I sighed and turned back toward Ilis’s. The griffin would get tired of following me, eventually.
I made it back to the edge of the island without any further surprises. My arm throbbed with every beat of my heart and I hoped it wasn’t infected. I glanced over my shoulder at the griffin as he watched me prepare to enter the water.
The look in his eyes said I was crazy for leaving the safety of firm ground.
He wasn’t wrong.
“You should follow your friends before you lose their scent,” I told him. He ignored that, his gaze dropping to the water. His lips pulled back from his teeth.
“Yeah, I’m not exactly stoked about it either.”
I sat and dangled my legs into the water, took a deep breath, and slid down. The griffin paced back and forth on dry land, clearly unhappy with my decisions.
He wasn’t the only one.
The water was still murky, and various bugs took the opportunity to dive bomb my face and neck as I focused all my attention on making it to the other island.
I was halfway across when the griffin roared. He gave me enough warning that I took a deep breath as the creature struck.
Half of the breath shot from my lungs as the water closed over my head and I was dragged down, down, down.
I slashed out with my Mark II, but I was uncoordinated in the water. Whatever had attacked me currently had its teeth clamped around my ankle. I folded in half and stabbed with my knife, this time making contact. Blood filled the murky water, and I saw a flash of furious orange eyes as I swam like hell toward the surface.
I should have taken my fucking boots off. That decision had sure come back to bite me in the ass.
The surface was within a few inches now. I reached for it, desperately kicking, using my free hand to push myself through the water.
My fingertips broke the water.
And I was pulled down again.
My lungs screamed for air, my body already weakened from my injuries and the drug Ilis had slipped me. I kicked out, thrashing in the creature’s grip, and it ignored me. I caught a flash of scales in my peripheral vision. I stabbed once more, making contact, but my blade slid off thick scales.
All it needed to do was wait me out. I didn’t have much longer in me.
White filled my vision. The shock of it made me lose more of the precious breath in my lungs. The griffin didn’t stand a chance in the water with his wings and heavy bulk.
The creature released me, turning to new prey, and the griffin somehow rolled beneath my body.
He shot up, lifting me out of the water. I inhaled, gasping precious oxygen as I flew through the air. He’d angled me toward Ilis’s island, and I landed in the mud, still chest-deep in the water, but out of immediate danger.
The griffin, on the other hand…
The water was murky with blood. He’d jumped in to save me.
I couldn’t let him die.
I took a few deep breaths, hyperventilating in an effort to store more oxygen. Then I dove.
I cut through the water, driven by pure panic. The thought of the kindness in the gentle griffin’s eyes, replaced by a vision of that kindness being snuffed out…
The murky water gave way to white fur. The griffin filled my vision as he swam toward me. And I understood, without knowing why, that he wasn’t pleased that I’d gotten backinthe water.
He shoved his head into my chest, propelling me back in the direction I’d come. Where was the creature who’d dragged me down?
I struggled in an attempt to peer around the griffin to the scaled creature, but the longer I took to get out of the water, the longer the griffin was prey for the creature lying in wait.
I gasped for air as my head popped above the water, lunging out of the way so the griffin could make it onto the shore. Once there, I rolled onto my back, dragging precious cool air into my lungs.
