"Stop screaming, you foolish girl," Nerissa's voice cut through the water, sharp and commanding, though her eyes remained fixed on the glowing purple web she was weaving between Roxy's legs. "I am not tearing you apart. I am bending space. If I do not widen the path with mana, your hips will shatter against the pressure of a Mer skull."
Roxy froze, her mouth still open in a half-finished yell. She looked down at the ribbons of violet energy pulsing around her. They didn't hurt.
In fact, where they touched her skin, the water felt thinner, lighter, as if the physical laws of the ocean were being politely asked to step aside.
Roxy squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay," she panted. "Okay. Let's get him out."
She bore down.
It wasn't the screaming, sweaty, tear-filled agony of the movies. It was a surge of power. It was a release. It was the feeling of a dam breaking and the river finally finding its course.
