Bloodrose (21 page)

“Buy me time for what?” Shay asked. “I won’t leave you to fight without me.”

“It’s only temporary, kid,” Connor said. “I don’t find this cave any cozier than you do. I’m itching to say adios to this place. But you need that hilt and you can’t get it without us.”

Shay nodded slowly. “So you’ll distract the bats . . .”

“And you run for that alcove,” Ethan finished. “It’s set far enough in the corner that if the bats are already distracted, they won’t notice you heading there.”

“You need to let us lure the bats,” Sabine said.

“I don’t think so.” Ethan glared at her.

“I’m a big girl.” She bared her teeth. “And wolves are faster than Searchers. We can jump in and out of the water. And the group of us running around will confuse them.”

“She’s right,” Ren said. “Let the pack handle this.”

“Yes,” I said, knowing I’d snatch a few bats out of the air in the process. There was no way I was going to let that happen to Silas and not get a little payback.

Connor shrugged. “As long as you’ve all had your rabies shots.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Sabine growled. “But only because Ethan likes you.”

“Jumping in and out of the water, huh?” Mason smiled. “I hope you’re prepared to accept how bad wet fur smells.”

“We’ll manage,” Adne said. I noticed she was shivering too and there were streaks of water on her cheeks that I didn’t think were from the dive. “Can we just do this? I can’t look at Silas lying there anymore.”

Connor nodded. “Okay, Scion, you run back here as soon as you have Eydis so Adne can weave a door and get us out.”

Shay shrugged off his tank, pushing it toward Gabriel. “I’ll be faster without it.”

“Ready?” Ren was looking at me. As alphas we’d lead this strike.

“As ever,” I snarled, drawing on my anger to push away any fear.

One by one our pack submerged, swimming away from Shay and the others. We stayed beneath the surface as long as we could. When the water was too shallow, Ren and I shifted forms in sync, two wolves bursting from the water. The ceiling came to life. Mason was running at my flank, while Nev and Sabine stayed close to Ren. The swarm of bats dove; I could feel the wind stirred up by hundreds of tiny wings brushing across my fur.

Now.
I sent the thought to the pack.

We scattered.

A horrible shrieking echoed in the cavern. I leapt up at intervals, snapping at the air. Sometimes my jaws ripped apart a wing or crushed a small body. At others I bit nothing, the swarm having moved on to pursue one of my packmates.

A yelp jerked me around and I saw a dozen or more bats clinging to Nev’s shoulders. His muscles bunched and he jumped off the shoreline, crashing into the water, sending some of the bats careening through the air while others were sucked beneath the surface when Nev shifted forms and fully submerged again.

It was working. The bats couldn’t track so many of us, moving so quickly. And when the swarm did fix its hunt on one of our number, we were fast enough to get into the water before they could do too much damage.

Another splash echoed through the cavern. Sabine was in the water, taking bats with her—a lot more of the creatures clung to her than had to Nev. They were getting better at focusing on one of us at a time. I felt the rush of wind again. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know the swarm had targeted me. The first bat landed on my spine; its teeth cutting across my back was light as a pinprick, but the feeling of its tiny tongue lapping up my blood almost made me stumble. Another bat clung to me. Then another.

Calla!
Ren’s shout filled my head.
There are too many on you; get in the water now!

I didn’t want to know how many was too many. But I could feel their weight on my back and my blood leaking from dozens of minuscule cuts. I wheeled and flung myself into the water. The force of my leap slammed my chest hard into the surface, knocking the breath from my lungs. The bats struggled to free themselves from my fur and take flight before the water captured them. I shifted forms, trying to put in my mouthpiece and get air. My heart was pounding, but I forced myself to be still, drinking in the silence of submersion. Beneath the surface everything was dark, though my eyes were open. I felt as if I were floating in empty space rather than underwater. I was desperate to get back into the fight, but I had to be steady first. When I was sure I had my breath back, I swam to the shore, shifting, and burst back into the fray.

But there was no fray. The rest of my pack stood still, ears flicking back and forth, watching the ceiling.

The bats had vanished.

What happened?
I padded to Ren’s side.

They left.
He pawed the ground in agitation.
The cavern shook and they all flew out of the opening to the cave.

The cavern shook?
I hadn’t felt anything underwater.

Just a little
. Sabine was licking a cut on Nev’s shoulder.

Mason and I exchanged a look. His tongue lolled out in a wolf grin.
He’s got it. Shay found Eydis.

How do you know?
Ren’s ears flicked back and forth when he turned toward Mason.

The cave shook in Switzerland.
I nipped at Mason’s shoulder playfully.
Go, Shay!

Right.
Ren remained tense.
But why would that make the bats leave?

I bristled.
Let’s get back to the others.

We had started toward the alcove when the cavern rumbled again. The earth rolled under my paws, throwing me onto my side. The water’s surface began to stir, spilling over the edge of the shore. Soon it looked like a boiling cauldron.

What’s happening?
Mason called to us.

I could hear the Searchers shouting, but I couldn’t make out their words over the roar of water pouring into the cavern. Scrambling to my feet, I started to run toward their voices. My paws were splashing through ankle-deep water. It should have been impossible. Water coming through that tiny cleft in the rock we’d had to worm through couldn’t be this forceful. But somehow it was. Water that had been at my knees was already at my waist and rising, forcing me to swim. The cave shuddered again. Slabs of stone dropped from the ceiling.

I could see Connor waving to us. Adne was beside him, fumbling with her scuba gear while Gabriel tried to help her. Ethan began swimming toward us.

Where was Shay? I couldn’t spot him among them.

“We have to get out of here!” Connor shouted.

The water was at my neck, but I’d almost reached them. A deafening roar filled the cave and then the ocean was crashing around us, roiling, hitting us with the force of a tidal wave. We were thrown apart.

I slammed into the cavern wall. My instincts screamed at me to swim up and find a way to surface, but whatever rational cells were left in my body stopped me. There wasn’t a way to surface, not anymore. The cavern was flooding with a speed that could only be credited to magic. Was it a final trap left by the Keepers or just a result of Shay claiming the water hilt? Whatever the cause, I knew my salvation lay in working with the water, not against it.

I shifted forms and shoved my mouthpiece in, knowing that I had to find Shay. He’d left his tank behind when he went after Eydis. He’d drown without an air source. I struggled against the new currents that swirled through the water, grabbing a single fin before it could float past me. Even the help of one fin would be better than trying to swim without them.

I worked my way toward the gleaming tones of the alcove, which wavered now that they were submerged. A flicker above me drew my gaze. I saw kicking feet. Shay was pushing himself toward the surface. Without a tank he had no other options. My fin gave me extra speed as I went after him.

When I grabbed his ankle, he jerked around, ready to strike at me. I pulled him down, taking my mouthpiece out and pushing it onto his lips. I held his shoulders, trying to remember Gabriel’s instructions. I had the tank, so I was in charge of the breaths. Keeping my eyes on Shay’s lungs, I counted: one breath, two breaths. He nodded at me. I took the mouthpiece from him and took my two breaths. We began to swim slowly toward the spot where I’d last seen the Searchers.

Shay pointed ahead. A light shimmered in the water—golden against the turquoise currents—a tall, narrow slab of light.

Adne’s door. She’d opened a door underwater. Shay squeezed my arm and we swam faster. Adne was hovering near the portal. She had her tank and mask on, and when she caught sight of us, she began waving frantically. But she wasn’t waving at us, she was pointing to something behind us. I flipped around and though I didn’t have a mouthpiece in, or air to waste, I screamed.

Gabriel was swimming toward us and the portal, but he wasn’t alone. He was dragging something with him. The limp body of a wolf.

Nev wasn’t struggling to swim or free himself from Gabriel’s arms. He wasn’t moving at all.

Shay shoved the mouthpiece between my lips with a shake of his head. Gabriel swam past us, dragging Nev with him into the portal. We swam after him, pushing through the shimmering passage and landing in a muddy puddle on the jungle floor.

“No!” Mason was kneeling over Nev. “Please, Nev!”

“Get out of the way!” Gabriel pushed Mason aside.

Mason snarled. He shifted forms, ready to lunge at Gabriel. Connor jumped between them.

“Wait!” Connor shouted. “Give him a minute. He’s a dive instructor, remember? He’s certified in CPR.”

Mason stalked back and forth whining as Gabriel pushed on Nev’s chest and breathed into his muzzle.

Someone took my hand. I leaned into Ren, beyond grateful that he was here and alive. But when I looked up at him, I saw how pale he was as he watched Gabriel trying to bring Nev back to us.

Adne fell onto the ground beside me. “Tell me we saved him,” she gasped.

Even as she spoke, Nev’s jaws opened and water spewed out of his mouth. He coughed and shook his head, rolling onto his stomach with a whimper.

Mason yelped, scrambling close to Nev and covering his face and muzzle with licks. They both shifted to human form, clinging to each other fiercely.

Sabine sobbed while Ethan held her. Ren squeezed my hand before going to Nev and hugging him.

“Thank God,” Connor murmured. “Nice work, Gabriel.”

“A wolf.” Gabriel grinned. “CPR on a wolf. That’s a first for me.”

“All I can taste is fish.” Nev groaned, coughing up yet more water. “I will never eat fish for as long as I live.”

“Shut up,” Mason said. “Just shut up.” And he kissed Nev again.

WE TRUDGED THROUGH
the jungle, sodden and dripping. The joy of saving Nev and retrieving Eydis were muted by losing Silas. As we came around the bend in the trail where the forest dropped down toward the sea, the dive shop peeked out through the cover of branches.

“There’s Inez waiting on the deck,” Gabriel said. “She’s got those mother-hen instincts big-time.”

Inez’s back was to us; she was lounging on a deck chair. Miguel was sitting in the shadow cast by the dive shop’s eaves. Two more chairs were pulled up between Miguel and Inez. A woman in a bikini stretched languidly in one. Next to her, a man in an open linen shirt and khaki shorts laughed, threading his fingers through hers.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “I didn’t think we had any dive groups scheduled for today.”

He picked up his pace, not running, but taking swift strides toward the figures on the deck. The woman in the bikini saw him and began to wave. Her companion stood up, pushing back his sunglasses.

Ren’s nose crinkled up. “Hang on.... Do you smell that?”

“Yeah . . . shit,” Nev snarled, glancing at the thick jungle that surrounded us.

“You smell shit?” Ethan asked. “Thanks for sharing.”

“No,” Nev said. “We smell cats.”

I sniffed the air. They were right. It was subtle but definitely there. An acrid scent like burning silk and dried sage. A growl rose in my throat.

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “
Las sombras
. . . no!”

“Gabriel, wait!” Ethan shouted. But the other man was bolting toward the hideout, yelling.

“Inez! Miguel!” Neither of the Searchers on the deck moved.

It happened in the space of a blink. Gabriel had just reached the deck and it dropped onto him—a shape descending like an ebony cloak. The panther screamed as it leapt from its hiding place on the other side of the roof. Then it was on Gabriel, who was screaming when the cat’s claws sank into his shoulders. His cry cut off abruptly when its jaws locked around his neck and twisted sharply, breaking the bones.

“Damn it!” Ethan glared as the panther darted off the deck and into the jungle’s shadows.