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This feeling felt like no one was safe. Mac was on top of the rock now, and poised to defend. The new person was now out of the water. Mac saw the beasts jump again and this time they were so much closer.

Right next to the swimming beasts, Mac also spotted a silver streak. He Kept a wary eye out open, and his face showed almost a calm blank stare. He felt his thoughts race and he almost thought he heard other voices in his head. He shouted to the guy on shore, "Hey, I don't know if these things are friendly at all, and it seems like their purpose is to attack! I had a giant crab-thing attack me at the beach earlier, and when I defeated it, it disintegrated into ember!".

Nezik's voice spoke up all of a sudden. It felt soft and weary to any receiving minds - in this case, he was speaking to Joshua. Kelpies, he murmured. Rarely seen. Temperamental beasts. Katalina asked me to tell you that's what they are...Why are they here now? He fell silent, as though realizing that he was asking a question that no one knew the answer to.

The creatures seemed distracted all of a sudden, as though their attention were on something that was no longer on the shore. Katalina intended it that way. Easier to draw them off than to kill them - kelpies were notoriously difficult to destroy.

Nezik's replying voice was extremely whispery and faint, as if he were dying. Drawing them off. She's using power from both of us to make human scents another way, to make them think there's a lot more prey if they go a different direction. Kelpies are hard to kill - easier just to draw them off. They're not very smart...they used to be, but not anymore. Once she releases the power and hides, they'll forget why they came this way in the first place. They usually do.

Tianara placed her hands gently on the young merman's shoulders, pulling him deeper into the coral as the monsters glided over their hiding place. He was too out of it to notice - the combined effort of sending power to Katalina and speaking to Joshua was draining his reserves. He was young, after all. So she settled them both on the sandy floor in this little safe area and waited for the monsters to be gone.

Mac was surprised that the creatures disappeared like that. He stood on the rock and looked back at the other guy on shore. "Hey, I hope they're gone, whatever got their attention lured them away" he shouted and smiled. He jumped back into the water and made a quick swim to shore to meet the new person. "So..." he said still dripping, "You never told me your name" Mac asked with childlike innocence.

Nezik's voice spoke up again suddenly, much clearer. She let the power go, Joshua. She's done luring them - they're probably far away by now, he reassured the human boy. My sister's on her way back, most likely. There was a pause for a few seconds. Then he spoke again. Tianara wants to know if we can come out yet - it's a bit cramped in here, you understand. Where's the new human? His voice was tentative, not at all like the excited boy he'd been when Joshua had first met him - at least when it came to meeting humans. His sobering experience with the fishing boats had clearly been enough to teach him caution.

If you can get him to look away until we're out of the coral, that's good enough, replied Nezik cheerfully. I'll hide under the overpass and...Tianara could pass for a shipwrecked human, if I just find her some ragged-looking things from the nearest shipwreck. Then she can come out of the water with no one the wiser. Think he'd buy it?

Tianara, who was watching Nezik and wondering what he was talking to Joshua about, shook her head a little. She didn't mind waiting a little longer, and the grin on Nezik's face told her that he was thinking up some wild scheme. She waited for Sorry to come back and talk the idiot out of it, but all the same, she couldn't help but smile a little. Nezik was silly.