“He let me wolf down a pastry,” he said. “But don’t tell anyone. No one’s supposed to eat on this boat until breakfast is officially served.”
“Don’t worry,” I promised. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“I know,” he said. “We’ve been through enough by now that you should know how much I trust you.”
I tried to smile, despite the guilt weighing down my chest. Because Blake was right—we should trust each other. When we first started developing our elemental powers, we’d gone to each other first. We were the first to fight against a monster that escaped from Kerberos—and we stopped it, together. Plus, he saved me—he saved all of us—from getting stuck on the Land of the Lotus Eaters forever.
Thinking about the island reminded me about how I’d killed that man with black energy. I kept seeing the murderous look on his face as he tried to strangle me to death, and hearing how he’d laughed when he thought I was taking my last breaths. Then, there was the way his eyes had gone empty the moment I’d touched him. The thud as his body hit the ground. It had been so easy—and natural—for me to end his life forever. Not just him, but his friend, too. I’d run that arrow through his head without thinking twice. And afterward, I’d felt a sense of… achievement.
Was this who I was now—a killer? I shivered at the thought. I didn’t want to kill anyone. But if I hadn’t, they would have killed me first. What choice did I have?
“Are you all right?” Blake asked, his question interrupting my thoughts. “You got really quiet all of a sudden.”
“Sort of.” I stared into my tea, as if it could tell me whether or not I should be honest with Blake about my ability. But the tea wasn’t going to give me the answer—I needed to trust my instincts. And right now, I believed with all of my heart that I could trust Blake with my life.
When I looked back up and met his eyes, I was determined to go through with this.
“What do you know about black energy?” I asked, feeling stronger now that I’d come to a decision about what I was going to do.
“Not much.” He scrunched his eyebrows, clearly taken aback that I’d asked. “Why?”
“I’m just curious,” I said. “I know it exists, because Kate mentioned it to me once, when I first moved here. But no one ever talks about it. And I’ve never known why.”
“That’s because only the most powerful witches in the world can access black energy,” he said. “And even they haven’t used it for centuries, since it was made illegal in the middle ages. If any witch is caught using it, they’ll be stripped of their powers and locked away forever. It’s rumored to be a fate worse than death.”
“But why?” I asked, since I already knew all of that. “What can they do with black energy that makes it illegal?”
I hated having to ask this way—because given my experience with black energy, I already knew what it did—but I couldn’t come out and say it. Despite choosing to trust Blake, I still had to be careful.
“It inflicts torture on others.” He lowered his voice, as if just speaking about it was a crime. “The worst kind of torture imaginable.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “It doesn’t kill?”
He scrunched his eyebrows, as if he needed to think about it. “It might make someone try to kill themselves,” he said. “But no, the energy itself doesn’t kill. The pain it causes isn’t physical—it’s all in the person’s head.”
“Oh.” I deflated, taking a sip of my tea in the hopes that Blake wouldn’t see how confused I was. Because what he was describing was different than what I could do.
What I could do was worse.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “I mean—I didn’t want to bring it up unless you did, but I saw what happened back on that island, with those two pirates who attacked you. I was running over to help you, but then—”
“What did you see?” I asked, my voice rising in panic. Did he already know about what I could do? Was he going to turn me in?
“I saw them strangling you,” he said. “There were so many Lotus Eaters in front of me, and I got so mad when I saw what those pirates were doing to you that I used the flames from the bonfire to burn everyone who was blocking my path. I would have shot the pirates from there if I didn’t worry that I might accidentally hit you instead. Then I was running over to help you, and I saw you push one of them down, and then ram an arrow straight through the other one’s face.”
I looked down at my feet, ashamed that Blake had seen me in that moment. But I was also relieved. Because from what he’d said, he didn’t realize what I’d actually done to that first pirate. He had no idea that I’d killed him, too.
Then his hand was on my chin, and when he forced me to look up at him, it wasn’t disappointment that I saw in his eyes. It was respect—or even more so—admiration.
“You did what you had to do back there,” he said, his voice strong. “Your resilience kept you alive. We had to kill those people—it was self-defense.”
“I just wish I could have healed them all,” I said. “Like how I healed Ethan.”
“Even if you did, where would they have gone?” he asked. “Most of them have been trapped on that island for centuries. Their families are long gone by now. They wouldn’t even know how to have a life in our world.”
“I know,” I said, and I smiled at him—a real smile for the first time this morning. “And I haven’t had a chance to tell you this before now… but thank you, Blake.”
“For what?” he asked. “You saved yourself without my help.”
“I’m talking about before that,” I said. “You snapped to it on that island when no one else did, and made sure we didn’t get trapped there like everyone else. And you believed in me when I thought I could heal Ethan and Rachael from the lotus poisoning. Sometimes it feels like you believe in me more than I believe in myself.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” He smirked and nudged my shoulder with his. “You were pretty badass when you fought those pirates.”
“About that…” I said, and he held my gaze, watching me like he would value anything I said no matter what. I swallowed away any lingering doubt, because this was my chance. If I was going to tell him the truth, it should be now.
“What?” He brushed a strand of hair off my face and took my hand in his. “What’s going on?”
I opened my mouth, ready to tell him. But before I had a chance, the door banged open, and we both whipped our heads around to see who it was.
Kate stood in the doorway, her breathing heavy, her eyes wide in panic. “You guys have to come inside,” she said, not moving from where she stood.
“Why?” I held Blake’s hand tighter, as if he could protect me from whatever was coming. “What happened?”
“Nothing yet,” she said. “But it’s about to. Because we’re about to pass between Scylla and Charybdis.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Blake stormed into the dining area, Kate and I following close behind. Hypatia and the others had already gathered around the table, all with worried expressions on their faces. The engines on the yacht had stopped, and the anchor had been dropped, presumably to give us time to come up with a plan. But despite the panic rising up my chest, I tried to remain calm. There had to be another route—something less dangerous. We would figure it out together.
“Scylla and Charybdis?” Blake ran his fingers through his hair, pacing around the room. “Really? You couldn’t have given us more advance warning on this one?”
“I didn’t want to worry you, because there’s nothing that you all can do,” Hypatia said calmly. “We must pass through Scylla and Charybdis to get to the island of Thrinacia, where Helios’s sacred cattle roam.”
“Why?” I asked, joining them at the table. “Thrinacia’s an island. Can’t we go around Scylla and Charybdis and approach the island from another direction?”
“No.” Hypatia shook her head. “The strait of Scylla and Charybdis is one of old magic, and there’s no w
ay around it. But I have a plan, and I promise that the five of you—plus your two demigod friends—will be kept safe no matter what.”
“Hold up one second.” Chris glanced at Kate’s copy of The Odyssey and pressed his lips together, as if embarrassed about whatever he was about to say. “I know this isn’t a great time to admit this, but I didn’t actually read The Odyssey last year.”
“You didn’t?” Kate’s mouth dropped open—you would have thought from looking at her that Chris had admitted to cold-blooded murder.
“The book was tough to get through, and kind of boring, so I just skimmed the SparkNotes,” he said. “No big deal—I passed the class. But… do any of you want to remind me about what Scylla and Charybdis are?”
Kate picked up the book and opened to a bookmarked page. “The part about Scylla and Charybdis—and Helios’s cattle—is all found in Book Twelve of The Odyssey,” she said, although I wasn’t sure why she’d bothered to open the book, since she continued on from memory. “Odysseus and his men have to pass through a dangerous strait to reach Helios’s island. On one side of the strait is Charybdis, and on the other is Scylla. Scylla is a huge monster with six heads who will pluck six people from the yacht and devour them alive. Charybdis will create a gigantic whirlpool that will open up so she can gulp the yacht down whole. The strait is so narrow that anyone passing through is forced to sail close to one of the monsters. No matter what, people will die.”
“Stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Danielle muttered.
“Exactly.” Kate nodded.
“What did Odysseus do?” Chris asked. “He managed to get past the monsters, right?”
“Odysseus sacrificed six of his men to Scylla,” Hypatia answered. “Sailing near Charybdis is too dangerous, so we must do as Odysseus did and stay close to Scylla’s mountain. Six members of our staff will stand on the top deck. Scylla will take them, and the rest of us will continue on our mission.”
“You’re going to sacrifice six of your own staff?” I asked, sitting back in shock. “And they’re okay with this?”
“Once I speak with them, they will be,” she said solemnly.
“You’re going to use magic to compel them to sacrifice themselves for us.” I posed it as a statement, not as a question.
Hypatia looked down at the table and said nothing, and I knew that my guess was correct.
“No.” I shook my head, thinking of the friendly chef who’d given me my morning tea. Would he be one of the ones killed? “Absolutely not. You can’t ask them to do that.”
“It’s my job to ensure that your mission is a success,” Hypatia said sharply. “That means keeping you and your friends alive. So unless one of you comes up with a better plan in the next hour, then we do as I say.”
Blake stopped pacing, and I could tell by the light in his eyes that he’d had an idea. “Scylla and Charybdis are monsters,” he said, walking forward and placing his palms flat on the table. “So instead of avoiding them, why don’t we just attack them?”
Rachael laughed—the first sound she’d made all morning—and we all turned to look at her.
“Do you have something to add?” Danielle asked, glaring at her. For once, I was grateful for her icy tone.
Rachael pulled her hair over her shoulders and smiled at Danielle, apparently not intimidated by her in the slightest. “I know you’re all more powerful than most witches because you were gifted with your abilities by the gods or whatever, but come on. Scylla and Charybdis are two of the most ancient monsters alive. Do you really think you’re strong enough to kill them?”
“We’re on a mission to slay the hydra so we can steal its blood,” Blake reminded her. “I don’t see how this is any different.”
“Well… it is a little different,” Kate said softly, as if she were worried that we weren’t going to like what she was about to say. “A hydra has been slayed before, by Hercules. But no one has ever killed Scylla or Charybdis. In fact, it says right here…” She paused, leafing through the pages of The Odyssey until she found what she was searching for. “When Circe is warning Odysseus about Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus had the same idea as Blake—he wanted to fight Scylla. But Circe said, ‘Scylla’s an immortal devastation, terrible, savage, wild. There’s no fighting her, no defense. Just flee the creature, that’s the only way.’” Kate closed the book and placed it back down, her face hard with resolve. “We can’t kill Scylla,” she said. “We just have to get past her alive. She’ll let the yacht by once she takes her six sacrifices. Perhaps… maybe Hypatia’s plan is the best.”
“I’m not happy about it,” Hypatia said. “But isn’t this the meaning of being trapped between Scylla and Charybdis? There is no good choice. There’s simply a bad choice, and a worse one. We cannot escape unscathed.”
“Except you’re forgetting one important thing,” Blake said, and we all turned to him to hear what he had to say. “Odysseus and his crew were all humans. We’re witches with elemental powers, and Nicole, Ethan, and Rachael are demigods. We should be able to get through this without losing anyone on this boat. If we can’t, then I don’t know what we’re doing here at all.”
The energy from what he’d said filled the room, but only for a few seconds. Because then we were right back to where we were before—sitting around the table, stumped about the best way to approach this problem.
“I have an idea,” Danielle finally said, sitting straighter. “Charybdis lives in the ocean, and she’s dangerous because when she opens her mouth, she creates a whirlpool. What if we sail on the side of Charybdis, and if she opens her mouth, I’ll use my powers to control the water so it doesn’t suck us in?”
“Do you think you’re strong enough to do that?” I asked her.
“I wish I could say yes,” she said. “But honestly… I’m not sure.”
“We can’t risk it,” Kate said. “In The Odyssey, Circe tells Odysseus that if he’s there when Charybdis opens her mouth, that ‘not even the earthquake god could save him from disaster.’ The earthquake god is Poseidon. So if a god like Poseidon—the King of the Sea—wouldn’t have been able to save Odysseus’s ship, I don’t see how you could manage it.”
“If you fail, our ship would be crushed, and we would all die,” Hypatia added. “We can’t risk it.”
“What if we avoided the water altogether?” Chris sat straighter, as if he had the best idea ever. “What if I flew the boat over Charybdis? That way, when she opens her mouth, we won’t get sucked in.”
I waited for him to laugh, or say that he was joking. When he didn’t, I asked, “You seriously think that you’re strong enough to lift an entire yacht?”
“Maybe,” he said. “If I drink a lot of yellow energy water first to help me focus.”
“Come on, Chris,” Danielle said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s be practical. Back at training, you were barely able to lift a car for half a minute, and afterward you were so wiped out that you couldn’t use your powers for the rest of the day.”
“Is this true?” Hypatia asked.
“Yeah.” Chris shrugged and slumped back in his chair. “I guess it was a stupid idea.”
We all nodded, the hope that had been in everyone’s eyes after Blake’s speech starting to dim. I hated the idea of having to sacrifice six members of the crew to Scylla. But maybe Hypatia was right—we didn’t have another option. After all, if we didn’t go through with this, and the Titans escaped Kerberos, then a lot more than six people were going to die. Perhaps it was worth sacrificing six people for the good of so many more.
“It wasn’t a stupid idea,” Ethan spoke up, which shocked me for a moment, since he’d been quiet all morning. “Even though Rachael and I don’t have power over the elements, we have our father on our side. And while Chris might not be able to lift a yacht, I bet Zeus could.”
“Except that Zeus isn’t here,” I pointed out.
“He gave us each a pendant to use to call on him if we ever needed his help,” he said casually. “
We’re only supposed to use them for emergencies, but I’m pretty sure this would classify as an emergency.”
“I would say it does,” Rachael said, twisting her pendant around her neck. I’d never noticed it before because she’d tucked it under her shirt, but now that I knew to look for them, I saw that Ethan wore one, too.
It reminded me of the pendant I’d found on my windowsill the day after retrieving the Book of Shadows. The sun, with an A carved on the back. I’d left it at a safe place at home, because I didn’t want to risk anything happening to it on this journey. But perhaps I could use the pendant to call on my dad, the same way that Ethan and Rachael called on theirs?
It was worth a shot—but since I didn’t have the pendant with me, I couldn’t worry about it until we completed this mission and returned home.
“Calling on Zeus might not be a bad idea,” Kate said, looking more optimistic than she had all morning. “He and Poseidon have a pretty intense sibling rivalry. And Charybdis is a daughter of Poseidon—she was completely loyal to her father, which made Zeus so angry that he changed her into the monster she is today. Zeus might like the idea of helping us thwart Charybdis on Poseidon’s own turf.”
At that moment, thunder rumbled so loudly that the entire boat vibrated, followed by a crack of lightening so bright that I would have sworn it had struck the front deck. Then someone pushed through the front doors and stepped into our living room—a tall, muscular man in jeans and a white t-shirt. A breeze whooshed through the air as he entered, and he watched us all with a knowing smirk, as if we should have been anticipating his arrival. With blond hair down to his shoulders and a few days scruff on his face, he reminded me of a more attractive version of Brad Pitt—if that were even possible.
“That’s one smart girl you’ve got on your hands,” he said, motioning to Kate. “But I would expect nothing else from a descendant of Athena.”
“Hi, Dad,” Rachael said with a smile, her fingers still holding onto her pendant. “I’d hoped you would come.”
Elementals 2: The Blood of the Hydra Page 11