That apprehension turned to a wave of fear. Did the Siren know something Daphne didn’t? Had Zeus lied? Was this really—she swallowed hard—a suicide mission after all?
Daphne’s mind spun with possibilities, but she couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason for Zeus to have lied. He clearly wanted the Argonaut dead. Ari had been wreaking havoc on Sirens for years. Regardless of Zeus’s connection to her mother, she had to make this work. But Zeus’s order that Daphne find a mark on the Argonaut’s body—a vague mark which he hadn’t bothered to explain—sent another wave of worry rushing over her.
Stealing her nerves, Daphne looked from Sappheire to Rhebekah and back again, focusing on what came next, not what she had to do down the line. “But why would he be here? There are no Sirens in this area. Except for, well, us. He doesn’t know we’re here. He certainly didn’t know we were coming.”
Sappheire nodded toward Rhebekah. “It’s time for us to leave.”
“Wait.” Daphne pushed quickly to her feet. “How will I know where to find him?”
“You’ll not find him,” Rhebekah answered. “He’ll find you.”
Before Daphne could protest again, the Sirens disappeared, flashing back to Olympus without her.
In the silence, Daphne shivered and lowered herself back to the log. As she wasn’t a full-fledged Siren, she couldn’t flash after them, which meant from here on out, she was on her own.
Glancing around the forest, she tried not to freak out. Dusk was quickly moving to dark. In a matter of minutes it would be pitch black, not even a moon to guide her.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and rubbed her bare skin in the hopes of scrubbing away the fear. The dress Athena had made her wear was flimsy and white, with tiny cap sleeves and a hem that barely hit mid-thigh. The matching shoes were nothing but ballet slippers. She knew the outfit was meant to be alluring, but no female in her right mind—nymph or not—would be caught out in the cold in this getup. And right now she was more worried about freezing to death than what any crazed Argonaut was doing out here in these woods.
Don’t think about Aristokles. Think about what you need to do next.
She rubbed her arms again. Tried to think clearly. She had no coat, no blanket, nothing to stay warm, and no idea how long she’d be here. It could take hours for the psycho Argonaut to venture her way—if he was really out here. In the meantime, she needed to find shelter and a way to stay warm. Needed—
A howl echoed somewhere through the trees. She jerked in that direction, her heart rate shooting up even higher, sending blood pulsing through her veins.
Okay, maybe cold wasn’t her biggest problem right now. Her Siren sisters hadn’t just left her without a coat, they’d left her without a weapon to defend herself.
A twig cracked off to her right. Lurching to her feet, she scanned the ground and spotted a downed branch, as long and thick as a baseball bat. Grasping it in both hands, she swiveled toward the sound and slowly backed up, her hands shaking.
Long seconds passed. Finally, a rabbit jumped out of the brush, spotted her with big brown eyes, and quickly scurried away.
Daphne released a heavy breath and dropped the branch to the ground. She was flipping out for no reason. If that didn’t prove she needed to pull it together, nothing did. She was a Siren, for crying out loud. Not a wimpy female.
Or...she would be. As soon as this mission was over.
A shiver rushed down her spine, dragging her awareness back to the cold once more.
Shelter. That’s what she needed to focus on. Not some stupid, irrational fear that wasn’t doing anything but making her nuts.
She straightened her spine and glanced around the forest again. The ground rose steadily to the north. Through the trees she could see what looked to be some kind of rock outcropping. Deciding that was her best bet, she headed in that direction. If she could find a cave, she could at least get out of the elements and decide what to do next.
The air grew progressively colder the closer she drew to the rocks. Rubbing her hands vigorously against the bare skin of her arms, she tried to keep her teeth from chattering as she picked her way around stones and branches and roots sticking out of the ground that bruised her feet in the silly shoes. Just as she moved past a boulder the size of a car, a growl echoed in the steadily darkening forest, drawing her feet to a sharp stop.
The hair on her nape stood straight. Her heart rate shot into the triple digits. Slowly, she turned in the direction she’d just come and stared in horror at the creature moving out from behind the rocks to stand in her path.
It was at least seven feet tall. A mixture of goat and lion and dog and human, with the body of a man, sharp teeth, horns, and glowing green eyes like something straight out of a nightmare.
A daemon. One of the Underworld’s monsters. She stumbled backward.
“Nymph.” The daemon drew in a deep whiff and growled. “Now this is a treat. What is a nymph doing out in these woods all alone?”