Page 24 of Poseidon's Trident
“I just hate it. I know it has to be us, but what if we fail?” I ask.
I never show my vulnerable side to anyone but with a literal ticking time bomb over the academy, I don’t know what else to do.
“Doom and gloom,” Adrian repeats. “Ow.”
“Why are boys idiots?” Raven asks, throwing her hands up.
Adrian rubs the back of his head like someone just slapped him and I smirk. Raven must have done it. His comment isn’t encouraging at all. I already know there’s no other option. We have to succeed. Crazy weather patterns and freak earthquakes could decimate the entire world. The ocean could literally wash everything away.
“Why am I an idiot? I just made a simple comment.” Adrian glares at Raven.
“She doesn’t need to be reminded of what will happen if we fail because we will not fail.” Raven shoves him probably harder than intended.
Adrian flies out of his chair and lands on his ass on the marble floor with a thud. “Shit, Raven.”
“Oops, sorry. I forget my own strength.” She doesn’t look up from her plate as she delivers that non-apology.
Adrian picks himself up off the floor and glares at her as he dusts himself off. “Not cool, Raven. You need to keep your hands to yourself until you know your own strength.”
“Don’t make Beth feel even worse and put added pressure on her shoulders and you won’t get thrown around.” She shrugs.
“All right,” I sigh. “Raven, it’s fine. We need to figure out where we would need to go to find the trident.”
“I’m guessing the ocean.” Jayden pushes his food around on his plate with his fork and glares at Thad.
“Look, I know tensions are high. Let’s all just calm down.” I pop a piece of chicken into my mouth.
The doors to the dining hall burst open to howling winds and Kira races inside soaking wet. What’s going on now? She glances around frantically before her shoulders slump in relief when her eyes land on mine.
“Beth, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” She rushes between the tables.
“Kira, what’s wrong?” I ask.
She stops at the table and bends at the waist, heaving for breath. Everyone in the dining hall is staring and whispering. Draven glares at Thad and Jayden from his spot at the Hermes table while Dax simply looks curious.
“The forges. It’s worse than we originally thought,” Kira says.
“Lower your voice. We don’t want to cause a panic.” I eye the other students in the room.
“Sit down. You look like you’re about to keel over.” Adrian pulls out a chair for her.
“It’s probably better if we go somewhere private to talk, then.” Kira glances around the room.
“Let’s go to the dorms. We shouldn’t be overheard up on the top floors,” I say.
Jayden growls. “No.”
I spin on him. “What do you mean, no?”
“We’re not all going up to your dorm, Beth. You don’t have a common area because there is rarely more than one child of Zeus at the academy at a time.” Jayden crosses his arms.
“So? You guys have been up there before.” I frown at him until it dawns on me.
Thad. He doesn’t want Thad in my room. Fucking fuck, but I can’t blame him for that really. Thad had shown an interest in me and I need to at least set some boundaries.
“My floor is too crowded.” Raven shrugs.
“Mine too.” Adrian nods.
