No, I think, rolling my eyes, but I slip my hand into his. At least I don’t have to do this alone. “On three,” I say, trying to summon the confidence to make it sound like a command. Like Isolde would sound. “One...”

I exhale slowly. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me, awe tinged with fear, but I don’t have time to think about that, because I can’t hold this portal much longer. I don’t have time to hope I did it right, that Gossamer isn’t tricking me somehow.

None of that matters. All that matters is saving Isolde, saving the egg, saving everything.

“Two...”

Raze’s hand squeezes tighter.

“Th—”

Raze jumps, pulling me with him.

We fall longer than we should, and I know instantly that we’ve made a mistake. For one disorienting second, I’m filling the air with my voice, flailing my arms and legs like I’m trying to fly.

I hit water instead of stone, and it swallows me whole.

My high-pitched scream cuts off abruptly, along with the low roar of the mountains that I didn’t even notice until it was gone.

I can’t hear.

I can’t see.

I can’t breathe.

Raze’s hand is still wrapped around mine. Why isn’t he swimming up?

Bubbles surround me with the distorted sound of his voice. I pull, but he won’t let go, and he isn’t rising back to the surface.

Something grabs my ankle. I try to kick it away, but it isn’t alive. The water itself is coiling its current, wrapping around me.

But I’m an enchanter. I can shape the water, too.

I fight to clear my mind, to picture the water releasing us—or, better yet, pulling us up to the surface. I feel the current give, bending to my will.

So why are we still sinking?

The harder I pull, the faster the water drags me down.

Raze’s grip on my hand loosens, like he’s losing consciousness. I hold on tighter. I’m not sure I can drag him out of the water, but I can’t just let him drown.

My magic’s grip on the water slips, and we’re still being yanked down, down, down.

My spine tingles as a voice slithers through my mind.

Did you think you were going to drown? Gossamer’s quiet voice asks. I won’t let you die, changeling. He’s not real, and I’m not fully conscious, but I feel the trace of a finger skimming my face. Not while I’m stuck up here. We’re bound. You don’t have to fear anything, not as long as I’m with you.

The sensation stays there, cupping my face, for too long.

Then I break the surface. There’s earth beneath me, pressed under my hands and my face, half on land and half in the water. Raze is beside me, coughing up water.

But alive. We’re both alive.

It doesn’t make sense. I never felt the current shift, never felt myself moving up. It was just down, down, down—

And then we were breathing again.