Tavar looked thoughtful. "I will work alone and search along the base of the mountains. I'm better equipped for that terrain than the beach." She wrinkled her nose.
"You wouldn't want sunburnt breasts," Saff remarked helpfully.
Tavar blinked at him. "No, I would not." With a swing of her hips, she headed back inland.
"All right then, north it is," I said. The sun was only a couple of hands from the horizon. "We should meet back here before dark."
The others murmured their agreement and Saff, Fletcher and I started off up the beach.
"What do you think we're looking for?" Saff asked.
"A hidden immunity idol?" Fletcher suggested with a laugh.
"A what?" I turned to stare at him.
"It's… it's a human realm thing. I'll show you if we get there."
"All right then." I exchanged confused glanced with Saff. He shrugged.
"Anyway, I don't know what we're looking for," I replied. "If there's even anything to find. The first key wasn't in a place we expected, so there's nothing to say a veil, or a sliver of veil, will look like what we're used to."
I ran a hand through my hair. "The veil is a doorway, with an arch. So maybe we're looking for an arch."
"If that's the case, wouldn't someone have noticed an archway on a beach before?" Fletcher asked.
"I don't know. Did anyone notice a trapdoor in the middle of a field before we did?" I asked.
"If they did, I didn't see them," Fletcher replied. "Maybe they were too sensible to touch it."
Perhaps I should have been offended at his suggestion that I wasn't sensible. I might have if it wasn't accurate.
"Who comes here though?" Saff reasoned. "This is troll territory and you saw how fast Tavar took off, away from the beach. There could be a whole lot of the gods know what, that no one knows exists."
"I guess that's possible," I admitted. I puffed as we climbed a dune and slithered down the other side. I narrowly avoided falling on my ass in the sand. Only windmilling my arms saved me, but my feet slipped deep under the soft grains.
"Quicksand is more or less a myth here too, isn't it?" Fletcher asked. "Sand that swallows up people."
"I didn't come all this way to die by being eaten by sand," Saff remarked.
"Me either," I pulled my feet free and stomped a few paces forward to the damp sand closer to the tide.
"Wait a minute." Fletcher caught my arm. "The tide wasn't that close a minute ago."
"The tide is coming in." Saff looked unconcerned.
"That fast though?" Fletcher pointed.
The tide had risen several metres in the last few minutes. If it kept going, it would swallow up the beach in a matter of moments.
"We might have to spend the night on higher ground," I remarked. That didn't seem like a big deal to me. Why was Fletcher so worried?
"Did you see the high tide line?" Fletcher asked. "When we got here, it was halfway up the beach. It's past that already. The ocean doesn't usually behave like that. Not unless there's a storm or a tsunami.
My lips dropped apart. "Or dark magic," I whispered.
23
We moved off the beach and into the dunes and foothills beyond as the water rose. The beach was swamped in a matter of moments. The water churned like an angry beast. Waves seemed to reach for us, whitecaps in place of grabby fingers.
I had never heard water roar like it did now, thunderous crashes as it pounded into the beach.
Saff and I stood with our wings outstretched, in case we needed to flee suddenly. Fletcher stayed close to us both, his face pale and tight with anxiety.
"I haven't had much to do with oceans, but this is definitely strange," I said. I had to speak up to be heard over the noise. "It feels as though it's alive somehow." I glanced sideways at Fletcher. "They don't do this in the human realm?"
"Not exactly, no. We get king tides and whatever, but I feel as though if I got too close, this would grab me and drag me under. It feel like it's… malevolent. Does that sound crazy?"
"Usually I would say yes, and make a joke about it," Saff said, "but this is…"
"Not funny?" I suggested.
"Right," he agreed. "Not at all amusing."
"Not a good way to get wet either, "Fletcher said. He looked sidelong at me.
"Under the circumstances I can only give that a two," I replied.
"That's fair." He nodded.
"I think so," I agreed. I stepped back and crouched down to pick up a stick.
"What are you doing?" Saff asked, his upper body twisted to watch me.
I straightened up. "Just testing something out." I leaned forward and tossed the stick. It turned end over end and landed in the water. The waves growled louder, almost deafening, before the stick was sucked down and disappeared.
"That was—"
Whatever Fletcher was about to say was interrupted by the water heaving. A funnel formed in front of us, maybe a metre wide at the base and twice that high.
Before I could even throw my hands over my face, the stick rose to the surface and was spat back out toward me. I ducked sideways. The stick narrowly missed hitting the tip of one of my wings.
"What the fuck?" I shook my head and gaped. "All right, I know that's not normal ocean behaviour."
"Not really." Fletcher took my hand and tugged me back, away from the water. "It's getting closer. Maybe we should fly out of here. Get to higher ground."
"I think that's a good idea," I agreed.
"You don't think…" Saff looked back in the direction we'd come.
"What," I prompted.
"Well, Tavar seemed in a hurry to get off the beach. Could she have known this would happen?"
"No," I said firmly. "I believe her when she says she's on our side." I put an arm around Fletcher and took off.
The water surged forward and almost splashed the bottom of my boots.
It washed over Saff's legs, drenching him to the knees. He let out a squeak and tried to jump up out of the way. The waves encased his legs and pulled him back, toward the open ocean.
"Saff!" I hovered just out of reach for a moment. The waves rose like fingers reaching for me.
I was forced back, further inland.
"Summer!" Saff shouted. His face was pale, hand outstretched toward me. His wings beat furiously, but he was getting nowhere.
I looked around frantically. A few metres away stood a rocky outcrop. Was it far enough from the waves? It would have to do. I flew toward it and all but dumped Fletcher on the top. He grunted and waved his arms to right himself.
"I'm fine," he said insistently. "Go."
I nodded and shot back to Saff. The waves had dragged him further out, but he was still fighting to stay upright. His face was almost as red as his hair now, from the exertion.
"Saff, take my hand!" I shouted as I drew closer.
"It'll get you too!" he argued.
"No it won't," I replied. I wished I was as confident as I sounded.
I stretched out my hand. He was still two metres away.
One metre.
Half a metre.
He disappeared under the water.
"Saff!" I screamed so hard it made my throat feel raw.
I dove down closer to the waves, searching for him but seeing only white water, writhing and churning.
Then the ocean became dead calm. In a heartbeat it went from churning beast to as still as a lake.
"Saff?" I searched for him under the surface. I saw sand, fish, even a clump of seaweed.
I saw no sign of Saff.
I flew in a zigzag pattern back and forth across where I had seen him last. Gradually I flew further and further out, away from the shore. As the moments passed, I grew more and more frantic.
If I didn't find him quickly…
No, I couldn't think about that.
"Saff! Saff!" Despair began to wash over me, deeper than the waves. Tears trickled down my face and plopped into the ocean.
The moment they ma
de contact, the seas churned again. It made a strange hiccuping sound and belched up a massive funnel of water. For a moment, I thought it would head toward me.
Instead, it leaned toward the shore, gave a heave and spat Saff out, metres above the ground. He flew like a rag doll and slammed into the sand as the tide retreated.
"Gods!" I flew toward him at the same time Fletcher jumped down from the rock and started to sprint.
We reached Saff at the same time and fell to our knees.
Saff's face was pale and still.
"Oh hells, is he…" I reached out a hand to touch his face. The moment my fingers connected, he rolled over and coughed out a lung-full of sea water onto the sand.
"Oh, thank goodness," Fletcher put a hand on his back and patted lightly while Saff emptied his stomach.
I stroked Saff's forehead and kept his hair from getting in his way. "Are you all right?"
Saff spat. He groaned and slowly rolled onto his back. "Uh, I've felt better, but I'm still here. More or less."
The colour gradually returned to his face, but he lay for a long while with his eyes closed.
"I think all the necessary bits are there," I said lightly.
He half opened one eye, then felt around his groin. "Yes, that's still intact." His hand flopped back down.
"We should get off the beach," Fletcher said. "In case whatever that was decides to swallow us all up."
I murmured my agreement and offered Saff a hand. "Can you stand?"
"Anything to avoid going through that again," Saff said as he sat up. "She was strange."
I froze. "She?"
He blinked at me. "You didn't see her?"
"See who?" Fletcher asked.
"There was a—" Saff's face swung back toward the water. "You're right, we should get off this beach, then I'll tell you."
He pulled himself to his feet and stomped toward the dunes. He dripped with every step.
"You look like you need wringing out," I joked, trying to relieve some of the tension.
"I feel as though I've been wrung out already," he replied. He sounded more his old self, but his eyes kept darting back toward the tide.
We walked up a rise, well above the high tide line and flopped down amongst some twisted trees which still looked remarkably healthy.
"So, what did you see?" I asked.
Saff pulled off his shirt and hung it on a branch beside him. His toned chest and stomach drew my eye and distracted me for a few moments.
I forced my eyes back to his face when he spoke.
"You know how we said seafae aren't real?"
I nodded and gestured for him to continue.
"Well, I saw a woman under the water. At first I thought I was dead. Maybe I was." His brow creased. "She looked at me as though she could see right through me, into my soul." He shivered.
"She had these huge eyes, the same colour as the ocean, but her hair was white. Like sand."
"Did she say anything?" I asked.
"Yes." Saff's expression glazed, lost in thought. "She said we need to solve the puzzle before we can pass through the veil."
"I knew we should have looked for an immunity idol," Fletcher muttered.
I gave him a confused look, then turned back to Saff. "What puzzle?"
He looked embarrassed, then said," I have no idea. I wasn't exactly thinking about asking questions." He sucked in a breath and blew out through pursed lips.
I patted his muscular arm and gave him a smile. "It's all right, you're alive. That's what matters."
He gave me a wan smile. "I'm not so easy to kill I guess."
"Or she didn't want you dead," I replied. "You did get spat out pretty hard."
"Don't remind me." He grimaced. "That was a lot of work to go to just to deliver a message. Couldn't she have just, I don't know, given us a wave and shouted out, "Yoo-hoo." He spoke in a high-pitched voice. "I have to tell you something." That would have gotten our attention."
I held back a laugh and rested the side of my head on my fingertips. "Yes, it would." I mulled it over for a few moments.
I couldn't discount the possibility Saff had hallucinated. Fae, in the sea, lying in wait? The idea was bizarre at best. Still, it wasn't the even strangest thing I'd heard that day.
"She gave no clue as to what she meant by a puzzle?" I asked.
Saff shook his head. "I assume that's what we're looking for here."
"It's not going to be something obvious," Fletcher reasoned.
I swung my head to look at him. "What makes you say that?"
"Firstly, if it was obvious, we would have seen it by now," he replied slowly. "Secondly, if it was easy to find, someone would have. If the idea was to keep people from finding the keys, then they aren't going to make it too easy."
"If she was fae, and the loss of lesser magic is impacting her too, then what she did with Saff is probably all the help we can expect to get from her." I tapped my fingers against my cheek.
"Unless one of us goes back in," Saff remarked.
"No!" Fletcher and I said at the same time.
"Uh, all right then." Saff looked pleased at the forcefulness of our response. "It was just a thought."
"Yes, well put it out of your head," I told him.
"I'm all for putting out." He batted his eyelashes and smiled sweetly.
Fletcher glanced at me. "What do you think? Maybe a four?"
I nodded slowly. "We should give him an extra point for almost drowning."
"Hmmm, good idea," Fletcher nodded. "Five it is then."
"I'm pretty sure that innuendo was worth a seven." Saff pretended to huff.
"Awww." Fletcher slapped his shoulder companionably. "It could have been worse."
Saff responded by giving Fletcher a smile so warm it sent my mind off in all sorts of directions, imagining them touching each other, their mouths…
I cleared my throat. "We should get back to the others. We'll have to look for this puzzle tomorrow." I hated to give up, even for a few hours, but after almost dying, Saff needed to rest and Huon and Ash would worry if we didn't get back in time.
"Maybe they've found something," Saff said.
"Maybe. Let's hope their afternoon was less eventful than ours."
24
"You found a giant what?" Saff asked, eyes wide.
Huon raised an eyebrow at him and repeated himself. "We found an anchor."
"That's not the weirdest thing to have ever been ended up on a beach," Fletcher pointed out.
"Trolls don't sail," Tavar said flatly. She had appeared from the dunes a few minutes before Huon's group. She had looked as frustrated as I felt, until now.
"Neither do fae," I said.
"Then how…" Fletcher's mouth widened. "Oh. I'm assuming mimicats don't have ships."
"Certainly not," Khat replied. He looked affronted at the very idea. "No self-respecting mimicat would go near water if they could help it, much less on it."
"What about you?" Saff asked, barely containing a grin.
Khat flicked his tail and bared his teeth. "Tell me again how you almost drowned. It was such a delightful story."
"Hey." Saff rose to his feet but Huon pressed him back down.
"All right you two," he snapped. "We have enough to deal with without fighting with each other. If you keep at it, I'll toss you both into the sea myself."
Saff flopped back down and crossed his arms. "Fine. Sorry."
Khat gave a last flick of his tail and lay down to groom his ass. "Don't expect an apology," he said around a mouthful of fur.
I shook my head and turned my attention to Huon and Ash. "An anchor on a beach in the fae realm—"
"Troll territory," Tavar interrupted.
I inclined my head. "On this beach here. It must be a part of this puzzle we're supposed to solve."
"It would be better if they'd left instructions," Fletcher said. "Instead we have this IKEA treasure hunt."
I tilted my head at him. "Who is IKEA?"
"It's a furniture company," he explained. "They sell things in pieces so people have to put them together themselves."
"There must be a lot of carpenters in the human realm," Tavar remarked.
Fletcher shook his head. "Not really. That's kinda the point."
She gave him a confused look, but shrugged and leaned to throw more wood onto the fire she'd built for us.
"Are humans good at puzzles?" I asked.
"Some of them," Fletcher asked. He looked hesitant before he added, "I usually am. Maybe if we can get a look at this anchor, it might make sense."
"It's just an anchor," Huon replied. "I've seen them in the human realm. This one looks no different."
"Except it's here." I rubbed my cheek with my fingertips. "Tavar, have you ever seen anything like it? Maybe the rest of a ship?"
Flames reflected in her eyes when she looked back up at me. I wondered if she got cold without a shirt. Her skin looked thicker and tougher than mine, so perhaps that helped to insulate her. Still, she was braver than me.
She sucked her lower lip between her teeth and shrugged. "I have found some odd things from time to time, but nothing like this."
"Odd like what?" Ash asked.
"I once found a box of what looked to have been books," she replied. "They were wet and had fallen apart. The box itself was carved in patterns which looked like animals of some kind. Winged ones, but not birds."
'Bats?" Fletcher suggested. "Dragons?"
"I don't know," she replied. "Are those both real things?"
"Bats are," he replied. "As far as I know, dragons aren't."
"Yes they are," Khat replied.
Fletcher did a double take. "They are?"
"So I've heard." Khat went back to grooming himself.
"Where is this box?" Huon asked.
Tavar replied, "Back at our main camp. I left it with my mothers. They didn't seem to think it had any value, but it was pretty."
"Shit," Huon swore suddenly.
All eyes swung to him.
"What?" I asked.
"You don't see what this might mean?" he asked.
I gave him a blank look.
"If a ship from the human realm came here, the veil might be out in the middle of the ocean," he explained. "Then it sank and debris was washed ashore. Or—" he waved toward Saff. "Thrown ashore."
Shimmer (Summer's Harem Book 1) Page 14