by Linsey Hall
Doyen gestured to the sea beyond, which shined silver in the moonlight. “You may begin.”
I nodded to them, the best I could do in terms of a polite goodbye, and looked down at the map. As she’d indicated, it directed me toward the sea. So I turned and walked toward it.
The body of water was massive. I couldn’t see all the way across, and it disappeared along the horizon to both the left and the right. The waves were tiny, lapping at the black sand shore. What lurked beneath the depths?
I shuddered at the thought.
A small rowboat was beached just out of reach of the waves, its worn gray wood looking like it’d seen better days. I glanced at the map.
As I’d feared, the map said to board the boat. Since I saw no engine, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy trip.
Ares approached to stand next to me and glanced down. “Ready?”
“Yep.” I walked toward the boat, catching sight of the oars within. Before pushing the thing out onto the sea, I crouched at the water and dipped my fingers in, then raised them to my lips.
Freshwater. Thank fates for small favors.
I turned to Ares. “Give me a hand with the boat? Or is that against the rules?”
“Small things are fine.”
Together, we pushed the boat out onto the water. I hopped in, narrowly avoiding getting my boots wet, and Ares followed.
I bent down and grabbed done of the heavy oars, then stood at one end of the boat—I had no idea if it was the bow or the stern—and stuck the oar into the water, pushing us off of the beach.
We drifted out onto the gleaming silver sea, the moon sparkling down upon us. Ares stood at the end of the boat, watching to see what I would do. It really felt like a test.
I unfolded the map and studied it. We needed to go directly across, which the map said was precisely due west. I glanced around, searching for a compass. Nothing.
So I conjured one, the task fortunately taking only a small amount of power since the compass was small and I was well practiced at conjuring them. They often came in handy.
I picked up the other oar. “I suppose I’m starting?”
“If you like. Though I can help with that, too.”
“I’ll start.” I sat and locked the oars into the little wooden bits that held them, and began to row. It was awkward at first, but I got the hang of it.
Ares sat at the bow of the boat, behind me, so I didn’t have to be distracted by his too-handsome, and slightly scary, face. But I swore I could feel his gaze on me like a brand. It seared my skin.
The little boat cut across the surface of the silver sea, the oars swishing through the water. So that I would row in the right direction, I kept my eye on two landmarks on the shore—a huge white palace on a hill and a tree that was larger than all the rest, spearing into the sky until it looked like it touched the moon.
I got into a rhythm with the oars, carrying us far enough out that I lost track of the shore. Without my landmarks, I had to consult the compass to keep heading west, but fortunately I hadn’t deviated too far off.
“Any clues where we’re going?” I asked Ares.
“Unfortunately, no.”
“So you don’t know, or you won’t say?”
“Don’t know. I had a hand in designing the challenge, but most of the details are a mystery.”
“Hhmmpfh.” I pulled hard on the oars, determined to get across in record time. The moon sparkled on the silver sea. There were even a few stars in the sky, glittering down.
Out here, it was quiet save for the oars cutting through the water and the waves lapping at the hull of the boat. A cool breeze brushed the hair off my face as I rowed.
It was starting to feel truly zen when the boat vibrated.
I shot out of my rowing trance, gaze darting around. The hull of the boat continued to vibrate. Bubbles popped to the surface all around us. They were bursting against the bottom of the boat.
“Ah, hell,” Ares muttered.
“What do you—”
A massive tentacle shot out of the sea to our left. It was at least twenty feet long and as big around as a horse. It shimmered jade green, glinting in the moonlight.
There was no land in sight and a giant squid was right below us.
“What is it?” I demanded as I pulled harder on the oars, trying to force us away from the monster.
“Kraken.”
Another tentacle burst out of the water to the right, splashing me with cool water. I yanked on the oars, but was too slow. The tentacle wrapped around our boat, right in front of me.
I jerked the oars in, tossing them into the hull, and scrambled back toward Ares as the Kraken began to lift the little boat out of the sea.
It was a huge beast, and had at least six more arms where these had come from. As tempted as I was to conjure a sword and chop off a limb, it was a terrible idea.
“We can’t fight it.” My mind raced. It was too big, too strong, and totally in its element.
“Nope.”
And Ares wouldn’t transport us out of here. I tumbled against Ares as the Kraken raised us five feet above the water. My heart thundered in my chest as its head broke the surface. It was huge, a glinting jade green with eyes like gleaming emeralds.
The Kraken opened its mouth wide, pink flesh gleaming inside. He was going to tip us right into his mouth. My heartbeat thundered, defeating inside my head.
We were dinner.
The Kraken had another idea, though. A third tentacle rose out of the sea and plucked me out of the boat, wrapping around my waist and hoisting me into the air. Upside down.
My stomach heaved as the Kraken waved me around, its tentacle tight around me. Squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.
Ares shouted. I caught sight of him, rage and fear on his face.
My head swam and my heart raced. The Kraken dangled me right over his mouth. A scream strangled in my throat as my skin chilled at the thought of being eaten. Swallowed alive. But the thought popped an idea into my head.
He’s hungry.
And since he wanted to eat us, I’d bet he wasn’t a vegetarian.
Quickly, I conjured a huge tuna steak and dropped it into his mouth. His jaw clamped down on it. A weird purring sound of delight followed.
Please don’t eat me, now.
“Good thinking,” Ares shouted. “More!”
I was already on it, conjuring as quickly as I could. As soon as the giant squid opened his mouth again, I dropped another tuna steak into the gaping maw.
Chomp.
Purr.
It made a wet smacking sound. I’d used this trick before, but never on a Kraken.
Sweat beaded on my skin as I watched the giant monster swallow. How much could he eat? Could I even conjure enough?
I’d sure as hell have to try, since the alternative was him dropping me into his craw.
Blood rushed in my head as I conjured and tossed. I felt like an animal trainer at a sea park, feeding the hungry beast as the crowd roared. Except, the roaring was coming from inside my head as I tried to keep my cool.
Eventually, the Kraken closed its maw for good, eyeing me with its glittery green eyes.
“Tasty?” My words were strangled. Most of my blood had to be in my head by now.
It didn’t answer me, but since it also didn’t open its mouth again, I claimed a small victory. When it set me back down in the boat, I collapsed, gasping and clinging to the railing. Slowly, the Kraken lowered the boat back onto the water. It splashed down.
My breath held as I watched the glittery green monster sink beneath the surface of the sea.
“Holy crap,” I gasped.
Ares helped me up. My ribs ached and my shirt was wet from the Kraken’s grip, but a slow deep breath revealed that there were no cracked ribs.
“That was nuts.” I’d just fought the Kraken. Or fed the Kraken. Whatever. “You vampires sure love your squids.”
Ares grinned. “Coincidence.”
�
��Sure.” I plopped back down on the middle bench, catching my breath. When I felt a bit more human, I picked up my oars and popped them back into place.
“Why don’t I take over?” Ares said.
I glanced up at him. “Sure thing. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I scrambled back to the seat in the bow and let him take my place. My muscles ached from rowing and I could use the break.
“Where are the Pūķi?” I asked. “Those little dragons were so helpful last time.”
“They can’t fly over water.”
My eyes sharpened. “Is that why the challenge takes place over water? So they can’t help me out?”
“One of the reasons, yes.”
“Jerks.”
As he picked up the oars, I consulted my compass again. “Get the bow pointing slightly more to the left. Your left.”
He pulled on the right oar, spinning us.
“Good!”
Ares began to row. I couldn’t help but admire the play of his muscles beneath his shirt, or the speed with which we cut through the water. I dragged my gaze away, studying our surroundings.
Water as far as the eye could see. Not a speck of land. And more dangers, all hidden beneath the silvery surface.
Ares rowed for what felt like hours. I kept up my guard, inspecting the water all around, and kept track with the compass. When the water started to glitter, I almost didn’t notice. It looked so much like the silvery sheen that was already there.
Except that it was definitely different. Sparkling and shining. Tiny electric blue lights, the size of pinheads.
It was gorgeous.
When the first little monster leapt out of the sea, I shrieked. It splatted onto the arm of my leather jacket arm. Instinctually, I brushed it off.
Electric pain blazed through my hand. “Shit!”
“Don’t touch them!” Ares said. “Electric jellyfish. Too many stings and you’re dead.”
All around the boat, tiny jellyfish floated to the surface, glittery and gleaming. Some popped out of the water, leaping for us.
Another landed on my neck, sending a shock through my whole body. I convulsed briefly, stopping only when the jellyfish fell of and plopped into the bottom of the boat.
Ares pulled hard on the oars, trying to get us away from our tiny attackers. But size did not directly correlate to deadliness. Even ants could kill you, if there were enough of them.
And there were enough jellyfish. They set the surface of the water alight with their electric sparkles. No matter how fast Ares rowed, they surrounded our boat, occasionally flying out to land on us.
My skin chilled with fear. I was about to conjure rain suits—anything to keep us from being hit—when a giant boulder appeared at the other end of the boat.
The weight of the boulder pressed that side of the boat lower into the water, throwing me against Ares’s back.
“What the hell!” I scrambled back. Ares followed, redistributing the weight more evenly.
We almost sank right then and there, but our quick thinking kept the stern of the boat from dipping below the surface of the water.
“What the hell, Ares? A boulder in a boat?” It had to weigh hundreds of pounds.
“That’s not all.” He pointed to the base of the boulder.
I glanced down, seeing metal spikes protruding from the bottom of the rock. They pierced the boat’s hull. Water was seeping in, slowly but surely. And it wouldn’t take much to fill a tiny boat like this.
Then we’d sink and be electrocuted to death by tiny jellyfish. Water was already lapping around my boots. Jellyfish floated in it, glittering and deadly.
Shit, shit, shit.
“I’m going to conjure another boat,” I said.
“Another rock will appear,” Ares said.
“I thought you didn’t know what was going to happen.” The water was to my ankles now. My heart pounded.
“I don’t. But it’s only logical. You’ve already conjured something to save us. Now use your other skills.”
My gaze darted to him. “My other skills?”
His dark gaze met mine, serious. “Your other skills. The ones you’ve practiced.”
“Oh, shit.” I’d only managed to destroy a dishrag and a pencil. This was a freaking boulder.
“Running out of time, Nix.” Ares leaned back against the farthest reaches of the boat. “Stretch forward so you can touch the boulder.”
Shit, shit, shit.
The refrain wouldn’t die.
But I did as he said, trying to keep most of my weight towards the bow of the boat so that the stern wouldn’t sink beneath the surface. We couldn’t just roll the boat out. If our weight didn’t cause the stern to sink—and us with it—the boulder might tear the side of the hull.
The Vampire Court was really freaking clever.
Carefully, I propped my hand on the middle bench—the one where I sat when I rowed—and reached the other toward the rock. My fingertips brushed the rough surface and I called upon my new magic.
It was hard at first, and foreign. I had to force my mind to calm as I recalled destroying the pencil.
Wind.
I needed the wind. I focused on the feeling of the breeze against my face, drawing it within me. My head pounded as I let the breeze fill my body. I envisioned it destroying the rock, buffeting it to pieces. I fed it into the stone, forcing more and more power into the giant boulder that was threatening to take us to the bottom of the sea.
A sharp electric sting landed on my hand, breaking my concentration. Pain sang up my arm from where the jellyfish had landed, but I forced it away.
The wind.
I focused on the breeze, trying to ignore the searing pain, and fed my destructive magic into the boulder. A crack appeared down the middle. Hope flared in my chest.
I pushed more magic into it, giving it everything I had. My heart thundered and my vision dimmed, but I kept going.
More cracks formed in the rock, shooting down like lightning. The thing began to crumble, most of it disappearing before it hit the ground.
I gasped raggedly, trying to fill my lungs as I forced my magic into the rock. Slowly, so slowly, it crumbled away to dust.
As soon as it was gone, the stern popped up out of the water, sitting more naturally on the surface.
But water began to pour in through the holes created by the spikes on the bottom of the boulder. Gasping, exhausted from using the Destroyer magic, I conjured little rubber plugs. As fast as I could, I shoved them into the holes, stopping the flow of water.
Jellyfish stung me as I worked, pain racing through my body as they made contact. My vision swam, but I didn’t quit till I’d finished.
Finally, the boat stopped leaking. I collapsed on the bench, drawing my legs up out of the water and trying to catch my breath.
“Good work, Nix,” Ares said.
“Screw you.” I surveyed the bottom of the boat, which was full of water and jellyfish. Fortunately not so much water that we were sinking. “You’re the one who got me into this.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“It’s kinda true.” I conjured a bucket, handing it to him. “Get to it.”
He grinned and saluted, then began to bail out the boat, working carefully to avoid the jellyfish stings. All around us, the jellyfish in the sea had sunk back to the bottom, as if the challenge were over and they were on break.
I inspected my hands, which were bright red. It hurt just to flex my fingers, but it felt like the pain was fading at least a little.
“You were magnificent,” Ares said. “But are your hands all right?”
“Just dandy.” I tugged the map out of my pocket and studied it for clues.
Suddenly, I realized that it was in another language. I’d read it so easily and naturally that I’d just assumed it was English. The information had flowed into my brain like it wanted to be there.
But the map was written in a language I’d never seen before.
Shit. It was my Informa power, stolen from Aleric, that was giving me the ability to understand it. Informas could read any language.
I looked up at Ares, who was almost finished bailing out the boat. “You told them about the powers I stole.”
Chapter Nine
Ares’s green gaze met mine. “I didn’t.”
“Liar.” I hadn’t felt Doyen poking inside my mind for information like she’d done a few days ago at the warehouse where I’d first met her. Which meant he’d told the Court.
“No. I didn’t have to tell them.” His voice was sincere, his eyes honest. “They’re not stupid, Nix. It was obvious that you’d take Aleric’s power. Who wouldn’t want to know the information he’d stolen?”
Damn it. Outsmarted by the vampires.
“You’re testing my magic with this challenge,” I said. “The magic I already had and the magic I’ve taken.”
“Yes. We need to know that you can control it. That’s part of the problem with FireSouls. If you can’t control what you take, you’re a liability.”
“And that’s why you insisted I practice.”
He nodded. “It is. I want you to succeed.”
“Big jump from destroying pencil to a boulder. I could have died if I’d failed.”
“I knew you wouldn’t fail. And I wouldn’t let you die.” He set the bucket down on the floor of the boat. All the jellyfish were gone. “But we need to keep going.”
He gestured for me to move so that he could row, and I did. My hands were too beat up to keep going, and I’d need all the help I could get. Though I was pissed enough at him that I didn’t want to accept his assistance, I wasn’t dumb enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. And since this horse was offering free labor, I’d take it.
Ares picked up the oars and set back to work, pulling us through the water. I checked the compass, finding that he was going in the right direction.
“You know where we’re going?” I asked.
“Just a good sense of direction.”
“But there are no landmarks out here. And the moon is right above us.”
“Like I said.”
I scowled at his strong back. He was a damned enigma wrapped in a riddle or whatever. I’d thought it before and I’d probably think it again. I wanted to trust him—he’d helped me before and said he liked me—but he was on the Vampire Court, which was currently a giant pain in my butt.
