There was some chance that the attack would come while he was gone; it depended on how long he’d be on the island.

  But that was a risk he had to take. Emi’s condition wasn’t getting any better. As much as she tried to hide it, her health had gotten worse in the short time since he’d met her.

  She’d never looked more fragile – and beautiful – than she did at that very moment, hugging herself and gazing at the water with a troubled frown.

  She was like some rare flower so pure and delicate that it couldn’t last a day in the world.

  That thought made Tex angry. He chewed his lip.

  No. I won’t let that be true. She’s a treasure. I’m not letting her go.

  Tex’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the ghostly cry that sounded under the water.

  Emi looked at Tex, wide-eyed.

  He frowned. “Is it a whale?”

  Another one sounded out, followed by more. Then the cries rose from the water: they were female voices! They were beautiful and silvery, but … cold. And they were dissonant. They jangled in the air like an unresolved question.

  Tex and Emi cast their eyes around but could not see where the voices were coming from.

  Emi hugged herself tighter. “Tex… W-what is it?”

  “I don’t know. But we’re almost there. Stay calm.”

  Something splashed beside the boat. Emi screamed, staring behind Tex’s right arm.

  Tex dropped the paddle into the boat and grabbed his rifle.

  But something rose from the water, and cold hands grabbed his arm.

  Emi screamed.

  Tex came face-to-face with a young woman. She reached into the boat, clinging to Tex as if she’d fallen overboard. Her soaking, dark hair stuck to her face. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean, and her skin was flawless.

  She parted her pretty lips and emitted her doleful siren call. Tex shivered as he looked down at her hands, still clutching his arm. Her icy fingers were webbed, and seaweed clung to her body.

  Carefully leaning towards the side of the boat, he peered into the water and saw the outline of her curvaceous hips. Farther down, something was billowing in the water like a sail.

  Her tail fin!

  “Mermaids,” Tex tried to say, but somehow he could only muster a grunt, and it was hardly audible amid the ghostly chorus that arose around them.

  He wrenched his arm away from the sea-girl and picked up his rifle.

  Several other pretty faces rose from the water, dripping, gazing at Tex appealingly.

  A feeling of dread turned in his stomach. They were so vulnerable, floating there in the middle of the sea. His finger hovered over the trigger of his rifle.

  But he must not waste ammo. And besides, would bullets even work against these spectral creatures? And what if they’re connected to Shayla? It would be unwise to shoot them …

  He found himself gazing at the mermaid’s face. She was so beautiful, so wild. How could he even think about shooting such a creature?

  A sinister smile came onto the Mermaid’s face. Still, Tex could not look away from her blue eyes; they had all the depth of the ocean in them.

  And those weird droning voices that rang in his ears relentlessly; they spoke of another world, deep underwater.

  Dammit, she’s in my head … Under my skin …

  “Tex! What are you doing?” Emi’s frantic voice shattered his reverie. He realized he’d started to stand up, and he was leaning over the side of the boat, and the grinning mermaid had taken hold of his arm again.

  He yanked his arm out of her grip and fell back onto his seat. He gave his head a shake, trying to get the hypnotic tones out of his mind.

  “Shut up!” he shouted, taking up the paddle. “Shut up, shut up!”

  He used the paddle to shove mermaids away from either side of the boat and then began paddling madly.

  “Can’t heeeear you!” he sang. “La la laaaa la laaaa!”

  The mermaids swam alongside the craft, their backsides curving upwards, bodies moving gracefully.

  “Tex,” one of them called in a haunting voice.

  He groaned. “Go away.”

  “Tex,” she whined. “Come to me … Please? Ride with me on the waves.”

  Tex frowned. Why did that sound familiar? Suddenly, a verse of poetry resurfaced in his mind:

  I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

  Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

  When the wind blows the water white and black

  Tex had been an indifferent student in high school. He spent most of that time being bored out of his mind. For a few months, however, he had a great English teacher. She made him see the magic of words.

  Those lines about mermaids riding on the waves had bewitched him at the time. He’d secretly enjoyed memorizing them. They sounded weird and hypnotic when you said them out loud, like a magic spell.

  These thoughts gave Tex a strange intuition that he was stumbling towards some insight about actual magic. He felt like it was at his fingertips … but he couldn’t quite reach it, and the feeling quickly dissolved.

  There was no time for theorizing.

  One of the mermaids was getting too close to the boat. He raised the paddle and gave her a light tap on the head before she got too close. She shrieked and dipped under the water.

  Glancing down, Tex saw the boat’s shadow passing over the rippled sand of the seabed.

  Almost there.

  He looked ahead, taking care not to glance at the mountain peak. The shining white sand rose steeply from the sparkling water.

  Ferns bowed in the breeze, and Tex thought he spotted shapes disappearing into the shadows just before he could get a look at them.

  He suddenly got a strange vibe from Emi. Fixing his eyes on her, he found her gazing in his direction … but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring off into the distance, lost in the mesmerizing chorus of the mermaids.

  “Emi!” Tex grunted, paddling faster. “Hey! Don’t listen to that crap! You hear me?”

  The boat sailed through the water. Tex could see small, colorful fish darting over the rippled sand, maybe 20 feet below.

  “Emi! Listen to my voice. We’re almost there.”

  She tilted her head and frowned. “Tex … Is that you?”

  “Of course it’s me. Listen to me—”

  He stopped short and frowned. She was not listening. Her mouth was ajar. She stared with wonder. Then she seemed to have an epiphany.

  “The mountain!” she exclaimed. “I must look at the mountain’s peak!” She nodded firmly. “Yes, I must look at once.”

  “Emi, no!”

  Tex lunged forward and grabbed Emi’s arm as she twisted around to stare full-on at the forbidden sight. He yanked her towards him, hugging her face against his chest.

  Shit. She definitely looked.

  Emi sobbed into Tex’s chest. Her senses had returned and she was fully aware of what had happened.

  Tex’s jaw quivered with tension. Surely some catastrophe was about to happen. Everything was way too still.

  The boat drifted with the momentum of the tide, moving closer to the shore. The mermaids’ singing had stopped. Tex looked around and saw they were gone. The water was calm.

  But Tex noticed tendrils of mist curling from the water. A fog was rolling in.

  Emi whimpered. “Tex … I … I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have looked. I shouldn’t have looked.”

  She gazed up at him pleadingly. He kissed her hair. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It was the mermaids … You were hypnotized.”

  She kept gazing at him. “It was only for a second. I didn’t see anything … um, apart from the mountain itself. I mean, there was nothing there–- just the mountain. But, it felt … strange.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She gripped Tex’s animal skin wrap. “Something wasn’t right about it.”

  Tex noticed a shadow pass swiftly over the seabed. He glanced around.

  Emi gripped him more tightly. “What? What did you see?”

  “I’m … not sure. Get back in your seat.”

  He reached for the paddle as Emi moved back to her seat. But something suddenly smashed into the hull, right beneath Tex, sending the craft’s stern into the air. Tex tumbled onto Emi’s end of the craft.

  She screamed. As the boat dropped back onto the water again.

  “Hold on,” Tex said, climbing back to his seat and paddling furiously as glanced into the water. He glimpsed a long, snakey thing writhing beneath the boat.

  Chapter thirty-seven

  FROWNING AT THE shore, Tex paddled with all his strength. But he sensed a presence behind them, trailing them. Something monstrous.

  Drops of water fell onto Tex, and for a second he thought it was raining.

  But then, a thin shadow passed over his arms and legs, and then moved across the floor of the boat.

  Emi screamed. “Tex!” She shrunk into the boat, her neck craned back, staring at something above them.

  Tex raised the paddle defensively, but the giant tentacle knocked it out of his hands as it slapped down onto the middle of the craft.

  The slimy tentacle wrapped around the craft, squeezing with immense force.

  The sides of the boat split and cracked. Water poured in.

  Tex leapt over the glistening appendage, his feet splashing in the water that rapidly filled the boat. Emi screamed in horror as a second tentacle rose into the air and crashed down onto the spot where Tex had been sitting.

  Tex took Emi into his arms as the broken boat sank into the sea. Turning around in the water, carrying Emi on his chest, he saw a mass of tentacles pulling the boat down under the surface.

  He pumped his legs as hard as he could, riding the tide towards the shore, terrified that so many of those long appendages could pull them under.

  But his heel bumped the sandy seabed. He pumped his legs, swimming closer to the shore as the tentacles moved into the shallow water, reaching towards him.

  Finally, he struggled to his feet and stumbled through the water onto the white sand, running up the beach until he was well away from the water.

  He set Emi down, but she wrapped her arms around him, shivering. Tex looked out at the ocean.

  A curtain of mist had fallen over the water. The sea monster had apparently returned to the deep. The tide rolled gently on the sand. But as Tex looked over the water, all he could see was the white mist.

  It felt like he’d gone through yet another portal, and Shayla’s island was a world unto itself, surrounded by an endless, fog-shrouded sea.

  Foamy water creeped up the sand, carrying the paddle, along with chunks of wood. So much for the boat.

  Even more painfully, his rifle was at the bottom of the sea.

  Shit!

  He wanted to scream. Instead, he sunk his teeth into his bottom lip. Emi let go of him and walked some distance away, hugging herself and looking down at the sand.

  Tex walked towards her, but she turned her back on him.

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Emi, it wasn’t your fault.”

  She sniffled.

  “Emi.” Tex tried to turn the little elf around, but she fought him, turning her face away.

  “Emi,” Tex repeated softly, putting his arms around her. “Let’s put it behind us. What’s done is done. Come on, we have to find Shayla.”

  Her body relaxed slightly. “But I … I looked. Aren’t you worried about what else might happen?”

  “It’s just something we’ll have to deal with.”

  She turned and put her hands on his chest. “Your wand … It’s …” She looked down.

  “It’s gone, yeah. But it doesn’t matter. I was running out of bullets anyway.”

  “You lost it because of me. I … I feel so bad.”

  “Don’t. I’m telling you, I was almost out of bullets. It would have been useless soon, anyway.”

  He was trying to convince himself, as well as Emi. There was truth to what he was saying. Still, that handful of bullets may have helped them live a little longer. After all, the rifle was the reason he’d survived that far.

  It was the entire reason everyone had decided he was The Prophesied Hero.

  Well, okay. Ninety-seven percent of the reason. They were amazed by my fighting skills, too.

  Besides, he actually did have superhuman strength and stature now, thanks to the power infusion from the river god.

  And he still hadn’t discovered the limits of that new power.

  He sighed.

  Even so, if I’m being honest, I’d still trade superhuman strength for an automatic weapon with lots of ammo.

  Especially going against Kdar Tol, the Necromancer of Darkoveld.

  I doubt I’ll even be able to get close enough for hand-to-hand combat. No, I’m gonna need some kind of long-range attack. At least to incapacitate him.

  And then…

  Tex had some theories about who the Necromancer was and how to fight him. He was hoping Shayla would be able to at least let him know if he was on the right track.

  He put his arm around Emi’s shoulder and looked up the sloping beach, tracing his eyes over the dense bush up to the rock face that jutted upwards.

  Emi gasped. “You’re looking?”

  “It doesn’t matter now. Lorelei said it was only while we were approaching the island. Besides, I don’t think we can see the summit from here. We’re too close. Come on.”

  They walked up the sandy beach. As they approached the palm forest, Tex scrutinized the massive ferns and vines, bright green in the sun.

  Strangely, the air on the island was crystal clear despite the heavy fog surrounding it.

  Pushing aside a frond, Tex ducked into the shadows. Dozens of little animals darted into the bush in every direction.

  Tex barred Emi’s path with his arm. “Wait.”

  “The animals?” she said. “I saw them, too. Little furry things. I don’t think they’ll hurt us; they seemed afraid.”

  Tex nodded. “Well, just be careful. Looks like there’s a trail over there. Come on, let’s see where it leads.”

  Following the path, they’d only progressed a short distance when something jumped out of the bushes, landing on nimble feet.

  A cat.

  It meowed in a loud, complaining tone and trotted towards Tex. A chorus of meows rose on all sides, and dozens of cats came pouring onto the trail.

  “Oooh, hello,” Emi said, crouching down and petting them. “They’re very tame.”

  Tex looked at the cats rubbing against his legs. “I just hope that’s as big as they get.”

  They continued along the trail, cats trotting after them. The path soon became fairly steep, so Tex kept his eye on Emi.

  But she did not seem tired. That was odd, because she’d looked so worn out a short time before.

  “You don’t need me to carry you?” Tex said.

  Emi shook her head. “I feel wonderful, actually. I think the air is helping me already. I knew it would!”

  She threw her arms up and drew in a deep breath. Tex expected her to cough, but she exhaled with ease and then looked at him with wide, sparkling eyes.

  The trail led them to a cave.

  Curiously, its entrance was shaped like a doorway.

  Emi tilted her head. “Do you hear that?”

  Tex listened. “N-no. What is it?”

  “Singing. Inside the cave.”

  Tex widened his eyes. “Hooboy. I think we’ve heard enough singing for one day.”

  He stepped into the cool air of the cave and cleared his throat.

  “Hello? Shayla?” He turned to Emi. “How should I address her? Lady Shayla? Almighty Shayla? Goddess Shayla?”

  Emi shrugged. “I don’t know … Maybe Goddess Shayla.”

  “Right. Can’t go wrong with that.”

  Tex ventured farther into the cave. Blue light glowed at the end of a long, shadowy passage.

  “Goddess Shayla? Are you here? I beg your pardon for coming to your island, but I … wished to … uh, what’s the word I’m looking for?— supplicate! I wish to supplicate, uh, before you.”

  Tex cringed. He wasn’t good at wording things diplomatically, let alone finding the archaic sort of language appropriate for addressing a deity.

  Emi let out a little giggle, despite everything. “You should be able to speak formal Elvish, Tex. I gave you the ability.”

  “I know, I know. It just isn’t my thing to talk so formally.”

  They walked towards the blue light, down a natural corridor. Several cats followed them, meowing.

  Glistening stalactites hung from the ceiling, connecting with formations that rose from the ground. Here and there, purple and yellow crystals glistened on the rocks.

  “It’s beautiful here,” Emi said.

  One cat meowed loudly and trotted ahead, disappearing around a corner. Reaching the corner, Tex and Emi found themselves at the top of a staircase carved into the rock.

  Tex could hear a melody lilting up from the gloom below.

  He looked at Emi. “I can hear the singing now.”

  Descending the stairs, they came down to a cavernous, steamy room. Most of it was filled with a large pool— a hot spring, evidently.

  Sitting in the shallows of the water, a young woman with blonde hair was singing as she bathed. Several girls stood nearby in the water, waiting attentively.

  The cats rushed past Emi and Tex and trotted to the edge of the pool, mewling peremptorily.

  “I know, my dears,” the lady said to the cats. “We have visitors.”

  Then she turned, raising herself from the water slightly, revealing a perky pair of breasts.

  She looked at Tex. Her perfectly symmetrical face was as beautiful as a supermodel’s, but there was something … off about it. Not physically. Physically, it was perfect.

  Perhaps it was the gleam in her eyes.

  Tex bowed. “Goddess Shayla, I’ve come to entreat you … er …”

  She was emerging from the pool, hips swaying as the water streamed down her luscious body.

  She stopped and raised her eyebrows. “You were saying?”