The Kelpie's Curse (book #1 in the Kelpie's Entrapment trilogy)

Day 2 pt. 1

At precisely five o'clock in the morning Renestrae awoke with a start, limbs flailing and gasping for breath. After she had caught her breath and settled back down, she listened for a moment, trying to determine if the girls had heard her. Unfortunately, it was the same every morning for Renestrae, the same dream, the same feeling of drowning, and the same relief when she realized it had only been a dream. Her mornings had been like this ever since the accident, as her parents called it.

The funny thing was she wasn't even afraid of water, not really. Once she had learned how she had become a strong swimmer. Of course, it was aided by the fact that every summer she swam in the St. Joseph River, constantly fighting against the currents. However, despite this, when she dreamed none of that mattered, because no matter how much she kicked and fought she could never reach the surface. She was afraid to think of what might happen if one night she didn't wake up in time.

After checking the weather she got dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, grabbed her bow and arrows, and left a note on each of the girls' doors telling them that she was going to be in the woods behind the house and not to worry. Of course with the hangovers the girls were bound to have, it was likely that she would be back to the house before the two of them even thought about getting out of bed.

When she stepped outside it was a bit chilly but other than that it was another beautiful day in the Highlands. She still couldn't get over how green the place was. It was absolutely beautiful and mysterious. That was terribly clichéd, she knew, but she couldn't help it as it seemed to fit. Then again she had probably just read a few too many-

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she was passing across a farmer's field when she heard the sound of hoofs pounding into the ground. She leaped back, landing on her rear end in her haste, but even then she barely got away in time as a black stallion raced past her and came mere inches from running her over.

She would have laughed if she hadn't been so mad. This was probably what she got for coming out here so early. The first rays of sunlight were just coming over the horizon and, besides the farmer whose empty field she was passing through, there probably wasn't a single sane person out this early in the morning.

I wonder what spooked him? she thought as she rose to her feet, brushed the dirt and hay from her jeans and continued on her way to the forest.

When she entered the forest she was almost brought back down to her knees as the sheer beauty of the country struck her again. The forest was lush and green and she could almost imagine a dryad popping out from behind any one of the trees.

She smiled to herself as she took her bow from her back, notched her first arrow and let it fly into the bark of a tree about twenty feet away from her. She fired her bow again and again, swinging this way and that, trying to get as many angles in as she possibly could. Of course, she was careful to only shoot where she could reach. It wouldn't do to have to search out an arrow because she had been careless.

Just as she was letting go of the last arrow, she took a step forward and slipped on some wet moss. As the arrow flew from her bow its planned trajectory was compromised and it flew much further into the forest than she had anticipated.

"Damn," she muttered as she marched over to the other trees, pulling her arrows out of the bark before she went looking for the errant one. Some came out easily enough, while others she had to pull a lot harder. A few had even required her to place her foot against the tree for leverage.

"Now where could you have gotten to?" she muttered to herself as she trudged through the greenery. From the sound of things she was getting closer to a running stream. She just hoped her arrow wasn't floating down it because if that was the case then she was never going to get the damn thing back.

"Here arrow, arrow, arrow," she said in a sing-song voice as she continued to walk forward, scanning the underbrush as she went. She was just about to scold herself since arrows were not kittens and obviously couldn't hear you calling for them (not that kittens came when called of course) when she found her arrow and the black bird it had landed in.

The crow and the raven are thought to be omens of death.

Renestrae chuckled as she took the arrow from the crow's belly. "Foretell your own death did you, little birdie? Well, at least it wasn't..."

Renestrae tailed off and all of the blood drained from her face as she looked up. In the beck just in front of her was a man and he was lying face down. Quicker than even she thought she could move, Renestrae was running into the river. However, the drop off was much deeper than she thought as she sunk into the water like a stone, the depth being far over her head. She kicked as hard as she could, reaching the surface in no time and began dragging the boy over to the shore, thankful that the current wasn't a strong one. Her mind was frantic as she pushed him over the embankment, no easy feat since she couldn't touch the bottom. With one final heave he was over it, but now she could see his face and that was when her heart clenched in her chest and she opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.

It was Alec Dunaid. His skin was impossibly pale and his once moss green eyes had lost all of their color. It was clear he had been gone for awhile, too long for her to try resuscitation. An intense feeling of sorrow wrapped itself around her because of that. She knew what drowning felt like and no-one should have to die like that. Besides, the night before he had seemed like a decent boy despite the fact that she hadn't been into him.

Resigning herself to the sad truth that there was nothing she could do for him, she placed her palms on the embankment but just as she was about to push up and pull herself out of the water her gaze wandered over Alec's chest or perhaps the bloody gaping hole in Alec's chest that was already attracting flies and other various insects was more appropriate.

Her blood went cold, and her eyes grew wide as she stared at it, terror filling her to the brim as her mind screamed one word at her. Murder.

Suddenly she heard someone screaming and it wasn't just a little scream. It was hysterical, it was gut wrenching, it was filled with things she dared not name.