Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aiden
That night, I climb into the van just as Thea slides into the seat next to Izzy. I could swear her lips twitch in the faintest smug smirk, because she’s the one who’s next to Iz.
Whatever. I don’t mind coming second to Izzy’s sister when Izzy’s just gotten her back.
I just hope Thea really intends to be the sister that Izzy thinks she is.
Reid and I aren’t perfect. We annoy the shit out of each other.
I hate the way he wears his hair, he used to embarrass me in middle school--I still believe his Mathlete career was just to spite me--and the two of us can start a fight with each other in six words or less that might well spill into blood.
But I love my twin. I don’t ever doubt he loves me too. Even in the moment after he’s just sucker punched me, which has happened more than once.
And I don’t see that kind of love in the way Thea looks at Izzy. There’s just something off about her.
I plan to stay close to both of them tonight.
We drive across Aberdeenshire to a castle at the edge of the sea. Of course Aegir and Ran would both want to be close to the water. Thor’s voice is a growl in the back of my mind--he hates them both.
Well, I'm not really keen on them either, sport.
We park a distance from the castle. Brenda twists in her seat. “Remember, I’ve seen you all at your worst and most pathetic,” she says, “and even I believe you won’t fuck this up.”
Mr. Time rubs his temples with one hand. “We don’t usually let her give the motivational speeches.”
She winks. “Do us proud.”
As soon as Thea’s out of the car, she mutters, “No wonder you’re all so weak. Look at the people training you… So soft and sweet.”
I jump out of the car next to her, my shoes squishing into soft mud.
“I wouldn’t call Brenda soft. I know you think you’re bad, but she could choke you to death with your own entrails.
There are stories.” I flash her a smile.
I don’t want her to think she can betray us and get away without consequences.
Izzy gives me a look as if she can’t tell if she’s mad at me or not.
She looks sexy as hell right now in her little cat-burglar outfit, her dark pants and shirt clinging to her frame.
She might not appreciate the sentiment right now but I feel the same way about every damn outfit.
Sweatpants or training shorts or leggings, they all have the same effect.
Every day of my life, I just want to twine my hand in those caramel curls and claim her lips, her curves, that sweet smile that makes me want to be the man she seems to see.
“Besides, Brenda wanted to kill us herself for most of our time at the academy,” she adds. “She sent vampires to eat us at one point.”
“I almost forgot about that,” I say. “Vamps. Those were the good days. Life was simple.”
“They were,” Wilder agrees. He makes a squeezing motion with one hand. “Vamps are so squishy.”
“Well, no squishing should be necessary tonight,” Thea reminds us. “We’ll get in and out.”
She heads across the wide green plain that leads toward the castle.
Oliver gives me a long look, then turns to follow her. Everyone is spreading out, moving quietly, but I grab his shoulder. “Hey, Oliver. You got something you want to tell me?”
His gaze goes to Thea, leading the group in an outfit almost identical to Izzy’s. She’s moving much more easily now that she’s healed. From behind, at this distance, it's almost hard to pick out the difference between the two of them.
But there are so many.
“Nah,” he says. “Just nervous, I guess. I don't want to be back here, with them.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t, either.” I clap his shoulder. “We’ll get rid of them, and you can go back to your family. They’ll never be able to reach you.”
For some reason, that makes his lips tighten even more, but he gives me a tight jerk of a nod.
I pat his shoulder and the two of us move steadily after everyone else. We go around the corner of the castle to a doorway at the edge of the castle. It’s so impossibly near the ocean, with rocks at the bottom of the cliff beneath our feet. I can barely hear myself think over the roar of the ocean.
Just as Thea said, we reach an unlocked door and move down what seems like endless flights of stairs. We reach a long hallway, and through a door is the room where the box sits on a pedestal.
Thea lingers at the door, glancing down the hall. “Come on, grab it and let’s go.”
Izzy and Reid head toward the box. Wilder and Van are standing watch further back, one on either side of the hall. Oliver is still on the stairs, as if he’s ready to bolt at any second.
I linger close to Thea. She looks at me with a challenge flaring in her eyes.
“Don’t trust me?” she asks softly. “Izzy wouldn’t like that, Thor.”
“Well,” There’s a bit of Thor’s deep growl that rolls through my voice, “feel free to win me over with your honesty and loyalty.”
“I’ll try to do that,” she says, surprising me, before her face suddenly changes. “Or I’ll just kill you.”
She suddenly shoves me through the doorway.
I can tell she’s lunging for the door, and her fingertips catch a release.
Suddenly a hidden door is slamming down from above, but I’m faster than she realizes.
I grab her arm and drag her in with us, throwing myself backward to avoid the door that’s just whizzed by my head.
It slams into the ground with a shock wave that rolls through the ground beneath our feet.
We’re sealed into the room, and suddenly, a second set of doors open with a clunk; they’re low to the ground.
And ocean water floods in.
Reid looks at me in panic. Thea has a look of horror across her face as it seems to hit her that she’s trapped herself in with us, but it’s quickly replaced with determination.
She’s already moving. She raises her hands and the water in the room begins to ripple.
Water pools across the floor, and it’s only a foot deep so far, but she already has it whipping around our feet.
More water keeps rushing down the walls from the slits at the top of the walls, near the ceiling.
She’s just going to keep growing more powerful as more water enters the room.
Reid grabs the box. “Let’s get out of here. Teleport!”
Izzy nods, reaching for my hand. I grab her hand and Reid’s. I can’t stand to let either of them go now. I need to get them out of here with me.
But nothing happens.
“That's not how this works,” Thea warns us. “There’s no teleporting out. You’re stuck with me.”
“No, you're stuck with me. I don’t care,” I tell her, stepping toward her. “Izzy’s sister or not, you’re done.”
She laughs at that.
“Oh really, big boy?” she asks.
Izzy gasps as another god steps forward out of the shadows, where he was hiding. It must be Barret, because he’s already dropping, transforming, his legs merging into one enormous fin.
Thea raises her hands, and the water keeps rising. We’re trapped in here with the two water gods and a rising tide. The basement of the castle is underwater, and now I think back to how damp and slick the hall was; we were below sea level.
I hope the others are safe. I raise my hand, and suddenly my hammer is in it.
The next second, something smashes into my legs.
The merman. He takes me down under the water, and his face is full of sick, giddy fury, a wide grin plastered across his face.
He holds me down to the bottom, pinning me against the stone floor.
The bubbles of my breath rush out of my lungs toward the surface of the water, and I can’t breathe.
I slam the hammer toward him. It seems to move in slow motion through the water, and he manages to duck it, but his grip loosens on me. I shove him away and kick off the stone floor, flying up from the bottom to draw in a gasp of breath. The water’s risen higher. Reid still clutches the Taka cage.
“Use the box!” I shout at him, even though I wouldn’t know how either. The water around us swirls wildly, and I can barely get a handle on what's going around us.
“What box?” Thea asks, and she raises a box in her hand.
It looks just like the one Reid holds, and it suddenly hits me that we came in here after a fake on the pedestal.
Izzy dives at her sister, trying to get the box from her. The two of their bodies lock together in the water, struggling, kicking through the raging sea water.
The damn merman jabs at me with his trident, and I barely manage to dodge it in the water.
I agree with Thor, actually; I fucking hate these two.
Thea is a better swimmer, and she suddenly dives away from Izzy. Izzy transforms into a dolphin and swims after her.
When Thea surfaces, the box is open in her hands, glowing golden.
Reid lunges for her. He almost knocks the box loose from her hands.
But just as it falls toward the water, the golden light captures Reid--and zaps him into the box.
Suddenly he’s gone.
I can’t believe that just happened. I want to reverse time and fix this.
The merman jabs the trident at me, but this time, his head’s broken the water. I slam the hammer into him, and he falls back.
Izzy is a sea monster now, and her tentacles whip out and trap Thea against the ceiling. “Drain the water!” she demands. “Or I’ll kill you!”
Thea smiles, even though Izzy’s tentacles must be choking her. Her voice is a rasp when she says, “No, you won’t.”
I dive into the water, searching for the box, but the water is dark and brackish and I can’t see much beyond the floating body of the unconscious merman.
My hands grope along the bottom of the floor as long as I can stay down, until my lungs are bursting.
But I can’t find the box.
I can’t find Reid.