I chuckled and nodded. “You’re probably right. Live and learn, right?”
Lachlan strode up to the top of the crest ahead of us and then turned, pulling a face. “Hey ladies, why don’t ye take a look at what I found. I’m not sure if this is good news or bad.”
I shoved my knife back into the pocket on the side of my bag and sighed. “I really hate it when he starts a sentence off like that. None of us are ladies here.”
Trace just laughed as we headed toward Lach, climbing up the embankment. Standing side-by-side, we stared down at an enormous rushing river in front of us. It was wide, and so deep that it made the water look almost black. I smiled, realizing that I knew exactly what that was. “It’s the River of Souls.”
Trace wrinkled his nose. “Is that like the River Styx?”
I trotted down the embankment toward the river, shaking my head. “Not really. But it means we have to be on the right track. According to what I read in the library, the seat of godly powers is contained within a river that flows like a giant circle around the place all the gods call their home. Which means, if this is that river and not some sort of trick, we just have to get across it. The gods’ city should be on the other side.
Merrick lifted an eyebrow. “You know you just said we need to figure out some way to get across this giant river, right? The fucking enormous one in front of us?”
Lachlan rolled up his sleeves and walked toward it. “Eh. It can’t be that hard.”
He sent out streaks of magic, watching as the pieces weaved themselves together into a bridge that went up and over from one bank to the next. Then he held out his hands and grinned, turning to us. “See? Not that hard.”
But as he turned back, the water in the river raced even faster, rising up. The bridge he had created trembled and crumpled under the pressure.
I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, feeling his muscles tense in frustration. “Yeah, sorry, big guy. It’s not going to be that easy. They really don’t want us in their homes.”
Merrick pulled off his shirt, his muscles glistening against the reflections of light from the river. Working quickly, he tied the garment to his belt loop. “I guess we’re just going to have to swim.”
I shrugged, figuring there was nothing in my pack that couldn’t get wet. Fear of entering the raging water made my heart beat faster, but I couldn’t let fear win. We could use our magic to help pull us across, keeping the rough current from sweeping us away.
One by one, we began to wade into the river, sticking close to each other. Trace sent out a long stream of magic that curled around each of us, not tight enough to restrain us from swimming, but firm enough to keep us close together.
As I swam, I noticed how dark the river water was, and how incredibly wide it was from shore to shore. I was already exhausted, but this is going to take the last bit of energy I had left in me.
“Did you see that?” Merrick asked, his steady strokes stopping as he treaded water for a moment.
We all looked around, breathing hard as the water carried us downstream. At first, I didn’t see anything, but then small flutters beneath the surface of the water caught my eye. At first, I thought it was just fish much like we had on earth, but as another flash of movement popped up right in front of me, I realized it was a large fin. Before I could turn to the others, something that felt like a hand wrapped around my ankle and pulled me underwater. I kicked mercilessly at whatever had grabbed me, my lungs burning as terror filled me, finally finding a solid place to smash my heel into. I heard a muffled screech, and the hand released my ankle.
From above, Trace grabbed me by the shoulder and lifted me above the water. I sputtered and spat, gasping for air. Once I’d gotten my breath back, I realized the guys had swum closer to me, creating a circle and facing outward in all directions. All around us were mermaid-like creatures, their bodies scaled and their teeth pointy and jagged. They hissed at us, clearly threatened by our entrance into their water.
“We don’t mean you any harm,” I sputtered, putting up my hands as the water pulled at us, dragging us farther downstream. Despite the fact that we were all moving, the mer-people seemed to have no trouble keeping us surrounded. “We just want to get to the other side.”
In answer, one of the mer-people lunged at me. Merrick sent a stream of magic out, knocking her fifteen feet in the other direction.
Lachlan raised an eyebrow, pushing his coppery red hair out of his eyes. “I don’t think they care what we want.”
Suddenly, they all converged on us, squealing and screeching in voices so loud it hurt my ears. Without thought, the four of us began to fight, functioning like a well-oiled team. Where one person was weak, the other filled in, and we all watched each other’s backs even as we hurtled through the water.
I could deny it until I was blue in the face, but it didn’t change the truth—these men and I were meant for each other. We just fucking worked. The one thing we had, the strength that kept us all together, was the trust we had in each other. Not once did I worry that any of the men would leave me hanging.
Still, that didn’t mean I was confident we’d win this fight.
We were only halfway across the river, still swimming in water so deep I had no idea where the bottom was. And it became very apparent about ten minutes into the battle that we were going to have to fight underwater.
I used my magic to create a sort of bubble around my head, something that would hold oxygen in it at least for a few minutes longer than my lungs could. My men did the same, and we all looked at each other before diving below the surface. The bands of magic that kept us from separating glowed brightly around our ankles, lighting up the dark water around us.
Being underwater in the river was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was different somehow from water on earth. I could move more fluidly, and there wasn’t a heaviness around me like I would’ve expected, no weight of the water pressing in on me.
As one of the mer-people swam toward me with a sharpened, shimmering trident, I whirled around, slamming my foot into its stomach and kicking it as far back as I possibly could. With my magic enhanced in the godly realm, coupled with my training for being a fighter, I was capable of fighting with deadly force, even underwater.
The guys used their magic, spinning and weaving different weapons to scare off the mer-people. I used my fists, always more comfortable with straight combat than with magic. My previous fight training and skills were coming in handy, even under the strange fluid motion of the river.
When the magic I was using to hold in oxygen popped, I swam to the surface, taking a deep breath as my face emerged. As my lungs filled with fresh air, I saw a spiraling flash coming straight at me. Merrick yanked on my wrist, dunking my head back under the water. We both looked up from beneath the water’s surface, watching a blade fly past. I pressed a hard kiss to his lips and felt his fingers dig into my hips as he pulled me close for a second.
Then we both kicked up through the water, renewing the magical air bubbles around our heads.
When we sank back down, all four of us gathered in a tight cluster.
The merman who had thrown the blade was large, obviously an alpha, and charging straight for us. He was the last of his people attacking us, and the men and I all turned toward him, putting our palms straight out and blasting him with as much magic as we possibly could.