Deep Water

by Nicola Cameron

  “I don’t have a choice, beloved. Besides, I’m not just a Nereid anymore, either.” She turned her head, staring at him closely. “Just as you’re not mortal anymore, are you?”

  “No.” Griffin’s awareness of his new status sparked through his consciousness. His human thinking had to change right now. “Go after Thetis, but be careful. I’m going to help Poseidon.”

  “How?”

  He couldn’t help himself. “I’m going to release the kraken.”

  Amphitrite’s smile was quick but brilliant. “You and your movie nights. Be careful, beloved.” She kissed him, then swam off towards her sister.

  Griffin turned his attention to the titans facing off against each other. Fighting the kētos as a human was pointless. With only one day of coaching his martial arts skills were next to nonexistent.

  Good thing I have another option. He’d learned that switching forms was like looking at a lenticular picture, where multiple images existed in the same space. What you saw depended on the angle from which you viewed the picture.

  He shifted his internal viewpoint of his body image away from the biped form he’d spent the last fifty years inhabiting. Now he perceived an Enteroctopus dofleini, still bilateral but with a shell gland, a mantle, and well-developed head with eight sucker covered arms.

  He let himself flow into the immense new form, felt his additional limbs unfurl and stretch through the water. Being an oversized Giant Pacific octopus felt very, very different from being a human, but it also felt damned good.

  He pushed up towards the fighting figures. Right. Let’s get this over with.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Poseidon and the kētos engaged in a deadly dance, exchanging feints and thrusts with savage grace. The god’s ribs ached from the beast’s earlier blow, but he ignored the pain. Their thumping impacts on the gritty floor of the plateau had churned up silt, reducing visibility to the point where Oceanus’s Keep was now swathed in a thick blue fog.

  Poseidon had already switched over to godsense. He suspected the constantly grunting kētos was using sonar, based on the vibrations he could feel rippling across his skin. He lunged at the beast again, whipping his trident around like a stave to ward off the thick tail. The impact drove them apart. He flexed his core muscles to twist in the water, pain rippling along his right side as injured muscles strained to keep up.

  Grimacing, he drove forward again. This time he managed a thrust at the beast’s belly. The tines made contact, tearing three shallow wounds in the hide. The kētos flinched back, tail coming up protectively as it snorted at him.

  I will kill you, godling, came to his mind, as clear as any god’s mental sending.

  Obviously Thetis had been tinkering with the kētos’s mind as well as its body, increasing its sentience and investing it with a bloodthirstiness that wasn’t native to whales. You may find that more difficult than you anticipate, he thought back at the creature.

  We shall see. When I offer your broken body to my Mistress, She will be well pleased. It champed huge jaws. She will let me eat your mates afterwards, and I will enjoy their screams.

  His temper rose. I am the God of the Seas, beast, not Thetis. And you will obey me or die.

  The kētos hissed, bubbles streaming up either side of its snout. Then try to kill me, godling. I dare you.

  ****

  Amphitrite stopped her drift towards her sister when Thetis turned, glaring at her. “Sneaking up on me?” she sneered. “That’s unlike you, little sister.”

  “It seems we’ve both changed, then.” Amphitrite was still furious, but her heart ached at the ruined form that had once been her beloved older sister. “Thetis, there’s still time to stop this. I’m begging you, let us help you. Let me help you.”

  The Mad Nereid drew herself up. “And what do you think you can do for me, Amphitrite? Can you heal the gaping wounds in my body? Can you push my flesh back where it belongs? Asclepius couldn’t, and he’s a god of healing. What makes you think you can do anything?”

  “You asked Asclepius for help?”

  “Of course I did. He shook his head and said I was beyond his power to heal, that I had been infected with something not of nature and he had no control over it.” Thetis flung her arms wide, filmy rags trailing on the current. “He left me to die, little sister. Like a rotting fish that was too foul to eat. The mewling cock deserved everything that happened to him.”

  A horrible suspicion came to Amphitrite. During her therapy sessions with Nick and his mers she’d taken the opportunity to question Pythia about the whereabouts of her master. The great golden snake wrapped around the Rod of Asclepius had no idea what had happened to the god, only that she had woken from one of her sleeps to find him gone and the rod in Hyacinth’s junk shop. She’d assumed that the god of healing had left it there while he went on an errand.

  Now Amphitrite wondered if it had been left there for safekeeping. “Where is Asclepius now, Thetis?”

  Cracked grey lips curled over jagged teeth. “None of your business, little sister. By the way, if you’re trying to distract my creature by threatening me, it won’t work. He has his orders.”

  If Thetis had managed to kill a god and take his power into herself… “One last time, I beg you. Stop all this before it’s too late,” Amphitrite said. “Poseidon will kill you if you don’t.”

  “You’re assuming he can,” Thetis said, laughing. “And you were more than willing to do it yourself an hour ago, I believe. What changed your mind? Was it the fact that our bitch goddess of a grandmother brought your pet back?” She reached out, and a lethal-looking black trident appeared in her hand. “I begged her for help as well, you know. She ignored me. And yet she brought your pathetic mortal back from the dead and made him a god. I wonder, will she save you once I’ve had my teeth in you?”

  She lunged forward, her trident’s tines glittering blue-black as they struck at Amphitrite’s face. Amphitrite parried the attack, spinning her trident underhand and smacking the shaft against Thetis’s hands.

  The Mad Nereid jerked back, grinning. “Just like old times, eh?”

  Amphitrite refused to answer, saving her breath. The injured muscles in her left shoulder were healing, but the tenderness plus the healing process itself were slowing her down. She and Thetis had always been evenly matched when it came to family sparring sessions. Even if she’d been uninjured it would be a tossup as to who would win this battle.

  With a wounded shoulder… She gritted her teeth and deflected another lunge from her sister.

  ****

  Poseidon powered forward, savagely thrusting his trident at the kētos. When it spun away from his thrust he did as well, slamming the trident butt into the creature’s belly before bringing it up hard into its jaw. The kētos flew backwards through the water, its tail scraping along the plateau floor for a hold. Poseidon immediately followed, realizing his mistake too late when the creature’s tail lashed forward and wrapped around one ankle, yanking it up hard and spinning him over before slamming him into the unforgiving gravel of the plateau.

  The impact knocked the trident from his grasp and the water from his lungs. Gasping, he doubled up and tried to grab for the offending appendage around his leg, but it jerked him into the ground again, this time on his already wounded side. Agony exploded in his ribs.

  And then the tail loosened, scraping over his skin. Panting against the pain, he looked up and saw enormous sucker-lined tentacles wrapping around the kētos’s limbs, pulling it away from him.

  The beast howled in outrage, writhing in Griffin’s cephalopodic grip. It snapped at one tentacle, but Griffin whipped it out of the way at the last moment.

  Fucker’s strong, Poseidon heard in his mind, Griffin’s mental voice straining. I don’t know how long I can hold it, love.

  Just a moment longer. Poseidon held out a hand, and his trident flew to it. Hauling himself up sent more waves of pain through his chest. He ignored them, advancing on the struggling pair to pass ju
dgment. Do you have anything to say for yourself, monster?

  Somehow, that horribly misshapen jaw managed something like a grin. Go ahead and kill the body, godling. I shall face you again.

  So be it. With a grunt, Poseidon hefted his trident and drove it deep into the kētos’s belly. The monster folded around the weapon, thrashing against Griffin’s tentacles. Cracks ran along its scaly skin, and great chunks began to foam into that noxious mist that was becoming unpleasantly familiar.

  To Poseidon’s surprise the kētos didn’t explode like the mutated whale had. It simply dissolved into a massive cloud of foulness that blocked out the weak light from above. The giant octopus backed off quickly, adding a twirl with his tentacles to get rid of any lingering touch of the kētos’s death throes. Christ, those things reek.

  So I noticed. Poseidon pressed a hand to his side, wincing. Ammie. Where is she?

  ****

  Amphitrite leapt over Thetis’s weapon, forcing herself to twist away from the deadly tines. It sent a sickening wave of pain down her side, and she clamped her jaws shut against a moan.

  “Ready to give up yet?” Thetis taunted her, driving her back towards one of the rock walls surrounding the plateau. “I promise, it’ll only hurt … well, forever, actually.” She parried a thrust with a dismissive smack of her trident’s shaft.

  Weaker now, Amphitrite dropped into a crouch, staring at her malevolent sibling. All Thetis had to do was get past her guard and bite her, and it was all over. “Thetis, don’t do this,” she tried one last time.

  That horrible smile appeared again. “Yes, beg. I do love hearing it, you pretty, silly little fool,” Thetis said, lifting her trident. “I can’t wait to see what my venom makes of you.”

  Amphitrite wished she had breath for one last shout of defiance. Her sister’s weapon thrusts had forced her backwards against the rough rock wall. In exhausted despair, she looked up and saw Poseidon and Griffin battling the kētos. They couldn’t help her.

  Willing away regret, she channeled her remaining energy into making one final lunge at Thetis. Her only hope now was to have her sister run her through with the glittering black trident. She could then surrender her immortality and return her essence to Gaia, just as the goddess Claire had.

  She directed one last thought at her mates. I will always love you both. Be happy with each other—

  A massive silver trident slammed down, clanging against Thetis’s weapon and driving it to the side. Arms wrapped around Amphitrite, jerking her sharply backwards.

  Gasping in pain, she stared at the fully armed triton who had just pulled her away from death.

  “Commander Kasos, my lady, at your service,” he said, maneuvering her around so that she was behind him. “I believe your son is attending to the Lady Thetis.”

  Over the triton’s shoulder, Amphitrite could see a furious Aphros in his sea centaur form, silver trident whirling and stabbing at his aunt as he harried her. Then a gigantic orange tentacle slid into the scene, slapping Thetis away like she was a discarded toy.

  The Mad Nereid shrieked once in rage and disappeared. To Amphitrite’s horror, Aphros’s muscular fish tail bunched as he prepared to go after her.

  “No!” she called. “Aphros, wait!”

  “Listen to your mother, my son.” Poseidon appeared at her side, pulling her close. “You can’t defeat her by yourself.”

  Aphros grimaced, but swam over to them. “We can’t just let her go like that, Father!”

  Poseidon shook his head, looking at the black cloud slowly approaching them. “We don’t have a choice right now. We won this round. You’ll have to settle for that.”

  Especially since you two have gotten banged up a fair bit, Griffin said, his tentacles dropping down to form a protective bulwark around them. I haven’t gone through God 101 yet so I don’t know how to stop her, and neither of you are in any shape to fight.

  Amphitrite noticed Poseidon’s grimace and the tight lines around his eyes. “You’re injured?”

  The sea god’s beard twitched. “Her beast was particularly playful. I suspect I have a few cracked ribs at the moment. You?”

  “I think I tore something in my shoulder.” She gingerly touched the body part in question and sucked in a pained breath. “Yes, definitely a tear and bruising.”

  Poseidon sighed, the arm around her gentling. “Might I suggest we all go home? Thetis will have to wait for her comeuppance until a later time.”

  Wearily, Amphitrite nodded.

  ****

  After dispatching Kasos to take Sthenios and Skylla back to their palace stable, Poseidon opened a portal to the waters of Olympic Cove. To his surprise Griffin remained in cephalopod form, wrapping a careful tentacle around each of them and carrying them as he swam through the shimmering gate to the cove’s waters.

  I have to get used to this body, after all, he said, giving the octopus equivalent of a shrug. Besides, I kind of like it.

  “You make a very handsome octopus, beloved,” Amphitrite assured him.

  It was early evening at the cove. When they reached the shallows Griffin transformed back to human form but still kept an arm around each of them, helping them out of the water. Before, Poseidon would have been offended at someone thinking he needed assistance of any sort. Now, he relaxed onto Griffin’s supporting shoulder.

  “Any reason why we’re here instead of your palace?” Griffin asked.

  Poseidon jerked his chin at a rectangle of light that opened in the yellow cottage. A figure with a flashlight in one hand and a doctor’s bag in the other came through it, heading towards them on an intercept course. “I want Nicholas to examine Amphitrite.”

  His consort glanced at him in surprise. “She didn’t bite me, beloved.”

  “Yes, but you’re wounded. At the very least Nicholas should be able to ease your pain.”

  “You’re just as wounded as I am—”

  “What the hell, guys?” Nick said, slightly breathless as he reached them. He was careful to keep the flashlight beam out of their faces, but there was enough backlight to see his tense expression. “I just had Aidan charging in saying you three were in a fight with Thetis?”

  “Yes.” Poseidon raised his arm slightly, making a face at the pain. “We could do with your services, doctor.”

  Nick’s expression changed to concern. “Services. Right. Are all three of you hurt?”

  “Amphitrite and myself. Bruising and cracked ribs, mainly.”

  “I’m ace,” Griffin said, guiding Poseidon and Amphitrite towards their own cottage. “But these two could do with painkillers and some ice packs.”

  Nick nodded. “I can do that. Come on.”

  ****

  Griffin hovered on the outskirts of the bedroom. Changing back and forth from octopus form had caused his armor to disappear, and he took the chance to pull on a pair of sun-bleached shorts while Nick chivvied his mates into the bedroom for a short but thorough examination, then into bed.

  According to the doctor Amphitrite had a torn rotator cuff, Poseidon had at least two cracked ribs and possibly more, and both of them had a fair share of bruises and contusions that were already starting to heal. After Nick wrapped Poseidon’s ribs and got him to lie down, ignoring the sea god’s protests that he would be fine by morning, he gestured Griffin to follow him into the hallway.

  “Okay,” Nick said, folding his arms and donning a no-nonsense look, “what the hell happened down there?”

  Griffin gave the doctor a recap of the battle with the whales, the kētos, and Thetis. “She’s not just mutating things anymore. She’s making her own sea monsters.”

  Nick rubbed the back of his neck, scowling. “Shit. We really need a sample of her venom. Maybe Bythos can reverse engineer the nanotech in it, find a way to shut it down at the source.”

  Griffin grinned humorlessly. “That I can help you with. Come on.”

  He headed to the kitchen, the puzzled doctor following. After hunting around, he found a clean plasti
c storage container in the cabinet, putting it on the counter and holding his hand over it. With some concentration, he shifted just his right hand into the tip of a tentacle.

  “What the fuck?” Nick yelped, jumping back.

  “Calm down. I’m still not that good at this.” Catching his lower lip between his teeth, Griffin opened up a sucker he’d been holding closed since the kētos died. A glowing bubble popped out of it and dropped into the container, breaking and releasing a thick, oily-looking liquid. “That’s a sample of dead sea monster. I don’t know if it’s got any of those nano things in it, but I’m betting you can find something.”

  Giving him a wary look, Nick pulled what looked like a novelty pen out of his jeans pocket. “Pythia?”

  The tiny golden snake wound around the shaft of the “pen” lifted its head and peered at the fluid. After a moment it nodded at Nick.

  The doctor blew out a breath. “Pythia says it has functional nanotech. How the hell did you do that?”

  Griffin shook the tentacle until it turned back into a hand. “Gaia showed me how to create these energy containers. When we killed the kētos it dissolved into sludge, and I sucked up a bit of it into one of the containers.” He flexed his fingers. “Ached like hell to hold it that long.”

  “Gaia?” Nick’s eyes went wide. “You met Gaia?”

  “Well, she looked like the bird who rented me this place, but yeah, it was definitely Gaia.” Griffin repressed a shiver, remembering the overpowering presence of the earth goddess. “Thetis chucked a spear straight through my chest. As you can guess, I died. Gaia gave me the choice of going on or staying here as a god.”

  “Whoa,” Nick said slowly. “That’s a little more involved than when I met her.” He glanced at Griffin’s body. “So you’re a god now?”

  “Yeah,” Griffin said. “I can change into a Giant Pacific octopus, too. It’s pretty cool.”

  “Of course it is,” Nick said half to himself. “Spear to the heart. Do I need to check you out?”

  “Don’t really see the need.” Griffin tapped his bare chest and its intact sternum. “I’m good, apart from the whole ‘not quite human anymore’ thing. What about Mr. and Mrs. Smith in there?”