Sin & Spirit (Demigod of San Francisco #4)(72)

“But—”

Kieran held up his hand. “There is a chance others know that we call Daisy a little gremlin. But we have never called her princess, for fear of our lives. So that’s the code we’ll use, got it?”

Everyone nodded except for Harding, who was looking around at our faces.

“Good. Let’s go.” Kieran motioned me toward the cliffs and the groups broke off, the non-seafaring folk running to the cars as Red barked on the phone. Zorn and Jack followed us.

At the end of the street, trees dotted the way. The end of the rope bounced and swung behind me, snagging in the weeds. I pushed a tree branch aside before getting smacked by another. Brittle grass crunched under my feet.

“This is such a terrible idea” I said, adrenaline coursing through me. The salty air whipped my hair, and Kieran’s invigoration coursed through me. Suddenly I was running out to the edge of a cliff ending in sharp rocks below.

Harding appeared next to the very edge, a grin on his face and his arms crossed. “A woman of Hades and a man of Poseidon. This is what happens when the worlds collide.”

“We are stronger when we band together,” Kieran said, stopping beside Harding, on the very edge of the cliff. He had absolutely no fear he would slip and fall to his death. I did not know how.

“No doubt. I see the evidence everywhere,” Harding said. “And thankfully, you have plenty of money to buy underwear every time one of you shits himself.”

“It’s the ocean. You don’t need underwear,” Zorn said after I relayed what Harding said, pushing off his pants and then tucking them into the black bag now tied around his waist. He wasn’t kidding about that. The guy apparently went commando.

“Oh, but your Demigod will certainly need them the first time his body is left behind, and his soul is dragged through spirit.” Harding stepped out of the way of Zorn’s preparations. “Or doesn’t he know soul mates go both ways, and his Hades queen can yank her cheapie king into the Beyond with her?”

Zorn put out his hand to me, so I took it, edging closer to the cliff face.

He dropped my hand. “Clothes. Demigod Kieran will be able to wring the water from his clothes. He doesn’t need to waste energy on yours.”

“Chivalrous,” Harding said with a teasing smile.

“Zorn, leave it,” Kieran said, lifting his hands into the air.

I edged a little closer and watched the water beneath us as it surged over the rocks and rose up the side of the cliff. The chaotic currents within it pulled at me, thrashing and yanking.

“I’ll tie you to me once we’re in the water,” Kieran repeated, his power throbbing around us. “Then you’ll just hang on.”

“Right.” I licked my lips, staring down at the torrid waters still far below. If I jumped in now, I’d be swallowed in the surge, churned into butter within the white foam.

Kieran dropped his hands before turning and running a thumb across my jaw. “Love you. See you in there.”

“Wha—”

He dove off the side of the cliff, his arms stretched wide, his shirt clinging to the muscles across his back. At the last moment he turned the movement into a perfect swan dive, cutting through the mist and disappearing beneath the crashing foam.

“There’s nothing to this, Alexis. You’ll be safe.” Zorn nodded at me, as if that was any sort of pep talk, and followed Kieran. The sun glinted off the mess of scars along his back.

“That guy has obviously been through the stink, huh?” Harding said, watching.

“Come on, Lexi, you got this!” Jack ran and jumped a moment later, hitting the waters a second before changing form. Great spirit tentacles rose from the water before splashing down, no longer creating a disturbance on the surface.

“Man, I’m glad I’m not you. There’s a reason Poseidon was sequestered to the ocean,” said Harding, who’d taken a step back. “I mean, besides being too cheap to build much in the way of accommodations. This is…not great.”

“Yeah, thanks, man.” My heart thumped so hard that it felt like it was rocking my whole chest. Fear clawed at me—the fear of drowning, the fear of being bashed against the rocks…

“Without fear, there is no courage,” I murmured. “It is inaction that breeds fear. Be action. Be confidence. Fuuuuck meeeeeee—”

I took two fast steps and jumped, suddenly weightless, but not because I’d stepped into spirit. No, this was totally, completely, horribly real. I was really plummeting into the churning waters of a death machine. Suddenly the spirit world I’d walked earlier didn’t seem so scary. Not compared to this.

The deep chill enveloped me, sliding across my body and over my face. The current ripped at me immediately. The waters threatened to throw me into the solid rock of the cliff wall.

A strong hand grabbed my arm, and suddenly I was being pulled away. The current shifted, now rushing past me back out to the ocean. Frigid bubbles whizzed by my body. My head broke the surface, but still I held my breath, my eyes shut.

“You’re good, babe. I just need to tie you up. You can open your eyes. Breathe.”

I blinked into the wet face of Kieran, water clinging to his eyebrows and lashes. The surface of the water had calmed around us, with Zorn waiting not far away. Beyond us, though, huge waves rose into the sky, cutting into my visibility.