“I have the money for it. You’ve been kind enough to pay for all my gas.” The waiter dropped off the bill, and Dimitri pushed it toward me, adding, “And food.”
I took it. He deserved more than gas money for hauling me from one state to the next and around the city in the middle of the night. But I didn’t want him following me again tonight.
“You can’t come with me to find the kraken and the dark elves,” I said.
He frowned. “Look, I’m not saying that I’m some epic war hero, but don’t you at least want someone nearby with a ride? In case you need to run?”
“I thought you came up here to club, not to man my getaway car.”
“It’s a getaway van, now missing a bobblehead.”
“I’m sure you can find another one at a garage sale.”
“Not vintage. Maybe if I come with you, I’ll find one stashed in the dark-elf lair.”
I leaned my elbow on the table and rested my forehead in my hand. I didn’t usually have this much trouble getting rid of men—they all said something about the package not being worth fencing with my sharp tongue and my surly disposition. Dimitri had touched my tiger. What else did he want?
“I think your mom would be super pissed if I let you get killed,” Dimitri admitted.
“You can’t keep that from happening.”
“You never know. The getaway van can do zero to sixty in under thirty seconds.”
“That’s acceleration that NASCAR drivers fantasize about.” I leaned back and dropped my hand. “All right, how does this sound? You hang out at Nin’s tonight, and I’ll text you if I need help.” I mentally put waterproof baggies on my shopping list for the night’s activities. Chopper and Fezzik would survive getting wet, but my ammunition and my phone were another matter. “Maybe you can get some business tips from her. She’s smart. She’s only been in the U.S. for a few years, and she came with something like a suitcase and fifty dollars.”
Dimitri’s face shifted through a number of expressions as he seemed to war with wanting to go along with me and this new enticement. “I guess that’s not that far from Lake Union,” he finally said.
Depending on the traffic, it wasn’t. I only nodded encouragingly. Then started doing more research. Right now, I had a fancy hunch and not much more. Before I went for a midnight swim, I wanted to be reasonably certain that the tunnel entrance was in the lake. I didn’t want to miss the dark elves because the entrance was three blocks away in somebody’s wine cellar. I was positive that Willard didn’t have until the next new moon.
19
As twilight dwindled and I sat between a planter and two kayaks on the dark deck of a houseboat with nobody home, I found myself missing Dimitri’s company. He’d dropped me off and promised he would head to Nin’s food truck but said I should call or text or email or all three if I needed help. I’d left my apartment keys with him, so I wouldn’t lose them in the water.
My phone was zipped away in a plastic baggy with my extra ammunition, everything stuffed into a buttoned pocket. I’d also grabbed a few magical grenades that Nin had once sold me, promising they were waterproof, and food, water, a first-aid kit, a lighter, goggles, and a waterproof flashlight. My mother would be proud.
Whether or not I would go for a swim remained to be seen. It would depend on if the kraken showed up and I sensed a dark elf in the lake.
Hours of research hadn’t revealed anything definitive about underwater doorways, but it had lent more credence to my hunch that one existed. There was a history of strange things occurring at night in Lake Union, not just the supposed Loch Ness visits. People had reported everything from glowing lights under the water to inexplicable high-pitched keens that woke up residents but that nobody could pinpoint.
I was tempted to call out Sindari for company, and because he would sense magical beings much sooner than I, but if I did end up in a dark-elf lair, fighting for my life, I would need him at my side then. The longest I’d ever managed to keep him in our world was six hours, and if we engaged in a lot of battles, his ability to stay here would dwindle further. I had to save him for when I needed him.
Gradually, it grew darker, as much as it would with street lamps and lit houseboats all around the lake, and the headlights of cars brightening the freeway high overhead as they whizzed past. I touched a charm I hadn’t used since I visited the wyvern’s cave, making sure there was life down there before I committed to climbing down. That seemed like weeks ago instead of days ago.
As I held the heart-shaped charm and murmured the activation word, the lake came alive to me, thousands of fish that I could now sense swimming around under the surface. A few larger turtles and seals also plucked at my senses, along with hundreds of people in the rows of nearby houseboats.
I’d never used the charm in the middle of the city, and feeling so much life in all directions was overwhelming. It took me a few minutes to sort through it and verify that there wasn’t anything giant in the lake. No krakens. Not yet. Just a few thousand fish. A lot of them were swimming around the bottom of the lake not far from my spot. That much interest had to indicate food. Maybe the Parks and Recreation people tossed munchies into the lake so people would have something to catch when they fished.
Cars honked up on the freeway as traffic backed up. Those people from lunch probably weren’t the only ones heading into the city for the baseball game. What if the dark elves were fans and, instead of luring krakens in for their blood, they were all sitting around a subterranean TV watching the warmup?
“Sure, Val,” I muttered.
I leaned against one of the wood planters, the fragrant flowers of whatever bush it held competing with the dank fishy smells of the lake.
Chances were it would be hours until something happened—if anything happened at all. Doubts filled my mind as I waited, gazing around at all the city lights. Would they be visible from under the surface? Maybe this was still too much light for a dark elf. Was it more likely that the alchemist would choose the darker shores of the Arboretum or the Union Bay Natural Area to lure the kraken to?
But their tunnels were over here. Or so Willard had said. Did she truly know? Or had she been repeating unsubstantiated rumors?
I drummed my fingers, tempted to leave and look for a darker spot along the waterway, but I made myself stay put. If I caught a ride somewhere else, I might miss the kraken. I might—
An awareness came within range of my senses. The kraken? No, it was the dragon.
He was in the sky, not the water, flying over the city, his black body and wings invisible against the clouds. If not for my ability to sense the magical, I wouldn’t have known he was there. But I looked right toward him as he flew over the lake, and glimpsed two glowing violet eyes looking back down toward me.
“What a stalker,” I grumbled.
Zav continued flying north, toward Green Lake. Maybe he was simply out looking for bad guys. Or maybe he was looking for his own entrance into the dark-elf tunnels. Or maybe—
I sucked in a breath as I sensed another large presence. This time, it wasn’t the dragon, and it wasn’t with my innate senses. It was through the charm. A huge life form was swimming this way from the Ship Canal.
The kraken.
The charm didn’t identify life forms—it only gave me an idea of how large they were—but I knew with certainty that this was it. Tonight, there would be reports of a Loch Ness monster again.
I rose to my feet and re-checked my gear, making sure everything was buttoned, zipped, or buckled in. The kraken swam into the far side of Lake Union. Would it continue through and on toward the quieter and darker waters on the way to Lake Washington? Or would it dive down, lured to one of those wrecks?
It was heading toward the same area where so many of those fish were hanging out. I lurched to my feet. What if the dark-elf alchemist was the one feeding the fish? What if this was her bait? Something so yummy that the fish were coming in droves and the kraken had been lured in from miles away.
<
br /> Something magical? I strained my senses, wishing they were stronger. Again, I was tempted to pull Sindari out, but I didn’t want to waste his time here.
My gaze fell upon the kayaks. “Let’s take a little ride out there, shall we?”
If I was right over that spot, I ought to be able to sense something magical. Magical fish bait? Who knew?
I found a paddle and eased the kayak off the deck, my weapons clunking the sides as I slid in. As I shoved off, I took note of what the house looked like from the water, so I could find it again and return the kayak.
The lake was calm without much of a breeze, so I didn’t have trouble paddling toward the fish meeting spot. The dragon’s aura plucked at my senses again. I paused and glared upward. If he came close, I would wave my paddle at him and tell him to get his scaly butt down here to help me.
But as I frowned up into the cloudy sky, I picked out two auras, not one. The dragon and a smaller but still magical creature. Another wyvern?
A distant roar floated to my ears, almost drowned out by the surrounding traffic noise. Whatever it was, they were fighting. I could just make out the smaller winged figure, a tail whipping in the air as it faced Zav. It wasn’t a wyvern. It was a manticore. It dipped as Zav arrowed toward it, then flew upward, using its talons to slash at the dragon’s underbelly.
I sucked in a concerned breath before I caught myself—there was no way I was concerned about that big arrogant jerk. If I was, it was only because of whatever spell he’d cast on me.
He didn’t need my concern anyway. A blast of raw power slammed into the manticore before the talons raked Zav’s belly. It hurled the smaller foe all the way down to slam into the rooftop of a tall building. The dragon streaked down after him, probably smashing deck chairs when he landed. The walls around the rooftop were high, so I couldn’t see what happened after that. I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for the manticore or glad that Zav was stealing away some magical criminal for judgment in another realm. Either way, he wasn’t here to stalk me, after all. And he would be too busy to help if I got into trouble.
Not that I’d expected or wanted his help.
I slowed the kayak, bobbing gently in the waves as I peered over the side. A faint yellow glow was visible, and I was close enough now to sense a hint of magic. Whatever bait was luring the fish—and the kraken—it wasn’t natural.
“So now what?” I murmured.
The bait and the kraken were interesting, but neither was what I wanted. I closed my eyes, trying to sense other magical beings in the area. The dragon and the manticore were far enough away to have faded from my limited range. But there was something else…
I held my breath. A magical person similar to the dark elves that had shown up in Woodinville had come onto my radar. He or she wasn’t straight down but over toward the bank, maybe fifteen feet below a row of houseboats. I was positive the dark elf hadn’t been there long. He or she had popped up on my senses as if from behind an insulated door.
I paddled slowly in that direction. The dark elf hadn’t moved yet. Lights were on in several of the houseboats, and a couple was out on their deck in a hot tub. Possibly naked. Wonderful. The dark elf was almost right under them. Still not moving. Waiting for… what? The kraken to get full before trying to collect its blood?
If I swam down there, could I surprise the dark elf? Maybe knock him or her out and get into the tunnels?
The people in the hot tub were looking at me. They probably thought I was a creeper peering into windows at night. Like it was my fault that they were naked in their hot tub above a dark-elf lair.
I waved a paddle and continued past, pretending I lived in one of the houseboats nearby. I turned down an aisle between two rows of them, trying not to get too far from the dark elf.
Even as I tried to find a spot to slip out of the kayak, the dark elf moved. I couldn’t see anything with my eyes, but I could sense the magical aura moving away from the side of the lake. Swimming? Something about a dark elf in SCUBA gear made my brain hurt, but he or she was moving quickly out toward the kraken.
I almost followed in the kayak, but I wanted to get into the tunnels, not necessarily waylay whichever dark elf had come out. Unless it was the alchemist. But would it be? Or would she have sent a minion?
A light went on in a nearby house, and I made my decision. I pulled my goggles over my face and eased over the side of the kayak, almost gasping as the cold water engulfed my body. I sucked in a huge breath, sank down, and swam toward the area where the dark elf had seemed to emerge from the side of the lake.
Not surprisingly, it was as dark as it was cold under there. I activated my night-vision charm in time to avoid cracking my head on the log float under a houseboat and swam under several more houseboats to get to the spot. I tried not to think about them above me—and how I’d have to navigate a maze to get back up to take a breath.
The lumpy sides of the lake came into view, along with debris buried in silt. But I also saw a square hole in the slope, barely visible amid tendrils of seaweed waving in the currents. My lungs were already starting to crave air, but I swam toward it. My senses told me the dark elf was close to the kraken now. If I could slip in without anyone noticing…
Just as I reached the square hole—it was larger than I’d realized, big enough to drive a car through—a door that looked like the seaweed-covered side of the lake itself started to grind shut. Before I could reconsider it, I yanked Chopper out and lunged in, jamming the blade into the door’s path. It slid shut on the blade, sending a jarring reverberation up my arm and making me wince. This was not the proper use for a sword. But Chopper successfully kept the door from shutting.
Using the hilt to pull myself down, I tried to use the blade for leverage. I pushed at the door, hoping to force it open, but I worried about breaking my sword. Even though Chopper was magical, I was sure it wasn’t indestructible.
Precious air bubbles escaped my lips as I shoved. The door opened an inch. A few more inches, and I could slip through.
But I needed air. I glanced up, thinking of releasing Chopper and going up for a quick breath, but the bottom of a huge houseboat blocked me from the surface.
Frustrated, I shoved harder. The door inched open further. I squeezed into the gap and almost thrust myself all the way through before I thought wiser of it. What if I got trapped somewhere without any air?
Though I worried I’d run out of time and the dark elf would come back, I wedged Chopper in the long way and swam out from under the houseboat and up to the surface. I sucked in air, confused for a moment by the nearby rumble of a motor and bubbling water. Then I remembered the hot tub. Hopefully, the nude bathers couldn’t see me or hear me sucking in deep breaths of air right beside their deck.
I sensed the dark elf on the move again, heading back toward the door.
Out of time, I inhaled one more deep breath and swam back down to my sword. Poor Chopper, being used as a doorstop.
I swam through the opening, careful not to dislodge the sword, and found my earlier guess to be correct. This appeared to be some kind of airlock. On the far side, about eight feet away, was another door, this one made from simple metal. Next to it, a grimy wall slick with algae held two levers.
I paddled through the water and pulled one at random. Even if there had been a sign with directions, I wouldn’t have been able to read it.
Gurgling not dissimilar to the hot tub started up. Water draining? Yes, there was an air pocket overhead now. I swam back to grab Chopper and cursed silently. The dark elf had almost made it back. I rubbed my cloaking charm, hoping I wasn’t too late in activating it, and tugged my sword free. The door closed.
The dark elf had to have a remote way of opening it—I hadn’t seen a lever on the outside.
As the water drained out of the chamber, I swam to the inner door. There wasn’t a handle or a knob. I tried pulling the other lever, but that only made the water stop draining. I pushed it back up, and it resumed.
Fingers wrapping around my lock-picking charm, I rested a hand on the cold wet door and willed it to open. A thunk emanated from within the metal. The door rumbled open too slowly for my tastes.
A faint scratch came from the outer door. I sensed the dark elf on the other side. I hoped he or she couldn’t sense me through my charm. If the dragon couldn’t, an elf shouldn’t be able to… I hoped.
As soon as the inner door was open wide enough, I stepped inside, Fezzik out now and leading the way. I tugged my goggles down to my throat. The long tunnel that stretched before me, reminding me of some railroad passage through a mountain, was empty.
Good, but what about the dark elf that had to be on the way in right behind me? I shoved the door behind me shut.
Seconds later, water surged into the airlock chamber, the sound penetrating the door. Should I run and hope to disappear into the complex? Or try to capture the dark elf and ask for directions to the alchemist?
If this person was the alchemist’s assistant or even the alchemist herself… it would be foolish not to interrogate her. Maybe she even had a fresh vial of kraken blood, and I could get it, and a sample of her blood, without going into the complex at all.
Water drained out of the chamber. The dark elf would come out soon. My heart filled with anticipation at the thought that my mission might be so close to being over.
But where could I hide for an ambush? The tunnel was stark without alcoves or side passages.
A thump-scrape came from the other side of the door. I only had seconds.
There was a tiny ledge, maybe three inches wide, formed by the top of the door frame. The ceiling was several feet above that.
“It’ll have to do,” I muttered.
As much through desperation as athletic ability, I gripped the narrow ledge and pulled myself up while walking my feet up the wall of the tunnel. Half leaning against the wall and half balancing on the tiny perch, I stood above the door. Water dripped from my clothes, and I groaned. My cloaking charm wouldn’t matter. The dark elf wouldn’t miss that.
Sinister Magic: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons Book 1) Page 20