He must have sensed my gaze. His eyes slowly returned to mine, head tilting down. The bridges of our noses overlapped. Gray flecks in his irises reflected tiny shards of blue light. They shifted left and right, incremental grains of motion, as he read the colors of mine. We hovered together in the quiet, neither of us moving.
My mouth parted to say something, lips brushing his. But we were underwater, with no way to speak. And I wasn’t sure what I might have said.
A dark shape lurched from below.
Like the rocks, it came from nowhere. A bulky head with a pointed nose. Its mouth opened like the petals of a rose. Jaws peeled back in every direction, each lined with a row of bony teeth as long as my fingers. No eyes, no nose.
Only a wide throat.
Pheolix pushed me away as he thrust an arm out, straight into the grasp of the waiting jaws. It clamped immediately; mouth slamming shut like a hinge.
And then ripped him into the darkness.
23
Selena
Ihurtled forward, dodging the rock face.
The motes of dust in the water zoomed past, specks flying in every direction. Down, down, down. The cavern mouth appeared, but I ignored it.
I hadn’t been underwater long enough to feel the choke of suffocation.
But fear wrapped its hands around my throat, its claws sinking into my flesh.
I dove headfirst into the black unknown, searching, searching—
And then found them.
Pheolix had it pinned against the rock. The creature was only as thick and long as Pheolix, though I’m not sure it held the upper hand. Arm trapped in its mouth, he’d jammed his opposite elbow under what might have been its chin. A muscular, spiny tail wrapped in armored scales thrashed and twisted as it fought his hold.
I dropped in close but quickly flung myself away as the spines lashed at me. Then tried again, huddling into Pheolix’s side.
His clenched teeth shone blue under the light of the jar, veins rippling down his neck and chest. I struck for the creature’s underside, feeling for the pump of a heart—but multiple beats lit under my touch, electric pulses firing along its spine, offering nothing to pinpoint.
It whipped at us, and Pheolix shoved against my ribs, taking the serrated blow. His body jerked as its spines dug in, his fist loosening under its throat.Then it tore its tail out from his skin, leaving the echo of shredded flesh in my ears.
Where was its heart?
Wherewherewherewherewhere—
The creature opened its jaws and dashed forward, snapping them shut again at his shoulder.
I grabbed the knife from his sheath, driving it into the thing’s belly.
Its mouth opened wide, and itscreamed.
Noise pierced my thoughts, ringing into my head like a blade thrust into my ears. Pheolix ripped his arm from its grasp. He wrapped his freed hand around the soft underside of its neck, grabbing the knife from me in the same motion. Then sliced across its throat.
The jaws snapped shut. Then it shot above, disappearing into the darkness once more. I watched it go, water whirling as it evaporated. A weight spread across my stomach. Pheolix’s hand pushed me back, pressing my spine into the rocks as he slid in front of me. From over his shoulder, a face loomed in the shadowed water.
And then another. A third. Fourth. Fifth.
And then more.
Above and below, Naiads pressed around us. Staring. The one in front, a young female, rose from the group, swimming above and out of sight. The sirens followed her, though they didn’t back away. They pushed, forcing us up with them. I waited for the cold grip of Pheolix’s eclipse to chill the water, but it didn’t come.
Only when we’re uninjured and healthy,he’d said. Blood clouded the water from the back of his shoulder, sharp tracks in overlapping rings. Pheolix boxed me in behind him as we ascended, but he began to slow, his fins unwieldy and awkward. The Naiads below pushed in, and I finally grabbed the back of his arm, yanking him up.
