Sidra cried out and lunged into the loch. She tore Graeme’s cloak away from her collar and dived, pulling her body through the water in frantic strokes.

She was almost to Maisie, but then Sidra saw that her daughter was farther below the surface than she had realized. Sidra cursed, returning to the surface to gasp fresh air. She plunged again, following those golden tendrils down, deep into the dark waters of the pond.

But every time Sidra stretched out her hand to grasp Maisie, she discovered the lass was just beyond her reach.

Maisie drifted farther and farther below, as if she were tethered to something in the heart of the loch. Sidra continued to chase her. Her open eyes burned as she reached for her daughter again and again, to no avail.

She could feel her lungs begin to smolder. She was almost out of air.

Sidra glanced upward; the surface was far away. She hesitated, her black hair tangling like silk across her face.

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement. She wasn’t alone in the water, and Sidra glanced sideways to see the water spirit approach. A woman with translucent skin, dark blue fins, and oversized, cat slit eyes. Sharp, pointed teeth and long, blond hair, its tendrils illumined in the dark water.

Sidra’s fear and indignation morphed into a blazing fire.

This is a trick. She’s fooling me.

She closed her eyes and began to kick to the surface. Sidra could feel the threads of the spirit pull against her, inviting her to stay. To sink into a place where the world shed its old skin. To be reborn in the weight of the loch.

Sidra desperately swam upwards, where she could feel the waters grow warm again. Her legs and hands felt heavy, but she opened her eyes and followed a bold wisp of gold now, as if another spirit was urging her to rise. Bubbles slipped from her lips as she struggled to keep her mouth shut. To resist taking a breath of water.

I’m not going to make it. . . .

She thought of Torin. His face appeared to her, stark and broken at a graveside, as if she had shattered the last of him.

Sidra found the surface with a gasp.

She trembled as she swam to the bank. She crawled upon the mossy rocks, spluttering and coughing. She lay down for a moment, until her heart was steady again. A spirit had tricked her, played her for a fool. Sidra covered her face and sobbed. She had been holding the tears in for hours, and she let them flow.

When her tears had dried, she noticed the time of day.