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White mist swirled around us and a cold, creeping feeling walked up my spine, like dead fingers dancing over my flesh. I shuddered and let out a groan. "Can we move any faster," I griped. Fucking ghosts.
Hisashi glanced over his shoulder at me, a slip of sharp canine showing as he smirked at me with his vulpine features and silver eyes. "Fraidy cat."
I squeezed his tail tighter.
Oisin looked around, apparently not deterred by Hisashi's warning about locking eyes with the things that lived here. "How is it that there are buildings here?" he mused.
Hisashi shrugged. "There are things that live here fulltime. Not just the ghosts, but...things. I'm sure to them, it all seems as solid and real as our world does to us."
I recalled the tavern I'd seen last time we were here. "Or it's all just a trap to lure people off the path."
Halstad mumbled an agreement. "Everything here seems to serve the sole damned purpose of luring folk away. That can't be a coincidence. The energy here is...hungry."
I shivered as the shadowy place leached away my power, glad that Con was safe at home. Of all of us, he had the least spirit energy to lose. "How much longer?"
Hisashi pointed a long, clawed finger. I looked over his shoulder to see that the glowing thread we had been following for what seemed like ages ended in a soft, yellow ball of light. "Through there," the nine-tail said, just a tinge of relief audible in his deep voice. He might have been more certain about his powers, but still—last time we were all here, he'd been left behind in the otherworld with the conviction that he had just killed his mates.
We stepped up to the glowing, undulating ball of energy. Hisashi reached out a hand and took hold of the glowing cord that led to Kai. Then he yanked us all through to the other side. I felt the brush of cold hands, chill breath against my throat, and the impression of bottomless, searching black eyes. Then we were free, tumbling onto the white sand, squinting in the harsh sun.
"You did it!" I said, hauling Hisashi in for a hug. The fox chuckled and gave me a squeeze before turning to look around.
"I did...but I kind of...stepped us sideways? I got the impression of water. I'm afraid Kai is out there somewhere." He waved toward the water. "Thought we should aim for dry land."
We all gazed out at the turquoise sea. Not far away, the sirens' town rose up in glaring white perfection from the dense vegetation that covered the island.
"Whelp," I said, turning toward a path that led off into the trees. "Let's go see what the fish bitches have to say for themselves."
I smiled. This time, I wasn't obligated to play nice. They'd started this, and I was going to finish it.
Halstad gripped my upper arm, pulling me to a halt. "Wait a minute, gryphon. You can't go chargin' into siren territory without protection."
I rolled my eyes and turned back to him. "We were just fine last time."
Oisin wrinkled his nose, probably at the idea of agreeing with the mage. "Last time, they were playing nice, feeling us out. This time, they're up to no good."
Hisashi glanced off toward the little town. "And they probably would have gotten around to using magic on us last time, if we hadn't agreed to their demands."
I took a steadying breath. I remembered how the sirens had stared at Kai last time. Godsdamn it, they had been planning on snatching my kraken the whole time. They probably just wanted me to demonstrate what she could do.
"I'm going to kill them and make fish chowder," I said through clenched teeth.
Oisin shook his head. “There won’t be enough left of them to make soup, if they’ve harmed her.” Then he turned to Halstad. "One or two sirens shouldn't pose a threat to us, but if they've ensnared Kai, then they have tricks up their sleeve. The only way I know to prevent you all from being enchanted by the sirens is to weave my own enchantment. But I'm not sure being in fae thrall would be any better than being under the siren's spell...you wouldn't be able to make your own decisions in the heat of the moment."
I gaped at the fae. "That's real?"
He shrugged, giving me a haughty emerald look that said I was so naive. "Only for certain fae. My father compelled. My mother, however, could enchant. It's not much of a weapon, really, but it has its uses. Makes people docile." He smirked. "Now that I think of it, I should have tried it on you ages ago, darling."
"I can muffle our auditory response to their trickery," Halstad cut in. "Our hearing will suck balls, but we'll still have our minds intact. Better odds if it comes to fighting."
Oisin huffed in mock affront. "You take all the fun out of things, mage."
Halstad rolled his eyes. "How about I leave you out of the spell, and you can stay here with the sirens then, fae?"
Hisashi shifted back to fully human and pushed between the two idiots. "Come on, let's do this. You guys can measure each other's dicks later."
I snorted with laughter as both men glared at the fox. I don't know what was up with the fae and the mage. Sometimes they seemed about to kill each other still. But other times, they allowed each other to exist. It was kind of a toss-up in any given situation. Confusing as fuck, to say the least.
Halstad took a vial of milky-looking fluid from his utility belt and held it up to the light. He chanted something in mage-speak and his magic flared, making the liquid boil. It turned a bright, ruby red. "Alright," he said, gesturing to the fae. "Come over here and I'll deafen you."
Oisin stared at him from under thick red lashes. "Ooh, threats. I'm not sure if I want to stab you or shove my cock down your throat just to silence you."
Halstad took the fae by the shoulder and jerked him around, grabbing the smaller guy's head and tilting it sideways so he could administer a drop of the weird liquid to each pointed ear, his motions waspish. "Oh, shut the fuck up already."
I was surprised Oisin allowed the manhandling, quite honestly. I expected the mage to lose a hand. But he still had all his appendages attached when he let go of Oisin. "Good?"
Oisin frowned and wiggled his ears. "Gods, that's strange."
Halstad repeated the procedure on the rest of us, including himself. Then he poured out the rest of the vial into the sand and said some sort of thank you to the elements. I don't know. Mages are weird.
I stuck a finger in my ear and wriggled it around. It felt like I had cotton stuck in there. I could hear, but it was like everything was muffled. Peachy.
"You sure this will work?" I shouted at the mage.
He was glaring at a palm tree. He turned when I spoke, and I watched him wipe the confused look off his face, replacing it with one of tired competence. "We'll see, won't we?"
So much confidence. I sighed and we trudged off toward the sirens' town to kick some ass. Probably.