Page 96 of Poseidon's Trident
“Thank you,” Thad says.
“It’s not much, but it’s all we got unless we can find some food.” I shrug.
“We can fish in the morning. The sea will provide for us.” Thad grins.
“It’s not weird eating fish?” I ask. “Aren’t they your father’s subjects?”
“Everything is a balance. Some of the smaller fish are simply there to feed the bigger predators just like in the jungle. It’s the circle of life.” Thad shrugs.
I finish my granola bar as everyone else settles in for a few hours’ sleep before their shift to keep watch. I sit back, leaning against Jayden’s chest and watching the scenery around our little clearing for any sign of a threat.
“I thought you wanted to check on Kira,” Jayden says.
“Shit, yeah. I need to check on them.” I rummage through my pack until I find the shell. “Kira, Daughter of Hephaestus, Halfling Academy.”
The mist appears quickly, showing me the forges and Hephaestus students running around in a panic.
“What’s going on? Kira?” I call through the mist.
Kira turns to me, ash and soot smeared across her face. “Beth, what the fuck?”
“It’s the shell I got when we defeated the sirens. That’s not important. What’s happening there?” I ask.
“It’s bad, Beth. The coast was wiped out by a tsunami and the earthquakes are getting worse. Claud is trying to hold the volcano together but we aren’t sure how long it’s going to last. We may have to evacuate the academy. How close are you to finding the trident?”
“It feels like it’s going to take forever to get there. It’s been one disaster after another.” I sigh and glance over my shoulder to Jayden.
“Well, hurry because at this rate there may not be an academy to come back to.”
23
Asplash sounding like a bomb going off wakes me and I shoot up from my spot in Jayden’s arms. Thad and Adrian are on their feet, weapons at the ready.
“What was that?” I ask.
“I don’t know but it was something big,” Adrian says, not glancing in my direction.
I nudge Jayden until he blinks his eyes open. “There’s something on the island.”
“What? I mean, I’m sure there’s something here, but how do you know for absolute certain?” Jayden asks as he springs up from the ground.
I call my weapons to me and hold them at the ready. “How far are we from the ocean?”
“About a mile. So a splash that loud had to be something huge.” Thad scans the clearing.
“What the hell could it be?” I ask.
There’s a great deal of sea monsters that it could be, some bigger than the others. What are we dealing with on this crazy island?
The ground shakes. A tremor passing through the entire island sends me into Jayden with a gasp. Was that an earthquake or is there something beneath the island?
“What the hell is going on?” Jayden asks as his hands band around my arms.
“I don’t know, but if that was another earthquake, we have problems with the academy and the mainland,” I say.
“I don’t think it was.” Thad runs a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t feel like my father.”
“What do you mean?” Jayden asks.
