"Katheryn. Just breath."
She hears the words whispered to her from the cell beside her own, but Kat can't do as asked.
She can't breathe.
Elliot was out there. He was in trouble. Deathly trouble and it was all her fault.
He was the lover of the White Witch after all. And they'd found a few in town still deathly hungry to see her suffering after everything she'd done to them.
So, they'd waited, and they'd plotted and just when they'd been at their most venerable Cyrus's angry dogs of the town had so gleefully ripped the two lovers apart casting her into heavy chains taken for a truly shame trial of how she'd used her magic to cripple the mighty Cyrus Goodwin and allow his wife to speak for him.
"A life for a life. Witch."The words hissed from clenched teeth as she'd sobbed around the gag they'd tied around her mouth as she struggled against the heavy hands holding her back as Elliot was taken from her.
She didn't know when. And that was the worst part.
They'd imprisoned them in a room without windows to add to her compounding torment.
To be a part but unable to change the outcome.
Her Elliot. The man she loved. Her best friend was about to die, tossed overboard into the dark waters of a violent sea, one that the men on the boat deck would be sure El couldn't fight against, and they wanted her to keep breathing.
To hold back the panic attack crushing her from the inside out.
This was all her fault.
"Kat."
Susanna, this time trying to soothe her as Thomas looks on helpless in his mess of heavy chains holding him bound to the ship side, as he struggled again to pick the locks with the mangled hairpin she'd managed to toss to him after freeing herself an Susnnna from the chains but not from the cell.
That at least gains something of Kat Landry's floundering attention.
"Have faith, my Kathryn."
Fresh tears well in her eyes as she nuzzles her cheek into her friend's offered touch against her tear wet face, smudging away some tears only for more to follow.
"Kat. Have faith Kat."
That was what Elliot had shouted at her.
Not that he'd loved her. That was easy to see from the way his eyes were locked on hers as they were pulled apart that last time.
"Breath, Kat." Susanna instructs her eyes so warm and understanding.
So, like Elliot's soft gaze as they look into hers past the separating bars of the prison cell. Susanna's hand warms against her cheek. Her thumb rubbing away the sliding tears.
"Just breath, Kat." She whispers again in coaxed guidance. This time her hand dropped to press against Kat's racing heartbeat. "Breath with me." She instructs.
Like the time at the Y2K party when she was a teenager, when Alice jumped in to calm her down.
Elliot must have shown her after Kat's last attack when they found themselves unable to use the pond just yet.
Kat had been terrified. She needed to get to Alice.
They'd been so wrong about KC. Alice needed to know. She deserved to know before she destroyed the fragile trust the two had built.
Despite the pain of looming loss, Kat finds her breathing evening out under Susanna's grounding warmth.
"I have faith. As should you. We Augustine stock are more resilient than given due credit."
Kat finds herself giggling at this remark. Her fingers reach to intertwine with Susamma's hand, which is still resting against the separative barrier of Kat's shirt over her slowing heartbeat.
"He will find a way back to you."
Kat finds herself humming along to a song in her head.
"Somewhere in our tomorrow. There's a song they will sing to the sea about you and me."
She sings out her voice breaking on the words as they tumble from her lips.
She catches Susanna's surprised breath at the sudden serenade, but she can't stop the words or the song spilling from her now.
"So, I just breathe. Hope the water brings you back to me."
Understanding quickly replaces the surprise deep in those soft eyes. But her hand doesn't drop away; in fact, Susanna leans in closer to the separating carrier of the cell bars.
She understands it wasn't herself Kat was singing for, but for the descendant of her line that truly guards this dear lady's heart she was calling for.
"Let the water bring me back to you."
They knew Thomas was still with them and watching them, but they didn't look away from each other.
Kat's hand is holding Susanna against her chest against the stormy rocking of the ship at sea.
"So, I just breathe."Susanna hums along now.She wasn't much for songs or singing, but she was willing to attempt this one if it meant offering her sweet Katheryn comfort.
"and I wish for this wish to come true." She didn't know where the words came from. They feel right as they fall from her lips. "Let the water bring me back to you."
But the ship lurched to one side, and along with the sudden rocking, a sudden loud shouting and an ominous splashing came from the other side of the wooden walls.
Fresh tears roll down Kat's cheeks at the noise of it all.
But then the door was being pushed open, and a soggy figure was stumbling in against the push pull tossing of the ship.
"K—KC?" Kat stammered
"Erm… hi." Her intern smiles as they push waterlogged hair out of their eyes "Don't worry. We're here to bust you out."
"You shouldn't have." Sussanna was saying.
"I wasn't just going to let you die." KC was arguing changing course at the scolding to cross to Thomas's side rather than continue towards the two still locked in the ship holding cell. "Honestly Mother it's like you don't know me at all."
"If Cyrus's men should see you." Thomas now joins in the scolding, the closer the young savior came.
"They didn't Jacob made sure." KC answers.
"Elliot what about Elliot?" Kat demands one hand still clutching Susanna's fingers the other clutching white knuckled against the cell bars.
"He's safe." KC soothes struggling now to free Thomas's wrists from the shackle cuffs.
Something about the way the smuggler man was watching them, whispering so low only they could hope to hear over the crash of the storm outside.
And the way KC wasn't bothered at all in answering his questions.
But then the two smiled, and Kat felt her heart freeze in her chest.
It was the same smile as the stubborn shackles dropped away.
Seeing them so close, Kat kicked herself for not putting the pieces together sooner.
Why KC was so interested in helping Kat dig into Thomas in the first place.
Why was her clever intern so sneaky in covering tracks?
"We need to go, " KC said, stumbling now to unlock the cell doors as Thomas, with far surer footing, crossed to the foolishly still stocked weapons cabinet. I swear to you El is safe. Jacob is with him, and they are on their way back to drier land."
KC stops with a grunt of surprise as Kat pulls them into a bone rattling hug. "Thank you."
"Of course."