“You may use your skills however you see fit during this trial.” A slow smile spread across his face. “But remember, you aren’t alone in the water.”
About fifteen feet out, the normally tranquil surface rippled. A small fin breeched the water, then another, then another, until there were nine small fins sticking out from the surface. There was more bubbling then the fins disappeared.
Jasmine grabbed my arm; her hands were trembling. “That’s a hydra.” Her voice was barely audible over the splashing of the lake water onto the beach.
“Are you sure? It didn’t look very big.”
“Those fins were just one of many on the tops of their heads.”
I swallowed. Dealing with a baby Charybdis had been nothing compared to the possibility of a one hundred foot sea dragon with nine heads.
Taking Jasmine with me, I huddled in next to Georgina, Lucian, and Ren. Jasmine grabbed Mia and pulled her into the group. “We need to stay together as much as we can. I have a feeling there’s going to be strength in numbers.”
Everyone nodded. Then Poseidon blew into his shell horn to start the race.
We all entered the water, trying to stay close together. It was going to be a long swim, but I was sure if we grouped our strengths, we could all make it to the other beach and pass the trial. I knew Ren and Lucian had two fails, so I didn’t expect or want them to sacrifice their time for us, well, for me in particular.
Once in the water, Ren and Lucian set the pace, and the rest of us followed behind. I sucked in air, then dived down to swish my body back and forth like a fish, propelling myself forward. Everyone else did the same; then we surfaced and did it again.
The next time I came up for air, I did quick look behind and saw we were making good time, and we were middle of the pack. It was a good position to be, as we could put on the speed at the end.
After about an hour of swimming, my muscles started to ache and fatigue was trying to settle into my body. I looked over at Georgina; she was struggling a bit. I swam over to her.
“Next time we dive down, hang onto my foot and just glide with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yup.”
She nodded, and we both took in air and dove. As instructed, she grabbed my foot, as I propelled my body forward like a dolphin. I didn’t go as far or as fast, but it helped her conserve energy, so I considered it worthwhile. We did it again and again, until my legs started to seize up.
We swam close to the floating rest station. I saw a couple of people scramble up onto it to rest. In theory, it seemed like a good idea, but I knew from experience they couldn’t rest enough to make a difference in their muscles when they got back into the water. Oxygen wise it was sound, but I suspected those people were going to suffer some severe cramps during the next half of the journey.
Halfway there and I felt optimistic. Ren and Lucian led the way, and they hadn’t slowed. Like a flock of birds, we were conserving energy by swimming in the current they made with their bodies. I looked back. We’d pulled away a little from the pack. There were a few people swimming at our rate, and there was one person—I think it was Marek, judging by his black hair—who was ahead of us.
As the shore came into view, I started to smile, but a shout from someone nearby nearly froze me in place.
“I felt it under me!” It was Diego, and he thrashed about back and forth.
“Quit moving around,” Revana shouted, as she moved away from Diego. “You’ll draw it to us.”
“It’s not a shark. It’s a freaking hydra. I think it’s going to do what it wants.”
Another shout came from another group of people.
Georgina started to thrash a little beside me. I shook my head. “Don’t panic. Just concentrate on your strokes. We’re almost there.”
Then Diego was yanked down into the water.
That made everyone within a ten-foot radius scream.
Georgina was one of them.
“Lucian!”
He stopped swimming and turned to me. “What happened?”
“Something happened to Diego.”
Ren swam over. “What do you want to do?”
“Can you take Georgina, Jasmine, and Mia with you? Swim to the shore.”
He frowned. “Mel… he wouldn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
He shook his head and looked at Lucian. “You take the girls. I’m going to go with Mel.”
“No, he’s my friend—”
“I can manipulate the water. Mel and I can hold our breath the longest.”
I touched Lucian’s cheek with my fingers. “Remember your promise.”
He nodded then turned and swam hard toward the shore. Georgina, Jasmine, and Mia followed him in.
“Ready?” I asked Ren.
He nodded.
Then we both sucked in air and dove down deep in the water. It didn’t take long to spot the hydra. It was huge. At this depth, it was creepy as hell to see this big, dangerous creature just hovering ten feet below a big group of swimmers. It looked like it was having a good time knowing it could pluck anyone of them at any time.
I spotted Diego, struggling to get out from between the jaws of one of its nine heads. There was no blood, so the creature hadn’t bit into him. It was just playing around, probably instructed by Poseidon to detain, but not kill anyone.
We swam toward the beast. A couple of its heads took notice of us, but it didn’t look worried in the least. As we got closer, Ren started to move his hands around in front of him until he formed a small cyclone. Then he sent it spinning toward the hydra’s head, the one holding Diego.
As the cyclone hit, the head opened its mouth. I swooped in and grabbed Diego by the hand and dragged him to the surface. Another few minutes and I was pretty sure he would’ve drowned. When we came up for air, he gasped, taking in water. As he sputtered and coughed, I slapped him on the back.
“C’mon, we need to get swimming.”
While I made my first strokes, I saw in the distance Lucian and the others were almost at the shore. Revana was close, as were most of the group. I looked behind me and spotted maybe ten or so still struggling in the water. We weren’t going to make the top twenty-five. For me it didn’t matter, but for Ren that meant three fails.
“Ren, you need to swim faster.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m good.”
He nodded and dove down into the water. I knew he had the power and stamina to make it.
I kept swimming alongside Diego to make sure he didn’t go under. He looked exhausted, barely able to swim. I was okay with failing this trial. It didn’t matter to me.
As we kept swimming, I felt the water bubbling beneath me. I stopped and glanced around at the surface. It looked like we were floating in a pot of boiling water. It was the hydra, and it was obviously unhappy.
There was more bubbling under me, each bubble getting bigger, pushing me out of the water. Then it was like a huge wave growing underneath me, lifting me, Ren, and Diego higher and higher. I risked a peek behind me and saw the hydra emerge from the water like a volcanic eruption, rolling us on top of the wave. My stomach lurched into my throat as the wave sent us crashing into the beach.
I rolled onto my back, sputtering and coughing, and looked up as Poseidon loomed over me. His smile was broad and warm.
“You all made it. You passed the trial.”
I blinked at him, shocked. “We did?” I sat up to see Lucian, Georgina, Jasmine, and Mia running down the beach toward us. I looked over at Ren, who seemed as dumfounded as I felt. Diego had yet to even register we were out of the water.
Lucian reached down for my arm and pulled me up. He hugged me. “You rolled in on the wave, beating the rest of the group.”
I couldn’t believe it. We’d passed, despite being almost dead last. We all shared hugs and stunned congratulations. Exhaustion started to settle on each of us. I could especially see it on Ren. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“You’re welcome.”