ve if I do this.”
The goddess’ eyes hardened, but she nodded. “I promise. Do as we tell you and reap the rewards. Otherwise, everything you love will die.”
CHAPTER NINE
Amazon Basin, Present Day
“Get the hell up here, Ana! Something’s coming!”
Ana’s head snapped up at the sound of Cam’s roar. She was at the stern of the boat, trying to manage a quick sponge bath and moping over Cam’s dire revelation of an hour ago about finding a replacement. She flung the washcloth back into the basin of water and sprinted to the pilothouse.
“What’s going on?”
He leaned out, squinting up at the sky. She looked up too.
“Oh, shit,” she breathed.
“Yeah. Not normal.” Black clouds roiled low on the horizon in front of them, pushing forward across the sky like a clipper at high wind.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Storm. But it’s bringing something with it.”
A chill wind followed his words, rushing down upon them from the clouds. She shivered; it was the first time she’d been cold since entering the Amazon. The clouds darkened the sky nearly to night.
The screeching and howling of the animals faded. They’d never been silent before. She swallowed hard, then shook herself. She was the goddess of victory. A Celtic war goddess. Nothing scared her.
Keep telling yourself that.
“Get up here,” Cam yelled over the wind.
She scrambled up the ladder and onto the roof.
“Watch the forest!” He jerked his head left, indicating the side of the river with the darkest clouds.
Cold rain pinged off of the metal roof, biting into her skin.
She peered into the jungle, appalled to see the previously calm vines and trees whipping about. Raking claws of wind tore leaves from branches, scattering them into the normally calm river. Whitecaps crashed into the bow, splashing over the low guard wall that was meant to protect from such flooding.
Shallow water boat, she thought. Not meant for this kind of weather. Would they sink in the middle of the Amazon, hundreds of miles from their destination?
“What am I looking for?” she shouted, raking her wet hair off her face and peering harder into the forest. Water dripped into her eyes, blurring the jungle to shades of green and black.
“Something Celtic. From Otherworld. I don’t know. But this isn’t an Amazonian storm.”
An unnatural chill broke out over her skin, colder than either the wind or the rain could elicit. She whipped her bow off her back and an arrow from her quiver. Did the gods send something with the storm? Was that how they would get her?
“There!” she yelled, pointing to the forest.
Boar spies. The gods had sent fucking spies after her rather than track her progress themselves.
She raised her bow, sighted an arrow, and shot the ugly gray beast between the eyes. It collapsed, but she looked for more. The gods had conjured the storm to send boar spies, who couldn’t aetherwalk, ahead of them. The animals couldn’t speak, but they could report back with what they’d seen if Cernowain, god of animals, was there to read their minds.
“Get closer to the north shore!” she yelled.
Cam cursed and piloted the little boat through the waves toward the shore, careful not to let the broad side face the waves. He pulled as close as he could get, and she was grateful that the river was deep here.
Bow drawn, she searched through the trees, now only a dozen feet away. Hanging vines trailed in the water, raking eerily over her shoulders when Cam steered the boat beneath them. At this range, she’d hit anything she could see.