The Beast of the Sea~Chapter 20

I struggled for a few moments, trying in vain to break free of the spiraling water around me and maybe reach for my sword, I pretty much gave up. Mostly because I knew that I was no match against a water being in the water, but a small part of me was saying that if I did manage to break free, I would be crushed by several tons of water that this thing was holding back.

“Stop struggling, you’re embarrassing yourself,” the voice spoke in a way that made me remember it. After hearing it, I watched as the water formed into a solid mass outside the bubble of air.

“You’re the water Elemental,” I stated as I looked into her eyes, if you could call them that. While she did appear to have a place for her eyes, they seemed more like pools of swirling water, different from how I saw her at Camp Half-Blood, or maybe I was less afraid this time. “You tried to kill me at camp, are you going to finish the job now?”

“Kill you,” she somewhat laughed as she said that cross her arms in front of her, but placing one of her hands on her cheek to give her an innocent look. “I only wanted to get your attention and here you are, right on schedule.”

After hearing her say that, I felt embarrassed and used. This entire journey was orchestrated by her and I played into it. I’ll admit that I was a bit angry, but then something clicked in my head. If she wanted me down here, then she needed me for something and maybe that could help in some way.

“Alright, so now you have me. What do you want?” I said to her, with just a hint of anger behind my words.

“Wow, I have a fiery one here; must be from spending so much time with that little flame,” Water joked. I knew she was talking about Kimi, but I let it pass as she kept talking. “Anyway, as much as it hurts me to say, I need your help. The risk will be high, but so is the prize.”

“And why would I help you? What kind of prize could you offer that I would want?” I asked her. She however just smiled back.

“If you complete this little job, not only could you find my sphere but you might even be able to reverse what had been done to Joseph as well,” she said and I couldn’t help but give a surprised look. “Someone seems interested now.” “I’ll listen to what you have to say,” I told her. It seemed like a good deal at the very least.

“Good, on an island not too far from here is a day spa…or something like that. That is where the Fountain of Youth is located, but there is also a smaller spring on the island that can reverse it, just in case,” she said with a smirk.

“Seems simple enough. I mean how well defended could a day spa be?” I asked rhetorically. “And you mentioned something about your sphere.”

“Oh yes, that. I believe it is there, but I’m not really sure,” she said, her expression changing to that of anger and worry.

“How do you lose something as important as that? Earth explained to me how important those things are,” I told her, but her expression became furious and the water seemed to spiral around me, as if I was in the center of a whirlpool.

“I didn’t lose it, it was stolen from me!” she yelled as the water became violent. I wasn’t sure what it looked like on the surface, but down here it looked pretty bad. However, just as she reached the point where I thought she was going to drown me for fun, the water stopped and the Elemental looked worried as she looked in all directions. “I don’t have much time; follow the trail and find my sphere.”

The water began to spiral again, but it seemed to be fighting against the Elemental, as if pulling her away. She reached out her hand and I could clearly see a current of water spiral out of the cove and back toward the sea. “Wait, how do you know so much about the fountain?” I asked her, as this could just as easily have been a trap.

“Please, I control all water on the planet, even the magical kind,” she said with a smile, but it quickly faded as the water dragged her off to somewhere else. I wondered if she could control all the waters of the world, why water just dragged her off to parts unknown. I didn’t really have time to think about that as the air bubble I was in vanished and the water caved in on me. I was caught in a small vortex and I thrashed around trying to swim to the surface, but I wasn’t sure which way was up anymore. As I swam in circles, I couldn’t fold in my breath anymore and I watched as the last amount of air in my bubble escaped my mouth and floated to the surface.

I looked up at the bubble of air and saw the light of the moon skimming the surface. However, I no longer had the strength to swim and I began to sink to the bottom. As I took in my final moments, I saw something jump into the water with a small splash and shot downward like a rocket. The last thing I saw before blanking out was the face of a mermaid.

“Ash, wake up!” I heard faintly. I couldn’t tell what it was, who was saying it, or where it was coming from. “Ash!” Next thing I knew, there was a sharp pain across my face and I shot up. I then felt something forcing its way up my throat and I rolled over, spitting water out of my mouth and taking in a few long gasps of air between coughs.

“What happened?” I asked as I looked around spastically. Joe and Angel were looking at me in confusion.

“We have no idea, why don’t you tell us,” Joe said, walking up and pulling me to my feet.

“Well, I have good news. You may not be a kid for much longer,” I said and he let out a small smile.