Page 101 of Poseidon's Trident
“Jayden, stop it. She needs help.” I smack his chest.
“Beth? Jayden?” Thad calls from the mouth of the cave.
“We’re here, follow the ledge,” I yell back to him.
“Who is that?” the creature asks.
“He’s a friend. We’re going to help you.”
I shimmy around the cave where I’m sure the creature’s head is as Thad and the others round the corner. Greyson stiffens as he glances at the woman.
“Beth, that’s not a good idea. Get over here,” Greyson says.
“What?” I ask.
“You can’t see her. We need to go. Now.” Greyson grabs Raven’s arm and tugs her back.
“What do you see, Greyson?” Raven asks as she yanks her arm from his grip.
“Nothing we want to release from chains.” He frowns.
A splash cracks through the cave and the water blasts into Greyson and the others, sending them flying back into the cave wall. I step back from the creature, wondering if I had gotten it all wrong. Is this some sort of trick? A trap because I often let my compassion for others get me in trouble?
The creature begins to laugh, the sound terrible as it shakes the walls of the cavern. “Your compassion will be the end of you, daughter of Zeus.”
“My sword will be the end of you.” I reach for my necklace and call my sword.
My magic fuels the blade and soft white light drowns out the shadows so I can finally see what the creature in front of me is. Raven pulls her ax as Thad curses under his breath.
“So you didn’t expect me, did you?” The creature laughs.
It’s not a creature though and I have a feeling we are completely fucked. She rips the chains off her wrists with the ease of the monster she is and stands on two huge serpent tails.
I widen my stance, holding my sword out in front of me, but how do you kill the mother of all monsters? The head of one of her serpent feet strikes out at me and I roll back to Jayden.
“What do we do?” Raven asks.
She swings her ax at the other serpent leg that slithers to her. The thing recoils but snaps out again.
Echidna laughs. “You may as well give up now. You scrawny heroes will never defeat me.”
I glance at Raven. This could be a fucking death sentence to mention, but she nods her head like she knows exactly what I’m about to say. Here goes nothing. We either defeat the mother of all monsters or we die trying.
If we die, the world burns to the ground. No pressure.
24
“Pretty sure we defeated someone stronger than you.” I smirk. “We shoved Typhon back in Tartarus.”
Echidna roars and the ground shakes violently, threatening to topple the cave down on our heads. Fuck. That was probably a stupid thing to say to the wife of the Titan but anger in battle makes a person reckless and that’s the idea here. We need an advantage and that’s the only thing I’ve got.
“Beth,” Jayden bellows and his shadows wrap around me as a rock falls over my head.
It crashes to the shield he created before bouncing back and slamming into Echidna’s gut. She roars her anger, shaking the foundation of the cave.
“You think you can make it out of here alive after that comment, daughter of Zeus?” Echidna bellows.
“Like you were ever going to let us live.” I shake my head.
