From Titans (Book 4) (13 page)

Poseidon popped out of the water laughing
hysterically. Engulfed by water in a sphere-like shield, he floated
in midair just above the river.

“
It won
’
t hurt you,” Poseidon
said. “Let it take you.”

One took the form of a
shark and ate Nick. Another took the form of a plunger and sucked
up Everett. Amanda and Noah were eaten by a large
giant
’
s mouth. Zeus and Hades got swept inside a cyclone, and I was
carried away like a princess on a carriage ride. A clear protective
shield bubbled around us. We glided on top of the water in our own
private rides.

“
This is awesome,” Noah
exclaimed.

“
My own private
ride,”
Nick sang.

“
Something is waiting for
us at the end.” Zeus sounded worried. “It can
’
t be this
easy.”

Though we had been separated and moved at
different speeds, we could talk and hear as if we sat next to each
other. We streamed across with the flow of the water. Nothing but
trees, valleys, and mountains came to view. A rainbow appeared in
the distance, and then disappeared when the bubble dipped
lower.

Admiring the beauty of the land filled me
with serenity. Flying and being one with nature filled my soul, and
I wished Mason could experience it with me. There were no homes, no
streets, no cars, nothing but what the land had to offer. Purple,
red, yellow dotted here and there throughout the land, depending on
the type of flower it grew. Nature at its finest. All seemed fine
until…

“
What
’
s that ahead?”
Hades panicked.

“
It
’
s a cliff.” I gulped.
My heart drummed faster. “What do we do?”

“
Let it guide us,”
Poseidon said calmly.

I knew I should trust
Poseidon, but for someone like me who
’
s afraid of heights, those words
weren
’
t comforting. “We
’
re so close. Oh my
God!”

“
You
’
ll be fine, Skylar.
You
’
ll live.” Hades tried to lessen my state of frenzy, but it
wasn
’
t working.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh
my God! Here it comes. Breathe. Everything will be just fine, just
like—
I screamed from the top of my lungs
and so did everyone else. My stomach dropped. Our protective shield
didn
’
t fly like Poseidon had thought. We
plummeted…falling…falling…endless falling. The only view was the
waterfall and the mist covering us.

“
Make it stop!” Amanda
shouted.

“
Do something!”
Nick hollered.

“
I
’
m going to throw up,”
Everett warned.

Just when I
couldn
’
t take it anymore, we landed. Only, instead of landing
smoothly, we bounced on the water like pebbles thrown across the
lake. My body tumbled about inside the small space as nausea took
over, but I was grateful the shield felt like foam—soft and spongy.
Finally, the bubble stilled and burst, dropping us into the shallow
part of the river.

I landed on my hands and knees. Everett
stayed bent over, sucking in deep breaths while everyone cursed and
stood. I groaned and fought for balance when I pushed myself to
stand.

The gold arch caught my eyes first, dazzling
under the sunlight. As my gaze dropped lower, I saw the statues of
people, the trees and flowers, and even the rocks and boulders were
gold. Everything had been turned to gold, except the water.

“
Well
…” Everett splashed water on
his face and stood. “I feel much better. I hope we
don
’
t go back the way we came ‘cause I
’
m not sure if I can go
through that again.” Then he seemed to finally see what I saw.
“Whoa.”

“
Are you okay?” I asked,
but my eyes still lingered on all the gold—a fountain spurting
water, wagon, chairs, a horse statue, clothes, coins overflowing
from a treasure box, and so much more.

“
I just need a minute, but
we should get moving.” Everett pointed. “Looks like we have to
climb.”

“
What in the world,” Nick
breathed.

Amanda gasped and pointed to everything to
make sure Noah was seeing what she saw.

“
Wow. Do you think the
statues were once real people?” Amanda grimaced.

“
Who knows?” Noah helped
her take a step. The small gold boulders piled together created
stairs, leading up to a cave.

“
Be careful,”
Zeus warned.

Hermes flapped his wings and floated in
midair, guiding Zeus.

“
Don
’
t touch anything. It
may turn you into gold.” Poseidon followed behind Zeus.

“
I think
we
’
ll be fine for now,” Hades said, helping me up when I almost
slipped.

Getting a solid grip on the trail seemed
difficult. Everywhere I stepped felt slippery. Water flowed gently
up, not down, like a soft, backward waterfall. I guessed we were
still in the Land of Reverse, but everything else seemed in its
right position. Finally, we reached the top.

“
Who or what are we
looking for?” Everett
’
s voice echoed in the
cave.

No one answered him,
enchanted by the gold tunnel we had to pass through. I assumed,
like all the caves we had encountered before, it would be dark, but
light impossibly penetrated it. The water continued to flow, even
on the gold walls, glistening on every inch of the space. The cave
wasn
’
t as big as I had thought, just narrow and long. At the end,
rays of light illuminated a well and a being, sitting on a gold
throne. At first I thought the being was a gold statue, but when he
blinked and his smile widened as we approached, I gasped
softly.

“
You made it,” said a man
dressed in a gold robe and gold crown, holding a fennel staff,
tipped with a pine cone. He was short and bald. His big round
belly, evidence he drank way too much, bulged through the open
robe. He reminded me of a Chinese Buddha.

“
Dionysus!” Hades boomed,
sounding agitated. His jaw clenched and fist rounded. “You put us
through hell.”

“
Nothing new for you,
considering you lived in the underworld,” Dionysus
mocked.

Zeus stuck out his arm in front of Hades,
stopping him from forging forward with flames in his hands and
maybe even killing Dionysus.

“
Now, now, Hades.”
Dionysus sat up taller, squaring his shoulders, but shortly after,
he slouched again. “Put out that fire. No need to get hasty.” His
breath stunk of alcohol and his words came slowly.

Hades growled.
“Don
’
t test me.”

“
Do you know why
we
’
re here?” Zeus took a step closer.

Dionysus stood, holding
out his fennel staff. He stumbled a few steps.
“Don
’
t come any closer. Of course I know why
you
’
re here. Silenus warned me.”

“
You keep weird company,”
Nick threw in.

“
I would say the same for
you.” Dionysus gazed at the gods.

“
T
ouch
é.”
Nick smirked.
“I kind
of have no choice.”

Zeus darted an evil glance
at Nick and tapped his staff on the ground. “If you knew we were
coming, why didn
’
t you just hand it to us? Why
make us go through all this trouble? You know who I am. That is not
how you treat me.”

Dionysus released an
annoyed sigh and paced next to the well, the only part of the wall
that had turned to gold. He slumped over and placed a hand on the
well for support. “
You
can
’
t simply get something precious and valuable by asking for
it. You must earn it, even a god.” He plopped back down to his
throne again, his round belly jutting out. “You also must have
polite behavior and a good attitude.” He winked.

Zeus
’
s staff flickered and
sizzled, electricity surged down his staff and onto the ground.
“Don
’
t wink at me.” He scowled. “We
’
ve wasted a lot of time playing
your game. Now, hand it over. And for my sake, close the robe. Your
fat stomach disgusts me. You should take better care of
yourself.”

“
I can
’
t just hand it over.”
He rolled his eyes and threw his hand in the air. “Why do you care
if I take care of myself?” He patted his stomach and rubbed his
bald head.

When Zeus
didn
’
t answer, Dionysus continued. “Anyway, enough of me. The girl
must take it.” He glanced my way. “If I turned to gold, who would
watch over my place?”

Poseidon lightly shoved me toward Dionysus.
I stumbled a little and took out the bottle I had stuck back inside
my pocket.

“
Drop it in the
well,”
Dionysus
ordered.

“
How will I get it
back?”

“
You shall see.” He
snickered. Reaching over to the gold table beside him, he picked up
a gold jug and drank deeply. I assumed he was drinking wine, seeing
a shelf of wine jugs behind him. Finally, he placed it down, wiped
his mouth with the back of his hand, and then burped.
Disgusting!

I steadied my hand on the base of the stone
well and looked down. Pure darkness filled my vision and no sound
of water reached me. For all I knew, I could be tossing my bottle
into a deep abyss. I imagined it shattering at the bottom or just
simply falling with no end. Magic was unpredictable and so were the
gods.

“
Hurry, Skylar.”
Nick
’
s words gave me the push I needed.

I inhaled a deep breath and let go. “For
Mason.” I listened for any noise that the bottle had hit the water,
but none came. How deep was this well? When it seemed minutes had
passed, I lost my patience.

“
Where is it?” I huffed.
My eyes burned and my fingers tingled.

He shrugged.
“It
’
s taking longer than I thought it would. Maybe it
doesn
’
t like your bottle.”

“
That
’
s enough!” Poseidon
had lost it. He had been cool and collected until then. Using his
power, he directed his hand at the well. The ground trembled and
the well shook. A spider fracture split the front of the
well.

Dionysus
’
s eyes widened, looking
horrified. “Stop!”

“
Stop!” I
yelled.

“
Poseidon,”
Zeus warned, slapping
Poseidon
’
s back, causing him to drop his hand.

Gold water gushed out,
aiming at all of us except for Dionysus, as if the water knew where
to aim. My gut instinct told me if that water touched us, we would
turn to gold. I extended my hands and used my water power ability
to freeze it in place. One wave of water touched the tip of
Nick
’
s hair, turning that single strand into gold. Another wave
stopped right in front of Hades
’
chest. The water droplets must
have landed on Amanda
’
s shirt, creating gold polka
dots. Then to my horror, Everett turned gold from head to toe.
I
’
d
thought I reached everyone in time, but somehow that one slipped by
me.

“
Everett,” Nick hollered
in panic, his hand by his side, afraid to touch Everett. “Turn him
back.”

“
Oh my God. Is he
breathing?” Amanda shuddered.

“
The correct term would
be, ‘Oh my Zeus,
’”
Zeus corrected. “Yes, he
’
s fine.
We
’
ll have to go back where we started and wash him
off.”

“
See what happens when you
don
’
t respect my place.” Dionysus scoffed. “You can just leave
him here with me. I can add him to my collection.”

Nick stuck out his middle
finger at Dionysus. “You
’
re crazy and
you
’
re drunk.”

“
Dionysus?” Hades roared,
fire flaming in his eyes. “Give me that bottle right now, or
I
’
ll
burn this place down.”

Dionysus gulped down another jug of his wine
and hiccupped. “Oh, how I love my life. I get to make wine, drink
more than I need, and be merry.”

“
I
’
ll drop this,” Nick warned,
waving a jug of wine. Nick had sneaked around to get closer to
Dionysus and got ahold of one.