by Amy Braun
“I saw one at the back of the ship, and I wanted to see if it would come closer.” As he spoke, I Adapted my eyes and was able to see clearly what had excited Corey so much.
There were two of them, each about ten feet long. They were pale in color and had elongated, serpentine bodies. Two wing-like fins spanned out on either side of their torsos. Their snouts were pointed and covered with short, ridged horns. I couldn’t see their faces directly, but I was willing to bet they had mouthfuls of nasty, sharp teeth. And I was sure they could move even faster than what I was seeing.
A small body pressed to my side. I glanced at Selena, who was too amazed by the creatures to see how close she’d gotten to me. Mason sidled up next to Corey on my right, equally as impressed.
“What are they?” Mason asked.
“Cetea,” came the answer. “Sea dragons equally as fierce as they are impressive.”
We turned and met the unwelcome stare of Kallis Faidon. He stood at the entrance of the cabin, blocking our way in. A quick glance through the window showed me that Liam was facing down Alexi and Catalina, with Tobin, Olivia, and Ross just behind them. Alexi in particular was giving my brother a coarse look.
The prow suddenly felt far too crowded.
I stepped away from the group and made my way toward the cabin. “You can tell that just from a single glance?”
Kallis smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “Like calls to like. Surely you know something about that, Mr. Areios.”
I glared at him, knowing exactly what he was insinuating. I stopped right in front of him and nodded toward the cabin. “I want to get a drink,” I stated.
Kallis chuckled then turned so I could walk past. I heard Kallis following me, and sensed Liam’s eyes on him.
I shut out the banter when I made it below the deck of the ship. Kallis’s footsteps were directly behind me. I pretended not to notice and rifled through one of the coolers we brought for a bottle of water. I grabbed one, turned—
And lobbed it at Kallis’s face.
His reflexes were quick. He caught the bottle before it could strike him. Damn. Should have Adapted.
Kallis laughed. “Careful, Areios. Someone might say you’re feeling a little vindictive.”
“Just tell me what you want.”
Kallis spun the water bottle on his palm without taking his eyes off me.
“To act as eyes and ears for Ares.”
I was surprised at how readily he offered the truth. Or what I cautiously assumed was the truth.
“You’re a water scion. Ares isn’t your god. What do you care what he wants?”
Kallis stopped spinning the bottle and set it aside. “I was a fifteen when the Re-Emergence happened. It was like watching the apocalypse. Skies turned black, the earth shook, ocean waves rose to the height of apartment buildings. Poseidon came on one of those waves. He parted the sea like Moses. The moment I saw him, I felt the power. My body was so cold I thought I was going to die of hypothermia. But instead of dying, I gained power.” He held up his hands, palms facing him, and called on his magic. Cool water trickled out of his pores and hardened into ice over his flesh. He turned his hands back and forth, causing the frost to shimmer under the cabin lights.
“It’s a beautiful power, and I used it in an ugly way. I covered my hands in blood to gain a foothold in the underworld. Before I started the Cetea, they called me the Ice King.” He smirked. “I miss that title, sometimes. But every king needs a queen, and I knew I’d found mine when I met Anna. She was even more ruthless than I was, and I loved her for it. She gave me my children, and I loved them just as much. The only thing I didn’t love as much as my family was my forefather.”
I folded my arms across my chest, wishing I could push away the knot growing in my stomach.
“You see, Poseidon notices power and demands gratitude for it. We worshipped him every single day. We worked to maintain the Clan’s power every single day. We hardly had any time for ourselves. So I made time. I carved some time out of worship for Poseidon so I could be with my family. We went boating.” Kallis’s eyes flicked around the walls. “On a boat just like this. It was sunny and warm one moment, and thirty minutes later, we were caught in a storm.”
Kallis lowered his gaze. “I saved my twins. Anna begged me to, and no man in love ever refuses his wife. Just as we reached a buoy, I looked back to see Anna trying to catch up. But she was yanked under the water.” He looked me dead in the eye, but he wasn’t seeing me. “You’d be amazed at how red water looks when there’s a gallon of blood in it.” He blinked, and his focus shifted from the memories to me. “Even when I knew she was dead, I kept screaming for Poseidon to save her. To give her back to me and my children. We hadn’t done anything wrong by him. And he did show up. He rose straight from the water that had been filled with her blood. He looked me square in the eye and said, ‘You stopped giving me your blood, so I took all of hers.’”
Gods above and below. I knew that Poseidon was brutal when he wanted to be, but that was beyond cruel.
“We worshipped Poseidon every single day after that. Even at Anna’s funeral, we gave thanks to her murderer and let him grow fat off it. I knew I couldn’t take my revenge on him straight on. All I had to do was wait for the right moment. And sure enough, another god came knocking a few months ago.”
I tightened my arms around my chest. “You bargained with Ares.”
Kallis smiled. “I did, indeed. He showed me a world of new gods and more power. I can’t say I disapproved.”
Anger simmered within me. “You honestly think there will be a place for you if Ares and his pals win?”
“Probably not, but Poseidon won’t be in this new world, and that’s all I care about. If death is the price for pulling out that bastard’s cold heart with my bare hands, I’ll pay it. It’ll hardly be the first time I carved my way to the top.”
I looked at him, processing everything he’d said. He truly believed in his insane mission to kill Poseidon. He thought that godsdamn Ares was going to help him do it.
Either some kind of twisted magic had been used on Kallis Faidon, just as it had been used on me, or he was truly, deeply, irrevocably insane.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
Kallis’s smile was wide and cruel. “Because you won’t be able to tell anyone.”
“Ares’s hex on my words doesn’t extend to you.”
“No, but I’m here to make sure you do as you’re told, like the good little soldier you were supposed to be. If you don’t, I have five people within my reach who will make sure you don’t share Ares’s secrets, even through that nifty little blood bond you share with your brother. In fact, if I or any of my Cetea get a hint that he knows more than he should, he will be the first to die.”
I believed him, but I couldn’t panic and attack him. Kallis was powerful, and I didn’t doubt that in the time it took me to attack him, he could send a signal up to his twins and cronies, letting them know to hurt or kill my friends.
Unless I killed him first.
The thought came out of the blue, and I hated it. I’d felt that kind of rage before, when my old Polemistés enemy, Marlow, had been far too close to Selena. But I never imagined I would feel it again for someone I barely knew, someone who I was completely unprepared to encounter.
I gripped the anger and shoved it aside. I might be ready to throw down with Kallis, but he was counting on it. Giving in to baser instincts would only cause more pain and misery down the line.
Besides, I wasn’t the only fighte
r on the boat.
I smiled menacingly. “You are seriously underestimating my brother and the heirs.”
Kallis laughed again. I was getting really tired of his smugness.
“Keep thinking that, Areios. Give yourself hope. You might as well enjoy it while you have it, because sooner or later, reality will crash back down on you, and you’ll find yourself in the same place I was. The only difference is that you’ll drown faster than I did.”
Kallis’s words stuck with me for longer than I wanted. Liam noticed, but aside from a brief word through the blood bond that I would talk to him on the island, he didn’t get a hint of what was going on.
I knew Kallis was going to betray us. Hell, every single one of us knew one group was going to get royally screwed over. We just didn’t know how or who would make the first move. Despite Kallis’s warning, I wasn’t going to be alone. I’d paid for that mistake in the past.
Besides, Kallis was strong, smart, and ruthless, but he wasn’t an heir, and he only had one set of magical abilities. Magic didn’t win every battle, but it sure as hell leveled the playing field.
After ending the conversation with Kallis and sending Liam a warning, I returned to the prow and watched the island morph into view.
It was a huge formation jutting up from the deep blue water. Atop its rocky surface were verdant trees and grass. Protruding from the side of the island was a fifty-foot-tall pier, evidence that the island was not easily accessible. There were no other boats I could see and no other buildings, even though Thea had told us there were a couple of small cottages and an old Sea Guard post scattered across the island.
“How is the island protected?” I asked Thea. “What kind of guards can we expect?”
“None,” she answered, pulling the yacht to a crawl and a stop “Most of the Sea Guard abandoned it after the Re-Emergence. Wildlife took it over. I’m part of a volunteer group that maintains it and makes sure they’re all okay, but…” Her aquamarine eyes roved the island’s surface. “There’s more than a few predators up there we’ll have to watch out for.”
Liam nudged Thea’s elbow and gave her a smile. “So, nothing we can’t handle?”
Thea smiled at him, but her nervousness was obvious. I understood. Alexi had been standing just seven feet away from us, watching Thea and Liam the entire time.
She stopped the boat next to the pier’s towering ladder and shut off the engine. She turned and looked at all eleven of us.
“Get the wetsuits on.”
Back at her shop, Thea had supplied us all with specially equipped wetsuits. They were sleek black and would either keep us warm or cool, depending on the temperature we were in. They were made of a tough but breathable neoprene material. They wouldn’t stop a knife, but they were better than nothing.
The groups split up, neither wanting to be too close the other when we were as vulnerable as we could be. My group stayed on the prow, closest to the ladder, while the Cetea stayed near the back of the boat.
I stripped down to my trunks, stepped into the wetsuit, then reached over my shoulder and zipped it up. Our weapons had been stashed in the prow’s compartments, so I pulled them out and started strapping them on. Ki̱demónas was compressed to its shorter form and sheathed on my back. Two combat knives were tucked into scabbards on either side of my ribs, with a third attached to my right pectoral. I’d forgone a sword, though I did have two small folding knives tucked into the pouch on the outside of my waterproof boots. I also attached one of the slim water bottles to my belt, right next to a waterproof torch.
I was ready to go.
“Gods, this thing is tight.”
I glanced up at the sound of Selena’s voice. She was pulling her light-blond hair up into a ponytail. The zipper at the back of her wetsuit was still open at the middle of her shoulder blades.
“Zip me up, please?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at me. “Normally I can reach, but…” she trailed off and swung her arm over her shoulder. The suit pulled tight around her shoulders, hindering her movement.
I stepped toward her as she pulled her hair forward over her shoulder. After I zipped up the wetsuit, she turned and looked at me. Her eyes were mesmerizing under the sunlight, which was good because it was difficult to ignore the way the wetsuit clung to every one of her perfect curves.
“Thanks,” she smiled at me.
Her eyes flicked to the Cetea as they donned their wetsuits. “This is a bad idea, Derek.”
I lowered my voice to match hers. “Have you Seen something?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. I tried to look ahead, but my Sight is blocked again. The whole place just feels like one big warning.”
She fumbled angrily with the belt at her hips. I put my hand on her shoulder. She froze and looked at me.
“It’ll be fine,” I told her. “Believe me when I say Liam and I have gone on missions with worse odds. We didn’t have the heirs of Zeus or Poseidon with us then. We didn’t have a wayfare scion. And we definitely didn’t have a gorgeous Farseer on our side.”
Selena’s lips parted, and I could see my words register with her. I hadn’t meant for it to slip out the way it had. But I’d said it, and all I could think about was the way Selena relaxed beneath my hand. I’d placed it close to her neck, and my thumb was less than a quarter of an inch away from her skin.
“Ready, Areios?”
I jumped a little and turned, removing my hand from Selena’s shoulder.
Kallis had snuck onto the prow and was watching us like a cat who’d cornered a mouse. The others had made their way to the rear of the boat and were climbing out onto the pier’s ladder.
“Best hurry,” he sneered. “The sooner we find the Eye, the sooner you and your lovely lady can be free of us.”
If only it were that easy.
We crossed the pier in tense silence. My eyes scanned the island’s surface. I could see nothing but green ridges, hills, and trees. It was a beautiful island that used to welcome hundreds of visitors and tourists.
Now, like the No Go Zone, it had been left to the wildlife.
But I didn’t see any wildlife.
“Most of the creatures stay near the center of the island,” Thea told me when I slowed down. “I know where some of their nests and dens are, but we need to be careful. If we spook them, they’ll attack.”
“What kind of animals are here?” asked Olivia, tying her dark hair back.
“Seals, seagulls, foxes, eagles, sirens, merpeople. Nothing to worry about.”
“So you say,” grumbled Alexi.
It was the first time I’d heard him speak, so I looked at him. He didn’t notice, too fixated on Thea with a worrying mix of hunger and rage. He hadn’t forgiven her for breaking his heart, and his silence made me concerned that he was going to act when our backs were turned.
“Look,” Thea went on, oblivious to Alexi’s glare. “I know this island like the back of my hand. If the Shard is here, we’ll find it.”
“Speaking of…” Kallis turned his cold blue eyes on Thea. “Tell us what you See, Farseer.”
She glared at him but held back whatever fiery comment she might have wanted to say. Resigned, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and fell into her magic.
While we waited in silence, I shuffled forward to get a better look at the island. I Adapted my hearing and eyesight and peered at the landscape again.
Not a whisper of movement or distant call. Birds didn’t even circle above us.
I believed Thea when she said that the animals would stay away from humans. But something didn’t sit right with me. It just felt… wrong.
I knelt down and pressed my palm to the verdant grass. Fingers concealed, I sent a whisper of aether into the ground. I wound my aura into the dark magic, hoping to spark a reaction.
Magic kicked into my hand.
I yanked my hand up, gla
d that my body was big enough to hide the sudden motion.
I stared at the grass. An imprint of my palm was visible in the growth, but it didn’t smoke like it would have if I’d used my fire magic. Instead, the grass dissolved, like it was crumbling to ash.
I flipped my hand end over end. There was no damage to my skin, and I didn’t feel different internally.
And yet… that magic… it had felt like Ares’s power when he hexed me just days ago.
There was a curse on the island.
We can’t stay here. I had to warn the others.
My neck flamed. I grimaced and pressed my hand to the War Pact. It felt puffy and raw, just as it had after it had first been branded onto me.
Ares’s words had an effect here, which meant he was involved with the curse on the place. He’d never said a word of it to me, but he knew it, which meant it was enforced through the Pact.
Which meant I couldn’t do anything to warn Liam or my friends.
“Derek?”
I started when I heard Corey’s concerned voice at my back. I stood up and turned.
I had become the center of attention. Selena had come out of her vision, and I hadn’t even noticed it.
My eyes shot to Kallis. He grinned at me. He knew. He knew what was coming.
Then why was he going through with a charade? And how had Ares known?
I had too many questions, too much rage building inside of me. But when I thought about wringing it from Kallis’s neck, the Pact flared again.
Whatever was going to happen, Kallis Faidon was directly involved.
And I couldn’t say a fucking thing.
I looked at my brother. His eyes darted to my scar. He must have figured out it was doing something strange to me.
“It just…” I looked at them all. “It reminds me of the first time I stepped into the No Go Zone.”
I wasn’t looking at Liam when I mentioned that place, but I knew the words struck home.