Chapter 2

I was yanked backwards into the water, and I came up gasping for breath and sputtering like a doused cat.

My black hair covered my face, blocking my vision while loud guffaws alerted me to the direction of my attacker.

I recognized the laugh as belonging to Joss.

Pulling my hair to the side, I saw his grin. He tried to hide it when I glared at him. Hastily, I glanced to the embankment to see Joss’s shirt and boots lying on a log. No other clothes were removed and I breathed easier. Not by much, though, because my eyes kept looking down at his masculine chest.

When Joss still was unable to silence his mirth, I got revenge. Pulling the water to me I made two huge waves rise up on both sides of him and immersed him, I also made sure that the waves soaked his shirt and boots that he’d left on dry land.

Now it was my turn to laugh mercilessly. I was rewarded by a physical dunking that turned into more splashing. I tried to run out of the water for safety, but Joss was faster, scooping me up around the waist. He threw me, screaming, back into the cold, dark water.

Only I didn’t come up. I held my breath and swam as low to the bottom as possible. I held still, lying in wait. Paddling backward with my hands, I closed my eyes and searched with my other senses through the water. Sure enough, a frantic Joss shouted my name and dove back in after me.

When he came up for air, I sprang up out of the water like a swan surfacing. I grabbed onto his shoulders and yanked him into the dark abyss. When he finally resurfaced, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me close to his chest in an embrace.

I let him hug me and I took advantage of the warmth his body was giving off. My wet clothes were making me very cold and I felt my body shiver. Whether it was from cold or from Joss I wasn’t sure.

“Don’t do that,” he whispered into my hair. Joss’s voice was breathy with exertion. “You scared me.” He continued to hug me.

I was content to not move or say anything, but I could immediately tell when the mood changed.

“I’m sorry, Thalia,” Joss groaned and spoke softly, fervently. “I don’t know how to explain what happened that night between me and Mona, other than that wasn’t me. It was just as my mother said—I could watch myself doing things, but I couldn’t control it. A bad dream that I couldn’t wake up from. I do know, though, that you were meant to see us.” Joss pulled away from me and grasped my shoulders. Leaning down, he searched my eyes.

“I wasn’t in control. You have to believe me. I left you to go change, and Mona was in the hall waiting for me. I felt a pinch and then I felt dizzy. Her voice was mesmerizing. I was compelled to follow her. I heard her mumble something about you under her breath and then the next moment, she was kissing me. And I was kissing her back.”

“Stop…please,” I shook my head, not wanting to hear more. He had explained enough. But Joss felt he hadn’t.

“I heard a noise and couldn’t look up until she let me, and I saw your face. I wanted to die. I wanted to scream, to run to you and tell you it’s all a lie, but I was frozen.” Joss ran his hand through his hair in disgust. “I wished that you could hear my thoughts. In my mind I was screaming at you for help, but then you turned away and left.”

I closed my eyes and looked down ashamed. I should have known that wasn’t like Joss. I should have seen the signs that something was wrong. But I was too quick to believe that he had chosen someone else.

“I’m sorry, Thalia. I was angry that you left, that you would believe the worst of me without confronting me. But then Mona made me return to the party and that’s when everything went downhill…and you saw the rest.”

“No, Joss, I need to apologize to you too, about the kiss with Kael.” I felt awful that I was saying I was sorry for something I enjoyed. “He surprised me, and I didn’t comprehend fast enough to pull away.”

Joss was quiet, thoughtful, and then he nodded his head in understanding. “So are we good?”

I grinned back. “We’re good.”

Joss looked at me and started to laugh again as he pulled a stray twig out of my hair. “You look a mess.”

I made a face and reached up to feel for other items that may have gotten caught in my long hair. Yep, there were other twigs as well. Joss also had a thick twig on his shoulder and when I went to brush it off, it didn’t move.

Frowning I reached up to brush it off again and it only squirmed. That’s when I realized it wasn’t a twig.

“Leeches!” I squealed in horror and ran out of the water as fast as I could and dove behind a huge rock as my clothes clung to my body. I began to rip my shirt off to pull off the offending leeches but Joss was right behind me.

Our screams brought Kael and Darren running—Kael with his knives drawn, his face a mask of death. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw our frantic dance to remove the leeches.

Kael’s eyes locked onto me and looked at my wet clothes and then glanced to Joss’s similar state, his mouth turning down in disapproval.

Darren ran over to Joss and began to pluck the leeches from his body. Kael looked at me awkwardly and then, turning his back on me, headed back to camp. A few moments later, Fanny came running down the same path with something in her hands.

Fanny arrived with a pouch full of salve. After she plucked all of the leeches from my body, she applied it heavily to their bites. I groaned in protest as the pungent order reached my nose. It was hartswood, a salve that smelled similar to cat urine, and it belonged to Kael. He knew how much I hated the smell of it, and I could just picture him in my mind heading back to camp grabbing the pouch and throwing it to Fanny with instructions.

He knew I would argue with him if he tried to get me to use it. So he sent someone I wouldn’t argue with. Kael was beginning to figure me out.

Cold and miserable, I made it back to camp with the others and grabbed my spare clothes out of Faraway’s saddlebag. I glanced around for Kael so I could give him a piece of my mind, but he wasn’t there. So I took out my frustration on Faraway.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

You weren’t in danger.

“Leeches, Faraway. I was attacked by bloodsucking leeches.” I hissed.

Okay you weren’t in any real danger, he chortled. I wouldn’t say attacked. You were the one who invaded their home. They were just hungry. Like I am right now.

“You’re always hungry.”

Exactly, so I don’t blame them.

“But I blame you!”

He snorted and went silent on me.

Once I had changed and laid out my wet clothes to dry by the fire, I sat and combed out the snarls in my wet hair while surveying the rest of my traveling companions. Darren had challenged Fanny to a game involving tossing small stones into a tin cup. Their contagious laughter filled the camp and soon Joss and Hemi were calling out bets as to who the winner would be.

Darren bowed comically whenever his throw rang true and fell to his knees in dramatic sorrow when he lost another game to Fanny. “Woman, you’ve stolen my pride, my dignity,” he crowed, throwing his arm over his face.

“Nonsense,” Fanny snorted drolly. “You would need to have a speck of dignity first for me to steal it. Which you don’t.”

Joss slapped his knee in laughter at the obvious look of mock dismay that crept over Darren’s face. Hemi’s stoic face cracked a smile beneath his red beard, and even Mona had to cover her mouth with her hands to hide her laughter. Overall, the tension from earlier had been alleviated. The fire died down and we settled in for the night, each of us taking a turn on watch.