“Probably about twenty feet.”

  I nodded. “There we go, then. Get me in close enough, I think that with my new bat sense and ability to move through water quickly, I can get down there and have a look around.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure it’s worth a go. Only, what exactly am I looking for? What’ll it look like?”

  “Other than the drawing, I don’t know. Anything he might be carrying on him, either in a pouch or pocket, or possibly a compartment on his armor… It’s hard to say.”

  “That’ll have to be enough.”

  I had to get out of the driver’s seat without bringing attention to us. In order to avoid opening and closing doors and the noise that would make, Ahlaksiz climbed around each other for her to drive. Needless to say, in that cramped front part of the car, we had more than a couple of awkward instances of accidental touching—at least, they were accidental on my part. When her hand kind of cupped my balls from underneath, I wasn’t sure.

  A question for another time.

  As it was, she had managed to get into her seat, then started edging the car out slowly. We proceeded with caution, watching the strange monster with its long neck come back up as if reporting in, but saw no signs of them with the hunter’s body. Soon, we came to a stop, and it was eerie as fuck. Opening the door—the type that rose up—and kneeling there, facing away from the others and hoping the cloaked vehicle would also keep me unseen, I lowered myself down into the cold-ass water. It came up to my balls and made me want to screech but I bit down, lowering myself the rest of the way.

  Just before going under, Kinara blew me a kiss and Jalee mouthed, “Be careful.” Milkshake was closest, and she leaned out and whispered, “Have fun storming the castle,” and I don’t know if it could have been love so fast, but damn I felt like I loved all of them in that moment. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought a woman I’d be fucking would quote The Princess Bride!

  I blew a kiss back, teeth chattering, and then let myself sink down. Water surrounded me and I was fucking freezing, but also that familiar sense of purpose took hold. With a click of my tongue, I knew where every little fish was nearby, every rock at the bottom of the lake, and that there were two of those monsters nearby. The water was too murky to see them, but I could sense them—both with bodies like whales, long necks so that they looked similar to the Loch Ness Monster. Or maybe dinosaurs? In a sense that was badass, but also terrifying.

  Using my water ability to quickly move down, I swam toward them. This had to be fast. I wasn’t great at holding my breath, but needed to avoid them, find the body and item, then get out of there. Another click of my tongue should have revealed it, but… nothing. A sunken rowboat, some beer bottles, but no body. Strange. I turned, trying to see my surroundings and make sure I was in the right place, but everything about it seemed to say I was.

  Taking the risk, I swam closer. I moved as fast as I could, knowing time was short, but had to duck back when one of those things almost saw me. To my surprise, they seemed to be searching, too. How could they have not found him yet?

  My answer came as I looked down and noticed a slight indent in soil beneath me. Without a doubt, there was a shape like a body, where the hunter’s carcass must once have rested. Even a bit of armor, which I grabbed up. It was square, jagged where it had torn off. Maybe it came loose when Milkshake had removed his head?

  But if he wasn’t here and these monsters were searching for him, then I had no idea where he could be. I scanned my surroundings, hoping to see if the water had somehow moved him. How it would move a monster in full armor was beyond me, but I didn’t have any other solutions. He hadn’t had a head, so it’s not like he could have gotten up and swam away.

  I didn’t see him, but through the murky waters a large, dark form appeared. It grew, then suddenly one of those dinosaur creatures was almost on me, snapping out with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

  My little remaining air was gone as I let out a water scream, pushing myself up and using my water power to narrowly avoid the monster’s bite.

  I thought I was clear, but got hit by its tail as it whipped around. The force slammed me through the water, my entire left side feeling like it was on fire. For a second or two I couldn’t be sure which way was up, but snapped out of it as I saw the creature circling back for another go. We were found out—time to scram.

  I clicked my tongue for orientation, then flung myself up toward the surface as I felt pressure on my lungs. For an instant I thought I wouldn’t make it, but then I was shooting up out of the water, arms flailing, about to come back and land in the monster’s open mouth as it emerged in pursuit.

  A flash of blue caught my attention. There was Jalee, flying at me with her blue electric wings shooting out at her sides, and she caught the monster with a bolt of lightning before catching me around the waist. We flew so that I was nearly skimming the top of the water, but she couldn’t hold my weight—she was falling. I knew from past experience that if she fell into the water like that, she’d be in trouble.

  “Let me go,” I said. When I saw she wasn’t about to, I used what strength I had left to wriggle free as I shouted, “Meet me at the car,” before falling and hitting the water.

  It was only then that I realized I didn’t know which way the car was, now that I was so disoriented and it was cloaked.

  I sunk, but pushed myself back up and gauged the distance between me and the approaching monster. It was under the surface, but I could see it coming. Luckily, my bat sense was still working, or I wouldn’t have noticed the other one coming at me from the side. Jalee had circled around, too, and I realized the monster wasn’t coming for me, but for her! She was like a minnow moving across the surface, and that creature was about to leap up and snatch her out of the air.

  “MOVE!” I shouted, shooting over toward her with every intention of taking on that monster if it was the only way to save her. I was halfway there, shouting again, when I felt a tug of pain and then was pulled under.

  Fuck, that first monster had gotten hold of my leg, and now blood obscured my view, panic taking hold. I managed to get free, surface, and see the car appear while Milkshake leaped free to take on the other monster. Presumably, Jalee would at least be safe. Before the monster below me could attack again, I managed to get some distance between us, and then saw the car overhead, Kinara leaning out and reaching down toward me. I caught her hand, and the car lurched up. We cleared the water and I pulled up my legs as the monster shot out, snapping its jaws inches from me.

  Jalee clung to the hood of the car, meeting my gaze with relieved eyes, and then Milkshake surfaced, flesh in her mouth and blood dripping from her chin. As the monster emerged at her side, she went for it. Hot damn, she was a badass.

  “Let me back in so I can help,” I shouted, only to cling to the door frame as a shot hit the car and made it shake. We turned to see that the horned monsters on the yacht were shooting at us. One had a large object on its shoulder, the other shouting commands.

  Another shot came our way—narrowly missing, but giving me a glimpse of the purple material as it went by. It fizzled through the air before fading, but did not look like something I wanted anywhere near me.

  “What’d you find?” Ahlaksiz shouted as she turned the car around, and I got my first chance at activating the drones.

  “Bupkiss,” I said, and felt the drones depart from the car. They opened up on the enemy yacht, causing the two horned creatures to duck out of sight, at least momentarily.

  “You couldn’t find anything on him?”

  “I couldn’t find him—or rather, I found the spot he had been, but he’s gone.”

  She jerked the car as she lost focus, looking at me instead, then got it back on track. There was Milkshake, pushing off of a monster’s back as it tried to bite her. She summoned her new sword and tried to slice into the monster’s body, but only managed a flesh wound, as it glanced off the creature’s tough hide.

  “Focus!” I said, and Ahlaksiz got the car on track, slamming it into the monster’s head as I moved out of the way so that Milkshake could get in. Jalee flew up, hit the second monster with a blast, then came in fast toward the open door. Milkshake spun and this time went for the throat, decapitating the monster and making me wonder if she had a thing for removing heads. She was running along the dying monster’s body, then leaped up and caught hold of the car. I helped Milkshake into the back to make room—her wing remnants scraping along metal and fabric, nearly cutting Kinara, but we made it. Jalee was back in, closing the door, and we cleared the monsters as more shots came after us.

  “Get us out of here,” I said, glancing back, recalling the drones to the car.

  “Without the item?” Ahlaksiz asked.

  Kinara, holding onto me, protested too. “We came all this way for it!”

  “He’s not there,” I said, motioning to the island. “At least get us out of Dodge, so that we can regroup and figure out where to look.”

  “Wait,” Kinara said, then laughed as she held up my wrist. “What’s that?”

  “What is it?” Ahlaksiz said, spinning to have a look after cloaking the car and letting it drive on. Her eyes went wide, everyone staring at the metal on my wrist, now partially broken. “Well, if this Paulo Coehlo were here, he’d say ‘I told you so.’”

  “The author of The Alchemist?”

  She nodded, moving over the divide and then slipping a nail under part of the metal of the wrist device that controlled the drones. She flipped up the broken part. Apparently, it was a flap, and beneath it, as seen in her drawing, was the hexagon item we had been looking for.

  “The Alchemist indeed.” She grinned, then turned back to steer the car—not for the island, but back out of there, the way we had come.

  It made sense now. Turning to the other ladies, I explained, “A book about the treasure you seek being in your backyard. Basically.”

  Ahlaksiz grinned, pulling out her sketch again, comparing it to be sure. “Yes, and as ridiculous as that is, we had it with us the whole time.”

  “Wonderful,” Kinara said with an excited laugh.

  I couldn’t agree more. As fun as coming out here and going for a swim had been, we already had what we were searching for. Then again, we never would have known if not for this little journey. And now that we were here, I realized we could get ourselves another helping of those delicious Bavarian sausages and some pretzels.

  “Head that way,” I told her, indicating the road next to a small church. “I’ve worked up an appetite.”

  “Shitstones,” Jalee said, taking note of my leg. “You’re bleeding all over the car.”

  I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain. “Hey, is it me or the car you’re worried about?”

  “You, of course.” Milkshake looked about, desperately. “Does anyone have healing?”

  “Ointment,” Ahlaksiz said, tapping her purse. “But that will only help the healing process.”

  “I can make the bleeding stop,” Jalee said. “But it’ll leave a scar.”

  “You’re going to use electricity to burn the wounds?” I asked, then shook my head. “Nu-uh, no fucking way.”

  “What do you propose then?” Ahlaksiz asked.

  I leaned back, breathing hard, and sighed. “You think it’ll actually work?”

  “It’s worked before,” Jalee said.

  “You sure you didn’t get any sort of healing powers from me?” Milkshake interjected. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to get some ability from linking? I don’t have healing, but… maybe?”

  Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t found out yet what I might have gotten from her. I shrugged, closed my eyes to focus on healing, but nothing happened that I was aware of. I opened my eyes and shook my head.

  “Do it,” Ahlaksiz said to Jalee, then turned to Kinara. “You’ll have to hold him down.”

  “Ah, fuck…”

  She came at me, finger out like E.T., but glowing blue and starting to spark. While Kinara held me down, Milkshake turned and managed to help get my pant leg torn off and out of the way, and then I said, “Ouch” in my best E.T. voice to try and make myself laugh. It didn’t work, and Ahlaksiz didn’t seem to get the joke. I bet her daughter would have.

  The finger connected, shooting little blue flashes over my flesh, and I yelped, trying to fight it. I thrashed, but Kinara was apparently much stronger than I’d given her credit for. She pushed me back, pressed her head up against mine to keep me from throwing my head back, and then whispered, “You can do this. You’re so fucking strong.”

  She was right. I gritted my teeth, letting it happen, but was also glad to have her holding me there. It felt comforting, in spite of the pain. And something else—her holding me like that, breasts pressed against my arm, elbow against the edge of my crotch… the pain combined with her touch was turning me on! So much so, that soon my boner was pressed against her arm.

  For a second I wondered if she noticed, but then she started cracking up. She pulled back, looked from me to the bulge in my pants, and said, “This is turning him on!”

  “What?” Ahlaksiz glanced back and laughed, too. “Nice.”

  I grinned, sheepishly. “What can I say?”

  “Say thank you,” Kinara replied, and slid her hand into my pants, starting to stroke it.

  “Ladies, I’m here,” Ahlaksiz said, quickly turning around. “Can that sort of activity wait?”

  “Does it have to?”

  Ahlaksiz gave Kinara a raised eyebrow, stern motherly look, and to my dismay, Kinara pulled her hand away. She gave my crotch a regretful pat, then said, “Next time, little buddy.”

  Before curling up next to me as Jalee did her finishing touches on my leg. It was numb at this point, but also the bleeding had stopped. I was going to have one messed-up-looking calf and inner shin area, but… at least I would live.

  “Oh, shit!” I said, sitting up straight.

  “What? What?!” Ahlaksiz turned, head jolting from one side to the other to look for the danger.

  “There,” I said, indicating the restaurant. “You nearly missed it.”

  She looked like she was going to punch me in the face, but as her stomach rumbled, she nodded and brought us in for a landing. This time, she would take care of grabbing the food—since I needed to sit and recover, and my bloody, burned leg would draw too much attention.

  Another bonus of her going in to get the food was that, as soon as the door was closed, Kinara’s hand slid into my pants again. I wasn’t hard anymore, but with a couple seconds of fun fondling, I certainly was.

  Milkshake glanced over from the seat next to Kinara and chuckled. “Better not make a mess or that lady will kill you.”

  “Isn’t this kind of our car?” I protested.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Kinara said, using her free hand to undo my pants, then bending over and lowering her mouth to my cock. “After all, there won’t be a mess.”

  I glanced around for possible cops, then remembered that we were cloaked—it wouldn’t be a problem. Feeling at ease and watching her lips move to my cock with anticipation, I grinned. Jalee turned to watch the show, while Milkshake watched from the other side, rubbing Kinara’s back under her shirt the whole time.

  This wasn’t a moment for all of us to get into it, simply a nice backseat blowjob after what could have easily been an encounter with death. She stroked hard and fast, and I felt no need to prove I could hold out, so let it happen naturally. It lasted maybe two minutes, and then she was drinking down every drop, licking me clean, and licking her lips as she tucked me away.

  “There we go. I had my meal.”

  The others laughed, and Milkshake moved in to kiss her, tongue moving across her lower lip where a drop remained.

  “Next time, it’s my turn,” Milkshake told me.

  I wasn’t about to protest. I’d even managed to mostly forget about how hungry I was, almost drifting off to sleep. But when the car door clicked and I caught a whiff of the food, you bet your ass I was alert and ready to scarf it down.

  8

  Worried the monsters would have reinforcements looking for us, we got our order to go and were soon on the road again. This time, with a car full of sausages, big pretzels, and sodas.

  “At least it wasn’t a total waste of a trip,” Kinara said, biting into one of the raw sausages they’d been nice enough to sell Ahlaksiz. “These are stupendous.”

  “And we never would’ve known we had the device with us, if not for that fucking monster nearly killing me,” I pointed out.

  “True.” Ahlaksiz continued at the wheel, though she needed me to look up directions until we reached the 210 again. After eating, she figured my leg was probably ready for her healing balm, so she had Kinara apply it.

  The balm was cooling, reminding me of a more pleasurable version of Tiger Balm. It even made my leg feel like nothing had happened, as if the monster had never bitten it. But the moment I tried to put any weight on the leg when we parked on the roof of my apartment complex, I knew that was all an illusion.

  “How long until I can walk on it like normal?” I asked.

  “Let’s give it the night,” Ahlaksiz said, exiting the vehicle with us and heading toward the stairs down. Milkshake stood looking out at the surrounding buildings and down the street, while Jalee and Kinara helped me walk, one on each side.

  “That soon?” I asked.

  Ahlaksiz nodded. “With the wounds closed, thanks to your electric friend, and with my balm, I’d think so. It might hurt, but you’ll be able to move about.”

  “This land is so strange,” Milkshake said. She summoned her sword, spinning with it to perform a sort of kata form.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked, pausing with the other two near the door down.

  “Finding my flow,” she replied. “This world is so strange, it’s giving me anxiety. I think I’ll stay here and practice for a bit, if it’s all the same to you all.”

  “Of course, but try not to be seen by anyone. Yeah?”