There was a gap between the boulders, and I pushed my flippers against the stones to steer us toward it.
I pulled the flippers off and tossed them into the raft. Mike jumped out and helped me pull the line to drag our raft onto the sandy beach.
“Luna’s Limo Service thanks you for your patronage. Please give us five stars,” I said.
“I’d give you six stars if that were possible.” Then he shifted to mission mode. “I don’t see any thermal signatures that indicate people around here. Do you smell anyone?”
I took a deep breath and sorted scents. “None within several miles. We picked a good spot to land.”
31
Dawn found us several miles inland, huddled under a camouflage netting stretched between three boulders for shade and concealment.
A tiny whisper of magic kept the shaded area cool while we rested in turns. Mike had learned not to argue with me about guard shifts and slipped quickly into sleep when I said it was my turn to take first watch.
I didn’t even have to sing to him to get him to sleep.
Four hours later he woke, and I slept. There were some dreams of mermaids and the sailors who loved them, quickly washed away by dreams of my cubs.
I woke and we repeated the cycle. It was sunset when I woke again, and Mike had prepared our MREs for a meal.
Mike finished his meal and started repacking our supplies.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t we have to get moving? It’s a long way to your oasis.”
“No, Mike. We can do what I need to do from here.”
“I thought we needed to go back to the oasis and free the genie to heal Alisha.”
I shook my head. Mike had taken bits and pieces of my statements and built up a totally incorrect idea of our mission.
And that was my fault. “Mike, I’m sorry I didn’t brief you. Freeing the genie and using a wish would be the absolute last resort. I have another plan in mind—one that doesn’t require we move from here.”
Mike breathed a sigh of relief. “You do have a plan? What can we do from here?”
“I don’t think I can help Alisha beyond the healing we already performed. Her scars will remain until we can find a better healer than me or Dad.”
“But the genie could do it with no effort.”
“And pull us into her multi-dimensional chess game against the demons? No. The genie is too powerful to use, too powerful to free. If Alisha can be healed, it’ll have to be through human healers.”
“Okay, no genie. Then why are we here?”
“Remember when Prince Abdul said we stood no chance against his oil-rich country? That they have billions of dollars and the resources of a government? That he would use all those resources to ruin me, my pack, and my family?”
“Yeah, but he was just bullshitting.”
“No. He wasn’t lying. As long as he has a penny to spend or a minute to live, he will use those against us.”
“What can we do against a country with more oil than any other country in on the planet?”
“We’re going to take the oil away.”
The tang of the silver blade burned my palm as I used the knife to scribe a circle in the bare rock that made up the floor of our hiding spot. Backed by my werewolf strength, the enchanted silver blade cut deeply into the granite.
“Wow, in your hands, that thing is like a light saber,” said Mike.
“Like a what saber? Is that a military term?”
“You know, from the movies…” He shook his head and changed the subject. “Can’t you teach me how to use it that way?”
“Sorry, Padawan, you are yet untrained in the Force,” I said, then giggled.
“You have seen the movies. I thought you might have missed those, growing up in that wolf pack.”
I finished the circle with a grunt. The last foot was always the hardest. The engraved line flashed once, as if it had been packed with flash powder, and the circle hummed with energy.
I shifted hands and started carving glyphs into the rock around the periphery of the circle.
Mike saw the burns on the palm of my free hand. “Can’t you wear those gloves for this part? Your hands are going to be useless until you heal.”
“No, I have to touch the metal to direct magical energy. Anyway, I’ll heal in a few minutes.”
“Maybe that’s why there are no werewolf magicians,” said Mike. “You’re the only werewolf I’ve ever seen who can touch silver.”
Mike was careful not to look directly at the symbols. I had once warned him that studying these and trying to reproduce them could have catastrophic effects. He was a good soldier and obeyed orders—even crazy orders from a werewolf princess.
“I’m going to set a circle and enter a trance,” I said. “I hope to be able to see through the earth deeply enough to map out the oil deposits. That should take a few hours. Over the next few weeks, I hope to divert some oil away from Saudi Arabia’s most productive wells.”
“I’m not a magician, but that seems like more magic than you’ve ever used before. Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It is a greater magic than I’ve ever attempted. I’ll be careful and try not to set off any earthquakes.”
Mike laughed loudly, then stopped. “Wait! You’re serious? I thought Mason was the only magician in the world who could set off earthquakes?”
“I learned the principles from him, but until now, I never needed to try to duplicate his spells.”
Doubt crossed Mike’s face, but he kept his mouth shut. Warriors don’t like mentioning defeat before a battle.
“What do you need me to do?”
“During the trance, I’ll be deep under. Usually, my wolf side is enough to keep my body safe while my mind wanders. This time, I need you to stand watch as a backup to my wolf side.”
“Okay. Where should I set up? Inside
