shudder overcame me.
Then I wondered how she was doing. I didn’t know what came next for her or even how close she was to being converted. It seemed Mom and Rina still had much work ahead of them, removing all of the evil energy. Then what? I didn’t know. Yet. And I didn’t want to think about it. If Tristan was right, if saving souls was my purpose, I would eventually have to learn. But not right now. Thinking about it only reminded me how much I’d failed….how close I’d come to ending our lives.
Realizing the space around me had been quiet for some time, I up-righted myself and tread water, looking around for Tristan and Owen. Water dripped from my hair and into my eyes and I wiped it away to be sure it wasn’t blinding me. Nope. They were nowhere around. My heart stuttered. Where are they? Are they…gone? I spun around in the water, my throat tightening with each pounding heartbeat. Even in the night’s darkness, I could see almost perfectly, as if the moon shone nearly as brightly as the sun. But I couldn’t see them.
Several thoughts ran through my mind. Protectors are keeping watch out there. I could call for them. It’s too quiet for them to be there, though, and why can’t I see them? Can I just try to find their thoughts, if they’re still here? If I only had control and could make real use of my power…. The ideas raced too fast to even focus and settle on one as panic began to overwhelm me. Stupid. This was so stupid. Why had I even asked to do this?
Then Owen’s head popped out of the water right next to me, making me squeal.
“Holy crap! You scared the hell out of me!” I shrieked. “Where’s Tristan?”
Owen lifted his hand out of the water and pointed. “Down there.”
The breath whooshed out of me. Of course. He could hold his breath indefinitely.
“I was wondering how long you could go now,” Owen said. “Probably longer than a normal human. Maybe even as long as Tristan.”
I raised an eyebrow. Owen gave me an encouraging grin.
“We’re still safe, right?” I asked.
“I’m not an idiot. You wouldn’t be out here if you weren’t.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and plunged downward.
The salt water didn’t bother my eyes at all and I could see almost as clearly under the water as I could in the moonlight. Owen moved his hands beneath the surface and his head appeared in front of mine. He held his hands over his mouth for a few seconds and then he grinned, pointed ahead of us and led me a little farther out, where Tristan swam along the bottom. Owen must have used some kind of spell for himself, because he stayed under far beyond the minute or two an average human could tolerate.
I could remain under water for a lot longer than humanly possible, as well, but not nearly as long as they could. After about fifteen minutes, I came up for a breath and dove down again. The guys were still at the bottom, apparently wrestling. I rolled my eyes and looked around for any fish life. Many years ago, Tristan and I had snorkeled here. There hadn’t been a ton of life, but there had been some. More than there seemed to be now. I wondered if fish slept at night.
Then I saw movement farther out. My heart leapt. The figure seemed to be at least as big as a human. But when it came a little closer, a long, rounded nose pointed at me, I realized what it was. Holy crap! A freakin’ dolphin! I took off after it, leaving the guys to their childish antics. I wanted to see how close the animal would let me get. I really wanted to touch it, to feel its skin, but I didn’t expect it to let me. The creature didn’t swim away, though. It seemed just as intrigued with me as I was with it, watching me as I approached. It turned slightly and I reached out my hand to touch its fin.
Water rushed past me. Then cool air, as if I were in a wind tunnel. And then I stood on my feet in the sand, on our little beach. Owen leaned over beside me, his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. Tristan appeared right next to us.
Followed by a Pop! and then a splash of water way out from the shore. A head emerged from the water, her wet, blond hair shimmering like liquid silver in the moonlight.
“What the hell, Owen?” I demanded. “I thought we were safe!”
“We…are,” he panted. “As long as…you stay…in…the shield.”
I gulped. I hadn’t realized I’d swam out so far. Vanessa tread water at least two football-fields away, at the edge of the shield. Which meant I’d swam about one-hundred yards in only a few seconds and Owen had taken less than two to bring me in from where Vanessa was now.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize….”
“It’s my fault,” Owen said, having caught his breath. “I’m supposed to be watching you. Not screwing around.”
“It’s not like you can control my every move.”
“So I’m learning,” he muttered. “Exactly why I should be watching you more closely.”
“Let’s just get back to the house,” Tristan said, taking my hand.
He turned his head toward Vanessa and growled over his shoulder. I laughed under my breath. Petty, I knew, especially because she couldn’t hear us behind the shield, yet still satisfying. Several Pops! sounded across the water and I turned to watch as Amadis protectors swarmed on her. She disappeared again. The Amadis stayed in the water, ensuring she didn’t come back, as we returned to the house. By the time we climbed the stairs to the balcony, I could barely lift my legs or hold my own weight. My flesh and bones felt as though they’d turned into a leaden gel.
“That swim took a lot out of me,” I said, falling into a balcony chair. “More than I realized. More than it should have.”
“You need to eat something,” Tristan said. “You didn’t touch your dinner.”
“No, Owen did for me.” I yawned. “That’s not it, anyway. I still don’t think I could eat right now. I just feel really tired again.”
I probably could have fallen asleep right in the chair, except my body wouldn’t stop shivering. I went inside to change out of the wet bathing suit and thought a hot shower was exactly what I needed. I let the heat of the water and the rising steam envelop me. But when the water started running cold, even with the knob turned all the way to the H, I still shivered. I finally gave up. I dressed in sweatpants, an old, long-sleeve t-shirt and socks. I dragged the torn comforter and the only intact pillow out to the living room and curled up on the couch. My body felt heavy with exhaustion. I just wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t stop shaking.
“You okay?” Tristan asked when he and Owen came inside.
“I don’t know. I’m freezing.” My teeth rattled noisily against each other.
“Is it still from earlier?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I felt a lot better when we were swimming. Now I feel like I’m getting sick.”
Tristan held his palm to my face and then wrapped it around my hand. It felt like a heating pad. “You’re like ice. Colder than you were with Sheree.”
He and Owen exchanged meaningful looks.
“I’ll call Sophia and Rina,” Owen said.
He stepped outside and Tristan disappeared into our bedroom. He came out a few minutes later with wet hair and wearing khaki shorts, instead of swim trunks. He must have taken a quick shower. I felt bad—it had to have been freezing because I used all the hot water.
Owen returned at the same time. “I couldn’t get either one of them but finally got a hold of Julia. She’s with them at the safe house. They’re still working on Sheree, but they want to know if anything happens with you and the Ang’dora, so Julia said she’d tell them.”
“Is this normal?” I asked. “For the Ang’dora, I mean?”
Owen shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong person. But there’s not exactly anything normal about you, Alexis.”
He was teasing, but absolutely right.
I pulled the comforter tighter around me, closed my eyes and tried to focus on making the shivers go away. The attempt proved pointless. Tristan lifted my head and shoulders and sat down, laying me down in his lap and rubbing my arms and shoulders. If his shower had been cold, I couldn’t feel it on him now. He felt nice and toasty. He asked Owen to get more blankets from the back bedrooms and a minute later I felt the added weight, but they didn’t do much to warm me.
“Sh-sh-sheesh, I-I-I’m s-so c-c-cold,” I chattered. Tristan was right. This version of cold felt much worse
