"Dad, wait!"

Miguel breaks free of the little group where he stands with his siblings and dashes towards me. Colliding with my chest, he grasps the back of my shirt and holds on tight.

"Don't go. Please."

"Mijo..." I return his embrace and run a hand through his soft curls. "I have to. But I'll come back as soon as I can."

"What if you don't come back at all?"

My breath catches at the emotion in his voice, and I blink rapidly as my eyes fill. The other children have joined us, and I kneel in front of them, memorizing their beautiful faces and hoping that — should worse come to worst — they'll remember mine.

"No matter what happens, you guys are gonna be just fine," I say, smiling through tears. "You hear me? Your uncles will take good care of you, and you'll take good care of each other, too. Right?"

They nod tearfully. I draw them into a hug, reluctant to release them, but knowing I must. I won't let fear rule my life anymore; not even my fear of losing them.

"I love you guys so much," I whisper, and release a shaky breath. "Remember that. I'll be back soon."

Rising, I kiss them each, and then Noah and Ambrose lead them back up the slope, away from the water's edge.

"Are you ready?" Shanti asks.

"Yes, I'm ready," I say, and wipe my eyes.

"Good. Take off your shoes and any heavy clothes. Best not to be weighed down."

I strip to my boxer briefs and undershirt, and Sky does the same. Then he sheds those as well and stands, naked but for his amulet, on the shore.

"Once we enter the sea, the salt water will trigger my transformation, and there are plenty of clothes at the palace," he explains, and smiles reassuringly as he takes my hand. "I cannot wait for you to see it, and to meet my sisters and the rest of my family. I have tried not to think of them, for it only made the pain of missing them the worse, but it is all coming back to me now."

He takes a deep breath, and despite his utter nakedness, I feel I'm in the presence of a true prince. One thing is clear: his heart belongs to the sea as much as it belongs to me, and his words give rise to new questions: even if we free him from his curse and me from mine, one of us will still have to give up something, at least some of the time, to be with the other. How, and if, we can strike such a balance remains to be seen.

"What about the depth?" I ask, turning my mind to more immediate, practical things. "Didn't you say Thassos was a few hundred meters below the surface? Wouldn't that be... at least ten atmospheres of pressure, or something?"

"You'll be fine," he says. "Your Wolf physiology and the magic surrounding Thassos will protect you. I hope."

"You hope?"

"My magic will protect you as well," Shanti says. "You need not fear. Try to relax."

Reaching for our hands, she takes them in her own and guides us to the lake's edge. I shiver as I step into the water and wince as my feet sink into freezing mud. All is quiet but for the splash of waves against our legs and the whisper of our breath. When the water reaches my waist, I gasp as it soaks through my thin shirt and needles of cold prickle my skin.

Shanti smiles, and then she sinks beneath the surface and transforms.

Huge serpentine coils roil the water, iridescent scales catching whatever light remains in the sky and turning it to diamond dust. Shanti encircles us both, constricting until we're forced into an embrace, chest to chest. I feel the ripple of muscle beneath reptilian skin against my back, and suspect she could crush us easily, should she wish.

Instead, her grip is firm but gentle, and even as she lifts us off our feet and drags us into deeper water, I'm not afraid.

In the center of the lake, Shanti lifts her head above the surface, rivulets streaming from emerald and indigo scales, and fixes us with bright black eyes.

Sky's eyes lock with mine. "Deep breath," he says.

Obediently, I fill my lungs.

Shanti's huge serpent's head weaves back and forth between us, and a long forked tongue flicks out to taste the air in front of my face. Somehow, she judges that I'm ready for what comes next and gives a slow, deliberate nod.

Her coils tighten a little, squeezing us gently, and then she pulls us beneath the surface of the lake.

The water is dark and freezing, and closes over my head with a finality that leaves me fighting the instinct to struggle as panic ignites little fires in my chest. Sky's arms around me are a solace, and I shut my eyes and surrender completely. I'm powerless, my fate in other hands; but they are good hands, and I trust them with my life.

I didn't think the lake was very deep — ten or twelve meters at the most — but as we descend, the pressure in my ears grows until it feels like nails are being driven through my skull. With each passing second, my need to breathe increases until it burns like fire.

Just when I can't stand it any longer and convulse with an involuntary thrash of desperation, I feel hands on my face and warm lips cover mine. Air forces its way into my lungs, and I blink in surprise. Through a watery blur, I can just make out Sky's features, illuminated by a strange, aquarian glow.

This emanates from the cracks between Shanti's scales, as if she's made of pure light beneath. As we near the lakebed, she releases us and swims free, leaving a shimmering trail in her wake.

Sky keeps me firmly in his arms, holding us in place, and looking down, I see his legs have become a long, fishlike tail. Gently grasping my jaw, he feeds me more oxygen-rich air through another kiss. As he does, I glimpse a row of gills along the side of his throat.

With my panic quelled and my lungs relieved, for the moment, I look after Shanti again. She's slightly ahead of and below us, swimming in a slow circle as if chasing her own tail. Then the center of the circle begins to glow with the same light that shows from her scales, and with a bright pulse, a doorway opens, silver as the surface of a mirror.

Sky tightens his grasp on me and swims forward and down, aiming for the glowing disk. As we approach, the amulet around my neck grows heavier, and Sky's glows a bright blood-red, but the gems seem to be drawing us forward rather than keeping us away.

The portal looms like a shining, concave bubble, Shanti's encircling length forming its outer edge; and as we pass through it, an electric feeling fizzles over my skin and bubbles erupt around us like a bottle of soda water violently shaken.

From the dark, freezing lake, we pass into bright, crystal clear water as hot as a bath. The change is so sudden and shocking that my skin interprets the sensation as pain, and I would have gasped if, perhaps in anticipation of this, Sky had not covered my nose and mouth with his hand.

An instant later, another sudden change assails me as we burst from the water into precious air. Utterly disoriented at having arrived in an upright position after swimming straight down, I flounder and choke a little, and end up relying entirely on Sky to keep me afloat.

After a moment, I regain my senses enough to stop flailing helplessly, and take in our surroundings as I blink water from my eyes.

We've emerged in what, for lack of a better word, looks like a small, rectangular swimming pool, roughly twice as long as it is wide. I can't touch the bottom, and as Sky swims us to the side and helps me to climb out, I see gorgeous blue mosaics covering the walls and surrounding floors in patterns of soft, natural geometry. My eyes wander among them as my consciousness wavers between waking and a half-dream.

Sky's hand on my shoulder grounds me, and I realize I'm staring up at a mirrored ceiling, rather than at the floor, as I had thought.

"Up is down and down is up," I murmur and cough around a laugh.

"Are you alright?" Sky asks, brows creasing as he leans over me.

"I think so," I whisper, and give him a weak smile. "We made it, didn't we?"

"Yes, we did," he says as he helps me to sit up. His form is human once more, and as he gently wrings the water from his long hair, the silvery green scales on his forearms melt back into smooth skin.

"What is this place?" I ask. The air has a peculiar, though not unpleasant, scent, almost like a mild perfume, and steam rises in wisps from the pool.

"The baths," he says, rising and walking over to a low bench against one wall. He picks up a pair of fluffy towels and hands one to me while shaking out the other for himself.

Still a little dizzy, I take it as I get to my feet and dry myself off. Sky hands me a richly embroidered robe from another pile next, which looks and feels like very fine silk — not that I've had much opportunity to be in close contact with such fabric before, but Elena owned a few fine garments, if I recall.

Turning back to the pool, I look for Shanti but see no sign of her.

"It seems our serpentine friend could not follow us," Sky says. "She spoke to me in my mind as we passed through. Apparently, she'd have had to break the wards to enter and feared that doing so would constitute an act of aggression. She's promised to reopen the portal for us in three days. In the meantime, my dearest love..." he loops his arm around my waist and presses a soft kiss to my lips, "...welcome to my home."