Chapter 7
Water slapped me across the face, and I flopped backward as the tentacle-like petal smacked down between us, dividing our group into two. I could no longer see Miles or Sierra, but I caught a glimpse of something glowing next to me as Jasmine raised her Sower’s Spade and unleashed a battle cry. She plunged the weapon into the monster’s petal, sinking the triangular blade all the way to the hilt, and a shower of fluorescent green sparks shot out from the wound. Vibrations trembled over the lake as the petal immediately lifted out of the water, taking Jasmine along with it.
Squinting into the sunlight, I gaped in shock as the petal reached its full height, towering high above my head. I tried spotting the others across the gap to make sure they were all right, but all I could see were more waves. Then a brain-rattling crash detonated as the petal smacked down for a second time, and I had to shield my eyes against the spray. After an impact like that, I totally expected to see Jasmine floating facedown in the water, so I was more than a little surprised when I spotted her still clinging to the handle—the Spade still sunk into the creature’s veiny, slime-covered flesh.
“Let go of it!” I shouted, swimming backward against the tugging, sucking current.
“And lose my Spade?” Jasmine shouted back. “Not a chance!”
“But you had to have taken a whole bunch of damage,” I said.
“I’ll be fine!” As she kicked her feet wildly, unable to dislodge her weapon, Jasmine once again began rising into the air.
I had no idea how to help her, but I had to try. Squeezing my Gadget, I jammed my thumb down upon the button, and a shimmer of silver blasted out from one end. It was the dagger, which admittedly had never been the most reliable of tools in the past, but I couldn’t think of an alternative, so it would have to do.
Before it could lift too far out of reach, I lunged forward, driving my dagger into the petal, and more sparks exploded from the hole. Another round of vibrations shot across the lake, only this time it was followed by a tremendous roar as the sea weed’s circular bulb broke the surface and cried out, revealing a gaping maw of teeth. We may have been doing some damage to the monster, but now, like Jasmine, I too was stuck, and I felt my feet lifting out of the water.
“I think I almost have it out,” Jasmine said, straining to pull her Spade free from the sap-like substance oozing around the blade.
All I could do was hang next to her, gripping my Gadget, completely out of breath. That had been the best move I could muster, and I had no energy left to even struggle. It was a little depressing.
“This was a horrible idea,” I said, watching the lake shrink beneath me. It now had to be at least twenty feet below. Our first encounter in this round of Champion’s Quest wasn’t going very smoothly.
“If you had a better one, you should have tried it!” Jasmine had her eyes clamped, her jaw clenching with determination. “But we’ve injured it, haven’t we?”
“Hardly,” I grumbled.
We didn’t have a clue how strong this thing was, or how many strikes it would take to bring it down. Jasmine and I were sitting ducks. Scratch that. We were dangling ducks!
“You didn’t have to stab it,” Jasmine said. “I was doing fine enough on my own!”
“Look, I’m not blaming you,” I said, finally managing to catch my breath. Sure, Jasmine had always been the impulsive one of our group, but stabbing the monster had probably been the most reasonable thing to do. I had never had much luck with that approach.
“What do you think about our new friend?” Jasmine asked, grunting and tugging on her Spade.
“Sierra? She seems okay,” I said. A little chattery and impulsive, but I liked her personality, which was way more agreeable than Vanessa had ever been.
Jasmine shot me a sideways glance. “Because I’m not so sure.”
“Why not?”
“Think about it, Lucas,” she said. “Who sent her here to join our Band?”
“Yeah, I realize it was Bogie.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Well, maybe a little,” I said, squirming with my gummed-up dagger. We were way high in the air, and I was starting to get dizzy—and maybe this wasn’t the best time for Jasmine and me to carry on this conversation. “But Hob agreed to it, right?”
Jasmine sighed. “I guess, but I’m going to be extra cautious around this Sierra girl, and I think you and Miles should do the same.”
“Are you guys finished hanging around?” Miles’s high-pitched voice called up from the lake.
It took me only a moment before I spotted Miles floating in the water, and I immediately had to do a doubletake. Miles was riding on something blue and furry, and I was pretty sure it had flippers.
“If you drop, I’ll catch you!” Miles announced. “I promise!”
“Catch us?” I frowned. “Is he nuts?”
“Almost there . . .” Jasmine said, her Spade beginning to jiggle free.
Even if Miles could catch me—which seemed ridiculous since I was far heavier than him, and he wasn’t freakishly strong—my Gadget was buried too deep in sea weed glue. Plus, like Jasmine, I didn’t want to risk losing my Hero’s Device right at the beginning of the Quest. Besides, in less than a few seconds, the enormous petal was going to slap down into the water anyway, pulverizing me into pulp. Unless I could pull my Gadget out before then, there would be no need for Miles to catch me.
“Hang on. I think I have an idea,” I said, once again pressing the button on my Gadget.
The dagger made a slurping sound as it released from the sap, and my stomach lifted into my throat as I dropped like a rock.
Gritting my teeth, I braced myself for the inevitable slam of water, but instead of bellyflopping into the lake, I was plucked out of the air, rescued right before I hit by something warm and squishy. A wet tongue lapped against the side of my head.
“What is this thing?” I gasped, trying to escape the foul-smelling tongue. It was like the worst bad breath ever!
The strange creature resembled a seal, only it wasn’t a seal, because instead of the familiar seal-like face I had seen visiting the zoo, a long, tickly tongue dangled from what looked like the mouth of a deer. Knobby antlers jutted up from the creature’s blue-fur-covered skull, and two gooey black eyes gleamed as it cradled me in its flippers.
“They’re selkies,” Miles exclaimed. “I told you I’d catch you, didn’t I?”
Goon had climbed out from beneath Miles’s robe—though he didn’t look too pleased with the situation. His tiny claws clinging to Miles’s scalp, the armadillo resembled more of an armored baseball cap than anything else.
Stroking his own selkie’s bluish fur, Miles bobbed in the water next to me, beaming with enthusiasm. “They’re friendly, aren’t they?”
“I guess,” I admitted, as the selkie began digging its rubbery snout under my chin and honked loudly in my ear. “But where did they come from?”
“They live in the water, I think,” Miles said. “I called for them with my Tether.” He held up his weapon, which he had looped into a tubelike whistle. “Here comes Jasmine!”
Biting down on one end of his Tether, Miles produced a few shrill notes, and another blur of fur and antlers shot up into the air, snatching Jasmine a second before she plunged into the lake. It was an impressive catch, and no doubt saved Jasmine from taking more fall damage.
Jasmine struggled to break free from her captor, fighting against the flippers, but then she surrendered and released a fit of uncomfortable giggles. “All right, all right!” she squealed, swatting away the selkie’s tongue. “Enough with the licking already!”
“Is everyone okay?” Sierra appeared from behind Miles, straddling the back of yet another selkie, this one with a single cone-shaped antler at the center of its forehead, like a warped underwater unicorn.
“I’m down a few stones,” Jasmine announced, inspecting her Advancement Medallion. “But, yeah, I’m good.”
“Me too,” I said.
How we had managed to avoid taking serious damage during the battle with the sea weed was nothing shy of a miracle. We owed Miles for that one.
“Okay then, I think it would be best—” Sierra started to say before she was cut short.
My selkie suddenly dove under the water, taking me with it. I barely managed to clamp my mouth shut as the sea weed’s petal flopped down right in the spot where I had been floating moments before. I reemerged a few feet away, and wiped my palm across my eyes.
“As I was trying to say,” Sierra continued as she popped back out of the water, “it would be best if you grabbed ahold of my robe for a second.”
“How will that help?” I asked, digging a finger into my ear.
“Because I think I finally figured out how to use this thing.” Sierra nodded at her Spark. Protruding from the shortened handle of her Hero’s Device was a tightly wound spool of wire. “The Die of Opportunity gave me a Retracto Grappler,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “I’ve used one before, back when I was substituting as a Harvester during my Silver Campaign, and we were going up against some tomb wights. The Grappler didn’t work then . . . tomb wights are nothing but vapor really, so it seemed like a waste of an opportunity—”
“Do you want to hurry up your explanation?” Jasmine asked, snapping her fingers. “We’re sitting in the middle of the lake with a giant weed trying to kill us, remember?”
“Right. Sorry.” Sierra sucked back on her teeth. “Grab a piece of my robe, okay?” She extended her arm, the folds of her sleeve streaming with water.
Miles didn’t hesitate. Reaching over, he snagged the back of Sierra’s hood. Jasmine and I exchanged a doubtful glance before following Miles’s lead. Then from deep beneath the surface, the sea weed released another hungry groan, and its towering petal trembled with anticipation. Whatever Sierra was going to do, she had better snap to it quickly.
“This is stupid,” Jasmine said, twirling her Spade impatiently in her fingers. “I’m going to stab it again. Miles, tell this blubbery selkie to charge!”
Before Miles could comply, I heard a twangy strum as Sierra dragged her fingers across her Spark, followed by a distinct snap like that of a mousetrap. One tip of the spool shot out from the Retracto Grappler, the wire pulled taut, and then the four of us, clinging tightly to her robe with our selkies nestled between our knees, zipped across the lake just before the sea weed’s petal could smash us to smithereens.