Matt frowned, then looked out toward the mists himself, startling slightly. “Oh,” he said.
“You see him, then?”
Matt nodded. “Yeah. I see him.”
Leinth nodded. “Fetch Phelan. I’ll try to negotiate until he and your sister get here.” She shifted, swinging her legs over the far side of the wall. Matt blinked.
“Wait, what are you—”
“Trust me,” Leinth said, then dropped nimbly from the top of the wall to land in a crouch at its base. By the ancestors, I hope I actually do know what I’m doing.
She straightened slowly, shaking out the folds of her cloak as she turned toward the line of ghosts that stood sentinel two dozen yards away. She could see their faces, their clothing—men in Coast Guard uniforms, women in dresses a century and more out of date, teenagers in cutoff shorts and sweat shirts.
Ghosts of the lake, she thought, her lips thinning.
“Oh Leinth,” she breathed in her native tongue. “You’d best hope you’re not suddenly out of your league.”
“Leinth, don’t go anywhere. I’m coming down.”
She glared up toward Matt, who’d leaned over the edge of the wall to look at her. “You’re going to go find Phelan like I told you. Trust me, but hurry.”
Gooseflesh started to rise on her shoulders and arms, a chilly dampness sinking into her bones. She pointed in the general direction of the campfires. “Go. I’ll not say it again.”
Matt looked like he might be planning on arguing, but his head disappeared a moment later and she heard his boots hit the ground on the other side of the wall and retreat quickly, his boots crunching in the crust of snow that still lingers.
“What’s this, then?” a curious voice said from behind her. Leinth stiffened, abruptly breathless.
“Leviathan,” she said, eyes widening as she met the blue-eyed gaze of Yam Leviathan. Lean of build with deep, dark hair, he looked far more like one of the drowned teenagers than an ancient river deitiy.
“Lady Winter,” he said. “What a surprise this is.”
Will wonders never cease.
hmmm, new guy on the block. More intrigue.
excellent!