Resisting the urge to rub my cheek, I locked eyes with him. “What are you waiting for?” I managed, despite my constant shuddering. “I’m right here.”
This time, he reached with both hands, mouth gaping in a horrible imitation of a grin. Fragments of bone littered his mouth, though they were too irregular and misshapen to be called teeth. Ripples of cold rolled off his body and crashed into me, making it even harder to stay on my feet. The faces of Cat, Grandad, and the missing girls flashed before me, steadying my shaking legs as the monster wrapped a hand around my waist.
Unable to utter a cry or even draw a breath, I jerked back and raised the knife, aiming for the creature’s heart. A claw-curled hand swiped at my arm, but trying to stab a monster wasn’t so different from chopping wood. I had to follow through with my swing or risk losing my balance. The sharp points of his nails raked my forearm, yet I pushed through the searing pain.
The carving knife rammed into the fossegrim’s chest.
He howled, grabbing me by the throat, but as his life bled away, so too did his strength. Using both hands, I drove the knife in deeper, recalling the faint music playing on the wind as Grandad jumped. No one else would have to die for the fossegrim’s pleasure.
The creature shuddered, his milky eyes bulging. For a moment, I thought he would simply sink beneath the waves. Then a loud pop rang out as his body burst into wet chunks of sticky, greenish foam. The sight reminded me of the dyed seeds girls would throw at the end of Mally’s celebration. Bits of fossegrim stuck to my face and hair, cold and reeking of ash, while other pieces fizzled in the waves. Wiping muck from my brow, I lunged for the knife that had served me so well, but it had been lost to the sea along with the fossegrim’s gruesome instrument.
Someone crashed through the water yelling my name. Fynn struggled against the waves. His trousers clung to his legs like a second skin, but his chest was bare. Rivulets of water ran down his face.
Finally remembering how to use my legs, I sloshed forward into his waiting arms. Even in his other form, Fynn was nothing like the horror I’d just faced. I held tight to his waist, finding his warmth a relief after the fossegrim’s intensely cold touch. My right arm throbbed, but I was past caring about the pain.
“Don’t take offense,” he muttered shakily, holding me close, “but you stink.”
A laugh escaped my dry throat as I glanced around. “Where’s Cat?”
“Safe on the beach.” Fynn cupped seawater in his hands and used it to clean more thick slime off my cheek. “I had to wrestle her out of the water. Roseen helped me hold her down.” He picked a clump of fossegrim out of my hair and lobbed it out to the horizon. “I don’t think either of us alone could have kept Cat from heeding the monster’s call, she was struggling so, but I wish I could have come for you sooner. I should have come for you sooner.”
“You did what you had to. Thank you for looking after my friend.” I rested my head against his shoulder. A pale moon appeared through the broken wall of clouds. “If we’re waging war against the sea, I’d say we just won a battle.”
Fynn’s face lit with a fierce pride, and I managed a strained smile.
“But, did Cat and Roseen …?” I wasn’t sure how to ask whether they’d seen him in his glashtyn form. I dreaded his answer.
“They didn’t see anything I care about,” Fynn answered. “Even in this skin, I’m a strong enough swimmer to handle a spell-touched girl.” He glimpsed my bloody arm and held it above the water. The stinging dulled slightly, but the four slashes there looked deep enough to leave scars.
I swayed against Fynn, lightheaded. “I need to get to shore.” He obliged by picking me up and splashing through to the shallows. “I like you, Fynn. Rather a lot. No matter what you are,” I murmured, gazing up at him. “Have I told you that?”
A smile lit his face. “Even if you didn’t, I think I already knew.” He smoothed my hair away from my forehead. “Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?”
“I can’t seem to stay away from you, any more than you can return to the sea. So, yes.” I closed my eyes, content for once to listen to the ocean’s whispered secrets.
On shore, Cat inspected my arm with a frown. “We’ll have to put something on your cuts. They look terrible.” Her dark curls were plastered to her head, and like Fynn and me, she was soaked from head to toe. “Roseen went to get blankets. And to tell our parents how you and Fynn rescued me when I tried to swim and got in too deep.”
I blinked. “Isn’t she going to tell them about the—”
“Monster? Fairy? Ghost?” Cat shivered in the brisk evening air. “No.” She met my eyes. “No one believed you when you tried to explain what happened to your granddad. And no one would believe us now, no matter how well we explained it.” She laid a trembling hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry I never believed you.”