Magna lowered her hands to her side. The water danced around her for a moment, as if trying to tease a smile from her tired lips. She gave in, running her fingers through it as it retreated over the side of the dock.

She felt better, more in control, than she had felt last night. As the light of the sun had broken over the coast, she had watched it with a sense of resolve. She could no longer hide from who she had been. If she was to have a new life and future, she needed to come to terms with her past.

She was not a martyr, but neither was she a coward. One thing she was, though, was the Sea Witch. Over the centuries she had learned a lot about the other kingdoms and the people who lived there.

“It’s about time,” Gabe said in a blunt voice.

A rueful smile curved her lips. She had known the two men would be waiting for her. That was the kind of men they were and she loved them for it.

“I love you, Gabe,” she said. Her eyes scanned Kane’s tired face. “Thank you for everything, Kane. I love you so much.”

“You better not be here to say goodbye. Tell us that you’re staying,” Gabe demanded.

“Give her a chance,” Kane snapped, stepping forward. “Come upstairs. We’ll make some breakfast for you and we can talk there.”

She nodded. Each man took up a position beside her. A small smile curved her tired lips when they both captured her hand and held on as if they were afraid she would disappear.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at the dining table. Wilson and Buck were lying on each side of her chair. They had taken up the position that Kane and Gabe had reluctantly relinquished so they could prepare breakfast.

“What are you going to do?” Kane finally asked when they finished eating.

She laid her fork down on her empty plate and gazed across at both men. Her expression was serene now that she knew what she had to do. Lifting her chin, she cupped her hands together to keep them from trembling.

“I’m going back,” she said with a determined look. She raised her hand when Gabe opened his mouth. “I have to if I… if we are ever to be happy and if I am to find anything in myself worth redeeming. I have to know if my parents were freed from the spell I cast. They aren’t the only ones, but it is their eyes – my mother’s eyes – that I see every time I look in the mirror.”

Gabe leaned forward, his forearms on the table and his hands flat on the surface. She looked into his intense, dark brown eyes. She could see the confusion, denial, and fear in them.

“Will you be in danger?” Gabe demanded.

Her gaze softened. She would not lie to him or Kane. They had already done so much for her.

“Yes. If I am seen, I will be hunted. If I’m captured, I will more than likely be sentenced to death,” she honestly replied.

“Damn it,” Gabe muttered, thrusting his chair back and rising out of his chair. She watched as he took several steps toward the kitchen before he turned and ran both of his hands through his hair. “You can’t go. We’ll find another way. You could send me… or Kane. One of us could go and find out if the spells you cast were broken.”

Magna shook her head. “You would know nothing of the kingdoms. You couldn’t travel between them. If the spells weren’t broken…. No, Gabe. I must be the one to return,” she quietly insisted.

“Kane…, will you try to talk some sense into her, please?” Gabe demanded.

She swallowed. She had expected Gabe’s resistance to her going. All night, she had thought of each argument he could make and how to handle them. Her gaze moved to Kane. She hadn’t been sure how he would handle her decision. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

“Nothing we say will change your mind, will it?” Kane quietly asked her.

She shook her head. “I can’t, Kane. It is slowly killing me, the not knowing,” she replied.

Her heart broke when she saw the pain in his eyes before he lowered his head. His fingers curled into fists until his knuckles shone white. A shudder ran through his lean frame before he pushed his chair back and rose.

She stared at his face. His mouth was compressed into a straight line. She saw him look at Gabe.

“You’d better come back to us,” Kane ordered in a guttural tone. “You’d better fucking come back to us, Magna.”

Her bottom lip trembled and she turned her gaze to Gabe. He released a loud curse before he gave a brief, sharp nod. Rising out of her seat, she walked around the table and stopped in front of him.

“I will come back. I love you both too much not to. I want the life you have shown me. I will… come… back,” she promised in a slow, deliberate tone.

“You’d better, or I swear I’ll find a way to come to your world and get you,” he swore.

“That goes for me too,” Kane added in a somber voice. “What do you need us to do?”

“I want to leave tomorrow. There is a rock formation off the coast. I will guide you to it. There is a link between our worlds there that I can use,” she explained.

“How long will you be gone?” Gabe asked.

“I have calculated it will take me a month to do everything I need to do,” she quietly answered.

“A month!” Kane exclaimed, paling.

She nodded. “I… have a lot of things to correct,” she said.

“One month, Magna. Not one day more. We will be in the same spot waiting for you,” Gabe stated.

Magna could sense the cost of this concession. She wrapped her arms around both of them. They folded around her, each absorbing what little comfort she could give to them and them to her. She had to believe everything would be alright. The Goddess could not give her this taste of happiness after so much heartache only to rip it away.

Please, she begged, closing her eyes when she felt Kane’s lips press against her neck and Gabe’s against her forehead. Please help me do what I must and then return.

“One month,” Gabe said in a tight voice as she stepped up to the edge of his trawler and sat down.

“I will be back. If I return sooner, I will come to the dock,” she said.

“Whatever you do, be safe,” Kane added, bending and brushing a kiss to her lips.

She blinked, trying not to cry. “I will be back. I will be safe. I’m going before I start crying again,” she snapped.

“Wait!” Gabe said.

Magna turned an exasperated look to him. “What now?” she demanded.

Her heart melted when he gave her a crooked smile before he bent and kissed her. “I love you, my beautiful Sea Witch,” he said before he straightened and stood back.

Magna nodded and turned. With a wave of her hand, a staircase of water rose up. She kept her back to the two men, afraid she would lose her courage. Unable to stop herself, she glanced over her shoulder a second before she disappeared under the waves.

Beckoning the current to help her, she shot forward. Soon, she had entered a small opening in the rock offshore and was traveling through a kaleidoscope of turbulent water. Within minutes, she was in a beautiful cavern that glowed.

She swam over to the beach with pink sand and rose out of the water. Dozens of juvenile sea dragons squeaked, their eyes wide, their little bodies shuffling with excitement. Her head turned and she lifted a finger to her lips. They dove from their perch on the rocks walls into the pool of water. Turning back around, she waved her hand, and changed her appearance.

No one looked twice when one of the royal guards exited the protected entrance of the pool. The guard continued up the path to the tunnel that led out to the sea. All around him, visitors from other kingdoms milled around. He could see the smiling faces and hear the joy in their voices. The guard paused and looked up at the crystal dome that covered the underwater kingdom of the Sea King. All the damage had been repaired.

“Orion!” the breathless voice of a woman called out.

The guard turned and watched as Orion strolled with two young boys. The fiery-haired woman was carrying a small child in her arms. For a moment, the guard stood watching the family walk by him.

Stepping into the shadows, the guard turned and waved his hand over himself. Now, an old woman stood in the alcove along the outer wall of the palace. She turned and made her way to the departure tubes.

“Pardon me, you dropped this,” a familiar voice said.

The old woman turned. Her eyes widened in disbelief when Kapian, the Captain of the Guard, held out a pink scarf. He frowned as he stared down at her.

“Thank you,” the old woman replied in a soft voice.

His fingers paused and he studied her face. “Do I know you?” he asked.

The old woman gave him a sad smile. “Perhaps once upon a time,” she responded, taking the scarf from him.

She stepped into the departure tubes before he could respond. Her hand rose and she splayed it on the glass as she returned his look. A small, crooked smile curved her lips when the tube filled with water and she felt her body rising.

Tearing her gaze away, she shot upwards toward the surface, her body twisting and shimmering as it changed back to her normal appearance. She didn’t see Kapian’s eyes widen or the way he stepped forward to watch her as she disappeared into the ocean above, and she was unaware that she looked nothing like the Sea Witch any longer. She looked very much like the young, beautiful woman she had been destined to grow up into.

She was determined to restore the dragons first. The most difficult part would be traversing the Isle of the Dragon without Drago knowing she was there.

She recruited the help of several sea mammals to help her transport the stone statues from under the sea closer to the isle’s shore. Her hope was to bring them into the shallows, then change them where she knew the dragons could survive.

The first stone figures she found were Drago’s parents. Her heart hurt when she saw their frozen features.

As she brought them near the isle, shock coursed through her when she saw dragons flying overhead. The only thing that saved her from being seen was the fact that she was swimming under the mammals who were helping her. Unable to believe what she was seeing from under the water, she took a chance and surfaced.

Her eyes widened when she saw the cliffs lined with dragons of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Excitement built inside her. Her spells had been broken – but her safeguards had kept those in danger still frozen. Drago’s parents had fallen into the deepest part of the ocean. They would never have survived long enough to swim to the surface if the spell she had cast on them had been undone while they were still there.

The realization that most of those she had harmed – including her parents – had already been released from her spells filled her with joy. She ducked under the surface when a powerful black dragon, followed by his guard, flew over her. They were heading back to the tall cliffs.

Turning toward the two majestic dragons still frozen, Magna sank down below them. With a whisper, she unwove the spell binding them. The male dragon stretched, the outer crust of the stone cracking and falling away. Drago’s father turned, his large wings pushing at the water and his tail snapping back and forth.

Magna watched as the male dragon saw his mate. His front claws grasped her as she began to wake. From far below them, she watched as they broke the surface of the water, each clinging to the other as their wings lifted them higher. Only when she was certain that they were safe did she return to the surface.

In the distance, she heard the loud cry rise up as the dragons along the cliff recognized the older King and his Queen. Her eyes moved to where Drago had shifted and stood on the cliff, a small child in his arms while Carly Tate stood next to him with two small boys. They all turned in unison at the cry.

Moments later, she watched as Drago stepped forward and embraced his mother before he did the same to his father. A smile of satisfaction curved her lips when the Queen embraced Carly before bending to the two boys.

Her smile wavered when Drago suddenly turned and looked out at the ocean. His eyes scanned the waters. Sinking down, she disappeared back into the depths.

Day by day she searched for more wrongs to right, and safely unweave the spells, one by one. Now, her journey and her mission were coming to an end. Her heart was in her throat as she returned to the Isle of Magic and the quaint cove where her parents lived. She had come here last, knowing it would be the most difficult part of her journey.

A soft cry escaped her when she saw the elderly sea dragon swimming among a group of young. The sea dragon turned toward her as the young scattered. For a moment, the glazed eyes didn’t appear to recognize her. When they did, the sea dragon surged forward.

“Oh, Raine, I have missed you so much,” Magna whispered, stroking the beautiful head.

“Magna?”

Magna’s head turned when she heard the hesitant voice of her father. The tears she had been holding back overflowed, mixing with the seawater. Unable to help herself, she swam forward.

“Father,” she cried.

Pain filled her when his hands shot out and he held her away from him. She knew her eyes pleaded with him to forgive her. Her body trembled as she waited to see what he would do.

“Magna,” he whispered, uncertainty and emotion making his voice waver.

“I love you,” she choked. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t… the creature… it made me….”

“The creature?” her father asked, searching her eyes.

Magna’s eyes softened. “Gone. Dead,” she replied.

“Are you sure?” Kell asked. He wanted so badly to believe her.

Magna nodded. “Yes. It no longer dwells inside me,” she promised.

“Where have you been? Why have you returned? If you are seen….” Kell’s voice faded.

Magna’s eyes softened. “I had to undo what I could. Where is mother?” she asked.

Kell hesitated. Magna smiled ruefully, her heart in her eyes. She couldn’t blame him for his mistrust. Slowly reaching out, she gave him a hug.

“You once told me that as long as I remembered who I was and I believed, I could do anything. I did that, Papa,” she murmured. “I remembered.”

Kell trembled before his arms swept tightly around her. He held her close, reminding Magna of all the times he’d done this when she was little. She finally pulled away and gave him a trembling smile.

“Come, your mother is in the garden,” he said, grasping her hand.

They swam to shore, slowly emerging from the water. Kell scanned the area. They lived in an isolated spot, but occasionally someone from the village would come by to visit. Nodding to Magna, they crossed the beach and walked along the wide path to the small cottage that she remembered visiting when she was a child.

“We live here full-time now. We had no use for the larger home and prefer the simpler life,” her father told her.

Pain flashed through Magna. “It is because of me,” she murmured.

Kell turned and looked at her with a frown. “We make our own choices, Magna. This cottage is near the water and allows your mother to have her garden. I can raise the sea dragons as well,” he reassured her.

Magna nodded. Her gaze swept over the beautiful flowers growing all around the cottage. Her mother had always loved to grow things. Stepping around the side of the house, she heard her mother’s soft voice as she hummed.

“Momma,” Magna softly called.

Seline straightened from her examination of a plant when she heard her name. Her eyes widened and her basket tumbled from her hands to the ground. Her eyes darted from Magna’s damp face to her husband’s and back again. Seline took a step forward, her hand lifting.

“Magna?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.

Magna nodded. “I’m me.”

“Oh, Magna,” Seline cried, rushing forward.

Magna met her mother halfway. They wrapped their arms around each other and held each other close. Both were sobbing. Seline finally leaned back and cupped her face, searching it as if trying to memorize every new detail.

“You did it. You found a way,” her mother said.

“Yes. I… I’ve met two men. They are from another world, a world where I don’t have to be afraid,” she told her mother, finally knowing that everything would be alright.

Exactly one month after Magna left Earth:

---

Gabe leaned over the side, searching the waters. It was a beautiful day. He and Kane had made the trip as the sun was rising over the coast to the spot where they had last seen Magna.

He swore the last month had been the longest of his life. Hell, even Wilson and Buck had moped around the house. He and Kane had tried to act like life was normal, but the emptiness had been eating away at them all. Neither one of them had slept a wink last night, impatient for the hours to slowly crawl by.

“Do you see her?” Kane asked, pulling Gabe back to the present as he scanned the rolling waves from the stern of the trawler.

“Not yet,” Gabe replied, standing on the back of his boat staring out at the waves. “She’ll come back. She promised.”

“I know. I just wish she would hurry,” Kane muttered as he ran his hand down over his face.

“She’ll come back,” Gabe repeated in a firm voice. “I told her I’d come after her ass if she didn’t.”

Kane gave a gruff laugh and leaned against the rigging. “Fat chance of that,” he retorted before he released a breath of relief when he saw a water spout suddenly dance on the surface. “There she is!”

“I told you she’d be back,” Gabe muttered, leaning against the side.

Both men watched Magna as she waved to them before disappearing under the surface of the water. Kane laughed as she emerged next to the boat seconds later, and he reached out as the water rose to lift her to their level. He didn’t care if he got soaked with the icy liquid as long as he had Magna back in his arms.

“Did it work?” he asked in a rough voice as he wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest.

“Yes,” she breathed, leaning back enough to give him and Gabe a brilliant smile.

“You were gone longer than you said,” Gabe muttered as he grabbed her other hand and pulled her out of Kane’s arms and into his. “We expected you back hours ago.”

Kane groaned when Magna chuckled at the slight pout on Gabe’s lips, then reached up and brushed her lips across Gabe’s bottom lip. The protest on his own lips faded when she turned and pressed her mouth against his as well. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. It was only when Gabe grunted that he reluctantly pulled back.

“There was something else I needed to do before I came back,” she paused to draw in a deep breath. “I went to see my parents.”

Gabe’s hands stilled on her hips. “How did it go?” he asked in a cautious tone.

“It went well. They believed me and understand what happened was not really me,” she replied in a soft voice.

“Will they want you to return? I mean, of course they will, but do they understand that it isn’t safe for you to go back?” Kane asked in a strained voice. “I’ll be honest, the last month has been total hell without you. I… We can’t lose you, Magna. We love you.”

She pressed her warm palm against his skin and he leaned his cheek into her hand. “You won’t lose me. I love you both and won’t ever leave you,” she promised before she turned her gaze out to the water. “Yes, they understand it would not be safe for me to go back. I hope you and Gabe….” her voice faded when she heard Gabe’s swiftly inhaled breath.

“Kane,” Gabe muttered, following Magna’s gaze.

“They are only here to visit,” Magna softly said. “They wanted to meet both of you.”

A few yards from the boat, two figures gazed back at them. Her father’s vivid green eyes were inscrutable, but through the clear bubble surrounding her mother, Gabe could see that she was clearly curious and worried. The woman had the same glossy black hair that Magna did, and the man’s short white hair was bright in the sunlight.

“Mother, Father, it is safe,” Magna called to the couple in the water.

Kane swallowed as the couple disappeared beneath the waves before reappearing next to the boat a few seconds later. He pulled Magna to him and Gabe stepped back to give them room. The clear bubble rose on a wave of water. The moment Magna’s mother was over the boat, the wave retreated and the bubble dissolved. Gabe reached out and steadied the older woman before stepping back when the burly man cleared the boat’s side and stood next to her, wrapping his arm around her.

“This is my father, Kell, and my mother, Seline,” Magna introduced as she wrapped her arm around Gabe’s waist to pull him closer to her.

Gabe cleared his throat. “Hi,” he muttered, staring back at the tall man.

The man bowed his head in greeting. “Thank you for helping our daughter,” the man said.

Gabe relaxed and nodded. “No problem,” he said with a crooked grin. “She’s not going back.”

“Gabe,” Kane growled under his breath.

Magna giggled and blushed. “Gabe speaks his mind,” she explained with a happy grin.

Seline chuckled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Magna said the same thing,” she said.

Kell nodded. “It would not be safe for Magna to return,” he agreed. “Even if she were to petition for forgiveness from Orion, many would rather see her dead, regardless of the truth.”

Gabe’s face darkened into a fierce scowl. “Not happening,” he retorted in a steely voice. “She’s ours.”

Kane studied Magna’s parents. They both just nodded in agreement. He drew in a breath of relief. He felt much better now.

“How were you able to travel back here and how long do you plan to visit?” Kane asked in a hesitant voice. “So far, we’ve been able to keep Magna’s identity quiet.”

“There is a passage between our worlds,” Seline admitted. “It is not well known and it is guarded. Magna shared an invisibility spell that she learned while on the Isle of Magic. We are able to sneak by the guards.”

“I had to close the original portal that I created for Carly,” Magna said. “It was not safe to leave it open and would have drained too much of my energy to keep a protective spell in place. The other is a natural portal, but leads to a protected sea cave on the Isle of the Sea Serpent. It is the only way passage between our worlds now.”

“She has healed the things done while she was under the control of the creature,” Kell reflected. “Word will spread of her deeds, and in time, she will be accepted not as a monster but as the Sea Witch who saved our world.”

“I feel as if I can finally begin a new life without guilt,” Magna said with a sigh, threading her fingers through Kane and Gabe’s hands. “My parents would like to stay for a while. I hope you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine by me. They can attend the wedding,” Gabe stated.

“Wedding?” Magna repeated in a stunned voice.

“We decided that we weren’t going to chance losing you again once you came back,” Kane replied, shaking his head at Gabe. “We were going to ask you after dinner tonight.”

Gabe grinned at Kell and Seline. “I hope you don’t have a problem with having two sons-in-law, because we’ve already claimed your daughter,” he informed them.

Kell shook his head, his lips twitching in amusement. “I always knew Magna was a handful. I am relieved to see she now will be well protected,” he chuckled.

Seline laughed in delight. “Does this mean I will have twice as many grandchildren?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

Kane chuckled when he saw Gabe’s expression. For once, the big guy was truly speechless. Magna’s face was a rosy red. Lifting Magna’s hand to his lips he answered for them all.

“Yes, I believe that is exactly what it means,” Kane replied.

Magna’s beautiful smile filled him with warmth. She could let herself have a life with them now. His Sea Witch had found her redemption – and it was in the form of the two men who would love her forever.

---

---

Ruth Hallbrook pursed her lips as she hung up another flyer. If the frigging FBI wouldn’t take finding her brother seriously, she would take matters into her own hands. Mike was a police officer for crying out loud! She would have thought the disappearance of a police officer would have made front page news, but it had been stuffed to the back of page three.

Sure, there had been a massive search a little over six months ago, but within weeks, it had stopped. Mike had called her and left some ambiguous message telling her that he was alright. She had been out of the country and hadn’t received it until two weeks after he’d left it. Muttering under her breath, she pressed the staple gun to the information board at the Yachats State Park entrance.

Stepping back, she gazed at the laminated picture of Mike. She had returned to the park based on a crazy story a woman she’d met earlier at the hardware store had told her. It was too late to go down to the spot where Mike’s car had been found. She scowled as she pocketed the stapler and grabbed the stack of papers with Mike’s picture and her contact information. She figured she might as well post a few since she was here.

Returning to her car, she slid behind the wheel and stared down the curving road. She bit her lip and glanced at the time. It was getting late and the park would be closing soon. A sigh escaped her when she saw the park ranger step out of the booth and glance at her.

“Tomorrow,” she muttered. “I’ll come back and tear this place apart rock by rock if I have to, but I’m going to find you, baby brother, and when I do, I’m going to kick your sorry ass for making me worry!”