Chapter 79

A huge, scaly beast with yellowish eyes glared at us. It looked like a cross between the creature of the black lagoon and Godzilla. Then its pupils dilated like a cat about to pounce on a mouse and eat it as a snack. I bumped into Dion’s back, not realizing that I’d walked backward.

I reached behind me and snagged the bottom of Dion’s shirt. If this monster thing was in front of us, I didn’t want to keep going deeper into the cave to find something worse.

“Holy fuck,” Dion said behind me.

“If you can commune with animals, now would be a really good time,” Hermes whispered.

“This is a sea animal.” Dion grunted. “I only work with land ones, remember?”

“Can’t you make it drunk or something?” I asked, backing up more as the creature’s head scraped along the top of the cave. This thing must be ten feet tall and looked like something from a Sci-Fi Horror movie rather than any marine life. Why would Poseidon keep something like this around?

Oh right, this could be like his guard dog. Hades had a three-headed dog so why not Poseidon have something just as menacing.

“Stay,” I said, trying to exert my will over it. If it was a pet, maybe it could understand basic commands, and not eat us.

“Stay? What do you wanna do next, play fetch with this monster?” Hermes looked over his shoulder at me like I’d lost my mind.

“You got a better idea?”

The creature roared, water spewing from its mouth into the cave like a geyser.

“Actually no.” Hermes shook his head. “But if it does that again, it's going to pop our air bubbles and we’ll be its drowned appetizers.”

“We can attack it with our powers,” Dion suggested. “All of us at once might make it back off long enough for us to get the hell out of here.”

“Or,” I offered, “that could piss it off even more and swallow us in one gulp.”

“I’m open to ideas.” Dion held up his hands, tendrils of green magic curled down his arms.

The creature clawed deeper into the cave. Pieces of rocks crumbled down around us.

Shit. “Can’t you guys call Poseidon? Tell him to call off his pet?” Though the last time I was with the god of the sea, he was trying to kill me. I still didn’t understand what had happened exactly or what had stopped him. I only remember asking him to say my name. I wanted to hear him say it one last time.

“Maybe he sent this thing after us.” Dion’s magic entwined around his fingers. “Kill all three of us in one swoop.”

“No. He could’ve done that already.” Something deep inside me said that Poseidon had no idea we were here. Either he wasn’t looking for us or he was distracted by something else. My heart clenched in my chest, and I stuttered a breath. Was he fighting Zeus?

I couldn’t wait here to get eaten. I had to get out of here and find Poseidon. Tell him I was wrong not to have refused to allow him to go into danger. I had paid the price of losing him and I didn’t even know if Poseidon felt the same about me.

We’d only managed to spend a fraction of time together. Yet I sensed that it was like a blind date that clicked. Sometimes you just know with a person, regardless of whether you only spend a minute with them or date them for months.

“There has to be some way to contact Poseidon down here,” I whispered.

The creature roared again, shoving its bulk further into the cave. Its jaws snapped at me. Hermes punched it in the muzzle. The animal whacked him aside with one of its clawed paws. He hit the sidewall and slumped down.

“Hermes,” I yelled.

His bubble of air was gone. I dashed to Hermes’ side to help him.

“Get away from it.” Dion grabbed me around the waist, trying to haul me backward with him, but I squirmed out of his grip.

“Let me go.” I broke through his hold and knelt over Hermes. My hands shook as I crafted a new air bubble for him. He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing.

Claws lashed down my back and I screamed.

“Paige!” Dion dove forward. His fist hit the creature in one of its eyes.

My blood coated the water around us. God, please don’t make this creature go into a feeding frenzy if it smells blood like sharks did. The creature bit onto Dion’s arm, shaking him back and forth in the cave before spitting him out.

“Dion,” I cried in a hoarse voice. No, no, this couldn’t be happening. I’d come here to get Poseidon back, not lose both Dion and Hermes. My throat closed.

His air bubble was still intact, but his arm was bent the wrong way. Bloody wounds covered his arm.

My eyes burned and I blinked back tears. I stood between the creature and my men. It would have to go through me first. Using Dion’s idea of magic, I drew on the three elements swirling inside me.

This thing was going to get a ball of magic shoved down its throat. I wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of eating me, not without giving it a major stomachache.

Fire, air, and earth whirled in my hands. It looked like a mini-tornado with sparks of fire inside.

“All right, you big bully, open up.”

Its roar popped the air bubble around me, but I held my breath and tossed in the magic cyclone with all my strength. This had to work.

The magic crackled and sizzled inside the creature’s throat. It shook its head, trying to back out of the cave.

Yes, I’d done it. Before I could erect a bubble to breathe with, the monster spat out the magic tornado like a hairball. The power ricocheted around the cave and I ducked, covering my head as the ceiling broke apart and fell on top of me.

* * *

Poseidon Paige. I tasted her in the ocean. Her blood. She was hurt and I was going to murder Hermes for not getting her as far from the ocean as possible.

I dumped Hephaestus onto an island beach.

“Hera,” I bellowed. “Come and get your son.”

She appeared before me in her white and gold robes with her dark hair pinned back, looking like she did in ancient times. “What have you done?”

“Saved his life. He was drowning in the middle of my ocean.” I nodded to her.

“Why was he—” she shook her head, coming up with the answer herself. “Paige.”

I dove under the waves because I didn’t have time for idle chitchat with Hera. Let her heal Hephaestus and get him back to his forge. I had to get to Paige before my Kraken decided she was too tasty to pass up. Though I might feed Hermes to my pet.

Ahead of me, I sent mental reprimands and not to touch Paige. I got watery images of the cave falling in and my chest squeezed. If she was hurt...I’d kill Hermes. Let sharks take bites out of him and let him drown over and over for eternity. He would never be free of agony.

My hand tightened on my trident as I raced through the water. A great white spotted me and turned tail away. Even that great predator knew better than to get in my way right now.

I couldn’t think of Paige hurt. Instead, I forced myself to get to her as fast as I could. Focused on holding her in my arms like I’d longed to do the first time I saw her.

How she didn’t believe in gods or that she was Pandora’s descendent. Her bravery for going into Hades’ domain to get Dion back. Her loyalty and spirit were what had drawn me to her.

Foolishly, I had thought going to my brother to get him to stop trying to kill her was the right thing to do, but it was a grave error. Never would have thought he’d use a mind-control spell on me. One that I had no doubt some of the other gods and goddesses helped him create.

Yet, Paige had helped me break it.

I never should have gone to see Zeus, never should have left Paige alone. I was the only god who could take care of her, who could keep her safe. Zeus couldn’t put a toe into any sea without me knowing about it instantly. Just as our brother Hades knew whenever a soul crossed the River Styx.

A family of whales sang their melodic songs nearby. They asked me to join them, but I kept swimming to the Kraken. Why couldn’t I go any faster? It already felt like a weight was crushing my chest.

When I reached the cave, Kraken was wedged halfway inside. She was holding up part of the roof after feeling my concern for Paige. The fact my pet wasn’t moving a scale filled me with dread. I dashed forward, lifting the first boulder I saw with my power, and flung it behind me.

Over and over, I removed the rubble that used to be one of my homes. There were so many rocks buried here that I kept thinking I’d find Paige under one and only found more rubble.

“Paige,” my voice choked on her name. The last thing she had asked me before she passed out and I didn’t even know if she had heard me. “Paige, Paige.”

Kraken grumbled, but I shook my head, digging through the rocks for some sign of her.

My magic was taking too long. I bent down and started hurling rocks back with my bare hands. Needing to see Paige with her gray eyes and easy smile. How many tons of earth had buried her? And where the fuck was Hermes? He was supposed to keep her safe and had done a shitty ass job of it.

I jerked off another rock and Paige’s pale arm showed underneath. A blade of ice stabbed me in the heart.

Paige. Her name stuck in my throat. I threw the rocks behind me until I was able to pull her free. Thankfully, she had a small air bubble around her mouth and nose, like she’d tried to create one for her head and had lost time.

Her breathing was shallow, but I held her to me. I stroked her hair and never wanted to let her go again. Bruises and debris covered her along with a few tears in her shirt.

When I rolled her over, I hissed out a breath at seeing the claw marks on her skin.

I lifted my trident to kill my pet who had harmed her when she sent images of pain. How Paige and the others had attacked her, and she fought to protect herself. She didn’t know this human was special to me.

With gritted teeth, I lowered my trident. It wasn’t Kraken’s fault. They’d entered her lair and she was trying to protect her eggs that lay further inside.

Why in all the seven oceans had Paige entered this cave? Fuck, why was she even back? I healed her wounds and held her in my arms, pressing kisses to her forehead. I willed her to open her eyes. She stayed unmoving and I thanked the universe for keeping her alive. I wanted to hear her voice and make her laugh. I wanted to see the passion in her eyes when she looked at me, her skin flushed in excitement.

Kraken lowered her head to me, and I stroked one of her spines along the back of her neck.

“It’s okay, I’m not mad at you anymore.”

She rumbled at my touch.

“But this human is not to be harmed, understood?”

My Kraken crooned, saying there were two more under the rubble. I took my attention off Paige for a moment and recognized Dion and Hermes’ god signatures. Leaving them buried was too good for them.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Dig them out and bring them to my fortress.”

Once Paige was awake and healed, I’d deal with Dion and Hermes. They’d pay for bringing her back here and putting her in danger.