Chapter 28 #2
Now Cetus has rivers of blood leaking from one ear, two eyes, and the wounds caused by ice sticking out from one cheek like porcupine quills. The monster is still alive, though, with a little less than half his health bar left. His whale tail thrashes, and large waves roll toward the ship.
“Close your mouth and hold on to something!” I shout for anyone to hear.
I shut my eyes and pie hole, and I feel Guy’s hand pressing my head against the mast. He must have seen the way my head collided into it before.
As expected, the waves send the boat rocking back and forth wildly. Just when the deck settles, Cetus unleashes a mighty, echoing grunt. Though he’s wounded, we still have quite a fight on our hands.
I open my eyes to see what the monster might do next so that I can prepare.
The first thing I see, however, is Alexander standing on the dead center of the deck with his Benelli raised.
With perfect aim, a bullet flies from the shotgun straight into the space between Cetus’s eyes.
Then Alexander shoots another and another after that, each one hitting its mark perfectly.
Cetus doesn’t make a sound. It can’t. It’s dead.
The monster’s head drops, breaking the railing beneath it. Its blood-covered snout drags against the side of the ship as he sinks lower and lower and lower until we can’t even see one bristle.
None of us speak. We don’t even gasp, scream, or cry. We only watch in silence, like if we look away or direct any attention at all away from it, the spell will end, and Cetus will return.
All that we’ve gone through just to survive Cetus, even just the rocking of the ship, and what ended the creature were a few well-aimed bullets. If not for Alexander, we would have all died.
The waves smooth out, and the deck settles. The only sound is a seagull cawing in the distance. Then an icy sea breeze slices through my thin, wet chiton, and a shivering shriek escapes me.
Guy wraps his arms around me to warm me. “Are you okay?” he whispers against my temple.
“Yeah,” I say.
“We need help down here!” Cait calls out.
I look down to see her bent over Joshua, who simply stares at his leg. A bone has broken through the skin on his shin. How is he not screaming his head off?
“I’m going to release the lasso spell, okay?” Guy says.
I’m glad we’re up in the crow’s nest because I stumble backward the moment I’m no longer bound to the mast. The wall of our station keeps me from plummeting to the deck.
My legs wobble when I climb down the ladder, but adrenaline and determination help me get to Joshua, regardless. The closer I get, the more grisly his leg looks. He’s still just staring at it in shock. I can only assume that his pain isn’t registering yet.
It’s only because of game logic that my staff is on my back and not halfway across the sea right now. I take it from its magically magnetic position and clasp it tight as I say, “Heal Major Wound.”
The bone shifts inward until it’s no longer piercing the skin.
It pops into place, causing Joshua to wince at last. It’s too covered in blood and muscle for me to see, but I can sense the bone knitting together.
This is when Joshua screams. It seems his healing hurts more than the wound itself.
Then his flesh repairs as well, until his skin looks just like it would on any normal day.
Joshua looks at me through the slit between his heavy eyelids. “Thank you,” he whispers before he closes his eyes and falls asleep against Cait’s chest.
“We should get him to bed,” Sylvia says. “Even with Lauren healing him, it’s going to take a long rest for him to get any energy back.”
At this point, the vines holding Miko release, and she wakes up. Her eyes find Joshua right away. “He…he was amazing,” Miko says to no one in particular. She stares at him like he took on an entire army by himself. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that.”
Cait hoists him up and drapes him over her shoulder. “Our room better not be flooded.”
“It won’t be,” Sylvia says. “I mean, look at the deck.”
We scan our surroundings. The planks are as straight and unbroken as they were when we boarded. The railing is intact. It’s not even that slick with water.
“This ship respawns fast,” Guy says. Then he looks at the smooth ocean surface. “I hope Cetus takes at least a while longer.”
Another icy gust whips across me, and I rub furiously at the goosebumps on my arms. Then I notice how I look.
I hadn’t bothered to throw on a cloak when we moved to the deck for the battle.
There wasn’t time. So, I’ve been wearing the thin fabric of my chiton this whole time.
The wet, white fabric is almost sheer now and clings to every curve of my body. I might as well be naked.
I clasp my arms over my breasts and whip my head up hoping to see that my friends are all too distracted by Joshua to notice me.
Sylvia and Miko are already sluggishly walking away.
Cait is half turned from me but has stopped in her tracks.
Her eyes linger on mine, and her mouth parts in awe.
Guy stands next to her, his complete focus on me as his eyes wander down my body, hunger furrowing his brow.
I’ve never hated my body, but I’ve never considered it attractive.
Doug enjoyed fucking me for the first ten years of our relationship, but I don’t think he was picky about stuff like that.
When I met Aphrodite, I had the option to change my body any way that I wanted to, but it felt strange to walk around in something unfamiliar.
These curves are mine, and by the looks in my friends’ eyes, they’re sexy as fuck.
Dropping my arms feels like an act of bravery, but I do it anyway. I’m a goddamn Cleric of Aphrodite. I shouldn’t feel ashamed if people want me.
“Cait,” I say, tilting my head at her. “Let’s get Joshua to our room.”
She blinks, suddenly remembering she has a grown man hanging over her shoulder. “Uh, yeah, I-I’ll go do that.”
As Cait walks away, Guy approaches me. He finger combs my sodden hair away from my face, then places his lips on mine.
He’s not trying to impress me like he did last night.
There are no playful nips or trails across my body.
Instead, he presses us into a deep, ravenous kiss, only pulling away to give me a sweet peck on each of my cheeks and my forehead.
Guy rests his forehead against mine and says, “I need to get to know you. I need…Oh, God, I need you, Lauren.” Before I can respond, he clears his throat and turns around. “Let’s get you dry and warm,” he says before walking away, sure that I’ll follow him immediately.
I let a winter breeze slice across me first, hoping the discomfort will clear my head. That’s when I feel a hand on my shoulder and startle. It’s Alexander.
“You are most fair and brave,” he says. “Aphrodite wants you to have this.”
With his free hand, Alexander lifts a pink gem, similar to the one on my staff. Then he presses it to the bronze laurel on my head I’m wearing to increase my wisdom score. In an instant, the two fuse, and I feel…different in a way I can’t describe.
“What is this?” I ask.
“This gem ensures you’ll only attract those you romance first,” he answers.
“Holy fuck! Really?”
After all the drama over Cait and Guy, I needed this. I couldn’t handle another person complicating things.
Alexander nods.
“That’s a huge deal.” I shake my head, confused. “Why would she give this to me? I didn’t really do anything to deserve it.”
Alexander looks over his shoulder to some invisible entity and then back to me. “She’s saying you’ve done more than you think and that you need to talk to your friends.”
“I’ll do that, then,” I say, then make my way below deck.
Joshua is in a deep sleep on his bed, but the rest of us sit around the table, leaning over it with our elbows propped on the surface and our weary heads resting on our palms. It’s hard to believe that we ate breakfast only an hour ago.
It’s even harder to accept that not a platter is out of place on the table. It’s all exactly how we left it.