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‘I love you, too Don’t worry about killing anyone Just keep them away frouy’

‘Good’ He turned to Ryu ‘Take care of her’

Ryu nodded I could tell he was enjoying this i the barghest couldn’t ‘Of course I’d never let anything happen to her’

Anyan reverted to glowering, and I turned away froe swaerly out at the sea The sun reflected wetly off her pearlescent gray skin, and her seaweed hair flowed down her back in a neat queue She turned to ht with you in the water, Jane, where you belong’

I wasn’t quite as excited at the prospect as Trill was, but I didn’t tell the kelpie that Instead I held ers s me for the umpteenth time that month how lucky I was to have my friends

‘Move out!’ the Alfar shouted, andtheir eleerness, while the Alfar and his soldiers ave the barghest one last squeeze, then trotted forith Ryu and Trill

Poirled around me as we entered the ocean – that of the sea herself but also that of the eley as ered through the water We’d decided to eschew boats for thisfor maximum surprise That meant we had about a two-hour swim till we reached our destination

Once we hit real ocean, the Alfar leader s, Trill, and I moved forward We made a sort of V-formation, with ts Our first row of real water elementals went first, Trill and I in the lead Ryu and the Alfar made up the row behind us Our row cocooned the back row in a bubble and began to tow the earlier that reed that this was the best way to get where we needed to go I could swi, I was so symbiotic with the water The Alfar had limited access to their water channels – they had access to all four elements, but only so much access to each When they could use multiple elements simultaneously, they were super-powerful But lie

Once we had the Alfar in our toe could really h the water, after about an hour of swi in the deep We stopped then, watching from a distance for the enemy to show

Eventually, there was movement on our watery horizon I could feel their power froer water signatures – the kappa and the rusalka

I looked around We had superior numbers, we had laid our own trap, and we had the champion This should be a piece of cake

So why did I still feel like ere the ones who had been set up?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Putting on a burst of speed, we catapulted ourselves and our Alfar backup through the water We had to meet the enemy at a distance from the sub, not least because it and theshapes streaked over our target, and I was the only one who slowed I took a defensive position floating above the sub shove that lent theuarded