Page 120 of Their Demon

Fucking hell.It was freezing cold. The water wasn’t but a few inches above my ankles, and I was shivering. Doubt washed over me as my heart began to race, trying to rush warmth to my extremities.

I shivered, wiped my nose, and grabbed the boat again, yanking it into the water. My body stayed painfully tense as I went further into the water, waiting until I was deep enough to get into the boat without it hitting the bottom.

I grabbed the oars, placed them in the notches on the side of the boat, and began rowing. The crowd of people grewsmaller until I couldn’t make out any individuals, the shoreline shrinking along with it.

The middle of the lake wasn’t a short row, and I had no idea how long I’d been rowing by the time I reached what seemed like the middle. It was eerie out here. The water was barely moving, the calm stillness of it adding to its sinister, deep blue color.

I stood, taking several small breaths before facing the bow of the boat so my back was to the crowd. I shook my hands out to my side, making a show of calming myself down in case Satan was watching me from his stupid travel-sized throne. When I felt like it was clear what I was doing, I hugged myself, rubbing my arms like I was warming myself up before taking the dive. I reached into the pocket with my right hand, drawing out the tiny green pill Keir had hidden there earlier.

I had twenty minutes.

I placed the pill in my mouth and swallowed it. I waited for something to happen, but nothing did. I didn’t feel any different, didn’t grow gills, nothing.

Fuck. What if it doesn’t work at all?

I began to panic, feeling it tingle across my chest, threatening to take hold as I stood out here all alone.

It’s going to work. Breathe, princess. You’re okay.

He continued to reassure me through our bond. I’d never been more thankful he could hear me. My shoulders relaxed, the ringing in my ears stopped, and I could breathe without feeling like my chest was going to split open.

I love you.

I love you too, Lillian.

I didn’t let myself think anything else as I dove into the water. I couldn’t push it off anymore; the pill’s time was ticking.

When my body hit the water, I gasped. I couldn’t move, couldn’t swim to the surface to find reprieve. The suit was insulated, but not enough.Fuck. I kept taking steady breaths to calm myself down, reminding my body it wasn’t actually frozen, just freezing its ass off.

Wait.I wasbreathing… under the fucking water. I grabbed my throat, shocked it wasn’t burning for oxygen, and took in another breath, stunned I was able to breathe easily, like I was still on the boat, surrounded by air.

I looked around me, but it was too hard to see anything. It was dark,toodark. None of the light from above the water broke through the surface.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to find a nest without being able to see, but I started swimming. It was the only thing that made sense. Keir had told me they made their nests deep down, among the rocks, as protection.

Not long after I’d begun my descent, I saw a hazy glow coming from below. That had to be something worth checking out. I immediately started swimming in that direction.

I should’ve asked for a watch. I had no idea how long I’d been down here, no idea how far down I was, and no idea how much time I had left.

The glow got brighter as I got closer. It was coming from the rocks, like they’d been painted or something was growing on them.

That was when I saw the rocks. They were underwater mountains. I couldn’t see the bottom of the lake, but these tall,pointy rocks were massive, creating a crazy landscape for all sorts of creatures. There were fish of all varieties of sizes and colors swimming among the plants, and a few starfish laying around. I even saw an octopus crawling down one of the rocks, headed right for a crab.

It was beautiful down here.

I scrambled to grab a large boulder as something zoomed past me in the water. I watched the creature get close to a flattened surface of rock, where a bunch of colorful coral had grown. As it got closer to the glowing surface, I realized it was who I’d been looking for.

It looked exactly like the one Keir had shown me in the book, only its color was more green than blue. It made a weird clicking noise before stooping toward the coral bed, and I realized it was examining an egg. A hippocampus egg. I looked around but didn’t see any other hippocampi, or nests, for that matter.

This was it. This was my one chance.

The hippocampus suddenly shot up, looking around like it had heard or seen something. My stomach dropped. It knew I was here.

It swam away quickly, in the opposite direction, though, so I waited a few more minutes before deciding it was really gone.

I tried to move quickly, heading right for the rocky nest. The egg was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was colorful, covered in all shades of blues, reds, and greens. If I looked hard enough, I could have sworn I saw the outline of something inside it, but it was still too dark down here, even with the glow around me.

I carefully wiggled my hands under the egg and pulled it to my chest. The shell of the egg felt more like stiff Jello that had beensitting in the fridge too long. The egg was large, like holding a small child. I even felt the baby inside move. I silently told it I would keep it safe as I started swimming, praying I would come up to the surface near my boat.

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