“L?” Zara’s voice was thin and tight with pain. “Is that you?”
I spat out a leaf and dragged myself up onto my elbows. “Aye, it’s me. You’ve picked a shite spot for a nap, by the way.”
“Your commentary is not appreciated,” she whispered, but a faint ghost of a smile brushed her lips. Her face was pale, a sheen of sweat on her forehead.
I swallowed hard as my gaze went to her leg. Even without medical training, I could see the break. Her shin bowed at an angle legs were not meant to bow.
“Oh God.” My words came out garbled.
“Don’t you dare faint,” Zara hissed. “I need you lucid.”
“I’m fine,” I lied. “You, on the other hand…What happened? Did you fall? Were you pushed? Magickly yeeted?”
“Pulled,” she gritted out. “Something… tugged. In my head. Like a rope around my thoughts.”
Another screech ripped across the water, closer this time. I glanced toward the loch and my stomach turned over.
Shapes were emerging out by the island. Equine forms heaving up from the depths, slick black hides gleaming, manes like dripping ink. Water poured off them in sheets as they pawed at the surface, eyes like coals burning through the mist.
Kelpies. A whole bloody herd of them.
“Right,” I whispered. “Cool cool cool. Love this for us.”
A flurry of fur and anxious whines breezed between us and Mitch pressed himself against Zara’s good side, whining low, trying to anchor himself to her.
“Liora.” Zara’s hand shot out and grabbed mine, fingers digging in. “Listen to me. I don’t know how much time we have.”
“Don’t say it like that,” I choked. “You’re not dying, okay? We just have to get you up this hill and to the hospital and they’ll fix your leg and?—”
“L,” she said sharply, and I shut up. Her blind eyes were unfocused but fierce. “I’m holding them back.”
“The Kelpies?” My breath caught.
She nodded, jaw clenched. “They’re in my head. I can… see them.Feelthem. They’re angry, L. Furious. The Stone—something with the Truth Stone and the island and old bargains. I’m like a… a dam.” Her voice wavered. “But they’re pushing.”
Fear crawled cold fingers up my spine. “Okay,” I said, trying to breathe around the panic. “Okay, okay, we’ve got backup coming. The pub knows we’re here. Agnes is up top. The Order will be here. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“Too late,” she whispered, breath hitching. “I’m already in it. I can… I don’t know, speak to them. Negotiate. But I can’t move. And my leg—bloody hell.” Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, and it gutted me.
I squeezed her hand, my own eyes burning. “I’m here. I’ve got you. I’m so sorry, Z. For everything. For being a mess. For not telling you things. For being a shite sister.”
Her mouth trembled. “You are a shite sister but only once in a while,” she whispered. “And you’remyshite sister. I love you, you bloody eejit.”
A quiet sob broke out of me. “I love you too.”
Above us, voices shouted, branches cracking as people crashed through the trees toward the rim of the gully.
“Help!” I yelled, tipping my head back. “We need something to stabilize her!”
A familiar Highland burr cut through the noise. Archie, barking orders. Sophie’s sharper tone right behind him. Agnes. Lia. Shona. The whole bloody Order, by the sounds of it.
Magick prickled over my skin, a low hum building in the air like distant thunder.
“I’ll hold them off,” Zara muttered under her breath, eyes squeezed shut. “Just a little longer. We’re trying. We’re not your enemy. The Stone—yes, I know, I know?—”
She wasn’t talking to me.
A hand grabbed the edge of the gully above, and Sophie’s face appeared, hair wild in the wind.