Chapter Thirty-Two

I stood in the shallow water, winded as I held my stomach. The Med suits aimed their guns at Jason and I in the water as we came from where we had been blown to. The ground under me began to shake and the water level grew higher and higher as my anger grew. I brought my arms from my sides and then towards the Med suits. Water rushed around me, slamming into the suited guards as lightning flashed overhead. The water swirled around the four of the Mediterranean guards as the ground hardened and cracked from where I stood to them. Moving my arms dexterously, lifting them off the ground and ripping their suits open. The anger inside me boiled my blood, heat coursing through my veins. I whipped my arms towards the ocean, launching three of them far into it. I went back to the water, watching each one splash into the depths of the ocean. The last one laid just before the tide, suffocating as he tried to crawl to the water.

"Tell your Queen that you can't kill me. Tell her to stop trying. Atlantis will hear about your treachery here." I growled then made the water haul him away. Now that I wasn't in danger, weakness consumed me. My outrage vanished rapidly, my legs buckling. Jason's hands caught me before I hit the hardened sand. Samantha, Beth, Brice, uncle, my aunt, and Earl neared us. The ground under us had been turned to a dark rock and stripped partway towards the grass.

"You..." Brice fell to his knees with the look of confusion and amazement plastered onto his face. I looked to them sluggishly.

"You're... a princess?" Samantha and Beth sat down slowly. "And... Jason is a prince."

"You... can't... tell anyone." I breathed heavily, clinging to Jason.

"You've had powers this whole time?" Brice stared at me. "And Atlantis is real?"

"I didn't know until I was seventeen years old." I leaned my head against Jason, starting to fade in and out. Suddenly, I remembered that Jason had been shot as well. "Jason!"

"I'm right here." He pulled me closer.

"We need... the Trident. Poseidon's...." I blinked up at him slowly.

"What's wrong with her?" Samantha nearly yelled. The volume of her voice made me flinch, blood pooling in my mouth. I looked down, the deep red blood spilling out. "She is there blood coming from her nose and mouth?"

"Mary, we need to go to Atlantis." Jason spoke with a serious tone.

"We need to get the Trident!" I argued, holding my stomach as spiking pain shot through it.

"The Atlanteans can help you, Blake. You were shot with a Mediterranean gun." Jason lifted me into his arms. I coughed, spitting out more blood. I felt like me organs were on fire.

"So were you." I cringed. "We need... the... Tri-" Everything was enveloped in darkness before I could finish.

*~~*~~*~~*

I shot upright in the bed I laid in, gasping. I felt my abdomen, which was wrapped from right above where my tail started to the edge of my bikini top.

"Jason?" I looked around. It looked like I was in an infirmary that was underwater. The door opened and Jason and King Aquis entered.

"You're awake!" Jason took my hands. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Did you tell him?" I looked from him to my father.

"He did. I'm afraid you'll have to retrieve the Trident after all." The King sighed.

"Then that's where we are headed." I started to get up.

"The problem is, the true King has to get it." Aquis looked to Jason.

"I don't want to be King. The prophecy is wrong." Jason shook his head.

"Prophecies are never wrong. You are the half-breed meant to unite the land and sea." Aquis informed him.

"Wait." I looked at them confused. "What prophecy?"

"The half-breed son of the Mediterranean will marry the Ocean Master from Atlantis who is born on land and will wield Poseidon's Trident, becoming the true king." Aquis recited. I looked up to Jason.

"I'm not meant to be a King." He balled his hands into fists.

"You fight for the underdog." I replied quietly. "You protect the powerless." He looked at me and tilted his head slightly, questioning me.

"You've had leadership skills all your life. And Stalvo, the trainer you once told me about, trained you for this." I told him. "We have to do this. If we don't, the ocean and the land will be thrown into chaos." Jason sighed, clenching his jaw tightly.

"How do we get to the Mariana Trench?"