Page 85 of Poseidon's Trident
“If the other sea deities come after us, we will just have to try to reason with them,” Thad says.
“How do you suppose we do that?” Jayden asks.
“I’m Poseidon’s son. They might listen to me.” Thad shrugs.
“Not if they’re trying to overthrow him,” I say. “Nereus said something to me about Triton and the possibility that the other sea gods may be trying to weaken him so they can control the seas.”
“Then we definitely shouldn’t be going into the ocean.” Jayden folds his arms over his chest.
“You do realize we are on a mission for the sea god, yes? At some point we are going to have to get in the water,” Thad says.
“Look, we will cross that bridge once we come to it. For now, let’s go explore the cavern and see what kind of beastie we are dealing with.” I pat Jayden’s hand.
“Fine, but I still don’t like this,” Jayden grumbles.
“Agreed,” I say. “They will come at us harder than the others because of our fathers. We just need to be careful.”
We step out on the terrace and I sigh in relief that the rain has slowed enough that we won’t be fighting it while we are heading to the cavern. Did Poseidon gain some of his control back? Just enough to help us this small bit.
“He said it was on the other side of the cliff.” I lead the way to a small trail that leads down the cliff to the caverns.
Rocks and gravel fall free as we shuffle down the trail. I stumble on a small rock but Jayden’s arm wraps around me before I can fall down the steep incline.
“Careful.” He squeezes me.
“Thanks,” I say, breathless.
That would have been a very long fall down the rocky cliff. I place a hand to my pounding chest. We need to get to bottom of this damn cliff fast or I’m going to lose it.
I skid down the cliff on the loose gravel and nearly fall again but at the last second right myself. “This damn mountain is hazardous to my health.”
“You’re just showing us where not to step.” Raven giggles.
“What’s that, Raven? You want me to zap you? I’m busy right now but give me a minute,” I call over my shoulder.
“Nope, I’m good,” Raven says.
“Too bad. Keep being a smart-ass and I’m gonna zap you.”
We finally make it down the mountain to the sandy beach below. There are several other cliffs and I turn to the left where the water is higher and the mouth of a cave sits half-submerged in the thunderous waves crashing against the shore.
“What do we do now?” Greyson asks.
“Be on guard. Everything looks normal but that can change in a second.” I touch my necklace and grip my sword in my hand.
Tentatively, I move toward the cave. Maybe whatever is in there will come out and we won’t even have to explore the cave to find it. I only get as far as the shore before Jayden pulls me back.
“We need to let Thad do his thing and part the water for us.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.
“Yeah, so much for hoping it would come out and fight us on the beach.” I shake my head.
Nothing can ever be easy. I should know this by now. I take a step back as Thad moves toward the crashing waves. His hands are raised toward the ocean. The waves still before slowly receding back from the mouth of the cave.
“Hurry, I don’t know how long I can hold it,” Thad yells, his voice strained with his exertion.
I race for the cave with the others hot on my heels and skid to a stop just inside. What the fuck is that?
I stumble on a bit of stone and reach down to pick it up. That can’t fucking be real. No way is it real. I turn the piece of stone over in my hand. It’s a small bug encased in stone.
