34. The Hot Guy Sure Has a Lot of Enemies
34
The Hot Guy Sure Has a Lot of Enemies
You
You’ve just finished getting dressed—at least back into your swimwear—when it starts to pour down rain again. Buckets and buckets of rain as flashes of lightning race across the dark sky.
Okay, so much for your awesome night’s weather holding.
It’s rare for this area to get thunderstorms like this, and Ziros frowns up at the sky as the yacht rocks and rises steeply in the swelling waves before crashing back down.
Goosebumps rise along your arms as you hug a towel around your shoulders with one hand against the whipping wind, clinging to the rail with your other.
A towel that is instantly soaked.
“What are the chances this is just a normal storm?” you shout into the wind, glancing up at the swirling black clouds overhead.
Ziros glares at the sky, holding out one palm, and a bubble of calm air swirls around you, reducing the wind to no more than a light spring breeze.
Finally, you can hear yourself think.
At least, until the crash of thunder roars down around you, nearly drowning Ziros’ voice as he growls, “ Get inside, human .”
Before you can ask why, you see it: There, not thirty yards to your left, a giant whirlpool is forming in the ocean’s surface.
You scream as the yacht tilts, veering toward the swirling vortex.
This is like something out of one of those pirate-themed movies. Only—it’s way more fun when you’re enjoying popcorn and drinks and watching the actors face their fate with valiance and swagger, knowing all along that it is just a movie and nothing like that could ever happen in real life.
But now—
Now your relaxing night pretending you’re super rich on the superyacht is turning from dream to living nightmare!
You cling to the railing, your towel flying from your shoulders, disappearing into the raging whirlpool below as the yacht tilts.
You’d love to get back inside the main cabin like Ziros instructed, but there’s no way you can move. If you let go of this railing, you’ll probably be ejected into the ocean, lost forever, just like that poor luxury pool towel.
And you’d be content just to keep clinging on for dear life, except as the yacht tilts further, all the unsecured pool furnishings tip right along with it.
You’re about half a second from being smooshed alive by a designer deck chair that probably cost more than a car—when Ziros lunges, dragging you out of the way just in time.
“You good?” He asks, hanging onto the railing with one hand, holding you with the other as the yacht tilts further.
You nod somewhat uncertainly.
Because how alright can you actually be when there’s a giant whirlpool about to pull you and the yacht down to certain doom in a watery grave?
“What are the chances there’s a sea monster down there?” You ask over the next roar of thunder as Ziros stands, holding you tightly against his side, a determined yet grim expression across his face.
“In a little bay like this?” He shakes his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling I know who it is. And it’s not a sea monster.” Under his breath, he adds, “A sea monster would be much better.”
Who? But there’s no time to ask what he means.
The yacht swirls closer to the impending whirlpool, the crew screaming from down below.
It’s not just your lives at stake.
It’s everyone aboard’s.
“What are we gonna do?” You ask, clinging tightly to Ziros’ side. “We’ve got to do something!”
“You just hold tight,” he says, pushing you through the glass doors leading to the owner’s cabin. “I’ll handle this.”
Before you get a chance to ask what’s going on or demand he tell you his plan, he clicks the doors shut, turning to face the rising maelstrom.
“Alright, you big watery tyrant,” he yells, his voice booming, carried all directions on the wind. “Tell me what you’re after this time!”
You’re not sure what you’re expecting, but it isn’t this. It isn’t a big, bare-chested blue guy wearing a golden crown and spiked gauntlets, carrying a trident as he materializes out of the water from the mouth of a wave. The funnel of water deposits him on the deck where you and Ziros had been standing—okay, more than just standing—moments before.
He stands tall, legs apart, the staff of his trident braced against the deck. The stance of a warrior ready to fight.
Hang on.
Is that…
Is that Poseidon!?
Is Ziros a demigod!? Is that what his other half is?
Of all the things you’d been expecting, a sea monster would have been easier to believe than this.
At first you can’t decide what you feel more: excited, or terrified.
Then Poseidon takes two hulking, yacht-shaking steps toward the flimsy glass doors that keep you safe, and you know for sure what you feel.
Terrified.
Definitely terrified.
Because he doesn’t look happy.
Or nice.
No. Not nice at all. In fact, he’s got a terrible, angry snarl contorting his features, and glowing vengeful eyes narrowed into slits.
Ziros steps in front of him to block his path, shoving a wall of wind out, but it barely makes the angry sea god flinch.
“You’re weak,” Poseidon says with a wry laugh as a wall of water shoves Ziros back, knocking him into the railing so hard, Ziros stumbles to one knee. “Even weaker than you already were, that is! What’s become of you? Cavorting with humans . Ha!”
You gasp, reaching for the doors as another wall of water slams into Ziros, nearly throwing him overboard as the yacht tilts again and more furnishings slide down the deck toward him.
Ziros glances your direction, and your eyes meet.
For a fraction of an instant, it’s as if all time is frozen.
You almost swear maybe he’s going to say something. He opens his mouth, but another enormous wave smacks into the yacht before he can speak.
And when it’s gone, so is he.
You stare after him. Stare into the spot where Ziros was.
Blinking.
Waiting for him to reappear.
Poseidon turns, laughing, and evaporates in a funnel of water. Disappearing back into the ocean.
Down below, the whirlpool evaporates just as quickly as it formed.
It’s as if it was never there at all.
Even the storm has suddenly gone quiet, with a patch of clear sky opening up to stars overhead.
There’s nothing but midnight-black sea as far as the eye can see, calm peaks all the way until the lights on the distant shore.
Never have calm seas looked so horrifying.
Your heart wrenches.
A deep, aching loss tugs from within.
Maybe that’s your lifeline, the link connecting you with Ziros. How far can he go before it pulls him back?
God, you hope it will pull him back soon. And safely.
Then you can get far, far away and never set foot over the ocean again.
You hold your breath without realizing you’re doing it, unable to relax.
If only he’d told you he had an enemy in the ocean!
You cling to the handles of the sliding door, staring outside, afraid to move.
Waiting.
Waiting for Ziros to surface.
But you can’t hold your breath any longer. Can he?
A minute passes, then another.
You slip outside, moving to the rail. Gazing out over the sea as the deep ache within grows.
He can’t be gone.
He can’t!
You reach for the glowing tether that connects you, normally so faint you can barely see it even when you look, but now it’s glowing so brightly, it nearly stings your eyes where it gleams against the dark of the ocean surface where it disappears. And you feel even dizzier than when you’d held your breath.
That’s when you realize—this time, it’s not Ziros giving you his energy.
No.
You’re giving him yours.
But there’s a limit to how long you can last, especially after all that blood you donated . All you can hope is that it will somehow help. That your blood will help him somehow.
That whatever is going on down there, it’s enough to save him. To help him hold out a little longer.
“ Please ,” you whisper into the sea. “Please, Ziros. Please be okay.”