The ocean was cold, loud with the pounding surf, and powerful. The water caught hold of me, dragging me away from the shore and downward toward the seabed. Small shapes scattered through the murky water.
I gathered all of this in a couple of heartbeats, along with the realization that something large and dangerous lurked nearby. And my head would explode --
Something huge rushed at me. I made my peace with Bastet just before Reginald caught my right front leg in his beak and dragged me up to the surface. I gasped for air -- and saw the shark propelling toward us.
"Shark," I gasped and got more water than air. Thunder boomed around us. "Let go, Reginald! You can get clear --"
He grunted something and didn't let go. I could barely see the shore, there and gone again, between each break of a wave over us. But the good news was that Reginald could swim fast, even dragging me along.
The shark could swim even faster, but we had the fae on our side. As I was making peace with Bastet once more, the shark lunged forward --
And then it was up and flying over the top of us as Colin gave the creature a lesson in being a bird. I watched as he disappeared into the clouds. I think the creature wasn't impressed.
Reginald and I liked our ride in an air bubble back to the car. The vehicle had grown a bit to accommodate more passengers. Luna was in the driver's seat, and Shosha sat on her shoulder. I sensed Darion's magic there. The kitten would not fall off.
I threw myself into Colin's lap and snuggled in -- then lifted my head. "Thank you, Reginald."
The penguin looked startled, and I realized how rude I'd been since his arrival. I still couldn't reconcile myself to having a penguin as a spirit animal, but that wasn't Reginald's fault. I would have to talk to Colin about how this worked. Maybe we could find Reginald a better partner.
Luna had no trouble handling the car as we raced away from the ocean. It had been nice while it lasted, but the storm grew larger, brighter, and louder as it followed us.
"We need to do something drastic," Colin shouted. The wind had caught up to us, and the car, magic or not, could not keep steady. "We need to be somewhere else."
Darion agreed. "Out of her sight. No magic when we get there --"
They didn't bother to talk to the rest of us. One moment, lightning struck a tree a few feet away; the next heartbeat, we were sitting on the ground in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't see a single light or hear anything man-made. The sun was about to disappear behind a distant mountain range, but for a moment, I could see the cacti everywhere.
"Desert," Reginald said in utter astonishment. "I am sure I am not supposed to be in a desert."
"Colin and Darion are gone," Luna added.
I looked around and nodded. "They are trying to lead the trouble away from us. There is our storm off to the northeast."
Lightning obediently flashed in that direction, a shot of red fire through the clouds. That was not a natural storm.
"What should we do?" Shosha whispered. "I don't enjoy being out here."
"We head west," Luna replied, putting Shosha on her shoulder. "And no, I haven't had a vision. I can see the lights of a town in that direction."
Luna had the advantage of height. All I could see were bumps of cacti and ridges of rock and sand. I couldn't see the lights, but I trusted Luna. Reginald and I followed at her heels when she started in that direction. The penguin was less happy about our location than me. I didn't mind the place because it was still somewhat warm, and there were no sharks.
Then I considered snakes and wished one of the fae was around to carry me. I looked back and found the storm had grown noticeably larger and closer. I worked at being annoyed rather than afraid.
"Why is it after us?" I finally asked. "It is Maude's storm, right?"
"Yes," Reginald said. "And it is not us she wants; it's you. As her familiar, she invested you with a lot of her power. She wants it back now."
The truth shocked me. I had never considered that my previous link to Maude might still be reason enough for her to come after me. I could believe she would do anything for vengeance, and she had to hold a grudge against all of us by now. Probably even Reginald. But she was coming specifically for me?
My presence put everyone in danger.
From one step to the next, I changed direction and speed, heading first to the left and then straight for the storm. I didn't know what I could do, but there had to be something that would help.
Luna shouted my name a few times, but I ran fast, mindful of those snakes that lurked in the growing darkness. I thought the storm would scare them back into their holes. I might join one at this point. The lightning no longer danced across the sky. It forked down to the ground, stabbing so close that I could sometimes feel the tingle of power. I stopped behind a slightly higher ridge to catch my breath and try to make plans.
"What do we do now?" Reginald asked.
"MEOW!"
"Are you alright, Neko?" he asked, sounding sincerely worried.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded. Too loud. Maude might hear us.
"I'm your spirit animal. Where would you expect me to be?"
He had a point. I hadn't yet taken in the idea of a spirit animal. I suspected I could force him to leave, but it would take power that I didn't want to waste and might draw her attention.
Lightning struck closer to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment