Page 16 of Poseidon's Trident
He digs his fingers into the dirt but nothing happens. What is he trying to do? Stop an earthquake? That’s not possible, right?
“We can’t do anything about it right now. Rebecca isn’t going to let us go on a hunch. We all know that. She gets increasingly angry with every mission the gods send us on,” I say with a sigh.
“Beth’s right. We need a concrete threat before she will let us go.” Jayden rubs his neck.
We pick carefully through the forest to the training yard as the ground finally settles. A dryad wails the closer we get to the clearing. As we break through the trees, I hang my head. The ground tore up our training area and a tree fell through the center.
No one else is out here, not even Chiron is waiting for us.
I rush to the dryad, but she bats me away. “Stupid demigods did this.”
“We didn’t.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “There was an earthquake. There are cracks in the ground.”
“You,” she screams, pointing to Thad. “You’re an earth shaker.”
She races past me faster than I can blink and tiny green fists beat him in the chest. She keeps screaming what I guess are tree-themed obscenities. They are colorful and a laugh bubbles out of me as Thad grabs her wrists.
“It wasn’t me, dryad. There’s something seriously messed up happening.” Thad snaps at her.
“What do you mean?” she asks with a sniffle.
“It was an actual earthquake. I tried to take control of it with my magic, but it was too strong.”
“That’s what you were doing when you were playing in the dirt before.” Raven tilts her head to the side.
“Yes, I was trying to stop it. The dryad is right; I have minor abilities that revolve around earthquakes and volcanoes.” Thad releases the dryad and her shoulders slump.
“My tree,” she sobs.
“I’m sorry.” I pat her shoulder. “If there was something I could do to help, I would.”
“Maybe a Hermes kid could help?” Thad suggests and I grimace.
“I am persona non grata with all the Hermes kids because of Draven.” I shuffle my feet.
“Someone has to be able to help, right?” Raven asks. “What if we talk to Rebecca and ask her to talk to the Hermes students?”
“I might be able to get some help,” Jayden says.
“Persephone.” I slap my forehead. “Of course.”
“The goddess Persephone?” The dryad perks up with this idea.
“She’s my stepmother. She will help if my father will allow her to leave the underworld for a short time.” Jayden squeezes my hand. “Do you have the shell on you?”
He is referring to the shell we got on our first mission for helping the nereid with the sirens in her stream. I keep it on me at all times in case of an emergency. I pull it from my bag and hand it to Jayden.
“This may only be a temporary fix. I don’t know how many more earthquakes there will be.” I raise my brows at the dryad.
“Any help will be amazing. I will owe you all a debt.” She bows her head.
I nod to Jayden to call Persephone and we wait for the goddess to answer.
“Jayden,” she squeals. “And Bethany. How nice to hear from you both.”
“Hello, Goddess Persephone,” I say with a slight bow.
“Beth, none of that. What can I help you both with? You don’t use that fancy shell to call often.” She glares at us.
