His heart thudded. I’m taking her home. I should feel happy, not terrified.
Dylan tugged on his arm. “What’s that?”
Arlo followed Dylan’s pointing finger. “That’s the marina. I’ve got a berth along a bit further, by our workshop.”
“No, what’s that? And what workshop? And should I try to talk to him?”
“Where I work when I’m not out on the water.” Arlo squinted across the water. If Dylan wasn’t pointing at the marina, then what was he looking at?
Talk to him? What was he on about?
The water was calm past the entrance to the cove, with just a few ripples catching the sunlight. The water glinted gold where the light touched it, and—
Arlo groaned. It wasn’t just the water glinting gold.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Arlo muttered. Jacqueline shot him a questioning look and Kenna leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of her teenagerliness.
“What is that? It looks like—”
*Damn it, Pol, this is not the time,* Arlo growled to the figure shimmering through the water towards them.
*What’s not the time?* his most irritating coworker replied. *You’d better be done sulking, because—wait, who are they? You’ve brought visitors? Why didn’t you say?*
Arlo groaned. Jacqueline moved up beside him.
“Anything I should be worried about?” she whispered.
Arlo shook his head. “No, he’s—” He broke off as Pol got closer and began to surface. *Damn it, Pol, you can’t just—*
*What? They’re shifters, aren’t they? I can hear them yelling in my head about what they think I am.* Pol’s psychic voice was irritatingly smug. *Smart kids you’ve got there.*
*They’re not mine, and it’s not just them—*
Before he could say “There’s a human on board, too,” Pol surfaced.
And stayed shifted, because of course he did.
Damned dragon, Arlo grumbled silently as the others gasped in amazement.
“No way.” Kenna stood up, her mouth hanging open. “No way.”
Dylan didn’t say anything, but his eyes were wide as saucepans and he was so excited he was actually vibrating. Tally giggled and cooed happily, probably more from coasting the swell of her siblings’ amazement than understanding how supernatural the sight in front of them was. And Jacqueline…
Arlo stopped himself from looking at her and glared at Pol instead. The last thing he wanted to see was Jacqueline speechless with wonder at the mythical beast that had burst through the waves in front of them.
Pol’s dragon form was the length of a train car, slender and agile with gleaming scales and wings that looked like sails made from pure gold when they caught the light. When he was swimming, he kept them tucked close to his long, lizard-like body, so it was possible the kids just thought he was some sort of giant, malformed sea snake.
He glanced at their faces, lit up with wonder. Nope. No chance of that.
Pol poked his head out of the water as he dragon-paddled beside the boat. His neck was long enough that he could look onto deck and when he saw that Arlo wasn’t alone, he did a dramatic double-take.
*Well, hello!* he said, broadcasting his voice to everyone on the Hometide. *Welcome to Hideaway Cove! My name’s Apollo. What are your names?*
The kids replied—psychically and out loud.
Jacqueline swayed on her feet.
“They’re… introducing themselves to the… dragon?” She took a small step closer to him and Arlo started finding it hard to breathe. “Am I supposed to as well?”