Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Overhead, the Serpent’s Cry continues to cut away from us, the crew running for their lives. Of course they are. They’re not warriors. They owe no allegiance to us. They’re hoping that the water horse is too busy murdering us to come after them. I don’t blame Alix and the rest of them for that choice, but I have no interest in dying today. Or letting Lizzie drown.
The kelpie spins to face me, its fangs snapping closed inches from my side. I barely twist out of the way in time and slap it with my tail.
It startles back and shudders. I get a glimpse of Lizzie wrenching herself off its back, its magic obviously waning as its distraction increases. But instead of pushing off and rushing for the surface, she clings to its neck and drives her fingers into its throat. The water horse lets out a shriek that I can feel in my bones, but I don’t stop to feel sorry for it.
It’s us or the kelpie.
I dive for the back of its neck, using my bigger body to knock Lizzie free as I sink my teeth into the top of its spine and twist and spin and wrench as hard as I can. Once, twice, a third time. On the fourth, its spine snaps and the creature goes still. I push it farther down into the depths, hoping that any other predators in the area will go after the body instead of us.
I sweep back up, coming beneath Lizzie’s flailing body. She wraps her arms around me and I swim as quickly as I can to the surface. Her gasping breath is music to my ears. We survived. But we need to get out of the water, and we need to do it now. It’s not safe. The dead water horse will draw other predators, and we need to be well away from here when that happens.
I’m not able to speak in this form, but Lizzie eases her grip on me so that I can swim easier and tow her to the ship. It takes a matter of seconds. But the entire time, I’m paranoid that something will rise from the depths and attempt to take a bite out of us.
As we come even with the Serpent’s Cry, I fully expect the crew to ignore us—or try to finish what the water horse started. But Rin leans over the railing and tosses down a rope to trail in the water before us. Lizzie wastes no time wrapping it around her waist. Ze pulls her up onto the deck with quick movements, far stronger than zir lean body suggests. Less than a minute later, Lizzie is back safely aboard the ship.
Now it’s my turn.
It wasn’t until I’d regained my skin that I realized exactly how much I’d lost alongside it. How much strength and speed, how much confidence. Even now, days later, I’m not entirely certain how much of that was actually physical or mental. Regardless of the cause, I’m easily able to scale the side of the ship and vault over the railing to land on the deck at Lizzie’s side. She’s on her hands and knees, coughing up water.
She’s breathing. She’s alive. That’s all that matters.
I crouch at her side, my hand hovering over her back. I don’t close the distance, don’t try to help beyond offering my presence. Both because I don’t know if she’d accept it and because I don’t want to weaken her standing with the crew. If they become even a little less scared of her, we might be in danger.
After a few moments, she sits back on her heels and clears her throat. Her wet hair is plastered to her face, her cheeks are gaunt, and her eyes are glowing a bright crimson. “Like I said, I’ll handle it.”
That’s certainly one way to put it. I lift my brows, but she’s very pointedly not looking at me. A giant splash makes us all jump, and I look back in time to see something massive breach the surface, the water horse’s body in its giant jaws. My mind shies away from identifying exactly what that creature is.
I clear my throat. “Maybe it’s best we pick up the pace as much as possible.”
“Good idea.” Alix doesn’t point out that we were already at the maximum speed possible without magical aid. They just go back to the helm and start shouting orders at the crew emerging from belowdecks. Everyone is wide-eyed and shaky, but they go about their jobs with quick efficiency.
Living in Threshold means coming face-to-face with a wide variety of creatures that want to eat you for dinner. There aren’t many natural predators to selkies in the waters around Viedna, but the sailors and the Cŵn Annwn come through with plenty of stories about the horrors that haunt the deep.