Page 50 of The Shadow Gods

“Paris, don't!” Hector cried. A shadow covered the piazza, blocking the sun for a second before Paris splashed into the fountain. Not once did he look in my direction. With two hands, he wrenched the trident from the statue's hands and hurled it at Poseidon.

The god spun, but he was too slow. The trident pierced his shoulder, flinging him around so our eyes clashed.

As spiderwebs of gray trailed from his neck to his jaw, it hit me. Like Athena, Poseidon wasn't at full strength.

This was my chance.

In all my nightmares, I had never wished for revenge against Poseidon. My outrage had been directed at Athena and what she'd done to me. I was still angry at her, but staring at the god who had ruined so many lives, my anger found a new target. I wanted justice.

A flare of heat shot from my chest into my face. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to look out from unblinking eyes to a world where he had no power.

Gold-to-gray. Gray-to-gold.

He fought me.

Behind me, the guys’ voices filtered into my consciousness. They yelled warnings, commands, and questions.

Paris held one hand over his eyes, tripped, and hit the stone piazza.

My power wasn't careful, and I couldn't—I wouldn't—risk them being hurt. All it would take was one instinctive action from them, opening their eyes for just a second, and I'd kill them.

They needed my protection.

Besides, this was my fight.

Words bubbled from inside me where they'd sat and stewed for years. “You hurt me.”

Gray-to-gold. Poseidon held out his hands. To calm me down? To stop me? This wasn't the god who made the tides rise and fall.

“I frighten you.” Something touched my cheek, and I lifted a hand to touch the silky scaled head of the serpent who wound around my throat. “Good. I want you to be as frightened as I was.”

“I'm a god.” Was that supposed to intimidate me?

“Are you?” I asked. My insides were boiling. The marble fountain crumbled, the white and gray stone dropping into the water.

Poseidon cupped the air, and the water from the fountain swirled and boiled. He flicked his fingers, and it hit me with the force of a truck.

I should have been flung backwards. It should have killed me. But it didn't. The second the water touched my skin, it hissed and evaporated into nothing.

Enough of this.

No more games. No more demonstrations of strength. “You need to die.”

He laughed. “You can't kill me. Nothing can. Trap me beneath my seas, and I will still exist.”

He could exist another way—as stone.

The sound of crackling filled the air, and the smile melted from his face. “Look at me,” I commanded. “I'm the last thing you'll see.”

From the corner of my eye, Hector approached us, fists raised as he pounded them against...nothing. I couldn't let him distract me. The fountain was crumbling, and the statue, the monolithic tribute to this asshole of a god, was missing both arms.

Dust erupted into the air as Poseidon stepped back toward the fountain, cracking the stone forming along his legs. No. I couldn't let him escape.

He shut his eyes and took another step. Chunks of rock hit the ground as the stone crumbled off him.

“No.” I wouldn't allow him to escape justice so easily.Look at me.

Slowly, like someone was prying them apart, he opened his eyes. Gold-to-gray.

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