Triton felt as if he were about to explode. He coughed and sputtered as water poured from his mouth.
He could hear Nicole. “Ty… breathe. Oh please, breathe.”
He coughed more and then vomited, expelling water from his lungs. Why is the seawater causing him pain? He was a god of the seas, the sea was part of him, and he was part of it. It was his life, his whole being—and it was trying to kill him.
“Wha… what happened?” he asked, and then coughed.
“You almost drowned,” Nicole answered.
Triton had never heard anything so ridiculous. He couldn’t drown.
I told you to let me die.
At that voice in his head, Triton’s anger burned as he pressed his palm into his temple. “What did you do to me?” his voice boomed.
“I was just giving you CPR,” Nicole said. “I saved your life, and you’re welcome.”
“No, not you. Sypher, what did you do to me?”
I did what I do. I did what I’m made to do. I siphoned your powers.
“Well, you’d just better return my powers to me.”
I would if I could, sea-god. If you had told me what you were going to do beforehand, I would have told you how to tie me to you and reserve your own powers. But because you didn’t, they are being scattered. Not only that, but Zeus no longer has Nicole’s power and I can assure you he’s not happy about it. He will come for her. And you’ve lost your ability to protect her!
Triton cursed. “How was I to know?”
“Ty, could you please let Siphon talk through you? I don’t know what in the heck you are talking about.”
“Fine,” he said through his clenched jaw.
“So what will Zeus do about it?” Ty asked.
“He’ll try to get her back anyway he can,” Sypher said, “Which really sucks because without your powers, you’re about as worthless as a human. You couldn’t protect Nicole from a laelaps in your condition.”
“What’s a laelaps?” Nicole asked.
“A kind of dog,” Triton answered, frowning. “So how do I get my powers back?”
“You simply have to find a god that has the power to remove me and then kill me—you know, like you were supposed to do.”
“You seem a bit too eager to die, Siphon,” Triton said.
“I know what I am. I exist to prey on others. I’m tired of it. I figure if I can give my life to save another, Hades will have mercy on me.”
“Don’t count on Hades’ mercy.” Hades was the farthest from merciful that a god could get. He was a prick that would as soon disembowel a person as look at them.
You know I can hear your thoughts, don’t you?
“I don’t know how you could stand it, Nicole,” Triton said. “She’s been in my head for a few minutes and I already want to shove a knife into my temple.”
“I didn’t know any different. It’s really weird that you can hear her, but I can’t.”
“Well, as soon as I find a god to help me, she’s out of there.”
“You’re going to put her in someone else, aren’t you? I mean, you’re not really going to let her die.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t know how to. The truth was he couldn’t condemn another god to life with Siphon in his or her head.
Killing me is the best option.
Shut up!
“Megalostas,” Ty said, “take us to shore.”
Nicole fell over when the leviathan moved. “Um, I know this is insignificant considering the situation, but I need a little help.” She gestured down. Her fin turned back into legs, but she still had the fin covering on. Triton tugged at the waistband, pulled on a small clasp, and began to unzip it. He looked in her eyes and raised an eyebrow as his fingers brushed over her—the softness of her skin lighting a fire in him. Gods, she’s beautiful.
Oh, no you don’t.
“Uh-uh, no you don’t.” Nicole scowled, speaking at the same time as Sypher. Great, now he was getting rejected in stereo.
“I don’t know how you can go from furious to turned on in two seconds flat.”
“I’m a man,” he answered, as if that explained everything.
“Well, this is completely the wrong time for that.” She shook her head and said, “Turn around, I’ve got an idea.”
He reluctantly turned his back. He could hear the rustle of fabric and then ripping. A few minutes later, she said, “Okay, I’m decent.”
He turned around. She was standing in what looked to be a short skirt. She must have torn off the bottom half of her fin covering. It actually looked amazing. The fabric clung to her body like a second skin and her long, tan legs looked silky, smooth… heart stopping.
With his attention on Nicole, he missed the piece of fabric dangling from her finger in front of his face.
“What’s that?”
“This is yours. You can’t be going to shore naked.”
“Nicole, this is the Mediterranean. No one will think twice about it.”
“Well, I will.”
He took it and looked it over. “It’s going to look like a woman’s skirt,” he said appalled.
“I’m sorry. I don’t happen to have a sewing machine. I wish I could turn it into a pair of khaki shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals, but I can’t.”
“Yeah sweetheart, I wish you could too, because I’m definitely not going to shore in a dress.”
“It’s not a dress; it’s just something to cover you. I will not be seen with you hanging out for the world to see. It’s not decent. It’s obscene.”
As Nicole continued her rant, Triton stepped forward with a smirk on his face. “It’s not obscene. It’s natural.” He lowered his head.
“No way! I’m not kissing you while you’re naked. Or have you forgotten that we’re not alone?” She lifted her hands and slammed the cloth against his chest. Triton knew there was something wrong when a rubber sole hit him in the sternum. Nicole squeaked out a cry as she dropped the bundle onto the sea monster’s back.
They both looked down, gawking at what looked to be khaki shorts, a teal shirt, and leather sandals. “I thought you didn’t have your powers anymore?” Nicole asked uncertainly, her eyes glued to the clothing.
“I didn’t do that.”
Her eyes rose from the pile as they widened. She shook her head slowly. “I couldn’t have done it.”
Actually, she could have. Now that I’m not draining her, you’ll find her powers returning. Watch her closely, sea-god. She won’t know how to control them.
Give me a head’s up. What kind of powers does she have?
I can’t tell you. I only know she’s extremely powerful.
How powerful?
Much more powerful than you.
Triton frowned. How under Olympus was he to help her control powers that great when he had none? This could be dangerous.
“You know, it’s really annoying when you carry on conversations in your head. I know you two are talking about me. What did Sypher say?”
“She says now that she’s not draining you that your powers will begin to return.”
“My powers? Wow. What kind of powers do I have?”
“She’s not sure.”
“Huh. Well, I know I can make clothes. Oh my gosh, I saw this amazing outfit at Neiman Marcus the other day.” She squeezed her eyes shut, her entire face pinched as she concentrated. Her eyes were still closed when she asked Ty, “Did it work? Are my clothes changed?”
Triton looked her over. She looked exactly the same. “Nope. I like what you’re wearing anyway. You should keep it,” he said as he slipped his shorts on.
Nicole looked down and scowled. “The fabric is amazing. But I had to rip it. If there was a proper hem, it would be fine.”
“Maybe you’ll start a new trend,” he said as he slipped on his shirt.
Nicole shrugged. “How do your clothes fit?”
“Perfect.”
Surprisingly, his sandals fit too.
“How long before we reach land?” she asked.
Triton closed his eyes and tried to feel the land ahead. Nothing. He suppressed the panic that threatened to rear its head. He’d never been blind to the sea, and not being able to tell where it ended was beyond disconcerting. “I don’t know.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like you could see it from here.”
“You don’t understand. I should know.”
Nicole slipped her arm around him. “It’s okay. We just need to find a god to…” Her voice dropped away.
“Take Sypher out of my head and put her into the head of another god?” Triton said frowning at the impossible task.
Or if you could find a lonsdaleite container to put me in. That would keep me suspended until a host was found.
Oh yeah, just let me pull one of the rarest substances in the universe out of thin air and form it into a jar so I can put you there. You’re totally not helping, Sypher.
“I don’t know about you, Nikki, but I don’t know of any god willing to give up their powers. At least not up here. If we were in the sea, I could ask my father. We’ve had our differences, but I’m sure he would curse another god for his son’s sake.”
“You make it sound so terrible.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Can you reach him somehow?” Nicole asked. “I suppose he doesn’t have a cell phone, right?”
Triton chuckled dryly. “No.” He closed his eyes and searched for any remnants of his power. There was nothing. “And I can’t summon him—not without my power.”
“Do you think I could?”
“No!”
Nicole jumped out of her skin at his shout.
“Don’t even think it,” he said, his heart pounding at the thought. “He has no idea who you are. He does not react well to being summoned by strangers.”
“He’s your dad. How bad could he be?”
“Bad enough that I would never dream of calling him anything so informal as Dad.”
“Whoa, sounds like you may have had a worse… oh wait. The father I remember wasn’t real.”
Her forlorn face broke his heart.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply.
“Yeah. Me too.” She knelt down. “I wonder who my real parents are. Do you have any idea?”
Triton shook his head as he sat beside her.
“Can you ask Sypher if she knows?”
Those memories were erased before I was placed in her. I’m sorry.
Triton shook his head. “She doesn’t know.”
“You think they’re still alive, don’t you?”
“They’re gods. It’s extremely difficult to kill a god.”
A drop of rain on Triton’s arm and a chilled wind breezing over his skin was the first sign that the weather might be turning foul. He’d been so involved with his conversation with Nicole that he didn’t notice dark clouds gathering in the distance. “I don’t like the looks of that.” He nodded his head toward the darkening sky.
“It’s just a little… storm,” Nicole said as the clouds billowed and darkened. Lightning flashed across the sky. “Actually, I think you’re right. That doesn’t look natural.”
“Megalostas, we need to move faster.”
Triton and Nicole tipped over as the beast accelerated. The rocking motion of his accelerations made it difficult to hang on. Triton’s heart pounded. How could he protect Nicole, when he was no stronger than a human?
Sypher, I need you to stop draining my powers.
It’s not something I can control, sea-god.
Liar! You can control it. You just don’t want to.
“Ty,” Nicole interrupted.
I told you to destroy me.
And let you take the easy way out? You wanted redemption. Perhaps this can give you redemption. Resist the urge to siphon my powers. Let me save Nicole. Do you want her to die?
“Ty!” Nicole shouted.
“What?” he snapped as he turned toward her.
She pointed into the distance. “What are those?”
Three black silhouettes flew toward them in the distance, backed by the storm—one of the creatures much larger than the other two. Triton’s heart sank. “You don’t want to know.”
“Yes, I do! What are they?”
Triton looked her up and down and sighed. “Zeus’ minions.”
Triton slipped down the side of Megalostas, submerged to his chest, and wrapped his hands around a tentacle.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to call for help.”
***
When Nicole could finally see what the creatures bearing down on them looked like, she agreed with Ty. She really didn’t want to know what they were. The two smaller creatures were terrifying enough, with the head of a woman with crazy-wild hair, and the body of a bird. Those creatures would give her nightmares. But the one in the middle… that one would make her too petrified to ever sleep again. It had three heads! One head looked like a tiger, another looked like a dragon, and the third… an eagle? And its wingspan was as large as a commercial airliner!
“Ty!” She turned to see him sputtering as he pulled his head from the water.
“I can’t do it. I need seawater in my lungs to call out.” He sighed. “I don’t think it would do any good, anyway. With this pathetically weak body, I doubt any creature would hear me here in the open sea.”
He grabbed her ankle. She barely had time to take a breath when he pulled her into the water.
She quickly surfaced. “Ty, you idiot. What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m protecting you.”
“Against that?” she screeched as she pointed to the giant mutant creature.
“I’ve fought creatures like this before.”
“Yeah, as a god!”
“I know what to do. Besides, I have Megalostas to help me.”
“You’re crazy. And believe me, I know crazy.”
All three heads of the creature roared, driving fear into Nicole’s heart.
“Just keep away from the harpies,” he said as he pulled himself out of the water to stand on the sea monster’s back. “They’re sneaky buggers. Megalostas and I will handle the chimera, and then we’ll take care of the harpies as soon as we can.”
Nicole’s eyes widened as fire billowed from the dragon’s mouth—coming straight for Ty. She screamed as he dove into the water. Megalostas rumbled as fire licked his back. He sank down under the rippling water.
Something wrapped around her ankle and pulled her under. She didn’t even have time to take a breath. As she pulled the thing off her leg, she realized it was Megalostas’s tentacle. She looked up to see the sharp claws of a harpy snapping in the water. Megalostas had saved her. With her lungs burning, she swam away and surfaced. She searched the skies to see the two harpies circling her. Ty climbed back onto the leviathan.
“What are you doing? Get back in the water,” she shouted.
“I can’t kill him from down there. Watch out,” he shouted as he glanced above her head.
She took in a breath and plunged her head under water. Pain sliced across her scalp, burning in the seawater. The shadow of a harpy danced across the waves. She swam underneath the surface toward Ty. Maybe the monster trying to burn Ty with his fire will singe the feathers off the harpies. She surfaced next to the leviathan. The three-headed monster landed on Megalostas’s back as it confronted Ty and had to take flight again as the leviathan and Triton submerged. Nicole sank under the water as fire blew across the surface. When the flames retreated, she popped her head up. The three-headed chimera hovered above the surface, its three heads waving around like giant snakes as all six of its eyes searched for Ty. Then one large tentacle launched Ty like a catapult. He flew across the sky, landing on the back of the creature. He nearly slipped off, but caught a fist full of feathers and pulled himself back up.
Nicole was so engrossed by the scene that she failed to realize that a harpy had moved in until it was too late. It clamped down on her, spearing its claws through her shoulders. She screamed at the pain, and then she was airborne. She looked back to see Ty wrestling with the creature midair. In one swift move, he broke the neck of the eagle. Even as a human, he was still really strong.
Nicole wrestled and pulled at the claws of the harpy as she painfully tried to yank them from her shoulders. The more she pulled, the more bloody her hands became—making them slick. Finally, she got one claw out. She tried to bend it and break it. If she could just break a bone, perhaps it would drop her. Finally, a claw broke off—a dagger-like nail in her hand. She immediately swiped at the creature’s claws still embedded in her shoulders. The harpy squealed when she sliced it across its knuckles. She did it again and again, until the harpy’s blood mingled with her own.
After what seemed an eternity, the harpy dropped her. She left her stomach behind as she plummeted, spiraling down. She hadn’t been paying much attention to where she actually was, being so engrossed in her battle with the harpy, but she must have been up pretty high because the ocean surface that kept flashing by her view was a mile below her. The fall seemed to last for an eternity as she screamed, waiting for death. She didn’t remember hitting the water—the only thing she remembered was a blinding flash of light and everything went still.
“Nikoleta.” The voice was calm, soothing and… familiar. “Nikoleta my child.”
A familiar, sweet scent—that she couldn’t quite place—surrounded her in comfort as she opened her eyes. A woman looked down on her. This woman was stunningly beautiful, and haloed in soft light. Nicole looked around. She was in a bright room, with silky curtains, and white marble floors. Nicole found herself lying in a plush bed with colorful pillows. She looked back at the woman who was looking at her like she was a person she treasured.
“Am I dead?” Nicole asked.
“No, my child.”
“How did I get here?”
“I brought you here,” the woman answered.
“Who are you?” Nicole asked.
“I’m your mother.”
“My mother?” Nicole was speechless. What were the odds her mother would find her at that moment? Had she been watching over her? Finally, Nicole spoke. “I don’t remember you.”
“I didn’t remember you either, until a short time ago. Apparently, both of our memories were erased years ago.” A single tear slid down her mother’s cheek. She threw her arms around Nicole and cried. “Oh my child. How could I have forgotten you? How could I not remember my own flesh and blood? You were the brightest light in my life.”
Nicole’s body seemed to remember her mother’s embrace. She felt safe, warm, and protected. Several minutes later, her mother pulled away, wiping her tears.
“Are you a goddess?” Nicole asked.
“Yes, my dear. My name is Tyche, daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.”
“Tyche?”
“Yes.”
“What… what are you a goddess of?”
She cracked a smile. “Fortune.”
“And who is my father?”
At that question, Tyche’s eyebrows pressed together. “I… I don’t remember yet. I’ve only recently remembered you. I have no idea who erased my memories, but after finding you in the clutches of a harpy, I fear the worst. Harpies are at the command of Zeus. If the king of the gods wishes you ill, I don’t know how I can protect you. My only advice is that you hide among the humans.”
“If I’m the child of a goddess, what powers do I have? Can I use them to protect myself?”
Tyche sighed. “I don’t remember. You’ll have to discover that on your own.”
“I… oh, my gosh! Ty!”
“Ty?”
“Triton. I was with him when you brought me here. He was fighting some hideous thing with three heads.”
Tyche closed her eyes. Triton materialized near the ceiling and fell, slamming to the stone floor in front of them. He groaned as he pushed himself up. “Ouch.” He looked up, his eyes widening. “Tyche?”
“Hello, sea-god.” She narrowed her eyes, and then they widened as she smiled callously. “You’ve lost your powers. I can’t say I’m sorry to see you reduced to a human.”
Nicole was surprised at the venom in her mother’s voice.
“Why did you bring us here?” Ty demanded.
Nicole could see a purple bruise on his left cheek and a spot of blood at the corner of his mouth. She ran to him, threw her arms around him, and then pulled away to run her hands over his body. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
Triton’s eyes narrowed—his focus still on Tyche. “I asked why you brought us here.”
“I saved my daughter, and saved your sorry self too, when I saw how much Nikoleta cared about you.” Standing, she circled him, assessing. She moved with elegance, more graceful than any other woman Nicole had ever seen.
“I must tell you,” Tyche said. “I’m not happy about my daughter having affections for you.”
Ty scowled, looking from Nicole to her mother.
“Tell me,” Tyche said. “How many children did you father before they were destroyed?”
“You’re Nicole’s mother?” Ty looked like this woman was the last person he’d want for a mother-in-law.
“I asked you a question, sea-god.”
“That is none of your business.”
“Oh really? You’re no better than my mother. You and she used to be close, didn’t you? Do you know why?”
“Because she was taken in by my father and raised alongside me,” Ty answered.
“No, because you’re the same. Do you know how many siblings I have?”
Triton didn’t answer.
“Twenty. And that’s just the full gods. She gave birth to many more demigods, dumping them in their human father’s laps. Even the children she kept, she never cared for herself. She made her handmaidens take care of us. The goddess of love…” She turned and spat. “The goddess of lust is more like it.”
“I have but one daughter, sea-god, and she was ripped from my arms two thousand years ago. Erased from my memories. And then, there’s you. Fathering children left and right. Not caring about the mothers who loved them. The mothers who would have given their lives for them. You erased their memories, too. In my eyes, you are the enemy. Why my daughter has affections for you, I’ll never understand. But I’ll say this. If you ever hurt her, you’d better hope your god powers have been restored, because if they’re not, I will meld you into gold and sink you into the earth’s core—far from the reach of your father. Now, get out of my sight!” At those words, he disappeared.
Nicole’s throat tightened as she looked at her mother—so beautiful in her fury. Nicole remembered Haiki once telling her that she was beautiful when she was angry. Nicole nearly smiled. She was just like her mother.
“You wouldn’t really turn him to gold and sink him into the earth, would you?” Nicole asked.
Tyche raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t answer.
“Now, daughter. As much as I would love to keep you with me, when Zeus figures out his web of deceit is unraveling, he may look for you here. And my power is nothing compared to his. For your safety, I have to send you back to the human world. Try not to use your powers, as they might give you away. Zeus will be searching for you.”
“But I don’t even know what my powers are.”
“It’s better you don’t find out yet, at least not until I can find a way to stop him. And it’s not safe for us to communicate. Zeus could be watching even now. But I had to stop him. I had to save you.”
“How can we stop him?”
“I’m going to work on getting my memories back. Then hopefully I can figure out a way to make things right for you. Just know that I love you and be safe.” She pressed a kiss onto Nicole’s forehead.