A nicker passed the kelpie’s lips before it twisted, slinging Graeson off his feet. Graeson hung on by the tips of his fangs. When the horse let him touch down, it nailed him in the stomach with the sharp edge of a front hoof. Blood slicked his fur. He was hurt. Badly.

Seeing its opening, the kelpie stomped on Graeson’s tail and reared back its head, shredding its own throat as it tried ripping the warg off. Its feet stamped, eager for the chance to crush the wolf beneath them. It was my cue. I couldn’t wait another second. I rushed forward with Dell bounding two strides ahead of me.

The beast rotated its torso to the right, and Graeson slung free, his body splashing into the water. It spotted Dell and pivoted on its front feet, bucking wildly and clipping her on the chin with its rear leg. Her head snapped back. She hit the water and didn’t move. I ran to haul them out before they drowned.

“A little help would be nice,” I yelled to the wargs who had yet to materialize.

I bolted for Dell, but the kelpie cut me off. It didn’t charge. It didn’t move. Maybe it couldn’t now that it had expended so much energy on attacking the wargs. It stared me down while its life drained away in bluish fluids that slicked its chest. I didn’t have time to waste. Already prickles raced up my arms. Splitting the magic across two limbs was costing me. I swung my arm and raked furrows across the kelpie’s snout. It reared on its hind legs and screamed. I swung again, swiping its chest. It planted its front feet and whirled its hind legs. When it kicked out, air whistled over my head, but I ducked under its vicious hooves. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge its second strike, and the next thing I knew I was flying.

I hit the water. Hard. I gritted my teeth and gasped as the warm liquid closed over my head and the sound of my frantic pulse hammered in my ears. My body sank fast and so far, I thought I would never stop dropping. My frantic mind conjured Lori floating beside me, hand extended, encouraging me to let her guide me into the deeps where she had gone.

The bitter tang of fear and blood filled my mouth, and a second, more desperate change swept over me as Lori waited out my oxygen with an eager smile curving her lips. It was as if the wavering apparition had possessed me, ready to relive her death. The arms grasping for the surface were now slender and pale. My hands were small, and a kitten bandage covered one of my knuckles.