I shared a smile with her, since while Kate had never said so out loud, I’d gotten that impression from her, too. “Even if that’s true, Kate’s the most logical of us all,” I pointed out. “She wouldn’t let her feelings for Chris distract her from our mission.”
“The heart wants what it wants.” Danielle shrugged. “You can’t just tell us that we can’t have feelings for anyone else in the group. We spend so much time together that it’s bound to happen. If you try to keep people apart—you and Blake included—it’s going to make the tension grow and grow until it gets so intense that it explodes. Better to let the waves roll as they may.”
“I think it’s ‘let the cards fall as they may…’” I said.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “You get what I mean.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s a good point. And believe it or not, I think I might agree with you.”
“Imagine that,” she said. “Maybe we have more in common than we thought.”
“Maybe,” I said, and when our eyes met, we both laughed. Then, we sat there in silence and ate our sandwiches, as if we’d been friends for years.
“I should get to sleep,” Danielle said once we were finished. “You should, too. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“This whole conversation wasn’t some big confession in case we don’t make it tomorrow,” I asked as we stood up and picked up our plates. “Was it?”
“Of course not,” she said. “We’re going to make it tomorrow. Don’t doubt it for a second.”
“Good.” I nodded, although my stomach twisted slightly, since neither of us could guarantee that was true. As much as I wanted all five of us—well, all seven of us, including Ethan and Rachael—to survive the fight against the hydra, it might not happen that way.
And it wasn’t just tomorrow—we wouldn’t be safe until the portal to Kerberos was closed. What if the worst happened before then, and I never got a chance to tell Blake about my feelings for him?
I shook the thought away, not allowing myself to think like that. Danielle was right—we would all make it tomorrow. We’d trained for this. We were ready. And Blake was sleeping right now—he needed that rest so he was at full strength to fight the hydra tomorrow. I needed my rest, too.
But on the way back to my room, I paused in front of his door, contemplating what would happen if I knocked and woke up him and told him everything. I imagined how it would feel to kiss him again, to feel his arms around me and have him murmur in my ear that we had nothing to worry about and that he would keep me safe no matter what. I wrapped my arms around myself, pretending they were his, and smiled. If I went through with this now, I could tell him the truth about my power, too. It would be a relief to finally get the secret off my chest.
But if I did this right now, I wouldn’t only be waking up Blake—I would be waking up Chris and Ethan, too. Disturbing them would weaken the entire group tomorrow. And we had to beat the hydra. I couldn’t do anything that might risk lowering our chances of completing that final task.
I moved my hand away from the door and shoved it into my pocket, forcing myself to step away. I couldn’t be honest with Blake about my feelings for him until this mission was complete.
So I went back to the room that I shared with the girls, crawled into bed, and despite my worries about what would happen tomorrow, eventually managed to drift asleep.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The stilling of the boat the next morning was all I needed to pull me out of sleep. I rubbed my eyes and peeked out of the window, a sliver of sunlight shining on my face.
“We’re here?” Danielle mumbled, her voice groggy. She brought her covers over her face, hiding from the light.
“Yes,” I said, gazing out at the island in front of me. It was brown and dead—very different from all of the other islands we’d encountered so far in Greece. I shuddered at the thought of the monster lurking somewhere out there. “I think so.”
We got out of bed, gathered our weapons, and met in the living room for breakfast. Chef hadn’t made an appearance since losing his arm—he’d been hiding out in his room, refusing to talk to anyone. I’d tried to go in there once, but he wouldn’t speak a word to me. All he did was stare at me, as if I were as evil as Typhon himself. So we were all helping out with making food ourselves. What we made had nothing on the delicious meals Chef had prepared for us, but the food was keeping us alive, which was all that mattered.
“Are you all ready?” Hypatia asked after we’d finished eating breakfast.
I looked around at the others, not saying a word. I didn’t think I would ever feel ready for the task ahead. Slaying a hydra wasn’t something I think anyone ever felt ready for. It was something that you prepared for, tried your best, and hoped it was enough.
“We were born to do this,” Rachael said, chugging down the rest of her coffee. “We’ve got it.” She leaned back and smiled, as if she truly believed it. I wished I could be as fearless as she was. Instead, my stomach swirled with anxiety, and I worried that if I ate any more, I would be sick.
“Are you okay?” Blake asked me, his eyes flashing with concern. “You’re looking at your toast as if it’s your sworn enemy.”
I pushed the plate to the center of the table, unable to tolerate the sweet smell of the jam for a second longer. “I’m fine,” I said. “Just nervous about today.”
“I think we all are,” Kate assured me, and at that, Rachael smirked. “Except for Rachael, of course.”
“You’re really not nervous at all?” I asked Rachael.
“Nope,” she said. “Remember—we’re meant to do this. My brother and I are children of Zeus, and you and your friends have elemental powers gifted from the gods. Hypatia’s reminded us so many times that the Book of Shadows sent us on this mission. It wouldn’t have sent us here if this wasn’t something we could handle.”
I nodded, turning over her words in my head. The Book had sent us here—as in the five of us. Not Ethan and Rachael. But I didn’t say it out loud, because what did it matter? Rachael and Ethan were determined to help us, and we weren’t going to turn them down. We could use all the help we could get.
“Do we need to go over any parts of the plan?” Hypatia asked.
I shook my head no. We’d gone over the plan so many times last night that it had been drilled into my brain. Talking about it made my anxiety worse. I just wanted to go out there and get it over with.
Luckily, the others shook their heads no as well.
“All right, then,” Hypatia said. She gave us each a small smile, although her eyes brimmed with sadness. I supposed she was worried to send us out there. But she didn’t have a choice—this was what we’d come here to do—so she sat straighter, put on a brave face, and said, “Let’s do this.”
* * *
It was only a few miles walk to the swampland around what used to be Lake Lerna, but was now only a collection of springs. The swamplands were flat, brown, and mushy. I would have thought that nothing could survive here at all, if it hadn’t been for the pesky mosquitos that I had to constantly swat off my skin.
“Are we there yet?” Chris asked, reminding me of my younger sister Becca when we’d gone on road trips to the ocean when we were kids.
“The hydra lives in the Spring of Arymone,” Kate answered. “In a cave. Which should be right about…” She consulted her map, and scanned the area. “There.” She pointed to a hill straight ahead.
“So we head around the lake, and we’re there,” Ethan said, even though it wasn’t technically a lake anymore, but a spring. “Shouldn’t take long.”
“Around the lake?” Danielle scoffed. “Please. That’s hardly the fastest route.” She lifted her arms in the air, and the next thing I knew, the water in front of us parted like it did for Moses when he was leading the slaves out of Egypt. It crashed and roared, revealing the soggy sand underneath. It sort of reminded me of Charybdis. And right now, while she was controlling the water with a fierce expression
on her face, Danielle looked every bit like a descendant of the gods.
Kate stepped forward, digging her walking stick into the ground. “Is it wise to use your power like that?” she asked Danielle. “We could easily walk around the lake.”
“Which would take us much more time,” Danielle said. “Wouldn’t you rather get this over with?”
“Danielle,” Blake said, stepping in front of her and leveling his gaze with hers. “It’ll take us time to walk through the lake, too. You would have to keep using your power that entire time. What you’re doing is impressive, yes, but your power will be much more useful when we’re actually fighting the hydra. Don’t waste it now.”
“Fine.” Danielle pouted and brought her hands down, and the parted waters crashed back together. A little bit of water splashed onto Blake, and I couldn’t help but suspect that she’d done that on purpose.
It took about an hour to walk around the lake. Once there, we stared up at the towering hill in silence. The hill looked so normal—with browned grass and a few trees growing on it—it was hard to imagine that an ancient monster lived inside.
It was also crazy to think that thousands of years ago, Hercules had stood in this same spot, about to embark on a similar mission. We just had to follow in his footsteps. After all, he was the only known person who’d slayed a hydra, so following his example made sense. And the first thing he was said to have done was lure the hydra out of its lair by shooting flaming arrows into the entrance of the cave.
Luckily for us, flaming arrows were my and Blake’s specialty.
“So, this is it, then?” Rachael asked. “This is where we’ll be fighting the hydra?”
I looked around the potential fighting ground—the bare trees, the spring behind us, and the hill in front of us. Rachael’s skepticism was understandable. The whole area was so… quiet. It was hard to imagine that such a gruesome fight had happened here thousands of years ago, and that it would be happening again here soon.
“Yep.” Kate nodded. “This is it. Or at least it should be, according to my map.”
I’d already examined the map when we were going over the plans, so I knew where we were supposed to be. “It’s right,” I confirmed. Ever since developing my powers, I’d also been blessed with a natural sense of direction. It was one of the perks of being the “central” element on the compass.
Blake moved to stand next to me, gazing at the hill, his eyes ready for battle. He reached for his lighter and flicked on the flame. “Are you ready?” he asked me.
I looked up into his eyes, and the entire world felt like it stilled around me. Blake had been off-limits to me for so long, it was hard to believe that if—when—we made it through this, all of that could change. I wanted to put my arms around him and confess my feelings to him right now.
But I couldn’t do it. Not now, not here, when we had a hydra to slay. So I pushed the thought away. I would tell him afterward, once the mission was complete, like I’d decided last night.
But everyone was waiting for me to say something, and I couldn’t just stand there like a complete mute. So I drew an arrow from my quiver and strung it through my bow. “Of course I’m ready,” I said, steadying my stance and eyeing up the cave. My hands shook from the anxiety of what we were about to do, and I had to swallow down the fear that felt like it was about to burst right out of my skin, but I added, “Let’s let the hydra know that we’re here to fight.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Blake lit my arrow on fire, and I sent it flying into the cave. Then I sent another, and another, and another, until all four burning arrows had disappeared into the darkness. But despite our efforts, the hydra didn’t emerge.
I lowered my bow and turned to the group. They’d all gathered around me, their hands on their weapons, ready to fight. “I can’t use up all my arrows this way,” I told them. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to think of another way to get the hydra out here.”
“Or maybe we don’t need to get the hydra out here,” Blake said.
“What are you talking about?” Kate asked. “We have to get the hydra out here. That’s what Hercules did when he slayed it the first time.”
“Maybe this hydra learned from that one’s mistake,” he said, glancing at the cave. “Maybe instead of getting the hydra to come out here, we’ll have to go to it.”
Kate’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Blake, looking at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You mean… you want to go inside the hydra’s cave?” she asked. He nodded, and her mouth dropped open in shock. “That’s insane!” she said. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why?” Blake asked. “What difference does it make if we slay the hydra out here or in there?”
“It actually might be better if we slay the hydra in the cave,” I said, stepping to Blake’s side. “Then we won’t have to waste more weapons or power trying to get it to come out here. We’ll save more energy for the actual fight.”
“I just don’t like it.” Kate wrapped her arms around herself, pressing her lips together as she studied the entrance to the cave. “Out here, I was planning on using the roots of the nearby trees to wrap around the hydra’s legs and secure it in into place—kind of like what I did to the children in the Land of the Lotus Eaters. If we go inside the cave, there won’t be any trees nearby, so I won’t be able to do that. The hydra will have freedom of motion to go wherever it wants.”
Rachael stepped forward, her hand on the hilt of her sword. “There are seven of us and one of it,” she said. “We’ll storm its cave and slay it, just as we planned. We’ve got this.”
“Yeah we do!” Ethan said, giving her a high five. “Out of all the things we could do on our first week after escaping the Land of the Lotus Eaters, this is by far the most epic.”
I looked at the twins and rolled my eyes. Were all of Zeus’s children this arrogant?
“Besides,” Ethan added. “We don’t have to worry about being killed. We have Nicole to heal us if we get injured.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I said. “But you saw what happened to Chef…”
“It was a shame that Scylla ate his arm,” Rachael said. “But if the arm had just been chopped off and we still had it, you would have been able to reattach it, right?”
“I don’t know,” I told her. “I’ve never tried to do that. Maybe it would work, but maybe not…”
“How about everyone tries to keep their limbs intact?” Blake suggested.
“Especially our hands,” Kate added. “Since we need our hands to use our powers.”
I shivered at the thought of losing a hand—or any limb at all. “Good plan.” I nodded, since I hated the thought of letting one of my friends down the same way that I’d let Chef down. It felt like a knife in the heart every time I thought about the pain and disappointment in his eyes when he realized that he would never have his arm again. “If anyone feels like the hydra might overtake them, move away,” I said. “Like Rachael said, there are seven of us. We need to trust each other. We have each other’s backs, no matter what.”
And so, with our hands on our weapons and the twins leading the way, we headed toward the hydra’s cave, ready to fight.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The entrance to the cave was as tall as a two-story house, and nearly as wide. Heat emanated from the inside and warmed my face—a stark difference from the brisk February air.
“So we just… go in?” Chris asked.
“I guess so.” Kate looked at us all, her expression serious. “But remember—do not cut off a hydra head unless Blake is ready with the flames. We need to cut off all of the hydra’s heads to kill it and gather its blood, but if Blake isn’t there to cauterize the neck stump, two heads will grow back in its place. So if Blake isn’t there, pull back, even if you have an opportunity to chop off a head. It isn’t worth the risk.”
“Got it,” I said, touching the sword strapped to my hip. We all carried swords today, along with our usual weapon of choice, be
cause a sword was the best weapon to chop off a head. I wasn’t as proficient with the sword as I was with the bow, but I could manage. At least, I could in practice.
“I’ll fly Blake up there to cauterize the stumps,” Chris added. “I’ll make sure he’s close enough that he can still aim, but far enough from the other heads not to get attacked.”
“We’ve been through this a million times,” Rachael said, fidgeting as she peered inside the cave. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go inside.”
Without checking to see if we were coming, she led the march into the cave. Of course, we all followed her—I supposed she knew we would. And while it was brave that she didn’t appear scared, and there was a part of me that wished I could be as brave as she was, it also never hurt anyone to be a little bit cautious.
We walked for about five minutes, keeping watch for any sudden movements. I was trying to be so quiet that I was barely letting myself breathe.
Then we heard the sound of something banging, like a boulder falling onto the ground. It was followed by another bang, and then another, and another—in a pattern that sounded eerily like the footsteps of a giant animal. Then there was a roar so loud that it shook the walls, and a line of fire blazed through the cave.
“Everybody down!” Blake yelled, and we did as he said, the fire barely missing our heads. He had his lighter out and a ball of fire growing in his hand, ready to strike back. Another line of fire raced through the cave, but this time Blake raised his hands in the air like a shield, stopping the fire in its path. It singed the walls of the cave and disappeared. I was glad he resisted turning the flame back around at the hydra—we wouldn’t be able to get any blood from the monster if it was burned to a crisp.
More footsteps boomed through the cave, until the creature turned a corner and we were staring into the eyes of the biggest monster I’d ever seen. Dragons didn’t exist—at least, I didn’t think they did—but I would guess that this creature was where the myths had come from. It was so tall that its heads—all five of them—nearly brushed the ceiling of the cave. Pointed scales traveled all the way up each of its necks, like the scariest mohawk in existence. Its eyes glowed an eerie shade of greenish-yellow, and its mouths were all open, its fangs dripping with venom and ready to attack.
Elementals 2: The Blood of the Hydra Page 17
