Chapter 4

• ~Zeus~
• Later that day, Poseidon was waiting for me at the shore side when I arrived in Daytona. The beach was abandoned, with only a few of his research students roaming about. The waters seemed to be calmed a bit compared to what I saw on the weather reports earlier, so he must have been able to take care of it.
• Apparently, Posey is not only working with dolphins, but he’s also a professor now at a local college, studying marine life. He has a special project he’s working on to use dolphins to communicate with humans if they detect illegal dumping. He’s always wanted to clean up the seas, so I can see him becoming a big sea life activist. Maybe that’s what the witches had in mind for him to put his shitty attitude in check.
• He could be living like a king here, but he decided to live a simple life. What a loser.
• Walking up to my brother, I barely notice him. He’s dressed in freaking board shorts with palm leaves all over it and a tank top. For gosh sake, he’s wearing flip-flops. What has happened to my brother? He’s still fit but not near as buff as he was on Olympus and looks like a beach bum. The guy I know used to wear only the finest clothes and was as arrogant as they come.
• When he turns to see who’s coming up beside him, I almost lose it. “Dude, are you wearing glasses? You look like a geek.”
• Running his hand through his wavy dark hair, he rolled his eyes at me before pushing his nerd glasses up on the bridge of his nose. He has a bit of a temper, so I love pissing him off.
• “I see you’re still as big of an ass as you always were.”
• “Eh. It’s what I do. So, what do you think of this?” I asked, nodding my head toward the ocean. “I see the storm coming in the distance. There are some pretty high shelf clouds stirring.”
• “Yeah, it will reach landfall tomorrow morning. Well, we think it will, anyway. It’s been erratic. One second, it’s slowed down, and the next it’s raging forward. I can’t make heads or tails of it, Zeus. What do you make of it?”
• Looking over the sky, I raise my head to feel the wind brush over my face. I always loved the smell of coming rain from the ocean tides, so I took a deep breath that seemed to soothe my soul. But when I take a deep breath, the breeze isn’t normal. This is the work of a god or demigod. Sure enough, something’s not right about this and my calm breath turns to panic.
• If this is my daughter, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I wonder what’s wrong with the child that has her upset.
• “This is no earth storm. This is the work of a god. Can we calm it down?”
• “I’ve been trying to calm the waves to keep the people on the coast safe, but it’s too strong. I was able to slow the storm surge, but I can’t hold it back forever. I’m too weak.”
• “Can’t you just go into the water and stop it like you used to? Wave your fishy hands or something.”
• His head whips toward me like I just said the worst thing ever, stammering, “Uh… I-I-I can’t.”
• “What do you mean, you can’t? Walk your nerdy ass out there and slow it down. If you do, then I can probably settle the storm, too. You know the ocean fuels the storms, so get out there and do your wave thing to turn the tides.”
• Shifting nervously back and forth, he looks out to the water as if it’s the most terrifying thing he’s ever seen, and I realize what’s happening. I can’t help it, but I start laughing. The best swimmer in the universe and now this.
• “Holy shit. You can’t swim. Those bitches took away your ability to swim.”
• “This fucking curse took my gills away, too. They thought it would be funny to take away my ability to swim, but still know everything there is about the ocean. I can’t even step into the water without having a panic attack. Even in the shower, I worry I’ll drown. To top it off, I had to get glasses because I can’t see for shit without them. Look at me. I look like a fucking geek!”
• “Well, it suits you. You always like to read, so now you can look the part of a stereotypical bookworm. It’s not so bad. You sort of look smart.”
• “Look at me, Zeus. I’m half the size I was, and I’ve been having to go to the gym twice a day just to keep off this freaking beer gut,” he says as he reaches down, shaking the little belly flab he thinks he’s developed. I think it’s just the way he’s standing, and he’s being a drama queen. He’s still fit as hell.
• Watching this geek push his glasses up and shake his nonexistent belly, I laugh so hard I almost piss myself. He was so vain on Olympus, and I bet this is killing him. Sure, I’ve always been a little self-centered, but Posey was a diva. I bet having to wear those glasses is crushing his ego. I’ll never tell him he can just buy contacts for his eyes because this shit is hilarious. It looks like old Flipper has it worse than I do.
• “Stop laughing, you asshole. It’s not funny. I work in marine life but can’t get in the pool or water to work with my sea creatures. My dolphin Milly is sick, and I can’t even go in the pool to check on her. I have to have my students do all the work themselves. Bro, I’m losing my powers. Stopping this storm may drain what I have left.”
• I snort a little from laughing and suddenly feel him shove me into the sand. Falling flat on my ass in a sandcastle makes me laugh even harder. Shit. Now my eyes are leaking again. So, it does this when I laugh and cry? That seems inconvenient. I may need to talk to a doctor about this because it just won't do.
• “Get up and let’s see if we can calm this before landfall.”
• “No, save your powers. I know what’s wrong,” I said, pulling myself up and dusting off the sand.
• “What? The witches are messing with us, aren’t they?”
• “No. It’s my daughter.”
• “Which one, you horny bastard? None of them have sky or ocean powers that could even come close to doing this.”
• “Pearl.”
• “Pearl? Did you get some human knocked up again?” he asked with a chuckle until he saw my expression. “Damn, Zeus. You did. Can’t you keep it in your pants? When will you ever learn to stop thinking with your dick and use your brain? So, this Pearl is a demigod. How old is she?”
• “A couple of months, I guess. I’m going to see her after I settle the skies. I’m not sure how much help we’ll be, but we have to try. I may need you for moral support when I go see her.”
• Shaking his head, he looks disappointed. I can’t blame him. I can’t believe I got another woman pregnant. Maybe Trevor has a point about being more careful about sex.
• “Well, let’s give it a go. Maybe together we can avoid draining all our powers enough to stop this. People are depending on us.”
• “No. You need to preserve what powers you have left. We may need it later.” Looking at the sky I say, “Time to see if this old man still has it in him.”
• Raising my hands to the skies, I know this may not work. An upset demi-baby with god-like power can cause more havoc than just a dirty diaper. I hear Thor tore down an entire city block just because he couldn’t have a toy he wanted. But then again, those Norse gods tend to talk a lot of shit to make themselves seem superior. But if true, I can’t imagine what this child could do if we can’t settle her down. This storm could be the worst hurricane in history.
• I hope this works.