Volcanoes (13 page)

How he was doing this, carrying me and keeping us moving forw
ard was absolutely beyond my mental capacity for understanding. I just accepted it and tried to stave off the impending panic attack
–
not to mention the vertigo - as I lost track of which way was up.

"We're almost there," he said quietly against my ear.

I nodded with appreciation and took a deep breath. It was almost over. I liked being under water much better when there was a much smaller chance that I'd drown and die.

He was right, within a few minutes we were ducking into a cave system. With a few tur
ns we emerged into a torch lit alcove. The area was warm in comparison to the climate on the surface and the chill of the water. I shivered anyway and shook myself like a dog to ward off the sliver of unease that crawled its way down my back.

Poseidon ste
pped back and looked askance at my unexpected performance.

"It felt like a goose had walked over my grave for a moment," I explained defensively.

He nodded with complete understanding and for once I felt vindicated. Here was a man that got me and my quirk
iness. Well, when he wasn't saying such horrible things about me. No
–
you know what? Fuck him. He didn't know anything about me.

I'd worked myself up into a fine snit when I finally realized that we were no longer alone.

I was sorely disappointed with w
ho met us. I was expecting a mermaid with a shell bra, long red hair and silvery green fins instead of the woman standing in front of us with two legs, sporting a smart brown bob and beige business suit.

She started at what must have come across as a moue
of disappointment on my face and held out her hand with a confident smile. "Hello, you must be Diana's daughter, Grace. I'm Adriana, Colin's assistant."

Remembering that neither Poseidon nor Hephaestus thought I could pull this off, I put on my best PTA m
om smile and strode forward with purpose to shake her hand in a firm but not crushing grip. "Adriana, what a pleasure it is to meet you."

She seemed surprised by my professional demeanor and I ratcheted it up a bit to keep her off balance. I think one of t
he best things I had going for me was my ability to throw people off balance right away.

She smiled more tentatively and then turned to Poseidon. "Sir, I'm afraid that Colin
is unavailable to speak with you today. However, he gave me leave to act in his stead. Would that be acceptable?"

I felt Poseidon tense beside me but his voice betrayed none of his emotion. "Of course, Adriana. Shall we proceed?"

Her body language relaxed
immediately and she responded with, "Yes of course. Please follow me."

While she led us through a maze of corridors, I had some time to ponder this situation. Honestly, I was a little confused. I expected something entirely different than a modern day sys
tem. With the exception of the cave dwellings we were walking through, I could have been going to a power meeting with my publishers.

Adriana was all business as she guided us to our destination, explaining something vaguely boring that I probably should
have paid attention to.
 
I didn't, though, because I was busy speculating and gawking at the people passing by wearing Gucci and Prada.

What in Medusa's tits kind of mermaid civilization was this?

I hadn't noticed that Poseidon had dropped back to walk by
my side until I felt the sharp jab of his finger and was startled out of my woolgathering. "What?" I hissed.

"Pay attention," He whispered furiously.

"I was," I responded. "Just not to her. How are all of these people dressed in modern couture? I expected
something entirely different."

"I'll explain later. Pay attention to Adriana. There is something wrong here."

That caught my attention and I scrutinized Adriana closely. Her body language projected professional, confident businesswoman. But if I looked p
ast that, I could see the tightening around her eyes and the lack of spark in her gestures. She was on automatic pilot right now. Poseidon was right. Something was definitely off about her animated chatter.

There was a hint of desperation to her tone, alm
ost as if she were trying to tell us something behind the inane details she was spouting off.

I didn't know her well enough to piece together what that was but Poseidon surely did. I could only hope that he'd grasp what the situation was here.

We finally
stopped behind a large door set in a bronze archway. "We'll hold our meeting in this room. Grace, I had them bring down coffee for you. I hear that humans enjoy this beverage more so than any other."

I'm not going to lie, I started salivating. How long had
it been since I'd had coffee? On further consideration it's probably why I'd been such an emotional bitch for the last couple of days. There hadn't been any coffee in the house and nobody had bothered to pick it up. I had been too involved in my grief to
even request any.

"That is so lovely, Adriana. Thank you."

She threw the doors open and we were treated to the sight of a laden table framed by a picture window. It gave us a lovely view of the ocean beyond.

I would have been so happy if I weren't so sus
picious. My stomach audibly growled and I shot Poseidon an apologetic look. Between the drama of Hypnos, my mother punching me in the face and the boys fighting
–
I hadn't had time to eat.

Damn. It had been a busy freakin' day.

I smiled with
feigned embarrassment at Adriana. "My apologies for my overly loud digestive system. I'm afraid it's been a busy day and I haven't had a chance to eat."

Poseidon's groan was only audible to me - thankfully - and I shot him a look that screamed,
'What?'
  H
e shook his head imperceptibly and I pretended to ignore it. Seriously, I was hungry.

I made my way to the table and filled a plate with fruits and cheese, munching as I went. Did it say something about my lack of polish? It sure did. I had a hard time bri
nging myself to care though, because I could feel a blood sugar crash coming on and I would rather seem rude and uncouth than overly bitchy and psychotic.

Yeah, that's right
–
I got psychotic during blood
sugar crashes. Anyone who knew me kept bits of food on them at all times when they were with me - just in case.  I'm a writer, I forget to eat.  Am I proud of it? Nope. But, it's a reality that I live with.

I stuffed a cheese Danish in my mouth and heard P
oseidon groan behind me. I smiled internally and was considering stuffing another in just to aggravate him further when I heard Adriana's sigh of relief. I stopped chewing. It took every ounce of willpower not to spit the food out onto the floor.

Poseidon
tensed, grabbed my arm and hissed, "Spit it out. For God's sake, spit the food out now."

Adriana dove for us and cried, "No! Please, Grace - it will help!"

Just then, there was pounding on the doors behind us. She reached us as I felt a thumping inside of
my body. It was a familiar presence that I'd missed but it wasn't steady. It was as though the ground below us was trying to make contact with me, but was stuttering.

I gaped at her with shock and shoved more pastry into my mouth. She nodded frantically
and looked at the rattling doors with fear.

"Poseidon, if you have any love left for me, you will take us out of here right now."

Whaaaaa? Had she just said 'any love left'? I was missing something very important here and his stubborn countenance revealed
that not only was I not getting an explanation, but we weren't going
anywhere
.

He pushed her away in fury and she flew across the room like a broken ragdoll. She crashed into the seating area next to the room's entrance, which placed her right next to th
e oncoming danger. "I demand that you tell me what is going on, Adriana, or this is where you'll stay!"

"Poseidon, for the love of fish! Use your head. Do you think they're pounding on the doors to give us hugs and kisses? Pull your head out of your arse a
nd teleport us out of here right now!" She growled, rubbing her hip.

I gripped Poseidon's arm and nodded. "She's not trying to hurt me. I feel a glimmer of power. I bet she knows what
’
s going on. Get us out of here."

He reluctantly pulled me toward her so
that he could take her with us, but it was too late. The doors crashed open and dozens of armed soldiers poured in, cutting us off from Adriana.

I cried out in alarm and broke free of Poseidon, hoping for once that luck was on my side. I sprinted toward
the armed men which thankfully surprised some of them. I used that to my advantage and barreled into a small group of them, knocking them to the ground like so many bowling pins. Unfortunately, I also lost my footing and crashed forward, sliding across th
e
floor. All I needed was a pinky finger on her and I reached for all that I was worth.

Behind me, I could hear Poseidon engaged in battle, clearing a path toward us. The coppery scent of blood filled the air and time slowed to an agonizing crawl as I reac
hed, stretching my body and arm to its limit. Just. One. More. Inch.

Fate was finally giving me a break because someone tripped into me, pushing me the extra inch I needed to tag Adriana and teleport out. I grabbed her ankle as she whipped a flexible razo
r-like sword above me at the incoming force.

Olympus, I thought. Nothing.

"SON OF A WHORE!" I yelled in frustration and inched closer thinking that perhaps I just needed more contact.

"Do it already!" Poseidon's swords clashed behind me and I felt a bree
ze whip across my back. I sucked in my stomach and prayed I wasn
’
t going to die.

"Olympus," I whispered
–
thinking that maybe if I said the words, it would work this time.

It didn't.

Adriana screamed above me and I looked up to see a sword whip across h
er chest, laying open a gash exposing her collarbone. She fell back a step and I lost contact with her.

I tried to army crawl back to her, but someone grabbed my ankle and jerked me back. "NO!" I bellowed and twisted around to see Poseidon scrambling to h
old on to my foot as I wriggled around.

"We can't leave her," I cried.

His countenance was grim and he looked back toward Adriana with such longing that my chest hurt. She was on her knees now, head bowed with one of the Mermend standing above her, sword
raised.

I could not watch her be beheaded so I closed my eyes.  When I opened them again, we were in the hall outside of Diana's chambers. I sagged with both relief and grief. Adriana had known something. It had to be something so important that she'd be
en willing to betray her own kind
–
willing to die even, to help us.

Poseidon collapsed beside me and cradled his head in his hands. "What did I just do," he whispered.

I wanted to comfort him and stab him in the ear at the same time. "You couldn't try to
reach her? Poseidon, she knew something. I swear with everything I am, I felt the Earth's power pump through me a few times while we were down there. She had answers and we left her."

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. She knew what was goin
g on, damn it. I was missing something important and in this state, Poseidon wasn't going to be much help in figuring it out.

My mind wandered back to what I'd seen as we were walking through the cave system before entering the room. What had Adriana said
? Why hadn't I been paying attention?

Oh right. Because I'm Grace and my mind wanders like a ping pong bouncing down a curvy street.

Poseidon was pacing beside me, without words but absolutely not quiet. His hands clapped against his thighs and occasional
ly his foot would stomp hard as though punctuating a particularly strong thought.

"What makes you think she knew?"

I wanted to gasp in outrage. Hadn't he been listening to me? "You're kidding me, right?"

"If I were kidding you Grace, I would have finished
that question with a laugh." His voice was flat rather than filled with his usual amount of exasperation and I glanced up at him, startled.

"You could tell that something was off right away. She kept pushing me toward the food.  I am telling you - as soo
n as I took a bite, I could feel it. She was adamant that I eat more before those soldiers burst into the room.  What was that about? Why would they attack us?"