Page 34 of Escaping Rejection

Mika, Wyatt, and I dug our oars into the water, slashing at the ocean with the wooden tools. With more rowers, the other team leaped into the lead quickly, moving half a boat’s length ahead. As I rowed, I gritted my teeth. We were about twenty feet from shore when the light blue water suddenly became a deep, dark sapphire as the shore dropped away to deep water.

Seconds later, a merperson appeared below us. The creature was pasty and pale white with long, spindly arms that ended in heavily webbed fingers and claws. Thick, gross-looking gills ran along their neck. Hypnotized by the sight, I stopped rowing and stared down into the depths as the merperson swam beside us. Its face was semi-human but lipless, and it had eyes like a fish. Its malevolent glare met my eyes and it gnashed its teeth.

“We have company,” I finally said.

Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. “Mermaids?”

“Yup. And this one is pissed,” I said, putting my oar aside and picking up the weapon.

“What the hell is that?!” Abel screamed from the other boat.

I spared a glance to see he was pointing up at the sky. Three shadowy creatures were descending from one of the mountain peaks. It took a few moments before I could identify them.

“Thunderbirds!” I screamed.

Mika and Wyatt didn’t bother looking. They lowered their heads and rowed even faster. I’d never dealt with a thunderbird before. They typically lived in the deserts near the Western Wastes. The beasts grew massive and lived off bats, smaller birds, and other flying creatures. Juveniles like theseonlyhad a wingspan of twelve feet, but they were strong enough to carry any of us off to their nest. From there, things would not go well. I didn’t intend to end up as bird shit two days from now.

The other team stopped rowing to aim their weapons at the skies. Blasts of elemental magic arced through the sky. Abel hit one bird with the wind weapon and sent the thing tumbling into the ocean. A second later, the water exploded in a huge geyser as a gigantic sea serpent broke the surface and swallowed the thunderbird.

“What the hell was that sound?” Wyatt called back, having not seen the display.

As an answer, I screamed, “Row faster!”

I didn’t think the serpent was big enough to swallow our boat, but I didn’t want to hang around and find out. The other birds retreated back to their mountaintop. Since the other team had stopped rowing to fight off the intruders, we were in the lead, nearly one-and-a-half boat lengths ahead.

Our advantage didn’t last long. A thumping sound came from beneath our feet, the impact vibrating through the whole boat. Before I had time to realize what was happening, a fist-size hole shattered through the wood. A merperson’s coral spear pushed through, jerked side to side, and then snapped off, leaving the tip in the rapidly spreading water at the bottom of the boat.

“Shit.” The boat would sink in seconds if I didn’t do something.

I aimed the fae weapon at the hole. The stick shivered in my hand as energy surged through it. A frigid beam of light erupted from the tip and froze the water in the breach, blocking more from flooding the boat.

Before I could check to see if the quick repair would hold, a shout from the front of the boat drew my attention. Mika was struggling. He’d dropped his oar and was trying to pry himself out of the embrace of the merman who had leaped from the water.

“Help,” Mika grunted, pulling at the webbed hands. The creature had dug his claws in, and blood was blossoming where the talons had broken Mika’s skin.

Wyatt dropped his oar and spun in his seat to help Mika. Because of that, he didn’t see what was coming from the side. A mermaid lunged over the side, gripping a coral knife in her hand. I had no time to scream or warn him. She drove her weapon down, stabbing Wyatt in the thigh. He bellowed a scream and fell to the bottom of the boat, clutching at the wound. The female wrenched the knife out and raised it over her head to slam into Wyatt’s chest. I blasted her with the weapon, freezing her head into a block of ice. She fell sideways, slamming her temple against the side of the boat. The mermaid’s head exploded in a shower of blood and ice before her body slumped into the water.

On the other side of the boat, the merman attacking Mika had twisted the alpha’s body around and pulled his head underwater. Mika’s fingers gripped the edge of the boat, knuckles white with strain as he tried to pull his head from the water, but he wasn’t able to counteract the creature’s strength.

The fear of another contestant dying slammed into me. I could almost see Mika’s lifeless body lying on the mansion floor after the challenge. Eyes dead and gaping, staring at me in accusation.

No. I was not going to let that happen. Dropping the weapon, I stood and grabbed Mika’s shoulders, heaving back on his body, playing tug-of-war with the creature under the water. Mika thrashed and flailed; I could almost feel the panic and terror vibrating through his body. Behind me, Wyatt jerked around and cussed something. From the corner of my eye, I watched him pick up the ice weapon and freeze a massive, feral alligator shifter moments before its jaws clamped onto his throat. Another one was trying to climb aboard. Wyatt punched and kicked at it while I tried to save Mika.

I was losing the tug-of-war. Mika’s body began to go limp, exhausted from the fight and lack of air. Then, like a light switch clicking on, I realized we weren’t using all our weapons.

“Mika!” I screamed, hoping he could hear my words through the water. “Shift. Mika, shift!”

He must have heard me because his body shifted into his wolf form. Instead of shoulders and shirt, I held his fur and his front legs. Under the water, I saw his jaws snap and clamp on the face of the merman. A second later, the blue water became a red mist as Mika ripped its face completely off.

What remained of the merman sank down into the water. Mika fell backward, shifting back as he did. He hit the bottom, gasping and coughing. “Holy shit. Thanks.”

Wyatt managed to fight the other alligator shifter out of the boat and grabbed his oar, wincing when he put weight on his injured leg. Mika and I grabbed our own oars and paddled. From some distance away, I could hear the other team screaming and fighting. Too worried about my safety, I didn’t spare a glance in their direction. The sounds of magic, fighting, and shouting followed us as we slowly but surely left them behind.

We were less than a hundred feet from the shore when a serpentine head rose from the water directly in front of us. Yellow eyes glared at us. It was not as large as the sea serpent that had killed the thunderbird, but more than big enough to bite one of us in half or drag us into the depths of the water.

It watched us for several seconds, as though judging whether we were worth attacking. Another movement caught my eye—a shark fin. It surprised me to see something as boring as a shark swim by after fighting so many magical creatures. Though, if we fell in, the shark would eat us all the same.

The serpent, seeing an easier meal, dived straight down. Mouth gaping, razor-teeth exposed, it seized the shark and began to feast. Blood bloomed in the water around it.

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