her jaw dropped. She reached for me just as my legs locked up and my knees hit the sand, but I couldn’t feel the softness. All I knew was the fire burning in my veins and the sea of red gushing from my body. Everything went quiet. Black dots swarmed my vision and the world went dark.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Saffie
I screamed as the kraken’s tentacle pierced through Savannah’s stomach.
“NO!” Everyone behind me shouted as we ran as fast as we could.
Tennessee was already flying over the water with his golden angel wings.
Rainbow magic shot by him and slammed into the kraken’s face. It flew back, pulling its tentacles with it and away from shore. Savannah’s body hit the sand with a thud, her blood splashing like a scarlet wave. Tegan was already at her side, dropping to her knees and reaching for her wound. Red blood gushed over her pale fingers.
My throat was burning and I knew I was screaming but I didn’t care.
Why aren’t I moving faster?
Riah and I were ahead of everyone else, our wings giving us an advantage that even still wasn’t fast enough. Even Tennessee and Tegan hadn’t been fast enough.
Everyone was screaming. I felt nothing but panic upon panic from all around.
When I got to the shore I lunged over penguin-Gigi, who was still rolling in the sand and trying to get back up, and slid through the blood caked sand to my knees at her side. “SAVANNAH!”
Tegan’s hands were pressed tight to the gaping hole in her stomach, completely submerged in the sea of blood. She chanted low and quickly. Rainbow magic poured out of her. A pale blue haze lingered over Savannah as her soul was preparing to leave her broken body.
“NO!” I dove for her head and cupped her face between my hands. “SAVANNAH!”
She gasped and blood splashed onto her lips.
“SAVANNAH!” Cooper slid in across from me. He slammed his big hands on top of Tegan’s and pushed his magic out. “Savannah.”
Her eyes opened but the blue in her irises were gray. Her face ashy pale. She looked up at him and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
“Hey, hey, no. Stay with us.” Cooper leaned down more. “Savannah.”
“SAVANNAH!” I screamed.
She met my gaze. “…be…free…”
And then her eyes rolled back in her head and her heart stopped.
“NOOOO! SAVANNAH!” I screamed and pressed my hands to her chest but there was no pulse. No warmth. No life. “No, no, no, no!”
Gigi, real human Gigi, slid up beside me and a strangled cry left her lips.
“No. No, no,” Cooper whispered and his voice broke. “NO!”
Come on, Savannah! STAY WITH ME! I’d saved Riah. I’d helped him hold on. I could try — my gaze dropped to the six inch wide hole in her body and a violent tremor ripped through me. I screamed and slammed my magic into her chest.
But I felt nothing.
NO. PLEASE NO. Don’t you DARE die on me. This is NOT the hill you gon’ die on!
I pushed harder but that blue light wasn’t dimming.
Everyone around me was screaming and shouting in panic but it was nothing but a loud hum. My ears rang. Water and blood splashed all over me but I didn’t care. Golden glitter spread everywhere. Tears rained down my face. My lungs and throat were on fire.
Cooper took her neck in his blood-soaked hands. His thumbs pressed into her skin like he was looking for a pulse. “Nooo. No, come on.” He cupped her face and turned it toward him. He whimpered and shuddered. “Savannah.”
Gigi shook like a leaf in a hurricane. She stared with wide, shocked eyes.
“Tegan, do something,” Cooper shouted in a broken voice.
“I’M TRYING! IT’S TOO MUCH!” Tegan screamed back.
“Kiwi, damn it, kiwi,” Cooper growled – or that was what it sounded like. “No.”
“SAVANNAH!” I cried and a broken sob poured out. I collapsed over her lifeless body.
Hands gripped my shoulders and tried to lift me but I latched on to her and just kept pushing my magic. I would give myself Witch’s Shock if it meant saving her. I didn’t care. They could strip my Mark. They could heal me. My life was not more important than hers.
“SARAPHINA!” Riah shouted in my ear.
The sound of his panicked voice made me look up on instinct but he was nowhere in sight. The Coven stood around us and in the water fighting the kraken.
A wave rose up and I gasped, but then a head of wild red hair emerged from within the water and a person