Destiny Kills

Damn it, what had they done to her now?

I couldn’t lose her now. I wouldn’t lose her now. Not so soon after losing my dad.

You may not care about living or dying in that place, but the kids don’t deserve it. There was more anger in my voice than I realized, and I could feel her shock ripple down the psychic lines.

No, you’re right. They need to get out, before it’s too late for them, too.

Fear slivered through me. What do you mean?

She didn’t answer, and the power of her presence faded. I hit the water with my free hand in frustration, sending up a huge splash. Damn it, what the hell was going on over there? I continued to caress the water as my gaze ran across the dark hills, but there was absolutely nothing to see and no further response from my mother.

“No luck?” Trae said softly.

“Yes and no.” I rose and stepped out of the water, much to the disappointment of the waves. “I managed to contact her, but she keeps saying I can’t help her.”

He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. The beat of his heart was strong and sure against my chest, his arms filled with a strength I knew I could depend on no matter what.

“What now?” he murmured, his breath gently stirring the hairs on the top of my head.

“Now, we go to bed. I’ll summon the dawn magic to do a more thorough investigation, and we can decide how to proceed from there.”

“That,” he said with a smile in his voice, “is the best suggestion I’ve heard yet.”

We made our way back to the cottage and then to bed, but sleep didn’t figure a whole lot into the equation. The night was a long one, filled with passion and tenderness, richened by the emotion that lay in every caress, every kiss, every sigh. We never said the words, but we didn’t need to. Not yet.

We finally fell asleep entwined in each other’s arms, sated and exhausted. If I dreamed, I didn’t remember it.

It was still dark when we woke the following morning. After showering and getting dressed, we headed out into the predawn darkness. Slithers of pink had barely begun to caress the sky with their warmth, and the air tingled with the power yet to come. It played across my skin, an energy that seemed more dangerous, and a lot wilder, than the energy that came from most lakes.

We crossed the A82 and walked down to the rocky shoreline, following it around the bay. As the streaks of pink intensified and changed, becoming bands of red and yellow that tainted the dark skies, the morning mist folded down across the hills, hanging so low it danced in wispy streams across the water, making loch and the surrounding land look somewhat dark and mysterious.

Once again, part of me longed to dive into those waters, to cavort and play and simply enjoy, as my ancestors had done for centuries. But I couldn’t—not until the scientists were gone and it was once again safe for my kind.

But there were things I could do—powers I could still call on—that might help my quest to free my mother. And the scientists, for all their equipment and sensors, wouldn’t have a clue as to what I was doing.

“Is it true they have a fiberglass statue of the monster over there?” Trae asked, his soft tones riding the stillness without jarring against it. “One that the kids climb all over?”

I pulled my gaze away from the loch and looked toward Drumnadrochit, a smile touching my lips. “I think so. Dad used to tell me stories about it when I was a kid, and about how he and Mom used to go get photographed beside it on special occasions, just for the fun of it.”

“How right did they get the shape?”

I smiled. “From what Dad said, she looks more like a castoff from the dinosaur period. Even pregnant sea dragons don’t look that bad.”

He grinned. “So I gather the color is wrong, too?”

“Yeah. They seem to think gray is a good color for sea dragons, but I think that’s the only color we don’t have.”

“Maybe they’re just too used to dolphins and whales, and think loch monsters would fancy the same shades.”

“Or it’s just a lack of imagination on the artists’ part. I mean, all they have to do is look at the other sea life. It’s not all gray. Far from it.”

Dawn’s energy began to beat through the air, flaying my skin with its raw power. I breathed it deep, feeling it fill me, warm me. Welcome me.

“It’s time,” I said softly to Trae, and untwined my fingers from his. “Wait here.”

I stepped into the water, letting the dark energy of the loch lap around my ankles and mingle with the force of the rising day.

On the horizon, the slivers of red and gold became a flood, streaking across the sky and obliterating the night. The energy in the air grew frantic, crawling across my skin like fireflies and making my hair stand on end.

There was so much raw, untamed power in this place. It filled me, enriched me, made me believe I could do almost anything.

But that had been my downfall last time, and I would not make that mistake again. This time, we’d take time. And I would ask for the help of the power that beat all around me.

As the throb of energy reached a peak, and the air came alive with the hum and power of a new day, I raised my arms, holding my palms skyward, letting the raw energy and the trailing mist caress my fingers.

“My brothers of the deep, dark water, and sisters of mist and sky, I beseech thy help.”

In the distance thunder rumbled, a deep earthy sound that made the dark waters tremble. Waves splashed up my legs, soaking past my thighs. The energy in the air seemed to concentrate on my hands, until they glowed with the same red and gold that brightened the skies.

“Show me what happens on our ancient lands,” I continued, my voice soft and yet somehow vibrating across the silence. “Show me the secret ways so that I may stop those who have invaded the serenity of this place and chased away the dragons.”

Again the thunder rumbled, stronger, deeper than before, and for a moment it seemed that the very land under my feet trembled. The mist stirred, and so did the loch, her waters shifting, moving, as if several fingers of current had suddenly formed. The energy encasing my hands leapt away with them, one following the lead of the water, the other following the streams of mist.

I closed my eyes and waited. Even through my closed lids, I could feel the day brightening. Her fingers of light were spreading ever farther, sucking away at the energy of the dawn.

Then the sky rumbled, long and slow, and again the loch stirred. Water hit my legs, swirling upward, soaking my thighs and my stomach, even as it whispered of old ways and secret passages. Then the mist returned, and with it the bright remainders of dawn’s power, regaining its perch on my hands before crawling up my arms and spinning around my hair. Images filled me. Buildings, stairs, and secret ways, along with people, trucks, and boxes.

The scientists were indeed getting ready to move.

“Thank you, brothers of the darkness, and sisters of mist and skies.”

Water slapped at my legs, then leapt away. The energy in the air went with it, leaving me feeling suddenly cold, and more weary than I’d thought possible.

I turned around and walked back into Trae’s arms. “How did it go?” he asked softly.

“I found a way in.” But it wasn’t one he could use, and he wasn’t going to be happy about it. I hesitated, then added, “There’s an ancient passage that runs from the bottom of the loch up to the original basements of our house. The passages that run beyond it lead to the cells where the kids and my mom are being held.”

He released me and stepped back a little. Gold glinted in his still damp hair, warmed by the growing light of day. “If that’s the case, the scientists would be aware of it. It’ll be alarmed.”

“The passage is disguised as a well and is covered for safety. It appears locked from above, but can easily be opened from the inside. It was apparently designed that way.”