Rob nodded, explaining. “Nehemiah sensed him drifting down the river and together we pulled him out.”

“Give him to me,” the Kelpie said in a gargling audible voice now.

The glow in my eyes faded, but not my rage. My fury was coupled now with frustration and confusion.

What had I almost done? Though Justin deserved to die for what he did to Gavin and myself, neither of us were dead. Now that the moment had passed, I couldn’t kill him.

I stepped back from the water’s edge, lowering Justin to the ground, sickened to my stomach.

“No,” I yelled at the Kelpie. “You’re the one I’m after. You killed my sister.” The words came out like a growl. My chest rose and fell.

“I’ll end you.”

The dark stallion snorted, dipping beneath the water. The thunder of hoof beats sounded, and the shoreline shook. The water retreated, amassing into a towering swell of water in the middle of the river in front of us. Inside the wall of water, flashes of light revealed silhouettes of more creatures of Chaos, shapes all too familiar. Dohbar-chus and Merrows alike burst from the rift in the wave, swimming down the watery swell towards us all. At the top of the suspended wave bucking and beginning his assault down the watery slope, the Kelpie charged.

I had no idea what Justin witnessed, or if the Glamour delusion even worked. Either way he scrambled up to his feet and ran back for the AK. I followed him, running away from the Kelpie too, but not out of preservation.

I needed Fragarach to exact justice.

I ran towards the collection of cars and the thugs, the ones still alive. They were gathering up guns and collecting themselves. None of their eyes were on me, they were all looking past me, at the monster horde, which Glamour probably tricked them into seeing more alligators and who knew what else.

Justin and his boys yelled, letting their guns blaze, firing into the horde of monsters. Some of their shots were successful at taking out Merrows and Dobhar-chus alike. But others didn’t have enough rounds or the right firepower to put the beasts down before they were mauled to death.

My ears picked up the booming crash of the wave as it collapsed into a torrent. The wave collided into me, my friends, and the thugs. Rolling head over heels, I hit the side of my own car hard. Thank my Good Luck, I’d charmed my car, or water damage would have ruined my engine!

An undertow ripped me back towards the Kelpie and further away from my blades. I fell into a sloppy breaststroke. Two plus years of aquaphobia meant I was a rusty swimmer at best. Another sorcerous wave hit me, propelling me completely over my car and straight at the planted swords.

I latched onto the hilts of my blades, holding on for dear life as a third wave struck me. The water receded enough for me to pull them from the mud and leap atop an Impala. I struggled to keep my balance as another wave struck the side of the car.

I surveyed the surroundings, taking in the scene.

Amethyst Bad Luck magic laced the air as Nehemiah lashed at a pair of Merrows with his cursed spinal whip, severing them in half. He siphoned Chaos from the monster carcasses and his purple aura grew brighter. Tain rode the back of a Dobhar-chu, its throat trapped between his locked jaws. Rob’s shifting was almost too swift to keep track of as he leapt out of the water in salmon form, clawed the eyes of a Dobhar-chu with cat paws, and flew to the next enemy as an owl. Gavin hugged his chest, leaning against the waist high waves, eyes aglow with blood-orange light, mouthing the word “No” over and over, trying to stay out of the fight, to not use his powers.

Nehemiah tied up one Dobhar-chu with his whip and unloaded his .357 magnum revolver into another, but didn’t see the large fin of a Merrow approaching from behind him. The humanoid piranha erupted from the water on a direct path to chomp the wizard’s head off. Gavin leapt to his feet, hands glowing red, and clawed the Merrow to bits, steam rising from each slash. In that moment Gavin changed, became more primal, and a roar escaped from his mouth.

I didn’t have time to question that though because the Kelpie’s attacks weren’t slowing down. It trotted in a circle, and with each complete revolution, it launched wave after wave at us.

There was nothing but the river between myself and the Kelpie now, that and an island of car tops. Drawing on my luck again I used it to dash from car top to car top, making my way towards the dark stallion. It dove beneath a wave before I could reach it.

From the aquatic onrush arose the Kelpie. The homeboys that were still holding on to life opened fire as the wave receded, spraying the Kelpie with bullets. The rounds caused ripples across the black stallion’s body, but nothing more. It bucked, reared, and donkey kicked the thugs into submission, many of them falling under its black hooves. Snatching a thug in its teeth, it wrung the guy back and forth like a bag of trash. The entire time the guy sputtered, trying to gasp for air, but the Kelpie dashed him onto the train tracks and trampled what little life was left.

As I tried to formulate a plan, Fragarach pulsed in my left hand. It was almost as if it matched the ebb and flow of the waves. And then a realization hit me. It was an aquatic sword. Perhaps it had some control over the water.

The Kelpie seemed to read my mind and charged towards me. It launched a wall of water at me but I swung at the wall with Fragarach. The water parted like the Red Sea around me, severed into two waves. The Kelpie attacked again, and again I cut through another wave. I smirked, standing my ground.

“You have no power now,” I yelled at the beast.

Either it didn’t understand, or it was in denial. It launched a third wave at me, this one the largest yet. As the force of nature barreled towards me Fragarach vibrated, matching the crashing force of the wave. My arm shot straight out as if controlled by Fragarach, and I turned in a circle, tugging the tsunami with me. I pivoted a complete 360 on my heels and returned the wave attack right back at the Kelpie. The water crashed into the stallion burying it under a mountainous waterfall.

With knowledge of the sword’s newfound ability, I gathered up the remainder of all the puddles around me. Streams of water circled me mingling with my Celtic knotted Good luck. I swung Fragarach over my head round and round in a circle until I manifested a cyclone and flung it at the Kelpie. The force of the blast sideswiped the Kelpie, sending it skipping over the water until it smashed into a column upholding the Suscol Bridge.

I didn’t think it could take a beating like that and still live, but it managed to limp to its hooves. As the Kelpie opened a rift to escape, I felt the vibrations of the tearing in space and time within Fragarach’s hilt. I sliced in the direction of the rift and felt the sword collide against the magic portal.

The Kelpie rose up on its hind legs in frustration and tried over and over. Each time I severed its connection to Tir fo Thuinn.

It retreated further away from me each time so that I couldn’t finish it or catch up to it. It galloped away down the river towards Vallejo escaping.

I didn’t even ponder if I could do it, I simply did. I sliced into the Napa River opening a rift into Tir fo Thuinn, calling out with a loud voice, “Enbarr, aid me!”

Through the rift I saw my equine aquatic friend galloping towards me. She cleared the rift and trotted to the river’s edge. No sooner did I leap atop her back did she take off with the speed of a typhoon.

I leaned as far forward as I could, one hand on Fragarach, and the other grasping her crystal-clear ever flowing main, holding on with all my might. She galloped so fast my eyes watered, but I kept them locked on the Kelpie who we were swiftly gaining on. We raced atop the Napa River like it was some kind of winding speedboat raceway.

When the river opened wider recognition dawned on me. American Canyon was to our left and Vallejo was up ahead. To our right was the slough stream leading to Skaggs Island. The Kelpie veered off into the Skaggs slough stream, barreling towards the center of the island. I wondered why it would go there and then I remembered the dolmen. But I knew something the Kelpie didn’t.

We wound to the slough stream and Enbarr got me close enough to swipe at the black stallion with Fragarach. Unlike last time when Jade passed clear through the aquatic body of the black stallion, this time Fragarach left a clear-cut, splitting it open. Ebony blood leaked from the wound, but it only urged the Kelpie to gallop faster. It veered out of the stream trying to lose us in the marsh grass and tall wetland weeds, but I knew where it was going and directed Enbarr with gentle nudges.

The Kelpie reached the crumbled stone blocks that were formerly the dolmen, the exit from our world through The Between, and back to Tech Duinn. Confused, the Kelpie reared and trotted around the dolmen, snorting in frustration.

Enbarr slowed to a trot and I laughed wickedly, my voice echoing off the destroyed doorway to another world. “You thought you could escape back to the Otherside? We destroyed this place to stop monsters like you.”

The Kelpie’s head tossed back and forth looking for some way to escape but we had it cornered.

An image of Anna’s face flashed in my head, fury flooding into my heart. Sensing the unrest within me Enbarr reared on her hind legs, roaring like the sound of a crashing waterfall. She charged the Kelpie and as she passed by I swung The Retaliator in a great arc, passing the sword clean through its neck.

The head of the haunted horse dropped away from its body, completely severed, falling down a steep bank. It slid into the Skagg slough, sinking to a watery grave. Its body reared back on its hind legs in one last death throe, then fell still.

I let out a sigh of relief and Enbarr let me down off her back. I planted Fragarach in the mud.

I stood still catching my breath, adrenaline racing through my body.

I’d done it. I’d finished my sister’s killer.

My grip on Fragarach loosed and I dropped to my knees in the wetland mire.

A symphony of victory and sorrow played on my heart strings.

“It’s finished, sister. You are avenged.”