The Blood of the Hydra (9 page)

She led us up to the top deck, where there was a bar stocked with sodas and snacks, a sitting area to look over the water, and the captain’s chair. There was also a hot tub, although there was no water in it.

“Too bad I didn’t bring a bathing suit,” Chris said.

“This is a mission, not a vacation,” Hypatia replied, and while she was friendly, I could tell that she would be strict, too. “Lunch should be ready by now. We have about one hour until we’ll arrive at the Land of the Lotus Eaters, and here in Greece, we love our meal times. So let’s eat and discuss our game plan.”

The chef served us salad for lunch—it didn’t have lettuce in it, which I found strange, but I ate it anyway. It was mostly tomatoes and cucumbers and cheese, and it was really fresh and delicious. Hopefully he didn’t notice that I avoided the olives.

At the end of lunch, the yacht pulled closer to a small island, and we gathered on the deck so we could get a look at it. But there wasn’t much to look at—the island seemed to be deserted. The sparkling blue water crashed onto a sandy beach, which led to a forested hill. Seagulls flew overhead, but they were the only signs of life.

I didn’t know what I’d expected, but given that these were the magical islands of old mythology, it hadn’t been this.

“This is it?” I asked, unable to keep the disappointment from my tone. “I thought that people were supposed to live here.”

“They do,” Hypatia said. “We’re keeping our distance from them because the scent of the lotus fruit can be quite… intoxicating. We couldn’t risk getting too close and having myself or the crew affected. So we’ll anchor here and you’ll take the dinghy to the beach. Walk about thirty minutes around the cove, and you should find the locals.”

“That makes sense,” Kate said, turning to us. “Remember—all we’re doing is gathering the fruit and coming back here. Do
not
eat the fruit under any circumstances. If you start to feel affected by the smell of the fruit, drink the yellow energy water in your bag, and you’ll be brought back to your senses.”

“The locals should provide you with the fruit,” Hypatia reminded us. “They love the lotus fruit, so they’ll be anxious to share. All you need to do is fill your bags with as much of it as you can and return back here.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Chris said. “Especially since the locals are all doped up on lotus. It sounds like they’ll have no clue what’s going on.”

“But we have our weapons, just in case.” Blake rested his hand on his gun, which he’d hidden under his jacket.

“If you haven’t returned once the sun has set, I’ll come looking for you,” Hypatia said. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. For now, one of the crew members will take you from the yacht to the beach. Once there, follow the beach around the cove to find the Lotus Eaters. Good luck, and I’ll see you soon.”

With that, we piled into the dinghy, and we were off.

We strolled along the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore, lost in our own thoughts. Between school, training, and homework, I barely had much time to think anymore. Could it be possible that my dad—Apollo—was watching me now? I’d assumed he was watching me back in Kinsley, since he’d known to leave that package on my windowsill. He hadn’t replied to my letter, but now that we were here, in the ancient lands, would he finally show himself to me? If he had time to leave me presents and letters, surely he could stop by for a short visit, just to introduce himself.

Then my thoughts were interrupted by hollow, rhythmic music that sounded like it came from bongos. We all stopped in our tracks, staring ahead at where it was coming from.

“Is that a drum circle?” Danielle asked.

“It’s coming from that way.” Chris pointed forward, running around the next turn. “I see them!” He came back around and motioned for us to hurry. His face was lit up with a huge smile, as if he’d discovered a buried treasure. “This way.”

We followed him around the corner, and in the distance I saw what appeared to be a giant beach party. People of all ages and heritages danced around a drum circle, played games of volleyball, surfed on the sea, and lounged around in hammocks. They didn’t seem to have a care in the world. We stood there, watching them, not saying a word.

Then a young boy who couldn’t have been older than ten pointed at us and shouted, “New visitors!”

I froze, my hand going to my bow. The others reached for their weapons, too.

The boy ran toward us, but an older woman in a kimono followed him, placing her hands on his shoulders to stop him. “We were just about to start a bonfire,” she said with a grin, as if she’d been expecting us. “Come, join us!”

“Yes, join us!” the others chorused, to the beat of the bongos. They kept repeating their request, the goofy smiles not leaving their faces. They all were dressed from different times—one man wore a dirtied toga, a woman wore a tattered medieval gown, a teen boy wore a t-shirt and board shorts, and another man wore a Scottish kilt, among many others. It was like the strangest Halloween party ever.

“What do you think?” Danielle asked, her hand still on her katana.

“They
seem
friendly,” I said. “And we’re supposed to talk to them to get the fruit, so I don’t think it will do us any good to walk over there brandishing our weapons.”

A little girl ran up to us, wearing a nightgown that had probably once been white under all the dirt, laughing as she kicked up piles of sand. “Come play with us!” she said, her ringlets bouncing around her face. “You can help us light the campfire.”

“I think I can help with that,” Blake said, flicking on his lighter and balancing a fireball in his hand.

The girl stopped in her tracks and looked up at him in wonder, the fire lighting up her face. “Wow,” she said, her tongue practically hanging out as she admired the flames. “Can I try?”

“You better not.” Blake closed his hand so the fire snuffed out, and the girl pouted. “You wouldn’t want to burn yourself,” he explained. “But I can definitely help you with that bonfire.”

She reached for his sleeve, tugging him towards the group.

He laughed and looked back at us. “Come on,” he said, allowing her to pull him away. “They seem harmless.”

I wasn’t so sure about that—their goofy grins and unison way of speaking put me on edge. But Hypatia
had
instructed us to interact with the locals, so as we made our way toward the group, I listened to Kate as she filled us in on her observations about the people here.

“They’ve all gotten lost here during different periods of history,” she said. “That’s why they’re wearing clothes from different eras. Once they’re here, they must stay the same age forever.”

“Like the Lost Boys in Never Land?” Chris asked.

“Exactly.” Kate nodded, and ran to catch up with the girl. “Hi, there,” she said, perching on her knees and smiling. “What’s your name?”

The girl paused for a second, as if she had to think to remember. “Marion,” she finally said, and then she grinned, as if proud of herself for knowing her own name. Her two front teeth were missing from her smile.

“And what year were you born?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know.” She giggled, as if the question were silly. “Come on! Let’s go play.” She took off toward the drum circle, sand flying behind her feet as she ran.

Sadness filled my chest as I watched her hurry away. Had she truly been on this island for so long that she’d forgotten what year she was born? Her nightgown didn’t look like anything modern—it could have been from a hundred years ago. Her name was old-fashioned, too.

Kate was right… it was like she’d been frozen in time. Everyone here was. Goosebumps prickled over my arms at the thought. This island was a ghost town, and we were outsiders, being welcomed in.

“This place is giving me the creeps,” Kate said once the girl was out of earshot.

“Me, too,” I agreed, glad that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. “Let’s get the fruit, and get out of here.”

“We have to act like we want to hang out with them,” Kate said as we walked closer to the drum circle. “It won’t take long until they ask us if we want to try the lotus fruit. When they do, we have to say—”

“That it smells delicious, but we’re in a hurry and would love to take some for the road,” I completed her sentence. “We’ve been over this. It’ll be fine. Like Chris said, they’re so doped up on lotus that they don’t seem to care about anything but having fun.”

When we arrived at the drum circle, Chris was already sitting down, banging on a bongo. “This is actually pretty fun,” he said, although it wouldn’t have taken a professional musician to tell that his drumming was completely off beat.

“Your friends should try, too” a man next to him, who was wearing an Egyptian headdress, said. “Come, join us!”

I loved music, but my talents were with the guitar, not with bongos. So I looked around, searching for the others. Blake was helping Marion and some of the other kids gather wood for a campfire. Danielle had grabbed a surfboard and was running toward the ocean. They both were smiling and laughing, as if they were having the time of their lives.

“I guess I’ll join the drum circle,” Kate said with a shrug.

“Wonderful!” the Egyptian man said, scooting over to make room for her between himself and an Indian woman whose arms were covered in beautiful henna tattoos.

“I think I’ll check out the volleyball courts,” I finally said. “See if they could use an extra player.”

“Have fun, dear!” A woman in a flapper outfit waved at me and inhaled on her cigarette holder, blowing smoke in my face as I passed by her.

I breathed it in, and the smell of the smoke was so delicious that it made me stop in my tracks. I’d never smelled something so wonderfully sweet. My favorite food had always been chocolate, but I imagined that if chocolate were put next to this delicious smell, the chocolate would be ignored completely. I took another deep breath, inhaling the lingering smoke, wanting the amazing aroma of it to stay with me forever.

“What were you saying, dear?” the flapper woman asked, blowing out more of the intoxicating smoke. I inched closer to her, savoring every bit of it. “You were going to play volleyball?”

“Yes.” I smiled at the thought of playing volleyball—I’d never played before, but it was similar to tennis, so it couldn’t be hard, right? “Volleyball sounds fun. I’ll see you all soon!” I waved to Kate and Chris, flashed them a grin, and bounced over to the volleyball courts.

I was halfway there when I saw him. He threw the volleyball in the air and served, the sun glistening off his perfectly tan body. He had silky, blond hair, and he was so gorgeous that he looked like a movie star.

Then he turned around and smiled at me. His eyes were clear blue, like the sky, and the way he was looking at me—as if I was the only person in his world—made my heart feel like it had transformed into fluttering butterflies in my chest.

“Hi, there,” he said, his accent making me melt. I didn’t know where it was from—England, maybe? “Care to join our game?”

I blinked and glanced over my shoulder, making sure he was actually talking to me. There was no one else there.

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” He laughed, and it sounded like musical bells. “I’m Ethan. That’s my twin sister Rachael.” He pointed to the girl across the net, who was equally blonde, tall, and gorgeous. “And you are…?”

“Nicole,” I answered, needing to remind myself to breathe.

“Nice to meet you, Nicole.” My name sounded beautiful when he said it. “Care to join in?” He tossed the ball to me, and thanks to my natural reflexes, I caught it without a second thought.

“Sure,” I said, flashing him what I hoped was a flirty smile. “Yes. That sounds great.”

“Perfect,” he said, smiling right back at me. “I claim you for my team.”

I bounced over to him, and he took the ball back from me, his hands brushing mine. Warmth flooded my body, as if his touch had filled me with pure, white energy.

“Have you ever played before?” he asked, standing so close to me that I could smell the same delicious sweetness in his breath that had been in the flapper lady’s smoke. I wished he would kiss me, so I could taste that same sweetness on his lips.

But I couldn’t kiss someone I’d just met. Could I?

I stepped back, trying to organize my thoughts into something somewhat coherent. “No, I haven’t played before,” I said, smiling at him and tossing my hair over my shoulder. It was something Danielle always did when she was flirting. It worked for her, so I might as well try it, too. “But I
do
play tennis, and I’m pretty good at sports. I’m sure I’ll have no problem picking it up.”

“Sounds like a fun challenge,” he said. “Since you’re a newbie, I’m sure that Rachael will have no problem going two-on-one.” He grinned and stepped back, tossing the ball into the air and serving it across the net. “Game on!”

I watched his perfect form, and the way he smiled at me, and it was like I was in my own personal part of heaven.

I could imagine staying here on this island, with him, forever.