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Dammit.
Paxton stands, waving both arms at me back and forth like one of those workers at an airport trying to guide a plane in. I lean into a gentle dive, getting closer to the deck.
Pax cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, “It’s gone! The unicorn says it’s leaving!”
Nice. Good timing, too, since I’m about ready to drop out of the sky anyway. I hold my wings out wide, using them to parachute down to the deck, where I flop beside Paxton and the unicorn.
Thank you, Talos. I’m sorry I pushed you so hard.
It is all right, Samantha. You fight to defend those you love. As do I.
I let the magic slip away, changing back into my human form. Only the warmth of Talos’s protectiveness toward me remains. Good thing, though. It’s pretty damn cold here and I don’t have any clothes on. Well, not real clothes. I’ve only summoned the illusion of clothes in the form of a simple white dress.
A tingle of magic washes over me. Ooh, I’m not cold anymore.
I open my eyes to find Maple hovering in front of me. Not only am I warm, I’ve got a cute little sundress made of leaves and vines on, effectively nullifying my own magical spell. Okay, the sundress made of leaves and vines works much, much better. Good enough until I can get inside and change.
Heavy slapping footfalls come up the stairs behind me. Maple jabs her arm forward like she’s throwing magic past me at someone else. I shift to look at the sound. There’s Kingsley in all his bare-chested hairy glory. He’d be naked, too… except for the kilt of leaves Maple gave him. Nice. Yanno, the big guy kinda looks good in a kilt.
“Are you all right, Sam?” Kingsley half-scoops me up, pulling me to my feet. “You look exhausted.”
“That’s a good word for it. Little sore. Lot tired.” I exhale and lean on him. “Is it really over?”
“Depends on what you mean by ‘it’,” says Paxton. “The big monster got scared and ran away. I dunno if anything else is going to try to eat us.”
“Where’s Tammy?” asks Kingsley.
“She went overboard,” replies Anthony, sounding way too casual for such a statement.
“What?” Kingsley gawks at us, shocked we aren’t all panicking.
“Relax.” Anthony holds one hand up. “She turned into a giant shark first.”
Right as he says this, a massive geyser of seawater blows upward next to us. I can’t believe my eyes. It looks like another ship as big as the one we’re on is breaching the ocean surface. Water falls on us with enough force to knock Paxton off her feet and drag her away. Thankfully, I am not so tired as to have lost my reflexes. I grab her hand and keep her from being swept overboard amid the pelting of icy water.
It’s not a ship, of course, but the absolute largest shark I’ve ever seen. It pivots over in midair, going from a straight vertical ascent to a sideways fall. Oh, hell. It’s going to flop right down on top of us. That’s going to snap this ship in half.
Paxton screams.
Kingsley looks around in random directions as if he’s going to find something that might deflect this shark.
Sharkzilla suddenly disappears.
Or at least, it kinda looks like it disappeared. I notice a tiny speck of something in the air and follow its trajectory until a small salmon-sized fish hits the deck with a wet smack.
“Ow,” deadpans the fish in Tammy’s voice. “I probably could have planned that better.”
I’m too stunned to speak for a few seconds.
Darkness abates. The sky once again takes on the sunlit glow of mid-afternoon and the seas go calm.
The fish transforms into a raccoon, which then sits up on its hind legs and stands up into human Tammy amid a whorl of green magical energy and leaves. In a blink, she’s back to normal and wrapped up in her faerie magic dress.
Tammy sluices water off her arm. “You know, the day is going to come when I’ll just wear this all the time.”
“Doubtful. You won’t be able to find leaves with your favorite band logos.” Kingsley laughs.
“Queen Maple?” Tammy pads over to us. “I need your help with a memory charm.”
