need to. He’s known for a while. I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s your grandson. What did you always tell me is the most valuable thing a thief can have?”
My father’s eyes lit up. “Information. It’s always information. Now let’s go get some and see if we can get your husband back. Both of them.”
I followed my father out, ready to get started.
* * * *
Summer
I hit the water and the world immediately went dark and quiet. My arm ached where the kelpie had me in her grip. Cold spread across every inch of my skin.
Kelpies are faery creatures, horses that live in ponds and streams and eat wayward travelers, though usually they don’t simply attack their dinners. They prefer to coax their dinner into hopping on their back for a ride then taking them deep and drowning the traveler who thought he or she might get home a bit faster. Once the victim is dead, the kelpie proceeds to feast, leaving behind nothing but the heart of its meal.
I was pretty sure there were other things down here that would be happy to eat my heart.
I pulled at my arm, and that was a terrible mistake because it caused the kelpie to bite down harder. I felt the skin of my forearm break and blood began to flow. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. It wouldn’t take me down so easily. I kicked and managed to make contact with the kelpie’s thick neck, but it was unmoved. It simply dragged me down faster.
I heard something or someone hit the water above me and tried to turn my gaze up. We hadn’t gone into the deep yet, and I could see Marcus had dived in after me.
He swam toward me and there was anger in his eyes, the absolute certainty that he wasn’t going to allow this to happen. He swam with powerful strokes, his arm reaching out for me.
I might have to lose my arm, but in that moment, I would have cut it off myself. Panic threatened, but I was willing to do almost anything to not be pulled deeper into those waters. I reached for Marcus and our fingertips brushed before I noticed what I hadn’t before. The sprite hadn’t been alone. One set of arms wrapped around Marcus’s waist and then another and a third. They pulled him back as the kelpie dragged me down.
I saw him start to struggle against their hold as my lungs began to burn.
I had to fight. I couldn’t count on Marcus’s mental powers to deal with three Gwragedd Annwn in the seat of their power. The first one he’d dispatched hadn’t been underwater. She’d been at her most vulnerable, but these three were strong and they pulled at Marcus, carrying him away from me.
He wasn’t from this plane. He’d likely never dealt with these creatures.
Not that I’d ever been attacked by a kelpie before. I’d spent most of my life on Faery planes and I knew everything wanted to kill me. This was the first time I’d been so distracted I’d lost my head. It looked like I might lose my life. I pulled at my arm. Blood was starting to stain the water, and I worried if he put more pressure on it, the bone would break. Pain flared through me but I kept pulling with all my might.
And then I was suddenly free. I kicked out and swam for the surface with all my might. I needed air, and then I would do my damnedest to help Marcus. I couldn’t leave him behind when he was only in this situation because he tried to save me.
But I had to breathe first. I broke the surface just as I thought my lungs were going to burst and managed one gulp of air before I was being pulled down again. I heard someone shout right before I went under and then the world was muffled and gauzy again and something was wrong because I was being dragged under by a hand, and that was something a kelpie didn’t have.
I looked down, horror dawning as I realized I’d made a mistake. This wasn’t a kelpie who would mindlessly eat me if he had the chance. The creature beneath me had the body of a horse but his legs had morphed into manly arms and as I watched, he shifted his body from equine to male. The horsehead shifted to a humanlike face, the magnificent mane becoming flowing white hair that floated