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"I think you underestimate yourself, little one. But I am glad you are pleased with this form." The goddess's expression became distant. "And I am sure that my daughter, Undine, is pleased with her new form as well."
"So she is me now?" CC asked, amazed at how easy it was to talk with Gaea.
"Yes. She has taken your place in that world."
"Am I dead?"
Gaea's laughter caused the tree boughs to sway in delighted response. "Oh, no. You are very much alive."
"Then I don't understand," CC said, feeling more lost than ever.
The goddess reached out and touched CC's cheek in a motherly caress. "This must be very difficult for you, poor child. I will try to explain. Undine is the child of my body, but she is also very much her father's daughter."
"Lir," CC said.
Gaea looked surprised at her knowledge, but nodded. "Yes."
"Um, who exactly is Lir?" she asked.
The goddess smiled. "Lir is the great God of the Seas. You might recognize him by one of his other titles. He has been known as Tethys, Pontos, Neptune, Barinthus, Enki, Poseidon and many others."
CC's eyes widened in surprise. "Poseidon is Undine's father?"
Gaea's eyes held a faraway expression as she gazed out at the waters. "We knew that the land and the sea were not meant to mate, but one day I was bathing here, in this very cove, and the Lord of the Sea cast his eyes upon me." Her face softened with remembrance. "For one brief night I al-lowed him to envelop me, and from that union Undine was conceived."
CC listened intently to the tale the goddess spun.
"Undine was born a mermaid, so it was destined that she live in her father's realm, but she was not content there. She longed for the land and for her mother." Gaea's face was shadowed by sadness, and CC felt her own eyes fill with tears in response. "I tried to coax Lir to allow me to gift our daughter with a human form so that she could live with me on land, but he adored the child and refused to be parted from her."
Gaea took CC's hand and squeezed it. "Do not think him cruel. Lir loved his daughter. And she wasn't always unhappy. She adored her father and the creatures of his realm, and she came here many times, sitting where you are now, telling me fantastic stories of the underwater crystal castle in which she lived and the wonders of the seas."
"It was only recently that she changed." The goddess's expression was haunted. "Sometimes I would find her weeping, there on that rock. Ceaselessly she begged me to gift her with a human form."
CC shivered. She thought she knew why Undine had become so desperate. "Did she tell you what was wrong?"
Gaea shook her head sadly. "No. I asked her, but she said only that she longed to be with me always."
Tears spilled from the goddess's eyes, yet Gaea didn't seem to notice.
"I was afraid she would do harm to herself. I am a goddess, but her father is also an immortal, and I could not cause her form to shift without his consent, as he could not have taken her from me if she had been born in human form." Her eyes glinted with determination. "But I am also a mother, and I could not allow my child to suffer. I wove a spell for her, giving Undine the ability to attain a human body, but only if she could find a human being who would be willing to exchange lives with her." Gaea stared into CC's eyes. "And I knew you would have need of her aid, as she had need of yours, little daughter."
"I don't understand," CC said.
"Your Samhain ritual was heartfelt, and I still heed the call of my children in other worlds, even a world in which I have been forgotten. You pleased me that night, and I touched you."
CC blushed, remembering the passionate feel of the moonlight on her skin.
The goddess put one perfect finger under CC's chin and lifted her face. "Do not ever be ashamed of a gift from a goddess." Before CC could respond she continued. "I asked the Fates to show me your future, and I saw your life's thread end too soon in a watery grave." She sighed sadly. "There was little I could do to aid you, as there was little I could do to aid the daughter of my flesh, but together you could help one another. Thus you are here and she is there."
"Where is here?" was the first of many questions that leapt to CC's mind.
"Here is a world where gods and goddesses still live."
CC's expression was puzzled.
Gaea tried to explain. "This cove is of my making, so it is like nothing that would be familiar to you, but beyond here you would find a land your world would call medieval Cymru." Her arm swept in a gesture meant to include all of the land behind them.
CC felt her face pale. "You're not talking about somewhere in southern California, are you?"
Gaea smiled at her. "Actually, I believe your books would tell you it is the Land of the Britons, or more specifically, ancient Wales"
"You mean I'm smack in the middle of medieval Europe!"
Gaea patted her hand reassuringly. "There is much that historians left out of your world's texts." The goddess winked one large blue eye at CC. "Like magic, my daughter."
"And how do I—"
The angry chattering of the dolphin interrupted CC's question. She looked over her shoulder and her body went numb. The merman had surfaced in the middle of the cove.
"Silence you meddling beast!" he snarled at the dolphin.
Automatically, CC scooted closer to Gaea.
"Goddess Gaea, what an unexpected privilege it is to see you." His voice had shifted to silk.
"And why would it be unexpected, Sarpedon?" Gaea smiled graciously at him. "This is my cove; it is well known that I come here often."
"Your cove?" The merman's instant sarcasm shocked CC. "I thought the water realm belonged to Lir."
"That would be true, young Sarpedon, had your father not gifted me with all the waters within this cove." Gaea's eyes narrowed. "You would do well to remember that water must flow over land, and where you find land, there you will always find my realm."
"I beg your pardon, Goddess Gaea. I did not mean to offend," he said, suddenly contrite. "I come to your cove on an errand for Lir himself."
When Gaea didn't respond, Sarpedon hurried on, taking the opportunity to drift closer to the two of them. "My father asks that I escort my sister back to him. Undine has been absent so frequently of late that she has been greatly missed," he said, and his intense gaze shifted briefly to CC.
"No."
The word slipped from CC's lips as a whisper. She glanced up at the goddess, who was studying her carefully. Bolstered by Gaea's presence, CC cleared her throat and repeated the word in a loud, firm voice.
"No!"
"You must obey our father," Sarpedon said between clenched teeth.
"Must she?" The goddess broke into the exchange. Gaea's eyes were wise as she looked from the mermaid to the merman.
"Yes!" Sarpedon struggled to control the anger in his voice. "Goddess, you know that Lir misses his daughter."
"I know that Lir loves his daughter and would not see her harried," Gaea snapped.
"I want only to do our father's bidding." Sarpedon raised his hands, palms open in a gesture of helplessness. CC could clearly see the angry red welts that dotted one palm where his skin had touched her amulet.
CC's head was whirling. She knew that Undine must have been trying to escape from this creature, but she also knew that the mermaid had not confided in her mother about her problem. Well, maybe Undine had spent her life being bullied and hounded by her half brother, but CC had spent the past seven years in the male-dominated United States Air Force. Even before the goddess touched her she knew how to stand up for herself. If this was going to be her world, she might as well get the rules straight right away. And she sure wasn't going to play by Sarpedon's rules. She raised her chin and looked straight in his almond-shaped gray eyes.
"You are a liar," she said.
"You have been too long away from your home." He had moved to within only a few feet of CC. His face darkened dangerously. "You have forgotten yourself."
"Really?" CC said sardonically. "I think I could be gone a lifetime and still know rape when I see it."
With an abrupt movement, Gaea stood. She spoke with deadly softness. "You dared to touch my child against her will?"
"He tried, but your amulet protected me," she said before Sarpedon could respond. For the goddess's ears alone she whispered, "I think he's what Undine was so afraid of."
"Leave my presence, Sarpedon!" The goddess's voice was amplified until it filled the small cove. "And I warn you to keep far from my daughter."
But instead of being admonished, the merman rose out of the water, balancing on his powerful tail until he towered over CC. Automatically, she shrank back.
"I will have her!" Spittle flew from his lips and his eyes flashed wildly. "My father is Lord of the Seas—you hold no power over me, Land Goddess." He spat the title like it was an oath.
"Foolish creature. Even the Lord of the Seas knows not to evoke the wrath of a goddess!"
Gaea pointed one slim finger at the sandy earth under her feet and made a small, circular motion. The sand stirred. With a flick of her wrist she gestured to the merman. The sand whirlpooled from its damp bed and flung itself into Sarpedon's face, causing him to choke and rub frantically at his eyes. He fell back into deeper water, sputtering and cursing. Then she stretched out her arms, as if she would embrace the cove. When she spoke her voice was seductive and rich with authority.
"Winds that play over my body, which is the living Earth herself, come to me now and blow this usurper from my presence."
The goddess pursed her full lips and blew a light burst of air at Sarpedon. Then something amazing happened to that light, almost playful bit of air. It seemed that all the winds in the cove suddenly rushed to join it. The gust struck Sarpedon like a fist, lifting him from the water and hurling him to the coral reef barrier.
"Trespass upon my realm again, and I will destroy you." The power in Gaea's voice lifted the hairs on the back of CC's neck. "So have I spoken; so shall it be." The air around the goddess shimmered, making her promise a tangible thing.
Awestruck, CC could only stare at Gaea. Her mind could hardly grasp what she was witnessing. The goddess loomed huge and powerful, and CC was overwhelmed by her majesty.
But Sarpedon seemed oblivious to Gaea's power. "Do not forget that Undine is a creature of the seas! She must exist in my realm, Land Goddess!" He shrieked at her before leaping over the coral reef and disappearing into the blue depths.
CC stared after him, shivering with an ominous foreboding.
