We’re in the engine room, Mahina breathed in awe, trying to take in everything at once.
Look later, I told her as I swam low, trying to get lost beneath the machinery. I had made it halfway across the room, Mahina at my heels, when Sabyn and Scylla burst through the hole. Though we had crammed ourselves into a crevice so small it was impossible to turn my head to watch them, I knew they were there. Partly because of the glow of their phosphorescence as they made their way down the narrow aisles and partly because the temperature of the water had dropped about twenty degrees.
I’d felt the drop in temperature outside as well, but had chalked it up to the difference between the tunnel and the open sea. Now, however, I wondered if it was Scylla who had that effect on the water, as I’d never felt a difference like that around Sabyn before. Was she doing it on purpose? Trying to freeze us into compliance? Or was she just so evil that the cold was a natural by-product of her existence?
Either way, Mahina squirmed in terror as Scylla got closer, and to keep her from moving I ended up clamping a hand down on her shoulder. Don’t move, I told her fiercely.
They’re going to find us. She sounded as close to hysteria as I had ever heard her.
Not if you don’t give us away. Just be still for a minute—
I can’t. Her voice rose until it was a high-pitched whine deep inside my head. We have to go. We have to move. She’s going to kill us if we stay here.
As Mahina pushed against me, crying a little, trying to get out, I knew that there would be no reasoning with her. Any second now, she would give away our hiding spot and whether I liked it or not, we were going to have to take on two of Tiamat’s most powerful allies.
Do you have any more of those grenade things in your bag? I asked her.
Only two. The distraction worked, had her focusing on what she could do to help instead of her utter certainty that we were about to die.
Shit. Two wasn’t going to do us much good, especially not if we still had to face Tiamat, a hoard of bunyip, and God only knew what else. Still, it would be stupid to save them for later if it meant dying now …
Get one of them out, I finally told Mahina, and Scylla must have felt the vibrations from her movements because the sea witch stopped in her tracks. Then turned and faced our hiding spot dead on before beginning to swim toward us.
Are you ready? I asked Mahina, who whimpered even as she pulled out the grenade, as well as the knife I had given her.
Scylla must have alerted Sabyn to our presence, because the next thing I knew, he too stopped his mad dash to the other side of the room and began making his way back toward us.
Mahina stiffened, tried to scoot out of our hiding place with the knife extended in front of her. Not yet, I cautioned.
But they’re getting closer.
Not close enough to use that, I told her. Trust me, give it just a few more seconds.
I kept my voice low and soothing, trying not to spook Mahina—or myself. Because if I was honest, I was one small step from wigging out as well. Still, that was exactly what they wanted, and I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. Wasn’t going to just roll over and let them kill us.
I waited, breath held, for one of them to make a move. But even as I postponed our attack, I was working, thinking, channeling energy and using it the same way I had seen Sabyn do during our “training” sessions.
Layer after layer, I quickly built a spear that was as sharp as a scalpel and probably three times as deadly, based on the power I was resolved to putting behind it.
It’s almost time, Mahina. Scylla was close, very close, because I could see the pink tinge to the water splashing over to us. She was obviously still bleeding, which, disgusting as it was to be this close to so much blood, could be an advantage for us. We just had to find a way to exploit her injury.
Scylla stopped a few feet away and just waited. Beside me, Mahina grew more agitated, but I still refused to let her strike out with the knife.
She who moves first loses. It was one of the first things Jared had taught me and I had lived by it for months now. Striking first meant lowering your guard, exposing your weaknesses. Waiting was a way to show your strength.
Almost, almost, I said to Mahina. Let her get a little closer. Let her—
My plan went completely awry when Mahina thrust her arm out prematurely, then pulled back through the water for all she was worth. The knife plunged into Scylla’s upper tail and the witch howled in agony.
Since it was too late for the attack I had hoped to launch, I sprang into action. Leaping up, I shoved Mahina behind me. She refused to let go of the knife as she went, so it ripped out of Scylla almost as quickly as it had gone in. Scylla screamed in rage and pain, and though I knew I was going to regret it later, I went for her instead of Sabyn. I figured it was better to finish her off early than to leave her injured and constantly have to watch my back.
Except it wasn’t that easy, because injured or not, Scylla still had a few tricks up her sleeve. As I moved closer, hoping to finish her off, I came into contact with the bloody water. The skin on my stomach started to burn, to blister, and I reared back in pain and shock.
Her blood is poisonous! Mahina shrieked. Don’t let it touch you!
It would have been nice if you’d warned me of that earlier!
Diving deep just as Sabyn sent a blast of energy crashing my way, I rinsed off the tainted blood, then wound my way around the machinery to come up behind Scylla. As the current was flowing toward her and Mahina, I hoped standing in the opposite direction would keep me away from the blood.
She half turned, shot a blast of energy straight at my head. I ducked and it missed me, thank God, but it was a little too close for comfort, especially in these cramped, crowded quarters. Besides, Sabyn was gearing up for another attack—after training with him for all those hours, I could sense it in the way he held his body and the air of expectation that surrounded him.
I braced myself for whatever he had planned, even as I turned, plunging my energy spear straight through Scylla’s heart. She screamed, clawed at it … and was dead before she hit the floor. I backed up quickly to avoid her blood.
Go, Mahina! I screamed as I squared off against Sabyn. Get out of here!
My best friend didn’t have to be asked twice. She scrambled for the hatch, was almost halfway through it when Sabyn casually reached out a hand. He made a fist like he was grabbing something and yanked hard. Mahina reeled backward, slamming brutally into one of the machines.
She didn’t get back up, and when I screamed her name, there was no response at all.
Give it up, Tempest, Sabyn said in a bored voice. She’s dead.
The words hit me hard, sent me reeling, but I refused to acknowledge them, let alone believe them. He couldn’t know what kind of shape Mahina was in any better than I did, couldn’t know—
I shoved thoughts of my friend to the back of my mind when Sabyn started to circle me, which was no mean feat in quarters this cramped. Yet somehow, he managed it.
I stepped back, turned with him, unwilling to let him out of my sight for a second. Our eyes met and he smiled, but it was so filled with malice and evil that it made me shudder. How had I ever thought, even for a second, that he might be a decent guy?
We don’t have to do this, you know. His voice was soft, sibilant, seductive. Tiamat doesn’t want to see you die.
I snorted. You could have fooled me.