I can't...I can't breathe.

I am infinitely aware of the pain as Mrs. Nox watches me squirm, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. It's like hot copper wires are being pulled through my veins, my heart aching with every heartbeat.

I can feel my body shutting down as I try to gasp in a desperate breath of air but no oxygen passes my lips. I fall to my knees as the pain behind my eyes doubles to the point they might pop. There is a freight train rattling through the inside of my brain and it's tearing me apart from the inside out.

I can faintly see Indigo and Connor from the corner of my eye, their gazes on me but not seeing me.

Fight.

I remember Indigo's words to me at one time, when she was teaching me to defend myself after Finn's murder.

"Fight me!" her shout from so long ago pierces through the haze that is settling over me.

A memory of her rabbit familiar flickers into focus and I think back to that day, the cold rain sprinkling down from the sky into our tiny backyard as I tried to best her in defending myself.

"You have to fight like your life is depending on it," the ice pick that she had thrown at me was no more than a few inches from my face.

I am fighting.

"Because I might not always be there to protect you," she had warned.

I just hadn't expected it to come so soon.

I try to rise to my feet, my head abruptly heavy, the pressure bearing down on me like a slab of concrete. My heart aches as it hammers in my chest, the pain intensifying as it feels like my lungs are seizing.

Fight.

I stagger to my knees, the muscles in my legs and neck pulling taut as they threaten to snap.

There's a sudden crash of thunder that booms in my ears and I am blinded by white light as I struggle to my feet. I clamp my eyes shut against the light before I dare to open them. Clayton is no longer next to Indigo but nonetheless I don't dare let my guard down.

A ward crackles to life in my palms, the magic rushing through my veins as goose-bumps prickle along my arms and I am bathed in blue light. I shield myself, the air shimmering as I survey what's happened.

Clayton has disappeared and in his place there is a ring of charred wood on the dock where he was standing. I can still see tendrils of smoke rolling off of the blackened wood as a shout catches my attention and I look up.

A bolt of silver light streaks over my head and I duck as I turn to watch where it goes. Mrs. Nox yells in surprise as she casts a ward, the bolt violently ricocheting off of the shield as it streaks away into the water, the black waves illuminated in white.

Another bolt of light quickly succeeds the first as the shield cracks and Mrs. Nox is thrown backwards down the dock as her arms flail uselessly.

"Kara!"

I jolt as I recognize Ava's voice as she sprints out of the darkness with Shawn hard on her heels and I let my shield dissipate. She doesn't stop when she gets to me, instead, she continues past me and runs for Indigo and Connor, who are still kneeling on the dock, their arms splayed toward the sky as the runes continue to do their work.

Fear thrills through me as I take a step in her direction but suddenly can't as I'm face to face with an invisible wall that my forehead connects with. I look up just in time to see that Mrs. Nox has gotten back to her feet, her teeth bared in a snarl as the air around her ripples with power.

I have no time to protect myself as I am suddenly flying through the air, the ground under me disappearing as it is replaced with the dark water of the harbor. I land hard, the water slapping my skin like a whip as I plunge under the waves, the cold knocking the air from my lungs as I open my mouth to cry for help.

Water pours into my mouth, the salt of the ocean burning a few places where I had bitten my lip as my eyes sting and my nose fills with water. I clamp my mouth shut as I plunge deep beneath the waves and I look down then to see that a chain has appeared around my left ankle.

I thrash against the weight, desperate to free myself from it as I sink deeper into the darkness. No light travels here as I am trapped in a blurry haze of blackness, my arms wheeling as I try to swim up.

Up toward the light.

Toward air.

I can feel bubbles of air fluttering past my nose and mouth as they float up to the surface to pop.

This is how I die.

I fight to control my panic, knowing that it won't do me any good as I reach for the chain binding me.

Break, I command it as I wrack my brain for spells.

The chain becomes ice cold in my hands as the links glow white. Frost covers their surface as I tug a few times, the weight still dragging me to the bottom.

Come on...come on!

I yank on the chain as it glows a faint shade of blue, the frost crystals digging into my palms as I pull, hoping the cold will cause the steel to snap. But the chain holds as I pull on it, the air beginning to dissipate from my lungs. I think of fire then, flames sparking in my hands as they heat the chain, the sudden change in temperature making the metal snap at last as I kick away and swim for the surface.

I can feel the water dragging at my clothes, threatening to still drag me under as I claw my way toward the surface. I feel like I've sunk under sand as the pressure bears down on me, my hands reaching and pulling through the dark as I search for the surface.

This is where I will die.

I reach out, my arms weakly cutting through the black as I heave upwards but to no avail. The air has drained from my lungs and now I've begun to sink.

The progress I've made begins to deteriorate as I slide back toward the bottom of the harbor, every spell I've ever known failing me as my head pounds in time with my heart.

Can't...can't think.

Something cold suddenly latches around my wrist and I startle as I try to see what's touched me. I can feel that it's a hand that has grabbed me as I am suddenly being propelled toward the surface, the water rippling over me as I find my last dregs of strength to fight.

At last the water lightens as my skull thuds with my every heartbeat, my eyes threatening to pop out of my head as I struggle to breathe. I'm shoved upwards and my head breaks through the water as I open my mouth to gasp oxygen into my lungs as I violently cough.

I sink down into the water as I am no longer supported and nearly go under again, another head surfacing next to me as brown eyes meet mine.

"Kara, holy crap you scared me," Shawn coughs as he tugs me over to the dock.

"Sorry," I croak, the saltwater still stinging my throat as I let him drag me behind him.

"I thought you could swim?" he asks as he clambers onto the dock before he pulls me up next to him.

"I can, but she cast a spell so there was a ball and chain around my ankle," I rasp as I lift my leg to show him the shackle still around my ankle.

His eyes widen at the sight as he pales and shudders, "I-."

A crack of thunder interrupts him and we look up to see that Ava and Mrs. Nox are maybe a hundred paces away, their wands at the ready as they lash out at each other with spells. Indigo is crouched behind Ava to my surprise, my sister so strikingly pale that I barely recognize her.

I stumble to my feet then, my hands breaking my immediate fall as splinters pierce my hands. Shawn grabs my shoulder, his breath close to my ear as he speaks.

"Kara, we need to stay back," he says in a low voice as my arms give out and I nearly smack my face into the dock.

I let him tug me backwards as we sit on the end of the dock, water dripping off of the both of us as Ava holds her own against Mrs. Nox, the wicked woman not giving in as I struggle to catch my breath.

Fight.

I need to fight.

I reach for the power within me but to no avail as I try to get up again, but it's like my legs are made out of lead.

I catch sight of something running through the trees further up the coastline and I prepare myself to fight as I think that it's Clayton trying to sneak up on Ava.

A blast of gold rockets from the tree line and I'm helpless to defend her.

"Ava!" I yell.

She looks up at me as the blast flashes past her, instead heading straight for Mrs. Nox as the woman is thrown backwards off the dock. There's a splash as water erupts into the air in a cascade of silver.

From the light of a nearby post-light I can just see the figure from the trees step out near the dock as their face is finally illuminated and I recognize Diana at last.