A chill went up his spine. Not from the location, rather, there was a breach he felt. Cocking his head, he listened carefully.
He’d just about convinced himself that he was being paranoid when all of a sudden he caught the scent of the beasts that had crept on board, under their collective Sights.
Water sprites.
Shit! Grabbing a dagger, he rushed to let the others know before they were sent to the bottom of the ocean, compliments of Vine.
13
Cameron was talking to Kalder when a bit of the sea came up over the side of the ship. At first, she thought it nothing more than the usual spray.
Until the water took on the form of a muscled man. Then it quickly formed armor over his aquatic skin.…
Her jaw slack, she felt the blood heat up in her veins. Kalder turned, then called to the others as he dove for the creature. The moment he touched it, his body changed over to his merman features.
William, Rosie, and Kat unsheathed their swords to lend a hand. But before they could, more creatures came over the side in slick tidal waves.
Valynda grabbed her arm. “We need to get belowdecks. Fast!”
“What are those?”
“Water sprites.”
Cameron had never heard of such. “And how do you fight them?”
“With a great deal of skill … there’s a split instant when they solidify into flesh to attack. It’s a blink of an eye and the only time they’re vulnerable.”
Cameron saw what she meant when one went after Kalder. It rose up for him and just as Valynda described, it became flesh for only the merest heartbeat. Kalder quickly jabbed his sword into its chest right as it turned solid. With a fierce, ear-piercing shriek, it exploded into a gory mess and rolled across the deck.
She started forward to help, until another wave manifested in front of her. It rose up like a skeletal monster and turned toward her with fangs bared.
It reached out with a clawed hand.
Too petrified to move, she froze as it reached for her.
Just as it would have seized her, a sword went through its middle. Like the other, it exploded into a bloody mess to show her the captain who’d speared it. “You all right, Miss Jack?”
“Aye, sir.”
“Then you’d best be getting below.” He turned to fight another.
Mesmerized, she watched him as he took down two more with expert skill—one right before it would have killed Kat.
He was amazing. At least until one of the masts came free and slammed into him, an instant before two of the sprites sank their fangs into his flesh.
Kalder and William rushed to his side to fight the sprites off. Time seemed suspended as she expected the captain to be swept over the deck by the waves of attackers. Yet a heartbeat before he would have been taken into the sea, the side of the ship rose up to cradle him and hold him fast from their grasp. It took her a moment to realize that it was Marcelina as the ship who was now fighting off the sprites and protecting the crew.
But why had she waited to stop them?
Belle let out a chant. One that was taken up by Janice. Then Rosie. Together, their voices caused a shield to go up over the ship to protect it and block the sprites from accessing their decks.
Only then did Bart and William lift the captain from the deck and carry him between them toward his cabin.
Cameron and Valynda followed, intending to help. Though to be honest, Cameron didn’t know much about medicine or doctoring. A bloody nose or black eye were the worst injuries either she or Paden had ever suffered at home.
“The captain can’t die, right?” she asked them.
Valynda screwed her face up at Cameron’s question. “Technically true.”
