said. “But we should check on the others.”
“Yes. There is one piece still missing.” Byron was still smiling broadly. Nothing would break his mood right now. He clutched my hand and threw open the door.
Jasper, Billie and Gaston were hanging out around the undine pool, but they quickly shifted back to us instead.
“Did something happen? You look different,” Gaston asked.
“Yeah, no shit, he’s a unicorn and his wings don’t match,” Jasper said. “Just like the pictures.”
“I’m alive!” Byron said.
“Alive alive?” Jasper said.
“You were only in there fifteen minutes,” Billie said.
“Helena has been gone all day,” Byron said. “In the year 1050. She has restored me to health.”
“That’s crazy!” Billie went to hug him and he grabbed her around the waist and spun her toward Jasper, whom he also grabbed, and then he spun them both. I think one of them liked that more than the other.
“Uh, that’s great, man,” Jasper said. “But…”
“Yes, but?” Gaston said. “By the way, good for you. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Billie nudged him. “You do act like you’re three hundred and not forty, by the way. If I ever get this bored of being a vampire, kill me, okay? ‘I hope yew know vot you are do-ing!’” she said snootily, pinching her fingers together like she had a cigarette.
“I don’t have an accent anymore,” Gaston said, “but that is also not a French accent at all. It’s maybe a bad Dracula with a little Inspector Clousseau.”
“Everyone has an accent. If you don’t have a French accent you have an American accent. Is that better? But—this is too exciting!” Billie said. “How do we get Jake and Graham back though?”
“Yes,” I said. “How do we get Jake and Graham back?”
“I told you, we just have to wait,” Byron said. “But now I can also tell you that Sam had the undine guard the last piece of the map. They just have to convince her to give it to them. Sam did inform her that Graham was the heir of the Sons of Pandora, so they shouldn’t have much trouble.”
“Nothing good ever begins with saying that we shouldn’t have much trouble,” Jasper said.
Chapter Seven
Jake
When the undine drew me in, I was caught up in an undertow and swirled around in dark waters, back and forth while I kicked and flailed my arms, trying to find something to hold onto. I thought I heard Graham yelling somewhere, but the water muffled and distorted our voices.
I definitely wasn’t in that pool anymore.
Yep. Closing the magical water portal in the pool is definitely the first job to tackle.
Something snagged my ankle and soon I was battling with tentacles that snagged at my arms and legs while I was running out of air. Damnit. Even if I turned wolf it wouldn’t do any good. I couldn’t open my jaws without filling my lungs full of water.
“Calm down! You can breathe.” Cool, soft hands touched my neck and some lights drifted closer in the darkness.
“Nn!” I didn’t trust breathing water.
“Pretty soon you’ll have to! But look. I gave you some gills.”
“I don’t want gills, damnit, I’m a wolf!” I exploded, unable to hold it in anymore anyway. And yeah, she was right, I was able to breathe but it felt very unnatural.
Beside me, Graham was choking a little on the water and she patted us both on the head. “You’re adorable. I haven’t had young men here in a long long time…so very long.” She nuzzled her face against mine, making a sound like a sad dolphin. “Sam is gone…”
I tried to move away from her. I realized the tentacles were just sea vines, although I don’t know that the difference mattered that much.
“Sam is gone,” I affirmed. “And we can’t stay long either.”
“You’ll stay until I’m tired of you.” She bit my ear.
“Ouch! Fuck!”
Maya giggled and swirled away. The undine was naked, with sleek skin that had a slightly blue-green undertone, and blonde hair that floated around her as she moved. She was petite for a human, but otherwise looked like one except for the fangs and her webbed hands and feet. The lights that followed her around came from fish with light-up antennae. The whole crew vanished for a moment, leaving us in the dark. I heard her singing in the shadowy waters.
“This isn’t even a fun kind of dangerous,” I said.
“What is she?” Graham hissed.
“An undine. They’re sort of like a succubus but more…well, they don’t just want to have sex. They want to marry a human,