“Say that again?” I said flatly.

Her grin widened. “So, then you don’t know. I’ll just let you figure that one out for yourself. If you survive.”

The green haired demon dove beneath the surface, disappearing into the murky water beneath the boat. I waited for a moment, heart hammering, half-expecting her to pop her head above the waves and deposit another shit-load of insanity on top of my head. For one, she’d been able to sniff me out. No other demon had been able to do that. So far. Did that mean I was becoming more and more demon with every day that passed? Or did it just mean that the water demons could sense things that the others couldn’t?

On top of it all, there was that whole wing thing. What had she meant by that?

Az’s face speared through the water, and rivulets of icy blue ran down his face. He smeared his hair away from his eyes before flicking them down the length of me. “What are you doing up here? Are you okay?”

“I came to get air.” A pause. Should I tell him? Might as well. I’d decided that secret keeping should no longer be a thing between me and any of the other Fallen. “And then one of the demons started talking to me. She could smell me, Az. The demon part of me. And she said I have wings.”

“She was just trying to get under your skin.” He waded closer, and his breath was hot on my lips. “We need you down there. Things are getting dicey. The water demons have the advantage. This is their territory. They thrive in water. We don’t.”

Ominous words. Not that I was particularly surprised. Would water dwellers be able to beat us if we fought them in the skies? Unlikely.

“What are we going to do, Az?” I asked in a whisper. It wasn’t as if we could give up. If we boarded the boat, the water demons would only proceed to attack. Again and again until the boat was too damaged to go on. The humans wouldn’t survive.

“We fight.” He dropped a hot kiss on my lips, and then shot me a wicked grin. “Just one last taste of you just in case this is the thing that does us in.”

I wasn’t sure if I should smile or run screaming in the other direction. In the end, we both dove back into the deep.

As we swam toward the fighting, I could now see what Azazel meant. More water demons had joined the first crew, and there were now dozens of them surrounding our little circle of fallen angels. Lizzie was wailing against the same water demon as when I’d left her. Ramiel and Uriel were backed up against the remnants of a sunken ship, and Sam was fighting three water demons at once. Dozens more demons were just off in the distance, sizing up the fight, clearly making a plan on how best to attack.

We were doomed. Fully, one-hundred percent doomed. As strong and powerful as we all were, particularly Ramiel and Az, there was no way in hell we could defeat this many at once. There was just no getting around it. And, for once, my own demon powers could do nothing for me. The anti of my powers? Water.

The demons waiting in the wings began to move. Slowly at first, but then their speed ramped up. Heart beating wildly, I glanced at Ramiel and Uriel. They were stuck. There was no way they were getting out.

I gave Az a look. One that reflected all the thoughts swirling inside my head. He nodded, his own face grave.

A large, aquatic bellow rippled through the water, making every hair on my arms stand on end. What the shitoodles was that? The water around me began to almost shake, as if a deep, dark power rippled through these waters. I curled my hands into fists and whirled toward the sound, expecting to see a great white shark ease out of the darkness.

In fact, it was much worse than that.

So much worse.

It was a freaking Hydra. I recognized it at once, its tentacles whipping through the waters like a dozen angry snakes. The body of the creature was so massive that it was almost breathtaking. Almost. I was far too freaked out to be in awe of the thing. A Hydra had once tried to eat me. I didn’t really like my odds in this scenario.

Its massive body eased through the waters, a darkness enshrouding its features so that I couldn’t see much except the vague outline of its form. The tentacle suddenly shot through the water, latched onto one of the water demons, and ripped it away from the fight. The water demon tumbled through the sea, disappearing into darkness. And then the Hydra bellowed, that deep, dark sound washing over us like a command. This sea was his home. And we were invading upon it.

* * *

Strangely enough, that did the trick. The water demons took one look at the bellowing Hydra and skedaddled right on out of there without so much as a goodbye. They all fled back into the depths in which they’d come. Good riddance. I kind of expected the Hydra to start bellowing at us to do the same, but it kind of just blinked at Sam and then at us before letting out a strange gurgling noise and disappearing after the water demons.

When the humans realized that we’d defeated (if you could call it that) our enemies, they threw ropes down so that we could scale up the side of the yacht. Once all six of us had reached safety, our crew clapped us on the back, giving us firm nods of thanks and approval. The reaction took me by surprise. I’d expected them to lob fearful questions our way, demanding us to take them back to shore. But there was a new hint of friendliness on their faces. And, dare I say it, respect?

After we’d all showered off the saltwater and changed into dry clothes, the Order gathered in the main cabin below decks. Uriel stared at Sam, and Sam stared at the floor. Lizzie, having no idea why there’d be tension in the room, frowned at the pair of them.

“Alright, I’m obviously missing something here,” she finally said, throwing up her hands. “What’s the deal? Shouldn’t we all be happy that we survived those water demons? And the Hydra?”

“The Hydra was never going to hurt us,” Sam said quietly. “In fact, she chased the water demons away in order to save us.”

Uriel grunted. “You can’t honestly believe that, Sam.”

“Did we experience two completely different things?” Sam arched a brow, his usual steady calmness replaced by irritation and frustration. “The Hydra looked right at me, and then turned tail to leave us alone.”

Az crossed his arms over his barrel chest and leaned back into the seat. “You’re suggesting that she recognized you. You don’t think that was the same Hydra that Arkas—”

“Now is not the time to talk about Arkas.” Ramiel shot a glance at me, and then at Lizzie.”

So, clearly Ramiel still wasn’t ready to share the morbid details with me, even if Sam was.

“Fine,” Sam said, his tone still clipped. “But yes, I do think she recognized me. From before.”

Uriel shook his head and let out a harsh chuckle. “Like that would make a difference. Not after what happened to Arkas.”

My ears perked up, and I leaned forward, despite commanding my body to stay nonchalant about the whole thing. Uriel was two seconds away from spilling more information about the whole Arkas thing, and I was starting to feel a little desperate to find out exactly what had gone down. It involved a Hydra, that much I knew. That Hydra, in particular? Had she killed Arkas? If so, why had she let us go?

So many questions. And so few answers.

“I agree. Let’s not talk about Arkas.” Az cut his eyes my way. “Erela has some much more interesting information to share with us. Don’t you?”

“Huh?” I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The water demon. You said she mentioned something about your wings?”

Oh, right. That. I’d almost forgotten amidst all the excitement. Taking a deep breath, I turned toward Ramiel. “A water demon cornered me while I was getting some air. She seemed to suggest there’s something up with my wings.”

Ramiel arched a brow. “Something up with your wings. I couldn’t begin to imagine what she was talking about. Your wings are in your back. There’s not much that could be up about them.”

“But maybe,” I said, plowing forward, “because of my fire demon…thing, there’s something different about them.”

Ramiel gave a nod, then turned toward Sam. “What do you think? Has there been anything different about your wing situation?”

“Nothing,” Sam said, shrugging. “Sorry, Erela. I think she was probably just trying to catch you off guard.”

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. Another hope dashed. Another fight I’d sucked at. It would have been pretty nice if I’d had some special wing powers, but I wasn’t that lucky. The only good thing in my life right now was the Order. And the members of the Order. And the way Sam was now looking at me, as if he wanted to carry me to my cabin and show me his scars.

Luckily, after the meeting, he did just that.