“You’re far away.” Bran sat beside her.

“No, actually. I’m right here. Right here and right now, and it’s really wonderful. I’m going to come back,” she decided on the spot. “When there is only the right here and right now. I’m going to have coffee right over there, and browse those shops. I’m going to buy an insanely colorful scarf, and something utterly useless and beautiful, then drink kumquat wine in the middle of the day.” She angled her head, smiled. “Maybe you’ll come drink it with me.”

“I could be persuaded.”

Doyle eased the boat out of the marina, away from the bustle, the scents, all that life. Sasha grabbed her sketch pad to draw a quick perspective of the village from the water. She would remember the bright colors, the sun-bleached ones when she painted it. A dreamy watercolor, she decided, so that edge of a world seemed just slightly mystical and unreal.

She flipped the page over—another sketch of the cliffs, all those browns and greens, the textures—and the beach where people already staked their claim for the day.

Lost in the work, she barely noticed Bran get up to help Riley and Annika with the diving equipment, hardly heard over the motor, the wind, Doyle and Sawyer discussing the maps.

Content, half dreaming, she took off her shoes, stood to remove her shirt, shorts. She’d pulled her hair back in a tail for the dive, and now set her hat on her clothes, all neatly folded on the bench.

Despite the bright sun, she set her sunglasses on the pile. The light was a white flash striking the water, deepening the blue to breathless. The foam of it in the boat’s wake, the lap and splash of it against the hull as it took them into a gentle curve toward land struck like music.

It pulled at her, at everything inside her. She stood on the bench, then on the rail. Then simply dived into the song.

Bran turned first, had a split second to see her disappear under the water. “Stop the boat!” He grabbed a life ring, heaved it back, shooting power with it so it dropped on the surface where Sasha had gone in. “She’s gone over. Sasha’s gone over,” he said as he kicked off his shoes. “She dreamed she drowned.”

“For Christ’s sake. Wait!” Riley grabbed his arm. “Get your tank. She might need the air. Doyle!”

“Already turning.”

Bran strapped on the tank, cursing the precious seconds it took, then rolled into the water.

“Get tanks, weigh anchor. We need to—”

“I can find her,” Annika interrupted Riley’s frantic orders. As Sasha had, she simply dived in.

“Holy shit.” Strapping his tank over his T-shirt, Sawyer kept the life ring in view. “Nerezza must’ve done something to them. Let’s move.”

He was in the water moments after Annika.

Doyle tossed Riley a face mask. “She’s got a sorcerer in love with her. He’ll get to her.”

Riley snapped on the sheath with her diving knife. “Let’s make damn sure of it.”