The teenager scrambled through the surf, not bothering to stand, instead shuffling forward on all fours, desperate to get out of the water. He scrambled further into the shallows, babbling hysterically. The balls of light around him reflected off something small and pink. Peasblossom landed on his head and petted him over and over, trying to calm him down.
I stared at the water, a lump rising in my throat when Andy didn’t appear. I sent a prayer to the Goddess that my spell had worked, and his first breath underwater wouldn’t be his last.
Focus, Shade, focus.
A sound came from the pit behind me. An equine sound, but not the ferocious neighing I’d expected. I shuffled closer, stepping away from Bradan as the last of his legs formed a silver backward hoof. The two kelpies in the pit stood side by side, perfectly calm. Not at all the raging beasts I’d been expecting.
They raised their heads in perfect unison, and something glittered in the house floodlights.
“Bridles?” I murmured.
They were beautiful. Not common, everyday horse tack, but fey-crafted items of both utility and beauty. Shining silver polished until it shone like liquid mercury, white leather so soft it called to me to touch it. I took a step closer to the pit.
“There’ll be none of that,” Flint said grimly.
Strong hands closed on my shoulders and pulled me against a muscled chest. I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off.
“Many’s the human that’s found herself reaching for a bridle like that only to be dragged into the nearest loch and drowned. They may be stuck in a pit and unable to get you to the water, but trust me when I say that being trampled will leave you just as dead.”
He was right, and I knew he was right. But I still wanted to touch them. I wanted to trail a finger over those bridles. Keep them for my own.
“Right, then,” Flint muttered. He tightened his grip on my shoulders. “Never say I don’t go above and beyond.” He took a deep breath, then leaned in to put his lips a hairsbreadth from my ear. “Inspioraid.”
Magic flowed like a tide of hot water out of his hands and down my body. Fear sparked in some corner of my mind, a reminder of how easy it was to get lost in his power. But when the energy swelled inside me, it wasn’t lust I felt rising. The power didn’t wrap around me like a silk sheet, sensual but restricting. No, this time, it fell down from my shoulders like a mantle. I straightened my spine and drew in a breath deeper than any I’d managed since stepping foot on this property. My thoughts cleared, the chaos of the battle fell away, and I saw the world in crystal-clear focus.
The kelpies in the pit shifted nervously, sensing the change in me. Their bridles no longer fascinated me, no longer shone like pieces of art carved from pure moonlight. They were still pretty, still beautiful, but they were only bridles.
“Very pretty,” I told the kelpies, marveling at how clear and calm my voice was. “But I’m afraid I already have a pet.”
The kelpies snorted, then threw back their heads and screamed. They stomped the ground with furious, violent strikes, their manes braided with seaweed striking their necks with wet slaps.
“Throw a tantrum as much as you like—you’re not getting out of the pit like that,” I taunted them. “You’ll have to shift again.”
And if they shifted again, they would be even weaker. In addition, I would have more time.
I stared out over the lake. It was too dark to see properly, but I heard no sound of a struggle, no sign that Andy had broken free. I closed my eyes, searching my memory. There was a spell that could save him. I remembered it, remembered most of it. It was beyond my skill, but with whatever Flint had done to me, with this new clarity, this new focus, maybe…
I raised my arms, moving my fingers in swirls and dips, the memory of the spell directing my muscles, guiding me. I opened my eyes to stare at the water, thinking of how dangerous it was. Thick darkness that would crush you as you watched the light of the surface disappear. Water filling your mouth as you screamed; gentle bubbles rising to mourn your death. Terror waiting at the bottom of the lake, promising to fill your last moments with fear, and anguish, and finally…death.
“Hydrophoas Graeci.”
Power pulsed outward from my body, flooding the area around me in a huge circle of skin-tingling magic. The energy flared down the twisted threads I’d woven with every gesture, concentrating the power before plunging outward in a circle of nerve-racking, breath-stealing terror.
The surface of the lake exploded upward as a horse fought free of the surface. Its equine eyes were wild, its large nostrils flaring in panic. It screamed the way only a horse can, a sound that raked claws down my spine. It fought for the shore, periodically throwing its head, plunging its face into the water only to rear up and scream again. A second later, Andy broke the surface.
The air bubble around his head blocked some of the sound, but I could still hear him screaming as he crawled onto the beach. My stomach twisted. In essence, I’d inflicted my worst nightmare on my partner. With that spell on him, the lake water would be to Andy what a pit of spiders would be for me. A shiver ran down my spine, and I shoved that thought away. It was the only thing I’d been able to think of to get him out of the water, to make certain the kelpie would let him go.
I swayed on my feet. Suddenly I felt as though I weighed a thousand pounds. My muscles had turned to jelly, and my eyelids were far too heavy. I stared down at my hands, horrified to find them shaking. “Blood and bone, what did you do to me?”
“I inspired you.” Flint stepped closer and took my shaking hands in his. “I’m sorry, but there is a price to be paid. I pushed you to reach beyond what you would have been capable of. It is nothing serious, but you need to rest.”
“I— No!”
I took a step, but fell before I got any farther. Thirty feet away, Grayson glanced up in time to see Bradan in horse form snag him by the waist of his jeans and hurl him into the air. The teenager screamed, but the sound was more of a rasp, as if his throat couldn’t bear any more screams. Peasblossom shrieked that ear-piercing sound that was her battle cry and dove for the kelpie. Bradan let out a sound between a snort and a grunt, tossing his head to avoid the darting pink ball of fury. Peasblossom nicked one of his ears, and he reared up then bolted for the lake.
A grim smirk of satisfaction pulled on my mouth as he tried to dive into the water, only to rear back at the last second, before his hooves could touch the water. He turned in a full circle, trying to force himself in. His head swung from side to side, and he ran a few paces away from the water again. My stomach bottomed out as he pranced side to side, then fixed his attention down the beach to where the slope was gentler, less rocky.
“He’s going to make a break for it,” I said, slurring. “We have to stop him before he runs off with Grayson.” I blinked, forcing my eyes open. “We have to…”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about Bradan getting away with Grayson,” Flint said.
I realized I was leaning on him, letting him bear most of my weight. I pushed away but gave up when my legs wouldn’t hold me. “Why?”
Flint shrugged, my cheek on his shoulder rising and falling with the motion. “Well, from what I’ve seen, your FBI agent is an excellent shot.”
Realization spun me around and I pitched to the side, saved from falling by Flint’s support alone. “No!”
The gunshot cracked through the night air, slapping my raw nerves. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. “Please tell me he didn’t shoot Bradan.”
“You know I can’t lie.”
“We’re never going to get out of here alive.”
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s shot two kelpie—that does give him a bit of a reputation, doesn’t it?”
“Stop talking.” I fumbled at my pouch, but I couldn’t make my fingers work enough to grab the zipper. “Give me a— Hey!”
“Sorry, but it appears it’s time to run.”
The world tilted madly as Flint scooped me into his arms an
d took off at a run. It took me a minute to get my bearings, to realize we were following Andy. He had Grayson in his arms, and he was charging down the beach, toward the shallower slope that Bradan had been aiming for earlier…
I looked back in time to see the two kelpies emerge from the pit in human form. They moved at a crawl at first, no doubt feeling the strain of shifting too many times in a short span of time. Bradan lay on the beach, still in horse form. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing.
“I need to take his gun from him,” I muttered into Flint’s neck. I frowned, realizing I was cuddled against his chest. I briefly toyed with the idea of insisting he put me down, but immediately discarded the idea. As soon as someone from the main house heard what happened… Well, we needed to go faster.
“If you take his gun from him, then he’ll be dead the next time he decides to valiantly defend the defenseless,” Flint pointed out.
For some reason, it irritated me that he didn’t sound breathless. He had a point, though. “Where’s Morgan?” I asked, suddenly registering the sidhe woman’s absence.
“An excellent question. And one I fear we may not like the answer to.”
Before I could think any more on that unpleasant observation, Flint slowed to a stop. I lifted my head to see Andy standing with one arm braced against a tree. Grayson sat on the ground. He’d calmed, but there was a fine trembling throughout his body, and tears streamed steadily down his cheeks. His breathing was erratic, and he appeared one surprise away from total shock.
Peasblossom was murmuring to him over and over, a steady buzz of sound that she sometimes used to help me when I couldn’t sleep.
“Is he all right?” I asked.
“He’s in no shape to help,” she whispered. “We have to get him out of here.”
I nodded. My muscles didn’t feel so useless anymore, so I tapped Flint on the shoulder. He put me down, but stayed close, letting me use him for support. Peasblossom fluttered to my shoulder and put her palms against my skin, lending me her strength through our bond. My fingers still trembled when I lifted my hand toward Grayson, but I managed to feed my magic out in a concentrated line of blue energy. “Somnum.”
Sleep pulled Grayson under, smoothing away the terror pinching his young features. Tension bled from his body and he melted into the grass in a deep sleep. I sank to my knees, needing to rest, if only for a minute. My gaze landed on Andy, and I froze.
My FBI partner’s body heaved with ragged breaths. His skin was too pale, his lips were blue, and he vibrated with the same fine trembling as Grayson had, still feeling the effect of the phobia spell. But still he stood on his own two feet, and still he held his chin up in that determined jut I’d come to associate with him. I was ready to ask him if he was all right, but suddenly he jerked his spine straight and grabbed his jacket. I stared as he fought to get it off, tearing a button off in his haste.
“Andy—”
He didn’t stop with the jacket. The shirt went next. Buttons flew, pinging off the tree trunk as his movements grew more and more desperate, hysteria making his eyes too bright. The wet shirt hit the ground with a rustle of wet cotton, leaving a broad expanse of bare, tanned skin. Defined muscle spoke of a gym membership, a conscious effort to maintain physical fitness.
The scars spoke of pain.
I snapped my mouth shut, trying and failing not to stare at the white stripes of old scars that crisscrossed Andy’s back and upper arms. I’d seen scars similar to those. Mostly from leather whips, but more recently, from belts. It was an unfortunate truth that physical violence was still considered an acceptable way to discipline children, but the number of scars, the thickness of the white tissue… It didn’t look like discipline. It looked like punishment.
The majority of the scars covered his back and upper arms, and I had a sudden mental image of Andy curled over a smaller person, maybe a sibling. Protecting them from the blows, only his forearms covered as he hunched over the person he was trying to save from the violence.
Andy’s hands fell to his pants, and I fought free of my unpleasant thoughts in time to stop him before he shucked out of those as well.
“Andy, stop!” I took a breath, forcing myself to calm down. “Just…stop. What are you doing?”
Andy didn’t look up, and when he spoke, his voice was so hoarse that I could barely hear him. “The water.”
I winced. “I’m sorry. It was all I could think of.”
He froze, even the trembling in his hands ceasing for one heart-stopping moment. “You did this?”
I swallowed hard. Something about his voice sent a chill down my spine. Slowly, I pointed at his clothes, calling my magic. “Prestidigitation.”
Andy jerked as a flutter of white magic washed over him, leaving his clothes clean and dry. Still he didn’t look up. “What was that? What you did to me?”
“Hydrophobia,” Flint answered helpfully. “She used it to keep the kelpie from dragging you to your death at the bottom of the lake.”
With carefully controlled movements, Andy bent down and retrieved his shirt. He stared at the garment, turning it over a few times before sliding one arm inside. “I could breathe underwater.”
“That was me too.” I bit my lip, watching as he put the shirt on, closing his fists around the edges as he found the buttons missing. “I can fix that for yo—”
“No.”
I grimaced.
He took another long, slow breath. “Thank you for saving my life,” he said quietly. He retrieved his jacket and put it on over the open dress shirt.
There was something wrong with seeing him in his ruined clothes. Andy was always so put together, no wrinkles, no stains. After seeing the scars, I wondered if his suit wasn’t a sort of armor for him. An outward sign to tell the word he was fine, that everything was all right. A way to hide what was going on inside. It hurt to think about it. And it hurt to know that I’d scared him. I’d scared him bad. And if his earlier words were anything to go by, he wasn’t going to be confiding in me anytime soon. I wouldn’t have a chance to fix what I’d done.
“Is he all right?” Andy asked, motioning toward Grayson.
“Yes. I helped him sleep to keep him from completely breaking down, but we need to get him out of here.”
Andy stared at the main house. “What about the others?”
“We’ll have to come back for them. Right now, we are in serious trouble. You shot two kelpies. You no longer have the protection of hospitality.”
“Shooting them also gave them what they needed to declare you a hostile threat,” Flint added. “You’ll want to leave before they realize Shade’s spell has ended. It’s not too late for them to drag you into the lake—and Grayson with them.”
Andy glared at Flint. “Fine. So we get Grayson to safety before those kelpies regroup. Then we return for the others.”
“That is my plan,” I said.
Flint snorted. “Plan. You keep using that word, but you seem to have no idea what it means.” He hefted Grayson into his arms, holding the small boy the way I might hold a large housecat. “I believe once I’ve escorted you to the gate, that will conclude our bargain. I’ve more than fulfilled my end, I think.”
I wanted to argue, but couldn’t. “Thank you,” I said sincerely.
He met my eyes, and there was an emotion in his expression I couldn’t quite identify. Not heat, exactly, but something like consideration. As if he were reassessing me. Or plotting something. “You’re welcome.”
Peasblossom stuck her face halfway into my ear. “Don’t trust him.”
I halted my palm a half-inch before I would have smacked her, the itching-ringing in my ear setting every nerve I had to seizing. I opened my mouth to ask her, again, not to speak directly into my ear like that, but Andy spoke first.
“What about you?” he asked Flint. “What happens when they find out you helped us?”
Flint shrugged. “My people respect the importance of keeping one’s word more than you could ever i
magine. I gave Shade my word to escort her in and out, before I knew her intentions. My people will be angry with me, but they will understand.”
“Can you get in there and get the other kids?” Andy asked.
“No. That would be kidnapping and theft.”
“But if Shade went in to get them right now, you would help her.”
Flint shifted the unconscious Grayson in his grip as he faced Andy. “Do not let our temporary victory over the kelpies give you a false sense of security, Agent Bradford. That was child’s play compared to what going up against one of my kin would be like. The law of hospitality does not require me to sacrifice my life protecting someone who behaves as though there are no consequences.”
He walked away then, giving us his back as he marched parallel to the long driveway toward the gatehouse. I narrowed my eyes and followed him, my own anger giving me a boost of energy.
“I do not behave as though there are no consequences,” I said.
“You most certainly do. You thought you could come here with no invitation, no allies on the inside, and just take those children back. You believed that even though Baba Yaga’s apprentice should know full well how easy it is to die among the sidhe—even when they aren’t actively motivated to kill you.”
I gritted my teeth and jogged to catch up, getting ahead of him enough that I could see his face. “No. I found out there were children here, children in danger, and I came because I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“Not when someone you’re responsible for is in immediate danger,” I argued. “Grayson was sold to kelpies!”
“They would not have killed him.”
“I’m not going to debate with you about what’s worse, death or centuries of torture. The point is—”
“The point is, they are not your children.” Flint didn’t pause, but he slowed down as he met my eyes. “They are not your responsibility. Nothing forced you to rush in here and save them.”
“They became my responsibility when I took this case,” I said. “I’m tired of the Otherworld getting away with murder and beyond because they prey on humans who don’t know any better. Someone has to hold them accountable. Someone has to care.”
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