Page 118 of Poseidon's Trident
“Wait, just give him one more minute. That kid can do anything he sets his mind on.” Cal doesn’t take his gaze away from the churning whirlpool.
“C’mon, Thad. If anyone can do this, it’s you,” Jayden whispers close to my ear.
I turn to Jayden in surprise. “You have a very different opinion of him now, then you did before.”
“The guy is growing on me. He just needs to keep his hands off my girl.” Jayden squeezes me.
“Good because your girl only wants you.” I grin.
I turn back to the whirlpool and sigh. It’s still there. We can’t wait any longer. We have to try our hand with Scylla. Shit.
“Change course. We have to go closer to Scylla.” I hang my head.
“Are you sure you can’t wait just a few more minutes? Thaddeus won’t fail,” Cal says.
“We need to hurry. I hope Thad is okay but we still need to hurry.” I run a hand down my face.
“Okay,” Cal says and glances at the whirlpool again. “I have never seen that kid fail.”
“Change course and if you see the whirlpool disappear, we can always head back that direction,” Jayden says.
I nibble my lip, worried for Thad and for the rest of us. We are fighting monsters that were never actually defeated in ancient history. Craggy rocks dot the cliffside, and something scuttles along the top of the cave, the clacking sound of claws meeting my ears just before a pincer comes down toward Jayden.
I lift my hands and white-hot electricity pours from my fingertips as another pincer races toward Raven. She has her ax in her hand in a second, hacking at it once before it retracts and a guttural roar shakes the foundation of the island.
“I got it,” Raven whoops and pumps her fist.
“Raven,” Greyson howls as he shoves her out of the way, but the pincer grabs him by the shirt to pull him out of the boat.
“Greyson,” Raven bellows. “Shift.”
Greyson shifts into his huge gray wolf and slips out of the shirt. He crashes into the deck with a thud and a whine, but there’s no time to see if he’s injured as another claw attempts to strike. I blast it with lightning as fast as I can, but I’m shoved to the ground as a pincer snaps at my head.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “That almost got me.”
“You’re welcome.” Jayden kisses my neck, then helps me to my feet.
Jayden twists me around until we are back to back, both with our weapons out. I touch my lightning bolt and my whip unfurls in my hand. Electricity arcs off it as I snap it at a pincer and an agonized wail rumbles the cliffs.
“If she keeps making noises like that, she’s gonna cause a damn rockslide,” I grumble.
“We’ll have to be careful not to get too close,” Jayden says as shadows coat his sword.
“We’re already too close and if we move farther away, we’ll get sucked into the whirlpool.” I flick my whip at a pincer.
“Not if Thad would hurry his ass up and distract Charybdis,” Jayden groans.
Raven slashes at a pincer with her ax and cuts it in half. “Ha! Take that bitch.”
Charybdis wails again and a huge boulder knocks loose from the cliff. It tumbles and other rocks and debris tumble from the cliffside, splashing into the water just as I flick my whip at another pincer. Water sprays the boat and Jayden dives for me, ripping the whip from my hand at the same time the water hits us.
I crash to the deck of the boat and Jayden lands on top of me. His whole body is twitching.
“Jayden? Jayden,” I scream. “Raven, cover us.”
I roll Jayden off me and his eyes are closed. His left hand is black where he grabbed the whip from me.
“Jayden, oh, no, no, no. You stupid demigod. Wake up.” I slap his cheek but he continues to twitch as the electricity rolls through him. “Adrian. We need a healer.”
