The Elementalists

52.

It felt like time had slowed down. The boom hurtled towards the back of Wafi's head while he smiled up at me. His hair glowed from the sun at his back, his hazel eyes like molten gold as they crinkled at the edges with happiness.

Then it sped up.

The worst part was I saw realisation pass through Wafi's eyes before the boom audibly slammed against his head, and then came for mine.

Wafi's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the side. I barely ducked the boom. My hand immediately snapped out to grab him. With my foot in the strap, I was stretched just far enough to reach him. But he was slipping away.

My fingers closed around air as his body tilted away from me, over the edge, and with one bumpy wave, he was gone.

I screamed again, and before I knew it, I'd jumped into the icy water after him. Cold, salty water gushed in my mouth and sucked up any moisture from my eyes as I came up gasping. The boat was sailing away, leaving Wafi behind. I managed to throw an arm around Wafi's chest, his face kept raised to the sky, away from the water as I threw out a hand towards the boat with all the concentration I could muster to stop it in its track.

It wasn’t stopping. No, it couldn’t leave us behind. A cry of effort escaped me, my head immediately started to throb as the boat jolted once, twice and stopped. It was odd to look at it. The waves rolled, undulated under it as it stood still, not adhering to the force of the ocean. I could feel the intense amount of resistance from the water. I was trying to control the goddamn sea. However, I was half Water, so I’ll be damned if I let the boat get away from me in a domain I can control. I tightened my grip around Wafi, my vision started to blur at the edges from the pressure I could feel in my head. I paddled towards the boat, small bursts pushed me forward whenever I could spare it.

My right hand slammed against the boat, pain jolted through my unhealed hand. I ignored it as I go of the water around the boat. The boat started to move swiftly away with no control, no direction, nothing guiding it.

I didn't care if someone was watching. I didn't care if someone would see what I was about to do. All I cared about was Wafi. Wafi breathing. Wafi in the boat.

I'd already reached the limit for the Water element with trying to control a speck of the ocean but with a yell of effort, and an upheaval in my head-splitting migraine, I managed to force the water to listen to me once more. The sea around me shifted. It rose with incredible resistance that would have made me scream had I had any breath left. Wafi's upper body slumped into the boat, and I pushed his legs till he was full in. My vision flickered, black spots threatened to overcome me as I felt some warmth trickled down my nose.

Managing to put in some more effort, I forced myself onto the boat, breathless with the mental strain and physical exertions. Water gathered in the small area splashed against the side of Wafi's face. Water stained with red.

"No, no, no." I whispered to myself a I my body up and moved towards him. Leaning over Wafi, I placed his head in my lap, gently shifting it to the side. Surely enough, there was a huge gash that trickled blood into the boat. His light hair matted dark with it.

I started to feel panic rise in me. My head swung around. We were about twenty minutes from the shore. I need to make it back in literally half the time if I intended to stop him bleeding out. Focus. FOCUS!

I shook my head to force the dizziness and spots away as I gathered the rope once more in my hand. With one hand on the rudder, I pushed hard and the boat swung around, the boom making its way towards me again. I ducked it, taking my place opposite it as the nose of boat finally faced the beach again. With the wind at my back, I made much faster progress than I'd thought. But I didn't have time to tie up the boat.