Page 26 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

Chapter Ten

Altered humans: for the purposes of this reference, magically altered humans are those whose kelan structures have undergone sufficient changes to alter key human characteristics.

While altered humans such as vampires (Nightwalkers or Bloodstalkers in fae terminology) may or may not have other magical abilities, they have gained certain magical attributes not present at birth.

W e have to get to the damn prison soon. Theo slowed the truck and leaned his head out into the moonlight, taking a deep breath of night air. It’s not that far but we’re moving too damn slow.

Their third night of travel, he was feeling steadier.

Limpet had fussed and harried him after that first disaster until Theo had agreed to rest during the heat of the day.

The selkie snuggled up with him under the truck, but Theo hadn’t touched him in anything more than a brotherly way since his feeding.

Limpet was probably still alive because of it.

Now, though, his traveling companion wasn’t looking too great. Pale and restless, Limpet ate less every day and hardly drank much more. He shifted on the seat again, obviously uncomfortable, though whenever Theo asked, he said he was fine.

Uncomfortable. What sorry doctor ever thought that was a good way to describe pain? “You need to get out and walk around?”

“No. Thank you. We need to kee—” Limpet stopped mid-word and shot up in his seat.

At first, Theo thought he’d spotted something, but his eyes weren’t tracking on anything. He hung his head out the window, sniffing much as Theo had just done.

“You okay, little bit?”

“I…I…Theo!” Limpet pointed out the windshield to the left. “You have to go that way! Please, please, that way!”

“It’s not the way we need to go.” Theo frowned when Limpet clutched his arm, black eyes huge in distress. “At least tell me why. Suddenly you can’t talk?”

“Water,” Limpet choked on the word. “I smell it. Big water for swimming. Theo, please. I know…I…”

“Hey. Easy.” That Limpet could barely put three sentences together disturbed Theo profoundly. I guess a seal in the desert isn’t a good thing, right? “How far, do you think?”

“Close.” Limpet was practically climbing into Theo’s lap in his desperation. “I can smell it.”

Right. Selkie does not equal GPS. “Settle so I can drive. We’ll have to stop for the day soon, anyway. If it ends up not being too far, we’ll look, okay?”

“Look?” Limpet trembled as he sat back down next to Theo, nestled into him as if he would shiver apart without the contact.

“Yes.” Theo put an arm around him and let him lean in. “There might be people. Lots of them.”

“People. I suppose that could be bad,” Limpet murmured.

He seemed to rally a bit tucked under Theo’s arm, since he rattled on, “It won’t be salt water, of course.

That would be best. But it’s not an ocean, I can tell that from here.

Something small. A pool, a pond, a lake, but water. Clean water for swimming.”

“We’ll see.” Theo pulled him closer when the shakes returned. “Relax. Just relax.”

“Even if there are people, I don’t have to be seal. Swimming. Like this. I could do that.”

Theo didn’t quite suppress the sigh. “We might be able to explain the hair. But your ears, your eyes—you can’t pass. And we’d end up in monster jail, too.” Because they’d arrest you and I’d try to stop them.

“Oh. Yes. Of course.” Limpet sounded so dejected Theo felt like he’d kicked a teacup Maltese puppy. “Do humans find me so ugly, then?”

If it had been anyone else, Theo would have ignored the question as blatant fishing.

But Limpet had no real frame of reference with humans.

He just knew he looked different. “No.” He rubbed his palms over the steering wheel, searching for a less abrupt answer.

“Some humans might be…startled. But, no, you’re beautiful. ”

“Thank you. Though I doubt you’re like most humans.” Limpet glanced up at him. “It’s so lovely when you blush.”

Theo snorted. “Vampires don’t blush.”

“You do. Just a little pink, right here.” Limpet stroked a line across Theo’s cheekbone.

“Great.”

“I’ve made you uncomfortable.”

Everyone makes me uncomfortable. “One of those Limpet-practices-how-to-be-quiet times would be good now.”

Whether he was following instructions or whether it was hard to talk through his trembling was hard to say.

Limpet pointed when he needed an adjustment in heading, but otherwise clammed up.

Normally, Theo would have welcomed the silence, but watching Limpet this close to falling to pieces wasn’t doing anything for his own nerves.

The dunes had gradually increased in height over the past few miles, some of them monsters that Theo was sure would capsize the truck if he attempted them.

One of these giants loomed in front of the truck when Limpet pointed him to the left.

Rather than risk upending them like an unlucky turtle, Theo drove around the near end of the dune, hoping there wasn’t another one just behind it.

Gray had just crept into the sky on the edges of the black desert night, the first hint of approaching morning, when they rounded the dune. Theo stomped on the brake, stunned, wondering if the landscape was an elaborate mirage.

No, that only happens in movies, idiot.

Hidden between mountainous dunes, an oasis spread out before them.

Palms and tall ferns swayed in the night breeze.

Flowering vines clambered in joyous riot over exposed rocks.

Through the sudden violent explosion of plant life, the moonlight glanced off the water, though it was tough to see how large a body of water through the leaves.

Limpet surged toward the door, but Theo grabbed his arm. “No. Wait. Let me look first.”

“But it’s quiet. There’s no one—”

“Stay. Here. No argument. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Theo held up a finger when Limpet opened his mouth again and the selkie subsided.

He slid out of the truck, checked his gun and left the door open in case anyone was nearby to hear it slam.

Scent first on the hunt, always scent first. He picked up citrus, dirt and water, some sort of small rodent.

He clung to the deepest shadows, analyzing, categorizing as he went.

A few small birds, yes, something canine had come to the water to drink.

Jackal? Not a threat. Finally, he stood at the edge of the trees, the toes of his boots touching the water, and he smiled.

No humans.

Only the faintest lingering trace, so they might have come here, but not for a long while. Theo holstered his sidearm and jogged back to the truck.

“We’re clear. Come on out.” Theo frowned as Limpet slid down, clinging to the side of the truck. “Can you walk?”

Limpet righted himself, chin lifting in defiance, though his eyes were distressingly huge. “Of course I can.”

His steps were far from steady, but Theo kept his distance.

Even a selkie had his pride. Limpet snagged the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head as he walked.

He dropped it and started unlacing his right boot on every other step.

Shaking his head, Theo stayed a few feet behind to keep an eye on him, picking up articles of clothing as they hit the sand.

So far, Limpet seemed all right, if a little dazed.

Selkies can’t drown, can they?

Barefoot now, Limpet pushed through the leaves and vines then stopped with a gasp. “Oh, Theo. It’s beautiful.”

The pool wasn’t huge, maybe five hundred meters long and a hundred wide, but obviously spring fed, clean and clear enough to see the sandy bottom. Theo imagined it was probably a stunning blue in the sunlight.

“Yes. Beautiful. Did you just need to stare at it?”

Limpet shot him a reproachful look that melted into a smile. “You were teasing. Now I know you’re not as serious and dark as you pretend. I need to swim.”

“Go on. I’ll keep watch.”

Toes splashing in the water, Limpet seemed hesitant, almost embarrassed. “I have to do something first. I’m not sure you’ll want to watch.”

He runs around naked whenever he can. What could he be embarrassed about? “You were having some kind of fit. Not taking my eyes off you.”

“Ah. Well, then. Nothing for it.” Limpet reached over to the side of his right thigh. Theo’s jaw dropped when he reached inside his thigh and pulled something out.

Inside. But there’s no blood. Dios… Theo’s brain reconnected a moment later and he realized there was a pouch there, like a kangaroo’s or an opossum’s.

The seam-like opening was nearly invisible unless one knew it was there.

Limpet took the gray rectangle and shook it out until it looked like a… rug? Blanket?

Limpet put one end of it on the ground, the part that seemed to have a tail attached, and Theo began to understand.

He leaned against a date palm, keeping silent so he wouldn’t disturb Limpet, who now stepped into the tail as if it were a garment.

Carefully stretching the hide—since hide it was—out so the darker gray spots became visible against the lighter gray fur, Limpet pulled the other end up so it fitted over his head like a hood.

He pulled his arms in and he shrank into the sealskin as it closed over his smooth fae skin, his taut abdomen vanishing last before Limpet thumped to the ground onto his front flippers. Black eyes turned to regard Theo, the only part of him unchanged.

“You’re still beautiful,” Theo whispered. “Go swim.”

With a joyous bark, Limpet galumphed the few feet to the water and slid in, his clumsy body suddenly transformed into a sleek, swift missile hurtling through the pool.

He was beautiful, incredibly so, turning and twisting in seemingly impossible ways, breaking the surface every now and then to search out Theo before he submerged again.

Soon Limpet broke the water near Theo’s feet. He snorted and barked at Theo, splashing him with a flipper.

“You want me to come in?”

Limpet barked in obvious approval.

“I don’t swim. Not really.”