Page 7

Nope.

I wanted out. I wanted to get my flippers flapping and swim far from this spooky stream.

Monsters, demon puppies, heck, even murderous hooded dudes running around the academy were nothing compared to this.

Yeah, they weren’t exactly a party by the pool, but they were still something I could deal with.

Mind tricks and things jumping out from the shadows on the other hand. Hard pass.

Hard-as-my-dick-when-Fallon-was-around pass.

Pass on the scary shit, mind, not Fallon. I’d never pass on my starfish.

As for the trial, the whole spooky aura just didn’t mesh with my vibe. As soon as you mixed scary and beach you got a pirate, and I was no eye-patch-wearing, bird on my shoulder, peg-leg dude with a penchant for overpronouncing my r’s.

No sir-ee.

I felt like I’d been going in circles for hours under the unnaturally purple sky.

I had no idea where the maze was headed, and every turn looked exactly the same—endless rows of stupid hedges.

I was a fish in a net with no way to get out.

Besides, I had more important things to get back to…

That sissy squid of an assassin had been within our reach.

If it hadn’t been for the sleepy mist, we’d have caught him and brute-forced our way to answers.

I was looking forward to another torture session with Ace.

He taught me much about how to inflict pain during interrogations, and I had been keen to have my second lesson.

The Masters were always ruining my fun.

A cackle echoed from my left and I did a quick turn, heading in the opposite direction. I may have been a trapped tuna fish, but my brain wasn’t tiny. Only silly sea sausages and people with death wishes headed toward the sounds that could only mean danger.

Fog seeped out from beneath the hedge walls, hiding the dirt at my feet. I wondered whether I was about to be put to sleep again. I covered my mouth and nose with my arm, not wanting another snooze any time soon. Now wasn’t the time for naps.

I continued walking, keeping my pace cautious and slow. There was no way I was gonna stay still and let whatever was cackling nearby get close enough to read me a bedtime story.

“Holy halibut!” Something caressed my ankle, startling the life from me, and I jumped.

Nothing stood out of the ordinary, so I searched the fog as I stomped on the ground, hoping to crush whatever dared to touch me. I didn’t blame them, really. I did have impeccably nice ankles. But now was not the time to get all touchy-feely.

I scrunched my brow, tilting my head to one side as a fin zoomed through the fog.

Yeah, that’s right, a fin. It zigzagged through the ominous ground clouds towards me, moving like a shark through water.

Except it wasn’t water, it was fucking fog.

A chill ran down my spine at how smoothly it moved, then more fins appeared like a fleet of ships sailing in my direction.

I was no scaredy catfish, but I knew when I was outnumbered.

I ran.

I turned the corner and almost bumped straight into Dick.

The dude stared at me with wide eyes as I scooped him up and continued to sprint.

Dick had to be one of the luckiest lampreys that ever existed.

Imagine strolling through a maze, scared shitless and wondering whether the next minute would be your last, only for someone to come along and literally sweep you off your feet.

That person being me. I was his knight in shining boardies.

“I got you, little Dick!” I sprinted, or should I say galloped, through the maze, my feet barely touching the ground as I went. I wasn’t gonna let whatever was attached to those fins touch me or my Dick. “You’re safe now!”

“What are we running from?” he cried, his eyes searching around us. He dangled in my arms, legs swaying limply as I ran.

“Tiny cackling sharks in a sea fog! Don’t worry, I won’t let them catch us!”

It must have been such a relief for him to have me around to protect him.

“Left!” Dick shouted. I turned as cackles echoed around us, which only pushed me faster. “Right!”

Dick continued shouting directions while I carried him like a new bride.

The clouds puffed up around my feet in whisps, and then a sharp pain pierced through my bare ankle.

I looked down and saw some sort of lizard thing’s jaws clamped onto my flesh, holding tight as I ran.

The creature’s black fin stood tall along its back while the rest of its body was low and wide. Not a tiny shark at all.

I kicked out, trying to shake the thing from my leg as blood spilled from the wound.

I chanced a glance behind me, which I regretted immediately, for my eyes became as wide as the sun at seeing more of those fins catching up.

Finally, I managed to kick the thing off me, but not without losing a bit of skin.

I hissed as the finned lizard went flying into the hedge, though I didn’t celebrate this small victory because I knew the others were fast approaching. There was only one thing we could do.

“Dick! It’s your time to shine!” I shouted, turning around.

I dropped his legs and spun him like we were doing the tango, hitting the little finned lizards as they lunged for us. Who’d have thought Dick and I would make such a good team?

The dude flapped around as wildly as a fish on a deck, knocking the lizards away from us and tumbling them back into the sea of mist. Each time Dick made contact with one of the critters, I whooped, laughing like a pirate after finding a chest of gold.

Maybe the pirate life did suit me. I did like rum after all.

When the finned lizards finally gave up, I spun around, collecting Dick in my arms once more, and ran away from that place.

Dick bounced around in my arms, laughing along with me.

The sound was enough to keep my attention away from the burning of my arm muscles.

The dude was fairly light, but I’d been holding him for a while now.

We came to what looked like a safe spot where I dropped him to his feet.

Together, we moved through the maze and strangely enough, the fog cleared around us as we did.

I couldn’t help but think about my dad as we walked.

True, he hadn’t nominated me for the trials as I had expected, but here I was, making him proud and succeeding like the king I was destined to be.

I just needed to remember his warning in the letter he’d sent before the second trial.

House Jupiter was a threat and there were crocodiles in the water.

The problem was, I didn’t know which croc was trying to sink its teeth in me. Fallon was obviously not a worry because my starfish was in my pod. There was no way she’d be out to get me, but that only left me confused about the House Jupiter part.

Had my dad been warning me about Victoria? Or was there someone else I needed to look out for? I wasn’t convinced that she was the threat either. That was too obvious. Besides, it was always the person you least expected who turned out to be the bloodthirsty psychopath.

Kendra had been the perfect fit, but I’d been wrong about her.

She wasn’t from House Jupiter anyway, so that didn’t count.

But still, I was at least seventy-two per cent sure there was more to my dad’s warning than just House Jupiter.

There was no way my dad thought I was sillier than a sea cucumber and needed to be warned about something so obvious.

Zaney’s brain was a modern marvel that would be studied by future generations. All hands were on deck in the ol’ skull and all were working hard to figure out what my dad really meant by his cryptic letter.

I needed to talk to Ace and tell him about my dad’s warning—get the spy duo back together to uncover the real threat. Maybe I could bring the rest of the pod in too. Dolphins were team players, after all.

Dolphin Detectives. I liked the sound of that.

If my dad had meant Victoria, I doubt I’d need to worry about her anymore. Which only left the crocodiles…

We hadn’t been walking long, so I was surprised when Dick nudged me in the side and jerked his chin forward to where, of all people, Kendra appeared.

She looked my way and her brows pinched.

She was probably in shock at seeing me; a sudden light in the darkness of this spooky trial.

Then without warning we were running, or maybe it was just me running, but that’s beside the point.

Kendra was now right in front of me, and I wrapped my arms around my little friend, lifting her feet off the ground and hugging her tightly to my chest.

“If you squeeze me any harder, I might pop,” Kendra teased, smirking up at me. “Or pee.”

“I once was peed on by a tuna fish. I can’t imagine you’d be much worse.”

Kendra sighed heavily. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but what? And how?”

“I was playing toss the tuna with my brother Zach. It’s an underwater game where you throw a tuna back and forth and try not to let the fish swim away.

The tuna love it—it’s like being on a rollercoaster for them.

Lucky things. As you can imagine, I’m really good at it.

So, I was busy tossing the tuna with Zach and winning the game when he tossed the tuna at my face and the water suddenly got super salty. More than usual.”

“You tasted its pee?”

I pouted. “Not intentionally.”

Kendra burst out laughing, her body shaking in mine. I couldn’t help joining her. The sound was contagious. “Oh, I love you, Zane.”

“Sorry, but I’m spoken for.” I grinned and winked at her, which had her rolling her eyes. In ecstasy, obviously. I had to be careful using that move on people. It was sexy as fuck.

“Did you see the eyes in the hedge?” Lou asked, startling us as she appeared at my side. I held Kendra tighter, the fun mood replaced with apprehension as I looked over her head to where Lou was pointing.

“Eyes?” Dick asked, his own widening. He took a step closer to Kendra and me, not that I could blame him. Eyes did not belong in hedges. Nope-ee, nope.

“Mmmhhmmm,” Lou replied, her face bright as she nodded. “How cool is this trial? I feel like I stepped into an old-school horror movie. It’s amazing. I never want to leave.”

I stared at her, horrified by her words. She must have hit her head or something because nothing was amazing about this place. It was creepy.

“I don’t think Zane feels the same,” Kendra said with a chuckle, untangling herself from my embrace and taking Lou’s manicured hand.

Lou frowned in pity. “That’s a shame.”

A cackle filled the air again and I jumped closer to Kendra, taking her free hand and holding on tight. “We should keep moving,” I suggested, looking around for the owner of the freaky laugh, and for any eyes in the bushes.

I hated this place so much.

“Good idea,” Lou said cheerfully. “I can’t wait to see what else the Masters have come up with.”

I groaned and followed as Lou led the way through the maze.

The woman practically skipped as she walked, humming an ominously happy tune.

She stood out like a beacon, confident and dressed completely in her trademark pink.

Kendra still held my hand, and I was man enough to admit her presence was reassuring.

“Have you seen anyone else?” Kendra asked. “Fallon?”

“No sign of Starfish or the rest of the pod,” I replied, shaking my head. “They’ll be alright. They’re as strong as a riptide.”

“I saw another Potential,” Dick announced. “Well, I saw his head before he was completely sucked beneath the hedge. At first, I thought it was Big Red, but Kayden is too strong to be taken by a bush.”

“Kayden?” My heart rate jumped like a blue whale doing somersaults in the sea.

“It wasn’t him,” Dick reassured me. “I’m sure of it.”

“The hedge dragged them away?” Lou piped up, pulling to a stop so she could hear Dick’s story.

“Yeah.” He nodded, his face paling. “The branches wrapped around him then pulled him away.”

“Cool,” Lou said with a sick grin.

I slid even closer to Kendra, keeping my distance from the murderous hedges, while Lou seemed to move closer. “There’s something wrong with you,” I grumbled, then received an elbow to the ribs from Kendra. “Ow!”

“There’s nothing wrong with my girlfriend,” Kendra snapped, glaring up at me. “She’s perfect.”

I grimaced but didn’t reply because Kendra’s pointy little elbows got between my ribs when she used them.

It was like getting bit by a baby shark, and that was no party, let me tell you.

Kendra may have been small, but she was feisty and had proved time and time again that she shouldn’t be underestimated.

She was a gnarly opponent and I wouldn’t want to fight her. Luckily, we were on the same team.

“Zane, stop playing with my hair,” Kendra said, trying to slip away from me.

I held her hand tight, not letting her go. Clearly, the stress of this place was getting to her. “I’m not touching your hair.”

The air was suddenly filled with the sound of chattering little kids like recess in a schoolyard. Chills ran up my spine, causing me to shiver.

“Ring around the rosie...”

Tap, tap, tap.

“A pocket full of posies...”

Tap tap, tap tap.

There’s something about ancient songs that really gave me the heebee jeebees.

“How cool is this?!” Lou all but squealed, her hands clutched to her chest as she grinned in genuine enthusiasm.

“Freezing,” I said, shaking my head and releasing Kendra’s hand. I grabbed Dick, hanging him over my shoulder like a fisherman with his catch. “Time to get moving before we all turn to ice!”

“Zane!” he shouted in protest, but I needed someone to watch my back, and he was as good a shield as any. Besides, we would move faster this way.

“Keep those eyes of yours peeled!” I called to him, running ahead. I didn’t want to stick around this maze any longer. “This place is full of surprises and not of the sexy variety!”

“Wait up!” Kendra shouted, and I glanced back to see her running behind me, dragging a reluctant Lou along.

I grabbed her hand and we raced through the maze, all the while the singing followed us, but I didn’t stop.

Not when Dick hit my back and demanded to be put down and definitely not when I saw the end in sight.

Ahead of me, a wide archway split the hedge to reveal a mansion in the distance.

Shouting swam towards us as other Potentials ran past the archway.

A sign if I’d ever seen one that this was the centre of the maze.

What creepy shit lay beyond was anyone’s guess, but this pirate was ready for it.