What bargain?”
The king cocked his head at him. “You’re here to ask favors of me, are you not? You will bargain for them.”
Robin turned to us with a hurrying gesture, and my heart practically galloped. At seeing his face again, and how pleased he looked to see me.
No. Not me—us. Probably not me at all, and only his friends.
The men went into the pool first, Jon’s shoulders remaining above water where Will became submerged. Soon, he too was fully underwater where the pool deepened, before they both emerged on the other side and climbed beside Robin.
I followed them, setting my foot down on the sparkling waves they left behind. Expecting to sink through the water, I just glided along, as if on rippling sheets of malleable glass.
I was literally walking on water.
A delighted laugh broke the spell of fascination as I looked up, and met Robin’s amused eyes head on.
This time he was certainly grinning at me. Then he spread his hands towards my feet. “Now that isn’t something I was expecting to see, ever.”
Smiling nervously, I glided closer. “And here I thought you’d seen it all.”
“I’m afraid you are just a unique occurrence,” he teased. “I wish you could see what I’m seeing.”
And I wished I could continue seeing him, and the way he looked at me now.
Breaking eye contact as I reached his side, I checked behind me, found the girls right where I left them. I waved them over.
“I can’t swim,” Agnë said, blue eyes huge with dread.
“And I’m, uh…” Meira glanced around as if for a way out. “…allergic to water.”
Before I could respond to that weird claim, Will stopped wringing water out of his clothes. “What are you, a cat?”
“If that makes you a rat, then yes,” Meira snapped at him.
“Want me to carry you across, Miss Agnë?” Jon offered.
“No,” the king said firmly. “You all cleanse yourselves, or you don’t get an audience with me.”
“We’re not here for anything ourselves,” Meira said, before cowering under Theseus’s gaze.
Cowering? When I’d never known her to show any sign of weakness?
“Then leave the palace,” the king said. “Head back to the Folkshore.”
“What? No! We can’t leave her!” Agnë moved towards the water.
Meira caught her back, hissing, “Don’t be an idiot!”
“Just wash yourselves off, already!” I ordered, a tone I hadn’t used with them in a while. “You won’t drown with everyone around!”
“We can’t,” Meira almost whimpered.
“Then you can’t follow your friends wherever they go from here,” said Princess Erytheia. “It’s as simple as that.”
Continuing on this journey without them was not an option. Even if it ended here for me, I couldn’t have them walk home by themselves. Who knew what else roamed this land that could gobble them up. I needed them to stay with Robin and the others.
“I don’t blame you for being suspicious, but as you can see…” Robin pointed to himself and his sopping-wet friends. “…there’s nothing harmful in the water.”
Meira’s grip on Agnë turned white-knuckled as they both shook. “It’s different for us, and like we said, we’re only asking to accompany her.”
This was getting ridiculous. I’d never known them to be so difficult.
Unless…
“Is the myth about witches melting in water true?” I asked.
“We–we told you we’re not witches,” Agnë stammered.
“The more you resist, the more suspicious of your presence I become. Very well.” Theseus flicked a hand, and both my handmaidens flew forwards and splashed into the pool.
Meira thrashed in the water, screaming. Agnë sank like a stone.
Before anyone could move, Jon flung himself into the pool, creating waves as he dove after Agnë.
In seconds, he surfaced with her in his arm, and caught Meira, too, kicking powerfully towards the platform.
I hovered above them, torn between fear for Agnë, who’d gone totally still, and irritation at Meira, who kept struggling and yelling, “Let me go!”
Jon heaved up from the pool with them in his arms, grunting, “You two are far heavier than you look—”
His words were cut off as he stared down at their hunched forms. I stared, too.
They had their backs to me, and their arms pressed over their heads. And they looked—bigger. Much bigger.
“Wh–what happened to you two?” I choked.
Neither responded.
“Answer me!” I ordered shakily. “Face me—now!”
Reluctantly, they rose to their feet and turned to me, and I gasped.
In the space of a minute, they’d grown taller than me, with larger skeletons overall, their skin shining with more than wetness. Then they lowered their arms down to reveal pointed ears. Longer than Robin’s, and on par with the king’s