"Stop being so tame, little witch!" laughs Ayesha. "You think you're still in kindergarten?"
Before I can say a thing, she prepares a new fire ball of her own, and angrily throws it at Ravena. It makes me wonder if she doesn't have more against the Earth Witch, but she's right; I can't simply stand still and take attack after attack. Ayesha doesn't ease her fire at Ravena, forcing the Earth Witch to retreat. I guess she can handle Ravena for now, but I'm more worried about the water one...
I turn around, and sure enough, she's still there, surfing strangely on that wave above the sea. It surprises me she hasn't attacked again, but she's still glaring at us like we're some ants...
"I want to solve that curse too!" I yell at her. "What is wrong with you? You're just going to attack me, get rid of me, then what? This is still a city of werewolves! And that curse? You won't be able to get rid of it so easily, either! You think you're the first witch to want to get rid of this? Hundreds of witches have tried, and you know what? I'm sure you'll fail too, because you're already so angry and blind!"
"Shut it!"
She sends another wave my way, but it's not as strong as before; I use my fire and stop it just before it hits me. She looks furious, and sends another one, but I won't back down. Her blows are not as powerful; is it because she's doubtful now? I even have time to glance to the side. Ayesha is doing just fine, and she's obviously trying to make Ravena step farther away from us. It would be good to separate her from that Water Witch indeed... She's probably the one who convinced her to attack us. If we can ruin that alliance between them, that would be a good thing for us...
I'm more worried about the werewolves. It would be a piece of cake if they could seriously attack the human women attacking them, but for now, they can only avoid and try to scatter them while not being hit. Thankfully, those women look haggard, and they don't throw any big blows or seem to attack seriously. Compared to the werewolves' speed, this is more like them attacking blindly and slowly, waving their blades around with a low chance of hitting anything... So far, only Selena and Ben have small cuts, nothing too big. But there are too many of those women. They keep forcing the werewolves to retreat toward the sea, and I don't like how we're getting more and more cornered...
"Naptera, stop playing around!" suddenly shouts Ravena from the other side. "Just get rid of the wolves!"
Naptera...?
The Water Witch glares at me, a new wave of anger rising. She sends another wave of water my way, much stronger this time. I take a deep breath and block it the best I can, ready for the blow. I can barely stand my ground, but I push it, focusing on her water.
A Water Witch named Naptera. She hates the curse, she hates me, but she was even more furious about the fact that I took over little Mara's power. She got absolutely furious when I mentioned Nephera. Why didn't I see it before? Even angrier, I send a fireball back, making the wave disperse.
"Don't you think you forgot to mention something?!" I shout at her, pissed. "This isn't about Ravena or beating the curse, is it? You're so mad at me because of what happened to Nephera! She was raised by Danica, but Danica wasn't her mother, was she? Her mother was no witch, but a descendant of that witch named Sadia Jones... I bet if I looked at the Witches’ Ancestral Tree again, your name wouldn't be so far from them!"
"Enough!"
This time, I don't have much time to avoid the new wave that hits me. It comes so fast, and much slimmer than before, but I manage to prepare a fireball just in time... and then, I get a furious hit in the stomach. I hear myself shouting in pain, like an echo from far away.
“Mara!”
Before I can do a thing, a new wave hits me at full strength, and I get swept off the ground. I don’t control anything, I’m thrown in all directions. I try to fight it, do something, anything, but the pressure is too intense. I try to ignore the pain and gasp for air, but before I can, I swallow a huge amount of salty water, and I feel myself dropping in the sea. Something that tastes like iron on my tongue, and red in the water above me. I want to throw up furiously, and my body feels terribly heavy. Damn it… She got me. I try to swim back to the surface, fight the pressure, but as I open my eyes, Naptera is angrily facing me in the water.
Oh, f-...
"I told you," she says, speaking despite the two of us being underwater, "you should have known better..."
This is the worst. I'm completely defenseless in the worst environment possible for a Fire Witch. Underwater. How could I be so stupid to let myself get sunk so easily?! I shouldn't have underestimated Naptera. I'm a fucking idiot.
“...ara! Mara, are you okay?”
Half a dozen voices suddenly echo in my mind, and although they're ringing quite annoyingly, at least they're helping me stay awake and focused. I have to fight this hellish nausea coming up, but my whole body is shivering like crazy.
“Yeah, I'm... still alive for now.”
I can't guarantee how long that'll be the case, though. Not when my enemy is facing me just a few strokes away, glaringly obvious that she's got a much larger hand in this fight now. Can I even get out of here or defend myself? I try to light my fire, but underwater, it's a bit depressing... I insist. This is magic fire, I should at least be able to do something! I got sick when it was raining, but I wasn't completely powerless. It can't be that simple. Elements can work together, can't they? It has to work somehow. I'm not stupidly dying here, hell no.
I look around, hoping to find a clue, a solution, but Moon Goddess, it would take something akin to a freaking miracle now.
“Liam, don't!” suddenly yells Nathaniel's voice.
“Mara, hold on, I'm coming!”
“Liam, stay out of here!” I shout back mentally.
“I'm fine, I can swim!”
“I don't doubt that, babe, but I wouldn't bet on you saving me while avoiding getting killed by an angry Water Witch! Stay the hell out of here! I'll manage!”
That's one big fat lie, but I really don't want to have to worry about my mate on top of everything else. I can't, I already need to focus on saving my own ass first. Oh hell, why can't Spark come out when I really need a huge clue…?
