The ease with which we had made it this far buoyed me with a false sense of hope. I should have known better. Bessemer was smart, and he was pissed. He didn’t waste energy sweeping the woods to end up at the pond. Like us, he had gone straight there. Dozens of wolves mingled in the grass by the time we arrived, and golden lights I knew for eyes winked in the distance.

Fisting Isaac’s shirt, I yanked him behind a pair of oaks grown together with a fat base and thick fingerlike branches arcing overhead. All those sensitive noses would sniff us out and quick. We had to act fast.

Isaac rustled his bag, wincing at the noise. “What’s our next move?”

“I have to get to the water.” I dipped my hand in Harlow’s bag and found the tin with the gill goop. The tail would be a hindrance since I had no idea how to use one, so the shorts got tucked back in the bottom. “This should give me magic gills.”

“Should?” He gripped my arm. “You haven’t tested it?”

A warg passing by swiveled his ears.

“No time like the present.” I twisted the cap, stuck my fingers in the icy slime that smelled of herbs and growing things, and smeared it down my throat. The burning started before I lowered my hand. Harlow once mentioned it took a few minutes to take effect. That’s all I needed. “Here.” I closed the tin and flung the bag into his arms. “Get home if you can, get safe if you can’t.”

“What if the magic doesn’t work?” His eyes pleaded for me to reconsider. “It might be keyed to the girl.”

Beyond our hiding spot, the warg’s nostrils twitched, perhaps scenting the pungent salve, and his gaze swung our way. He flung his head back and howled.

We had been discovered.

“Go, go, go,” I chanted at Isaac, giving him a shove.

Not waiting to see if he’d listened, I barreled into the wolf who’d tattled on us, and kept going. The leap to the basin sent dull shock waves through my knees. The slick mud nursed my sneakers, and I skated over its slimy surface. Cursing, I kicked off my shoes and grimaced as I sank in muck to the ankles.

Growls rose over my shoulder. They sounded…wrong. Distant. Fear for Isaac wobbled my ankle, but I steadied myself. A second’s hesitation, and I would collapse in a heap and tremble at the water’s edge as the wolves descended.

Don’t look back. Keep moving. Isaac can take care of himself.

Thick brown sludge squished underfoot and slurped my toes. The divot in the dried bed loomed. The murky water sat mirror-smooth and waiting. I sucked in sharp gulps of humid air, counting down the seconds until I sank or swam.