“Aidan!”
It was so strong. No matter how she dug her feet in or clawed at its grip, the ground only seemed to go by faster. Her ankles caught on the dirt and rolled painfully.
Fall. Let me fall. Slow down.
But it didn’t. It held her up and kept on, speeding her mindlessly toward the lake, while Aidan screamed her name. She glanced back. Nereids had swarmed the Mustang like black beetles. Hermes had his hands full with three, and two dragged Aidan down toward the ground. Andie and Henry fought back-to-back, but there were too many. Cassandra shouted as she saw one rake its claws across Andie’s stomach.
Ahead of her, Poseidon yawned like a nightmare, barnacle shells eating away the surface of his arms, blood like black oil draining from cuts made by coral that twisted up his body and sliced tunnels into his face. She remembered his teeth in the witch’s leg, and her own legs turned to rubber.
“Cassandra, I’m coming!”
She looked back; Aidan had gotten free and dashed down through the trees. Black Nereid bodies littered the ground around the car. Hermes tore another head loose and dashed down after him, so fast. But in the next instant, cold struck her belly and closed over her head as the Nereid dragged her into the water.
She held her breath as they went under, all her limbs twisting toward panic. Panic at the teeth with her in the lake; panic that her lungs already burned from lack of air. She kicked against the Nereid’s side and it let her break the surface.
“Aidan!”
Her teeth chattered in the frigid water. The shock of it made all her muscles seize. If the Nereid let her go, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to swim to shore. Through weak splashes of protest, she could still see Poseidon, standing suspended, his torso covered in seaweed and slime, a god purified and corrupted all at once. His death transformed him, made him elemental, enormous. More a Titan’s offspring than he had ever been.
He’ll kill him. If Aidan faces him, Poseidon will drag him down like a shark.
She turned toward the shore.
“No! Go back!”
But he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t even hesitate.
Hermes stood at the edge of the lake watching her. He caught Aidan by the arm.
“Wait, brother.”
“There’s no time!” He tried to jerk loose, but Hermes held him fast.
“He’ll kill you and take her anyway.”
Aidan looked at Cassandra. She could barely see for blinking back water. Hold him there. Make him wait.
Aidan turned to Hermes.
“Not if you help me.” He twisted out of his brother’s grip and ran into the water, diving in fast.
Hermes shook his head. “Shouldn’t we say something heroic first?” he shouted, but he plunged in, plunged in afraid, and swam after them both, toward a god diseased by shells and the claws of crustaceans.
Fresh adrenaline reached Cassandra’s blood and she struggled, kicking and splashing. Her fingernails dug into the Nereid’s scaled hand. She twisted them and drew blood, but it didn’t matter. Poseidon watched them come, his one remaining eye coated with film. Except for the hungry gape of his jaw, he almost looked disinterested.
The Nereid let go and darted away, and for an instant Cassandra felt mad hope. But it had left her for him. Left her and swam away fast to keep from falling to the god’s teeth. She felt a massive hand grip her leg and drag her down. Cold drenched her to the bone. It flooded into her ears, blotted the world out in heavy, murky darkness.
I don’t want to drown. I can’t, I don’t. I die on a road, my head cracked into pieces.
She opened her eyes as something passed by: Hermes. He drove his fist into Poseidon’s cracked flesh, but it was resilient as the rubber of a tire. It didn’t matter how he wrenched and fought. Poseidon didn’t release his grip. Through the silt-churned water Cassandra saw another massive hand cut through and close on Hermes’ arm.
It’ll snap. There’ll be a snap, and his arm will break, the muscle will tear away and turn the water red.
But no. It would take more than a Titan’s fingers to break Hermes’ bones. All around them, black bodies of Nereids slid past like curious sharks, but none of them struck. She didn’t know why. Perhaps they’d been ordered not to. Or perhaps they were afraid of Poseidon too.
Her lungs tightened. Hermes twisted toward the arm that held her and bit down on tendon; the grip loosened just enough for him to push her toward the surface.
“Get to the shore!” he screamed, but she had just enough time for a breath before Poseidon dragged her back down.
Her head spun, growing dizzy from lack of oxygen and fear. She finally caught sight of Aidan through the bubbles and moving currents. He’d gotten around Poseidon’s back and hit him repeatedly. The reverberations of his fists passed through the water again and again, but weren’t doing much.