kept.