[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The rest of her was nude, if you discounted the diamond pattern of scales sweeping down her back and tapering into her coiled serpent’s tail.And around her waist was a wide shawl of what looked like crinkled plastic.I frowned, mystified, until I realized it was her partly shed skin.Next to her, Dora sat huddled on the tiles, staring down at her camera.She was also nude; the same pattern of red-and-black scales marked down her back and arms, but hers was fainter, and her hair was still black spikes instead of a cobralike hood.Showtime.I crunched down on a mouthful of licorice torpedoes, grabbed a handful of the six-inch nails, and threw them out over the beachlike expanse so they landed between Auntie and me.They chinked loudly as they scattered and bounced over the terra-cotta tiles.Dora and Aunt Snaky both searched the pool room, looking for the source of the noise.In the wrong direction.Yay for Look-Away spells.I threw more nails.This time the spell failed, and they both turned my way.Dora’s eyes widened in surprise and possibly hope.Auntie hissed, her snaky red eyes gleaming angrily in her much younger and much less wrinkled face.She started sidewinding slowly toward me, her tail making a sizzling sound like water on a hot plate.I rolled the copper arm shield out in front of me, swallowing back panic as I realized the numbness was creeping up my chest and into my shoulders.I shouted a warning to Dora.She jerked in shock, then lifted her camera to her face instead of moving.Damn.Her choice, though.I reached deep inside myself for the solid lump of pixie dust, and then, using my will, I blew half of it so it sprinkled over the nails, and prayed the pixie magic would do its stuff.The nails jumped to attention, sharp points spiking upward, and formed my own little defense of six-inch spears.Auntie slid right over them.Dora was right; her skin was as tough as old boots.They didn’t slow her down much.But hopefully they’d done enough to persuade Dora to believe in me.“Last chance, Dora,” I shouted.Relief swept over me as she leaped up and dived into the pool.Auntie’s huge tail whipped up and back—I ducked down behind the arm shield I held and slapped the last of the pixie dust on the small bas-relief face carved on the shield’s front.—the tail hurtled down toward me, shedding sharp-edged red-and-black scales—A tremor shivered through the shield and its carved face let out a furious screech.—the scales flashed to gray, and Aunt Snaky’s tail and the rest of her turned to stone.I dropped my head to the cool floor and gave thanks.The shield quivered against me, reminding me that I had one last thing to do.Clumsily, I rolled out the other shining silver shield in front of it.For a second I caught the reflection of the small, stylized Medusa head carved in the center of the copper shield, her lips drawn back in a fang-filled grin, tiny serpents writhing around her angry face, before she saw her own mirror image, and she too turned to stone.The numbness crept into my fingers, both shields slipped from my hold, and unconsciousness rolled over me.I CAME AROUND to the quiet slap of water and the strange taste of dark spiced blood in my mouth.Surprise and relief drifted through me that I was alive and could feel all my toes and fingers, and the rest of me, even if it felt like I’d been mugged by a horde of Beater goblins.How I was alive was another matter, but I was too exhausted to care, so I just lay there.After a while a rhythmic sound pricked my ears, and I realized I’d fallen asleep.I opened my eyes.The water in the swimming pool was flat and peaceful; the waves had gone.But as I watched, a dark shape swam closer, spreading gentle ripples in its wake.It reached the edge and rose up out of the pool, water and blood dripping from its matted green-black coat, and I saw that it was the kelpie horse.The kelpie stood for a long moment, his broad chest heaving, and then he shuddered and flicked his tail over the bloody bite marks in his muscled flank, and picked his way through the rubble that littered the terra-cotta tiles like the aftermath of an explosion.The kelpie whickered worriedly as it reached me.It lowered its head and blew a greeting of whisky-peat breath into my face.I lifted my hand and stroked the warm velvet of its muzzle, smiling as its chin whiskers tickled along my arm, and reached up to trail gentle fingers over the black-lace gills that fluttered under my touch.“You’re beautiful,” I murmured.The kelpie tossed its head, red beads clicking in the knotted dreads of its mane, and magic cascaded over the horse like multicolored jewels sparkling in the brightness of the lights.And Tavish took his human shape.He slid tiredly down next to me and pulled me into his lap, and I tucked my face into the smooth heat of his neck as he wrapped his arms around me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]