25. They Werent Kidding When They Called Her a Witch

25

THEY WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN THEY CALLED HER A WITCH

PACARI

" A hahaha," Teresa giggles. "You've literally rocked my world. It literally feels like there's an earthquake. Feels weird underwater."

Her words are slurred and giggly and barely cogent. But I feel it too.

Another quake!

Dread blasts through me, instantly sobering me after all of our passionate sex. A needy, impatient feeling rises up in me, upset that I have so many things to take care of when all I want is to fuck Teresa into eternity. Her magic is addicting. She is addicting. And we have still more to do—more of the ocean to explore together—and hopefully, more of her life above the water to explore as well. I want to know her world as intimately as she has grown to know mine .

"That is an earthquake," I tell her, staring into her eyes to force her out of her cum drunk stupor.

Still, she laughs. Her expressions seem to crash on her face as she smiles.

"Classic California," she snorts. "It's your fault , you know, for rocking my world. Get it… fault…"

I need to secure the garden. I have to face the Lantern Witch—and worst of all, I have to take Teresa with me. There's no other way to guarantee her safety. I can only hope the magic inside her helps to keep her safer.

"Teresa, we have to go," I urge, pulling her to me.

She sighs as our bodies align, the feeling already so familiar and so right. As we swim closer to the Lantern Witch's dwelling, fear seeps into every fiber of my being. What if she withdraws her magic? Leaves Teresa without oxygen, without the atmospheric protection? What if she decides she's done with me and Teresa is stranded here in the Abyss?

I should have tried to find Cirro. Even Kalixto—but it's too late now.

We're here.

"Pretty light," Teresa murmurs.

If she knew the danger we're in, she'd be as sober as I am. I can't blame her for not realizing the severity of her situation. This is my world, not hers.

"Teresa, my pearl. I love you, but we're about to meet an extremely dangerous creature. I need you to stay close and try not to say anything ‘cause you're a little cum drunk and braindead right now—"

"Yeah—" she starts to shout before I cover her mouth. She mumbles "I am" into my hand.

"—and I'm terrified she could kill either of us at any moment if she so chooses. Do you understand?"

She nods, her eyelids drooping. "That's a lot to deal with and it made me very tired all of a sudden."

"Does that mean you'll do what I asked?"

"Shh, I just wanna cuddle up and sleep."

I laugh anxiously, hoping that with her mostly passed out that I can figure out what's best for us. My body is tight with fear that I do my best to hold in. As long as Teresa is in my care, I have to make all the right moves. I have to ignore all the horrifying what-ifs that could go wrong.

"A sacrifice? It's been so long," coos the Lantern Witch's voice.

"Don't even think about it," I say before I can catch myself.

My teeth bare for a moment before I remember who I'm talking to. What's at stake.

The witch pouts. "I was hoping it would be an apology for LEAVING MY EYES ON LAND."

I shield Teresa as best as I can from the witch's ire, curling myself in.

"Its purpose was to watch you, seducer," she grumbles. "But you've absconded with this human and abandoned the poor soul… and after all your false cries that you care about the lives of others."

"I put him in the care of a trustworthy human," I counter. "He's very cute as a dog. It was good luck what he shifted into."

"Trustworthy… Trustworthy…" she hums. "Then what is it doing in dark caverns haunted by ghosts I never wanted to see again?"

Ghosts? She can't mean Aka. They've never met, I'm certain of it. Human ghosts never come this far below.

When her hands come flying towards us, I spin Teresa behind me, holding her tight by her hands. She wakes up with a "weee!"

The Lantern Witch curls her angry claws around my throat.

"You disobeyed me, seducer," she growls. "Broke my trust. Just like a man. A parasite like the rest. Couldn't even bring me the magic you swore to retrieve."

"Just a few more days," I gurgle. "I can bring it to you in just a few more days."

"More false promises," she hisses.

"Oh my god, is that an angler fish…" Teresa gasps, "…mermaid?"

"Your toy has awakened, seducer… what if I played with her instead?"

"No!" I shriek as the witch's grip loosens. I hold tighter to Teresa, treading water behind me. "Please, I—I have no more magic to give you right now."

"Liar!" she growls, her teeth looming ever closer to my face. She might bite my head off at any moment.

"Are you the sea witch?" Teresa asks, slowly growing more cognizant as she wakes. She giggles to herself. "I really can't tell if this is a dream or not. I think it's real."

"The sea witch," the Lantern Witch barks. "What has this seducer told you of me?"

I feel my breath start to go as she idly covers my gills.

"That he pays you magic to keep his garden alive."

"That was our deal, wasn't it, seducer?" the witch hisses. "But he doesn't seem to like that arrangement anymore… hiding magic from me when he knows our agreement. And not only that…"

Finally she lets go of me, and before I can stop her, darts for Teresa.

"He's stolen from me."

The witch holds the nautilus shell in her hands, Teresa by her neck.

"Oh, if this were a dream this would be such a neat time to wake up," Teresa gasps.

"How unfortunate to tie yourself to a man," the Lantern Witch hisses. "But they are all of them the same… My regrets, girl, that you will lose your life because of him."

"Because of his debt?" Teresa gasps.

"At least you understand."

As the witch is about to rip the necklace from Teresa's throat, so too am I about to rip into the Witch. But Teresa's words stop us both.

"I have magic to trade!" she calls out, clutching the witch's claws within her hands to stop her. "In exchange for my safety! And Pacari's! And the garden's!"

The witch laughs, deep and sadistic.

"It'll take more than simple sex magic to pay off all those debts. The most I could give you is your life."

"Teresa, no," I beg.

But I know what has to be done. It is the only trade to be made. The only way out of this that lets us both keep our lives.

"And even still, your magic is unprocessed… unless…"

The Witch drags her maw across Teresa's skin. Every single cell in my body begs for me to stop it, but this is the least threatening thing she could be doing right now.

Teresa is so calm in the face of unbelievable dangers, her face shows no fear. In fact, she's smiling now. Not in the threatening way that the Lantern Witch does, but in that soft, friendly way that shows off the beautiful curve to Teresa's cheeks, the pink of her lips.

"Like I said, I have magic to trade," Teresa repeats.

My heart hurts. To know a part of us has to be traded in this way. Something that was supposed to be secret and private and ours.

"Well, let's see it, human," the witch huffs.

I can feel the way Teresa's face flushes through the heated waters.

"I didn't think about getting it out, to be honest," she admits. "A little invasive. Do you—you don't have like a rock I can hide behind, do you?"

"And let you try to escape?" the witch sneers.

"Mm, yes, I definitely plan on escaping. Have you seen how fast I can swim?" Teresa laughs. "I wouldn't have any idea where to go. Besides, I'm not going anywhere without Pacari."

"Hmmm," the witch ponders, those terrifying white eyes darting between us both. "Very well. And if you escape, I will enjoy making a meal of your beloved seducer."

Teresa nods, and the witch finally releases her. I breathe for the first time in minutes. My nerves unwind just a little.

The witch turns towards me.

"Whatever you ask of me," I tell her, ready to lay down my life for Teresa's.

If she wanted to escape, she could. As long as she swam up. Though the witch is terrifying, she is a creature of the deep, and most of them do not swim very fast. Only creatures like me and Cirro, those made for the blue waters and the black, swim with any speed down here.

Teresa lets out a soft little moan from the other side of a rock lit by the Witch's Lantern. The noise sends the wrong signal to my sifon , which despite the stakes seeks to be reunited with her. The witch's grasp grows tighter, drawing blood. I steady my breathing, irked that she has sent a signal to nearby predators, knowing we must make it back to the surface safely.

When Teresa returns to us, she swims with her arms forward in much the same fashion as when we have swum together. I suppose there are not many options for humans to swim without the use of their arms. Every few dips, she kicks her legs instead, then gives up and goes back to undulating like a dolphin.

"So well-behaved around her," the witch says to me. "Well, human. Let's see it."

"Promise," Teresa demands. "My safety. Pacari's. All the creatures in the garden."

"Only if your magic is good enough," the witch sneers. "I will promise your safety, and your safety alone."

Teresa stares down the Lantern Witch with fury in her eyes. She holds her cupped hands to her belly, transfers the pearls to her lower hand, and uses her other hand to pull one pearl from the mass.

"I felt this. I know it's worth. And you will allow every one of us the protection it's worth."

Teresa doesn't back down when the Witch swims forward to take the pearl from her fingers. Teresa's hand joins its twin against her belly.

Standing there, bearing the magic of our love within her hands, staring down one of the most powerful creatures in the sea, I could not be more in love.

This woman deserves the world and more. She is so fierce, so strong, so beautiful through and through.

"This isn't ordinary sex magic," the witch grumbles.

Teresa wiggles slightly. She's excited, I can tell.

"Hand it over, the deal will be granted," the witch says, holding out her hands.

Teresa shakes her head. "I didn't bring all of them out to barter."

"Then rot in the depths," the witch laughs.

"Teresa!" I try, but she keeps going.

"And you'd pass all this up? You have a claim to his life, maybe, but not mine. As you said, you promised me my life."

"And you'd leave him behind?" the witch teases. "All three of us know what magic this really is."

My heart thuds. It is one thing to feel love, it is another thing entirely to have physical proof, verified by an outsider.

Teresa shakes her head. "You know I wouldn't. Half for you, half for us."

"That's more than fair," I assert. "And it is the last of this magic you'll get from us."

Her maw opens wide, teeth fierce and threatening.

"You make such demands when you are not even done with our deal," the witch barks. "I suppose you have no need for your human to come this far down ever again?"

Teresa and I exchange a glance. I can see the desire in her face. How much she wishes to return. She fingers the necklace with her free hand.

"The same deal as before. The same magic we were already trading, but not a single pearl of our bond," I bargain.

Teresa mouths, ‘ Thank you .'

‘ I love you ,' I mouth back to her.

She smiles, tries to hide it between her teeth.

"And what of your precious friend? The one you abandoned to the land? I will not have my eyes wander forever."

Teresa lets out a shudder. "Do you mean that literally?"

"Slugger," I remind her. "He was enchanted to keep an eye on me."

"Either way, I will cut our bond and kill the slug if you do not return it to the water immediately. To be subjected to what it sees is torment I wish not to bear," the Lantern Witch explains.

"No!" Teresa cries out.

"We'll get him back!" I growl through my teeth. "Do we have a deal, Witch?"

She stares us down with those empty, white eyes before holding out her hand.

"Deal."