Chapter 6
Six
Ursula
Silas finally released me and I gripped the rocks, holding myself in place, while I searched for the beast. It was circling, on the hunt.
I kicked off, swimming up so the big bastard would see me.
My muscles had started to ache during our swim, but they still held strength.
I had to assume the rest of my body was feeling the lack of oxygen as much as my lungs were.
At least the pain level had dropped to bearable.
Gods, if Silas hadn’t stopped me from swimming for the surface earlier, that vicious fucking angel would have gone for my head.
I hated that he’d seen me panic. That couldn’t happen again.
It was time to prove my worth on this team.
The monster seemed to be scanning the ocean floor, so I thrashed about to draw its attention. Its huge head swished my way, flashing long, jagged teeth, and without pausing, it burst into action.
Fuck.
I did the same, trying to swim away. I wasn’t the strongest swimmer, there wasn’t much cause for it in Hell, and now that the creature was streaking through the water toward me at full speed, I wasn’t sure I’d make it back to Silas in time.
Panic filled me for a second fucking time that day, before I was yanked violently back down by the belt Silas had hooked through a loop on my jeans, and with such strength and speed, my legs and arms were thrown back, forcing me to do a scorpion, like the videos Roxy and I watched, laughing at the idiots falling on their faces while their legs flew up and almost touch the top of their freaking heads.
There was no time to feel humiliated, though, because the creature was right on my tail.
Silas yanked me back behind him and charged forward with his sword thrust out.
He impaled the giant sea monster with the razor-sharp tip, then drove the blade deeper as it thrashed and shrieked.
A dark swirling cloud surrounded them as blood pumped from the gaping wound, and Silas hung on, yanked his sword free, then plunged it back in, sawing at the beast’s throat.
Shaking off my stupor, I kicked off the rocks and went at it from the other side, thrusting my Hell-forged blade into its leathery flesh.
It was like riding a mechanical bull, the both of us hanging on with everything we had while it tried to toss us off.
Neither of us let up, and finally the monster stilled. Its mouth fell open, and its long blue tongue flopped out one side. We pulled our blades free and let it sink to the ocean floor.
Couldn’t get much deader than that. Still, we both watched it for several moments to make sure. Silas nudged me and we headed off again into the dark, murky seas before the scent of blood drew more unwanted attention.
We swam for what had to be several hours, until my limbs were burning and my muscles were twitching and cramping.
The cold had seeped so deep, my bones felt encased in ice.
Silas pointed to something floating above us.
A thick chain anchored whatever it was to the ocean floor, and it had a hole underneath.
Some kind of floating air trap? Silas kicked, swimming for it, and the top half of his body vanished inside.
He popped back out a moment later and motioned for me to follow.
I kicked with what little strength I had left and swam up.
I emerged inside a small space, an air trap like I thought, and dragged in a breath, my lungs filling with musty and briny oxygen.
The bottom was thick, the small space shaped like a dome.
It was fairly dry and sheltered from the wind and rain. Silas’s head came up beside me.
“Climb up,” he said.
“What? Why?”
“You need to rest.”
“No, I don’t. Besides, there’s only room for one of us.”
“Get up, Urs,” he said, his voice deep and no nonsense.
“First, you need to modify your tone when you speak to me. I don’t take orders from you. Second, I’m fine. I could keep going for hours.” My pride was doing all the talking now, and apparently, she was a complete idiot.
“Bullshit,” he said, seeing right through me. He grabbed my waist and tossed me up, surprising the hell out of me.
I landed on my ass. “What the fuck, Silas?”
“Your muscles are starved for oxygen. I can see you’re struggling, and we still have several hours of swimming to go. If we’re attacked by another one of those creatures, you won’t be able to defend yourself.”
Fury mixed with humiliation throbbed through me. “Are you saying I’m weak?”
“Right now? Yeah, you are, and if you fight me on this, I’ll just hold you down until you pass out from exhaustion. Shouldn’t take long.”
If I wasn’t so godsdamn exhausted, I’d throat-punch the controlling prick. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” he said, so low and deep, I felt his voice vibrate through me.
He meant it, and the worst part was he was right. In my current state, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but lie there and struggle like a pathetic weakling. “So what, you want me to just lie here and—”
“I want you to rest. Take a power nap, then we’ll get going again.”
“I’m just as strong as you,” I said, my pride talking again and, yes, through her ass.
“I know that,” he said, humoring me. “But you’re not used to going without oxygen for this length of time, that’s why your muscles are seizing.”
What was he? Some kind of psychic? I wanted to argue, but I’d be of no use if I carried on as I was. “Fine, I’ll take a short break. Wake me in fifteen. Then we’ll switch.”
“Sounds acceptable,” he said.
So glad you agree, you heavy-handed, arrogant asshole.
I curled up on the rough wood floor. There was no way in hell I’d be able to fall asleep like this.
It didn’t matter how tired I was, if I felt vulnerable in any way, it wouldn’t happen.
Once on a mission in a seriously dangerous realm, I didn’t sleep for five days straight.
I startled awake when a splash of icy water sprayed my arms and face.
I blinked into the darkness, confused for a split second, then Silas’s head burst up through the hole in the floor. He growled, then he was gone again.
I shot up.
His head popped back through. “You’re awake,” he said, panting.
There was a slice down the side of his face and another at the base of his throat.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Just some unwanted guests circling while you were resting. I dealt with it.”
“You dealt with it?” I said in disbelief. “How many?”
He was looking down, still searching the water beneath my little refuge. “A few.”
I felt a lot more rested than I thought I would, my muscles were tight, but no longer cramping. Ready to take on whatever had been coming for Silas. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Just on two hours.”
“What!” That’s when I realized my clothes were a little damp, in some places dry, instead of soaked through. “What the hell were you thinking? We don’t have time for that. You need time to rest as well.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “But we better get going. The last creature I fought off escaped, and I have a feeling it’s gone for reinforcements.”
“For fuck’s sake, Silas, you should have woken me earlier.” I jumped into the water, so frigid, it punched the air from my lungs.
We treaded, our heads the only things not submerged.
“We should be able to stay on the surface now,” Silas said.
“I’ve scouted about a bit while you were asleep.
I can see the land, so we were at least swimming in the right direction.
And there’s no sign of Nathaniel. Hopefully, he got sick of searching for us, or he assumed we’re already dead and they’ve gone in to get themselves up on the leaderboard before anyone else. ”
Made sense, but I was still pissed off. Letting me rest that long, staying in one place for that length of time, wasn’t smart.
My pride also had a problem with him being “fine” even after scouting about in between fighting off several monsters on his own, while I napped like an exhausted infant.
“Sounds like you have everything worked out.”
He frowned, but I dove under the water before he could say anything more and swam up to the surface.
The water was far calmer below, but this made it easier to stay on course.
We were pretty close to shore, well, it looked that way.
In reality it would probably still take two or more hours to get there.
Digging deep, I pushed through the icy cold water and the stiffness of my limbs and concentrated on the next stroke, then the next, carving my way through the water.
Now that I was swimming again, I realized I hadn’t recovered as well as I had thought.
I couldn’t focus on anything other than making it to shore, on pushing my body and moving forward.
Shame burned through me when I realized it was all I could manage.
I hated that I trusted Silas would make sure we were safe, and I hated how pathetic and weak that made me feel, but I knew it was the truth.
A distinctive and, under the circumstances, horrifying noise came from above.
One moment I was swimming, the next, Silas had pulled me under the water. I looked up as a huge shadow circled above the surface of the ocean. Nathaniel hadn’t given up.
Had he already reported to the manor to claim first place and come back? That couldn’t be allowed? Or had he and Eloa been circling, looking for us the whole time? I didn’t know if they’d actually seen us, but they weren’t going away either.