Hades

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Thud.

Thud.

Whoomph.

My eyes fly open. I gasp loudly, a body-wracking cough ripping through me as I suck in as much air as my lungs can muster. Water spurts from my lips, scratching my throat as my entire body rejects the seawater flooding my lungs. Three equally worried faces crowd my vision, one in particular breathing almost as heavily as I am.

"Wh—what—" Another violent cough tears through my chest. I have to pause for several seconds to catch my breath again. "What—"

"Hey, hey. Take it easy, Evie." Selene gently brushes away the hair sticking to my face. "Focus on catching your breath."

I push her hand away and attempt to sit up. "What... happened?"

"You almost drowned."

"Wow, really?" I ask sarcastically, before sputtering into a coughing fit. "You... you... don't... say."

"Calm your bikini briefs, smart-ass." Spencer helps me sit up, wheezing a little. He wipes his mouth and breathes in deeply, pushing his hair out of his face. It's only then that I realise he's kneeling next to me, and he's as sopping wet as I am. "I pretty much had to drag you up from the sea floor, Evie. You were literally right in front of us, and then the next thing we knew you were gone! What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. It all happened so fast." I pause for a cough. Spencer rubs my back gently. "I just... I dove underwater, and then something grabbed my ankle and dragged me down. But when I tried to look, there was nothing there. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't escape. I'd given up when you found me. How long was I under?"

"Almost twenty minutes." Axel replies gravely. My jaw drops. "We were searching for you the whole time, but we had no idea where you'd gone. It was like you were a ghost."

"I was under for twenty minutes? How am I still alive? I should have died."

"Evie, you're not supposed to die." Spencer reminds me. I frown at him in confusion. "Remember that whole immortal goddess thing?"

"Oh." The realisation dawns on me. My eyes widen. "Oh."

"Oh is right." Axel smiles bitterly. He leans forward and holds his hand out. "Here, give me your hand."

"If I'm supposed to be immortal, then why did I almost die?" I ask, clinging to him shakily as he helps me up to my feet. "I mean, if you hadn't found me when you did, I'm pretty sure I would have died."

"We don't know Evie." Selene lets out a long sigh, sharing a look with Axel and Spencer. The two boys nod at her grimly as they sling my arms around their shoulders, supporting me between the two of them. "We don't get it. The only way that we can be killed is by the hand of another god or goddess, but I don't know anyone who would want to hurt you. It doesn't make sense."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" I inhale sharply, my gaze flickering between the three of them. "Did someone try to kill me?"

"I don't know." Spencer says grimly, wrapping his arm around my waist. He checks to make sure I'm stable, before glancing over at Axel and starting forward. "But what I do know is that we need to get you out of here, pronto. You're not as safe as we thought anymore."

— — —

"What do you mean you saw someone?" Spencer frowns, folding his arms across his chest.

It's been almost an hour since the incident on the beach. The others had hurried us back to the hotel and locked me up in the safety of a hotel room, even convincing the concierge to let us switch rooms just to be sure. After helping me into my room and double checking that I was strong enough to be left on my own, they had hurried out to share a hushed conversation in the kitchen, a conversation that was just too quiet for me to hear. After a few minutes of desperate eavesdropping, I grudgingly gave up and had a shower, the warm water both soothing my tense muscles and washing off the shock lingering in my system. I barely managed to get myself dressed before the three of them walked back into my room, demanding that I tell them again what happened and to spare no detail — and it was then that I suddenly remembered what had happened before I blacked out.