Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(55)

“I heard that he was training down by the seashore.” Aetnia pointed in the direction of the sea, but well down the beach away from both camps.

“Thank you!” Kat grinned at her, grabbed a piece of bread and cheese to go, and then called over her shoulder, “Oh, and the tea is great.”

“Anything for you, my lady,” Aetnia said.

Kat could feel Aetnia’s eyes on her as she walked toward the beach, which actually made her a little uncomfortable. Aetnia seemed nice enough, but she was definitely obsessed with the princess/devotion thing. Not to mention she seemed to be giving off a weirdly nervous vibe. But then again, what did Kat know? She’d never been a princess before. She was probably misjudging Aetnia because she was using modern standards. Promising herself to be nicer to the young woman, Kat headed down the beach, looking for her lover.

“My lover…” she whispered, and then laughed at herself. Yes, she did have it bad.

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The beach was gorgeous if, sadly, empty of Achilles, or any of the Myrmidons for that matter.

“Where the hell did all of those half naked men get to?” Kat muttered.

She probably should have double-checked about where he was and then gone to meet him. Kat shielded her eyes against the sun’s glare off the water. It had to be at least lunch time. Why hadn’t she brought something like a picnic lunch? And a blanket, for that matter. Maybe they could practice some daytime hypnotism.

Of course that was difficult to do without the patient—or the victim (she could almost hear Jacky adding).

Kat sighed. Aetnia had obviously heard wrong. Maybe they were practicing in the area of the beach between the two camps. Feeling hot and annoyed, Kat headed back, walking close enough to the waves that she had to take off her slippers and hold her robes out of the way. But the water felt good against her feet and calves and she was kicking at the spray when a movement not far offshore caught her attention. Kat stopped and peered out into the crystal water, blinking to clear her eyes. There seemed to be something just under the water. She thought she saw flashes of silver and white and red. Hiking up her dress even farther, Kat took a step out imagining the brightly colored salt-water fish in the tanks at the Jenks Aquarium.

Shapes undulated just below the surface. Lots and lots of shapes. At first Kat was struck by their odd beauty. They were gelatinous and glowed a blue-white light that reminded her of frozen meat lockers and the storage units sci-fi movies used for cryogenic holding. Weird… she could swear the water lapping around her calves had cooled by several degrees. When she saw the eerie, milky eyes she changed her mind about aquarium viewing and began to step back. Then Kat felt something clammy and cold slither around her ankle. She lifted her foot, meaning to brush off what was probably just a piece of seaweed and the sharp pain of a sting jolted her, followed almost instantly by a dreadful numbing sensation in her ankle and foot. Kat looked down.

It wasn’t seaweed. What was wrapped around her totally dead-feeling foot was a long, thin tentacle that looked like a rat’s tail covered in a clear membrane.

With a shriek, Kat tried to finish stepping back, but her leg had become completely useless and she fell to her knees.

The deeper water in front of her writhed with tentacles and glowing, sightless bodies as they closed on her.

Another tentacle snaked out. Kat ducked and tried to lurch back, but the thing was still gripping her ankle, and it was pulling her slowly into deeper water toward the swarm.

“Oh, god! Help!” Kat screamed. “Achilles!” Where was her f*cking knight in shining armor? Where was her hero? She managed to drag herself back a few inches and another membrane-wrapped tentacle snagged her other ankle, zapping her with a painful sting that faded even faster than the first bite as the numbness took hold.

Holy shit! These disgusting things were going to drag her under the water and kill her! She was going to die in this ancient world just as surely as she’d died in the car accident when Venus had—

Venus! Sobbing in relief Kat grabbed the locket and wrenched it open. “Venus! They’re killing me! Help!”

Then a tentacle wrapped around her wrist. Kat screamed in pain. Numbness blossomed throughout her hand and up her arm. Kat dropped the still-open locket, dug her other hand into the sand behind her like a claw and tried to hold on. Please Venus, please hurry…

Achilles was, indeed, drilling with his men—on the opposite end of the beach from where Aetnia had sent Kat. He had just stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow when the goddess materialized from a glittering cloud of smoke. One of the youngest Myrmidons instantly fell to his knees in supplication.

“Venus! Great Goddess! You have heard my prayers.”

“Of course, darling. Try telling her how you feel instead of moping,” she said quickly, barley glancing at him. Instead she motioned to Achilles, opening her cloak. “You must come with me.”

Achilles blinked in surprise. He’d had nothing to do with the Goddess of Love for his entire life. What could she possibly want with him?

“The princess is in danger. Hurry!” Venus snapped.

With no hesitation Achilles grabbed his sword and stepped over to the goddess. Venus wrapped her cloak around him and they disappeared.

They were pulling her under. There was nothing Kat could do. She couldn’t feel her legs. Her whole left side was numb. And she was having trouble breathing. The things had quit stinging her, and now their cold tentacles were slithering all over her body, almost caressingly. They moved languorously with the waves in a horrible parody of beauty and grace, and all Kat could do was gasp for breath and keep struggling back toward the safety of the beach.