The Veiled Descendants

by Sophia Menesini

“She was in Lycos and she had your son. Proteus,” Shea tells him. “And he’s in Arethusa right now; he’s in danger as long as Perses is alive, and he’s coming for Arethusa. To destroy everything, and I don’t think he’ll stop there. So, if you won’t help us for Nereid, then do it for your boy.”

  “Didn’t you hear? I’m broken. I can’t save anyone, I’m not a hero. He banished me, and do you know why? Because I saw what I had become. And so I tried to train Perses to be better than when I found him alone and discarded in the Underdeep. I thought I could make up for everything, but I just created another me, a monster.”

  Triton sits on the table and runs a hand over his face. He looks exhausted.

  “And when he attacked our father in Atlantis, I stopped him like a good son and soldier. He took my conch shell with him, but I ran my sword through his body and threw him into the deepest depths of the Underdeep. And then? I cried. And he banished me for it.” Triton points to Poseidon.

  “I fought. I fought every damn day, all the monsters of old on Tenaro, day after day. And I waited for you,” Triton says, talking to Poseidon, who can barely meet Triton’s eyes. “For three years I waited for you to come tell me that I was redeemed for all my wrongs, for Thetis and Perses. But you never came, and I realized that you couldn’t absolve me because…”

  Triton pauses, searching for the right phrase. “Because you’re just like me. We thought we played by different rules, but we don’t. We were immortal, but we weren’t above it all. I hurt her,” Triton says, before clarifying, “Thetis.”

  Shea is watching him, and she sees a single tear fall from his blue eyes and takes a step toward him. She can feel his door in her magic, straining to be opened, and it draws her closer to him.

  She sees Poseidon in the corner of her eye go to stop her again from reaching him, but Caen grabs his injured shoulder and squeezes, making him yelp.

  “I caused her unimaginable pain by making her love me. And she did. So much so that to make me stay and love her back she practiced forbidden magic”—his breath shudders—“my magic, a siren spell that lost her Erebos, her home. I didn’t care because I’d done it before. Taken advantage of lovers not old enough to understand the consequences. I didn’t care until it was too late. So. Tell me I’m not a monster.”

  “I can’t,” Shea tells him.

  Triton chuckles coldly. “Perses isn’t bad. He’s just doing what we did first. I can’t help you take him down. Besides I did it once before and it didn’t stick, what makes you think I could take him down a second time?”

  “I don’t have a choice but to believe in you; look, it may not have been his intention to come for you here, but it was mine. I came here looking for you,” Shea emphasizes, standing in front of him while he leans against the wooden table, “because I was told you could help me stop Perses. So, I’m asking, I’m—I’m begging you. Come back with us. As your sister, please.”

  “I don’t know you. And I don’t know that kid, there’s nothing on Nereid that isn’t protected that I care about so, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find another way. I can feel your magic, it’s strong, but you should be careful.”

  “Why? I guess I’m going to need as much of my magic as I can develop if I’m doing this alone.”

  “Perhaps, but magic is what started all of this. I taught Perses everything he needed and more, but immortal magic wasn’t meant for mortal bodies.”

  Shea raises a brow. “So?”

  “So. He’s dying.”

  “From magic?”

  “Yes. That’s why he needed Poseidon to make him immortal years ago; he’s not fighting to take back Nereid from the humans. Everyone has a drive, a personal one, regardless of how righteous that being may be. Perses is fighting to live.”

  “But how would taking back Nereid do that for him?” Caen butts in, dragging Poseidon to his feet.

  “I don’t have all the answers; if I did, I wouldn’t be here. Now if you’ll excuse me, if you take that path there, it will lead you out of the temple. Pleasant travels.”

  Triton attempts to push past Shea, but Shea catches his upper arm and turns him back to look at her.

  “I’m not leaving here until you say you’ll help,” Shea snarls.

  “Then you’ll be here a long time, princess, cause I’m not changing my mind.”

  “It’s captain,” Shea growls, her hand tightening on his bicep.

  Triton smirks at her. “Whatever you say, now you best let go of me before I show you what a true child of Poseidon can do.”

  Shea is glaring up into Triton’s eyes when his threat gives her an idea.

  “I think I could take you.” Shea smiles, and the change in her expression clearly catches Triton off guard.

  “You really couldn’t,” he drawls.

  “Wanna bet?”

  “Excuse me?” Triton asks.

  “I win, you come back with us. You fight with us for Nereid and you help me take down Perses before he hurts anyone else.”

  “And if I win?”

  “You don’t,” Shea says quietly.

  “And why would I agree to this?”

  Shea grins at him with a challenge in her eyes. “What do you have to lose?”

  “I won’t be losing.” Triton laughs. “So it’ll be a shame when you go home empty-handed, after I’ve kicked your ass too.”

  “Um, Shea?” Caen interjects. “I don’t think this is the best idea.”

  “You don’t really get a say,” Shea responds.

  She lets go of Triton and he steps away, his hands up in a semi-surrender.

  He points toward the path leading back to the second clearing with the fountain that she now realizes is of Triton.

  “What are we waiting for?”

  Shea follows him into the clearing but not before she sees Caen put Poseidon next to Phoebus. He tells him to watch the shorter man and then follows Shea and Triton to the clearing.

  Chapter 30: Mercy

  Shea

  It’s a bigger space than the camp, with coral trees all around them and the fountain pushed back from the center. Triton goes to the other side and Shea stays at the end of the path.

  Caen steps away, his hammer still in hand.

  “First one to ask for mercy loses,” Triton says.

  “Rules,” Caen asks gruffly.

  “Don’t be the first to say mercy.” Triton shrugs and that’s enough for Shea.

  She goes to grab her dagger at her lower back but finds it missing. She suddenly remembers throwing it at Poseidon, and then that she forgot to pick it up after.

  She’s only got her water magic, which he obliterated upon meeting her, and her fists. She hates it when Phoebus is right.

  “Ready?” Triton inquires, positioning his feet into a familiar fighting stance.

  It’s the same one Poseidon taught her.

  She allows her magic to spread out, feeling for the water to see if she can bend again, and she feels the connection.

  Maybe Triton wants this to be a fair fight.

  His mistake.

  Shea summons a column of water to her from the fountain, bending it to her will, shaping it into a lasso-like form.

  Triton grins, but he doesn’t summon any of his own water.

  Shea waits. And waits. She waits for him to make the first move until she can’t wait any longer. She takes a step and with a cry she pushes the water toward him with immense force, hoping to knock him off his feet.

  He doesn’t move or flinch as the water barrels at him. He changes his footing and squares his shoulders; she can barely see him take a breath before he’s taking control of her water and slinging it back at her with a graceful turn.

  The water slams into her chest at full force and she’s knocked off her feet, her back hitting the grass hard.

  She hears him before she sees him.

  He charges toward her, summoning water from the fountain and encasing his fists inside. He freezes the water around his hands and jumps into the air
. His fist is coming for her face and she barely manages to roll out of the way.

  The ice shatters on impact, but he summons more water and recreates the ice glove.

  Shea uses her core and jumps to her feet; she pulls more water from the pool and goes on the defense as Triton attacks.

  His fists are coming down hard and he’s moving so fast she can barely keep up.

  She doesn’t block the attack fast enough, and his ice-encased fist slams into her jaw.

  She stumbles backward, reeling from the hit. The ice shatters, but he steals her own water and re-encases it.

  “Had enough?”

  Shea spits blood onto the ground, wiping her chin and wincing at the pain.

  “I could do this all night.”

  Triton grins at her and punches her in the stomach, sending her tumbling back again.

  He breaks the ice on his hands and tackles her around the middle, slamming her to the ground.

  Her head bounces on the grass and it’s not as soft as it could be—her vision blacks out a little.

  He’s on top of her, pinning her arms under his knees.

  He’s breathing heavily, but he still raises his hand and slams his fist into the other side of her face.

  She cries out from the hit and she can see Caen running to pull him off her.

  “No!” Shea shouts and Caen’s steps falter.

  Triton looks over at the giant warily, watching him.

  “If you intervene, it’s over. Stay out of this!”

  “It’s already over, just give in,” Triton tells her.

  “Never,” Shea says, and she spits in his face.

  It catches Triton off guard, and she manages to push him off of her.

  She lands a solid kick to the side of his head.

  He falls backward as Shea stands, and he shakes his head, clearing it. He examines her as she pulls up her fists, her feet dancing as she prepares for the next blow, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d say he’s impressed.

  His hand reaches out before she can stop him, and another water column slams into her, knocking her farther away.

  Her cheek is split, and she knows her jaw will be bruised tomorrow. Triton rises from the floor with the help of the water. She’s no match for him with magic. There’s got to be another way.

  Then she remembers what he said about doors. That Poseidon’s door being opened made him stronger.

  Perhaps if she opens Triton’s magic, she could tap into it somehow.

  She closes her eyes, picturing the room of doors once again. She sees hers in the middle and looks around until she senses Triton’s.

  It’s shaking as something pushes against it from the other side, murky blue and dark black shadows pour like water from the cracks, and she runs to it as quickly as her mind’s projection can go.

  She thinks she hears Triton call her name, but she tries to stay focused. She places her hand on the doorknob, and it’s stuck. She tries to pull it open; she can feel Triton advancing on her. She forces her physical body to scramble back as she tries to unlock his magic.

  “Come on,” she whispers.

  She forces herself to be calm, to breathe, and then, the door opens.

  It hurts to pull in a breath—the power races through her, blending and mixing with her own magic. She can feel it ripping through her veins and she cries out, physically in pain.

  She hears something fall on the ground and she opens her eyes to see Triton has fallen to his knees, clenching the grass with his fists.

  She can feel everything, his pain, his anguish, his guilt. It tears her up in ways she didn’t even think possible.

  Images dance along her mind’s eyes. Private moments: she sees Thetis, younger and naked, below her as she thrusts into her body. She can feel a kind of love etching at the surface of the vision. This isn’t her memory.

  She sees Perses also younger, with a bright face and sweet eyes. He’s smiling as he spars with her, no, as he spars with Triton and beats him in combat for the first time.

  She sees Perses’s pained face as Triton runs his sword through his body.

  She sees Atlantis, and she thinks her body is on fire. She’s burning from the inside out.

  “You’re killing yourself,” someone says, but she can’t stop.

  She sees the Atlantean throne room around her, and Poseidon looking as young as Triton with a trident in his hand and a crown upon his head.

  She’s choking on the water around her, the water instead of air.

  She finds Perses’s dying face again, the betrayal, as she yanks the sword from his body and he falls down into the pit in the center of the throne room, the depth’s prison entrance so that they all can see the monsters below, watching them and guarding them.

  Her eyes burn as his body falls and he takes Triton’s shell with him, tumbling through a golden translucent barrier, and she realizes he’s crying.

  And just when she thinks she’s going to die; when she can feel her body burning from all the power; when she realizes she’s done exactly what Perses has done and is feeling everything her brother feels now; when the pain is more than she can manage, more than she can imagine…

  She hears a beautiful voice whispering from the darkness she’s succumbing to.

  Beware the forest.

  The darkening leaves,

  The eyes that watch from the trees.

  Shea recognizes the song; she feels it pulling her back from the edge of darkness. It’s bright behind her eyes, like she’s looking into the sun. The woman’s voice is soft and gentle, and she thinks she can see her among the light.

  Bright red hair, curly and long, materializes among the brightness, a tan face with pointed ears appear. A gorgeous smile, petite nose, and deep green eyes. The melody pours from her lips, and Shea knows her.

  She knows her with every fiber of her being. The memory is associated with feelings of pain and love. She’s sitting in a room covered in vines, in what looks like a wicker rocking chair.

  She’s wearing the most beautiful white robes and she’s holding something in her arms, rocking it back and forth as she sings the song.

  “Please come home.”

  A masculine voice speaks from Shea, and the woman looks up and smiles fondly. She keeps humming that melody, singing the ancient elven lullaby.

  Beware the woodlands

  The winding trails,

  The never-ending roads,

  Forgotten tales.

  Forget the babbling brooks,

  And weeping trees

  A false calm giving you ease.

  The memory starts to fade, and Shea is ripped from the comforting woman’s voice with a loud cry of anguish.

  Shea coughs as she comes back to herself, her fingers gripping the grass beneath her.

  She’s still alive. The door is open. She’s connected Triton to her, but she’s still alive.

  How is this possible?

  She’s gasping for air, and Triton is stumbling to stand, he must have seen all of it too.

  He manages to finally find his footing, and he grabs her by her foot, dragging her toward him.

  Shea can see Caen running for them, and this time she won’t object; she feels like all of her strength has been drained just from creating the connection.

  Triton must see her eyes flicker toward him because he uses his own magic to manipulate water from the fountain. He sends the shot barreling into Caen, and it knocks him back.

  It can’t keep him down for long, she thinks, but despair sinks in as Triton uses the water to create a powerful ice restraint that keeps Caen locked to the grass.

  He’s struggling to move, to break it, but Shea knows he won’t be able to.

  “Triton,” she croaks, but he shushes her.

  His eyes are wild as he straddles and pins her beneath him.

  “I was playing nice before, sis. And then you go and do a thing like that. Invading my magic, my personal memories. I like my privacy. Why don’t I return the favor?�
��

  Shea is shaking her head; she only created a one-way link. If that was what it felt like creating one way, she can’t go through it again.

  But Triton doesn’t seem to care.

  He closes his eyes and his head jerks like he’s rooting around for something in his mind until he grins in triumph.

  “Got you.”

  Something breaks open in Shea’s chest. It feels like two hands are inside her body, forcing an opening into her soul, and then like a bang, it slams open.

  She cries out in pain and Triton gasps at the intensity of her own emotions.

  Her own memories flash before her eyes: She sees herself taking the Pearl of Lycos. Meeting Jo. She sees herself saving Aster from Helios. Her first time with Jo. She sees Paetre and Caen. And Ceto carving into her chest, marking her forever as property.

  She comes out of the trance briefly, and Triton’s image changes; his appearance flickers, like he’s not really there, and Ceto appears in his wake.

  “Dark stuff, princess,” Ceto whispers, and Shea shakes her head.

  “What in Hades?”

  “You forgot you said it yourself; you’re dealing with the most powerful child of Poseidon,” Triton’s voice comes out of Ceto’s mouth and it chills Shea to her bones.

  She’s had enough.

  She headbutts Ceto, slamming her forehead straight into her nose, and the empress is flung back.

  It’s her in Triton’s clothes, but the image flickers briefly as Triton’s concentration breaks. He almost turns back into himself, but he manages to keep the illusion, and Ceto remains before her.

  “How are you doing this?” Shea demands.

  Ceto chuckles and it sounds just like her.

  “I’m the father of sirens; not only can they enchant with their voices, but they can make you see what you desire most, or your worst fears,” he spits in Ceto’s voice.

  ​Triton summons more water from the fountain, but this time he forms them into two ice swords. Shea tries to do the same, but she’s too tired from opening Triton’s door. She can’t get the water to mold.

  ​“You ready to say mercy yet?” Ceto growls.

  ​“You picked the wrong image to get me to give up, because I will never give in to her,” Shea snarls.