As it closed the distance, I could better see the way its head rose above the water and the rest of the snake-like body curled behind. The flickers of light painted it in shades of silver and turquoise, pretty and magical even as it glided silently through the water.
“How many are there?” I asked as ripples of water washed out around the large serpent.
“Five, I think.” Maximus looked like he was out for a casual Sunday swim, his strokes smooth as they cut through the water. “They’re demi-fey, ones who for the most part remained on Faerie. One did manage to slip through a water portal into the human realm many years ago.”
Of course, why the hell not? Most of the myths and legends in the human world were creatures from our world, mostly demi-fey. They weren’t very good at blending in.
“They’re associated with the gods,” Jacob said. His musical tones sounded extra songlike in this echoey abyss. “They were always in the lakes surrounding their land, acting as guards and guides. They must have been relegated down here for some reason.”
Jacob’s Faerie knowledge was finally coming in handy.
A second head rose above the water to join the first. “I don’t think they’ll be scared of dragons,” I said, wiggling closer to Braxton’s head. “They’re pretty much dragons of the water themselves.”
“Don’t stress, Jess. Everything is afraid of dragons.”
Braxton was doing that confident, cocky thing again. Dragons were badass, but something told me that the guards of gods were pretty damn badass themselves.
A thought occurred to me. “Anyone stop and think that maybe they aren’t following us so much as herding us?”
Why the hell was my voice doing some weird high-pitched screechy thing? I was a damned wolf-dragon dual shifter. I should not be freaking out like this.
“Oh they’re herding us, but since it happens to be in the direction we’re already going, no big deal.” Braxton’s confidence was starting to shit me off – not enough to jump off his back or anything. I was annoyed, not stupid.
“Can you guys see that?”
Jacob had us all focusing, forward this time, although I was definitely keeping an eye on the serpents. It might be a trick of the light, but they looked even closer than before.
“Finally some damned land,” Tyson said.
I could see it clearly now. The water was rippling up against long wooden docks. Low beams of light sprinkled across that space, light which was not from any of us.
How the hell was there a dock down here? We’d fallen into the center of Faerie. I wasn’t going to complain – anything which got us out of the water and away from the Nessie squad was okay in my books.
A sound startled me, and I swung back around to find five heads no more than ten yards from us now. “Dude! Start freaking swimming. The scaly serpents are closing in.”
It was totally unnecessary for the quads to crack up like that. “Why are you not more worried about them? They could crush around us in a heartbeat and drag us down to drown. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I need to breathe. It’s what keeps me alive.”
Especially now that the immortality of the marked was lifted.
“Jess, come on. If they wanted to attack us they would have done so the moment we fell into the water. They’re about a thousand times faster than we are. We can’t outrun them. We’ll just have to deal if they suddenly go all lake monster and start trying to chew our faces off.”
Jacob was always a jackass.
I conceded that he had made a good point though. But that didn’t explain why they were so much closer now. I decided to focus forward, because clearly I wasn’t at my best or bravest when I was in the water. I’ll stick with land, thank you very much, where strange creatures are visible and not dwelling in murky depths.
I was so thankful to see the wooden pier closing in. I was drained, the icy water sapping my energy at a rapid rate. Braxton must have sensed my need to get out, and with a show of strength that frankly left me jealous as heck, he surged forward and had us at the side of the docks in seconds.
“Okay, that was totally hot,” I murmured in his ear, and I loved the sound of his low chuckle. Us being back together was enough for me to feel more like myself. My world was right again.
The docks were quite high off the waterline, at least six feet above our heads, which was going to make our exit from the water difficult. Jacob drifted in next to me, and before I could ask what the plan was, he’d propelled himself out of the water and landed on the wooden decking above. He was just reaching down to hoist me up – I’d risen to my knees on Braxton’s shoulders – when a head popped up right beside me.
I’m not going to lie. I might have let out a girl shriek which had my wolf and dragon both shaking their heads at me. Of course, the quads all lost it again, literally pissing themselves with laughter.
“What do you want from me?” I snarled into the large serpentine face that was right beside mine now. Even though Braxton was laughing, his broad shoulders shaking under me, he was still keeping an eye on Nessie, in case it decided to take a bite out of me.
The creature lowered its broad head, and then sort of nudged under my arm, like a puppy when it wants to be patted.
I flinched. Sea animals were not my thing. I liked air and forest. But I couldn’t ignore its plea, so I reached out a hand and gave it a gentle scratch along the side of its large jaw. It was scaled and very cool to touch, not as slimy as I expected. In fact there was a rough texture to its skin.