“I’m not sure about this now,” I said, edging my toes up to the side of the pool in my swim trunks. My bare feet were a lot whiter than I remembered.

Gavin rolled the tarp up, exposing the cool water of the pool underneath. “Don’t worry. It’s only the shallow end.”

All that water contained in one place.

Even though we were only looking at the shallow end it still bothered me.

Gavin didn’t have swim trunks so he borrowed a pair of my basketball shorts. He took his shirt off and jumped into the water. “Wow. Not as cold as I thought it was gonna be, but still cold.”

He threw his hair back to get the water out of his face. “Wanna sit at the edge bro? Drop your feet in first.”

For a while I couldn’t even conjure the will to move. Tain, whom we’d brought with us, lay down next to me whining because he was bored. Rob, who usually kept him company, stayed home explaining he had some Super Smash Bros to catch up on, which he’d earned for all the cleaning he did. He’d also just unlocked Toon Link from Wind Waker, one of my personal favs. So I totally understood why he needed some playtime.

I sat down at the edge of the pool. Slowly I reached out my left foot and put it quickly into the water before I could take it back.

“Good. Now just pretend you’re in the bathtub like earlier,” said Gavin.

Gavin had taken extremely small steps with me. First he had me stare at a glass of water, but that did nothing. Then he poured it over my head. Rob got a kick out of that one. But I wasn’t necessarily afraid of being wet, but immersion.

Then he suggested I lay in the bathtub. I felt stupid doing so in my board shorts. He’d instructed me to ease lower into the tub until almost submerged. But the tub was too small, and I was too tall.

“We need a bigger tub,” he’d said.

Now we’d snuck into Cunningham pool, a neighborhood aquatic complex. The sun was setting soon and the pool was already closed but we managed to pick the fence lock.

I visualized myself sitting on the edge of the bathtub putting my foot in the water. But I was getting thrown off by the temperature.

“The tub was a lot warmer. Too cold here,” I said.

“That’s okay. Put the other foot in.”

Slowly I obliged. Next thing I knew I had both feet in the pool up to my calves. I opened my eyes to see my orange leg hair pressed against my pale skin. Through the water I could see my distorted feet. “Yikes, I shouldn’t have looked.”

The fear threatened to well up in me, to consume me. I wanted to take my feet out of the water so bad, but I knew that I couldn’t. This could be a breaking point.

“Bro, you’re doing really well,” said Gavin, encouraging me.

All it did was make me feel more pathetic.

I’m a grown man. Young, but grown. Little kids swim in this pool every day. Granted, they have lifeguards, but still, I could touch the bottom of this pool with my feet if I wanted to. An image of Anna’s face flashed in my head, but I pushed it away. Bracing my hands down on the side of the pool, I slowly turned so that I faced the pool’s edge.

“Don’t give up now. You got this.”

Tain barked his encouragement as well.

“Shut up dude, you’re ruining my concentration. I’m trying to get into the pool, not leave it.”

“Sorry.”

I forced myself to visualize the bathtub as I slid deeper into the water until my feet touched the bottom of the pool. I shuddered partially out of fear, and partially from the cool temperature. “How do you do this? It is so cold.” My teeth chattered.

The water came up to my chest, highlighting my Keening scar.

“That thing is gnarly. Does it hurt?”

“All the time. Nothing seems to help. No lotion or creams. Lots of dead skin around it too. It’s always raw.”

“Like my curse. Always gives me headaches. Like something is trying to break out of my skull.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Not the worst part though.”

“What is?”

“The dreams. Dreams of flying...and fire. Nightmares really.”

I shuddered and thought of my own nightmares involving our sister Anna. Which reminded me of the water I was submerged in.

Gavin noticed my growing discomfort and changed the subject. “Tell me more about Charice.”

I smirked a little. “She’s great man,” was all I could say at first. Then everything I liked about her just bubbled out of me. “She’s Latina and Asian.”

“Noice,” said Gavin, whistling.

“She’s got long hair that smells great, pretty eyes. Great teeth.”

“Okay great. That’s all physical stuff, but tell me about her.”

“Well she’s super smart and ambitious. She doesn’t want to be around her brother anymore and doesn’t want to be held back.”

“In what way?”

“Held back from her potential. She wants to make the most of her intelligence and the opportunity she’s been given. And that’s what I like the most about her. That, and she survived in Donn’s crazy death dungeon for a few days. She’s got heart, and she knows about the monsters I fight. So she can understand what I’m going through.”

“Sounds like a great gal.”

“Yeah she really is. I wish she’d answer my texts and phone calls though. I really don’t know what’s going on now.”

I opened my eyes and almost jumped. I totally forgot I was in the water. Up until that moment it was just two bros having a heart-to-heart about a girl that I was lovesick over and missing terribly. I looked frantically at the water all around me and inhaled sharply.

“It’s okay bro. Let’s get back to Charice.”

I closed my eyes. “Yep, yep, yep. Keep asking me questions about her. I feel like I’m making progress.”

He started to ask me another question when we heard the crackling of the tarp moving, down towards the deep end of the pool.

“What the heck was that?” I asked.

A low growl grew in Tain’s throat, then grew to a full on fit of snarling.

I’d lost track of time. The sun had set and it was full on night time. “Time to get out of the pool,” I yipped.

Further down in the deep end, the pool stirred. The tarp moved of its own volition.

My Keening burned. I heard hoof beats on the water. Don’t ask me how, magical monsters don’t always make sense. Gavin and I lifted ourselves out of the pool, water streaming down our bodies. A stallion’s neigh pierced the silence. I shuddered.

“The Kelpie,” hissed Gavin.

We ran for the car. When we reached the crosshatch fence Gavin quickly shut the gate and threw the lock, which we’d picked earlier. I stole a glance back and saw the Kelpie rip through the tarp, erupting from the depths of the deep end of the pool.

Running to the car, I felt a tinge of regret. I made further progress in a few hours with my brother than I ever had on my own in the last few years. And now the Kelpie had ruined it all. Just like the Kelpie caused all the fighting between me and my brother. This was all the black stallion’s fault. I shouldn’t be running from this thing. I ripped my door open and popped the trunk. Gavin hopped into the passenger seat with Tain, then noticed I grabbed Jade instead of starting the car.

“What are you doing?” Gavin yelled.

“No more running. Time to end this.”

My Good Luck coursed through my body and I pushed it through my hands into my sword as I unsheathed it. Still shirtless, in my swim trunks dripping wet, I ran back to the pool. The Kelpie trotted back and forth in front of the chain-link fence taunting me. The water of the pool turned black, sloshing and foaming, as tall waves ebbed and flowed at the command of the cryptic horse sorcery.

Using all my forward momentum I leapt through the air and slashed a hole in the chain-link fence, flying through it, landing and rolling on the cement next to the pool. I leapt up from my roll and slashed at the Kelpie.

It had quicker reflexes than I expected and reared up on his high legs to avoid my sword. I stepped into the opening it provided and stabbed at its rib cage, my sword sinking deep. Yes!

The stallion fell back on its side, its legs kicking violently. It turned around and got up and I thought it was going to run, but it caught me off guard with a donkey kick to the chest. I was launched through the air and tumbled into the deep end of the pool. I kicked my arms and legs frantically, wasting precious energy.

The Kelpie sped over the water threatening to trample my bobbing head. I dove deeper just to get out of the way. As soon as I realize what my instincts lead me to do, I freaked out and lost all control of my Luck. As I tried to resurface a strong current whipped my body around like a buoy. I spun and flipped until I didn’t know which way was up or down. The Kelpie created a massive wave that blew me clear out of the pool. I resurfaced to find myself bodysurfing down the side of the wall of water. I crashed into the cement bleachers and all the wind escaped my lungs.

I lay on my back in shock. I didn’t even have any thoughts, stunned, trying to breathe. Wave after black wave poured over me relentlessly. In the back of my mind I could hear Tain howling and barking furiously.

Pummeled by the onslaught, I thought of Gavin and how he’d be down one more sibling. And I thought of Anna who drowned. We couldn’t have two family members drowning now. I felt the faint spark, only a flicker of Luck magic in my chest, but it was enough. I fanned the embers of that tiny flame with my resilience.

Celtic knots shot out of my chest and wove themselves in and out and around my body forming a spherical shield. Waves continue to crash against me but they couldn’t penetrate my Good Luck. I rose to my knees and then onto my feet. My sword was a ways off on the side of the pool and it was a miracle it hadn’t skewered me. Without thinking twice, I lashed out with my Celtic knots, sending emerald ribbons weaving through the air until they caught my sword and wrapped themselves around the hilt. Yanking with my arm and my magic simultaneously, the blade soared back to my hand.

The Kelpie pawed its hoof, readying to charge me again, at its back a wave of black water amassed. It reared back on its hind legs again letting out a thunderous snort blowing billows of steam from his nostrils. The wave came crashing down threatening to dash me against the cement bleachers once and for all.

I gathered more Good Luck and launched off the bleachers soaring through the air. I crashed into the wave and it parted around my aura of Celtic knots. I brought my sword back to my hip for the kill stroke.

The Kelpie didn’t expect me to break through its biggest attack and stood dumbfounded. With a Barry Bonds ‘roid empowered swing, I slashed my sword rending the demonic horse in half. Cutting right in between its shoulders and neck, my sword passed through it like a knife through Jell-O.

Actually, almost exactly like a knife through Jell-O.

No sooner had my sword passed through the Kelpie did its body meld itself back together like two streams seamlessly meeting and forming one river.

Desperate, I unleashed an entire kata of sword swipes, slashes, and stabs, but to no avail. Every strike was negated by the fact that the Kelpie was seemingly made of an aquatic essence. I could do nothing to harm it.

My blood ran cold.

It attacked me with its front hooves and ran me down, trampling me to the cement. It happened so fast I almost didn’t feel the pain. Almost. Then the pain kicked in, pun intended. Why do those Spaniards participate in the Running of the Bulls? I knew firsthand how stupid that was now.

Canines flashing, Tain gave a go at the storm stallion, but the Kelpie bucked him off by way of its sheer size difference.

The Kelpie came at me one last time and I had nothing to attack or defend. A sudden soberness filled me. I had done my best and I just wasn’t up to the task. But I faced my fear. I couldn’t ask for better way to die, I guess.

But brothers are born for adversity.

Just before the Kelpie squashed me underfoot, Gavin stepped in its path and struck its face. Again I was amazed at the sheer force of Gavin’s strength. The horse’s head rocked to the side as if it had been hit by a knockout punch from Floyd Mayweather. Steam rose from the claw marks that raked the Kelpie’s face. Yeah, claw marks. I’d have to ask Gavin about that later. At the moment he helped me to my feet and we bolted for the ‘Stang. For what I hoped was the last time he jumped into my driver seat and I took the passenger seat.

I stole one last glance and saw the Kelpie limp back into the water and dive into the depths of the pool back through the rift it had opened.

It was gone for now, but not for good.