Page 57 of Hot Summer's Prey

“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…”

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