Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 13. Rain

Hailey didn't think. She just ran. And she didn't stop until the trees thinned to reveal the mouth of a cave.

Waves crashing against rocks was the only sound she could hear coming from inside the darkness, but she knew this was where the scream had come from.

Behind her, she could hear the snap of branches and heavy footfalls as her friends made their way through the forest. She didn't wait for them. She entered the cave, the stench of rotting flesh making every hair on her body stand on end as her fingertips tingled in warning.

She tiptoed deeper into the cave, the hairs on her body standing higher and higher with every step. Hailey froze in the shadows as the cave expanded into a large chamber. On the other side, an opening gazed out at the sea and allowed a stream of sunlight to break through the cave's gloom.

What the light revealed stopped her heart.

Kendra was lying among a pile of decomposing bones, with a woman hovering over her. Hailey would have thought the woman beautiful if it wasn't for the two pasty-skinned heads protruding from her shoulders on long necks.

'Scylla.' Hailey choked on a breath and then stiffened, expecting the monster to whip around. But the crashing waves had drowned out her gasp. Thank the Tyches.

Hailey knew from Monsters and Creatures that Scylla had once been a nymph, until a witch named Circe had transformed her into a monster. Since then, Scylla had taken her fury out on anyone who came too close to her cave by tearing them limb from limb.

One of the monster's outer heads lunged for Kendra, its neck stretching out like elastic.

'STOP!' Hailey yelled.

The monster's three heads snapped towards her. Uh oh.

A wave slammed into the cave, dousing Scylla. She screeched, flicking her soaked red hair from her eyes and sending one of her heads zooming towards Hailey, its mouth opening to reveal pointed teeth. Hailey braced for pain, but the head sped past her and sank its teeth into Jayden's arm, tearing him backwards.

'JAYDEN!' Hailey screamed, watching in horror as he smashed down beside Kendra, where he cried out as the head bit him again and again.

Scylla's other head launched at Hailey before she could run to help him. Adrenaline coursed through her body and she dove sideways, narrowly missing the head's snapping bite as she hit the ground.

'You messed with the wrong teenagers.'

Hailey glanced over her shoulder to Demi, who was raising her palms above the dirt. The weeds growing in the cave shot up like vines and twisted around the head that had tried to bite Hailey, wrapping around its neck until the head spluttered and sagged to the ground, unconscious.

Scylla's other head abandoned Jayden, who was now silent and unmoving, and shot towards Demi. Hailey flew to her feet, squeezing her hand into a fist, preparing to punch it. But the head bounced backwards and collapsed to the dirt before she could make contact.

'Two down, one to go.' Aaron was beside Demi, his palms raised.

'I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!' Scylla roared, charging forward and smacking a fist against Aaron's force field, which became visible, rippling like a lake someone had thrown a stone into.

'We need to get to Jayden and Kendra,' Hailey told Aaron, her stomach wrenching when she spotted the pool of blood spilling around their inert figures. Can a person lose that much blood?