Sebastian prowled next to us silently. Momentarily, I worried about Rand, but we had to get these children over to the Sea Witch.
Your mate can take care of himself. Move! The cat’s urgency pushed me forward.
We moved down a half flight of stairs, hurrying toward the loading platform at the back. I had no idea how we were going to get the children and ourselves, well, Sebastian and I anyway, off this boat. Dorn would likely take to the water.
An engine started on the other side of the ship.
The balding man, he is trying to run away! Sebastian let out a snarl that made me want to make myself as small and unthreatening as possible and hide.
We can’t worry about him now. We’ll find him later, in the city, if we have to. We need to get these children to safety.
Still growling, the big cat stayed a few feet behind us, hugging the wall, his form little more than a shadow as he guarded our backs. Just as we skirted around the burned body and were about to pass the cargo containers, someone stepped out, gun aimed at us. Dorn and I froze. The man’s eyes flicked to the two boys I carried and his face hardened. Kylen lifted his head to see why we’d stopped moving, saw the man, and ducked his face back into the crook of my neck, his small body wracked with shivers. I didn’t think, I just reacted. I was only able to raise my hands part way without releasing my charges, but it was enough. The wave of magick I threw at him almost sent me stumbling backwards. Sebastian threw himself behind me to keep me from falling.
“What did you do?” Dorn asked, staring at the unmoving man in front of us. The gun was still trained on us, but his eyes were no longer focused.
“I think I froze him in place. Come on, I don’t know how long it will last.” I flexed the hand I wore the Defense ring on. I’d done this before, but it had always been an instinctive reaction and I’d released them within minutes. Plus, I’d worn it with the Power ring each time and I hadn’t been sure if it was the combined magick of the two rings or my own. I started to maneuver around the man then noticed the faint shimmer around his gun. There was a matching shimmer from the pendant hanging around his neck. Were these the magickal weapons mentioned earlier?
Sebastian, can you grab those? I pictured them in my mind for him. I didn’t know what they actually did, but I didn’t want to leave them behind and I didn’t have a free hand.
The familiar didn’t respond, but both the gun and the pendant disappeared. I had to half-run to catch up with Dorn, who had gone around the man’s other side and was almost to the water. Arella and another were waiting. Then I saw a dark fin rise from the waves and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where is my mate?” Arella’s voice held a tremor of panic as she reached for the child Dorn carefully handed down to her. She slowly lowered the girl’s body into the water as Dorn turned to take the still-unconscious boy from me. When the girl was partially submerged, she whimpered, then cried out in pain. The horror on Arella’s face stopped us. “She does not change!” she cried out. “What have they done?”
Dorn looked down at the boy he now held, then back at me, unsure of what to do. I had no idea what to tell him, this was too far outside of my scope of, well, anything. “Maybe she’s just shocked by the cold?”
Dorn shook his head. “Our people are born in their natural form. They are unable to take human form until the age of three, sometimes four. Something is wrong. We may harm them more if they cannot revert to their natural forms in the water and insulate themselves from the ocean. This area is not as cold as the deeper areas, but it is still much lower than their body temperatures. They may not be able to handle the shock to their systems in this condition.”
I looked out at the dark fin circling behind the ship and tried not to think of sharks. Hey, Trixie? Can you help me manage all three children if that orca gives us a ride?
Yes. You must hurry, the female child wanes fast. The man is right that the water is too much of a shock.
“Arella, call the orca over, please. If he’ll give us a ride, Danai and Tess are waiting to heal them.” I wasn’t even sure he could support our combined weight, but we had to try.
The orca’s head came up out of the water before I’d finished speaking, then disappeared again only to resurface next to the boat. Arella climbed up the small ladder off the back, still supporting the whimpering girl in her arms. The orca pushed his massive body lengthwise against the platform. Unsure of how to go about getting on his back, I stood there, my arms around Kylen.
Arella must have realized the problem. “Give the boy to me and climb onto Rikshi’s back. I will hand you Larea. Dysak,” she looked at the water fae at her side, “will meet you at your vessel and hand her to the healer. Rikshi will bring you back for each of the others.”
I shook my head. “I can take them all at once. Just hand them to me.” I tried to disentangle myself from Kylen, but the boy only clung harder. It looked like I would have to do this holding
