“Right,” Ember said. “Tell the others to drop what they’re doing. Send Ashera back.”
It felt like the day was suddenly spinning into chaos.
“I feel like I’ve been in this room all day,” I said. At least the breakroom was bigger than the old one had been. I turned around as Ashera joined us. “I’m so glad you’re back, and unhurt.”
“I almost didn’t make it,” she said. For the first time since I had met her, she looked like she’d been in a scuffle. And for a dragon to look mussed, even in their human form, it meant something had gone down.
“What happened to you?” I asked. “You look like you’ve been in a barroom brawl.”
“I was attacked. I was in my dragon form, taking a look around, and these two massive octopuses grabbed me and tried to drag me down. I’m talking massive. They easily had arm spans of twenty-five feet, and they had to weigh several hundred pounds each.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything quite like them.”
“That would be the giant Pacific octopus, I’m guessing,” Yutani said.
Ashera shook her head. “They looked like them, yes, but they weren’t. Well, if they were, then they were on steroids. Anyway, I managed to break away and come to the surface. They followed me, but I was able to fly out of the water.” She shuddered. “I’m queasy just thinking about it.”
“That had to be the same thing that capsized the boats,” I said.
“I agree,” Ember said.
“Boats? What boats?” Ashera asked.
We told her what we had just learned, and she settled back in her chair. “It can’t be a coincidence.”
The reports didn’t give us much more information. The authorities were trying to raise the boats so they could figure out what happened. Viktor called Erica to see what was happening, and to warn them about the octopuses.
“All right,” Ember said. “Let’s eat lunch, and then…well…I think I’ll go visit Morgana. Herne, talk to Cernunnos?”
He nodded. “Meanwhile, Raven—you can go for now. Kipa, come with me to talk to my father, please.”
Kipa told me to take the car. He’d catch a ride home. “I’ll let you know if I’m going to be late,” he said.
As I left, feeling both relieved and yet, uneasy, I decided to take a drive down to the water.
I avoided the docks, instead heading north until I came to Discovery Park, a waterfront park in the Magnolia District. I drove down along Discovery Park Boulevard, parking at a turnout near the West Point Treatment Plant.
From there, I hiked down the trail to Fort Lawton Beach, where I stood on the gravelly shore, staring out over the open water. In the distance, I could see a ferry crossing the sound, while all around me the windswept beach grass rustled in the breeze. Broken driftwood lay scattered along the shore, worn into branch-sized matchsticks by the restless water.
As I stared at the water, I wondered what the hell was going on.
There’s a challenge coming, Arawn—the god of Death, to whom I was pledged, whispered in my ear. You’ll be needed, you and your friends. That’s why you were sent home from Kalevala.
Startled—I hadn’t expected to be communing with one of my gods out here on the open shore—I glanced around, but I was alone, just me and the shore and the water.
“What do I have to do, my lord?” I asked.
But there was no answer. Just the splashing of waves as they crested against the shore, and the gentle susurration of the wind in the grass.
CHAPTER NINE
Kipa and I were taking Raj on his promised walk through UnderLake Park. Ashera had joined us for dinner and now we were enjoying the evening breeze, though I smelled rain on the incoming wind.
“What do you think of all of this?” I asked.
Ashera frowned. “I think…there’s trouble brewing.”
“Do you really think the Aqcarians are out to take over?” Kipa asked. “They could never rule the land.”
“It’s not just them,” Ashera said. “I talked to Ember shortly before joining you for dinner. She talked to Morgana. There are whispers in the Fae Community that factions are breaking off from the Light and Dark Courts. They’re no longer acknowledging the powers of Névé and Saílle.”
