Poseidon (Contemporary Mythos Book 5)

We’d racked our brains for days, asking dozens of fellow gods who might have the power to time travel, and continually came up empty. It was an odd feeling possessing so much power as the Queen of the Seas, yet powerless to find my daughter. I’d promised Meg my transition wouldn’t affect our friendship and had already gone radio silent on her since getting wrapped up in finding Rhode.

I knocked on her front door, smoothing out my shirt as I waited for her to answer. Laughter floated from the other side—from two people. Smiling, I sucked on my lips as the door whipped open. Meg had been grinning, and it widened when she spotted me.

“Cory, holy hell. I haven’t heard from you in days.” Meg yanked me to her for a hug.

I hugged her back, spying the fridge door open in the kitchen with a pale hand wrapped around the handle. “I’m sorry about that. I’ve been—.”

Wait. Meg knew I was a goddess but didn’t know Hera not only knew too but was one herself. When did my life become this complicated?

“Occupied with something very important.” I gave an exaggerated wink to Meg.

She leaned back until the realization slowly dawned on her, and she nodded. “Right. Yeah. Muy importante.”

“Hey, Hera,” I said toward the kitchen with a grin.

Hera’s head popped over the top of the fridge door. “Amp—er, Cordelia.”

“I see you two are getting well acquainted.” Clasping my hands in front of me, I nudged Meg in the ribs.

“I guess we have been spending almost every waking moment together these past few days, haven’t we?” Meg ran a finger down the bridge of her nose, looking at Hera sidelong.

Hera rested her forearms on the still open fridge door, and with her chin resting on an arm, smiling, she replied, “And I’m not complaining one bit.”

Meg’s cheeks turned pale pink.

I bit the inside of my mouth so as not to squeal like a teenage girl. “I hoped, if it’s alright with you, Hera, I might borrow my friend for a couple of hours?”

“Of course. You did see her first.” Hera winked, tapping her red nails on the door with a grin.

Meg choked out a laugh before bobbing her brows at me. “What’d you have in mind?”

“It’s a surprise. I’ll meet you out by the Jeep?”

“Sure. Okay?” Meg scrunched her nose before moving for the door. “Feel free to stay here. Oh, and snoop around if ya want. I ain’t got anything to hide.” Chuckling, Meg beat her hand on the doorframe before exiting.

That would make one of them.

After hearing Meg’s footsteps fade away, I bolted for the kitchen. “Have you told her yet?”

“Told her? Told her what?”

The fridge door creaked from her leaning on it, her bare feet shuffling on the tiled floor.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” I squinted at her feet and panned up to her arms.

“Of course, I haven’t,” Hera spat in a loud whisper.

“Why are you still in the fridge?”

Hera clucked her tongue at the inside of her cheek. “I’m naked.”

“Oh.” I widened my eyes. “Oh. Oh, shit. Did I interrupt something?”

“No. You didn’t. I’m just me, and I walked out of the bathroom like this to surprise her.”

I folded my arms. “Why don’t you conjure clothes on yourself?”

“Because—” She sighed and beat her forehead against her arm. “My powers aren’t acting normal. Ever since I cut ties with Zeus, one day I could be overpowerful and the next practically mortal.”

“That’s strange. Maybe your powers are readjusting? Reverting to the way they were before becoming Queen?”

“I hope you’re right.” She bit her thumbnail.

“You should tell her. She knows about our world already, which gives you a huge advantage.”

Hera slapped a hand on the door. “You told her?”

“She’s my best friend. I couldn’t keep that from her. And she took it surprisingly well, all things considered.”

“Wow.” Hera’s gaze fell to her knuckles. “We’ve had a good thing going. I didn’t want to risk screwing it up.”

“Tell her. Air everything out, let her process it, and I promise you, it won’t change anything. What it will change is you one hundred percent being able to be yourself around her and most importantly—no lies.” I patted her arm.

“I’ll think about, Amph.” She patted my hand back. “Thank you.

I snapped my fingers. “Oh, and I know it’s a little thing but, it’s Cordelia now. Amphitrite is a name locked in a corked bottle at sea.”

Hera grinned and nodded. “Cordelia it is. I like it.”

“I better go before she gets suspicious. She’s incredibly intuitive.” Giving her arm one last squeeze, I turned away.

“I know.” Hera smiled, her eyes trailing off into who knows where. A dress materialized over her body, and she gasped. “Well, look at that.”

Grinning, I left Meg’s apartment and met her in the parking lot. She leaned against my Jeep, her feet crossed at the ankle, chewing on a toothpick and staring at the asphalt.

“The real reason I’ve been MIA for a few days is that I’ve been finding information about where my daughter is, Meg.”

“Jesus. You have kids. I already forgot.” Meg grabbed my shoulder. “Wait. You said she’s missing?”

“An accident in Atlantis and a story I swear I’ll explain in its entirety someday.” I tugged at her jacket with a warm smile.

Considering Meg just recently learned Greek mythology was anything but myth, trying to describe Atlantis and the way it operates seemed like begging for her head to explode.

“Atlantis,” Meg mumbled, staring at the ground.

“It, too, is real.” After patting her arm, I climbed into the Jeep, whistling at her to get her attention.

“Before we head out, I have something for you.” She shoved a pink plastic bag at me with a stiff arm.

Frowning, I took the bag, but didn’t look in it. “It’s not my birthday.”

“Just. Open it, Cordelia.”

As I peered inside, I recognized the Funko logo and gasped before yanking the box out. The Poseidon toy from Tides of Atlantis. It looked nothing like the real Poseidon—my Poseidon—but it was the version I knew of him in my mortal life as Cordelia Bourne. He had long white hair past his chest with an equally as long beard, blending in. Green octopus tentacles replaced his legs, making me frown at the thought of Skylla, but the usual radiant three-pronged trident would remain synonymous with the King of the Seas.

“I promised if you placed in the tournament, I’d buy it for you, remember?” She nudged my knee.

“I do.” I squeezed her thigh with a grin. “Thank you.”

“So, you’re a goddess now? A full-fledged goddess?” Meg asked me with wide eyes as she crawled into the passenger seat on autopilot.

“I am. Queen of the Seas and all.” After giving her a warm smile, I slipped my sunglasses on and pulled out of the lot.

“You don’t seem any different.”

“Well, good. It’d be a real drag if mortals could tell I wasn’t one of them.”

Meg held her hand out the window, letting the wind caress through her fingers. “Where are we going, Cor? You know I hate surprises. Especially if this is of the godly variety.”

“We’re going swimming.”

“Swimming?”

I beat my hands against the steering wheel to the tune of Beyond the Sea. “Yup. With sharks. And all you need—is a tank.” Cutting my gaze, I caught her expression bordering on excitement and terror.

“They don’t like me. Who’s to say they’ll listen to you?”

“Oh, they’ll listen. Sharks fear humans more than the other way around. Fear is just as potent as blood in the water.” Pulling into the beach’s parking lot, I moved to the back, grabbing the scuba tank and gear.

Meg shut the car door and shuffled toward me. “We’re seriously doing this? What if people see?”

“They won’t.” I handed her the gear. “I’m going to port us away from the tourist traps and directly underwater, so check your regulator and suit up, my dear.”

She took the tank and let her arms flop. “I retract my statement. You’re definitely not the same.”

I frowned as I turned to walk along the shoreline. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No. You’re more confident. Comfortable. Like you’ve settled into your own skin.” Meg bumped me with her shoulder.

“I have. And Poseidon he—” I clutched my hands to my chest, missing him already. “We’re a force to be reckoned with now.”

“A power couple. I dig it.” Meg slung the tank over her shoulders after sliding into her wetsuit.

Far enough away from any crowds, I stopped, letting the water’s surf lap against my toes, waiting for Meg to finish gearing up.

“Just talk like we normally do. I’ll be able to hear you.” I smiled up at her, going on my tippy toes to pull a piece of hair out of her mask. “Ready?”

She gave a thumbs up.

After curling our arms together, I ported us to the depths where several circling hammerhead sharks swam. Meg gasped, and I gripped her tight to keep her from fleeing on the spot.

“Trust me,” I said, floating to the sharks and outstretching my hands to them.

They both swam under my touch, letting my fingertips trail over their hands and down their bodies and tail. They repeated the motion, turning around once they’d reached the end, only to get pettings all over again.

“Come here, Meg. I promise they won’t bite you.”

After a few deep breaths on her part, she appeared beside me with shaky hands. Gently, I took one and held it out. One shark continued to circle under my touch while the other switched to Meg.

Meg gasped and laughed. “This—this is amazing.”

Closing my eyes, I willed my scales to appear, feeling more at home with them radiating from my skin. Meg smiled at me from behind her mask, her eyes beaming at the shark.

“Follow my lead.” I turned on my belly, swimming in the style of a dolphin without my mermaid tail.

The sharks changed course, settling on either side of me. Kicking her flippers, Meg caught up, and we swam in tandem, each with a shark on our right.

“Woo! This. Is. Amazing,” Meg screamed, shoving her fists sky high and laughing.

Grinning, I stopped swimming, tuning my ear to the familiar sound waves pulsing through the sea. A great white shark emerged from the dark shadows below us, making Meg shriek and swim behind me. The hammerheads darted away.

I curled an arm behind me, giving Meg a reassuring pat on the arm. “I promise you, you’re fine. She’s curious.”

The great white floated up until we were face to face. She was one of the largest I’d ever seen at roughly six meters. She had multiple scars over her gills and toward her neck—some from mating, others from Olympus knows what. She had an exhausted glaze in her eyes that choked my heart.

Reaching for each side of the massive shark’s head, I pressed our foreheads together and closed my eyes. Siphoning every ounce of pain and every tendril of sadness from her into myself, I passed on a fraction of the true happiness blossoming within me. My scales buzzed against my skin. Little by little, the brightness in the shark’s gaze returned. I opened my eyes, smiling at her change in demeanor. After kissing the tip of her nose, she flicked her tail and swam off. When I turned to Meg, she floated motionless with eyes as wide as buoys.

“If somehow I wasn’t fully convinced you were who you say you are, there’s no denying it now,” she said, her eyes still wide.

I tugged on the straps of her tank. “You alright? Want to call it a day?”

“Are you kidding? Let’s do this until my air supply is out.”

We laughed and swam with sharks, whales, dolphins, and every other variety of animal Meg requested for the next hour. The pure delight radiating from her in unending waves gave me all the reassurance I needed that not only was Meg adjusting to the true me but accepting it.

I sat at my desk, scrolling through hundreds of photos from a recent dive, marking the first round of candidates for editing and eventually selling to magazines. Cocking my head to the side, I noticed a familiar blob in the background of one shot and zoomed in. These were taken before the cruise—before I remembered who I was, and there was Poseidon as a mirage, barely caught in the lens. He may have looked like driftwood and seaweed to the human eye, but I recognized my husband from the way his hair floated in the water alone.

“Seems I’ve been caught,” Poseidon’s voice rumbled near my ear.

Grinning, I swiveled in my chair to face him, receiving the kiss he immediately swooped in to give. “I can’t believe you were there the entire time, and I had no idea.”

“It was your less advanced demi-god brain.” He tapped the top of my head.

I swatted him away with a laugh.

“What in the Seven Seas is—that?” Poseidon pointed at the Funko Pop Meg bought me displayed on my gaming desk.

Biting back a smile, I held the figure out to him. “Poseidon. Don’t you recognize yourself?”

“This looks nothing like me. And why the Tartarus do I have sea witch legs?” The size of his hand made the modest-sized figure look microscopic.

“Just another depiction of you, hun. How would mortals know what you look like? They had to come up with something for the game.”

He grunted and shoved the figure back at me. “Remind me to write the video game company a letter.”

Chuckling, I snatched the figure and set it back on my desk. “I took Meg swimming with the sharks today without a cage. You should’ve seen her face, babe.” My chest hummed.

“No kidding. It must’ve been some experience for a mortal. Perks to having a Queen goddess as a best friend, huh?” He bumped a knuckle against my cheek.

“I should be done here pretty soon.” Lazily, I pointed at the computer monitor.

“Can it wait? There’s something I need to do, and I’m afraid if I don’t do it while I have the nerve built up, I’m going to back out.” He cracked his knuckles.

Standing, I wrapped a hand over his wrist. “What is it, Seid?”

“Medusa. I’m going to apologize.”

My jaw dropped, and he stuck a finger under my chin to close it. “But you want me to come with you? Wouldn’t that only piss her off more?”

“Doubtful. You didn’t do anything. I need her to see there’s no foul play. I’ll do all of the talking. I just need your presence there. Please, Starfish?” He rested his hands on each of my shoulders.

“Yes. Of course.” I slipped my hand into his, waiting for him to take us to wherever Medusa hid.

We appeared in front of a dark cave and a chill coursed through my bones. I tightened my grip on Poseidon’s hand, and he pulled me closer.

“Does Medusa’s power work on gods?” I whispered, my bottom lip quivering from the damp chill inside the cave as we entered.

“Not kings or queens,” he answered simply, his jaw tightening.

I curled against his side once the smoke skirted the ground from a nearby cavern. Hissing sounds reverberated off the walls as we drew near. As we rounded the corner, Medusa sat on a single wooden chair at a simple wooden table in the center of a stone room, rock formations hanging from the ceiling—jagged and deadly.

“What in the seven hells are you doing here?” Medusa roared, slapping her palms on the table and standing.

The snakeheads all snapped in our direction, hissing and baring their fangs. Medusa’s face remained beautiful with deep brown eyes glowing yellow at certain angles from her power, full lips, and high cheekbones—but centuries worth of pain and suffering settled in her gaze.

“Medusa—” Poseidon started, holding up his palms. “I swear on pain of death I’ve come to make amends.”

“Death? What would you have to fear from such a thing? You, King god, are never punished due to your status, let alone killed.” She dug her long black nails into the wood, the tail from her snake body coiling around one of the legs.

“What he says is true, Medusa.” I made the scales appear to prove who I was. “I can attest to it. If you’d only listen to him.”

Her face softened for a fraction of a second before hardening into the same stone she turned everything else.

“Amphitrite. You were banished to the stars by Zeus.” Medusa scoffed, flicking her wrist at Poseidon. “Even your own Queen was punished while you remained unscathed.”

“Not true.” Poseidon clenched his free hand into a fist.

“I’m listening.” Medusa clicked her fingernails together, her snake body moving from behind the table.

“Athena cursed me as well after our—encounter. Aphrodite created a reincarnation spell to bring Amphitrite back, but she wouldn’t remember who she was without me.”

Medusa yawned, flicking a finger against the small skull at the center of the belt hanging around her hips. “This doesn’t sound nearly as cruel as what she did to me.”

“Until I changed as a man, as a god—I could see Amphitrite but wouldn’t know who she was. She reincarnated countless times, and we kept missing each other.”

Medusa paused and then let out a villainous bout of laughter, the golden metal pieces positioned over her breasts reflecting the fire from the hanging sconces as her chest bounced.

Poseidon and I remained silent. Despite how much it hurt hearing someone laugh at our lifetime of misfortune, she had to contend with her own mishaps.

“I’ll admit, knowing this does help a tad, but—” She zoomed in front of us, all snakeheads rearing back and hissing at Poseidon. “You still were not turned into a fucking gorgon. You weren’t forced to live a life of seclusion because you fear turning innocent children into stone—fear killing them.”

“And that’s the reason I stopped Perseus from killing you.” Poseidon glared at one of the snakes, and it whimpered away.

He did what?

“What?” Medusa’s face fell, and so did the snakeheads, relaxing.

“Hermes can be a blabbermouth when he’s drunk. He told me all about Perseus’ plan. The sandals he’d given him, Hades’ helmet, a shield from Athena. He planned to protect himself from your sight with the shield and behead you in your godsdamned sleep.” Poseidon folded his arms. “I offered to rescue his mother from King Seriphus in exchange for leaving you alone.”

“I—” Medusa pressed a hand to her bosom, gliding backward until she bumped into the table, leaning against it.

As if I couldn’t love this man anymore.

“That day in front of the temple, I was furious with Athena. You were there, and I knew you desired me as soon as our gazes met. I asked. You agreed. But I should’ve known Athena would’ve been a spiteful harpy that it happened in her temple. And for that, I’m sorry. She cursed us both, and I apologize for all of it.” Poseidon let go of my hand and made a scroll appear in his palm, approaching Medusa with it.

Medusa leaned away as if Poseidon would hit her, shielding her face with a forearm. “What is that?”

“A peace offering. A cursed man exists. Anything he touches turns into gold. To further the curse, he was made immortal, so he has to live with it for the rest of his unnatural life.”

“So?” Medusa shrugged.

“He can’t turn you into gold, and you won’t turn him into stone when he looks at you.”

The snakeheads of Medusa fell limp, framing her face and simply dangled, shifting against one another. She traced a finger over her lips, staring up at one of the sconces.

“If you decide you want to meet him, this scroll will tell you where he is at all times, whenever you desire.” Poseidon held the scroll out to her. “Take it. Please.”

Locking gazes with Poseidon, she slowly slid the scroll from his grasp, holding it out in front of her as if it’d catch flame.

“I hope you can find happiness and companionship. You don’t deserve living like this.” Poseidon bowed his head and turned away, returning to my side and ready to port us away.

“Poseidon—” Medusa called out.

We froze.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Poseidon nodded once and whisked us away.

We were back in my apartment, and I jumped into his arms, kissing him deeply, trailing my fingers through his blonde hair. He held me against him even when we pulled away.

“I knew you changed, but Seid, you have changed.”

“A man gets a lot of time to think when he loses the love of his life and doesn’t know he’ll have the chance to make her fall for him all over again.”

A tear fell down my cheek, and I hugged him. “We could be torn apart and thrown in each other’s paths a thousand different times, and I’d fall for you each and every instance.”

“But thank Olympus—we don’t have to. This is it right here, Cor. This is it.”