An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(10)

Kiev gripped her arm. “You said we couldn’t enter the water without their permission.”

“We don’t have a choice now.”

“Then you are not going alone,” he said. “I for one will come with you.”

“No, Kiev. One person entering is bad enough, two people will just get their guard up even more. I will go alone. Meanwhile, Corrine and Ibrahim will stay with you.”

“But Mona,” Ibrahim said, looking concerned. “What if we need to move? How will you find us?”

“We will find each other.” Mona cast her eyes around at the archipelago. “I will shoot up a flare once I am ready. If you detect any merfolk or other creature drawing close, vanish everyone a mile or so away from here. I will try to be back as fast as possible.”

“I don’t like this,” Kiev said. He was still holding on to his wife.

“Neither do I,” she replied, a pained expression on her face. “But we have no choice.”

She shook herself free from Kiev and, without delaying a moment longer, dove into the water. I supposed that she would cast a spell on herself to allow her to survive beneath water.

The silence was chilling as Mona disappeared. We all looked at each other. Kiev had an agitated expression on his face.

“Let’s keep to the center of this rock,” my mother said, “as far away from the edges as possible.”

“Just three of us should remain by the edges to check for anyone approaching,” my father said. “I will keep guard. Who else would like to volunteer?”

He was deliberately avoiding looking toward my direction, but I called his attention, and Caleb followed me.

My father rolled his eyes. “You and Caleb can watch one corner, together.”

“You think I would be able to sit while my wife is down there?” Kiev scowled. “I’ll watch the third corner.”

My mother joined my father on the side opposite us.

Caleb and I got down flat against the rocks and crawled to the edge, navigating past the crabs as best as we could. We lay on our stomachs and watched the gentle waves. A light breeze blew over us, causing goosebumps to run along my skin. The quiet was eerie. I could hear an occasional strange noise in the distance, but otherwise my ears were filled with nothing but the muttering of someone in our group and the lapping of the waves. I would have admired the beauty of this place were it not filled with such horrors.

Caleb reached for my hand and enveloped it.

“If something happens, promise me you won’t do anything stupid,” he said.

“Define stupid,” I replied.

“You should be an expert at that definition by now.”

I poked him in the shoulder.

“I define it as putting your life at risk,” he said.

“I’ll try not to. I mean, I would like to be alive for our wedding.”

Caleb rolled his eyes.

I guessed that I wouldn’t be of much use in this environment anyway. Unless a creature actually shot out of the water and I managed to aim my fire before it fell back in, the water would extinguish my flames. The most I could do, it seemed, was help keep watch.

“Rose! Caleb!” Micah shouted from behind us. “Watch out!”

I whirled around to see a fat black-striped snake slithering toward us along the rocks. Caleb gripped my waist and jerked me backward away from it.

My breathing steadied as the snake made no motion to attack. It continued along its path, apparently uninterested in us. We waited until it had passed by and slithered downward, back toward the sea.

“And we are the ones who are supposed to be keeping watch…” I muttered.

We got down on all fours again and crawled back to our spot, resting on our stomachs.

“I was distracting us,” Caleb said.

We spent what felt like the next hour in silence. There was still no sign of Mona.

“Something has happened,” Kiev said. “I’m going down to look for her.”

“You might end up causing more trouble than good,” Matteo said. “If she’s in the middle of some kind of negotiation, your presence might mess it up… Mona is powerful enough to look after herself.”

Kiev scowled. “I’ll wait half an hour more. Then, Corrine and Ibrahim, I will need you to cast the same spell on me that Mona put on herself.”

Kiev’s nerves were getting to me. I was beginning to imagine the worst. Even though I knew Mona was a powerful witch, we had no idea what was within the depths of this ocean.

Half an hour passed quickly and then Kiev approached the witch and warlock. “I just want to find Mona. If I see she is in the middle of a conversation, obviously I won’t step in. I just want to locate her and know that she is safe.”

Corrine and Ibrahim looked reluctant, but they gave in to Kiev’s request. Once Ibrahim had finished casting a spell on him, Kiev removed his shirt, revealing his prosthetic arm, and dove headfirst into the murky waters. I shivered watching him disappear.

“I hope that wasn’t a mistake,” Matteo muttered.

Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel that it was. Although I understood how Kiev felt. I would have reacted the same.

A screech echoed around the rocks. It sounded much closer than any I had heard in the past hour and a half. Too close. I looked back toward my parents. They too looked alarmed.