Page 18 of Poseidon's Trident
I’m startled for a second but return the embrace. It’s warm and almost motherly. How long has it been since I’ve had a hug like that? It’s been at least three years. I try not to think about it. At least my mom is happy in Elysium. The trip to the underworld gave me more than I could have imagined.
“We need to investigate and see if there are any more problems like this.” Jayden pulls me from Persephone’s grasp, only for the goddess to grab him in a fierce hug as well.
“You let me know when you’re coming to visit, Jayden. I’m going to be with my mother on Olympus for a while, but I don’t want to miss your visit.” She glares at him before flashing out.
“She’s so weird.” Jayden sighs.
“At least your stepmother likes you. I still haven’t met mine and I’m sure if I ever do, she will try to kill me.” I bump my shoulder with his.
“Try having a half brother who lives to torment you.” Thad grimaces.
“All the gods families are pretty fucked up.” Raven grins. “My dad is dating the goddess of love and her ass hates me.”
“Apparently, she hates me too, so we’re in good company.” I raise my hand and Raven high-fives me.
I don’t care about Aphrodite or what she thinks of me. She put us through trials. Stupid goddess wanted to make sure her spoiled bitch of a daughter got what she wanted—Jayden. Well, Mia is desperate and I’m never going to let her get what she wants. Even if, gods forbid, we don’t work out, he will never be with her.
“I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears. It looks like training is canceled for the day. Let’s go see if we can pinpoint any more damage to the academy.” Jayden wraps an arm around my waist.
We pick through the forest as another quake hits us. It’s smaller than the others but still shakes the ground. Fuck, this isn’t good. How the hell are we going to stop this?
As we stumble to the quad, several more cracks are now visible in the ground, but they aren’t as big as the one outside the academic building.
“Did we wait too long to go after the trident? Why is it we are always running against a clock?” I whisper as I stare down at a spiderweb of cracks that intersect the steps students sit on every day.
“We have no clue if it’s even missing,” Jayden says and kisses my temple.
“This is pretty irrefutable evidence that it is, in fact, missing,” I say.
A deafening boom fills the air and the ground rocks more violently than before. Thad’s shoulders stiffen as he turns to the forges.
“There’s a fucking volcano here?” he yells.
“Yeah, I was surprised when I found out too. It’s where the forges are held.” I shrug.
“Fuck,” Thad runs a hand through his hair. “Show me.”
My eyes widen at the implication and I nearly face-palm that I hadn’t put those two things together a lot sooner. Volcanic activity is similar to earthquakes and plate tectonics. The volcano can definitely be affected by the earth shaker.
I race to the forges as I notice Kira and several of her siblings running from the dorms in the same direction as us.
The volcano can’t erupt in the middle of the Southern California mountains. That will bring too many eyes on us since there isn’t a volcano listed in any database the humans have in this range.
We are full-out sprinting to the volcano when another boom fills the quiet. The group of Hephaestus students run alongside us. Kira glances at me with terrified eyes.
“Claud is in the forge. The lava won’t hurt him, but what the fuck are we going to do if it blows?” Kira chews her lip.
“It can’t blow. It just can’t. It will take out the academy and we won’t be able to get out,” I say.
“The wards,” she says and curses, speeding up.
“Yeah, we have to find a way to stabilize it,” I growl.
I turn to the earth shaker demigod. He might be able to bide us some time. Thad nods as we run. He’s going to do whatever he can to stop the destruction of the academy. Good. We are out of our depths on this one.
The ground rocks beneath us again just as we get to the base of the volcano. This is total annihilation if Thad can’t stop it. There are cracks too close to the forges for my liking. Rockslides could happen next. How will the students survive the crap that is inevitable while we try to save the world?
Kira yanks open the door to the forges and a blast of heat that’s almost unbearable hits me. I take in a ragged breath, but it burns my lungs.
