The yacht swirls closer to the impending whirlpool, the crew screaming from down below.
It’s not just your lives at stake.
It’s everyone aboard’s.
“What are we gonna do?” You ask, clinging tightly to Ziros’ side. “We’ve got to do something!”
“You just hold tight,” he says, pushing you through the glass doors leading to the owner’s cabin. “I’ll handle this.”
Before you get a chance to ask what’s going on or demand he tell you his plan, he clicks the doors shut, turning to face the rising maelstrom.
“Alright, you big watery tyrant,” he yells, his voice booming, carried all directions on the wind. “Tell me what you’re after this time!”
You’re not sure what you’re expecting, but it isn’t this. It isn’t a big, bare-chested blue guy wearing a golden crown and spiked gauntlets, carrying a trident as he materializes out of the water from the mouth of a wave. The funnel of water deposits him on the deck where you and Ziros had been standing—okay,morethan just standing—moments before.
He stands tall, legs apart, the staff of his trident braced against the deck. The stance of a warrior ready to fight.
Hang on.
Is that…
Is thatPoseidon!?
Is Ziros a demigod!? Is that what his other half is?
Of all the things you’d been expecting, a sea monster would have been easier to believe than this.
At first you can’t decide what you feel more: excited, or terrified.
Then Poseidon takes two hulking, yacht-shaking steps toward the flimsy glass doors that keep you safe, and you know for sure what you feel.
Terrified.
Definitely terrified.
Because he doesn’t look happy.
Or nice.
No. Not nice at all. In fact, he’s got a terrible, angry snarl contorting his features, and glowing vengeful eyes narrowed into slits.
Ziros steps in front of him to block his path, shoving a wall of wind out, but it barely makes the angry sea god flinch.
“You’re weak,” Poseidon says with a wry laugh as a wall of water shoves Ziros back, knocking him into the railing so hard, Ziros stumbles to one knee. “Even weaker than you already were, that is! What’s become of you? Cavorting withhumans. Ha!”
You gasp, reaching for the doors as another wall of water slams into Ziros, nearly throwing him overboard as the yacht tilts again and more furnishings slide down the deck toward him.
Ziros glances your direction, and your eyes meet.
For a fraction of an instant, it’s as if all time is frozen.
You almost swear maybe he’s going to say something. He opens his mouth, but another enormous wave smacks into the yacht before he can speak.
And when it’s gone, so is he.
You stare after him. Stare into the spot where Ziros was.
Blinking.
