“What does it say?” Re asked anxiously, peering over the side of the platform like a little kid.
“It doesn't say anything.” I scowled at it. “It's just a postcard from Hawaii with a picture of a surfer on it. I mean, it says 'Hang Loose' over the picture, but there's no writing on the back.”
“Then the postcard is the clue,” Re said as he hopped off the bed, jumping the final few feet. “Lemme see!” He took the postcard from me and inspected it. “Maybe he left another clue at your house in Hawaii.”
“Maybe.” I frowned. “Hang loose. Hang loose.” I blinked and said it once more, “Hang loose!”
“What? What does it mean?”
“Do you know who talks like that?”
“Um, surfers?” He waved the card at me.
“The clues always lead us to the next victim, Re. If he's truly going after elemental items, it will be water next.”
“Yes, which is why we warned Tobadzistsini. And, also, he doesn't always lead us to his next target. Have you forgotten that his last clue sent us after the beaver?”
“Oh. Right.” I blinked. Then recovered. “Okay, fine. But Toby's not the only god with Water Magic.”
“No, there are tons of them, I'm sure. But he's the one we know.”
“We know another god with Water Magic, and he happens to surf. He even talks like that!” I tapped the postcard.
Re blinked. Then he frowned. Then his frown cleared as his perfect brows lifted. “Donnie!”
“Yup. Poseidon. The trickster's going after Poseidon next. He has the most famous god weapon in existence,andit controls water.”
“His trident,” Re said. “Shit. We have to warn him. Do we even have his number?”
“Oh, yeah. He's a fellow Olympian. He gave me his number a while back.” I pulled out my phone and texted Donnie in a way he'd understand.
A gnar god with mad skills is after your trident. He knows a shit ton of things he shouldn't and has the power to go unseen. Dude can literally walk into your shack and right past you without you spotting him. Guard your trident and get somewhere safe. Now!
I hit send and sighed. “Hopefully, that will reach him in time. The trickster is already too powerful.”
“Especially now that he has my scepter.” Re gaped at me, then asked, “You don't think he'd try to take the pantheon, do you?”
Before I could answer, my phone dinged.
I looked down at Donnie's response and grimaced.
“We're too late,” Re concluded.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Poseidon called me shortly after he texted. I explained what was going on, and he invited us to his place to search for the next clue. He was surprisingly chipper about the whole thing, getting into the hunt like a kid looking for eggs on Easter. It took a lot to ruffle Donnie's feathers, but I thought someone stealing his prized possession might do the trick. Evidently not.
“So, you wanted to see where I kept the trident. Here it is,” Donnie said.
I was staring at the floor. The glass floor. Donnie wasn't big on privacy. Or maybe it didn't matter so much since his island palace went subterranean to the point where it came out underwater. Two walls and the floor were glass, giving a spectacular view of the ocean. All sorts of sea life swam by and crawled across the sand below us. And that “all sorts” included stuff you wouldn't see on Earth. Like seahorses that were actually part horse. They had a name . . . what was it?
“Vervain?”
“Hippocampi!” I exclaimed as I looked up, away from the one that was taking a nap on the seabed.
Re chuckled. “Yes, La-la, that's a hippocampi.”
“Aw, I love that you're stoked about them. I think they're pretty boss too.”
