Page 48 of Rebel in the Deep

“We’ll never make it.” Bowen rolls his shoulders. “Better prepare for a fight when we can choose the location.”

A fight where all of our magic users are tapped. Best case, they remove the threat and go under from magical burnout. Worst case, we all die.

No. Not today. Sure as fuck nothere.

“I’m going to shift.” I speak the words numbly. It was one thing to shift with only myself and Bastian as witness, but doing it in front of other people—especially when one of them is a person I care about deeply—feels vulnerable in a way I’d normally do anything to avoid. “I’ll carry you.”

“You’re a shifter.” Evelyn blinks. “Right. That explains a few things. What is your other form?”

“A hound.”

Nox plants their hands on their thighs and seems to focus on breathing. “Even though shifters are larger than normal animals, at best you can carry one other person.”

Bastian shakes his head. “You’re talking about normal shifters. Siobhan isn’t a normal shifter.”

“I can carry all of you.”

Nox is already shaking their head. “Not if you want toactually make it. Take Dia. Figure out the horn business. We’ll hold them off.”

Of all the—I can’t decide if I want to declare aloud that I love them or if I want to knock them over the head so they’ll stop being so damned dramatic. “No one is dying today.” The longer we stand here arguing, the more time we give our enemies to reach us. So I do the only thing I can think of to get us moving. I start pulling off my clothes. “Bastian, get ready with the glamour.”

Bowen spins around so fast, he almost topples over. “A little warning would be nice.”

“You’re so cute.” Evelyn gives him an indulgent look that’s only partially dampened by her clear exhaustion. “It’s just a little nudity. Shifters don’t tend to put emphasis on it the same way some cultures do.”

“All the same. The only person I’m interested in seeing nude isyou.”

I do my best to ignore them and kick off my boots. I pass the bag I carried my clothes in to Bastian. “Hang on to this, please.”

Nox stares at him, the bag, and then at my half-naked body. “You certainly know how to make a statement, don’t you?”

Bastian laughs a little. “Siobhan is a true showwoman.”

I flush hot and then curse myself for reacting at all when there’s so much at stake. “There’s no more time for arguing.” I skim off my pants and shove them into Bastian’s hands. The cool air kisses my bare skin. Evelyn is right that shifters don’t worry overmuch about nudity the way some folks do, but I’m not a normal shifter. I don’t have a community like the solitary shifters do. Even before my parents died, they drilled into my head that no one must ever know our secret. In the rare timeswhen we shifted, it was always alone and never as a pack; the better to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.

I allow the magic to unclench inside me. Between one heartbeat and the next, I shift into my other form. My eyesight becomes even better, my sense of smell incomparably superior to a human’s. My body stretches, and I land on four paws before the others.

A second later, the faint feeling of Bastian’s magic settles against my skin. He exhales shakily. “We’d better get moving. I can hold it for some time still, but the more people who are covered, the greater the strain.”

Evelyn’s eyes go wide as she takes me in. “That’s…I was under the impression that the laws of matter apply even to shifters. Usually they’re larger than their mundane counterparts, because humans are larger than most animals, but even if they grow a bit in half form, they don’t, like”—she motions at me—“quadruple in size.”

“Silly girl.” Dia says it fondly as she approaches me. “The Cwn Annwn aren’t shifters. They’re gods. Your human rules don’t apply.” She bows a little to me, which makes me shift my feet restlessly. “If you’ll lower yourself a little, I’ll climb onto your back. Thank you for the privilege.”

I have no words to tell her that I’m not a god, merely the distant descendant of one, so I lower myself to my belly. My shoulder still reaches the top of Dia’s head, but Bowen finally manages to shake himself out of his shock and moves to lift the old woman up onto my back. I barely register her weight.

Bastian shoves my clothing and boots into the bag and nudges Evelyn. “You next.”

Bowen hoists Evelyn onto my back, and then Nox, ignoringtheir muttered curse. He pauses as if he might argue I can’t hold his weight as well, but then gives a curse of his own and climbs up.

Bastian pats my shoulder as he settles near my neck. “No one else will see, Siobhan. I promise.”

Idoregister the weight of five adults, but it’s nowhere near enough to keep me from rising easily to my feet, giving them a moment to adjust, and then taking off toward the north shore. Through it all, Bastian keeps us hidden with his magic, giving me the freedom to run. Even so, I’m slightly slower than normal; it takes a little over an hour to reach the shore.

“Let us down here,” Nox calls. “I can—Damn it, Siobhan.”

I ignore them and plunge into the water. If recent experience has taught me anything, it’s that Nox will drive themself straight into magical burnout if I give them half a chance. Bowen could probably levitate the boat, but he’s tapped, too. So are Evelyn and Bastian, for that matter. I’m only marginally winded, and a short rest will be all it takes to get me back to full stamina and health. I can make the swim easier than they can.

“Hang on!” Bowen roars as the first wave hits.

---