Moon Shimmers(35)

Delilah jumped up from where she was sitting on a driftwood log and raced over to us. “Did you find it? Are you okay? Where’s everybody else?” She frantically looked around. “Don’t tell me everybody—”

“Stop. Roz brought me to shore because I have the spirit seal and we didn’t want to chance K’thbar grabbing it. Shade and Shimmer are fighting him right now.”

“Back with Trillian.” Roz vanished again.

Delilah calmed down some, but I knew she was worried about Shade. “He’ll be all right. K’thbar is huge. Only the dragons can fight him. The horn’s drained for this month. I used every ounce of energy to get the spirit seal, and I’m bruised and battered.” Now that I was on shore, I could feel the bruises forming from where I’d blasted through the hull of the ship. I was going to hurt like hell tonight, that was for sure.

“What’s he like?”

I tried to describe what I’d seen. “He’s huge, and I’m not sure he’s fully living on this plane—” I stopped as Roz appeared with Trillian.

“Vanzir’s waiting till I go back for Morio, then he’ll come through on the astral.”

“Are they still fighting?” I wanted Shade and Shimmer to pull back, to withdraw. Chances were K’thbar couldn’t follow us onto land, although Yannie Fin Diver had been able to, and we thought he was water-bound.

“I think so. I don’t know. I’ll be right back.” Roz vanished once again.

Trillian hurried over to me. “Are you okay? I saw you go shooting through the side of that ship and was petrified that you had broken your neck. Or at least a leg or something.”

“Nothing broken that I know of, but I’m sure as hell going to need some pain relievers and a long hot bath. I’m probably black and blue beneath this suit.”

“Did you really hurt yourself that bad?” Delilah asked, turning to me. “Let’s get you out of that wet suit before anything swells and we have to cut it off you.”

I started to protest. How could I leave the shore until we were all back together? But Delilah wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me toward the bathroom. Behind us, I heard a noise and glanced over my shoulder to see Vanzir, Roz, and Morio appear. Relieved that they were out of the water, I allowed Delilah to lead me back to the bathroom.

“I hope they’re okay,” she said as she helped strip the wetsuit off of me.

“I do too, Kitten. I do, too.” There weren’t any guarantees I could give. K’thbar probably didn’t have an evil bone in his fishy body, but that didn’t guarantee Shade and Shimmer’s safety. After all, we were the invaders in his territory, and we had stolen from him.

As my skin appeared from beneath the neoprene suit, I winced. The bruises were forming, indeed, up and down my legs and arms, and across my ass—from what Delilah said—and back, where I’d met the hull on my way out. I realized that I was starting to hurt in a major way, and let out a soft groan as she helped me back into my fighting clothes—a black Emma Peel–like jumpsuit, with belt and boots.

“I’d give anything for one of my corsets right now. I think I might have bruised a rib and the compression would feel good.”

“Better you don’t put any compression on it till we get you over to the FH-CSI and have you checked out. You might have a broken rib instead of just bruises.” She gathered my wetsuit and carried it out to her Jeep. I followed more slowly as the stiffness began to set in.

“What’s this spirit seal like?” Delilah leaned against the side of her car.

I glanced around. No one in sight, so I brought it out to show her. The pale lemon stone glistened under the flickering sun that was now playing hopscotch with incoming clouds. They were high, though, and didn’t smell like rain.

“Oh, that’s lovely.” She let out a long sigh. “Do you realize that we’ve managed it? We have collected all nine seals. It’s taken us four years…”

“Four years and far too many losses. But yeah, we have them now.” A commotion down by the water caught my attention and I slid the spirit seal in my bag, along with the horn and the moon snail shell. “Oh hell, look.”

As we watched, Shade and Shimmer came out of the waters, running as they hit the sand. They were in their human forms, and behind them, we could see a series of waves churning dangerously.

“K’thbar is chasing them. Get in your car in case we have to make a beeline out of here.” Delilah shoved me toward my car and I raced to the driver’s seat. The men were running toward us from the beach, and right on their heels, Shimmer and Shade. By the time they reached the car, we could see a form rising out of the water only twenty yards or so out in the sound. K’thbar. But he made no move to come ashore and I prayed that we were right in thinking he couldn’t exist out of water. Everybody packed into the cars, wetsuits and all, and I gunned the motor, heading toward the road that would lead us out of the park. We couldn’t wait around—no taking chances on losing the spirit seal.