Maggie blew a raspberry at the shocked shark shifter and jumped out the window.
31
Carol
Shit. Shit!Carol raced down the stairs and outside. *Lance! Everyone! I’ve found her!*
The house was in uproar behind her, but she was already running, her feet smacking on the dew-wet grass. Maggie had been on the far side of the house, facing the water. The ocean. She’d seen the little dragon shifter gazing at it. What if she’d decided to go for a midnight swim?
That’s ridiculous. She’s afraid of the water!
And for good reason. Carol’s chest tightened at the thought of the tiny dragonling caught in the powerful waves that crashed against the coast below the house.
*Maggie!*she cried out, sending her telepathic speech out all around. *Maggie, where are you? Come back!*
“PRRRR-RRR-RRRRP!”
She could have cried with relief. It wasn’t words, and it came with a very clear psychic message ofNo, I won’t come back!But it was nearby. She was on the right track.
“I’ll get Moss to cook you something nice!”
No response.
“With salmon!”
“Rrrrr?”
Farther away now. Carol’s chest tightened. “Where are you?”
She half-ran, half-stumbled as the manicured lawn around the house gave way to thick brush, then stringy dune tussocks. The path down to the water seemed steeper in the dark, full of hazards. At last she felt sand beneath her feet. There was no light except the sliver of moon high in the sky and the distant blaze of stars. *Maggie!*
What was she thinking? She reached for her shark’s senses.
And gasped aloud as they slipped out of her grasp.
It was like opening her eyes and finding herself in pitch black. Like listening for a sound when her ears were ringing and deafened.
Where were her electrosenses? What was going on?
Something lurched inside her, like the ripple of a current as something passed behind her underwater. Her senses flickered, along with an odd sensation of worry and guilt.
She didn’t have time to think about that. There! A glimmer of gold against the dull gray of the beach. Carol put on another burst of energy and ran towards it.
As she got closer, she slowed, relief making her whole body sag.
Maggie was curled up on the sand, watching the waves breaking against the beach with dragonish suspicion.
Safe. Carol took a breath.
“There you are. Cutey pie, what were you thinking? You wanted to go for a swim? It’s the middle of the night…”
The perfect time for a swim, if you were a rare golden dragon.
Or a monster.
Maggie’s dragon form was beautiful, not monstrous, but it was just as dangerous to risk her being seen. Carol’s shoulders slumped.
“I thought you were frightened of the water?”
