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Ahead of them, amidst a sea of concrete, the fountain sparkled in the sun.
Wait,sparkled?
Yes, the fountain’s switched-off mechanicals and the clean water in the pond weresparkling.Tall nozzles that would spray water upward twinkled silver. Black gaskets gleamed.
“What happened to it?” Bethany asked, placing her hands on the warm cement retaining wall and leaning over.
Math wrapped one strong arm around her waist and dragged her back a step, doubtlessly thinking he was saving her from another green slime-based assassination attempt. “Careful.”
“The green slime is all gone. Did the serpents eat it?”
“Sea serpents are piscivores, not vegetarians. They eat fish, a lot of fish. Dragons are obligate carnivores and don’t eat plants. They wouldn’t eat algae.”
“Oh, no. The poor things must have been so hungry.”
“They’re reptilian, though. Their metabolic rate is lower than that of mammals’. They should be able to go for weeks or longer between feedings.”
Bethany looked at him. “You don’t have a slow metabolism.”
He shrugged. “That’s the fire thing. Generating fire takes a lot of energy. And flying. But sea serpents don’t do either of those. Algae and plankton are tiny. I’ve never seen a serpent eat anything smaller than a medium-sized shark.”
The broad head of a sea monster broke through the pond’s surface, horns shining in the sun and tendrils trailing behind it. It leered at them with its horizontal-barred eye and grinned with its many-tusked mouth before diving back into the dark, silent water.
Bethany said, “It looks like it could eat a shark. They look kind of sickly, though. Maybe they should be eating more than just algae.”
Another sea serpent breached the surface, shaking its head that was ringed with tentacles like a lion’s mane. As it fell back toward the water, it opened its wide maw and nose-dived toward a fountain fixture, half-swallowing the tall prong.
Math backed up a step. “Oh, my.”
Bethany blinked. “What’s it doing?”
Math flinched away. “I think it’s cleaning the algae off, but—”
The sea serpent worked its mouth up and down the fountain spigot, scraping with its teeth and sucking off every last bit of plankton and algae.
Bethany winced as she watched the serpent bobbing up and down the rod. “That looks obscene.”
The sea monster’s wet mouth slurped as it gobbled the steel.
Math said, “It can’t do that while the angel investors are here. Those kinds of ranches are only legal outside the city limits.”
The sea monster gagged, coughing and horking as it swallowed.
Math covered his eyes. “Oh! Geez, Bethany. Can’t you order them to stop?”
“Controlling legendaries is Master Mage-level magic. Can’t you go alpha dragon and order them to stop?”
The sea serpent thrashed as it thrust the rod deeper into its own throat, it’s long, snake-like tail whipping the water.
They dodged the waves of water sloshing out of the fountain.
He said, “They’re eating. I can’t order them to starve themselves to death. Can’t you conjure up some fish for them to eat?”
“Apparitions don’t have physical bodies. They’re manifested spirits. The sea serpents would still be hungry if they ate apparition fish. My usual guys don’t eat. I guess legendaries need to eat, though.”
The sea serpent slobbered and sucked on the spigot as it thrashed in the water.
A rogue wave jumped the retaining wall and slapped Bethany, knocking her off her feet.
