“Shit,” she said. “That stings.” She shook her arm as if burned; light dripped from her fingers.

“Teo.”

“See? It’s not so hard to lose the ’Ms.’” She nodded to Kai, and to Izza and Mako behind her. “Glad you made it. I didn’t expect them to grab you, too.”

“Teo, what the hell did you just do?”

“Some day maybe I’ll tell you about Quechal priests and the scars they leave. Trust me, it hurts more than it looks.” Behind her, the fallen Penitents struggled to stand, prisoners screaming as the cracks in their shells healed. Up the ridge, searchlight eyes woke and scanned the beach. “We need to leave.” She bit her lip. “Can you swim?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question.”

“I want answers.”

“Me first. Can. You. Swim.”

“Yes.”

“Okay then. You, kid. You swim?” Kai glanced back to see Izza nod, once. She was looking at Teo with a mixture of awe and fear. Mostly awe. “Old guy. Damn.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Hells we won’t, Mako. Those things are coming after us.”

“I do not fear them.”

“You should. You were afraid of hers a second ago.” Kai pointed toward the statue Teo had broken.

“I was afraid for you. Not of them. I know these things, and they know me. I’ll meet you back at the Rest, if you make it. Go.”

“Okay,” Teo said. “Fine.”

“We’re not leaving him!”

“I am. And so are you, unless you want to explain what just happened to those guys up the ridge.”

“Mako, I—”

He shook his head. “Kai. Go.”

“Follow me. Close as you can.” And before Kai could object, the Quechal woman ran into the ocean. Waves broke around her ankles, knees, hips, and falling forward she swam.

Penitent gazes swept the night; some pinned Kai where she stood slack jawed. She might have remained there forever had Izza not pulled her after, into the waves. Once she took her first step, the second was easy.

“You stink at running away,” Izza called over her shoulder, laughing almost, or else hysterical.

Kai fell into waves and water.

After the initial wet shock, the sea took her in. She swam, following Teo’s head as the Quechal woman slipped through and disappeared behind ocean swells. Izza cut the water like a knife, the kind of speed Kai’d had when young. Kai dipped below the surface. Salt stung her eyes, and the Penitents’ light lit the sea blue and green, chiseled silhouettes of coral and darting fish from the black. A hundred yards from shore Kai rolled onto her back, risking a moment’s lost sight of Teo for a glimpse of the beach. Penitents swarmed there, and in their midst Mako stood, alone and as yet unharmed.

How had he freed her? That burst of unearthly light, of overwhelming force, was no Craft Kai knew.