I gripped my hands around the straps of my knapsack. All I had to do was find a town that didn’t have a witch or wizard. The ticket was just a guide to help me find a town. As long as I fulfilled the requirements of the quest, I could stay as the town witch.
There was only one moon’s time left, and I needed each and every day to win over the town leader.
I had to stay here.
A few people walked through the cabin—a group of cleaners pushing their rattling carts along the aisles and stray passengers yawning and heading out to the deck to disembark. Most of them were tourists with wide floppy hats and big rolling trunks. Unlike me, all of them looked like they expected to be here.
“Eva?” Rin called, from outside the door.
I stood as straight and as tall as I could, the way Mother would. It felt like I was barely treading water, but at least I wasn’t sinking into the sea. Breathing deep, I whispered, “I’m a witch, just like Mother. And I’m going to keep my magic, too.”
With that, I followed after Rin.
The moment I stepped outside, a blast of salty air hit my face. Above, pricks of stars glinted in the vast red-purple evening sky. But bigger than the sky was the rippling water.
Back at home, we had a stream that trickled next to the garden, and we always traveled down to Okayama by riverboat. The other shore had been a stone’s throw away. I’d never seen anything like this.
I gasped. “Is this—”
“The one and only Constancia Sea.” Rin grinned at my astonishment. I ran to the railing and leaned over.
Taking a deep breath, I gazed out at the splendors. Water stretched out and out, until it mixed with the sky at the faraway horizon. I turned around and gaped at the strange new world in front of me. On the other side of the ship, rocky cliffs reached toward the sky, looming over us. Beyond some of the moored boats, there was a gap in the cliffs, about the length of five sailing ships, as if the rocks were two hands reaching for each other yet forever apart.
Through the opening, a town was nestled in a bay. Skiffs zipped to and fro, ferrying cargo and passengers to land. Inside the bay, it looked like a witch had cleared out a circle within the cliffs and filled it half with water and half with land.
“Why don’t we dock by the town?” I asked.
Rin shook her head. “The ships can’t make it into the rocky shallows, so we have to switch to a smaller boat.” She handed me a pair of binoculars from her pocket. “Go on, take a look at Auteri.”
Through the lenses, the half-moon shape of the town glimmered, huddled between the circle of cliffs and dark blue bay. Stone roads crossed between the white homes and stores with dark blue and gold tiled roofs, and lights sparkled from windows, making the town look like a cluster of sapphires and diamonds peeking out of stone. On the farthest edge of town on the top of a small hill, a huge building towered over Auteri, capped with a gold dome. Behind the town, a narrow road led up and over a steep peak.
“Welcome to Auteri,” Rin said. “Home of the Festival of Lights.”
She motioned me toward a skiff. We settled onto the plank seats, surrounded by crates, as the sailors shouted to one another, grunting as they pulled on ropes to lower the skiff.
We bobbed in the slight waves, and the skiff workers began rowing us in. I ran my fingers through the cold water, and goose bumps prickled all over my arm. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Isn’t it?” Rin smiled. “Still, the sea is a fickle one. Won’t listen to what any sailor, nightdragon, or witch says. It’s gorgeous now, but it grows vicious in autumn. Even more so with the last Culling.”
I shivered. Last year, Mother and nine Elite witches and wizards hadn’t been able to get to Kelpern, one of the cities on the coast between Okayama and Auteri, until hours after a blizzard had started. By then, the damage had already been done. Hail had shattered the windows, and the buildings had caved in under the weight of the ice. They barely managed to combine their magic to create a bubble-like shield over the broken city as the blizzard raged on.
A few days later, the storm dissolved into thin air.
But the ruins remained.
Shivers tingled down my spine.
“Staying for a while, are you?” one of the rowers asked, squinting at my plump knapsack, and shaking me out of my thoughts.
“I—I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’m on my Novice quest, and so I’m looking for a town that needs my help.”
“Well, I definitely hope you’ll stay,” Rin said.
The rower wiped the sweat off his neck with a handkerchief. “We sure could use your help getting our dear town into fighting shape before the Festival of Lights.”
Rin nodded, smiling at the man. Then she lowered her voice. “He’s right, Eva. We do need help. The realm may be scared of the Culling, but for us, a town on the waterfront, it’s the shadow to every beautiful day out on the sea. I wish there were more of you. Last year, though the blizzard hit Kelpern, some of our buildings near the docks flooded. These white buildings were stained with mud, up to the windows. Even worse, some of the stores got knocked down. An old cobbler’s shop near Seafoam Sweets Shoppe got completely wiped out, and the orphanage took some damage.”
I shuddered. This town was too beautiful. I couldn’t imagine the sparkling buildings flooded with saltwater.
The skiff passed through the gap between the towering black cliffs. “Don’t these rocks protect the town?”
“We’ve made a thick wood-and-iron gate to stop waves and wind from rushing through this gap, but it got blasted off in the past storm like a piece of paper. Nothing’s going to be able to bridge a gap this big, not unless there’s magic involved.”
I didn’t want to say that my Novice Witch quest would end long before the Culling. Or, even worse, that my magic might not be enough.
“Oh, look!” Rin pointed to the right of the boat, where three fins stuck out of the waves.
“Dragonsharks?” I gasped, jerking my hand out of the water and peering down for a glimpse of their razor-sharp fangs.
She shook her head with a light laugh. “Watch.”
A dolphin soared out of the water, droplets sparkling on its gray skin. It arced, spun a circle in the air, and dove back into the sea. Its friends joined it, and the dolphins frolicked alongside us, flying in and out of the waves. When we got close to the pier, they turned after one final jump, as if they sensed the rocky shallows.
“It’s a good sign.” Rin sighed with a quiet joy as the dolphins swam out to open sea. The rest of the rowers nodded, too.
The workers docked the skiff, and Rin motioned me out. I stood, but the overpowering smell of sweaty sailors and piles of fish made me sit back down.
Rin grinned. “When I’ve been away from the docks too long, the smell is a punch in the face.”
“Hey, Rin.” One of the sailors scowled. “You don’t smell so sweet after a day on the ship, either.”
“I’m sure you smell like roses.” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m too scared to smell my own clothes.”
I subtly sniffed the air. The skiff worker blended in with the rest of the sailors—smelling like briny fish. The faint scent of sun-dried laundry drifted from Rin.
Rin turned toward me, and I wrenched away.