Chapter 75

Alessio

The disappointed look on Amari and Riva's faces shoot a straight arrow of humiliation in my chest. Still, I force myself to swim to the shore and shake it all off.

Amari hands me a towel to dry myself off. I suppose I could change my wet clothes because of the cold, but I'm too gutted to do it. I just stand in front of Amari, who's staring at the lake with a thoughtful expression.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I didn't know that it was this bad--"

"Don't worry about it," she says, looking up at me. And I feel relieved to see that she seems to mean it. She doesn't look like she's blaming me. Perhaps she's just as sad as I am that the thing didn't work. "We will keep trying until the full moon. There will be an eclipse tomorrow night, before the half moon. But we will try again, don't worry. It's a process."

I nod slowly. "Thank you for saying that."

She sighs and pats me on the back. "We will have a better plan. For now we have to deal with. . . ."

She trails off, her eyes fixed on