by Jaymin Eve
Calen came into sight, his right hand extended to me, and I drifted closer to take it. Even under the water I felt his magic swirling around us, and I pushed at the heat in my center, bringing my own limited magic out to play. I didn’t know how to create an oxygen bubble around my mouth, but I liked having my magic close by just in case.
Calen’s power licked up my arm, and a small space formed around my mouth. I gulped in some oxygen, and then some more, testing it out. It continued to fill with new air, even as we started to swim deeper.
Calen’s hold on my hand remained strong, his magic running up my arm. We swam in slow, unhurried movements, keeping an eye on our surroundings. I really hoped one of the guys knew how to find the boat … or even the surface again, because once we reached a certain depth, it would be very hard to tell top from bottom.
My eyes continued to adjust, and my nerves faded further as more of the silence enveloped me. There was something soothing about being under here, in a way I’d never felt before. Like … as the pressure increased, it decreased my worries. The five of us stayed close, and I felt another level of comfort to have my friends with me.
Movement to our right had Calen slowing, and I tightened my grip on his hand, waiting for it to appear again. It was a turtle, large and majestic, slowly gliding through the water, and I watched with fascination as it drifted past. There was a ton of fish around as well, but our magic was keeping them out of our personal space.
It was while we watched that turtle that the Arterians appeared. Silently surrounding us, wearing their leather outfits again, goggles firmly in place along with a breathing device that attached to the back of their suits.
The guys reacted, and for once so did I. I’d had nine months of training at the Academy now; I knew a thing or two about directing energy. Heating the water around my free hand with the simple firenze command, I shot it at the closest assassin, aiming not for their face but for the tube that connected the breathing device. My aim was good, and since they’d been more worried about Calen—dismissing me as powerless—I severed the cord and pelted him with boiling water.
The Arterian’s mouth formed a screaming shape, and he sent out spirals of magic in an attempt to counter my boiling water. Calen tugged me away; we needed to help the others. They were evenly matched at the moment, and when we joined the fight, coming up behind them, it turned the tables to our advantage.
But then more Arterians arrived. A dozen. Then three dozen. They surrounded us five deep, and their magic circled us like a whirlpool, whipping sea creatures and seaweed around.
One moved to the front, entering the circle where we were all waiting, back to back, prepared to fight for our lives. With a wave of his hand, the mask faded off his face and I was looking at Connor. He waved for me to follow him.
I hesitated. On one hand, they were trained assassins who probably wanted to kill us. On the other hand, we wanted to go to Asher, so following him might be our best option.
Otherwise, we could be swimming around here for fucking days looking for him.
I moved forward, but Calen gripped me harder and jerked me back. I shook my head at them, the five of us doing the sort of eye exchange they usually did without me.
I had a very good idea what each of them was saying though.
We have to find Asher, I silently reminded them.
It’s too dangerous, Jesse’s eyes were definitely saying.
We’re already surrounded, there’s really no other option. Axl was practical, and he agreed with me.
I’ll follow the majority was for sure Calen’s thought. But if you want to fight, I’m down for a fight.
Rone was giving me nothing, his expression shuttered, as it often was.
This time when I moved toward Connor, all of the guys followed, staying in our small group, watching each other’s backs. The Arterians around Connor came to attention as we got closer. They’d taken us with sheer numbers, but in an even fight we might have had a chance.
Connor turned, waving an arm to show us the way, and then he started to swim. He moved much faster than we had been, and I struggled to keep up, definitely not at the level of the Arterians.
I made a vow that if we made it through all of this alive, got Asher back, and returned to the school, I was going to swim every damn day and strengthen my underwater skills. Along with my magical ones.
Connor took us deeper and deeper, and every time I thought I’d finally reached the edge of my ability to withstand the cold and pressure and the limit of my underwater sight, my body would adjust. I was starting to wonder if I had a limit, if any of us with Atlantean blood did.
Connor’s rapid swimming finally started to slow. The floor came into view—well, not so much the floor as a huge shelf of rocks and caves that spanned for miles. He slowly drifted closer, his hands skimming across the top of one rock face. When we were almost on top of him, he paused, his hands digging into a small crack in the stone. It was so small I probably wouldn’t have noticed it under normal circumstances.
Intense heat, filled with energy and magic, burst up from the crevice, and I jerked back. Connor swam back in a rush, and after a minute the heat faded, but the energy did not. The rocks started to move, and I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing correctly. Maybe I was starting to run out of oxygen or something, because it looked a lot like a hole was opening in the middle of a solid rock face.
I turned to Calen, and he tugged me closer, wrapping his free arm around me to keep me away from Connor. We were all on high alert. When the split in the rocks was large enough to fit one or two full-grown men—even supe-sized men—Connor swam right into the opening, and like he’d been sucked through, disappeared in an instant.
The slipstream.
The Arterians pushed forward, forcing us to follow the same path as Connor. Jesse moved past us and swam in first. The moment his arms, head, and shoulders entered, the rest of him disappeared as quickly as Connor had. Calen pulled me forward next, spinning me in his arms and indicating that I should hold on around his neck. In no position to argue, I plastered myself to him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. There was a split second where our hands parted and his energy faltered—water crashed into my lips and I managed to shut them just in time—but as soon as we were touching again, his power returned to me. I closed my eyes as he swam us forward, and then we were off.
Something grabbed hold of us, like the strongest current in the world; it zipped us down so fast that I let out a little shriek. Needing to see the dangers before they hit me, I opened my eyes and watched as we zoomed along a tunnel, almost like a slide in a water park. Whatever held us was beyond our power to control, and I hoped there wasn’t a rock wall at the end, because if there was we would definitely go splat.
The downward trajectory leveled out, and I closed my eyes again and buried my face in Calen’s chest. He held me even tighter, one of his hands rubbing soothingly along my back. The moment the force released us, I opened my eyes again and gasped. It would have sounded loud and shocked if anyone could hear it, because What the fuck am I seeing?
We were in a circular room, one with a table and chairs in the center, chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and two huge bronze statues standing on either end towering over the entire thing.
I spun toward Calen, who was staring around, his brow creased. Atlantis? I mouthed. He shook his head, but the crease didn’t fade from his forehead. He held my hand again, and we swam away from the tunnel entrance, searching for Jesse.
As we passed the long table, I noticed that it appeared to be made of wood, but there was not a mark or crustacean on it. It was in perfect condition, as were all of the velvet padded chairs, which made no fucking sense because this shit had to have been under the water for thousands of years.
It took us about five minutes to find the exit from this room—on the ceiling, just behind the chandelier. Our heads broke the surface of that opening, and suddenly we had air. I sucked in a deep breath, finally a
ble to breathe on my own. Calen’s power left my body, and he released my hand.
“What the hell is this place?” I whispered.
Calen’s voice was filled with awe. “The underground caves of Atlantis,” he whispered.
Where we had popped up, somehow there was no water, even though we were still deep under the ocean. There was a long series of caves that extended far back into the distance. Water-filled crevices were dotted about, like the one we’d just popped up from, but for the most part it was dry and filled with oxygen.
Calen and I swam to the closest ledge, pulling ourselves out. “Stay close,” he said softly, taking his first step into the cave system.
I stayed as close as I could without actually climbing onto his back, my eyes darting around as I tried to take it all in. The cave was long and without adornment. There was very little light in here, so Calen sent up a mage light to help.
He was shirtless, I was pantsless, it was freezing under here, and for once I was feeling the cold. I wrapped my arms around myself. When we stepped out of the first cave tunnel, we found Jesse standing there wearing just his shorts as well, along with a pissed-off expression. I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around him.
“Thank God you’re okay,” I murmured as he squeezed me tightly, lifting my feet off the ground before he set me down again. “Where’s Connor?” I asked, looking around.
Connor stepped into view; he’d been hiding behind some huge pillars that I hadn’t even noticed until now. Whoa. Those two pillars were the first of many. There were long rows of them, all hand carved into the stone, each etched with glittering rocks and gold veins.
“This way,” Connor said, turning to walk between the pillars. It was almost like they lined the path. The path … to Atlantis?
“What about the others?” Calen said shortly. “We’re not leaving until our brothers arrive.”
Connor made a low rumbly noise. “They’ll be right behind you. The Arterians have strict instructions not to hurt you.”
I snorted. “Yep, that was very obvious when they immediately started to fight us.”
Connor shook his head. “You attacked them. They were just defending themselves. We do not kill our blood brothers without reason. There are too few of us left.”
I guess that was a possibility, but still. My experience with this group didn’t inspire any sort of trust in them.
He must have known we were serious, because Connor didn’t argue, he just leaned back on a pillar to wait. A minute later, Rone walked into view, followed by Axl. Not caring to wait for the Arterians, I stomped toward Connor. “Let’s go,” I said shortly. “Take us to Asher.”
He grimaced. “Gladly. The madness has to end now. I’ve been waiting for you to come here so you’d set the right tides in motion.”
I glared at his back, those broad shoulders defined in the leather outfit. “What does that mean?” I asked. “Is Asher okay?”
Connor stiffened, and I tried not to panic, but it was insanely difficult. All the worst-case scenarios were running through my head. “He’s alive” was all he said, which was not at all reassuring.
The pillars led us to a doorway in the rocks, and when we stepped through I choked back a gasp. There was a waterfall … under the damn ocean.
I had so many questions.
We stood on a precipice, the water below rough and tumultuous. A narrow bridge spanned out across it, leading to the waterfall. As we walked closer, I tried to find the top of the waterfall, but it was too huge. I also couldn’t see either end of it—it spanned out for miles across the caves. Following Connor along the narrow walkway, more pillars came into sight, and it was here that the landscape of my dream finally came to light.
Then I saw Asher. It took all of my control not to shove Connor into the raging waters below, because I almost couldn’t stop myself from running to him. In the dreams it had appeared that Asher was being held under the water, but it was the cascading waterfall behind him that made it appear so, drenching his body, which was secured between two of the pillars right at the base of the torrent.
Six supes were standing around him, and they turned toward us, almost in sync. My entire focus was on Asher, though, who had his arms and legs tied to all four corners of the pillars. His chest was bare, a pair of black shorts his only covering. His hair was longer than the last time I saw him, hanging across his forehead as his head drooped forward. His chest was moving, that much I could see, but I hardly felt a sliver of his energy.
No! Were we too late?
37
Asher’s fake mother stormed toward us. I’d never bothered to ask for her name, because we all knew that this was not Ash’s real mom. “About damn time you got here,” she snapped. “I couldn’t break the promise, but breaking Asher seems to have done the trick anyway.”
It was very difficult not to punch her in the face.
I swallowed hard, my breath coming out in gasps as I fought to control my anger. “I’m going to kill you,” I said, meaning those words more than I’d meant anything else in my life. “What have you done to Asher?”
She smiled at me, a genuine smile, completely unconcerned that I’d threatened to kill her. “Turns out he doesn’t have enough power to open the gates. I gave him his chance, but maybe the famous Asher is not quite as strong as we believed. Which is why I need you.”
“Who the fuck are you? Why are you wearing his mother’s body?”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, I love your assertiveness. I guess there’s no point in lying any longer. You are correct, I’m not the original owner of this body. I chose this form because I believed it would entice Asher to join my cause. I didn’t anticipate that he would spend his life figuring out how to stay under the radar, or that he would team up with powerful friends who have helped him evade me. I eventually contacted him, sent my note, and he ignored me. His own damn mother.” She laughed again, running a hand along her lacy blue dress. It barely concealed anything, and I could clearly see her nipples through it.
“Why didn’t you just take him?” They’d already proven they didn’t have an issue with kidnapping.
She shrugged. “His mother only agreed to me utilizing her DNA if I promised to not force Asher’s hand. It was her one stipulation before I killed her. She probably hoped she was buying him time. I agreed, and therefore had to wait for him to choose to come of his own free will. And there was nothing that could make him … until you, my dear.”
“Who are you, then?” I pushed.
She smiled even brighter. “I’m Shera, goddess of the seas, bonded soul to Sonaris.”
I gasped, which was covered when Jesse let out a rumbling, humorless laugh. “Now it all makes sense. Gods have to honor their promises. One of your many rules. You’ve broken a lot of other rules though, Shera. You’re lucky the hell lands are not calling for your soul.”
She tsked. “I bend the rules, not break them. It’s the reason I had to ask permission for Asher’s mother’s DNA, and yes, you are right … when I promised to not take Asher against his will, I had to stick with it.”
Gods had rules? Why the hell did I not know this? It suddenly seemed very important to find out what all of those rules were now that we were playing in their world.
“Shera?” Axl said suddenly, like he’d finally figured out a puzzle. “I remember your name now. It took me a while because you were such a minor deity that to call yourself a goddess of the sea is pretty insulting to all the real gods out there.”
Her eyes flashed, and the smile faded from her face as she bitch-stared him. “Watch your mouth. You contain such a small trace of power from Atlantis that you’re almost useless to me.”
Jesse rumbled, the lion inside making itself known as he defended his brother.
Shera shocked me then as she stepped aside, gesturing for the others to do so as well. “Let them go to Asher. They have a chance to save his life, but the only way they can do that is if they fill the life stone in his center.�
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“A life stone,” Axl said, his eyes darting between her and Asher. “What did you tie his life to?”
She stepped closer, her gait smooth and sensual. “You tell me, genius know-it-all.”
“The gate of Atlantis,” he said immediately, not even having to think about it.
She nodded. “Yes. I even had another descendant from the royal line here to add her power and blood to Asher’s, but it didn’t budge the spell holding the gate.”
Axl crossed his arms, his face showing the least amount of animation that I’d ever seen. “That spell was cast by a god. There’s none with the power to counter that.”
“That’s not true,” Connor said. “I’ve been telling you all since the start. Maddison is born of Sonaris.”
Shera’s laugh sounded desperate and maniacal. “There is no way Sonaris fathered a child with a mortal. I refuse to believe it. I was willing to indulge you because I agree that she’s a powerful Atlantean descendent, but she’s not his.” Her expression hardened. “Never mention that lie to me again.”
Connor didn’t flinch under her unwavering stare, but he also didn’t push the agenda any further. Shera focused on us again. “Go to him. It’s your last chance. If you want to save Asher, you’ll have to risk opening the gate.”
I didn’t care. I was done waiting.
Running as fast as my rubbery legs would carry me, I slipped past Shera and her minions and beelined straight for Asher. My brain and body were screaming, panic flooding me. He wasn’t moving. I couldn’t see his chest rising and falling.
Water smashed against me as I got closer, the force of the waterfall devastating even at a distance, which had to mean it was almost crushing Asher. He was right under it.
