The demons waiting in the wings began to move. Slowly at first, but then their speed ramped up. Heart beating wildly, I glanced at Ramiel and Uriel. They were stuck. There was no way they were gettingout.
I gave Az a look. One that reflected all the thoughts swirling inside my head. He nodded, his own facegrave.
A large, aquatic bellow rippled through the water, making every hair on my arms stand on end. What the shitoodles was that? The water around me began to almost shake, as if a deep, dark power rippled through these waters. I curled my hands into fists and whirled toward the sound, expecting to see a great white shark ease out of thedarkness.
In fact, it was much worse thanthat.
So muchworse.
It was a freaking Hydra. I recognized it at once, its tentacles whipping through the waters like a dozen angry snakes. The body of the creature was so massive that it was almost breathtaking. Almost. I was far too freaked out to be in awe of the thing. A Hydra had once tried to eat me. I didn’t really like my odds in thisscenario.
Its massive body eased through the waters, a darkness enshrouding its features so that I couldn’t see much except the vague outline of its form. The tentacle suddenly shot through the water, latched onto one of the water demons, and ripped it away from the fight. The water demon tumbled through the sea, disappearing into darkness. And then the Hydra bellowed, that deep, dark sound washing over us like a command. This sea was his home. And we were invading uponit.
* * *
Strangely enough,that did the trick. The water demons took one look at the bellowing Hydra and skedaddled right on out of there without so much as a goodbye. They all fled back into the depths in which they’d come. Good riddance. I kind of expected the Hydra to start bellowing at us to do the same, but it kind of just blinked at Sam and then at us before letting out a strange gurgling noise and disappearing after the waterdemons.
When the humans realized that we’d defeated (if you could call it that) our enemies, they threw ropes down so that we could scale up the side of the yacht. Once all six of us had reached safety, our crew clapped us on the back, giving us firm nods of thanks and approval. The reaction took me by surprise. I’d expected them to lob fearful questions our way, demanding us to take them back to shore. But there was a new hint of friendliness on their faces. And, dare I say it,respect?
After we’d all showered off the saltwater and changed into dry clothes, the Order gathered in the main cabin below decks. Uriel stared at Sam, and Sam stared at the floor. Lizzie, having no idea why there’d be tension in the room, frowned at the pair ofthem.
“Alright, I’m obviously missing something here,” she finally said, throwing up her hands. “What’s the deal? Shouldn’t we all be happy that we survived those water demons? And theHydra?”
“The Hydra was never going to hurt us,” Sam said quietly. “In fact, she chased the water demons away in order to saveus.”
Uriel grunted. “You can’t honestly believe that,Sam.”
“Did we experience two completely different things?” Sam arched a brow, his usual steady calmness replaced by irritation and frustration. “The Hydra looked right at me, and then turned tail to leave usalone.”
Az crossed his arms over his barrel chest and leaned back into the seat. “You’re suggesting that she recognized you. You don’t think that was the same Hydra thatArkas—”
“Now is not the time to talk about Arkas.” Ramiel shot a glance at me, and then atLizzie.”
So, clearly Ramiel still wasn’t ready to share the morbid details with me, even if Samwas.
“Fine,” Sam said, his tone still clipped. “But yes, I do think she recognized me. Frombefore.”
Uriel shook his head and let out a harsh chuckle. “Like that would make a difference. Not after what happened toArkas.”
My ears perked up, and I leaned forward, despite commanding my body to stay nonchalant about the whole thing. Uriel was two seconds away from spilling more information about the whole Arkas thing, and I was starting to feel a little desperate to find out exactly what had gone down. It involved a Hydra, that much I knew. That Hydra, in particular? Had she killed Arkas? If so, why had she let usgo?
So many questions. And so fewanswers.
“I agree. Let’s not talk about Arkas.” Az cut his eyes my way. “Erela has some much more interesting information to share with us. Don’tyou?”
“Huh?” I frowned. “What are you talkingabout?”
“The water demon. You said she mentioned something about yourwings?”
Oh, right. That. I’d almost forgotten amidst all the excitement. Taking a deep breath, I turned toward Ramiel. “A water demon cornered me while I was getting some air. She seemed to suggest there’s something up with mywings.”
Ramiel arched a brow. “Somethingupwith your wings. I couldn’t begin to imagine what she was talking about. Your wings are in your back. There’s not much that could be up aboutthem.”
“But maybe,” I said, plowing forward, “because of my fire demon…thing, there’s something different aboutthem.”
Ramiel gave a nod, then turned toward Sam. “What do you think? Has there been anything different about your wingsituation?”
“Nothing,” Sam said, shrugging. “Sorry, Erela. I think she was probably just trying to catch you offguard.”
