T*Witches: Split Decision by H.B. Gilmour, Randi Reisfeld Page B

frantic racing mind screamed as the watery sand slipped into her mouth. She tried to expel it, spit it out. It was no use. She was sinking, being swallowed alive.
Alex
…

CHAPTER TEN
    A CRY FOR HELP
    Help! Help! I’m drowning!
    Alex woke with a start, bathed in sweat. She was hyperventilating, so dizzy she almost passed out when she tried to sit up. The nightmare that had jolted her awake was gale force. It felt so real.…
    I’m going down! It’s taking me … I can’t pull myself out… Alex!
    Alex blinked, tried to shake the blanket of sleep off her, to think clearly. She’d fallen asleep early, the minute she’d come home from her full first day of work, and still wasn’t fully awake. She checked the clock; it wasn’t even midnight. She must’ve fallen into some deep pit of a nightmare.
    Alex! Alex, where are you? I’m drowning!
    It was Cam! Her sister had been summoning her. But wasn’t Cam —? Alex looked over at her sister’s side of the room. Her bed was emp —
    She remembered. Cam was on Coventry Island. Had left just days ago.
    Please help me! I don’t want to die!
    Snap!
Alex’s eyes suddenly opened wide. This was a nightmare, all right, the nastiest kind. Because it was real. Worse, this was not something about to happen — this terrified cry was real and now. Cam was sending her a telepathic 911.
    Alex leaped out of bed, tried to calm herself just enough to think straight. Miranda! Ileana! They were on Coventry. Couldn’t they rescue Cam? She ran for the phone. And stopped dead.
    There was no number to call. Coventry Island had no phones.
    She refocused swiftly and went the telepathic route, calling out desperately,
Miranda! Ileana! Cam’s in trouble. Hurry! You’ve got to save her!
    She waited. Listening hard. All she heard were the sounds of the Marble Bay summer night, the clicking of cicadas, the barking of a nearby dog, the whirr of the air conditioner. No return message from Miranda or Ileana. And then —
    It’s pulling me down! I can’t get out! Someone save me!
    The panic now seized Alex’s entire body, propelled her forward. She flew downstairs to the kitchen, as if the answer might lie there. Her eyes fell on the spice rack. The Transporter spell! That was it! She could use magick to transfer herself to Coventry and save Cam. She was shaking hard, trying to hold the small spice bottles still to decipher the labels, trying to remember which she needed. One that started with M — but what? Margarine? No! No, stupid, marjoram … or did that bring back the dead?
    In her panic, Alex stopped thinking altogether. She opened every spice jar and matched it up with any and every incantation that came to her.
    Hold on, Cam! I’m coming! It’ll be okay! I just have to get the spell
—
    The door banged open. Alex jumped.
    A blur of green rushed at her.
    Michaelina shouted, “What’s wrong? I heard you calling out —”
    “It’s Cam!” Alex yelled. “She’s … I heard her …”
    She trailed off. So, wait. Alex’s telepathic messages to Coventry had been intercepted by … Michaelina?
    There was no time for questions. A crystal! That’s what she needed! The one Karsh had given her was in the bedroom. She raced toward the stairs.
    Michaelina yelled after her, “I’ll help you. Don’t worry. I have an idea.”
    “We have no time —” Alex screamed back at her.
    “I have a spell I can do,” Mike promised, rushing to catch up with her. “We can see her. See what’s happening. And I can pull her out of — I mean, we can save her.”
    “I think she’s drowning!” Alex was trembling now, terrified that she’d wasted too much time, that her sister was already —
    “Then let’s move it!” Mike shouted. She blasted up the steps, beating Alex into the bedroom.
    Alex’s heart was racing. What if they saw the trouble Cam was in and they couldn’t help her? Would that be worse? And could Michaelina even do this? Once Thantos had located the missing Dylan, by using a