She tied her hair back in a messy bun as she walked back into the living room they’d been in earlier. It was still soaked through from her time in the pool, and the resulting shower she’d had to rid herself of the awful chemical stench.

Jared reclined on the sofa, looking comfortable despite his equally damp hair, and his white t-shirt sticking to him where he hadn’t dried himself properly. Macey licked her lips, her mind already back on how close she’d been to him in the swimming pool.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Cam said, pulling her attention and thoughts away from Jared and to where the other man was pacing frantically. She squashed the urge to run over to him and rest a comforting hand on his arm. Doing that would probably lead to her becoming even more distracted.

“Yes, Jared said you had news of my brothers.” Maybe she should have started with something a little...softer, but she was desperate for news.

“Yes.” He shared an uneasy look with the other man and Macey’s heart sank.

“You told me they were safe?!” She meant to shout, instead, it came out more like she was a strangled cat struggling to keep a hold of her emotions.

“They are,” Jared said and she glanced his way. The expression on his face did nothing to allay the dread that’d settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Why do I sense there’s a but?” she whispered, not able to make her voice sound any stronger. Damn, she was pathetic.

“Because you’re not going to like what Flint found out.” Cam closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her. Despite knowing she probably shouldn’t, Macey leaned into him, inhaling his scent and relaxing ever so slightly.

“But they’re safe? And alive?” Possibilities flew through her head, ranging from the improbable to the absurd. But then again, if she existed, and the men surrounding her, then was anything really impossible?

“Yes, both. But Macey…” He looked away from her as if he was hiding something, though she guessed he was. If her arms hadn’t been twined around his waist, pulling him as close as possible, then she’d be biting her nails in nervousness.

“It was them,” Jared blurted out, receiving a sharp glare from Cam. Macey pulled away, standing between the two men.

“Them, what?”

“Them that caused all this,” Cam said softly.

“All what?” She wouldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be, could it? Macey shook her head.

“They’re the ones that sent the fàth-fiata after you,” Jared said, placing a comforting hand on her arm, but she knocked it away.

“No, no, no, no.” She shook her head violently, the whole world going a little fuzzy. They had to be lying. And yet the serious looks on the two men’s faces was enough to tell her they weren’t.

Which was when it all went black.

She blinked her eyes furiously as she came back around. It took her a few moments to get her thoughts in order. Mostly due to how comfortable she was on whatever the men had rested her on. She sat up, fixing them with stern glances. They still had a lot of explaining to do.

“So, let me get this straight. You think my brothers pretended to be unconscious, created some weird fog and then planned... what exactly? World domination?” She laughed bitterly.

The guys wanted her to rest, blabbering something about her fainting twice in as many days, but by now she was sure that she hadn’t fainted that first time. Someone had hit her. And because her brothers were lying on the ground, it hadn’t been them. Problem was, the two men didn’t believe that theory. They found it much easier to believe her brothers were the culprits. Not that it made sense, not in the slightest.

“They’re already the crown princes and heirs to the throne, I’m just the third in line. So it’s not that. And I thought the fàth-fiata was just the magic mists someone uses to hide in? Not a conscious being by itself?”

They were staring at her, apparently waiting to see if she had finished. No, she hadn’t yet.

“So this... mist hit me on the back of my head, but then let you kidnap me, Cam? Without interfering? This doesn’t make any sense! Am I the only one who can see that?!”

“No,” Jared mumbled, “you make sense. Maybe we were a little rash in thinking it was them.”

Macey crossed her arms in front of her chest, the effect slightly marred by the fact that she was in bed, propped up by pillows. The guys hadn’t allowed her to get up... yet. She was going to need to pee in a moment, so she was sure they would let her do that.

“Where is Flint? He’s the one who said it was my brothers. Who’s his source?”

They looked at each other uncomfortably.

“He’s not been back in touch since he told me it was them,” Cam admitted. “I’ve been trying to reach him ever since you collapsed—”

“Fainted,” Macey corrected.

“... fainted. He seems to have shielded his mind, which he usually only does when he goes drinking or... ehm...”

Jared made a suggestive hand gesture and Macey laughed, despite trying not to. But her laugh was followed by a wave of jealousy taking hold in her heart. To distract herself from that unfamiliar feeling, she asked, “Why don’t you guys have phones? Who doesn’t have a phone nowadays?”

“We’re not on Earth. There are no mobile phone networks out here,” Cam explained and Macey cringed. She could have come up with that herself. But then, they still hadn’t explained where exactly they were and why they were living here in isolation in the first place.

“So what do we do now?” she asked, resulting in vague shrugs by the guys.

She groaned in frustration. “Okay, Cam, you keep trying to reach Flint. It’s strange that he would tell you something important like that and then just ignore you after. Jared, make us some food. We’re going to leave this place to search for answers, but not on an empty stomach.”

“Did she just tell us what to do?” Cam stage-whispered, staring at her wide-eyed.

“I think she did,” Jared whispered back. “I think I like it.”

Macey sighed and got out of the bed. Halfway across the room, her head exploded in pain. She vaguely felt how her body crumpled to the floor, but she was fixed on the source of the pain, a thick, black hand gripping her mind as if it was a physical object. She struggled against its hold, but it only resulted in more pain.

“DON’T STRUGGLE, LITTLE KELPIE,” a loud voice boomed, making her shiver at its cruel, cold tone. “YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME.”

“Who are you?” she shouted in her mind, her voice wavering from pain. “Let me go!”

A laugh reverberated all around her.

“THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. YOU ARE MINE NOW. YOUR MIND IS MINE, AND YOUR BODY WILL SOON FOLLOW. REJOICE, FOR YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR MASTER.”

Despite her fear, she laughed. “Are you for real? People don’t speak like that.” It was taking all she had to pretend that she was unaffected by his words. The pain was making it hard to focus, but she pushed it away as hard as she could.

“I ALREADY HAVE ONE OF THE SEVEN. YOU ARE THE SECOND. THE OTHERS WILL SOON FOLLOW.”

“Give him back,” she growled, unsure why she knew it was Flint he was talking about, nor why she was so accepting of that. But Flint didn’t belong to the Voice. Flint belonged to her. Instead of responding properly, the Voice just laughed hollowly through her mind, causing shooting pains through her head on top of the duller one that’d appeared when the Voice had.

“Macey!” Jared’s voice cut through the pain as the laughter faded, along with some of the pain. “Macey, say something, please.” She was surprised by how worried he sounded. After all, he wasn’t aware of that she’d decided he was hers, surely he shouldn’t feel anything more than a very mild concern over someone who he claimed to be protecting. If that’s what she was going to refer to kidnapping as now.

“Here.” It was Cam this time, and something damp pressed against her head.

“Maybe we should take her back to the pool?” Jared asked. As her mind regained control a little, she noticed that she was lying on the floor, and her head was on someone’s lap. Jared’s she imagined. His hand was stroking back her hair soothingly. She was sure it was him, but didn’t want to open her eyes to find out.

“No, not pool,” she murmured. Shifting would probably get rid of the pain in her head, but only because the pain in her body would distract her. Which made it stranger still that the Voice had managed to cause so much pain. Her threshold was pretty high. It had to be when she went through shifts like those, and yet the voice had her almost collapsing. Or completely so, if her other two fainting spells were anything to go by.

“Will the shift not help?” Cam asked softly, sounding closer this time, though she wasn’t sure if that was because he’d sat down next to her, or that her head was just clearing more.

“Chemicals,” she got out, sounding fragile even to herself and hating that they’d be able to hear that in her voice. Weakness wasn’t something she liked showing. It never had been, not growing up with her brothers. Which reminded her...no. She refused to accept any of that. Bruce and Jerry wouldn’t betray her, she refused to accept that. Though she also suspected that it wasn’t quite as cut and dry as she thought. Things never were.

“Oh shit,” Jared muttered. “Why didn’t we think of that?”

“Because we didn’t expect to have a kelpie come to stay?” Cam replied. He rested a hand on her arm, and she appreciated the contact. She appreciated the contact with both of them actually. It was soothing in a way she would never have suspected before.

“Kidnapped,” she muttered, still unable to form proper sentences. Damn, the Voice and the pain had taken a lot out of her. More than she’d admit to if any of them actually asked. To her surprise, Cam laughed, actually sounding amused.

“Yes, okay. I didn’t expect to kidnap a kelpie.” He waited a moment, and though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was hesitating. “But aren’t you glad I did?” he whispered softly, as if he didn’t really want to say the words. Probably because it’d been less than twenty-four hours. She should say no. She shouldn’t feel so comfortable with them. It shouldn’t feel so right. And she certainly shouldn’t let them know that their mere presence was doing more to make her feel better than anything else in her life.

“Yes,” the word slipped out without her meaning it to.

“Good, now let me go drain the pool.” A shuffling noise came as he made to get to his feet. With surprising deftness, Macey flung her arm out and closed one of her hands around his wrist.

“No. Don’t go.” Damn, when had she got so needy? She really shouldn’t let them see this side of her, she had no idea what it’d actually do. Inwardly, she sighed with relief as he sunk down next to her again.

“What happened, Macey?” Jared asked, still stroking her hair gently. She attempted to shake her head, but that only made the dull ache intensify.

“Not sure.” Slowly, she opened her eyes, cringing at what felt like a bright light.

“Try and explain?” he prompted.

“Where did Flint really go?” Because she was as sure that simply to find her brothers was as much baloney as the sailors who thought manatees were mermaids. If they thought the peaceful manatees were anything like actual mermaids, then they’d be in for a shock when they met the real thing. The mer were a rather...aggressive...race to say the least. Or they were if Aunt Nessie’s stories were to be believed. She claimed to have met some mer while on her own quest out of the loch.

“To Earth,” Jared said.

“Specific,” she replied, turning her gaze on Cam. She reckoned he’d be the one who cracked easier.

“He went to see if your brothers were safe,” he replied softly, though she still thought he was hiding something. She didn’t say a word, her eyes locked with Cam’s and she could see him about to give in to her. “He went to see if he could find more about the fàth-fiata.”

“Wait, you don’t know about them?” she blurted out, sitting up quickly before clutching her head in her hand, the ache becoming more intense in some places. Whoever the Voice was, they’d done a real number on her.

“Just the legends.” Cam shrugged.

“But, you were talking as if you knew more...”

“I already knew they existed, but I’ve never encountered one before.”

“So you could have kidnapped me to save me from something that may not have done any harm anyway?” Unlike the last few times, she felt her eyes flare and assumed that meant they were glowing. From the smirk on Jared’s face, she was right. Good to know her eyes glowed when she was angry. At least they’d never make the mistake of thinking she wouldn’t.

“Well yes, but—”

“No buts. Don’t kidnap people when there isn’t a good reason.” She poked a finger into his chest, and he captured her hand in one of his.

“I promise I won’t kidnap you again without good reason,” he said with a cheeky smile, his swirling grey eyes boring into hers and proving to her how sincere he was being.

“Good. Now the fàth-fiata...”

“Are going to be a very big problem,” a deep voice came from the doorway, and Macey turned her head to see what she couldn’t quite believe. Stood in the doorway, looking a little worse for wear, but very much there, was Flint. But if he was here, then who did the voice have?