A flash of red, the twang of a released spear, a splash and a shot gone wild all happen in the space of a heartbeat. The spear ends up imbedded in the tree behind me a few feet above my head quietly vibrating from the force of the impact. I silently thank whatever powers that be that Hellboy went for Abe and not the Water Mage.
The Water Mage turns and sees Hellboy starting to get up with a firm grip on Abe. Suddenly, the water engulfs HB and pulls him back under. Hellboy releases Abe as his arms start flailing about. I see Abe unsheathe one of his knives and stand over HB.
"Kill him," she orders.
I grab a couple of rocks off of the ground and in quick succession, I throw them. I use the wind to give them power and direction. The first one knocks the knife out of Abe's hand as he raises his arm up. The second one nails the Water Mage in the back of the head.
She spins around. If looks could kill, I'd be a pile of dust. But my distraction worked, she's released Abe and he's now helping Hellboy to stand up.
"You'll pay for that, bitch," she snarls as another, larger column of water comes at me.
This time I'm ready for it. A blast of wind splits the water column in two causing the water to go on either side of me.
"So, you're an Air Mage," she sneers. "An air head like you won't be able to stop me."
She's so intent on me that she doesn't realize what's happening right behind her. Before she can send another jet of water at me, Hellboy grabs her from behind and lifts her out of the water. He starts heading for shore with her kicking and screaming all the way.
Abe seems to have beaten a hasty retreat, thankfully. However, the water seems to be boiling now. Before I can warn him, Hellboy is attacked by several ahuizotls. They grab him and start pulling him under water again. Hellboy has to release his grip on the Water Mage to start fighting them off. Before she can turn her attention back to HB, I remind her that I'm still here with another rock.
"You are so dead," she growls.
The water retreats from the shore as I feel her pour her power into it. I have a very bad feeling about this. I look around and notice that all of the water that's been shot at me has washed some of the poison away. Off in the distance, I hear a motor boat.
I head for the first tree that got a dousing and start pouring my own power into it, pushing the poison out and healing it as much as I can. I wrap my arms around the trunk. With my face pressed into the roughness of the trunk, I cause the bark to grow around me, almost completely encasing me in the trees' trunk.
A shadow passes over me, and I look up in time to see a twenty foot wave come crashing down on me. I take a deep breath and close my eyes waiting for the impact, and it hits a second later. It hits so hard that my ears ring and see stars behind my eyelids.
Some time later, I look in a daze as the water recedes back into the lake, taking more of the poison with it. I see Hellboy lying on the ground a little ways off with a few ahuizotls around him. HB starts to move and get up while the ahuizotls flop around like fish out of water.
I can hear the Water Mage screaming in pain and frustration. I can barely see her out of the corner of my eye. I can hear the sound of a motor boat getting closer.
"How did you do it?" she screams. "You're an Air Mage; you can't make the trees do what you want. That's impossible. And now you've poisoned my water. I'm going to make your death slow and painful now."
I see Hellboy stand up, take the Samaritan out and level it at her.
"I don't think so, lady," he growls.
A ski boat pulls up and Manning and a few other agents level their guns at her as well. I start to push away from the tree, breaking off the bark that shielded me.
"Freeze!" Manning yells.
The Water Mage looks over her shoulder at them. I can 'feel' her starting to pull her power to her. Another rock catches her in the head again. Snarling, she turns back to me. Throwing several rocks into the air at once, I aim them all at her. She dives into the water and disappears. I stop the progress of the rocks just before they get to the boat and let them drop into the water.
Manning and the other agents are scanning the water, keeping their guns at the ready. I 'feel' for the other Mage. She's already half way across the lake.
"You can put your guns away," I tell them. "She's gone."
"What do you mean 'she's gone'?" Manning asks. "She has to come up for air some time."
"No, actually, she doesn't, Dr. Manning," I reply as I start to walk into the water keeping an eye out for any more of the ahuizotls. Hellboy is right behind me with the Samaritan still out. "She's a Water Mage. She's about as likely to drown to death as Liz is to burn to death."
The agent behind the wheel maneuvers the boat a little closer to shore. I'm helped up into the boat by Hellboy. As I take a spot near the pilot, Hellboy climbs in causing the boat to rock dangerously. But after a moments scare, the boat evens out.
"She went that way," I tell the agent behind the wheel, pointing out over the water and right through the shipping lanes.
"Explain to me why we're going after her," Manning says.
"Because she's the one who's been creating the ahuizotls," I explain.
"Good explanation," he replies as he turns to the agent. "Let's go."
The engine roars to life as the boat starts to cut across the waves. I get a good grip on the boat as I turn to Manning.
"How did you find us?" I ask, yelling to be heard above the wind and motor.
"Your transmitter was on," he answers just as loudly.
"But I didn't turn it on," I respond as I check the device at my waist. Sure enough, it's on.
"Maybe Wormy knocked into it when he was tossing you around," Hellboy suggests from where he's kneeling on the floor of the boat. His voice reverberates so well, he doesn't really need to yell.
"That's entirely possible," I reply. I turn back to Manning. "Where's Abe?"
"We're not sure," he answers. "He hasn't turned his transmitter on."
The thought of him in the water with her is enough to make cold shivers run down my spine. I hold on as the boat cuts across the wakes of the cargo ships crossing the lake. I 'feel' around for her and then I point out a nearly hidden cove to the pilot. We slow down and turn into the mouth of the small cove.
We see her and she has Abe again. They're standing in the shallows and she's working on getting his shorts off. He's standing perfectly still and doing nothing to help her or stop her. I am now officially upset.
I 'feel' around for some 'help.' I find her not far from where they are and she seems willing to help. There's also another who's willing to help, he's a bit farther away, but he's headed in our direction.
"I'm going to fall down now," I say to no one in particular.
I 'send' myself out, but unlike the times I've sent myself into the earth, this is very different. I join myself to the jaguar just off shore. After a moment's disorientation, I join with her mind and I guide her, direct her. I never take complete control, after all, she's the one who knows how to hunt and fight.
A few seconds later, we're down by the waters edge. We spring at the pale one, grabbing her in our claws and teeth, kicking with our back feet. We fall into the water so fast she doesn't have time to scream. She struggles under us for a few moments before the water starts to push us down. We let go, and try to struggle up for air, but the water keeps us down. I 'leave' and find my second helper.
The Harpy Eagle wobbles in the air for a moment before steadying in his flight. With amazing clarity and detail, we see the woman below. We also can see the boat getting closer to her. Abe is climbing into the boat and my body is lying in Hellboy's arms. But that doesn't matter now, what matters is stopping this woman from drowning the jaguar.
We dive into a silent attack. Bring our feet forward at the last possible moment, we strike and dig our talons into the soft flesh. Pumping our wings, we take flight again raking long gouges in her shoulder as she screams in pain. We get back up into the air and circle around. The jaguar is on shore and shaking the water out of her coat. The woman is staring at us with murder in her eyes. A thin jet of water shoots up into the air, but we easily dodge it.
"FREEZE!" we hear yell. The boat is now next to the woman and the men and Hellboy have their guns drawn. Abe is on the floor cradling me in his arms.
The woman now turns her attention toward the men in the boat. We dive again and this time we strike her head. Taking flight once more, we circle around and see Hellboy start to drag the woman out of the water kicking and screaming. She grabs HB and starts doing something to him that causes him to bellow in pain. We attack again leaving gouges across her exposed back before heading upwards once again.
She's finally lying in the boat and anyone with a gun has it pointed at her. I give a silent thanks to the eagle and jaguar and return to myself.
I open my eyes and look around disoriented. I blink several times as my mind adjusts to being just me again. Abe is holding me close to his body in almost a strangle hold. I feebly try to push away from him so I can see what's going on.
He sits me up and I see the Water Mage on the floor of the boat glaring at the agents and Hellboy. She's been cuffed around the ankles and wrists. She has a multitude of wounds but none of them are bleeding badly. In fact, they're barely bleeding at all despite how deep they are.
I can hear the boat start up. In a few moments we're bouncing across the water headed somewhere. I lean against Abe shaking from the exertion of joining with two animals. I look back at the Water Mage. She's glaring at me with murderous eyes.
"I'm going to kill you," she growls at me. "And then I'm going to take your fish man for myself. I have wonderful plans for him."
I sit up and turn to Abe. Taking his face into my hands, I give him a long, slow kiss which he gladly returns. I can feel his arms tighten around me. I'm not sure how long we kiss, but when we finally part, I'm feeling a lot better. I turn back to her.
"Even if you do kill me," I tell her, "he'll never truly be yours."
She just lies there and glares at me. I 'check' her. It's taking all of her energy to keep from bleeding all over the place, so we're safe from her for now. Hellboy shifts his position where he was kneeling so that he's between us and she now has to glare at him.
I lean back into Abe and rest. I've joined with animals before, but I've only been along for the ride. I've never directed their actions and never more than one at a given time. I'm more exhausted then I've ever been from a joining.
By the time we start to slow down, I'm nearly asleep. I open my eyes and see that we're next to a cutter. It has official looking markings and the men on board of it are all wearing what looks to be some sort of police uniform. Manning and one of the men from the cutter are talking in earnest. After they're done talking, Hellboy grabs the woman and hands her over to the Panama officials.
I start trying to warn them about her, but the cutter pulls away before I can get a word out. Soon, we're back to the agents that remained behind. We climb out of the boat and splash our way back to shore as the boat is returned to wherever it came from.
I can see about a dozen ahuizotls lying dead on the shore. Manning is starting to issue orders and the agents start to get organized.
"Abe, you need to get back in the water and find the rest of the creatures," Manning orders.
"There should only be a few left," Abe replies. "I was able to pick up that she only made fifteen ahuizotls."
"Hellboy, how many ahuizotls washed up on shore with you earlier?" I ask.
"I don't know," he answers with a shrug. "A few."
"Dr. Manning, could you please send someone to check to see if those things died?" I ask. "They didn't look like they were doing to well when we left. And if that's all of them, then you won't need to send Abe back in."
"All right," he says.
He picks up a radio and makes a call to someone. A couple of minutes later, the ski boat goes speeding by. Hellboy, Abe and I head up to the tree line just as a light rain starts to fall. I take a seat at the base of a tree and rest my head against it while Abe sits down next to me. Hellboy wanders off probably looking for a place to light his cigar.
"I'm sorry," Abe says quietly.
"You're forgiven," I tell him, leaning my head on his shoulder. "It's not your fault."
Manning walks up to us and opens his mouth with a look on his face like he's about to start telling us off. His radio squawks and he answers it. After a few moments of conversation, he turns back to us.
"There are four dead ahuizotls back where we found you," he starts. "There are already eleven dead here. I guess that means we got them all."
"Does that mean we can go home now?" I ask.
"Yes," he answers.
"Good," I tell him before he can say any more. "You can chew me out after I've had a nap and something to eat."
He looks a bit perplexed about this, but nods his head in agreement. Then he goes off to find Hellboy.
Within a couple of hours we're in the air and headed home.