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I grimaced. “You’d better go get a coat.”
I was a kraken, and even I didn’t want to risk tangling with sea-wights. They were such nasty little creatures.
Deus gave me a single, searing kiss on the lips before he jogged off. I smiled as I watched him go. The smile dimmed a little as I realized I’d have to tell my mother I’d gotten a boyfriend.
I’d have to physically restrain her from running off to toll the giant bell that signaled celebrations in the Deep. Mother and Father would want to meet him, of course, which would require some pretty big transformation spells—
A rough hand grabbed my arm, jerking me from my thoughts.
“Hey—” I began, but before I could finish my protest, a second hand closed around my cuff and ripped it off, hard enough that it sliced the skin on my wrist.
“Now that your protector is gone, let’s see the real you,” Ezric snarled in my ear.
He gave me a vicious shove that sent me toppling off the rocky ledge.
The water enveloped me like home, and my body began to unfurl from its enchantment.
No,I thought, flailing in panic. But I’d been in human form for so long, and part of me was so tired of it that my resistance was feeble.
I tried to at least keep a semi-shifted form, but the fear, anger, and anxiety coursing through me made it impossible to focus and gain control.
Despite my best efforts, my arms lengthened and transformed. Rows of powerful suckers sprouted along their length. My legs did the same, quickly reaching out to find the bottom of the lake and stabilizing me.
In this form, I was the size of a small house. My dark tentacles with their fire-red feathery tips slithered through the water, while my glowing alien-esque eyes took in the scene unfolding in front of me.
People shrieked and the scene on shore reminded me of the stupid B-rated shark movies Deus was so fond of watching.
Someone screamed, “Oh my gods, is that part of the final?”
“Are we under attack?” screamed another.
Professor Mackenzie gaped at me from where he stood, waist-deep in water and surrounded by various saltwater creatures.
A single word traveled around the lake, passed from student to student.
Kraken.
So much for keeping a low profile.
Suck my life.
My first instinct was to duck beneath the water. If I could keep my tentacles hidden, maybe Headmistress Losia and I could find a way to spin this. Maybe we could call me some kind of giant octopus-shifter. Only Mackenzie would know there was no such thing, and he might be willing to keep my secret.
“Come out, Seta. Fight me like the monster you are.”
The rectangular pupils of my eyes adjusted quickly, allowing me to see Ezric as clearly as if it were daytime.
The slayer hoisted his harpoon gun, leveling it at me.
Several students gasped and threw themselves away from him. The creatures of the lake recognized the harpoon gun, and beneath the water, they thrashed about with terror and turmoil.
But I wasn’t a monster.
I was a shepherd of the sea.
A protector.
One tentacle flicked out, comforting a small greentooth and a miniature sea drake.
