Page 98 of Poseidon's Trident
“Let’s not injure each other before battle.” I shake my head.
I hope there isn’t a battle, but I’m not getting those hopes up. This haswalking into battlewritten all over it.
We walk slowly through the forest until we break through the trees on a rocky cliff. The ground shakes beneath our feet with a roar somewhere below us.
“What was that?” I ask, grabbing on to Jayden’s arm.
“I think that’s whatever monster we’re supposed to fight.” Jayden steadies me.
“That was a roar of pain,” Thad steps forward. “Are we meant to fight the creature or save it?”
“I don’t know.” I chew my lip.
Have we been wrong about what this task is this whole time? Is it not Echidna or Ceto?
“How do we get down the side of the cliff?” Raven leans over, glaring down at the crashing waves below.
“A leap of faith?” Thad asks.
“Fuck no,” Jayden says.
“Can you bring the water up here and carry us down on top of it?” I glance at him.
“I should be able to, yes,” Thad says.
“Should?” Jayden shouts. “I’m not working off ashouldwhen there are jagged rocks in the water at the bottom of the fifty-foot drop.”
“We could test it first,” I say.
“What will we test it on?” Jayden asks.
“Test it on me.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“No.” Jayden grabs me. “Not fucking happening.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have a better idea.” Jayden whistles.
Wings flap in the distance and I raise a hand to cover my eyes from the sun. A black figure flies toward us in the distance, its skeletal wings flapping in the wind.
“You called Skullrider?” I ask.
That skeletal horse hates me. He’s constantly a pain in the ass. A puff of smoke billows from his snout as he gets closer and I stick my tongue out at him. Yeah, I know. Real mature, but he needs to stop listening to my thoughts. He shakes his head and snorts flames from his snout this time.
“Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual, buddy,” I growl.
“He’s going to carry us down the cliff, Beth,” Jayden says.
“I like the idea of riding the water better.” I cross my arms.
“Thad doesn’t even know if he can do that,” Jayden says as the beast lands next to him.
Skullrider bumps Jayden’s cheek and snorts. I glare at the stupid horse.
“I’m more worried about him dropping me than Thad, Jayden. He won’t stay out of my head and then gets all huffy at my thoughts and tries to drop me.”
“He wouldn’t actually drop you, Beth. He was just trying to scare you.”
