Chapter 3 – Keto
KETO
Idon’t know how long I spent rocking back and forth in this cage. I don’t know when I stopped rocking, but now I’m curled up in the bottom of the cage. I'm cold, and the colors of my tail have dulled. Instead of the beautiful pinks, purples, and blues, my tale is a hundred shades of gray.
This has never happened before.
There's blood everywhere, from my shoulders, my head, even my hands. I vaguely remember bashing myself against the bars of the cage, but it’s fuzzy.
My brother’s minions have slowed. That means I’m probably in the sea dragons’ territory, but I'm not afraid. I’d rather be anywhere but trapped in this dreadful cage.
I'd rather be dead.
A helpless tear disappears into the waves.
Just as I'm about to give up hope, I feel something wriggle beneath me. I open my eyes and look beside my belly. It’s one of my smallest creatures, Cryshon, and also one of the most powerful. He’s round and golden, with tiny fins all around him. His huge eyes look at me with pity.
My stomach tightens. Technically, my creatures can go to the sea dragons’ territory, but Cryshon shouldn’t be here. Things will get bad, and I want him safe.
Besides, if my brother’s minions see him, they’ll kill him. Unlike me, he’s not immortal.
He swims close to my ear. “It’s okay, mother. I’ll keep you safe.”
I shake my head. “No, please, just swim away. I can’t have you hurt,” I whisper back.
He smiles, and I can feel his love radiating through me like the sun’s warm rays. “I have a plan.”
I try to tell him again to run, but he swims right back to my stomach and wedges himself between my side and the cage. He’s concealed from view, for now, but I’m still worried about him.
It’s my job to protect him. Not the other way around.
I open my mouth to speak, but something subtle changes in the water. I stiffen and inhale deeply. The waters here are far warmer than my typical ones, and the scents of underwater plants and animals are stronger.
But that isn’t what’s changed. The animals… I inhale again. They’re afraid. They’re fleeing.
I know now for certain that we are in the sea dragons’ territory.
To my shock, my brother’s minions swim us higher and higher until my cage surfaces above the water.
The rays of the afternoon sun brighten the water.
They place my cage up onto the smallest island I can imagine.
There’s just barely enough space for my cage to rest, although the tiny mountain of land is low enough that water slides in and out of the bottom of my cage.
Once the cage is stable, they leave me there.
I’m left for dead in the sea dragons’ territory. Is this really how I’ll die this time?
“Wait,” I call out to my brother’s minions, and my voice is raspy from all my screaming. “Are you really just going to leave me here? I’m an immortal goddess, an equal to my brother. Do you know nothing about the dangers of angering a god?”
The creatures look back at me, no pity in their eyes.
My teeth clench. Assholes!
Suddenly, one of them makes a sound, and gets pulled under the surface. A cloud of dark blood fills the water. The other creatures make sounds of panic as another is pulled under the water.
I struggle into a sitting position. Will they still kill me if they think I’m human? The dragons will likely know what I am, but it’s the only desperate plan I can come up with.
Using my magic, I shift and my tail instantly turns into legs. Instinctually, I move Cryshon beneath my knee to conceal him. My legs shake as I stare at the clouds of blood that are filling the water around me.
One of the creatures switches directions, splashing and swimming in desperation. Suddenly, he’s gone, and the sea around him is still. The dark cloud comes seconds later.
Glancing in another direction, I watch the final creature swimming.
My gut clenches. A massive sea dragon explodes from the water in front of him, flings him into the air, and catches him in its mouth, swallowing him in one bite.
I tremble. I hated my brother's minions, but I didn't want them to die. Not like that.
After no more than a heartbeat in time, the beast turns to me, and I realize I'm staring at the first sea dragon. The white dragon has shimmering scales and a long neck. It's Nereus. I recognize him instantly, even though I’ve only ever heard his description. He’s the leader of his kind, the oldest of the dragons, and a powerful shapeshifter.
With Nereus, maybe I have a chance at reasoning with him. Maybe I can—
Another dragon emerges from the sea. Okeanos has blue scales and angry golden eyes. He’s a strong being, arrogant and cruel. I've heard he’s capable of controlling the stars and the planets.
My heart races faster. I don’t know if I can negotiate with him. I don’t know if he’ll even let me speak a word before he ends my life.
The water sloshes over me and my cage and drips on my head.
With my pulse filling my ears, I turn. Just behind me is a black sea dragon.
His eyes are silver and his teeth are sharp.
Triton is cruel simply to be cruel. He’s strong and younger than his brothers, and the stories of his desire for beautiful women and beautiful things rivals that of my brother.
His oceans are filled with storms and waves, all because of his temper.
I’m not surprised when a green dragon rises beside him. Pontos is never far from Triton, and seeing him gives me the smallest flicker of hope. He controls all the mindless sea creatures in his ocean, not the “monsters” like I do. I’ve heard that although he hates mermaids, he also has a soft spot.
Maybe it’ll be enough to buy me some time.
My creature shivers beside my leg, and my stomach clenches. Even if I die today, I can’t let him be hurt, not when he risked everything to keep me safe.
The dragons move closer until they surround me.
Okeanos leans forward, opening his wide jaws.
I move back, hitting the bars behind me.
His jaws grip one side of the cage and bite down.
I scream, holding my creature in one hand, and grab the bars of the cage in the other. The cage crumples smaller and smaller. When the door pops open, I'm looking right into the throat of the creature. If he shakes me free from the bars, I’m dead!
“Wait! Wait!” I shout.
My crumpled cage drops back onto the island.
The dragons watch me with rage in their eyes.
“You know the price for entering our waters, mermaid-filth.” The green dragon says, and there's no kindness in his voice.
My palms are sweaty as I hold the bars. I don’t know if what I’m about to say will make things worse, or better, but I have to try.
“I’m… Keto, Mother of Sea Monsters. I'm a goddess and an immortal like you. I know the rules, and I didn’t seek to break them.
I was trapped and taken here against my will. ”
The green dragon lowers its face until it’s level with mine, just outside my open cage door. “And this should matter to us, why?”
I try not to flinch as I meet his gaze. “My brother is the one you want, not me. He believed that I, a princess of the ocean, would somehow tame the four of you. I knew better.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “You do… smell nice.”
“Pontos!” Okeanos shouts. “Why do we need to speak to our food?”
His big dragon head spins to his brother. “Smell her. Look at her.”
I shift further back in the cage, clutching my sea creature to my chest as Okeanos looks at me. He inhales and exhales over and over again, his hot dragon breath almost painful against my bare skin.
Then, his head rises. “She smells… delicious. And her body and face are pleasing.”
Nereus and Triton are suddenly inhaling so strongly that my hair whooshes up and down around me.
“What is it that you suggest?” Nereus asks, his tone intrigued.
“I think we should keep her,” Pontos tells them, leveling me with his stare once more.
“If we allow one mermaid to live, then others will follow her.” Nereus speaks, and his words seem to hover in the air.
Okeanos smiles, which is creepy as hell for a dragon. “I didn’t say she’d live long, just enough to please all of us over and over again.”
My stomach sinks. I want to live, but not like this. Death is better.
I feel my creature tremble against me, and I know what he’s thinking. His power could save us. Could save us both. But we need others to make it work, we need—
Something moves in the sky.
I stiffen, and try not to let the dragons see my stare. But sure enough, there is something in the sky. No, someone. Gargoyles.
And… they’re heading straight for me.
I don’t even know what to think. They’ll kill me if they reach me, but the plans these dragons have for me are even worse. And now, now my creature can use its magic. If the gargoyles get close enough.
I don't know what to think, what to do. Every choice ends in my death.