“It was worth it,” Mira managed in a shaky voice, trying to stay tough. Trying not to let this…thing…see her fear. “To get him away from you, it was worth it.”
The sorceress’s eyes turned red. She lifted her hands and threw them forward. A burst of electrical energy sizzled from her fingertips, flew through the air. Mira screamed. She knew she did. But the blast never hit. It went right through her and slammed into the wall of the boat, opening a hole in the side that rocked the boat from side to side.
Mira stumbled, hit the wall of the boat. Frigid water poured into the cabin, seeped around her feet. But she was too focused on the sorceress’s eyes, growing wider with disbelief and fury, as she glanced from her hands to Mira’s face.
There was nowhere for Mira to go. Panic spread through her chest, threatened to overwhelm her. And then she thought of the Firebrand opal.
Her wish was fulfilled. It wasn’t bound to her anymore.
She quickly reached up and flipped the clasp on the chain around her neck. Excitement speared through her when it opened and the opal fell into her hand.
Across the cabin, the sorceress yelled, “No!”
But Mira didn’t hesitate. She dropped the opal into the bottle, just as she’d done with Tariq’s stone. Only this one didn’t sizzle and pop. It bobbed in the liquid she’d enchanted with magical words Claire had given her, then seemed to hover, suspended inside.
The sorceress screamed, and Mira looked up just as another vortex of light and smoke and energy spun through the room. But this one didn’t disintegrate. In a roar so loud it shook the boat, the sorceress, her magic, every bit of her twirling tornado was sucked into the bottle.
Barely able to believe what had just happened, Mira slapped the top down on the bottle, securing the clasp. Inside the yellow-tinged glass, the Firebrand necklace still floated, but there was no sign of the sorceress. Just a crackle and sparkle of magic that told Mira she and her power were in there somewhere.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. She’d done it. She’d saved Tariq, she’d managed to save herself, and she’d trapped the sorceress.
Her hands shook. Her heart raced. Slowly, sound returned. And a shiver racked her body. She looked around the salon, half filled with water from the gaping hole in the side, and realized the boat was sinking.
She scrambled for the stairs. The boat groaned and jerked to the side, knocking her off balance. The bottle slipped from her fingertips. She went under the steadily rising water, kicked hard to come back up. Sputtering, she looked around for the bottle. It was floating on the steadily rising surface of the water. Heading for the hole in the side of the boat.
She had to get to it. She couldn’t lose it!
She swam hard for it. Her fingertips grazed the glass, but she couldn’t reach it. Before she could get her hand around the neck, it was sucked out of the boat and disappeared into the river.
Mira’s head went under. Water swirled around her. Lungs burning, she kicked hard to get air. When her head popped up, she gasped, so close to the ceiling. Oh God, she wasn’t going to get out. She was going to drown down here.
She swam as hard as she could. Finally reached the stairs, now at an angle as the boat filled. Water poured over the deck, into the salon, but she fought against the current and pushed through until she was on the drastically sloped deck. She didn’t bother looking for a lifejacket, knew there wasn’t time. Hands on the grab rail, she struggled to the edge and pushed off, sailing into the river, hoping she’d jumped far enough out so the boat didn’t suck her down with it. Praying she’d live.
Because as much as she’d been willing to sacrifice herself for Tariq, she didn’t want to die this way. Not when they were both finally free.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mira drew a deep breath, lifted her hand, and knocked on the office door. Three days had passed since the events on the boat. After being rescued by a passing ship, she’d filed a report with the harbor police about the “electronic malfunction” on board that had caused the sinking, apologized to her boss for wrecking his boat, then cashed in the rest of her vacation time. She needed a couple of weeks to chill out and recover mentally from what had happened, and she had one person she needed to thank in person.
A voice inside the room called, “Come in,” so Mira turned the handle and stepped into the cramped office on the University of Florida’s campus.
The woman with auburn hair and wire rimmed glasses at the desk near the window looked up from her computer. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Mira Dawson. We chatted via phone and e-mail.”
Claire Sampson’s eyes widened, and she pushed out of her chair with a smile, holding out her hand in greeting. “Oh my gosh, it’s so great to meet you in person.”
Mira shook the other woman’s hand—or hands, as the woman closed both of hers over Mira’s—and felt the first real smile since the accident slide across her face. “You too. I wanted to come and thank you in person.”
“No thanks needed. If anyone should be doing the thanking, it’s me. You provided me with incredible research.” As if realizing she was still holding Mira’s hand, she quickly let go and motioned to a chair next to her desk. “Please, sit.”
“Thanks.” Mira lowered to the seat, set her purse on her lap.
Dr. Sampson was tall, close to five ten, and she had the prettiest blue eyes. As brilliant as polished sapphires. But the glasses, the loose-fitting slacks and white blouse with what looked like a mustard stain on the buttons and the smudge of ink across her cheek screamed nerdy professor to Mira.
She smiled again, more relaxed than she’d expected. The fact Claire seemed as dedicated to her job as Mira had hoped, settled her nerves. If she’d been some stuffy, know-it-all professor, Mira would have felt intimidated.
“I know it must have been extremely overwhelming for you,” Claire said, “but…wow. I can’t wait to hear all the details.”
They’d chatted via phone after the incident, but Mira hadn’t been ready to give away the nitty-gritty then. She’d still needed time to absorb what had happened. But she owed Claire because she’d been the one to help her. And that’s why she’d made the trip all the way to Florida so they could talk in person.
As Claire pulled out a tape recorder, Mira took another deep breath and launched into the entire story. From the moment she’d met Tariq until she’d been pulled from the water. And as Claire listened, those gemlike eyes grew wider and more excited with each juicy detail.
“Amazing. Completely amazing,” the professor said when Mira was done. “I’ve always suspected that djinn are just like us—that there are good and bad ones and that they live by free will—but your story is the first that actually confirms this for me.”
There definitely were good and bad, and just as she’d done every hour since that day, Mira wondered where Tariq was, if he’d found his brothers, if he was happy now that he was finally free.
She shook off the thought because she knew dwelling on where and what and how would only drag her down. And even though she loved him, she knew he’d only been with her because of the curse. She’d hoped and prayed that he’d come to her on his own now that he was free—he’d said all djinn could cross between realms, so she knew he didn’t need the opal to do so—but so far, he hadn’t. And that was the other reason she needed to emotionally recover from everything that had happened—because she missed him more than she’d ever missed anyone in her whole life.