“Well, yes. And I also need someone to magically produce one of your planes to transport me back and forth from my world to yours. It is not so simple, milady,” he said with sarcasm.
She fought a girlish smile at the thought and asked, “Is it hard to put the drawbridge down?”
Jon looked at her as though she’d sprouted two heads. “No. It’s quite simple, though it takes some strength. But what does this have to do with getting to the drawbridge, Toni? It is there,” he pointed to the distance, “and we are here with no transportation.” He then pointed to his feet as though she’d missed the class on logistics.
“Yeah, yeah. I get that.”
“’The water is too cold to swim the mote to get to the drawbridge for us humans. We would freeze to death, and though the ladies are the logical choice. I cannot risk their health with their powers depleting. I will not chance this.”
Toni nodded. “I get that, too, I was just asking a question.” But why are you asking the question? her brain wondered.
Nina scowled, placing her hands on her hips. “Damn Brenda the Flaky Witch. If she’d left GD well enough alone, I could fly the hell over there—”
Toni backed up and got a running start at the edge of the cliff, jumping off the rocky surface with a piercing yelp of surprise.
As she shot toward the murky-cold water, she felt no fear. None. Not an ounce. It was as though she’d been doing this all her life.
As she screamed toward the water, her dress billowing upward like some reverse parachute, she clenched her eyes shut and hit the water like a cliff diver who’d just executed the most beautiful swan dive ever. With grace and speed, the impact almost nothing.
Her legs shifted, she heard the crunch of bone in her head, felt her lower body streamline, felt her feet all but disappear. She tumbled under the water, forcing her eyes open to encounter her lower body.
She had a tail. Shut the front door!
Or more appropriately, a tail scaled in the most beautiful purple and silver. Her fin swished in the water, swirling around and chasing away smaller fish.
What the hell?
And then it struck her. Somehow, after her battle with Pricilla, she’d inherited a tail. That was the only logical explanation for her new appendage.
Remember when I said I was done with you? That you were dead to me? Now you’re more than dead to me. You’ve reached moronic levels here, dummy. You’re going to freeze your ass off in this water and die. You came all this way just to damn well die right before you find out what the hell is going on? No can do,” her brain complained.
But her body? It said, Swim, bitch, swim, like the mermaid you’ve become! Work that fin, honey!
Toni forced her way to the surface, gulping the air and looking over her shoulder where everyone waved frantically to her to come back to the bottom of the cliff. Yet, she knew she could do this.
She was going to let that drawbridge down so they could attend this ball and get on with it already. As she sliced through the water, riding each wave as she swept upward for air, the name Flipper came to mind. She felt a lot like what she guessed a dolphin must feel as he soared through the air, skipping over the ocean with abandon.
The water didn’t feel cold at all—in fact, it gave her life, purpose, a freedom she’d never known. It felt as much her home as the land did.
Rising to the surface to pinpoint her location, she saw the shore, where small boats decorated with ropes of pine and red bows lolled at a dock.
Flapping her fin with furious strokes, she pushed the last few yards to the water’s edge and prayed when she got to shore, she’d have feet again.
Shooting herself over the last leg, she rode a wave in, hitting the rocky shorefront with a grunt as the stones scraped her chest and face.
Toni dragged herself over the uneven surface and spat water from her mouth, using her forearm to wipe her long strands of hair from her face. Gazing around, she noted it was deserted. Clearly everyone really was off to prepare for the ball tomorrow night.
Looking down the length of her body, she was relieved to see she did indeed have feet again, the shoes still firmly attached. Gathering her soaking gown, she hopped up and made her way toward a long stone tunnel, dimly lit with fiery torches, that led to a small courtyard, festively decorated for the holiday.
So where would one hide a drawbridge opener anyway? As she crept along the wall and into the courtyard, dripping, her teeth chattering, she spied a huge wheel attached to pulleys and weights with thick chains.
With shaky hands, Toni went for it. Grabbing the handle of the wheel, she jumped upward and gave it a hard yank, knocking snow and leaves down onto her head.
She heard the creak of the chains, cringing at the thought someone might catch her, but she managed to get it moving with a slow groan.
As it lowered, Toni fought the butterflies in her stomach. For all Jon’s reassurances about how she needn’t fear the king, she feared.