Page 54 of Emerge

Chapter Seventeen

Jax

My sister's tentacle tightened around me, squeezing the air right out of my lungs. My trident fell to the ground and I pushed at the scaly appendage.

"We need to stop him!" I heard Riley loud and clear and turned my head just as a tentacle whipped out and grabbed Morgan, blocking my view.

"Don't fight against her! The tentacles tighten when you struggle!" Blake was on the other side of her. I hadn't even realized he was grabbed too.

Tritons were coming to help us, but I didn't want them to hurt my sister. All of Olivia's tentacles were being used now and she was defenseless.

"Stop! Don't hurt her!" My father swam in front of Olivia and took her face in his hands. "Olive, I need you to snap out of it."

Her expression was blank, and I knew without a doubt that she was being controlled by Dylan. This wasn't her, even if she did have tentacles now.

My eyes scanned the area, searching for Riley. I couldn't see her anywhere, but there was a hole in the seafloor. The water soldiers were now surrounding us, their tridents made of water pointed inward and they closed in, pushing everyone closer.

They might not have been able to kill us, but they'd make us hurt if they stabbed us with the weird weapons they carried. A few tritons were already on the seafloor, struggling to swim back and help us.

"Dad." He wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around us, his attention only on Olivia.

The water soldiers surged forward all around us. Shouts and screams came from all directions.

"Enough!" The voice was so commanding that all movement ceased, and our attention went to its source.

I had never seen him before, but I knew it was Poseidon instantly. There was a humming of power surrounding him that made me shiver as he swam closer.

He swiped his hand in front of him and the water soldiers disappeared, recombining with the ocean water. My sister gasped and her tentacles retracted, releasing us. She wrapped the tentacles around herself and let out a pained sob.

I went to swim to her, but my dad was already there, wrapping his arms around her as she snapped out of whatever spell she had been under.

"Where is my trident?" Poseidon was pissed; I could tell from his tone of voice and the set of his jaw. A shimmer of electricity danced across his skin.

Screams came from the hole and I swam toward it, not stopping even though Poseidon's voice bellowed behind me.

I entered a cavern and my eyes went to Riley, who had her back to me and was floating near the ground with her mother. Blood came from around her and I darted forward, ignoring the fact that Dylan was staring up at me with blank eyes and a slightly open mouth.

Dead.

"Riley!" I gasped as the trident came into view. It was stuck at an angle through her mom’s stomach. Blood was trickling out and her breaths were shallow. "What the fuck happened?"

"He stabbed her," she sobbed. Her arms tightened around her mom and she put her cheek next to hers. "She's dying, Jax."

The energy in the room shifted and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Poseidon was here, but he was so silent, I wouldn't have known unless my body told me.

I turned and put myself in front of Riley and Natalia. "Let them have their moment."

He was staring down at Dylan and glanced at me before swimming to his son and using a hand to close his eyes. I couldn't read his face, but the calmness he exuded scared the shit out of me.

"Who killed my son?" His voice was impassive, and I didn't know if that was good or bad.

"I did," Riley cried into her mom's hair as I shielded her from Poseidon.

If he wanted to kill her, I would die trying to stop him. "Your son is a lunatic! He controlled a human, made my sister into a monster, destroyed-"

"I know very well what my son had been up to." He ran a hand through his long silvery hair. "Move aside."

"No." I fisted my hands at my side. He'd have to make me move. "I won't let you hurt her. She's done nothing wrong."

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