A Wager in the Deep

BAMBI

My hand was clammy in Holly’s long before we went underwater.

~Is this it? The moment I get my sight back?~

I became delirious with excitement. Dizzy with the possibility…

And then, disoriented by the ocean.

Holly led me off the dock, and then we continued into the deep.

I could hardly even sense light, my blindness was so complete. But something about being underwater made the world even darker.

Freya had cast a spell on us so we could breathe underwater. I felt out of my element more than ever before.

But I tried to ignore my discomfort. I focused on the pressure of Holly’s hand in mine.

~Holly is my eyes,~ I told myself. ~Soon, I’ll be able to see for myself.~

When we had traveled for what felt like an hour along the ocean floor, I began to hear the music.

The sound was cheerful and rich. It was the sound of a full symphony.

When the song crescendoed and ended, people cheered and clinked their glasses.

~Is this the scene that took place before the ship wrecked?~

~Did this happen before the passengers and the band sank to their watery grave?~

I wanted to ask Holly if she could hear it too, but I didn’t have the time.

“Bambi,” Holly whispered, her voice bubbling through the water. “Freya’s calling to us through the porthole. Here we go. Okay?”

“Yes,” I replied. I appreciated her narration, but it made my frayed nerves vibrate even more.

We swam effortlessly upward, passing through the porthole.

And then, all at once, I felt completely different.

The cold water became warm as summer air. I sensed light around me and felt almost drunk on the atmosphere itself.

“Holly.”

The seductive voice must have been Freya’s.

I understood why Holly had brought me here. I felt safe and warm.

I hadn’t even met the sea witch, but her voice alone made me trust her.

“Freya,” Holly replied, never letting go of my hand. “This is my friend Bambi.”

A moment later, I felt hands tenderly cradle my face.

“Oh, my poor darling,” the sea witch cooed. “Blindness is a recent affliction, is it not?”

~How does she know?~

I nodded, and her touch supported me.

“It was my mate’s curse,” I whispered. “But an evil witch gave it to me instead.”

For a moment, all was quiet. Even the sound of the symphony had faded away.

“Now your mate can see,” Freya said. It was like a question, but she already knew the answer.

“Yes,” I replied anyway.

I wanted to tell this enchanting woman everything. I wanted to tell her my secrets, my sorrows.

I trusted her to heal them.

Freya took her hands away, but I still felt her near me.

“I’m glad you came, Bambi,” Freya went on. “Because I can give you back your sight.”

I sighed in relief.

“…but I require something in exchange.”

I began to nod, but I felt Holly anxiously squeeze my hand.

“Bambi—” she warned.

But I hadn’t come this far to return without the thing I needed most.

I sensed that my sight was close. Freya could give it to me. All I had to do was reach out and take it from her hand…

So I ignored Holly’s uncertainty.

“I’ll give you anything you want.”

MAX

“I can no longer keep quiet about the situation,” Hades burst out, his knife clattering onto the table. “We’re in ~dire straits~.”

I shot him a warning glance. I, too, was intimidated by the armed guards who had just filed into the room, but the last thing we needed was to make a scene.

“It’s like we’re trapped at the goddamned Holiday Inn,” Ela whined, dropping a soggy spoonful of cornflakes back into her bowl.

“We’re at President Nelson’s ski chalet in Aspen. I’d say that’s a little better than the Holiday Inn,” I replied.

Sure, I knew we weren’t living in the lap of luxury. We were hardly even comfortable.

The Summit wasn’t running, and yet here we were, ~still~ being kept on the premises.

But I knew if we all started complaining, the situation would get even worse.

“Max, we’re all sleeping in one room,” Kalindi chimed in, “and the Froot Loops are off brand. This place is ~worse~ than a goddamn motel.”

Ela groaned, letting her head fall into her hands.

We were in a large dining room, and armed soldiers stood by each exit.

“I’m sick of acting like this is normal!” Ela continued. “It’s obvious President Nelson was never interested in working with us. He just wanted to lock us up.”

I stared at my own soggy cereal.

I couldn’t deny that I was also fearful… I worried Ela was right.

~Does the human government have something sinister up their sleeve?~

“These two are right,” Kalindi replied. “Where the fuck is King Dimitri? I haven’t seen him in days. And that’s not even including the rest of the Royal Council!”

It was true. We hadn’t seen the leader of the realm in days, and it was starting to feel… fishy.

“Max, what do you have to say?” Ela challenged. “~You’re~ a fucking Alpha! And you’re just sitting around!”

I glared at her.

“~I’m~ trying not to make waves,” I hissed, glancing around at the others who were looking in our direction. “Which is what we should ~all~ be doing.”

Ela slammed her spoon onto the table.

“Fine. Enjoy yourself. I need to go take a walk. Inside the goddamn chalet, because the guards will stop me if I go outside. Hades?”

With one final dramatic sigh, Ela pushed her chair from the table with a screech, and she and Hades stormed out of the room.

I turned back to Kalindi.

“Well she’s sunny in the morning, isn’t she?”

“She’s always been that way,” Kalindi replied with a shrug.

Then Kalindi stood, and I did the same. “Might as well go back to our room,” she said.

“I’ll enjoy a second round of continental breakfast,” Hades said dryly, raising his mug to us as we left.

When we were up in the room, I began tidying up my papers and my clothes.

~Where is Dimitri?~ I wondered.

It’s not like I was close enough with the man that the lack of communication was out of character.

But what ~had happened~ to the Summit? President Nelson claimed we were taking a few days’ pause while we waited for other delegates to arrive, but the whole thing struck me as odd.

“Kalindi?” I asked.

She was staring out the window, her head illuminated in a halo around her dark hair.

“Do you think we should be nervous?” I asked. “Do you think Hades and Ela are right?”

I gravitated toward her, and she turned to me.

Before I knew it, we were practically holding each other. Her hand lingered on my chest, and I touched her waist…

“I think you have to trust your instinct, Alpha,” she whispered.

It was just like Kalindi to restore my confidence when I needed it the most.

I found myself leaning in toward her, breathing her breath, until our lips were a mere centimeter away…

“No.”

Kalindi and I leapt away from each other.

I turned to see Ela standing in the doorway.

~Everything that girl does is loud,~ I thought. ~Why is THIS the time she enters a room silently?!~

“What. The. Actual. Fuck,” Ela demanded.

“Uh—” I stammered, but Ela wouldn’t let me get a word in.

“If you guys are hooking up, there is ~no way in hell~ I am going to room with you even one more night!” she burst out.

I stared at her blankly. What could I tell her? That I didn’t want Kalindi?

It would be a lie.

But when I turned back to the doorway, I saw Hades place his hand on Ela’s shoulder before stepping into the room.

“Don’t worry. We’re not staying here much longer,” he announced, “because we’re going to break out.”

HOLLY

~“Stay away…as the sailors say…stay away.”~

The awful chorus sang in low voices once more, calling out to me in Freya’s underwater kingdom.

My heart began to race.

I had failed to take Rose’s advice. I had led Bambi here to get her sight back. But what would she have to lose?

The voices grew louder as Freya looked from Bambi to me…

I knew I could ignore the warning no longer.

Finally, too late, I could sense the darkness in Freya. A darkness so deep no light could exist.

I squeezed Bambi’s hand, hoping she felt my urgency.

And then I ran…or swam, rather—as fast as I could.

I pulled Bambi, and she tumbled after me. I needed to make it through the porthole!

But just as I was about to reach it, I felt my movements become weightless. I couldn’t move forward.

I was stuck.

As I looked to Bambi, who had been pulled from my grasp, I realized that Freya had trapped both of us in giant bubbles.

We couldn’t escape.

I watched as the gravity of the situation painted itself on Bambi’s face.

I banged against the clear wall of the bubble, but it was no use.

On the other side, Freya’s face distorted. The perfect skin and seductive smile gave way to the decaying skull beneath.

This witch was straight-up evil. And I had fallen for it.

But it was even worse… I had brought Bambi down with me.

The room, too, began to change. The lights flickered; the gilded ceiling became rotten wood.

“Oh, Holly,” Freya purred in the same voice that had seduced me before. “You’ve made a grave mistake.”

Her smile quivered, revealing the teeth under her cheeks.

“You sweet girls should have taken my previous deal…”

Her blonde hair became seaweed, and her voluptuous breasts gave way to a rib cage…

“I was just going to take one soul,” Freya whispered. “But now I’ll take two.”