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“We have six groups of five students moving out into the woods,” someone said, his voice crackling over the earpiece.
It had only taken them over three hours. I hovered over Zen as he looked at the tablet. Little dots moved out in six different directions.
“How many teams do we have available?” I asked.
“Ten,” Zen said.
“Perfect, each team following the closest group of students.”
“Already coordinating,” he replied as he sent out orders through the tablet.
As the orders were received, team leaders confirmed they received it. Our group of students was only a quarter of a mile away.
“Come, little ones, it’s time to play,” I sang out and took off at a run, letting my magic guide me through the dangers of the woods at night.
We followed the stream as it widened and deepened, staying quiet enough that not even the animals realized we were on a mission. I felt like a ninja. Maybe I should give it a crack at being a tracker.
The stream went down a small waterfall. We stopped at the top, Zen motioning us to be still. He inched to the edge of the rocks and looked down. Moving up next to him, I easily spotted the five students.
“We have a second team coming from the other direction. They’ll be here shortly,” he said.
“What do you think they’re going to be doing?” I asked.
“Something that will get them killed,” Rophan said, frowning hard with narrowed eyes at the water
“What is it?” I tried to see what had his attention. All I could see was the inky darkness of the water below us.
“There’s remnants of a spell, but I can’t tell what it was for. All I know is that it came from the water.”
“And it’s big,” Ferys added, his nose flaring as he took in scents.
“Hold on,” Dany said. “I’ll look.”
She disappeared before anyone could say anything. She appeared a moment later with a soft pop, still dry. Her eyes were wide with fear.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A summoning circle. Recently placed.”
I groaned. “Great. I don’t want to see whatever that damn thing is going to bring out. What are the chances they aren’t going to summon whatever is on the other side of that circle?”
“I don’t think we have much choice,” Rophan said.
Archon huffed. “It’s already beginning.”
I looked into the water and groaned. It was lit up like a shimmering blue faerie portal.
A massive splash of water rose higher than we stood and rained down around us as a screech filled the air. I winced, the sound intense enough to scramble my brain.
A creature that should not have been there rose from the depths of the water. It was a long, worm-like thing with tentacles coming from the side of the body and the tip of it was an enormous mouth full of rows and rows of sharp teeth. The creature was easily twice the size of a whale.
“What the every fuck is that?” Archon asked.
“Athena’s tits, this should be impossible.” I gaped at the creature, taking in its thick dark green hide, trying to assess its strengths and weaknesses. “How does it even fit in the water?”
“Really?” Rophan asked. “That’s your question?”
Shrugging, I said, “It’s a legit one.”
The students screamed in horror and dove out of its way as the monster jumped into the air with a screech, its tentacles lashing out. It smashed into the ground, shaking it. The earth groaned from its weight.
“Adeelah,” Zen said in a soft voice. “What is that? Do you know.”
“A charybdis,” I whispered. “They should not exist in our realm.”
“You mean like from Odysseus?”
“Odysseus is based off a man who had slipped through a pocket of Faerie in the sea. That was why he came across the beast. All they need to do in the sea is open their mouths and it creates a gigantic whirlpool. This is bad. Really bad. Dany, that summoning circle is Faerie in nature if that creature is here. You will need to be the one to help reverse the spell.”
“Got it.”
“We need to move. Now.” I jumped down, already pulling out my blades, going for my longer ones. Those tentacles were going to be a pain in the bum to fight. The moment I hit the ground—using magic to soften the landing—I was sprinting toward the closest one.
I had little spells weaved into the blades themselves and they glowed softly, activated by the feel of my magic. A tentacle came my way, and I jumped, going high and practically flipping over its swing. As I landed, I used my momentum and weight to swing down. The magic in the blades made the cut clean. But that was all it was, a cut. The tentacles were as thick as tree trunks.
“Watch out,” someone yelled.
I turned in time to see another tentacle coming for me. A bright light lit in front of me, and it recoiled as heat brushed against my skin. That flash of fire was enough for it to change its course and miss me.
“You need to be careful,” Rophan said, yanking me away from another attack.
“Why? That’s why you’re here, to watch my six.”
He grunted as a tentacle came behind him. I moved, using my blades to stop its approach and magic to make it recoil. The suckers did not like the heat.
“And I get to watch your sexy behind. See how this relationship works?”
Rophan didn’t reply as he lit an entire tentacle on fire. The creature screeched, all its tentacles going into the air. It gave us a clear view of the kids, with Zen in front of them. Dany was by his side, keeping a ward around the kids. Others had joined the fight now, and another fae was next to her. Hopefully, they were planning their attack.
A shadow of something big and dark ran along a tentacle and jumped onto another one before a different tentacle could hit it. It ran around at a fast speed and it took a moment for what I saw to settle in.
“Wait, is that a fricken liger?” I called out, barely avoiding getting pinned down by a tentacle.
“Ferys,” Archon said, moving closer to my side and helping me keep a tentacle back. At this point, we were only keeping them distracted and away from the children, relying on the fae to do the reversal on the summoning circle.
“Holy mud buckets,” I said in complete disbelief. The next time I got a good look at it, I could see more of the features, completely black, which was unheard of for ligers, with a mane of a lion and a body more similar to a tiger.
I wanted to back out of the fight just so I could get a good look at Ferys. Was he truly all black or if I got close enough, would I see stripes? How big was he really? So many questions ran through my mind.
“Careful,” Rophan snapped as he tackled me to the ground before my head got removed. “Head in the game, Neutral. You can look at the pretty kitty later.”
Archon snickered as he helped us back to our feet. “Any known weak spots?”
“How the heck am I supposed to know?” I asked. “It’s not like these things have ever gone beyond myths in our realm.”
“Come on, Adeelah. You know Naturals. Think.”
“Water creatures need to have the capabilities to breathe underwater,” I said, going basic. Basic always worked, right?
A tentacle came and smashed into Archon. Where I would have been shoved yards away, he only moved a short distance with a grunt, his stance sturdy enough to keep him on his feet.
He growled, his skin turning a deep green as his gargoyle-half came out. Long black wings broke from his back. They were wide and powerful, looking as hard and heavy as the rest of him, and yet they helped him defy gravity and float above the ground by a foot.
“Tag team?” Archon asked me, his low, gravelly voice another level deeper in tone.
I grinned back. “My favorite game.” I loved that he trusted me to understand the game. “Rophan, distract.”
Before my warlock could respond, I was in the air, Archon’s arms a tight band around my waist as he flew us toward the monster only meant to live in nightmares. Any other time, I would have made him fly me up to the sky so I could pretend to touch it. It was a shame this was my first experience flying with him.
We landed along the creature’s back, away from the jaws of death and between the line of tentacles along its bodies. Its skin was armor-plated, similar to an alligator’s with bone pieces sticking up underneath its thick skin.
“After this, you owe me a redo,” I said. “I’d like a better flying experience.”
Archon chuckled. “Of course, mistress. Anytime, anywhere.” He nodded toward what looked like vents.
The gills. Of course.
We ran, and knowing we weren’t going to be cutting through something as simple as a clown fish, I took a running leap before stabbing down into our targets.
My two blades slipped in easy, right into one of the gross slits.
A screech tried to turn my brain into mush. The charybdis tried to buck us off, and for the first time in my life, I got to experience what a bull ride would be like as it tried to knock us off. The downfall of being so massive was there was a lot of space for smaller creatures to get a hold of them. My blade was lodged into the gill, and it helped me keep my hold.
I glanced at Archon and rolled my eyes. The crazy man was grinning wide, enjoying himself way too much. The creature decided to jump high into the air, the wind whipping against my face. Gritting my teeth, I tucked in as close as I could against the cold, slimy gills.
My cheek pressed against it. I preferred licking a slug to doing this. Any of my skin that touched itched unbelievably. Darn, I was allergic to charybdis.
The creature went back down, and I did my best to not get ripped away from my not so cozy spot. Water engulfed us as the charybdis went back underwater.
I barely had time to draw in a breath before we were submerged. When did this water get so deep, because I’d been skinny dipping before and it was definitely not this deep.
The gills worked overtime to draw in more water. I tugged at my weapons, causing the creature to jerk. It... well... flopped like a fish through the water and then broke the surface again.
“It’s done.” Dany’s voice was muted under my misery.
“Thank fuck,” Archon responded.
I nodded in agreement, too busy using all my strength to stay alive to respond.
“Adeelah, drop in three,” Rophan called out.
Darn. Darn. Darn. I so did not want to let go.
“One. Two. Three.”
I let go like the fool that I was.
The wind whipped around me, my hair in my face.
Then I landed, and it didn’t hurt as much as I expected, though I still landed against something hard and it was going to leave a bruise or two.
“Dude, can’t you gain a layer of fat, or something,” I said.
Rophan put me down on my feet, looking me over. I patted his shoulder to let him know I was okay as I glanced around to get my bearings.
Archon was by my side a moment later, his wings tucking close to his back. “That was fun, we need to do that again.”
“Maybe. But not against a charybdis.” I rubbed my face. “I might be allergic. Maybe a unicorn. Or a manticore. Hell, I’ll take on a wendigo.”
Low muttering filtered through the air and we turned to see Dany standing at the edge of the water, on a massive rock, with two other fae by her side. Frankly, she looked like a hot, kickass goddess. I was a little jealous of her. Magic whirled around her as it built up to do her bidding. Long green hair moved about her face, adding to her ethereal existence. Her translucent pale skin went completely clear, glowing blueness running through along where her veins should be.
She was completely dropping her human form.
A thin whip of magic similar to a tail swished behind her as she elongated, limbs growing. The whip split into two and solidified so she really did have two tails. I saw her once in all her glory, she had five tails total. The more tails that showed acted as a measure of the amount of power she was using.
“Holy shit,” Archon whispered.
The charybdis slammed into an invisible wall, incapable of attacking us anymore.
Dany barked something out, and the invisible wall shimmered beautifully in the color of summer green. I always knew Dany was the best at color coordination. She did it in every aspect of her life, including making her wards match with her.
It was a truly goddess-like moment with the green shield, warm magic all around, and her hair floating against gravity.
Pressure slammed down on all of us, and we fell to our knees. My fingers dug into earth as I fought to get back up. I wasn’t one to go down on my knees, even forcefully.
A harsh wind, hard enough to shake the trees and tremble the ground, slammed into me, and I grunted. It felt like sandpaper scraped across my skin. A massive body curled around me, blocking some of it for me, and a sweet scent of birch wood filled my senses.
Rophan.
Even in this situation, he protected me.
The air settled as the pressure from the magic disappeared. Rophan’s heavy weight disappeared before he lifted me onto my feet.
“Is it over?” I asked.
“It’s over,” Dany answered as she walked toward me, still mostly in her fae form. Her glamour slowly rebuilt itself, her skin back to its nearly translucent pale white color, the glow in her hair dulling, her magic settling around her like a strong thick cloak. She only had one tail out, but even that shortened and melted away as she came closer.
“You know,” I said in a fake drawl. “If I were to bat your way, I’d be digging you right now.” I tilted my head toward Zen, who stood with the students. His eyes were of a predator tracking his delicious prey as they followed her.
She laughed. “Maybe this night won’t be a complete waste.”
I faked gagged. “Don’t give me those images.”
“You can join us.”
“Uh huh. No way.” That time I really did gag, because fae couldn’t lie and she’d really accept me into her bed with Zen if I said yes. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about that.
“She’s good,” Archon said.
Dany smiled at him. “I’m sure she is.”
“Can we get back to what’s going on right now?” Rophan asked. “Something like how are we going to finish cleaning this mess up?”
“Those kids aren’t going anywhere.” Ferys walked over, lifting a black remote above his head so we could see. “The other locations are secure.”
“Good,” I said. “And how the heck are you wearing clothes?”
Ferys grinned big. “Witch in my family line. A neat trick we learned to keep our clothes on after a shift.”
I grumbled about the unfairness of life, drawing a laugh from the liger shifter.
“I’m sorry to disappoint. I’ll remember for next time. By the way, all other groups have checked in.”
The five students were in a little bubble. All the teams of students were in bubbles, all part of our plan. Signora Milanesi and her little gang of puppies were in charge of going to each group and clearing them of their shapeshifterness.
“You’re mistaken, let me go,” a young female voice snapped out.
“Here,” someone called out.
We turned to see three guards surrounding a girl who looked like she was twelve. Blue eyes, brown hair, light skin.
“No way. Athena’s tits,” I whispered, seeing all the familiar features. I saw them every day in my guard. The only difference was that the innocence that had been immortalized in a photo didn’t exist.
“Liliac,” Rophan whispered, stepping toward her. “What are you doing here?”
“Rophan,” I said softly, no doubt understanding that all his instincts to protect his baby sister were now on full blast, especially with the guards around her. The shapeshifter knew us all too well. “You know that isn’t her.”
“Jedi, what’s going on?” Tears fell down her cherub cheeks.
Rophan ran to her. “Get the fuck away from her.”
“No!” I ran and got myself in front of him before he stormed those guards and tore them apart for doing their jobs. “Not her. It’s not her. You know it’s not her. You know she was never here. She was never one of the students.”
The warlock finally froze and met my eyes. I could see all the conflict in him, seeing his baby sister like that. I racked my brain, anything to calm him down.
“Are they going to hurt me, Jedi?” she asked in such a cutesy voice I wanted to believe her.
Her voice, her face, it was all so much for Rophan to take in. He strained against himself.
“Here,” Zen said, passing me the tablet we’d been using. I was surprised it made it through all the crazy hubbub of the night.
I flipped through it until I found the camera I wanted. I shoved it into his face. “See. She’s sleeping. See. It’s not her. It’s not Liliac. She’s in her dorm room, sleeping. Having sweet little dreams about flying unicorns playing on a rainbow of skittles.”
He blinked and looked at me like I was crazy.
“What? Was the rainbows too much?”
“You have a camera on my sister?”
I looked away as my cheeks heated.
“Don’t make me sound like a pervert. It’s just a precaution. She matters to you. It’s important to know she’s okay. It only activates when I do on my end, special code, or if unusual activity like use of magic or energy is used in her room. In that case, I’m alerted.”
He grabbed the tablet, ignoring the crying plea of the shapeshifter. His eyes zeroed in on his sister with a fevered attentiveness that shifted my opinion of him.
Despite knowing he had a sister complex, it was something else to see it—his desperation for her safety.
“She’s okay,” I said in a soft voice. “She’s sleeping. That thing in front of you is a desperate shapeshifter doing what it can to confuse its enemy to get a chance to escape. If you attack those very nice guards, everyone will be distracted and it’ll slip away amidst all the chaos.”
That seemed to work, his breathing evening out, his magic settling.
“Thanks,” he grunted.
“Man of so many words.” I patted his chest. “It’s okay, big man. The shapeshifter is good and had a week to study us, learn what makes us tick.”
“Oh? Is that how it is?” My voice caught everyone’s attention.
I closed my eyes and tried counting to three.
It didn’t work.
“You know, I like to hear myself talk, but I don’t mean literally.”
Me stood there kneeling, the view absolutely horrendous. I never wanted to see myself doing that. Ever. Maybe it was only my pride talking, but something about seeing that view pissed me off.
“Shall I make it talk,” Gaerlan asked as he stepped out of the brush, making his grand entrance. Fury was in every aspect of his existence. In his magic, his expression, his body. He wanted blood.
I almost felt bad for the shapeshifter.
Almost.
It looked at my brother and paled.
“I don’t mind,” he said as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “I like playing the bad guy in the scenario. I’ve been told that I am very good at it.”
“You can have him,” I said. “Get all the answers. I don’t care how you do it. I’m going to take care of the kiddies.”
I nodded at the guards and they led the remaining four students away.
“We’ll get the answers,” Zen said.
I looked at him, at all the angry Naturals who finally had a source to turn it toward.
“Almost.” I shook my head. “I almost feel bad for the shapeshifter. I know you’ll get the answers.
Leaving them to it, I had my own battles to fight.
