“And?” I leaned forward, hoping he’d gotten Antonia to at least consider it. If he had, he still had time before the selection ceremony tomorrow to change her mind.
“She refused to listen. She wants to make sure it’s one hundred percent going to be a girl going out this week. The only way to guarantee that is by sending three girls to the arena.”
Felix’s tone was final. And from Julian’s steely gaze, he recognized the same thing I did. Felix’s magic had worked too well on Antonia. She wasn’t going to budge.
“This changes nothing,” I said. “Cassia’s a strong physical player, just like me and Julian. We fought well together against Emmet in the first Emperor of the Villa competition. We’ll team up against Octavia, and we’ll beat her. Just as planned.”
“It changes everything.” Cassia dropped her arms down to her sides. “We wanted you and Julian to fight together because his being in danger sets off your magic. Without Julian in there with you, that won’t happen. Our chance of beating Octavia will be lowered.”
“That’s not true,” I said, even though I had felt more confident about fighting with Julian than I did with Cassia. But we had the best chance of succeeding if she believed in herself as much as I believed in her. “Obviously none of you saw me fight the monsters on my path in the Emperor of the Villa competition this week. But I was on fire. I think that after Bridget…” I swallowed, unable to say the specifics of what I’d done to Bridget without crying. “What happened with her changed something in me. I controlled my magic and took down every monster in my path.”
“You were the fifth to get to the center,” Cassia pointed out. “And I didn’t get to the center at all.” A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye, and she wiped it away. “The harpy flew me right off the path.”
“But you beat the first two monsters,” Julian said. “Plus, the harpy dominates the air, and you dominate the earth. That challenge wasn’t in your favor from the start.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But I should have been able to do it. And I failed. Just like I would have failed fighting one-on-one against Emmet if Selena hadn’t swooped in to help me.”
“But the two of us together did beat Emmet.” I leaned forward, gaining confidence with each word I spoke. “What happened before I teamed up with you is irrelevant. Because you won’t be fighting one-on-one against Octavia. You’ll be fighting with me. And we’re going to win.”
17
Torrence
“Scylla and Charybdis.” I stood on the top deck of the boat, my hands on the railing as I stared out at the strait between cliffs ahead of us. I could just make out the six snake-like heads poking out behind the cragged rocks on the right. “I never thought I’d fight Scylla and Charybdis.”
“Just Scylla,” Sage said. “We’re staying far away from Charybdis. Well, as far away as possible.” She shuddered when she said the whirlpool monster’s name.
“Our plan is solid,” Thomas said. “Kill Scylla, grab the girdle, and get out. It shouldn’t be hard.”
Easy for him to say. He’d fought monsters before.
This would be my first.
I hoped my training in Avalon was enough to prepare me.
“Scylla’s only unbeatable for humans,” Sage reminded me. “But against a mage, a witch, and two vampire/shifter dyads? She doesn’t stand a chance.”
“True,” I said. “Thanks.”
“I was scared before fighting my first monster, too.” She gave me an encouraging smile. “But a little fear is a good thing. Overconfidence is your own worst enemy.”
“Who knew you were so wise?” Thomas said.
Her smile widened. “And who knew you were such a comedian?”
Reed plodded up the steps before Thomas could reply, a black duffel bag thrown over his shoulder. “This is all of it,” he said, dropping the duffel down in the middle of the deck.
Of course, he spoke only to Sage and Thomas. Not to me.
After the barrier spell incident, the four of us had gathered to discuss our strategy against Scylla. Reed didn’t say a word to me the entire time. He didn’t even look at me.
Whatever. I had more important things to worry about.
Like taking down Scylla.
Reed unzipped the duffel. Inside were three holy swords, one bow with a quiver full of arrows, and four vials of clear potion.
Thomas inspected the contents and nodded. “Now, we wait,” he said.
We only had to wait an hour before the water on the left side of the strait opened up. The hole grew wider, the water around it swirling faster and faster.
Charybdis.
Nothing was in her path, so all she’d be getting was a meal of whatever unlucky fish were swimming by.
After about ten minutes, the angry, roaring whirlpool started to shrink, until the water was calm again.
Thomas checked his watch—a habit of his, since he could use his gift to know the time without having to look. “Looks like Charybdis had an early lunch,” he said.
“You mean brunch?” Sage teased.
“Precisely,” he said. “It’ll be a few hours until her next meal. So, grab your weapons. It’s time to strike.”
Sage, Reed, and I reached for our swords. A large tanzanite gemstone was embedded above the handle of mine. Sage’s had a ruby, and Reed’s had a yellow quartz. There were holsters beneath them. We strapped them on our shoulders so the sheaths were at our backs, and slid our swords inside.
Thomas grabbed the bow and the quiver full of crystal tipped arrows. The crystal arrowheads were spelled so they’d always return to the quiver. That spell was courtesy of one of the former head witches of the Carpathian Kingdom who’d moved to Avalon a few years back.
Weapons in hand, we reached for our vials of potion. Sage uncapped hers first, and the rest of us followed.
Thomas raised his vial. “To taking down Scylla,” he said.
“And to getting Aphrodite’s girdle,” I added.
We clinked our vials together, brought them to our lips, and downed the contents. The drink tickled my tongue, although it tasted like nothing—like air.
In seconds, the others faded until they were hazy ghosts with a white glow around them. I held my hand out in front of me. It looked like a hazy ghost, too.
That was the beauty of invisibility potion from the same batch. We could see each other, but no one could see us. At least for the hour that the potion remained in our systems. And because we were already holding our weapons, they’d gone invisible, too.
“Ready?” Thomas looked us over. “Okay.”
I bit down a comment about him sounding like a character from my mom’s favorite cheerleader movie.
Instead, I stepped back up to the front railing, breathing in the warm, salty air as we sailed toward the deadly strait.
18
Torrence
We came around the cliff’s jagged rocks, and the closest of Scylla’s heads looked in our direction. It was just like the head of a snake, except these snakes were at least four times as long as the length of the yacht.
It opened its mouth, revealing three rows of crooked yellow teeth.
Then, it yelped. Like a small, yappy dog.
That set off the rest of them. Within a second, all six heads were looking our way and barking. The barks were amplified, but Scylla still sounded like a group of playful puppies.
It should have been impossible for giant snakes to make those sounds. Yet, here we were.
At least it made Scylla seem less scary. But only slightly. Her massive body was attached to the cliff behind her, and her mouths were big enough to swallow even the biggest of humans whole. They chomped at the bit, salivating for their next meal.
We stopped right in front of Scylla. Her heads sniffed at the yacht, confused. Thanks to our cloaking rings, we weren’t just invisible, but our scents were hidden, too.
Thomas strung an arrow through his bow, ready to strike. Once he did, that was our cue to attack.
<
br /> The boat jolted, and he stumbled back.
I gripped the rail to steady myself.
A deep rumble behind us made the entire boat vibrate.
“It’s Charybdis!” Reed yelled. “She’s opening again!”
At the sound of his voice, one of Scylla’s heads darted toward him. It crashed into the boundary surrounding the boat. Its eyes rolled around in a daze, like a cartoon character who’d run into a wall.
The head next to it tried the same thing. The boundary stopped it, too.
The other heads must have gotten the memo, because they stayed where they were, yapping louder at the yacht.
The boat creaked, and I spun to look behind us. The hole in the ocean had opened up again, and the water around it was starting to move in a circle. A flash of a tooth peeked out from under the surface.
Charybdis.
She was getting closer. Well, we were getting closer to her.
I looked to Thomas. His gift over electronics could control the boat’s motor.
His brow was beaded in sweat.
Apparently, not even Thomas’s gift could stop the boat from being pulled into the swirling current.
Reed ran to the other side of the deck, dropped his sword, and held both of his hands over the rail. Yellow magic poured out of them, straight toward the ocean below.
The boat jolted to a stop.
Charybdis’s mouth was still widening, revealing a hideous circle of sharp teeth. But somehow, the yacht was no longer being pulled toward it.
It floated peacefully, like it was on a lake and not next to a deadly whirlpool.
“I need both of my hands to hold off the current,” Reed said, not looking back at us. “The three of you need to take down Scylla on your own.”
Great. Reed’s mage magic was a major reason why fighting Scylla was supposed to be a breeze. And Thomas needed to stay on the boat, to make sure it didn’t float astray. His crystal arrows would hurt Scylla, but they wouldn’t kill her.
The hard part was now on Sage and me.
“All right.” Sage turned to me, her wolfish eyes flashing with excitement. “Ready to slice and dice?”
No.
“Ready as ever,” I said instead, backing up in preparation to fight.
Sage did the same, and counted off. “One, two, three, GO!”
We ran across the deck. I kept my eyes on the snake I was heading toward—the one on the far right. I purposefully didn’t look down before pushing off and jumping.
We were close to Scylla, so while I had to jump high, it was only a few feet forward. I’d practiced things like this so many times on the Avalon training courses that sticking the landing was a breeze.
I wrapped my legs around the neck, squeezing them to balance myself. The head thrashed around, trying to throw me off, but I dug my fingers into its scaly skin and held on.
Once I had a steady grip, I checked on Sage. She’d landed perfectly on the snake all the way to the left.
A glance at the dark water crashing against the boulders below showed me that I’d made the right decision by jumping before looking down.
With no time to waste, I removed my sword from the holster. The tanzanite gem glowed, and I swung the sword down on Scylla’s neck. It sliced clean through.
Before the neck fell into the water, I hopped to my feet and jumped onto the snake next to me. Sage had done the same.
Two heads down, four to go.
The neck I was sitting on had a handful of holes in it already. Thomas’s arrows. With the snake already weakened, it wasn’t able to try as hard to knock me off.
He moved on to aim his arrows at the two heads in the center.
The yaps next to me grew louder.
I looked over my shoulder just in time to see the head to my right coming down on me, its mouth open like a cave ready to swallow me whole.
I raised my sword above my head, ready to ram it up through the roof of its mouth. But magic burst out of my palms and traveled up and out of the sword, spreading out in a shimmery purple boundary around me. Scylla’s teeth chomped down, but on the boundary—not on me.
The head squeezed down with its teeth, trying to break past the dome surrounding me. But I pushed out more magic to strengthen the shield. The dome expanded up and out to the sides. I heard the crack of bones breaking—the monster’s jaw.
Buzzing from the high of the magic, I pushed out more.
The dome grew larger, and Scylla’s head exploded from the inside out.
The neck fell, hitting the boundary around the yacht and sliding down into the ocean. The purple magic around me faded into nothing.
The neck I was sitting on bucked, but my legs were tight enough around it that I stayed on. The magic I’d used must have been keeping it still before.
Sword still raised, I sliced it through the neck, hopped onto my feet, and jumped back onto the top deck of the yacht. I landed just as the neck crashed into the boundary surrounding the boat.
Sage killed her final head and jumped back on deck. Scylla’s final neck dropped into the ocean. Her body fell with it, making a loud sucking noise as it detached from the cliff and splashed into the water below.
It floated away from the yacht and was pulled into Charybdis’s swirling vortex.
Sage, Thomas, and I ran to the other side of the deck just in time to see Charybdis swallow Scylla down. Her teeth closed around the end of Scylla’s body, and the whirlpool slowed, coming to a stop. The ocean was calm once more.
Reed let go of his magic, turned so his back was on the railing, and slid to the ground.
“You okay?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah,” he said, holding his head up with his hands. “That took a lot of magic. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be good.”
“You guys,” Sage said from the opposite side of the deck. “Look.”
I spun around and saw the cave entrance that had previously been hidden by Scylla’s body. The cave was high up—a longer and higher jump than it had been to get to Scylla’s necks, since the necks had slithered down to sniff us out.
“You stay here to keep the boat in place,” Sage said to Thomas. “I’ve got this.”
Sage dropped her sword and shifted into wolf form. She jumped onto the vertical cliff, digging into the slippery rocks with her claws to hold on. She easily scaled it up to the cave.
The three of us were silent as we waited for her to come out. Hopefully she was okay. Thomas was the only other one of us who could shift into a wolf and scale the cliff, but he was also the only one of us who could control the yacht. We needed him down here.
After a few tense minutes, Sage emerged from the cave. She was back in human form, and she was holding a woven, gold belt.
Aphrodite’s magic girdle.
19
Torrence
“Catch!” Sage said, and she tossed the girdle down to the deck.
I hurried over to where it was heading and caught it perfectly. It was a good thing that the boundary Reed and I had created knew what we wanted to keep out, and what we wanted to let in.
The girdle was heavier than I’d expected. And it was buzzing with magic.
Suddenly, Reed strode over to me, cupped my face with one of his hands, and gazed down at me with complete adoration. Then, he kissed me.
My heart jumped, and I sank into his embrace. Kissing him back was as natural as breathing, and I didn’t want to ever stop.
But this wasn’t like him.
Somehow, I forced myself to pull away.
His cheeks were flushed, and I was sure mine looked the same.
“What are you doing?” My voice was barely louder than a whisper. “You hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.” He pushed some of my hair behind my ear, looking at me like I was the most precious thing to him in the entire world. “You’re beautiful. I love you.”
“You barely know me,” I said. “You don’t love me…”
Wait.
I glanced at the girdle i
n my hand. Then, I dropped it to the floor.
Reed blinked and stepped back. His dark eyes narrowed, and he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
I needed to say something—anything—before he said something mean and spiteful.
“Looks like the girdle works.” I forced myself to chuckle, even though my head was still spinning from Reed’s kiss.
He stared at me, his hard expression giving no hint of any emotion. Not even hate or disgust. Just… nothing.
“No need to apologize,” I continued, my tone as light as possible. “I know that was the girdle speaking—not you.”
Reed frowned and turned to Thomas and Sage. Sage must have scaled back down the cliff and joined us sometime while Reed was kissing me.
“Let’s get out of here before Charybdis opens her mouth again,” Reed said. “Then we’ll regroup and make a plan of attack for getting the next object.”
He hurried to the stairs as Thomas started up the boat, glancing over at me on his way. I could have sworn his eyes flashed with the same longing they’d had in them right after he’d kissed me. But he disappeared below deck before I could tell for sure.
I stared at the place where he’d been, and my fingers drifted to my lips. They still tingled at the memory of how warm his had been on mine.
That kiss…
I replayed it in my mind, unable to forget how right it felt to kiss Reed.
I wanted to kiss him again. I wanted him to look at me like that again.
The girdle made him do it, I reminded myself, looking down at the cursed object at my feet. None of that was real.
Reed hadn’t actually wanted to kiss me. Just like he hadn’t meant it when he’d said he loved me.
“Well.” Thomas shifted his feet and cleared his throat. “That was interesting.”
“Did anything happen to you while I was holding the girdle?” I asked him.
The Faerie Mates (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 3) Page 7
