Chapter 78

I cradled Paige in my arms and flew to through the water to the surface. Poseidon had finally caught a conscience and let us go. But at what cost?

Paige was cold to the touch and her lips were tinged blue. No, no, no. I had to save her. She couldn’t—I couldn’t even finish the thought as my chest locked.

The air brought goose pebbles across her arms, yet she didn’t stir. Below us, a boat rocked in the waves as the storm slowed. No one manned the small vessel from what I could see from twenty feet above.

I needed to get Paige to safety, but first I needed to ensure she was breathing. Using my power, I buffeted the air around us, gliding down until we landed on the boat.

Dion.

He was lying face down at the bottom of the boat with blood around his head. No time to check on him, Paige came first. And Dion as a god would heal soon enough.

There was a black mark across the middle of the boat that I had no idea from what.

I set Paige down on the opposite side of the boat from Dion and gently laid my head on her chest to see if she was still breathing.

Nothing. Not even a heartbeat. “No!”

I crossed my hands over her chest and started CPR. Breathing into her lungs and willing them to function.

Fuck Poseidon! Fuck Zeus! I was going to kill them both if this didn’t work. If she didn’t come back to us. Hell, I’d even rampage Hades’ lair to demand her return. I couldn’t lose her not now.

“Breathe, Paige, breathe,” I yelled, pressing against her chest for compressions. “Breathe.”

Her lips were cool, and my heart broke seeing her not respond. I wasn’t going to give up. Not now, not ever.

“Come on, come on.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Dion slurred, grabbing my arm from behind.

“Trying to save her life.” I jerked away from his grasp. Leave it to Dion and other gods stuck in their ways not to know modern techniques that could save a person’s life. What would Paige have done without me here to help her?

I puffed air into her mouth and lungs again. This time, her body twitched, and I helped her turn onto her side. She coughed, choking up water that was way more than I thought the human body could hold in their lungs.

But she was alive. As soon as she stopped gushing water, I hugged her as she coughed. She was shuddering and Dion knelt on her other side and held her too. We stayed like that for a long time while the ocean gently rocked us, and her shivers slowed.

“W-What happened?” she asked.

“Poseidon let you go.” I rubbed her arms, trying to warm them up more.

“He did?” She pushed back and looked between me and Dion. “Why? How?”

“You broke Zeus’ spell on him somehow.” I shrugged. “But you were drowning, and he couldn’t save you.” Didn’t need to add that I was the only one who could. “I found the boat and Dion unconscious and I did CPR.”

“Thank you.” She hiccupped. “W-where’s Hephaestus?”

“Why would he be here?” I frowned. “He’s the god of fire and he and Poseidon don’t get along.”

“He taught me fire.” She held out her hand and a flame appeared in her palm. “I need him, and I need Poseidon too. All four of you.”

All the excitement of her being alive whooshed out of me like a deflated balloon. She needed the four of us? As what...teachers? I already knew she’d slept with Dion, had she done so with Hephaestus as well? “What do you mean?”

But I already knew the answer deep in my gut. How once upon a time, I had a Pandora reincarnated in my life that I’d hacked away my memories and pieces of my heart to forget her. Yet, there were holes in me that felt like Swiss cheese until I met Paige.

“We can talk about this later. Right now, we need to find Hephaestus. Then I need to get to Poseidon to learn how to control water before Zeus returns.” She stood up, glancing around the ocean and we stood with her. Her face paled, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the exertion after her near-death experience or that we didn’t see Hephaestus floating anywhere.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said, not wanting to worry her.

She spun; her eyes wide. “He can’t fly, can he? He’s the god of fire in the ocean. Oh god, why did I agree to him coming out here? It’s my fault he’s gone.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Dion rubbed her back. “We’ll find him.”

“Like we did Hermes?” She shook her head, moving further to the edge of the boat. “Poseidon is himself again. He won’t be setting a trap for us using Hephaestus as bait.”

“You think he has Hephaestus?” I asked.

“Who else?” Then she covered her mouth with her hand, turning even paler than before. “You don’t think Zeus took him, do you?”

“No,” Dion answered for me. “His pride is too grand not to rub that in our faces.”

Paige rolled her shoulders back. “Okay, we have to go back in. We have to find both Hephaestus and Poseidon. Out here, we’re sitting ducks for Zeus as well.”

“She’s right.” Dion nodded, then winced from the motion. “We need to get to cover, even if it’s the ocean, soon.”

He knew as well as I that Zeus would be back, and he’d probably bring his whole fucking army with him when he did. The only chance Paige had was to learn water from Poseidon and now.

“Here,” I said, waving my hand over her head. “An air bubble to breathe underwater with.”

Her smile made me want to push Dion overboard and kiss her until she was mine in all ways. Instead, I crafted a bubble for him and then for me.

We dropped the anchor to try and keep the boat where we could return to it later if we needed to. Or if there was some miracle that Hephaestus happened upon it.

The water rushed over us, and we swam toward where Poseidon had held me, prisoner.

I couldn’t believe that I had been used by Zeus to nearly kill Paige. Even though I didn’t strangle her, it was because of me that she had been in that situation. And I wanted to repay Zeus a hundredfold for endangering her life and didn’t care what he did in retribution against me.

This would stop one way or another. I wouldn’t rest until Zeus either left us in peace or was dead.

We dodged a swordfish. Two sea turtles followed us halfway back before changing direction and swimming to the surface. The water grew colder, and I was sure we were getting closer to Poseidon. I was surprised he hadn’t come to see what we were up to though. Unless he was busy with some sea life catastrophe or maybe he’d gone after Zeus himself? I would have done the same thing if I were him.

Paige grabbed my hand and squeezed. I smiled at her and fought the urge to fly her far from here. But I wasn’t a fool. She’d be helpless, and vulnerable without learning the fourth element. This was the only way to ensure her safety and I wouldn’t allow my selfish nature of keeping her only to myself to interfere.

The sea roared above us, but we kept going. There was no sign of Poseidon.

I turned to Dion and mouthed. “Can you find him through the earth?” The bottom of the ocean was still dirt and crust which was Dion’s domain.

“Never tried to before.” He shrugged but closed his eyes.

As though to encourage him, Paige took his hand so that she was between us both, linked like a three-person chain.

Are you sure you know where to find Poseidon?” I asked.

Dion closed his eyes. “The question is not if I can find Poseidon’s home, it’s which one he’s at. His domain is three times the size of land and he’s got multiple homes scattered across the ocean.”

Paige wrapped her arms around herself, leaning deeper against my side for warmth. “Does that mean that you can’t sense where Poseidon is?”

“Exactly.” Dion nodded, keeping his eyes closed as held out his hands in front of him and turned in the water with a frown. “I can get a decent location of the boat near us, but not if he is there or not.”

“Let’s go to the closest of his places since that’s our best shot.” I placed my hand on Paige’s hip, wanting to be back on land before Poseidon changed his mind and had us gobbled up by barracudas.

Dion opened his eyes and pointed northeast. “That’s our best bet.”

“Great,” Paige said. “Let’s go.”

We swam until we reached a cave embedded with seashells and coral into the rock. But it didn’t look very promising as inside it was pitch black. I glanced over at Dion.

“Are you sure this is Poseidon’s home and not the Kraken or something?”

“I have no idea what or if anything is inside there. On land, I could tell you if there was a mountain lion inside. Just like you can tell me how many birds are in the sky at any given time because that’s your realm. This is Poseidon’s.”

“Well, I’m not willing to risk Paige’s safety on your hunches. Poseidon could have had this home here centuries ago abandoned in some other creature took up residence.” I pulled Paige back with me, not willing to give an inch. Especially when it meant possible danger for her. “We almost lost her in the battle against Poseidon. I’m not going to risk her safety of on a hunch you’re not even sure about.”

“All right then I will go in myself and see if it’s safe.” Dion started forward but Paige grabbed his arm.

“No, there may be a better way to see.”

When he nodded, she dropped his arm. A wisp of envy shot through me at the closeness they shared with a mere look. I wanted that with her and had been denied. My old resentment soared, but I shoved down my pain. This wasn’t about me; it was about Paige and keeping her safe.

She grasped a thatch of driftwood and held out both of her hands forming an air bubble around it.

“Hey, that’s really good.” My chest swelled at seeing her perform air magic so easily.

Once the warbling air bubble was stable, she furrowed her brow, concentrating on the center of it. Air gusted inside the bubble and caused the wet twig to dance until it was completely dry.

She blew gently drying the sea-soaked piece until a flame could catch. It flickered inside the bubble, happily chewing on the wood. She circled the magic inside, causing the air in the bubble to constantly renew itself.

“That’s brilliant,” said Dion.

And he was right. If she could do this much with three elements, I imagined she could do much greater things with four. She would be able to stop Zeus’s threats.

None of the other gods could manipulate more than two elements at a time. If Zeus realized that all the Pandora’s of the past had this potential all along, no wonder he was trying to destroy them all. He felt threatened and couldn’t stand for anyone to be more powerful than him.

That’s where he and I and the other gods that had decided to help her differed. I knew that Paige didn’t want the throne of the gods or anything like that she just wanted to live in peace and have love like the rest of us.

Paige pushed lightly on the bubble, causing it to float into the cave. Dion entered after, followed by Paige and then myself. If anything attacked us inside, I’d get her out. And if anyone tried to corner us, I’d protect Paige from behind.

Inside the cave, the small flame lit up that this place no longer was Poseidon’s bachelor pad. Bones of fish and small animals littered the sandy floor. Claw marks gouged the walls and even the ceiling.

“Fuck! I knew this was a bad idea,” I whispered harshly.

“Yeah, I think Hermes is right on this one.” Paige faced me to swim out.

Her eyes widened in terror. I didn’t need to turn around to know whatever had taken up residence here had returned, and we were screwed.