The Blood of the Hydra

• Title Page
  
• CHAPTER ONE
  
• CHAPTER TWO
  
• CHAPTER THREE
  
• CHAPTER FOUR
  
• CHAPTER FIVE
  
• CHAPTER SIX
  
• CHAPTER SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER NINE
  
• CHAPTER TEN
  
• CHAPTER ELEVEN
  
• CHAPTER TWELVE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  
• CHAPTER NINETEEN
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  
• CHAPTER FORTY
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  
• CHAPTER FIFTY
  
• CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  
• CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  
• CHAPTER ONE
  
• CHAPTER TWO
  
• CHAPTER THREE
  
• CHAPTER FOUR
  
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  

Book Two in the Elementals Series

Michelle Madow

Published by Dreamscape Publishing

Copyright © 2016 Michelle Madow

This book is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The Elementals Series

The Prophecy of Shadows

The Blood of the Hydra

The Head of Medusa (coming June 29, 2016)

The Transcend Time Saga

Remembrance

Vengeance

Timeless

The Secret Diamond Sisters Trilogy

The Secret Diamond Sisters

Diamonds in the Rough

Diamonds are Forever

I held steady onto my bow, the arrow pointed straight at the bulls-eye. As always, my mind knew exactly what to do—the stance I should take, how to hold the weapon, and how to balance my weight. I drew the bowstring back, aimed, and let the arrow soar.

It missed the target by a foot and embedded itself in the wall.

“Chris!” I yelled, dropping the bow to my side and spinning around. Sure enough, Chris stood behind me, his hands raised as if to protect himself from flying arrows. “Stop using your powers on me during practice,” I told him. “That would have been a perfect shot.”

He smirked, and a light breeze blew past my face. The next thing I knew, an arrow from my quiver floated up into the air and propelled itself straight into the bulls-eye. “
There’s
a perfect shot,” he said, pumping his fist up in victory.

“We’re supposed to be practicing using weapons
without
our powers,” I reminded him. “Just because Darius had to go upstairs to take a call doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want.” I knew I sounded like an uptight rule follower, but I hated being upped in archery—especially since it was
my
area of expertise. So I took out another arrow, balanced it on the bow again, and released.

It joined Chris’s on the bulls-eye.

I used to think I was a natural at tennis. But that was nothing compared to how quickly I’d picked up on archery. Which, according to Kate, made sense, since Apollo was my father. He was known for his skills in archery.

Although of course, I’d learned this all from Kate, since I’d never actually
met
my father. He’d left a pendant on my windowsill last month—at least I
thought
he’d left it, since it was a pendant of the sun, with the letter “A” carved on the back. I’d hoped that his giving it to me meant I would meet him soon. But I hadn’t heard from him since. Apparently, as a busy god, he didn’t have time for his kids. Which should have been fine, because I already had a fantastic family—my mom, step-dad, and sister. But there was a part of me that wished the situation were different. It hurt to know that your own parent didn’t care about your existence.

But there was nothing I could do to change that. So, not wanting to dwell on it, I shook off the disappointment and held out the bow to Chris. “Want to try?” I challenged him. “
Without
using your power?”

“You know I can’t use that.” He walked over to the selection of weapons laid out on the counter and picked up a knife, holding it up so it glinted under the light. “But
this
, I’ve been practicing with. Check it out.”

He stepped to where I’d been standing, geared up, and threw the knife.

It stuck to the wall, farther away from the target than my first arrow.

“I’m getting better,” he said sheepishly. “When I first started, it kept bouncing off the wall and onto the floor.” Without moving from where he was standing, he used his power to float another knife up from the counter and shoot it at the target. This time, it landed straight in the center. “I have more control over it that way,” he said. “It’s much easier.”

“Until you use your powers so much that you run out of energy,” I said. “You know what Darius told us. We can train and learn how to use weapons the normal way. We have to save our energy to use our powers when we really need them.”

“I know, I know.” Chris sighed, exasperated, and pushed his hair out of his eyes. I knew why he was frustrated—we’d been practicing for hours every day after school since our fight with the harpy, but Chris hadn’t picked up on using weapons as fast as the rest of us. He was falling behind, and it was getting more obvious every day.

“You just need to practice,” I told him. “Your powers help you more with using weapons than any of the rest of ours do, but if you keep using them as a crutch, you’re never going to get better.”

He raised his hands up again, and the arrows and knives jiggled themselves out of the wall and floated back to us. The arrows settled themselves back inside my quiver, and the knives landed straight back in his hands.

“Our powers do come in handy, though,” he said with a wink, throwing one of the knives in the air and catching it at the hilt. “Less clean up time.”

Then the door opened, and I turned to see who it was. My heart jumped at the sight of Blake strolling into the room. In his all-black training outfit, he looked like he had years of experience on Chris, who wore ragged sweats and a t-shirt. And his warm eyes were focused straight on me, which as always, took my breath away.

But even though he’d broken up with Danielle soon after our fight with the harpy, he was still off-limits. Because the five of us—me, Blake, Danielle, Chris, and Kate—were a team. We had to learn to work together. And dating Danielle’s boyfriend right after Blake had broken up with her would put a huge rift in that team. So I’d been trying to keep my distance from him. But that was difficult when the group of us trained together every day, so I was just doing my best to make sure I never ended up alone with him. Because if I were alone with him, I had a feeling that he might try to kiss me again, like he had when we were alone together in the cave. And if he
did
kiss me again, I didn’t think I would be able to resist.

“Isn’t this supposed to be no power hour?” he asked, coming over to join us.

I reached for an arrow, strung it in the bow, and released it straight into the bulls-eye.

“No powers.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and smiled at him. “That was all natural talent.”

“Except I’m pretty sure I just saw some arrows and knives flying—out of the wall and
towards
both of you,” he said. “And as far as I’m aware, the wall doesn’t have much of an aim.”

“Guilty as charged,” Chris said, holding both knives in the air. With his bright eyes and boyish grin, he looked more like he was preparing for a cooking challenge than for battling ancient mythological monsters.

“So you came in here to get us in trouble?” I asked Blake, unable to keep the flirtatious tone from my voice. After all, I didn’t want him to think I
actually
thought he would tell. I knew him better than that.

“Nope.” He smirked and pulled his lighter out of his pocket. “Since you were over here breaking the rules, I figured I would join. Have you ever shot a flaming arrow?”

“No.” I smiled at where this was going. “But I think now would be a great time to try.”

“I thought you might say that.” He walked closer until he was standing only a foot away from me, his eyes locked on mine the entire time. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe—all I could do was focus on him as he flicked on the lighter, picked up an arrow, and dipped it into the flame.

I worried that the flame might go out—after all, I doubted the arrows were meant to be lit on fire—but it held strong. Blake was getting better with his power every day.

“Here.” He held the flaming arrow out to me. “Try it now.”

I reached for it, my fingers accidentally brushing against his. Heat traveled up my arms and to my cheeks, and I moved my gaze away from his to focus on the target, hoping he hadn’t noticed the effect he had on me.

Willing myself not to look back over at him, I steadied my stance, lifted the bow to eye-level, and strung the arrow as usual. The flame danced before my eyes, and the heat emanated onto my face, reminding me that this was anything
but
normal. This was magic.

But despite the distraction of the fire, and of Blake’s eyes on me, I needed to focus. So I pulled back on the bowstring, aimed, and released, sending the arrow straight to the target. It wasn’t a bulls-eye, but it was close.

“Let’s try again,” Blake said, taking a few steps back. “How far away is that target?”

“About sixty feet.” I kept my eyes on it, watching as the flames on the arrow died out.

“Which is much farther than I can aim with my fireballs,” he said. “My aim’s good for about ten to twenty feet, and I’m nowhere near as good with shooting weapons as you are. We might not always be standing next to each other in a fight, but the way I see it, we can still work together. We just need to practice. Are you ready?”

“For what?”

He flicked the lighter on again, balancing another ball of fire in his hand. He looked so dangerous when he did that, and I couldn’t ignore the thrill it sent up my spine. “String the bow, and I’ll show you,” he said.

I did as he said, keeping the arrow pointed straight at the target. “Now what?” I asked.

“Don’t flinch.”

He threw the fireball at the tip of the arrow, which burst into flame, causing me to jump. “Hey!” I yelled at him. “You could have warned me.”