I slipped free and propelled myself to the surface for a gasp of air. I could hold my breath under water longer than any human I knew, but I didn’t have gills.
My head crested the water and two serpent heads bobbed up next to me less than a minute later. I’d have to work on my water skills. As my mother would’ve said, this was what happened when I didn’t practice.
“We meet again,” I told the serpents. “Not to worry. I can do this with one hand tied behind my back.”
Two more serpent heads broke the surface.
“Okay. I might need both hands.” And both legs. Treading water was great for exercise but not so great when you were trying to conjure magic. It was akin to trying to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time.
If I spent too much energy dealing with the serpents, I’d have to regroup before I handled the selkie or I’d end up causing more harm than good. Some magic users felt depleted after expending too much energy. I was the opposite.
I became dangerous.
Despite my effort to remain calm, my body betrayed me, switching to high alert.
My magic flared. No, no, no.
Most magic users had it easy. They had one set of skills like telepathy or power over water, which they mastered and then controlled with the same effort they employed for breathing and sleeping.
As I discovered early on, I was not that kind of magic user.
On the one hand, I was fortunate because I possessed multiple skills. On the other hand, I sucked because I possessed multiple skills. Ever hear that phrase Jack of all trades, master of none? Pretty sure that was written about me.
My magic swirled inside me like a tempest that only calmed when I expelled some of it. It was exhausting to carry around with me all day every day. As a child, magic had a tendency to overwhelm me and my mother devised coping strategies to keep it contained. It couldn’t have been easy for her—my mother’s magic wasn’t like mine. Hers wasn’t as straightforward as other witches and wizards we knew, but it wasn’t the illogical mess that mine was.
My mother did everything she could to make me more comfortable. She didn’t want my magic to leak at an inopportune moment. Illegal use of magic risked getting the attention of vampires which, in turn, risked revealing what I was.
Losing control of my magic was a death sentence.
I had to deal with the serpents swiftly so I could find the selkie. Why did she have to be so stubborn? There was an entire ocean awaiting her. Then again, there were very few nutritious children in the middle of the Atlantic.
I made one final effort to reach their minds. Nope. Nada. Some creatures just weren’t sentient enough to get them to submit. I’d have to resort to a different type of magic.
All four serpents cut a line through the water toward me at the same time. Time for a minor bit of spell magic.
“Levitas.”
My body lifted out of the water as though pulled by an invisible giant hand. I hovered a foot above the water and watched as the serpents undulated beneath me, their scaly black bodies crisscrossing in the water. Levitation wasn’t my strong suit and I knew I could only hold this pose for less than a minute.
Perched on a rock in the middle of the lake was the selkie. Smiling, she waved and dove into the water.
This was embarrassing. Outsmarted by a common selkie. Not my best showing.
I released a bit more magic, careful not to allow too much to spill out. Other than Kami, the banner had no idea how hard it was for me to control my magic. If they suspected that I was a loose cannon, I’d be ejected from the knighthood faster than you can say Boudica. It didn’t matter how much they needed my skills, if I was a security risk to the group, I was out. Just one more reason to hide my true self. It was a wonder I managed to form relationships with anyone at all.
I had to nip this in the bud. As the levitation spell expired, I dropped back to the water and pushed. The muscles in my neck strained as I fought to contain the rest of my magic. The water parted, creating an oblong gap for me to land in and dividing the serpents just shy of six feet on either side of the lake bottom. Landing on solid ground, I extended both arms and grabbed the two closest serpents by the neck, wrenching them from the water. I spun them as dual lassos until they collided in front of me. I reached for the other two serpents, but they’d wisely disappeared.
The selkie poked her head through the curtain of water and bared her teeth, taunting me. I caught a glimpse of small, sharp teeth before she closed her mouth and said, “Catch me if you can.”
I wasn’t in the mood for games. I was in the mood to go home and shower and buy a hot meal with the money I earned today.
The selkie was an obstacle to my simple yet pleasant future.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I yelled. But I will if I have to.
Preparing my escape route, I opened a path to shore. It wasn’t very far, but I was a faster runner than swimmer and who knew what other monsters lurked in the lake? At this point, I would’ve roused every single one of them.
The selkie must’ve been watching me from the depths of the water because she emerged in human form and landed behind me on the path. She was smarter than I gave her credit for.
She used her human foot to kick me squarely in the kidneys. I pitched forward and lost my control on the water. It flooded the path and crashed against me. The selkie took the opportunity to switch her bottom half back to seal form. Before I recovered from her unexpected maneuver, I felt sharp teeth prick my skin.
Ouch!
I elbowed her in the face. Even in the murk, I could see her eyes blaze with anger. I focused, intending to create another whirlpool around the selkie to isolate her. The water began to churn and I released a bit more magic. I was so intent on creating the whirlpool that I failed to notice a solid object skim the surface above our heads. A strong arm plunged into the water and grabbed the selkie by her long hair, ejecting her from the lake.
What the hell?
I shot to the surface in time to see a vampire break the selkie’s neck. He flung her back into the lake and I watched in silent fury as she sank to the bottom.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I yelled.
“What does it look like? Helping you.”
“I didn’t need your help. I had it under control!” It took me a moment to realize it was the vampire from Hole standing on a paddleboard. “You!”
He bowed with a flourish. “You’re welcome.”
“Are you kidding me? Where did you even get a paddleboard? None of the stalls are open.”
“I’m resourceful.”
I pulled myself on the paddleboard and tried to shove him in the water.
He appeared both shocked and amused by the gesture. “You’ll have to put a bit more muscle into it if you intend to move me.”
I frowned and pushed again, this time even harder. Even balanced on a board, he was like a brick wall. Impossible to move.
He laughed like I’d told him a funny joke. “You were in trouble and I rescued you.”
“It was under control,” I ground out.
He gave the lake a speculative glance. “Interesting. From my perspective, it looked like you were about to be drowned by a selkie. She’d definitely gained the upper hand.”
“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” I balanced on the edge of the board and debated whether to swim back to shore.