Isa hung limply in her binds. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. “My request is simple. Your crown for the girl. If you pass the sea onto me, your son’s mate will bespared.”
Poseidon didn’t make a move, neither did his expression change. Isa looked between him, certain she was agoner.
The god of the sea had told Adrian no before. He’d told him to find another. This was different. It was one thing for Poseidon to tell Adrian to move on from a fanciful crush. It was another to break his son’sheart.
“Dad…” Adrianwhimpered.
Yet Poseidon’s mind was already made up. He slowly floated toward his brother and offered his tridentbeforehim.
“I will do anything to spare my son pain,” he said. Poseidon handed off his trident to his brother, thenbowed.
And Poseidon gave the ocean toStavros.
“At last,” Stavros breathed in one, long breath. He snatched the trident from Poseidon and clutched it tightly. “The seaismine.”
Stavros grabbed a flask and scooped up the potion that was brewing within the cauldron. He drank it in one gulp, then tossed the glass aside. He laughed and laughed as his form began to change, growing and morphing throughoutthecave.
“Now all the ocean shall know of my power!” Stavros called triumphantly. Poseidon’s trident shattered into dust as his tentacles grew larger andlarger.
Adrian had the good sense to start forward and cut Isa loose. He grabbed her, and the three of them swam away as quickly as they could out of the cave and into the openocean.
There was a shrieking sound, and the three of them turned around. A harsh, horrified scream emitted from Isa’s throat at the monster she saw. The squid was gigantic, as large as a ship, with tentacles that trailed behind him a mile long. The tentacles weaved throughout the water, and a singular brown eye fixated on them as the squid’s gargantuan beak snapped andclicked.
Stavros had become thekraken.
Adrian’s arms were still around her. He swam Isa to the surface. Above, the ocean had turned into a deadly squall. The waves were rough and hard, slamming Adrian and Isa back and forth. They were larger than even the wave she’d tried to surf, and angrier. Rain was pouring down from the sky in buckets, and thunder echoed and crackled, mixing with the lightning that was coursing across the sky. Swirling grayclouds were above them, forming an eye with an open circle at thecenter.
Adrian threw her up on the boat. The waves were so rocky that Isa had to hold onto the railing to avoid beingtossedoff.
“Take the boat and go back to shore before the storm destroys it,” Adrian told her quickly. “I’ll do what I can to stop him before it becomes ahurricane.”
“I love you, Adrian.” She fell to her knees and leaned out the boat to be closer to him, reaching outherhand.
“I know. I know you love me. I love you, too,” Adrian said. “But I have tofixthis.”
“Don’t leave.” Tears dripped down her face, along withtherain.
“I’m sorry, Izzy,” he whispered. “I have to fix the messI’vemade.”
He kissed her hand in farewell, then dove back down. Isa’s eyes frantically searched the water for him, but she didn’tfindhim.
“Dammit!” Isa clung to the railing and looked around. She couldn’t head back. She wouldn’t. Not while knowing Adrian was down there, risking her life for her. A few tentacles of the kraken rose out of the water in the distance, and Isa’s heart skippedabeat.
She knew the systems of squids. She’d studied them at the aquarium, in school. Giant squids had to have similaranatomy.
Squids had several central nervous systems, but there was only one that truly controlled everything. Isa knew the anatomy. If Stavros was to be taken down, there was onlyoneway.
Her uncle’s harpoon was still hanging on the wall. Looking at the harpoon, Isa summoned hercourage.
Isa pulled up the anchor. She then took down the harpoon, grabbed the wheel of the boat, and turned toward the kraken. She wouldn’t let Adrian face thisalone.
ChapterSeventeen
Adrian
Poseidon was helpless.He had neither his trident, nor his powers. Adrian was onhisown.
Moona was nowhere to be seen. Adrian was glad; he wanted her to get out of here. This was no place for amanatee.
