Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (10 page)

I glanced back at my room as I moved to the doorway.
 
I really would have preferred to stay there instead.
 
I couldn’t trust myself to be polite to Dardennes but I felt bad about Céline, which was putting some reins on my temper.
 
I decided to go without argument.
 
I owed her that much at least.

He led me out of the compound and out through another forest door which opened up next to a lake.
 
I looked around, suddenly recognizing where we were.

“This is the Lady of the Lake’s place.”

“Yes.
 
Her name is Naida.”

“I have a different name for her.”
 
I was staring menacingly at the water, hoping she’d show herself so I could have a few words with her.
 

“Yes, well, I think she would prefer you use her given name, rather than any ... nicknames.”

“Whatever you say.
 
So, what are we doing here?”

“We are here to test your affinity to Water.”

“Ah.
 
And how are we going to do that?”

“Come with me.”

I followed him down to the water’s edge.

“Naida.
 
Please come to say hello.”

There was a disturbance out in the middle of the lake.
 
I could see something was moving beneath the surface towards us.
 
The Loch Ness Monster came to mind again.

“Hey Jayne!”

I grabbed my heart, trying to keep it from exploding.

“Becky!
 
Where the hell did you come from
?!
”

She was standing by my left elbow, a big dopey grin on her face, as usual.

“The water, of course.”
 
She nodded her head towards the approaching Naida.

“How come you teleport and she does the Loch Ness Monster routine?”

Becky shrugged.
 
“She prefers a more dramatic entrance, I guess.”

Dardennes stood off to the side, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Well, appearing out of thin air and scaring the shit out of me is pretty dramatic.”

Becky smiled.
 
“We water sprites have a flair for it, I think.”

I smacked her, and she grabbed her arm, feigning injury.
 
“Watch it, Jayne, or I’ll sic the big bad Naida monster on you.”

“
Pfft.
 
I have a feeling that’s what’s supposed to happen here anyway.
 
I hope I don’t bite the big one.”

“They wouldn’t let that happen to you, Jayne.”

I looked over at Dardennes who was engaged in conversation with Naida, now that she had finally finished her creepy entrance.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Becky looked over at Dardennes and Naida.
 
She whispered, “I don’t know the specifics, Jayne, but you’re going to be tested today.
 
But
don’t worry
,
they won’t let you die
.
 
You’re important.”

“How so?”

“I’m not sure.
 
But everyone is saying it.
 
Something about stuff you did in the forest.”

I cringed, wondering if she was talking about the stuff I did during the test or the recent
near-killing
I did of Céline.

“Are you talking about Céline?”

Becky looked confused.
 
“What?
 
No.
 
What about her?”

I shook my head.
 
“Never mind.
 
I’ll tell you later.”
 
Dardennes stopped talking with Naida and came over.
 
“Looks like I’m up.”

“Jayne, Naida and I have discussed the situation, and we both feel the first part of this ... experiment ... should be for you to try and make a connection with the water.”

“Soooo ... you want me to go swimming or something?”

“No.
 
We want you to just relax.
 
Let Naida take over from here.
 
She is the expert, not me.”
 

Dardennes stepped away from the edge of the lake, walking back until he was at the tree line.
 
Once there, he turned back to face the lake, clasping his hands together behind his back.
 

Becky looked at Naida and got a worried look on her face.
 
“Um, I’m just gonna head out for now ... ”

“Where are you going?” I asked, hoping she’d stay.

“I ... uh ... gotta go.”
 

And then she was gone.
 
Disappeared.
 
I really hated when Becky did that teleporting stuff.
 
She was always either scaring the shit out of me or abandoning me in the blink of an eye.

I turned to look at Naida.
 
The bitch of the lake.
 
I still had a bone to pick with her.

“You nearly killed my friend.”

She nodded her head at me.
 

“That pissed me off.”

She just looked at me, saying nothing, no expression on her face.

“I think you and I need to come to some sort of understanding.”
 
I’m not sure what I meant by this show of false bravado, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Next thing I knew, lake lady was standing right in front of me, two inches away from my face.
 
Before I had time to react, she seized me with both arms in a gruesome bear hug.
 
Gruesome because, well, she’d practically killed my friend and now she was trying to kill me too; but also because she smelled like the lake.
 
Muddy.
 
Fishy.
 
Not very pleasant.
 
Exactly how I imagined a murderous sea monster would smell.

I struggled to get away.
 
“
What
.
 
The
fuck
.
 
Is your
problem
?”

She was pulling me backwards.
 
Well, backwards for her – forward for me.
 
She was going to try and drown me.
 
And I was totally not thrilled with this kind of test.

“Get.
Off!”
 
I tried to shove her away, but she was too close for me to get any leverage.
 
My hands were trapped at my sides.
 
I was desperately searching for a solution to my total body lockdown problem when I remembered the famous head butt move from the movies.
 
Head butts always surprised the bad guys.
 
Might as
well ...

I head butted her.
 
Hard.
 
I saw stars and was instantly rewarded with a headache.
 
She just looked at me, totally unfazed.
 
Note to self: never use head butts on sirens.

We were at the edge of the water now.
 
I could feel it at my ankles, filling up my moccasins.
 
The water was cold.
 
This must be what Becky went through.

I remembered The Green and how it had helped my friends before.
 
I sent out a call to The Green.
 
Save me!
 
By now the water was up to my knees.
 

I saw Naida’s eyes widen, looking off over my shoulder.
 
I turned my head as far as I could and saw the vines nearly upon us.
 
Yes!

Naida quickly jerked me backwards and under the water.
 
I felt a rushing, as if I was being pulled through the water by a speedboat, farther and farther away from the edge of the lake.
 
She still had me in a total body lock.
 
All I could do was struggle meekly and eventually surrender.
 
I had quickly run out of breath.
 
I blinked my eyes underwater, watching as the last bubbles from my lungs danced up above my head, in a rush to get to the surface – the place where I wished I could be right now.

The sounds I was used to hearing above the ground were gone.
 
The murmur of the wind through the trees and the sounds of things moving across a ground littered with crunchy, dead leaves disappeared.
 
This muted underworld was a perfect setting for a sea monster like her.
 
The water was murky.
 
All I could see was her dispassionate face and her hair, swirling around, flowing with the
microcurrents
that surrounded us.

She slowly loosened her grip, letting me go.
 
I had reached a place where I was no longer able to do what I needed to do to escape.
 
My legs wouldn’t kick.
 
My arms wouldn’t push through the water to get me above the surface.
 
The burning in my lungs had already begun to fade.
 
Strangely, however, I wasn’t panicking like I probably should have been.
 
I felt like the best thing to do to survive was to surrender, which made absolutely no sense.
 
Lack of oxygen was making my neurons misfire.

My brain had barely enough signal left, flickering.
 
But somewhere, deep down inside that last flicker, I was able to send out a mental cry for help.
 
Someone, something, somewhere ... please ... save me.

A warmth
began to build in my stomach.
 
It moved up and down, to my heart and my legs.
 
To my head and my feet.
 
Soon my entire body seemed to glow from the heat of it – this welcome fire that didn’t burn.
 

The murkiness of the water dissipated.
 
Suddenly I could see things – everything.
 
And
everyone
.
 
I was not alone in this lake with Naida.
 
There were others, many others.
 
Females, males, small ones, big ones.
 
Water sprites.
 
And fish.
 
And creatures I couldn’t identify.
 
And the lake wasn’t just a lake.
 
It was huge, like an underwater city but without the buildings.
 
I could see forever in this place.
 
My eyesight was sharp and there were no obstructions.

I moved my arms a little.
 
Just a small flutter, followed by a tentative kick with my legs.
 
I was able to move.
 
I wasn’t in total body lockdown anymore.
 
I moved my arms in small circles, wondering what I should do next.
 
I turned my body in a three-revolution somersault, forgetting for a moment that I had to breathe out through my nose to keep the water from filling my sinuses.
 
But then, I realized it didn’t matter.
 
Holy shit!
 
I can breathe underwater!

It wasn’t breathing, what I was doing, not really.
 
I had just ceased to need to breathe while I was here.
 
Somehow my body was pulling oxygen from the water, without it going through my lungs first.
 
This was some kind of medical miracle or something.
 
This was better than any dream I’d ever had with underwater breathing in it.

Naida appeared in front of me again.
 
She didn’t look nearly as hideous under the water as she did above it.
 
She was actually kind of pretty in a way, down here in her world.
 
She raised her hand up slowly, placing it on my upper arm.
 
She held her other arm out, gesturing towards the area behind me.
 

I turned and saw the wavy outline of a figure, standing on solid ground at the side of the lake.
 

I looked back at Naida and she nodded at me, I think telling me I had to return to Dardennes and the forest now.
 
But I didn’t want to go back yet.
 
I wanted to discover this place some more, now that it no longer felt threatening.
 
I made a move to go in a direction away from shore, but several sprites arrived quickly, moving to block my progress.
 
They didn’t look dangerous, just firm.
 
Apparently not drowning did not automatically qualify me for free reign of the water sprite kingdom.
 

I looked at Naida and tried to say thank you, but my mouth filled with water.
 
I guess not all laws of physics ceased to operate in this realm.
 
I nodded my head and put my hand over my heart, the best imitation of an underwater thank you I could come up with.
 
She bowed her head to me in recognition.
 
Amazingly enough, I no longer wanted to punch her in the face.
 
She had shown me some of her special magic today, letting me see her world – even after I gave her a massive head butt.
 
I knew this was an opportunity few people, or fae, would ever have.