𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 9

  The naiad looked surprised. "Really?"

  "I’m not going to fight you. It’s your river. I'm not allowed to make choices for you."

  She relaxed her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, good. I mean—good thing for you!"

  "But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don’t clean those stables by sunset. And I don’t know how."

  The river gurgled along cheerfully. A snake slid through the water and ducked its head under. Finally the naiad sighed.

  "I'll tell you a secret, son of the hunt goddess. Scoop some dirt."

  "What?"

  "You heard me."

  I crouched down and scooped up a handful of Texas dirt. It was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of white rock…No, something besides rock.

  "Those are shells," the naiad said. "Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea."

  Suddenly I saw what she meant. There were little pieces of ancient sea urchins in my hand, mollusk shells. Even the limestone rocks had impressions of seashells embedded in them.

  "Okay," I said. "What good does that do me?"

  "You and me are alike," she said. She placed her feet into the water and sighed contently. "You have water within you. Water doesn't necessarily obey your demands, but it knows your wishes. Think on that, demigod. I do hope you find a way to rescue your friends."

  And with that she turned to liquid and melted into the river.

🏹࿏

  The sun was touching the hills when I got back to the stables. Somebody must’ve come by and fed the horses, because they were tearing into huge animal carcasses. I couldn’t tell what kind of animal, and I really didn’t want to know. If it was possible for the stables to get more disgusting, fifty horses
tearing into raw meat did it.

  "Dogfood!" one called when he saw me. "Come in! We’re still hungry!"

  What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t use the river. And the fact that this place had been under water a million years ago didn’t exactly help me now. I looked at the little calcified seashell in my palm, then at the huge mountain of dung.

  Frustrated, I threw the shell into the poop. I was about to turn my back on the horses when I heard a sound.

  PFFFFFFT! Like a balloon with a leak.

  I looked down where I had thrown the shell. A tiny spout of water was shooting out of the muck.

  "No way," I muttered.

  Hesitantly, I stepped toward the fence. "Get bigger," I told the waterspout.

  SPOOOOOOOSH!

  Water shot three feet into the air and kept bubbling. It was impossible, but there it was. A couple of horses came over to check it out. One put his mouth to the spring and recoiled.