by Jamie Davis
The big man shrugged. “I had to come down this way anyhow. I needed to follow the ripples to make sure it was safe around my mountain.”
“Ripples? I don’t know what those are,” Quinn said.
Gil laughed. “You should. That’s what happens when you resist your shifting back and forth like you do. It resonates as the fabric of the world reorients around you, according to the wild magic.”
“Yours are strong, stronger than most I’ve felt. I expected some destruction when I got here.” Terrence turned to Gil. “How’d she stop it from killing her?”
The smaller man shrugged. “Not sure. She managed it, though, so I kept pushing her.”
Terrence stared at Quinn for a long time and she became uncomfortable. She was unsure how to react, and Gil had turned back to tend to the fish.
Finally, she couldn’t wait any longer. “Terrence, we’re having fish tonight. I hope that’s okay?”
“Gil always has fish. Except when he doesn’t.”
The obviousness of the statement made her grin. “Do you perhaps have anything to add to the meal? I’d be happy to put it on a platter or into a bowl for serving.”
Terrence reached into his heavy coat and pulled out a sack about the size of a standard pillowcase. He set it on the table.
Quinn walked over and opened the top, peeking inside. It was full of blackberries. She could smell the juice’s sweetness.
“These look delicious. Let me go over and rinse them, then I’ll get a bowl to put them in.”
“Could just use the sack.”
“I suppose we could,” Quinn replied, laughing a little. “However, let’s splurge since we’re inside at a table and all.”
The big man shrugged and sat down.
Quinn went over to the wooden sink and worked the pump handle up and down until the water flowed from the well. She carefully dumped the berries into a large wooden work bowl and held it under the flow to rinse them, then drained them with her fingers as she transferred the still-damp berries to another container for the table.
Gil had already placed the fish on a large platter and brought it over to set by the berries. He pointed to a chair for Quinn and smiled. She sat with Gil on her left and Terrence opposite her.
“I’m thinking, Terrence, you might be able to help me with something for the girl. She has a little problem with wild magic. I figure you might be able to give her a different perspective since your take is so different from mine.”
“What’s the problem?”
Quinn shot Gil a look, unsure if they should be sharing her secret with this person she’d just met. He either didn’t see her or ignored her glare.
“She’s got a dragon egg that’s about to hatch, and somehow she absorbed wild magic from the little one inside.”
Terrence shifted his gaze to her. “Impossible.”
“I thought so too, but you can smell it on her now that you’ve sat down with us, can’t you?”
Terrence lifted his head to put his nose in the air. His nostrils flared, and his eyebrows shot up. “She shouldn’t be alive. It should have torn her apart by now.”
Gil nodded. “And yet here she is. I’ve done what I can with the lake’s power, but I wonder if your mountain might have something to offer to her?”
“Maybe.” Terrence kept his eyes on her as he took a bite of the fish on his plate. “How’d she do in the water?”
“Grew honest-to-goodness gills, if you can believe it.”
“Really? Haven’t heard that one before.”
Gil laughed. “When have you heard of a human taking on this kind of power?”
“Fair enough.” Terrence ate a few more bites, staring down at his plate without saying anything else.
Quinn worked on her own fish, using a spoon to move some of the fresh berries to her plate. The berries shouldn’t have been in season, but Terrence had brought them as if they’d just ripened and he’d picked them that day.
“These berries are delicious, but they’re early summer things usually. How’d you get them so fresh this far along toward fall?”
“The mountain provides as it will. I decided to come down to visit my friend, and these were along the path.”
Gil nodded. “It’s another manifestation of wild magic you might learn from, Quinn.”
Quinn didn’t know what to say, so she just smiled and returned to her food. The three of them finished the meal in silence. When they were all done, she rose and cleared the plates, washing them in the wooden sink. The other two remained seated for a few more minutes while she completed the cleanup. It was her role as the student in this setting, and she didn’t mind.
Gil caught her eye and nodded at the seat beside him. She got the hint and came over to sit down. Terrence turned his gaze to her and held her eyes with his for almost a minute.
Then, without saying anything, he stood and walked back toward the door. He pulled the door open and started through, stopping before he closed it behind him. “Good dinner. Appreciate it. Send her over in the morning.”
With that, he closed the door and left Quinn and Gil alone in the cabin. Quinn waited for a count of ten and then said. “So, that’s it? You’re sending me on to someone else?”
“I was going to send you back home until I sensed him coming. He’s the spirit of the mountains hereabouts.”
“He’s a shifter, isn’t he? Maybe a werebear?”
Gil smiled. “He’s many things. He’s also the current guardian of the wild magic in the hills, as I am here by the lake. I think what he can teach might be more akin to what you’ve been dealing with. The wild magic of the lake is fluid and doesn’t have as many hard edges as the land magic does. Just as deadly, but not the same. Maybe you need the harsher lessons the mountain can teach you.”
“So, am I going to learn to shift up there in his cave on the mountain?” Quinn asked.
“Good Lord, no.” Gil started laughing. “I think you’ll be surprised by his cave, too. I have no idea what you’ll learn up there, but I don’t think it’ll be the same thing as down here. You’ve learned that lesson already. Now, you might want to get some sleep. His place is in the hills off the northern shore. It’s a long trek there on foot. You’ll want to be rested.”
Quinn nodded, unsure of what awaited her in this next phase. Terrence didn’t seem like he’d be much of a teacher. She shrugged and went over to her pallet on the floor.
Gil took the lamp from the table, checked to make sure the cabin door was secured, and then went up the stairs to the loft.
The speed with which she fell asleep surprised her again. Even with the uncertainty swirling in her mind about what awaited her tomorrow, the work of swimming with Gil and shifting to and from aquatic form had worn her out. She was asleep within a few minutes of her head hitting the makeshift pillow of her duffel bag.
Chapter Eleven
Quinn’s eyes popped open in the darkness after midnight as a hand clamped down over her mouth. She reached for her Bowie beneath the duffel bag but stopped as Gil’s face came into focus. He held his finger against his lips, urging her to be quiet.
When she nodded, he took his hand away. He whispered, “Get up. Hurry.”
Quinn sat up and started looking around for her jeans. She wore shorts and a sports bra to sleep in, but if there was trouble somewhere, she wanted to be fully dressed.
“No time for that.” Gil batted her hands as she fumbled to pull clothes from her duffel bag. “You need to go now!”
“What’s going on?” Quinn hissed.
“Fae magic all around the house. Whoever they are, they’ve put up a dampening field to stop magic and electronics from working. That points to someone expecting trouble.”
“Fae? Why?” Quinn asked.
“They have to be here for you. I don’t know why or who it is, but you have to run for it. I’ll create a diversion and make a hole in their perimeter. Head for the lake. You should be able to lose them in the water.”
“W
here am I supposed to go? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Remember the cave?”
Quinn nodded.
“Head there if they follow you and hide until it’s clear. Don’t go inside any more than a few feet. It’s too dangerous in there without me to guide you. After they stop searching, head for the lake’s northern shore and hike toward the tallest of the hills there. Terrence will find you and take you in. The Fae won’t know you’re there, and you should be safe. I’ll send word to you once I figure out what’s going on.”
Quinn shoved her phone in the duffel bag’s side pocket and zipped it shut. It was supposed to be water-resistant. She was about to discover how resistant it really was. She slipped her arms through the drawstrings, so it rode between her shoulders like a backpack and buckled on the belt with her Bowie last of all.
“I can fight, Gil. You don’t have to face them alone.”
The old man shook his head. “It’s you they want. Once you go, they’ll leave me alone. They don’t want to tangle with an enraged lake dragon.” He showed his teeth at the last statement.
Quinn nodded and went over to stand by the door. “Okay, I’ll head for the lake. You say when.”
“Let me go out first. When you hear me roar and the fighting start, run for the shore. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky, and you’ll get away clean. I think you’re fast enough to make it before they see you. If you run into someone, don’t stop to fight. Just break free and make for the water.”
“Got it. Good luck.”
“You too, girl.” Gil pulled open the door and raced out into the darkness.
Quinn opened her HUD and drew down her stamina bar, adding to her strength and speed. The last thing she did before going out the door was whisper, “Damn it, I need to see.”
The darkness of the cabin’s interior brightened as her night vision kicked in. It was just in time. A defiant roar filled the silence of the forest around them, followed by gunshots, of all things. There was also a bright explosion of blue-white light as if a lightning bolt had struck and sent surges of electricity arcing across the nearby trees. Quinn pulled the door open and stepped out onto the porch. More gunfire sounded, and she spotted muzzle flashes amid the trees between the cabin and the lake.
Quinn sprinted across the porch, vaulted the rail at the end, and ran into the brush beside the cabin. She didn’t see anyone nearby, and she could make out moonlight on the surface of the lake through the trees.
At enhanced speed, Quinn bolted for the shoreline. All she had to do was get into the water.
She almost made it.
A dark form lunged from behind a tree at her, knocking her to the ground. Quinn came up, Bowie drawn and squared off against not one but two dark-clad attackers.
It was a male and a female. Their slim forms and angular features told her they were Fae without seeing their ears. The two spread out as soon as she stood, trying to draw her attention in two directions at once.
Quinn remembered Gil’s instructions as more shots and explosions went off in the woods. Another angry roar sounded in the night. She couldn’t waste time fighting these two. She was close to the water, and if she didn’t get away, all that Gil was doing would be for nothing.
The pair on either side of her charged in at the same time. They must have wanted her alive since they made no move toward the sidearms on their hips.
Quinn had been ready for something like that. She spun in place, grabbing for the hand reaching for her on the right. At the same time, she slashed at the attacker on her left with her blade.
Her enhanced speed caught them by surprise, and she managed to grab the wrist of one attacker while cutting a deep gash in the other’s leg.
The woman she cut cried out and twisted to get away. Quinn tugged at the wrist she held in her right hand, pulling the off-balance attacker past her and into the woman. Both fell to the ground, the woman with both hands pressed to the wound in her leg. The second Fae tumbled over his companion and fell to the ground beside her.
Quinn could have finished them both off but remembered there were probably more like them around. Instead, she raced the rest of the way to the shore, then leapt out until she was in over her waist. A spotlight switched on and swung around to momentarily blind her in the darkness. Voices shouted at her to stop.
Two boats bobbed on the lake about twenty yards from the shore. Quinn cursed and looked for a way out. The Fae had been waiting for her to escape this way. Did they suspect what she’d learned from Gil? There was no way to be sure, and she couldn’t go back the way she’d come. More shouts from the shore behind her told her that route was blocked. Maybe they didn’t know everything she could do.
Shots rang out from the boats, and bullets kicked up water around her. She guessed they’d given up on taking her alive.
Opening her HUD again as she dove into the water, Quinn activated her aquatic form. She opened herself to the wild magic around her and gave in to the pull shifting her to another form.
Bullets splashed into the water, zipping past her beneath the surface. She kicked her powerful fins, propelling her into deeper water. She’d be safe from the bullets there.
She increased speed as she passed beneath the boats, smiling at how easy it was to evade them.
Except it wasn’t.
She swam into the net hung like a curtain between the boats at full speed. If she’d been looking for it, Quinn might have spotted it in time, but it was too late. She made the mistake of twisting to change her direction. Instead of helping her escape, her thrashing caused the netting to catch her hands and feet. The strands twisted around her.
Realizing her error, Quinn stopped struggling. That kept her from getting more tangled. Instead, she relaxed and tried to work her left arm loose enough to reach for the knife at her waist.
She almost reached it, but the net tightened around her. The Fae on the boats had started pulling in the lines. They must have felt someone struggling.
Quinn didn’t have much time. Her hand was only a few inches from the hilt of her blade. If she could grab it, she’d make short work of the net’s nylon fibers.
She struggled to remain calm so she could free her hand without panicking. She glanced up, judging the distance to the surface. It wouldn’t be long before they pulled her to the top. Then she’d be an easy target for them to kill or capture at their leisure.
Resisting the urge to push with brute strength for the hilt, Quinn continued to slowly twist her arm free of the netting.
Almost there.
Almost there.
Got it!
Drawing the blade, she slashed the net, freeing herself just in time. Her head broke the surface for a few seconds and lights swiveled to shine her way, then voices shouted warnings. She dove and propelled herself into the midnight water, beyond the reach of the Fae pursuing her.
Quinn couldn’t go as fast as she was used to with the drag of the duffel bag on her back. She’d gotten past the two motorboats but had no idea if they had others out on the surface looking for her. Taking a few seconds to get her bearings, Quinn twisted and shot away in a new direction, aiming for the cave Gil had shown her that one time.
Behind her, the buzzing of propellers crossed the surface as the vessels above started searching for her. An occasional splash sounded as the boats passed over. She glanced up and saw the forms of people in the water outlined against the moonlight. They had divers coming down to search for her. Quinn smiled. Let them come. They had no way of knowing her capabilities in this form. They could spend the whole night searching for her. She’d be far away by the time the sun came up.
At least she thought she would be. She’d forgotten to check the time when Gil awakened her. She had no idea how long it was until dawn. Speeding up, Quinn felt the urgency of making it to the north shore before first light,
She had to stop twice more as boats swept by, dragging their nets behind them, trying to snare her or maybe her body. More divers dropped into the water t
o look for her. They didn’t know if she was dead or alive, but they weren’t taking any chances.
It ended up taking her over an hour to reach the cave. Diving all the way to the bottom, Quinn approached the dark cave. Even with her night vision and aquatic form, she couldn’t see much beyond the entrance.
Heeding Gil’s warning, Quinn swam only a few feet inside the entrance. She figured it was enough to keep her out of sight, and drifted down to sit on the sandy floor to wait for things to die down.
It only took twenty minutes for the first of the divers to swim toward the cave, an underwater flashlight illuminating the entrance. Quinn considered lying in wait and killing the intruder but changed her mind when four other divers arrived. As the first approached, she understood why. The full facemask of the diver’s breathing gear allowed them to talk to each other, and the muffled voices carried through the water.
Quinn looked back into the cave’s darkness. She couldn’t escape past them at this point. Despite Gil’s warning, she swam farther inside until she could see nothing but blackness. She became disoriented and couldn’t tell which way was up or backward for a few seconds, then she remembered to pull up her HUD and its map overlay.
The layout of the cave and tunnels around her appeared. She was the blue dot in the center. The five red dots clustered at the cave’s entrance represented the divers. It looked like others were on the way. There was a way forward, at least for now. If she was willing to risk it, the tunnels opened up somewhere she could escape.
Quinn swam for at least an hour. Even with the map overlay, the going was difficult, just as Gil had warned. The map did little to help her squeeze through the narrowest parts of the caves, and she left more than a bit of skin on the edges of the rocks as she wriggled through.
The good news was the divers had opted not to come in to search for her. Instead, they’d been content to post guards and boats around and above the cave entrance. Judging from the map, the Fae had decided this was her probable location.
Since she couldn’t go back, Quinn pressed onward. The twisting narrow passages started sloping upward and opened out into the lake through a crack in its bed through which she barely squeezed herself. She swam until she surfaced in four feet of water on the northern shoreline. Surprised by where the tunnel came out, she scanned the shore for any signs the Fae might be waiting for her. The images were blurry because her aquatic vision distorted light in the air. Thankfully, the bright moonlight helped.
