Page 40 of Poseidon's Trident
What are we getting ourselves into? Is he going to just bring sea monsters to the wharf at Santa Barbara?
He leans over the railing and a weird echoing sound comes out of his mouth like a seal makes when it wants a treat.
“What was that?” Raven asks, taking a step back.
Greyson wraps an arm around her to steady her as she bumps into him. Thad turns his grin on us.
“That’s how I call them. They should be here soon. They don’t usually wander far. They like the wharf because humans think they’re sea lions and will feed them.”
“Not me over here wondering for the tenth time who these friends even are if the humans mistake them for sea lions.” I lean over the railing.
It’s a mistake. The waves crashing into the single support beam give me vertigo and I grip the railing hard.
“Why did I look down?” I groan.
“You’re gonna want to see them,” Thad says and calls out in that weird way again.
“What is that?” Raven points farther out to sea.
Something crests over the waves and I blink twice at the red and purple scales of whatever is heading our way. I reach for my necklace and rub at the lightning bolt. My whip unfurls in my hand, but I don’t dare channel my magic into it this close to the sea.
“You called sea monsters?” I ask.
“They aren’t sea monsters.” Thad turns wide eyes on me. “You don’t need your weapons. Put them away before you scare them.”
How does he expect me to believe that when whatever those creatures are headed toward us are huge and we know nothing of the sea. We haven’t been on a mission by the ocean yet and Cross just barely started discussing the monsters of the sea.
“How do the humans mistake those things for sea lions?” Raven asks.
Her hand clenches and unclenches but she doesn’t pull her weapon back out of the ether. I touch the charm on my neck and it vanishes just as a majestic horse head breaks through the waves.
It has the head of a horse but it doesn’t have a mane so much as purple and green scales on it. It neighs like a horse and hooves splash down into the water. Thad tilts his head to the side.
“Is he communicating with it?” I ask, leaning over the edge again.
“I think so.” Jayden wraps an arm around me.
Thad leans even farther over the railing and I grip the back of his shirt to keep him from falling into the churning water at the hippocampus’ fins.
Thad turns a smirk on me. “I can breathe underwater, Beth. But thanks for caring.”
“We need your help. We can’t let you plunge to your death on the first day.” Jayden shakes his head.
Thad bursts into louder laughter. “This is Peanut. He says he likes you. If you put your hand on his head, you should be able to communicate with him too. Hippocampi are powerful creatures.”
Peanut nuzzles my hand with his snout, obviously wanting me to place my hand on his forehead. I reach out a tentative hand and the cool scales are silky soft beneath my palm.
Daughter of Zeus. You have come to save us,Peanut says into my mind.
Save you? What do you need to be saved from? Is there something different in the oceans too?
I glance at Thad, wondering if he’s hearing our conversation, but he doesn’t appear to be paying attention. A second hippocampus with red and purple scales surfaced and he’s chatting with it the same way.
The sea monsters have escaped their prisons in the deepest parts of the ocean. They are terrorizing the creatures of the oceans.Peanut dips his head.
Poseidon released all the sea monsters?I ask with a gasp.
Not Poseidon. Something else released them. We suspect they used the trident to do it and then hid it away where no one can find it.
