Free The Blood of the Hydra by Michelle Madow Page A

were through, Hypatia closed the portal, severing the one connection I had to home.
    “Welcome aboard the Artemis,” she said, smiling at each of us. She was young for a Head Elder—just a little older than my mom—which I already knew from when Darius had introduced her on Skype. She was also shorter than I’d expected—just barely five feet tall. “Let’s get you all settled in, and then we’ll sit down for lunch while we look over the map,” she continued. “It’s only one hour to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, but I want to make sure you’re prepared before we set sail.”
    “Sounds good,” I said, looking around the yacht for the first time since getting here. The only boat I’d ever been on was the fishing boat that Blake had taken us on to find the siren. This was nothing like that. This was more like a house that just happened to be floating. We were gathered in what looked like a living room, except that the windows on one side looked out to a glittering blue sea, and the ones on the other to a hill dotted with white stucco homes.
    Hypatia led us down a flight of stairs to the bedrooms, where we dropped off our stuff. There were three main bedrooms—one for Hypatia, one for me, Kate, and Danielle, and the other for Blake and Chris.
    “The staff bedrooms are that way,” she said, pointing to the other door. “One of them is unoccupied, so you can use it to store your weapons.”
    “Staff?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
    “You didn’t think I was going to captain the yacht myself?” She laughed.
    I suppose I did think she would be captaining it herself, but since she seemed to think that would be a silly thought, I said nothing.
    “So the boat is yours, then?” I asked instead.
    “For now,” she said. “It’s given to the Head Elder of Greece, so we can easily travel to the various islands in the area. I also have a house on Santorini—the island you saw out the window when you arrived. Now, how about I show you the rest of the yacht?”
    She led us up to the top deck, where there was a bar stocked with sodas and snacks, a sitting area to look over the water, and the captain’s chair. There was also a hot tub, although there was no water in it.
    “Too bad I didn’t bring a bathing suit,” Chris said.
    “This is a mission, not a vacation,” Hypatia replied, and while she was friendly, I could tell that she would be strict, too. “Lunch should be ready by now. We have about one hour until we’ll arrive at the Land of the Lotus Eaters, and here in Greece, we love our meal times. So let’s eat and discuss our game plan.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
     
    The chef served us salad for lunch—it didn’t have lettuce in it, which I found strange, but I ate it anyway. It was mostly tomatoes and cucumbers and cheese, and it was really fresh and delicious. Hopefully he didn’t notice that I avoided the olives.
    At the end of lunch, the yacht pulled closer to a small island, and we gathered on the deck so we could get a look at it. But there wasn’t much to look at—the island seemed to be deserted. The sparkling blue water crashed onto a sandy beach, which led to a forested hill. Seagulls flew overhead, but they were the only signs of life.
    I didn’t know what I’d expected, but given that these were the magical islands of old mythology, it hadn’t been this.
    “This is it?” I asked, unable to keep the disappointment from my tone. “I thought that people were supposed to live here.”
    “They do,” Hypatia said. “We’re keeping our distance from them because the scent of the lotus fruit can be quite… intoxicating. We couldn’t risk getting too close and having myself or the crew affected. So we’ll anchor here and you’ll take the dinghy to the beach. Walk about thirty minutes around the cove, and you should find the locals.”
    “That makes sense,” Kate said, turning to us. “Remember—all we’re doing is gathering the fruit and coming back here. Do not eat the fruit