Chapter 16 #2
I opened my mouth to let out a scream and another tentacle covered my mouth. The one weapon I had going for me was now useless.
We stopped in an area that was devoid of life on the seafloor and the side of the submarine opened. Dylan and my mom swam out. After experiencing the underground facility, I assumed the submarine had a similar chamber that filled with water before it opened.
Dylan looked nothing like a triton like he had before. He appeared as he did as a human from the waist up and his tail was the same teal color as Poseidon's. He was magnificent in a creepy serial killer kind of way.
My mom stopped as soon as she spotted Olivia with me trapped in her tentacle. Her eyes went wide and then she quickly regained her composure as they swam toward us.
"Olivia! What a pleasant surprise! You're even more exquisite than I hoped." At his words, she moved her tentacles around as if showing them off. "I see you've brought me a present."
I narrowed my eyes as he threw his head back and laughed, sending bubbles everywhere. My mom wasn't showing any emotion on her face as she floated next to him. Did she really not care that her daughter was being held hostage by tentacles?
"The tritons are headed this way. This shouldn't take long." He gave Olivia a high five and swam toward the seafloor.
My mom put her hand on the hilt of the knife that was strapped around her waist. I was surprised to see it, and my fingers itched to touch it. She looked between me and the seafloor, a look of panic in her eyes.
She seemed to make up her mind with what was troubling her and swam to me, placing the hilt of the knife in my hand that was poking out from the tentacle that was wrapped around my body. Olivia had turned and was staring off into the distance, paying my mom no attention.
"I love you, sweetie."
I pleaded with my eyes for her to tell me what was going on. She took one last look at me and then swam down to the seafloor where I could barely make out Dylan's dark figure at the bottom.
Olivia spun to face the other direction as a large group of tritons approached. She held me in front of her, blocking herself from view. We were going to be the distraction and dread traveled down my spine.
At the front of the tritons was Finn and two other men. It was clear from their larger tridents and their ornate helmets and chest plates that they were the admirals. They came to a stop as they assessed the situation from a safe distance.
Where were Blake, Jax, and Morgan? I searched the group for them but couldn't spot them. I clutched my knife tighter, trying to calm myself down. I couldn't move it at all, so trying to stab a tentacle with it wasn't an option.
I caught Finn’s eye, and he held up his hand to silence the other admirals. He swam forward a few feet and narrowed his eyes. "Riley, what are you doing here?"
I widened my eyes at him and then looked to the seafloor. He followed my eyes and pointed his trident that direction with a shout. He took off, the tritons following him.
A loud boom pushed us all back like a wave had hit us. The tentacle slipped off my mouth and I screamed, directing it at Olivia. She let out her own scream and covered her ears.
I darted away from her and swam as fast as I could after the tritons. Another loud boom came from the seafloor and knocked us back.
"The siren is coming after us!"
"Where'd the monster go?"
"He's breaking open the seafloor!"
A handful of tritons turned back and pointed their tridents at me. I wanted to swim away but needed to save my mom. As mad as I was at her working with Dylan, she was still my mom.
"I'm not here to fight." I held up my hands and their eyes went straight to the knife. "You can have Dylan; I just want to help my mom."
My words fell on deaf ears as they circled me. There were five of them and their tridents looked sharp. Was this how I died? I like sashimi but didn't want to be turned into it.
I shut my eyes, wishing I would have been able to tell my mom I loved her one last time.
"Move an inch and we'll skewer your asses." My eyes popped open at the sound of Jax's voice.
Jax, Blake, and Morgan surrounded us with their own tridents. I wanted to feel relieved, but my worry just increased.
While the tritons were distracted, I dropped down from in the middle of them and took off. The loud booming hadn't happened again. That meant they had been stopped or had achieved their goal.
I didn't look back, even though I heard my name being called. I was faster than I had thought and was able to stay ahead of the eight tritons racing after me. I just hoped the ones that wanted me dead didn't throw their tridents at me.
I couldn't see anything with all the movement below. There were so many tritons fighting that it was hard to see who or what they were fighting.
I curved my trajectory and spotted Olivia flailing her tentacles and sending tritons flying through the water left and right. A few of her tentacles were stuck to the ocean floor with tridents.
"Is that a fucking kraken?" Jax was behind me and Olivia turned her face toward us. "Is that... Olivia?" Jax's voice cracked, and with a burst of speed, he passed me and headed for his sister.
A man shaped like water knocked me to the side and I dropped the knife with the force of the hit. I righted myself and dashed after it, grabbing it just as I took another hit. I slashed with my knife, but whatever was fighting against us had no corporeal form.
"What the hell are these things?" Morgan was knocked into me and we tumbled toward the seafloor together. "Damn that hurt!"
"It's like what had ahold of me during the homecoming dance!" I grunted as I hit the ground. "We need to stop him!"
Part of me did want to free the sirens, but it seemed like a bad idea to just let them all out without knowing what the consequences would be.
"You're going to get yourself-" Morgan didn't get to finish his sentence because a tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him away.
Olivia was free from the ground now, thanks to Jax more than likely, but she now had him, Blake, Morgan, and a few other tritons wrapped up. She was larger than before, with tentacles that were thicker and longer.
It would have been badass if she wasn't being controlled by Dylan.
I didn't know what to do. I wasn't a soldier and I wasn't keen on using my knife on Olivia. She was an innocent wrapped up in Dylan's sick games.
My anger surged inside me and I let out a yell as I swam forward, into the flurry of tritons and water monsters fighting against each other. I spotted my mom standing near a hole in the ground. She was protected by something that didn't allow anything to get through.
"Mom!" I swam to her and ran face first into something springy that sent me back a few feet. "Mom! We have to get out of here!"
I stabbed my knife into what could only be described as a bubble and it popped. She wasn't moving an inch, and I stopped in front of her. Her eyes met mine, and before I could stop her, she grabbed the knife from me and swam down into the hole.
"Fuck!" I looked around, hoping someone would have an answer for what I should do. The answer never came.
I swam down the hole, not caring that I was making an idiotic decision. My mind screamed at me to turn back, but my body wouldn't allow me to.
The tunnel went on for what felt like five hundred feet and then opened into an empty cavern where my mom and Dylan were in a scuffle. The trident fell from Dylan's grip and I dove for it, grabbing it just before he was able to.
There was an immediate calming sensation that spread through my body and I felt like I held all the power in the world. Dylan let out a shriek that made my ears feel like they were going to explode and came for me.
My mom was under him and grabbed his tail, pulling him to a halt and slashing at his tail with the knife. He let out another shriek and I swung the trident at him. I was stronger than I thought, but he grabbed onto it and pulled me to him.
"You'll pay for that." He slammed his head forward, hitting mine with such force that I let go and floated to the ground in a wave of dizziness. The weird buoyancy of my new body kept me down.
Were there two of him now? No, there were definitely four of him.
He spun around and pointed the trident at my mom, sending a flash of something at her and hitting her in the stomach. She screeched and the knife dropped.
I rubbed my head, my hand coming away red with my blood. I was dizzy, but I had to get the knife. I scooted along the floor, rocks biting into my tail.
I needed to snap out of it so I could float again. I should have practiced swimming with my new body more.
"Where are they?" Dylan's voice was so loud the cavern shook, sending small pieces of rock falling.
My mom was holding her stomach and gritted her teeth. "Where you can't find them and use them against their will!"
He sent another flash at her and she flew back into a wall. My head was throbbing and my vision still swimming, but I could see the glint of the knife not far from my reach. With one more flick of my tail, my fingers wrapped around the hilt.
"I will take everything important to you until you tell me where they are!" He pointed the trident at me.
My heart felt like it was being ripped open as I stared at the three sharp prongs pointed right at my chest. I didn't want to die.
"Wait!" My mom's eyes were wide and her voice shook. "Don't hurt her."
I held the knife at my side as my ability to float came back and I righted myself. I didn't know how I was going to stab him before he killed me. He hadn't seen the knife yet, so his eyes were mostly on my mom.
I met her eyes and they flashed with sadness before she lunged forward. Dylan brought the trident up to protect himself and I pushed with all my strength to swim behind him. I stabbed the knife through the center of his back where I hoped his heart was.
There was so much screaming I didn't know if it was me, him, or my mom. My ears rang as I twisted the knife and then pulled it out. Blood poured out of the wound and I moved back, not wanting to breathe it in.
Dylan's body went slack, and he dropped like a cement brick to the ground. I gasped as my mom came into view through the murky blood-filled water, the trident sticking from her stomach.
I caught her in my arms as she floated toward the ground. Her hands shook as they went to where the prongs were piercing her skin. I didn't want to lose her.