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He put his finger up again and then slithered into the water. Like before, he ducked beneath the waves, but this time moved and scouted back and forth. The large and frightful fins from before lifted from his back and pressed their tips together, making it look like a singular sail fin. Nothing leapt away, even when he seemed to purposefully disturb the sand.

Eventually, he stuck his torso out of the water and waved for her to come closer.

Linh released a quiet squeal of joy. Rather than just getting her feet wet, she retied the bottoms of her pants above her knees and ran into the waves.

“Eek! It’s so cold,” she shouted with a laugh.

Linh pushed up her sleeves until they were bundled around her elbows, and scooped up a handful of water. She watched as it drained through the gaps in her cupped hands. She sniffed it, taking in its oddly refreshing smell.

As much as she wanted to, she didn’t dare run up and down the shore like her heart told her to. She remained where Nathair had already scouted, never going past his depth and the wide curl of his tail.

Waves broke around him as if he was stone, whereas their shoves tried to push her to her arse. He dipped under occasionally, likely to double-check that nothing came to disturb her moment of joy. She got to watch the way his tail pushed up and down, rather than side to side. It occasionally breached the surface in loops, and he truly did look like a giant sea snake as he swam.

He really is magnificent.

A deadly predator. A lethal killer both on land and in water. A creature of nightmares.

She was rather giddy that he was her protector.

I’d like to see anyone take me now,she thought with a laugh.

Linh was aware she was growing rather dependent on that idea. It might be why she’d had little anxiety about being recaptured, or what had happened to her.

Ever since he’d saved her, he’d been frightening enough to chase away those fears.

She needed that so fucking much.

There had been nothing worse than suffering nightmares while currently experiencing one. The relief from it was such a balm to her soul that she wanted to weep.

Before her thoughts could trail back any further, Nathair popped out of the water.

Although she’d been enjoying herself, her feet were frozen.

“I’m going to get out now, okay? It’s too cold.”

Nathair tilted his head, then straightened it. He patted his stomach.

“Am I hungry?” He nodded, and she shrugged. “Not right now, but I will be when it’s time for dinner.”

He waved her back, telling her to leave. When she did as she was told, he pointed towards the cave, and she figured he wanted her away from the water completely.

She wasn’t going to argue with a Duskwalker.

“Oh, a shell?!” She crouched down to pick up the small clam shell. She ran her fingers over its coarse texture, brushing sand from between its pale-pink ridges.

She found another and picked it up as well.These are so cool. I didn’t know they’d wash up on shore. Oh! That one is even bigger.She ran over to a big white one that looked like some kind of critter could have lived inside it. Spikey and twisted, it reminded her of a snail’s shell, but with a point.

She didn’t know what animal it was from, but took it anyway.

I would love to take this home and show my mum.

Her parents would be so relieved to see her return, and she would like to give them something to show that not all of her days apart from them had been horrid.

A pang radiated around her heart and twisted her stomach into knots.I hope they’re okay.She’d thought that many times, and hated that she knew the answer.

They wouldn’t be okay.

Clenching her eyes and biting back the sudden strike of her thoughts, she turned once she was close enough to the cave entrance. The sun continued to shine on her, and with her out in the open, no Demon could attack her.