Kay's here Kay's here Kay's here! That single thought kept singing in Theo's mind on a constant loop, under everything else. She found us, she's here!

It was even strong enough to reach past the hunger that rose whenever any of the four human men came into reach: her prey, her toys she could use to scratch an entirely physical itch.

But it would be so much better once she could pounce on Max—and despite her fears, she did believe that Kayla was right and Max would still want her, in any form. Knowing Max, he'd probably find the best way to enjoy it, actually, and would happily do his best to make certain she had no need to look elsewhere, without condemning her if she did.

Right now, she had far more important concerns.

*Gord's here. No matter what I do, I can only keep him here so long without confining him. I know we were going to not do anything at all until Kay's friend leaves, but he might be out of my reach by then. What do I do? Buy time?* Prolonging contact with him was an unpleasant idea, but if it would get them home, so be it.

“Hey, sexy siren,” scrawny Gord said lazily. This was the end of his route in feeding the various fae who couldn't readily live off the land. He usually took Alison back to the stable first, Theo knew that—he clearly found it uncomfortable to have her standing around complacently waiting for him.

Theo stayed underwater for the moment, listening while her friends rapidly compared everything they knew and came to a group consensus.

*Even on the remote chance of anyone noticing Gord is missing,* JC said, *you know they're as much a part of the experiment as we are, wandering around unprotected. They're a lot more likely to attribute it to just a water fae with a high sex drive wanting a living toy in reach and available on demand than a conspiracy to overthrow them.*

*Got it,* Theo said. *Consider it done. Having a human toy sounds wonderful, but I'm quite sure I could do better than what's available here.* She came to the surface, arching so her hair was plastered back instead of across her face, and waded out far enough that the water played around her hips ticklishly, allowing him an intermittent glimpse of aqua-blue curls between her legs.

“There y'are. Ah, c'mon, you gotta come farther than that,” Gord coaxed. “I brought your lunch. You know I need to see you eat. And I know you get bored and lonely.”

Theo regarded him measuringly, feeling the hunger rising, the deep need to remind this human of his place and that he lived by her mercy. The heat centred in her groin tingled through her entire body, but that could be quenched, at least for a while, by having him serve her.

He was no better than the crawling things in the real-world mud, just looking for food to cram into his mouth and an opening to shove his penis into for two minutes.

Infinitely far away, she had a playful and endlessly-inquisitive otter, her own beloved consort who would want to please her and satisfy her without any need of being forced. Pure cold flowing spring water instead of bland flat shallow puddle water.

She just had to reach him. And this man was in her way. But not for long. They kept calling her 'siren' but they still had no idea how accurate that was.

She'd been watching Kayla carefully for any sign of influence, but to her relief, her normal speaking voice had no effect.

Or it was her own will. Or it was Kayla being special.

She sighed to herself, rational mind and deep emotions colliding with the physical hunger. Too many possibilities. Max. I need to get home to Max. So Kayla needs that cuff. So I need to get to the house. So I need Gord safely out of the way.

“Gordie,” she said in a singsong tone. “Put the food down. There's something I need more than food.” She held out both arms, webbed hands spread palm-up. “Come to me.”

He took an involuntary step, then hesitated. “What can we do out that far?”

“We can go to a private place, where we can have all the time we want. No interruptions.” She smiled and did a slow sinuous full-body sway. “You can have me over... and over... and I'll do anything you want, no matter how kinky it is. Do you want my mouth, my ass? Do you want me all tied up and helpless so you can feel like you're raping me? Do you want me to tie you up and just play with you for hours until you can hardly stand it?” She felt her tentacles stirring in anticipation. They really weren't under her conscious control, annoyingly: they responded to her emotions and her desires, but not her will. “I've decided I like you best, and I want to make all your dreams come true, but only if we're where none of the others can interrupt.”

He dropped the sealed bowl of food into the shallow water with a splash, coming towards her with glazed eyes and a perceptible stumbling to his steps.

“You can swim, can't you?” she coaxed.

“Yes... why?”

She lured him farther out, into deep water and over to the cliff face.

“Take a deep breath,” she told Gord, and dove, dragging him down with her. He didn't respond quickly enough, yelping at the wrong instant instead, so he got a mouthful of water. Holding him with both hands and her tentacles, she hauled him along underwater. He wasn't even dead weight: he was actively struggling and slightly panicked, until they surfaced inside one of the caves that riddled the cliff. This one had, along with the usual glowing crystals, a substantial ledge and, at one end, a toilet pit into which she tossed any bread she was given.

She went so far as to boost him up onto the ledge. He looked bewildered when she failed to follow.

“Aren't you coming?”

“I think I've changed my mind.” Staying partly above the surface, even with her neutral buoyancy, did mean treading water a bit, and that made keeping her voice sufficiently singsong trickier. “But suppose you stay right here, safe and sound, because I'll probably change it again. Just lie down and go to sleep. That way you'll be all rested. That's it, lie down, close your eyes, no one can bother you here, just take a little nap...”

Once she was certain he was out, she said his name softly to check, and got no response.

It took a lot less time and effort to get back to the outer lake alone.

Without Gord present as a stimulus, her hormones settled back down quite a lot. She took a deep breath, nerving herself.

I have to go help. It's the only way home. I can do this.

Des had crisscrossed the island repeatedly, mapping out relevant areas in detail, and had worked out a way for Theo to reach the house. It wasn't going to be easy, but it should be possible. She trusted Des, but her experiments with being out of the water for long had been unpleasant. JC's research and those experiments did suggest that her tolerance would probably improve over time, which would be a relief, but she needed it now.

From one of the islands, she retrieved a two-litre bottle, once full of juice, that JC had stolen and sent via Des to Suzi, who had made a convenient sling for it. Carrying more than that would be awkward, but she shouldn't be entirely away from water for very long at any point. She filled it and settled it in place.

She waded to the very edge of the water, lined up the right trees to give her the direction she needed to go, and briefly closed her eyes.

Her hair, she knew, absorbed a lot of water and dried slowly, unlike her skin, from which water slid as though she'd been oiled. That helped.

Once, she stopped and poured a third of the bottle over her own head, drinking several swallows as well. That drove back the feeling of dryness and the apprehension that went with it. She knew she could do this bit: she and Des had tried, as an experiment, on the grounds that if she couldn't cross even that much dry ground, this was a hopeless plan.

She was beginning to feel uncomfortable again, but not intolerably so, when she reached the first stream she needed.

Turn right and follow the stream like it's a path. That's all you have to do.

For now, anyway. Don't think about the fact that you're going to have to switch to another network of streams before you're there, and then a bit more dry land to cross.

She'd done her best to memorize the turns from a map Des had drawn, and the cat had left subtle reminder markers: a trio of stones together, a couple of sticks crossed casually but nonetheless forming a T, a bit of turf scratched and scuffed to mark out a recognizable D. Things that could be overlooked or shrugged off, things that didn't look like markers unless you were watching for them. Erica had made it clear that there would be trouble if Des harmed any living flora unnecessarily, which ruled out Des' initial mostly-joking suggestion of sharpening her claws on trees to leave a visible sign. Des had set up the route a couple of days ago; there was no time to check it, but with minimal weather and wildlife, not much changed quickly. While it would have been comforting if Des or Erica had been able to verify that it was intact, this needed to happen now.

Especially considering what JC was overhearing from Isabel and Phrixos and Nestor.

It was scary. She had little defence when she was in shallow water like this, no deeper than her knees. Des and Erica had both offered to come meet her anyway, but that would take them away from the centre of events where they needed to be. Where they all needed to be, but if she couldn't get there, she needed to know the others would, at least.

There's the double marker. Des said line the two of them up and start walking in a straight line. It's the closest point between two separate streams, and there are a couple more markers so I can't get lost.

This was the really frightening bit.

I have to do this. To get home to Max, to get Kay out of here safely, to get all of us home and make sure this never happens to anyone else... for that, I can walk across some dry land!