Page 76 of The Rusalka and Mr. Right

I know that it’ll be morning soon, and I’m in the middle of nowhere with a horse that used to be a dude, a vampire who’sprobably going to burst into flames when the sun comes up, and other assorted human-looking and not-so-human-looking people. Oh yeah, and the kraken and his lethal weapon of a girlfriend on a ghost boat.

“There was a drowning at the Mohawk Yacht Club just before sunset, and a small “weekender” yacht was stolen. It belonged to the dead man. Koshchei may be too weak to use all of his powers, or he may not have them when he’s in this mortal realm. I’m not sure why he put Marina on a boat.”

Janet speaks up. “I am. Keeping her near water is essential to her survival—but not letting her access it gives him power. If he stays on land, he’s stationary and can be caught. If he heads out into the open sea, he can disappear in a yacht that size.”

Calder beams. “She was an army strategist, you know.”

How the hell would I know, man?

I don’t say that.

“So we need to reach them before they get to the sea. Everyone get on board!” Calder flails his tentacles in a come hither gesture.

The horse under me shimmies and shrinks, and I jump off just in time. “That thing doesn’t look stable.”

“It’s fae-made! It was left for us in front of Country Pines,” Calder insists.

“Someone want to tell me what a fae is?” I demand, already charging the boat.

“I’m fae. Well, on my dad’s side,” Ardy says, following me.

“Fair folk. Fairies. But there are literally hundreds of kinds, and many are unkind or mischievous where humans are concerned. The ones that run Country Pines Motel are rarely seen and seldom spoken of. However, you can usually find what you need there,” Minegold stands on the bank, hesitating as he looks at the sky.

“Yes. I met my Janet there,” Calder explains. “Marina met some fae nobility there a while ago—but that was before you.”

“Jakob! In or out?” I shout from the deck, which glimmers like silver and does funny things to my throbbing head. I feel like I’m standing on air.

“Is there a spot out of the sun? It’ll be dawn soon.”

“There’s a little space below. I think you’d fit,” Janet says.

People pile on. Leo the werewolf, Ian the Orc, Renaldo, Madge’s boyfriend—and about six other people I don’t know. Is people the right term when some of them are very clearly non-human? I’m gonna go with it.

“Will this slow us down? What are we going to do when we get there?”

Janet bends, grunts, and lifts something that looks like an anti-tank gun off the sparkling starlight deck. “I think we ram his boat—or sink his boat with this. It’s a MANPAT!”

“Where the fuck—whoa!” I collapse on my back as the boat takes off so fast that my feet zoom out from under me like I’m in a bad cartoon.

“It came with the boat!” Janet screams as I haul myself upright. “Man-portable anti-tank system. And no, the boat doesn’t seem to get weighed down, either.”

“If we shoot his boat, won’t that endanger Marina?” We have to shout over the rush of the boat against the water. Behind us, the water moves and heads and tails lift and fall in its wake, just about keeping up.

“She can breathe underwater! Getting her in the water will probably help her!”

“I don’t like this plan!”

“Do you have a better one?” Minegold demands.

“Only a knight and his great horse can kill Koshchei according to the legend.”

Jakob nods and then comes over to me, walking steadily, like the choppy jumping motion of this freaky made-of-mist-and-magic boat doesn’t even affect him. “Horse, hmm? Manny!”

Manny turns out to be an honest-to-God Frankenstein’s monster. His skin is gray-green and scarred like a patchwork quilt, but he trots over with a concerned face and his arms outstretched. One lands hard on my back and one thumps down on Mr. Minegold’s shoulder. “What’s up, fellas? What can I do?”

“Manny is a mechanic, and he owns a used car dealership in Pine Ridge. Manny, could you hazard a guess at how much horsepower this fae-craft has?”

“Oooh. Well. I mean, a small weekender yacht—like Janet mentioned—would have about 500 horsepower.”

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