Shannon mulled over what he’d said earlier. “And you said you have those women in hiding?”

            “Yes. We have no choice.”

            “Do the old gods, do they know who those women are? Do they know what they look like?” An idea was forming in her head.

Uryx noticed. “We do not believe they do.” He tilted his head. “What are you thinking?”

            She mentally grabbed his first reply. “You don’t believe they do? What does that mean?”

            For the first time, Uryx took his gaze off her and looked behind them. “Hermes spied on us for the upper gods. He told them we had met our mates. He let them know where we had them secreted away.”

            Shannon felt a knot of fear forming in her stomach. “Hermes. He’s the one with the winged sandals, right? Like a messenger god?”

            “Yes.”

            “So what happened?”

            “Some of the gods went after them.”

            Shannon couldn’t help the gasp of surprise that escaped her. “Did they, did the women survive? I mean, are they all right?”

            A strange, unreadable smile came over the demi-god’s face. “The gods underestimated our women. They were able to escape. The females are well and safe, but we frequently have to move them to a new location for their protection.”

            “So what you’re telling me is that every time this Hermes guy finds their new location—”

            Uryx cut her off with a wave of a hand. “Hermes has been incapacitated. He cannot hunt for them anymore. But that does not mean they are safe from detection.”

            “Uryx, are the women by themselves?”

            He turned back to her. “What do you mean?”

            “I mean, are they isolated?”

            “Yes.”

            She sat up straighter. “You have them isolated and in hiding? Together? Are they all together or separated?” She noted how he quickly checked around them, as if to be certain it was safe to speak.

            “Yes. For now.”

            “Bring them here.”

            His eyes widened. She pushed on. “Bring those women here.”

            “And hide them where?”

            Smiling, Shannon held out her hands. “Here. In the open.”

            “Shannon.” It was the first time he’d called her by her name.

            “It’s called hiding in plain sight. You said the one god who can identify them is no longer able to search for them or tattle on them. Am I right? Is that what you meant?”

            “Yes.”

            She pointed to the ground. “Bring them here. If any of those old gods show up here, they won’t be able to pick them out from the other women. Or could they?”

            A smile began to lift the corners of his mouth. For some reason, her eyes locked on his lips for a second until she lifted her gaze back to his eyes.

            “Probably not,” he confessed.

            “Then bring them here. They won’t be isolated any longer, either. They’ll have other people they can talk to. It’ll be good for their mental health,” she pressed.

            “I will bring it to my brothers’ attention,” he promised her.

            “Shannon?” A woman’s voice broke in.

            Shannon whipped around in the other direction to find Amber standing a short distance away. The woman had a funny expression on her face.

            “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I mean, I heard you to talking to yourself.” The woman was apologetic, as well as curious and embarrassed.

            Shannon grimaced. “It’s okay. I tend to talk to myself whenever I’m stressed or worried.” She added a self-deprecating chuckle and changed the topic. “Did you need to see me about something?”

            Amber pointed skyward. “It’s starting to get dark. I wanted to show you to your room before it gets too dark for you to see your way around.”

            Shannon remembered the comment about electricity from dinnertime. “I’m guessing there are no more candles.”

            “You’d be guessing correctly,” Amber confirmed. “Same for batteries for the flashlights. What electricity we do have is reserved exclusively for the pumps, which bring up the fresh water from the underground caverns.” Her face fell. “Unfortunately, that’s coming to a halt pretty soon, and when it does, I don’t know what we’ll do for fresh water.”

            “You mean you’re running out of electricity? Or water?”

            “Electricity.”

            Shannon made a mental calculation. The electricity had to power the pumps, which supplied the island with fresh water. So where did the electricity come from?

            “Where do you get the electricity?”

            “From the generators.”

            “Are the generators failing?”

            Amber gave her a weak smile. “That’s not the problem. It’s the fuel.”

            “I’m guessing you’re about to run dry because boats or planes can’t bring in fuel for the generators.” Shannon sighed.

            “Sadly, yes.”

            “I have a lot to learn about what’s going on here,” Shannon admitted, getting to her feet. “As I said earlier, just tell me what to do when you need something done. It’s the least I can do to repay you for taking me in.”

            “Bring us another shower of fish, and we’ll call it even,” the woman halfway joked and turned to head back to the hotel.

            Shannon checked the bench to see if Uryx was still sitting there, but it was empty. Taking a deep breath, she trudged after her host.