Chapter 4
FOUR
The water closed in around me. I had the feeling that I was sinking, like the water had a mind of its own and was pulling me down.
Then Crispin’s hand tugged at mine, and I opened my eyes.
Probably not the best idea in water of unknown cleanliness, but hopefully its magical nature would keep away dangerous bacteria.
Pushing down my panic, I kicked my feet, trusting that Gabriel and Mistral would be right behind us.
My jeans felt tight and heavy underwater, and I was already regretting keeping them on.
At least Gabriel had convinced me to remove my boots.
As they were my favorites, he’d promised to keep them in hand while he swam after us.
My lungs burned as I fought to hold my breath, the aqua glow almost blinding in the depths—though I couldn’t tell its source.
It seemed it came from the water itself, like swimming through a pool of diluted glowstick juice.
I could barely make out Crispin beside and a little bit ahead of me, his strong grip on my hand propelling me faster than my weak kicks ever could.
I made a vow right then that if I got out of this alive, I would practice my swimming.
My lungs already ached from holding my breath and I had no idea how close we were to the other side.
As I kicked more frantically, my heel bumped into something hard.
Before I could realize it was just the rock above me and not some terrible underwater creature, my breath whooshed out of my lungs, blinding me further with a flurry of bubbles.
I flailed, trying to regain my equilibrium, panicking further as Crispin’s hand slipped from mine.
Oh gods, was I actually going to die down here?
I had shut my eyes at some point and struggled for a moment when an arm slipped around my waist, and a slick body pressed against my front.
Fortunately the familiar pulse of elven magic let me know it was Crispin.
He held me against him, even with just one arm propelling us faster than before.
Grateful, I wrapped my arms around him, freeing his other arm.
I was just dead weight, but dead weight was better than dead.
When my vision started to go gray, I closed my eyes tight and pressed my face against his neck, my entire body screaming for air.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, and I was about to involuntarily inhale a lungful of water, we broke the surface.
I clung to Crispin, coughing and sputtering as I tried to touch bottom with my feet.
“It’s okay,” he murmured, breathing heavily but not panting and hacking like I was. He paddled us a little further then said, “Put your feet down. You should be able to stand.”
Blinking water out of my eyes to look at him, I did as he asked, but wasn’t quite ready to let him go.
He smiled down at me, water dripping from his hair. “You really don’t like water.”
“I don’t like being under water with no easy way up,” I wheezed.
Gabriel and Mistral broke the surface behind Crispin, the rise and fall of their chests the only sign of exertion. Gabriel was at my back in an instant, dripping water on me. “What happened? I saw you struggling.”
I couldn’t see him behind me, but had a feeling he was glaring at Crispin. “I bumped my foot on the rock and scared myself.” Embarrassed, I stepped out of Crispin’s loose embrace, then wobbled toward the shore.
Ringo waited on the dry stone, his fur all puffed up and still a deep gray. He trembled as he watched me with wide eyes.
I stepped out of the water, then knelt. Then when I couldn’t quite maintain my balance, I flopped over onto my butt. “I’m sorry you got left here alone.” I coughed, then cleared my throat, turning my head to look at him. “Were you scared?”
Ringo blinked up at me, his eyes darting to the guys as they stepped out of the water. “There were voices outside after you left. I hid, but they didn’t come in.”
Goosebumps prickled up my arms, and not from being soaking wet. The cave was warm enough that my dripping clothes felt nice. “What sort of voices? What were they saying?”
“They said you must have realm jumped, and that they should leave before you returned.”
Mistral knelt beside me, his white hair iridescent with water dripping out of it. He addressed Ringo. “Did you recognize the voices?” When Ringo shook his head, he asked, “Could you tell if they were male or female? Young or old?”
When Ringo curled up into a little ball, clearly frightened, I interrupted, “What does this mean? Who would be watching you—watching us—out here in the Bogs?”
Mistral stood, offering me his hand. “I do not know, but we should have a look around for any sign of them.”
I waited for Ringo to climb onto my shoulder before I took Mistral’s hand.
I felt terrible for leaving him alone and scared, but at least now we knew that someone had been out here watching us.
And they had seen Gabriel and I shift. All they would have known was that we disappeared, and they must have assumed we went to a different realm rather than just somewhere else in this one.
Crispin moved to my other side. He had already put his pants back on and was buttoning his shirt. “Perhaps we should be more troubled that someone saw you shift. If they report it to Elizabeta—”
“Let us attempt to find them first,” Mistral cut him off.
“Yeah, finding them sounds good.” Gabriel handed me my boots, my wet socks stuffed inside so they wouldn’t get lost. I shoved them into my back jeans pocket then put on the boots without socks.
I was definitely going to have blisters by the time we returned to the Citadel, but that was the least of our worries.
With my hand back in Mistral’s, we led the way toward the entrance. Hopefully we could figure out who had been out there, else we might soon have every vampire in the city breathing down our necks.
Or biting our necks.
Crispin and Gabriel brought up the rear, all of us silent as we stepped out into the sunlight.
It felt like hours since Gabriel and I were brought to the meadow, but really, not much time had passed.
Everything looked just as we had left it, minus the vines, which had crept back to wherever they’d come from.
We all looked around, steadily dripping water as an eerie silence settled over us. Someone had been spying. They had seen me shift, noted it, and fled.
Saying that it did not bode well was a vast understatement.
I didn’t have blisters as we reached the Citadel.
Mostly because Gabriel had noticed me starting to get blisters, and had carried me the rest of the way, despite my weak protests that his shoes were wet too.
At least it didn’t seem like he was mad at me anymore, though I was still worried how he would react next time he saw Sebastian.
Especially if Sebastian was a jerk about it all, which he probably would be.
Ringo had moved to Crispin‘s shoulder as soon as Gabriel picked me up, but I had still noticed him gazing into the woods for the entire walk, searching for our mysterious watchers. We had seen no sign of them on the journey back, and my stomach was twisted with nerves. Or maybe it was just hunger. It had been many hours now since I’d had that donut.
Gabriel let me down to my feet in the small, overgrown courtyard leading toward the entrance near the stables. Since it seemed like the land was no longer being helpful after our little trip to the meadow, Crispin and I would have to ride to the gates.
Of course, I could let Crispin go on his own and stay the night as Mistral had suggested, but it didn’t seem like such a good idea now that someone had seen me shift.
If the vampires would be on our asses soon, it was more imperative than ever for Sebastian to find his sister and get her to tell us where my great grandfather was.
Killing him wouldn’t help us with Elizabeta, but at least with the Realm Breaker it would be easier to run from her.
Mistral lightly touched my back. “Gabriel should go with you. I don’t like thinking any of my people would betray me, but someone saw your shift. Better to assume the vampires might attack than to be caught unawares.”
I frowned, “But what about… you know?” Gabriel had headed toward the stables, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hear us. While he was great in a fight, I didn’t think bringing him anywhere near Sebastian was a good idea.
Mistral gazed in the direction of the hulking goblin. “I think, perhaps, I did not give him enough credit before.”
I wanted to ask if that meant he wouldn’t attack Sebastian, but then Crispin joined us with Ringo still on his shoulder, looking half asleep.
The elf was peering at a piece of paper where he had sketched the celestial symbol from the hidden cave.
The little notebook had been in his pants pocket, and he had sketched the symbol from memory while we walked.
“I’ll research the symbol as best I can, but I imagine you would rather I not show it to anybody?
” His eyes lifted from the paper to question Mistral.
“You would willingly keep information from your people?” Mistral asked, seeming genuinely surprised.
Crispin had the grace to look abashed. “I believe when it comes to dear Eva, secrets are our friends.”
“True.” Mistral nodded as Gabriel returned from the stables with two horses. Apparently I hadn’t needed to worry about making a decision on staying. The choice had been made for me.
With a small smile, Gabriel handed me the reins of one horse. “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll fetch a fresh change of clothes.”
Crispin took the other set of reins as they were handed to him. He acted casual, but I didn’t miss the small crease of worry in his brow.
I was soon distracted as Mistral’s arm curled around my waist from behind. His lips grazed my cheek. “I would ask that you return tomorrow, if you are able.”
I slid my hand over his where it pressed against my abdomen. “I’ll do my best.”
His cheek brushed mine as he looked at Crispin. “Watch out for her.” Then his presence was gone, no longer a warmth at my back.
I turned to watch him walk in the direction Gabriel had gone.
Once we were alone, Crispin leaned in near my shoulder. “Do they have telepathy, or did I miss them discussing that we would leave this evening, and Gabriel would come with us?”
I absentmindedly stroked the nearest horse’s neck. “At this point in my life, I’ll believe anything.”
Crispin chuckled. “You and I both, dear Eva. You and I both.”