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Brian
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THE WIND CARRIED BRIAN back to his brothers, and he landed on the deck of the little ship. Both Christopher and Declan were trying their best to guide the ship to safety, but they had no idea how far they were from the island ahead, and the rain made it nearly impossible to see.
“Nice to have you back,” Declan yelled over the wind.
“Nice to be back,” Brian told him.
“Find anything?” Christopher yelled. His face said he wasn’t holding his breath. After all, if Brian had found anything good, he would have brought Felix back with them. Seeing as how he hadn’t, it was safe to guess he hadn’t found him.
Only, Brian had learned something interesting.
“We explored the one island together, and I just scouted out the last two. One’s totally empty. Nothing there at all.”
“And the other?”
“People are leaving it in droves,” Brian said. “It’s weird.”
Christopher and Declan exchanged knowing looks.
“What?” Brian wanted to know.
“We saw some people canoeing by,” Christopher told him.
“Canoeing?”
That was what Brian had thought he’d seen, too. It was strange. He’d never seen such an exile from an island before. The sight made him worried there was a volcano or something about to erupt on the island. It made him think there was something happening there that he simply didn’t know about.
“Yeah,” Declan nodded. “And they seemed really happy.”
“Almost excited,” Christopher added.
“We’re going to that island,” Brian yelled. “Straight ahead. Something weird is happening.”
“The storm is getting out of hand,” Christopher told him. He didn’t add that he thought they were going to crash or capsize if they didn’t figure out a plan fast. None of them could control weather. They didn’t know any spells and they couldn’t do magic.
Nope.
Their abilities were to change into mythical creatures.
Somehow, that simply wasn’t very useful during a storm at sea.
Brian looked at his brothers. They were counting on him to guide them. That was his job as the oldest brother. He had to help them, to get them to the island. They needed to get to Felix, who was their actual oldest brother. He needed them.
Brian had a feeling that they needed Felix, too.
He’d always had the feeling that something was missing from their life, and it wasn’t just because their father was gone. There had always been something else...something that just hadn’t felt complete.
“I know,” Brian said. “We need to get to that island, though. People are leaving in droves. I want to know why.”
“You think it has something to do with Felix?”
“I do,” Brian nodded.
The rain continued to pour down on them, hitting them relentlessly. They steered the boat, piloting it toward the island ahead of them. The waves were tossing and turning. Brian realized that they probably weren’t going to make it. The storm was too wild and the boat they were in was much too small.
He didn’t care about the loss of the boat. It had just been something they used for their journey. Monster Brothers Security was a successful firm, and they had no problem at all with money. The loss of the ship was nothing to them.
The necklace, however, was priceless.
“Keep us afloat,” Brian told his brothers, and then he ran to get the necklace. He’d stored it carefully in a small box inside a safe just below deck. He pulled it out now and placed it around his neck. The necklace glowed only slightly now, pulsing with color.
It was getting weaker, Brian realized.
His brother was getting weaker.
Time had been short before, but now they were almost out. Whatever spell or curse Felix was facing, they had to get this to him before it was too late.
By the time Brian got back onto the deck, the ship was swaying wildly from side to side.
“This is it, boys!” Christopher yelled, screaming over the sound of the storm. “Be ready to fly or swim.”
Declan leapt into the air, shifting into his dragon form. He watched from the sky, which was actually kind of nice because he blocked some of the water from hitting Brian and Christopher in the faces.
“We should shift,” Christopher said. “The boat’s going to capsize.”
“I’ve got the necklace,” Brian said. He didn’t trust himself to carry it in his dragon form. The chances of losing it in the storm were far too great, and he’d never forgive himself if he made it all the way to the island and then lost it right offshore.
Christopher considered this for a second, and then nodded.
“I’ll swim with you,” he said, obviously feeling proud of this decision, but Brian wasn’t having it. If the boat splintered or broke, he didn’t want anything to hit Christopher or to hurt him. Brian’s younger brother had never been the strongest swimmer. Simply needing to rescue Felix wasn’t going to be enough to make the dragon strong in the water.
“Just go,” Brian yelled. “Fly and I’ll meet you.”
“But-”
“Go!” Brian screamed. His voice was clear even over the sound of the water pelting down. Declan had moved away, and sheets of water were hitting Brian right in the face again. He spit out water that nailed him in the face. He watched as Christopher finally seemed to accept what was going to happen, and the middle Monster brother shifted and rose, flying up to join Declan in the sky.
Brian didn’t wait.
He dove off of the ship and made his way deep into the water. He’d loved swimming for as long as he could remember, and if he wasn’t wearing the necklace that would save Felix, he would have changed into his dragon form and still made his way through the water to the island.
They had only one shot at this.
Only one chance.
He didn’t want to blow it.
As Brian made his way back to the surface of the water, he heard the sound of the boat toppling over. They’d abandoned it just in time. The waves were getting crazier and crazier, and Declan and Christopher circled him overhead, carefully guarding to make sure Brian could make it to shore.
He could make it.
He swam not just for his life, but for his brothers. He swam like everything depended on him because it did. In this moment, he wasn’t just trying to help his mom out or be a good person. He was trying to make sure that a brother he’d never met had a chance to truly live.
And so he swam.
It seemed like hours before Brian finally collapsed on the beach. The waves were still crashing, pushing their way up the sand, but he had finally made it. Christopher and Declan landed on either side of him and quickly switched back.
“We made it,” Declan said.
“Now what?” Christopher asked.
“Now you can hand over the necklace,” a feminine voice said. They looked up sharply to see a woman standing on the beach in front of them. Brian hadn’t noticed her before, but she looked practically ethereal. She had her eyes planted firmly on the necklace Brian was wearing.
The witch.
This was the witch.
She looked younger than he’d expected and far more beautiful, but that had always been the problem with witches, hadn’t it? They were able to transform themselves into whatever they wanted. They could deceive and trick and steal.
“Not a chance in-”
Before Brian could finish his sentence, he was hit in the chest by a small ball of...energy. It hit him like a bowling ball. The orb didn’t tear his skin, didn’t mar him, but it knocked him on his ass. It knocked the wind out of him entirely. Brian heard both of his brothers go down just as easily, and then the witch came to him.
She knelt down beside him and grabbed the necklace, tearing it from his neck.
“I don’t know who the hell you are or how you got this,” she said, “but stay the fuck away from my mate, or I’ll kill you.”
She turned and ran, disappearing into the woods. Christopher, Declan, and Brian sat up slowly, looking at each other, confused.
“Mate?”
What had their dear brother been up to on the island?
And why would he mate the woman who had kidnapped him?