It wasn’t a refreshingly salty sea, but it was water, and that was exactly what I needed to calm my annoyingly overwrought nerves.
I rushed to the edge, peered into the murky depths, and did a little happy dance.In no time at all, I was naked—my body shifted into mermaid form whether I had clothes on or not, and I had to admit I liked the outfits Queenie set me up with, so I took precautions—and diving into the sweet, sweet wetness.
Already feeling better, I leaped into the air, twisting twice, straightening my arms as I prepared to break the surface.I opened my eyes and spotted Asmoday and Krishna a few feet from the bank, watching me.Well, Asmoday was watching; his hands were covering Krishna’s eyes.
Shit, shit, shit.In my mermaid form, my boobs were exposed for all the world to see, specifically Asmoday, whose lust I could feel even here in the moat.
I had no idea how deep this moat was, but I was about to find out.Surely, going all the way to the bottom would separate me from the embarrassment I now felt over being so exposed to him like that.
Damn, it was deeper than I expected.It felt like I’d been swimming for far too long given this was simply a moat around a presumably closed hellmouth.
Hmm.Maybe I should have checked that status before diving in.
I finally stopped swimming, pausing to tread water and catch my breath.Well, not really my breath, since I was currently dragging oxygen into my body through my gills.As murky as it was near the surface, I couldn’t even see the end of my fin here.
Maybe I didn’t need to be quite this deep.It was entirely possible there were creatures down here I didn’t want to come face-to-face with.Something this close to a hellmouth—if there weren’t Daddy’s minions hiding down here, the townsfolk might have taken precautions?—
Something wrapped around my fin.I reached down and grabbed it, pulling it up to eye level so I could see it in the dimness.
A tentacle.With a claw on the end.
I threw it away from me and began swimming as fast as I could toward the surface.No wonder this moat was so deep.It had to be to house a kraken.
A kraken!That would definitely keep people away from the hellmouth.And, frankly, keep any demons trying to escape from doing so.
Also, that seemed like something Queenie would have warned a girl about.Especially one who was half mermaid.You’d think she’d realize I needed to take a swim on occasion.
But not with a kraken!
I felt the tentacles behind me, waving through the water, reaching for me, but I was managing to keep just out of reach.Finally, light began filtering into the water, and kraken hated sunlight.Just a little bit farther and I’d be safe.I’d have to flop onto shore and wait for my scales to dry before I could shift back into human form, which sucked.I was about to give Asmoday an eyeful of big girl knockers, but that was the lesser of two evils at the moment.
I broke the surface, barely noted that Krishna appeared to be struggling to get away from Asmoday, before I started swimming toward shore.I’d hardly managed two strokes before something wrapped around my fin again and jerked me under.
This time, the thing’s hold was a lot more secure, and it clung to me as it sank toward the bottom, towing me along with it.Doubling over, my poor, underutilized abs screaming at me, I grabbed the tentacle and tried to loosen it while mentally sifting through all the curses I knew, trying to determine what would be most effective against a gigantic octopus with four rows of needle-like teeth in its bulbous head and twenty tentacles that had razor sharp claws.
Something shot past me.A dog?
No, a wolf.It opened its jaws and clamped down on the tentacle wrapped around my fin.The tentacle immediately loosened, and I shimmied free while it flung the wolf through the water.
Ah, hell.Ten bucks said that was Krishna.This struck me as exactly something that kid would do.He’d pegged me for a bleeding heart after I’d snapped at Selina on his behalf, and he’d decided we were going to be friends forever.That wasn’t true, of course, since I didn’t plan to keep in touch with anyone after I left this place, but I had to admit, it was nice to actually have a friend.
And said friend couldn’t breathe underwater.I needed to go after him and get him to the surface while fending off a killer octopus.
No sweat.
Fluttering my tail, I charged through the water, catching up to Krishna, who was trying really damn hard not to pull in a lungful of water.Grabbing him around the stomach, I swam my heart out toward the surface.
Only to be snagged by that damn kraken again.
I gave the wolf a shove that would hopefully get his head above water, and my brain finally kicked into gear.I pulled on my magic, sending a lightning bolt at the offending tentacle.
It immediately jerked away and I hightailed it toward the surface, only to be waylaid yet again before I could get there.
This time, though, it was an arm, wrapping around my midsection, dragging me toward the mossy water’s edge.My head pushed through the waves, and I glanced over at Asmoday, who was swimming one-handed toward shore.A soaking wet, bedraggled wolf was already sitting in the grass, waiting for us.
Asmoday’s finger brushed the underside of my boob, and I shoved his arm away.“I got it from here,” I said icily.
“I was just trying to help,” he said, totally fake-innocent.
