My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

Beware the dolphin (Part 2)

Kai hung up and tossed Theo his phone. "Useless."

I watched Theo and Festos struggle with trying to lower the ward for another minute. I had a funny thought. "What we need is another manacle."

"Say what?" Festos asked.

I explained about how we'd used his manacles to capture and hold the wards in the trailer.

"I'm more of a genius than I ever realized," Festos said, and disappeared. He blinked back, holding a set of manacles.

Hannah reached out to touch it and I knocked her hand away.

She whipped her head toward me.

"Just don't. Please." Rationally, I knew that they couldn't hurt her like this. My pounding heart didn't care.

Festos placed the manacle in the glowing hole. It popped, flashed, and then cleared. "Ladies first."

Hannah practically knocked me over in her excitement to jump through.

We landed on a tiny sandy outcropping a ways from shore. It was a bit disconcerting to see a hole hovering about three feet off the ground with a view back to Maia's laundry room. "Hurry up!" Hannah called to the others.

They tumbled after us. Festos came last, the manacle held fast in his hand.

With another flash, the ward sealed up before us and the portal hole disappeared.

I scanned the area. No nasty welcoming party. We seemed to be safe. And warm even though it was still night. Warm was a pleasant change.

"Neat," Festos said, examining the manacle. "Had no idea they'd do that." He blinked them away.

Kai indicated the island in front of us. "We'll be safer over there."

I eyed the stretch of brilliant turquoise water between us and Jack's island. The bright moon illuminated the bay in which we'd landed. The shore lay about fifty feet away, white sand in a sweeping curve around us. It wasn't a large beach, maybe thirty feet wide. Beyond it was dense foliage—mostly palm trees at the outer fringe.

It was all very dark jungle and I didn't particularly want to go traipsing into it, but since I didn't see a house, obviously I'd be finding myself there shortly. New trees to be around? Very cool. Things in, under, or around the trees to kill me? Not so much.

To the right side of the island were steep stone cliffs. Truthfully, they looked more like enormous boulders. Fit for a giant, with more jungle on top.

I slapped Kai on the back. "Okay transporter, do that funky party trick of yours and get us over there."

He shook his head. "Nope. Jack could have some mean trick rigged on shore. We swim over and approach cautiously." He motioned for me to head into the water.

Swimming in the dark was a no go. I stood there. "I don't recall agreeing to this."

Kai gave me his most arrogant "look down on the puny figure" glare. "And I don't recall starting that statement with 'If you would be so kind, Your Majesty.'"

Hannah shut us up with a sharp whistle. "Look!" She pointed out into the water. A fin had circled around our bit of land. Her joyful expression was pretty much the opposite of the one the rest of us wore.

"Doo-doo-doo-doo," Festos chanted in his finest Jaws theme imitation.

"It's not a shark," Hannah said, as a short way out in the water, a dolphin popped its head out, almost dancing before us. "Isn't he the cutest? Maybe he'd help us get across."

I raised my hand.

Hannah, knowing full well what I intended to say, ignored me.

This got Festos curious. "Class recognizes Sophie Bloom."

I planted myself directly in front of Hannah, forcing her to look at me. "Weren't you the one who put the fear of Flipper in me with like six hundred links about how there'd been an increase in dolphin rapes. And how a dolphin's penis can physically lift stuff up?"

Kai peered out at it. "Now I'm just picturing skeezy dolphins cruising for unsuspecting back floaters."

I laughed.

Theo huffed in disgust. "You're spending too much time together. That arrow is melding your brains."

"We're gonna need more dolphins," Hannah said, motioning at it.

The dolphin made some clicking noises in response.

"You want us to catch a ride with those freaky humptramps? I think not," Theo said.

Kai disagreed. "It's a good idea. Dolphins are incredibly loyal to Poseidon, and far as I know, he's neutral in all this."

"And Aphrodite likes them, which has to be good for this mission," Festos pointed out.

Kai and I both laughed. Yeah, right.

Four more dolphins appeared.

"They are damnably adorable," Festos said.

I regarded the little monsters through narrowed eyes. "Yes. Emphasis on the damned. Their cuteness is just their evil M.O."

Festos removed his fedora for a second to fan himself. "We've got two gods and a goddess with active powers, an ex-Titan with a deadly chain, and a hot blonde. What exactly do you think they're going to do?"

Hannah frowned. "Okay. Now I'm feeling like the weakest link."

The first dolphin moved closer toward us, clicking and squeaking.

I glanced over at Hannah. "Translation, Dr. Doolittle?"

Hannah leaned forward to listen to the dolphin.

Dear God, I'd been kidding.

"He says Sophie is a giant asshat," Hannah said.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Hannah Nygard. She's here all week." I walked forward, tugged off my boots, tucked them under my arm, and waded into the warm water. In the bright moonlight, the water was crystal clear enough to see the shallow bottom, but I had no idea how deep it got between us and the island. "What's your problem, fish?"

"Mammal," Hannah corrected me.

The dolphin grew more agitated at my presence. He began dancing forward and back, with random left and right flipper flaps against the water.

Festos laughed and began to hum the music from his arcade dance program.

My mouth fell open. I peered at the dolphin again. "No freaking way."