I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not, but was Danielle’s snark not coming off as mean as usual? If I didn’t know any better, I would think she was talking to me in the way she might tease a friend.
I shook the thought away. Danielle might be learning to tolerate me, but there was no chance she actually liked me.
Now that the potion was ready, we took turns putting the formula on our weapons. Once we finished and were packing everything up, the yawns started.
“It’s been a long day,” Danielle said in between yawns. “I’m gonna head to bed.”
“Me, too,” Kate said. “Chris—will you help me bring the weapons downstairs?”
He pointed to the kitchen. “I actually wanted to grab some more food first—”
“Chris.” Kate repeated his name, glancing at Blake and me and then back to Chris again. Her cheeks turned bright pink—she couldn’t have been more obvious about her intention to give Blake and me some alone time if she’d tried. “Just come downstairs and help me with the weapons. Okay?”
“Right,” he said sheepishly, gathering a huge bundle of arrows in his arms. “Let’s bring these all downstairs.”
Soon enough, the three of them were gone, and Blake and I were finally alone.
“So…” he said, smirking and leaning back against the table. “Want to go up to the top deck?”
“Is that your way of asking if I want to go make out?” I teased. “Like when a guy asks to sit in the back row of the movie thea—”
I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because the next thing I knew, Blake’s lips were on mine, and whatever else I was thinking about was erased from my mind. I melted into his kiss, and it was like that one kiss made up for the tons of kisses we’d missed this past month when I was being so stubborn about keeping my distance from him. I couldn’t believe I’d been such an idiot.
But I was more thankful than ever that I was here with him now, and after losing Rachael today, I was determined not to let one more second go by when I would take Blake’s being here for granted again.
“I don’t need to bring you to the top deck to kiss you,” he said when he finally pulled away. “But I did think it might be a nice place to hang out.”
“A ‘nice place to hang out’”? I quoted, chuckling. “You mean… you thought it would be romantic?”
“That’s another way to put it.” He reached for my hand and pulled me toward the steps, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Come on. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, given all of the monster slaying we’ve been doing, but for the past few days we’ve been on a private yacht in Greece. I think it’s about time we enjoyed it.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The next morning I woke up to the heat of the sun on my face. I opened my eyes, and saw Blake sprawled out on the cushion next to me, still fast asleep. I smiled as I thought about what we’d talked about last night—how we’d agreed to officially be together. When we weren’t talking, we spent the rest of the night kissing, making up for lost time. I didn’t remember laying down and closing my eyes, but we must have been so exhausted from slaying the hydra that we’d fallen asleep up here.
Not wanting to wake him, I tiptoed across the deck and went downstairs to indulge in an extra long, hot shower. It was the first time since our arrival that we weren’t rushing to complete the next task on our mission, and it was nice to finally have some time to myself.
Once I emerged, everyone else was up and about, and I went upstairs to join them for breakfast. I sat next to Blake, and we shared a secret smile. If anyone else noticed, they didn’t say a thing.
The only person who wasn’t there was Ethan. No one spoke of him, but his absence weighed on me for the entire meal. He shouldn’t be left alone during such a hard time.
“How’s Ethan doing?” I asked once we’d finished eating. “Has anyone talked to him?”
“I did last night,” Hypatia said. “He requested to be sent back home as soon as possible.”
“How soon?” I asked.
“He asked me to get him after breakfast, so he could say goodbye to all of you.”
“Wow,” Kate said. “So… he’s going home right now?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I spoke with the Head Elder of Perth a few hours ago, and she’ll be waiting for him at the exit of the portal. I filled her in on everything that happened to him, so she’ll be prepared to help him adjust back to his regular life. It’s going to be difficult for him, but he’s a strong boy. I trust he’ll make it out of this okay.”
“I hope so,” I said, although when I remembered the emptiness in his eyes when his sister died, and the accusation in his voice when he blamed me for her death, I knew he would never be the same.
Hypatia went downstairs to tell him it was time to leave. I was nervous to see him—I’d expected him to be a mess, and to still be angry with me. But when he joined us in the main area, I was surprised by how strong he looked. He’d showered, put on fresh clothes, and he had his sword at his hip—every bit a son of Zeus.
“I assume Hypatia already told you that I’m leaving,” he said, his voice surprisingly steady. “But before I go, I wanted to thank all of you. If you hadn’t come to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, Rachael and I would have been stuck on that island for eternity, under the spell of the lotus fruit, having no idea who we were or where we came from.” His voice choked up when he said his sister’s name, and I looked down at my hands, guilt filling my chest as I replayed what had happened to her.
Rachael should be here with him now, going home to see their mom for the first time in over two years. Instead, she was buried in the cave of the hydra. Her family would never see her again. And there was nothing that any of us could do to bring her back.
“And Nicole,” Ethan continued, and I whipped my head up, surprised that he was talking to me. “I know you would have saved Rachael if you could have. I’m sorry that it wasn’t possible.”
“Me, too,” I told him, figuring that was the closest thing to an apology that I would get.
Hypatia stepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her. “Have you given any more thought about what you’re going to tell your mom?” she asked him.
“Yes.” He nodded. “I’ve decided to tell her the truth. Rachael would have wanted her to know what really happened to her.”
A tear dropped out of my eye, and I brushed it off my cheek. Because Ethan was right. Our parents deserved to know the truth about us. I’d kept everything secret from my family since finding out about what I am, because I thought that would be the best way to keep them safe. But lying to them was eating at my soul every day. And until I came clean, the lies would never be able to stop.
As Hypatia prepared the portal, Ethan toyed with the chain around his neck. The amulet from his father was under his shirt, but seeing it reminded me of one more thing.
“I have one question before you leave,” I said to him, and he looked at me, as if waiting for me to continue. “How does your amulet work? You just think of your father while you’re wearing it, and he comes to you?”
“I have to be touching it,” he said, reaching for the chain again. “It doesn’t work every time—I guess it depends on how busy my dad is. But whenever I’ve really needed him, he comes.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Hopefully it’ll work the same way with my father, too.”
Blake took my hand, and I leaned into him, feeling stronger than ever. Because yes, I wanted to speak with my father more than anything. But I’d gotten this far without him. And I knew that going forward, Blake and the others would have my back. That even included Danielle—which was something I would have never thought possible if you’d asked me when I’d first moved here.
But somehow, in the past few weeks, they’d all become my family.
We watched Ethan walk through the portal, and his gaze locked with mine the moment before he disappeared. I froze in place, a shiver running down my spine at the way he’d looked at me. Because even tho
ugh he’d apologized, I recognized the look in his eyes.
Pure, absolute hate.
He still blamed me for Rachael’s death. And I had a sinking feeling that despite what he’d said, he would never truly be able to forgive me.
I couldn’t blame him. Because even though I wanted to move forward, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to forgive myself either.
* * *
Thank you for reading Elementals 2: The Blood of the Hydra! If you enjoyed this book, please remember to leave a review on Amazon. Positive reviews are the best way to thank an author for writing a book you loved, since when a book has a lot of reviews, Amazon shows the book to more potential readers. I publish my books independently, so without a big publisher promoting for me, your review is so important in helping to spread word of the series. Your review doesn’t have to be long—one or two sentences is fine! I read all my reviews, and appreciate each and every one of them
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Turn to the next page for a sneak peak of the next book in the series, Elementals 3: The Head of Medusa! Or you can pre-order it now by CLICKING HERE.
ELEMENTALS
THE HEAD OF MEDUSA
Book three in the Elementals series
COMING JUNE 29, 2016
Turn the page for a sneak peak!
CHAPTER ONE
“What was it like growing up in Georgia? You lived on a farm—a peach tree farm. Right?”
Blake sat across from me at dinner, watching me as I dipped a piece of bread into the fondue pot of cheese. I spun the bread around so the cheese was evenly dispersed, unable to keep myself from chuckling as I thought about the answer to his question.
“What?” He leaned forward, clearly concerned. “It was a peach tree farm, right?”
“It was.” I nodded. “But that’s not why I was laughing.”
“Hm.” He dipped a carrot into the cheese and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Once finished, he said, “Since you’re obviously not volunteering the information, then I guess I’ll ask—what’s so funny?”
“This.” I motioned around the fancy fondue restaurant, where people ate and chatted as if they had no cares in the world. “Us. Trying to pretend like we’re normal.”
“I thought that was the point of this first ‘official’ date?” he asked. “For us to go out like a ‘normal’ couple.”
I smiled when he said it—couple. After all the craziness these past few months since I’d moved to Kinsley, Massachusetts and discovered that I was a witch descended from the Greek gods, Blake and I were finally an official couple. Up until recently, I didn’t think it would actually happen. Because when I first met Blake, he had a girlfriend. Danielle. Their relationship was on the rocks, but even so, they were still together.
He eventually broke up with her, but by then, me, Blake, Danielle, Kate, and Chris had already been gifted with elemental powers by the gods themselves. As Darius—the Elder of our town and the person in charge of teaching young witches how to use our powers—explained to us, we’d been chosen because the gods believed we were the five who could stop the Titans from returning to Earth from the prison world—Kerberos—that they’d been locked in thousands of years ago. The only thing keeping the Titans from Earth was a sealed portal between Earth and Kerberos, but that portal was weakening enough that a few less powerful monsters were able to sneak through.
Our job was to destroy those monsters before they could harm anyone in the mortal world. We also have a larger job—to seal the portal before it opens completely on the summer solstice. We still weren’t sure how we were supposed to do that, but along with training every day, we were researching to find the answers.
So after Blake and Danielle had broken up, I’d considered him off-limits. We had to focus on our mission, and I didn’t want any personal drama between the three of us to mess that up.
There was also another reason why I’d been hesitant to let Blake in. Soon after receiving our elementals powers, I’d realized that my power to heal with a touch wasn’t all that I could do. I had the ability to kill with a touch, too. But to kill, I had to call upon black energy, which, according to witch law, is illegal. Witches caught using black energy could have their powers stripped, or worse, they could be killed.
Terrified of the consequences, I didn’t tell anyone about the darker side of my ability. Not even Blake. And since it would be impossible to get close to him without telling him the truth about my power, I’d kept my distance, making sure we were never alone together.
But last month, we realized that the monsters we thought we’d killed weren’t really dead—they were just being sent back to Kerberos, where they could escape again. We learned that we needed to gather three magical items to create a potion for our weapons that would put the monsters in limbo for a year so they couldn’t come back. The three items could only be found on the hidden, magical islands in Greece, so the five of us had journeyed there to retrieve them. Blake and I grew closer during that journey. After a talk I had with Danielle where she told me that she wouldn’t let any personal drama between us distract her from our mission, Blake and I finally decided to be together.
And now, two weeks after returning home, Blake and I were on our first official date as boyfriend and girlfriend.
I’d been anxious about the date for the past few days. I’d never been on a real date before. The adult kind of date, where he made a reservation at one of the nicest restaurants in town for a Saturday night, picked me up, and we sat down to talk and learn more about each other. It always looked so romantic in the movies—and when Blake had asked me out earlier that week, I’d jumped to say yes.
The date was supposed to be perfect. But so far, it was going terribly. In an attempt to be “normal,” we’d agreed to avoid mentioning magic… but because magic had brought us together, we were straining for things to talk about. It was awkward. And “awkward” was not how I wanted our first date to be.
“I was laughing because my life in Georgia doesn’t feel like it was mine anymore,” I finally said. “I’ve changed so much since moving here. Now that I know what I am, I feel like I have a real purpose in my life. I’d never had that before. So it seems silly to try to pretend like we’re a ‘normal’ couple, when we’re so much more than that.”
He rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward, his gaze locked on mine. His warm, burnt brown eyes were starting to become so familiar that I’d memorized the placement of each fleck of gold within them. “Does that mean you’re ready to stop trying to force all this small talk?” he asked. “Because I definitely am.”
“Yes,” I said, not needing to think twice about it. “I hate pretending that everything that makes us us—the magic, our abilities, and the adventures—doesn’t exist. Pretending makes me feel like there’s a wall between us. Besides, why should we try to be normal? Normal is boring.”
“Good,” he said, holding his hand above the fondue pot. “Because this cheese is getting cold, and I know just how to fix it.”
Seconds later, the cheese simmered, fresh waves of steam drifted up from it toward the ceiling. I dipped another piece of bread into it, pleased to find that it was now the perfect temperature.
“How did you do that?” I asked once I’d finished chewing. “I thought these stoves were electric.”
None of us could create our element—we could only manipulate it. Chris, Danielle, and I were lucky, since our elements surrounded us at all times. It was a bit more difficult for Danielle, because if she wasn’t around liquid water she had to pull the water out of the air, but she’d eventually gotten the hang of it. Kate needed to be near the Earth to use her ability—she’d been powerless at sea, so far away from her element—and Blake carried his lighter at all times so he wasn’t at a disadvantage. After all, thanks to electricity people rarely relied on actual fire
anymore, unless it was for aesthetic purposes.
“There’s a spark of fire in electricity,” he said. “To control fire, all I need is a spark.”
“But I thought it was too hard to do that with electricity without making it short circuit or explode?”
“I’ve been practicing.” He smirked. “Why—are you impressed?”
“Very.” I leaned forward, feeling more energized than I had all night. “Especially since you did it without even seeing the burner.”
It was amazing how far we’d come in using our powers. My ability was unique because it was the power over spirit—and spirit wasn’t something that could be seen—but the others each could control a physical element. Blake was fire, Danielle was water, Kate was Earth, and Chris was air. Until recently, we thought they had to see their element to use it. But in Greece, we were in a life or death situation while fighting the hydra, and Kate made tree roots grow into the cave even though the trees weren’t in her line of sight.
That moment taught us that with more focus, it was possible to control elements without having to see them.
“Does it take up more of your energy to do that?” I asked.
“It does.” He nodded. “But warming up our cheese is hardly going to drain my energy completely.”
“So you were just showing off, then?” I asked coyly.
“Of course,” he said. “After all, I have a hot date to impress.”
His words made me blush, and I reached for the sun pendant on my necklace, running my fingers over the charm. The pendant had been sent to me by Apollo—my father. Yes, that Apollo—the Olympian god. But even though my father was a god, my mom was still a human… which made me a mix of the two. A demigod.
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