DEMIS (A Clash With Lightning)

30

When Jasmine awoke, she could immediately feel the sun blaring down on her. She used her hand to shield her eyes from the harsh light. She was floating in the middle of the ocean on a small raft... if you could even call it that. It was more like a flat piece of wood that she couldn't even stand on without it tipping over.

As far as she could tell, she was completely isolated and drifting in open water. She did a 360 as she searched for any trace of land and huffed when she saw nothing but blue water stretching to the horizon. Obviously, since she was the daughter of Poseidon, she knew this trial had something to do with the water. She just couldn't figure out what exactly.

She sat on the edge and stuck her bare feet in the water, since her shoes had miraculously disappeared when she was transported. She rolled her eyes thinking about it. Gods were so inconsiderate at times, Circe being no exception.

Her mouth fell agape when the devil herself floated right in front of her raft. Circe sat on a chair float with some type of frozen drink in her hand. She wore a crimson one-piece bathing suit and a sun hat. After taking a sip of her drink, she lowered her sunglasses and made eye contact with Jasmine.

"Nice ride," she commented, with only a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I guess I have you to thank for that," Jasmine replied, leaning back on her arms as she kicked her feet under the water.

"What am I, if not gracious and giving?" Circe held her hands up in question, flashing a stunningly white smile.

Jasmine had a few words she could think of: psycho, selfish, maniac, etc., but she refrained from saying them out loud. She chose to remain silent instead.

"By the way, I don't know if I would just leave my feet dangling in open water like that. The wildlife likes to bite," Circe warned.

Jasmine lifted her feet out of the water in alarm.

"Sharks?" she asked, looking into the water.

She looked up for a response from Circe, only to find that Circe had disappeared, leaving only her floaty chair behind.

Jasmine looked back down into the water, raising an eyebrow in confusion. The light blue water had turned into a darker shade around her raft. She could see the water was lighter just a hundred feet away from her.

She gasped as her raft lifted out of the water and the waves began to crash violently. She looked up in horror, realizing that her raft now sat on the back of Ketos. Ketos, a known predator of the deep sea, had been around for thousands of years. It was a giant water dragon that didn't discriminate against prey. It turned its long neck to look at Jasmine sitting upon its back.

She froze for a moment as she looked into the beast's eyes. They were almost transparent with a blue tint. Its giant nostrils took a sniff of her before it opened its large mouth, revealing gigantic, sharp teeth. She screamed before diving into the water next to her. She used the water surrounding her to propel herself away from the monster at a faster pace than swimming. She had no doubt that this thing was a better swimmer.

Was her trial to fight this giant creature? That hardly seemed fair. The monster flicked its tail out of the water before turning to Jasmine, who was treading water a good hundred feet away. It watched her lazily, and Jasmine could almost see a hint of intelligence in the terrifying monster's eyes. It was as if the monster knew she stood no chance against him.

'Think,' she told herself. 'What can I do?'

She didn't get a chance to think of a plan before Ketos submerged itself under the water, out of her view. She suddenly felt very vulnerable in the water, unable to see beneath her.