We stood our ground. Four of us against one demon wasn’t too bad, right?
“Take his head off, and he’ll die!” Liam shouted as a cold wind built around him. He was pulling on his winter power.
“How do you know?” I felt my palms heating up as I planted my feet.
“I’m guessing!”
The creature was ten feet from us now, his creepy deer hind legs giving him a weird, loping gait.
Liam thrust his hands out, shooting six shards of ice right into the creature. They punctured his chest but didn’t slow him at all, which was beyond horrifying. Elle was next with her throwing knives, hitting him in the neck—but again, he charged on.
At this rate, he was going to be eating Elle’s face in three seconds if we didn’t stop him.
Panic seized me.
I stepped forward, shoving Liam to the side a little, and thrust my burning palms outward. Sunlight exploded from them in a thin laser-like beam, and I swiped my hand to the left, cutting the light across the creature’s neck. A garbled shriek tore from his throat before his head slid from his neck and fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
Oh, gods.
His headless body halted, standing there as if confused, arms reaching out in front and grasping for Elle.
“Burn it!” Cam cried out, looking at Liam.
Liam’s wings smoked black, and the tips ignited.
What the…? I stepped back. Was he going to? I’d never seen him use—
Before I could even process it, Liam held out his palms. Fire shot out in a ten-foot beam like a blowtorch, engulfing the creature’s headless body in flames.
The head on the ground screamed as the body fell to the floor, and we all stumbled backward. Liam fell to his knees, panting and clutching his chest.
I ran to him. “What’s wrong?”
Cam intercepted me. “Don’t touch him. He’s okay. His ice magic is natural and easy for him, but the fire…it’s painful to use it and depletes his energy. He can only use it sparingly.”
I’d had no idea. I knew his father was part winter and part summer. Mixing the courts was expressly forbidden with royalty, and this was why. It mingled the magic, which could create problems.
I looked at the dead and smoking creature, grateful it was gone. But the way Liam was gasping, I wondered at what cost.
“I’m okay,” he finally croaked. Standing on shaky feet, he swayed a little.
I hadn’t really looked at Elle until now. She was staring at me in shock. “Lil…that was…the light magic…it’s not normal.”
I suddenly felt self-conscious. No one wanted to hear they weren’t normal. I laughed nervously. “The healing pool. It…supercharged me.”
Elle frowned, and Cam pulled her by the elbow. “Come on. The quicker we get out of here, the better.”
She took one last, long look at me, and I frowned, too.
When I glanced up at Liam, he was staring at my feet. Following his gaze, I saw that I now stood on a four-foot patch of green grass dotted with wildflowers.
I expected him to say something, to question me. But instead, he slipped his hand in mine, and we followed the others.
We walked through the darkened forest of Faerie, Liam’s long gaze stretching across the space.
He held my hand tenderly the entire walk to the healing pool. Elle led us toward it while she and Cam bickered, except their bickering had turned more to flirting. I was so wrapped up in Liam’s seemingly knowing gaze and the fight with the stag creature that I didn’t realize we had reached the healing pool until Liam stopped and I looked up.
There, against the black lava and smoking earth, was the most beautiful pool of blue water.
“Whoa,” Liam said reverently. Even Cam looked mystified.
Elle elbowed Cam in the ribs. “Take up watch while they fill the jars,” she said, and started to pace the area with her throwing knives in hand. He nodded and began to walk the perimeter of the water.
Reaching into my backpack, I produced the three jars. “Help me fill them?” I asked Liam.
He nodded.
I half wondered if the mermaid High Priestess would pull me back in for another visit. Perhaps I could ask her about Liam’s mom and whether the water would work on her.
“So…” I hedged, as I kicked off my shoes and placed my bare feet on the ground. Immediately, grass and flowers started to bloom, tickling the soles of my feet. I ignored it, hoping Liam wouldn’t notice. “There is a keeper of the pool…a mermaid.”
“Right,” Liam said with a chuckle.
I glared at him. “Your dad told you about everything else, but not the mermaids?”
He shook his head. “No, he did, but they’re all dead.”
I chewed my lip. “You might want to take off your shoes, just in case.”
He frowned, looking at me like I was crazy. Had I imagined that whole thing last time? Oxygen deprivation or something from falling in the water? Doubtful, and if she pulled us into her cave again, I wanted Liam to be prepared.
Without another word, we both crouched at the edge of the pond and dipped our jars inside to capture the water.
With a yank, I was pulled forward, crashing through the surface of the pool.
Here we go. Wasn’t wrong.
I felt that swirling washing-machine feeling, and then I was falling. When I landed on my feet, I was prepared for it. Liam wasn’t, however. He hurtled into the mermaid’s cave, falling onto his butt and groaning as he rolled over on his side.
“Oh, sorry about that,” trilled a female voice from deeper in the cave.
I reached out and helped Liam up before stepping forward, following that glowing light like last time. Soon, I found the mermaid High Priestess.
“Hello, again.” I bowed.
She smiled and bowed back. “Hello, dears.”
“Mermaid…” Liam’s voice held shock and wonder.
The High Priestess laughed and batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. “You brought a young man,” she said, her voice dropping a few octaves.
I gulped. “Umm, yes. This is Liam. His mother is…human.”
I thought it best to leave out that
