Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 18. Getting Home

They trekked back down the beach in silence. Hailey was too exhausted to talk. Her adrenaline rush had worn off, and she could now feel how much energy causing that storm and lightning strike had drained. Her muscles ached with every step, making her feel as though she were hiking up a ninety-degree hill rather than across a flat beach. It was times like these she wished she had the power to dematerialise.

'I see them,' Alec said.

Hailey dragged her eyes from the sand. Aaron, Kora, and Tahlia were standing by the horses. She forgot about her non-existent energy and sprinted towards them with the intention of instigating a group hug. But she stopped when she got close enough to see the bleeding gashes covering them.

'What in Tartarus happened to you?!' Demi exclaimed.

'We could ask you the same thing,' Aaron said, looking at Jayden and Kendra's torn and bloody shirts.

Jayden regarded his injuries. 'This? This is nothing,' he said, waving a dismissive hand. 'And besides, we asked you first.'

Aaron plunked down on the sand. 'Okay, you win,' he said in a tired voice as Kora and Tahlia saw what Kendra was holding and darted forward to coo over Rain. 'When we went back into the forest after you, we got attacked by those sti-stem-those metal man-eating birds Madam Grayson taught us about.'

'Stymphalian birds?' Alec's eyes were wide.

'Yep, those ones. So anyways, as you probably remember, they're made of metal and can shoot their feathers like daggers.' Aaron touched a deep gash on his cheek and grimaced. 'They attacked us so fast we didn't have time to react until after they'd torn our skin to shreds. I managed to use my force field to hold most of them back, and Tahlia took care of the rest with her powers.'

It made sense now why Hailey hadn't run into them on her way out: Aaron and the others had run off the path when the birds had bombarded them.

'I can't believe Stymphalian birds attacked you.' Alec plopped down in front of Aaron. 'How did they attack? In pairs? Or as a group? Did you save any of the daggers?'

Aaron chucked a handful of sand at Alec's stomach. 'Not now, Alec. I'm too tired to answer your questions. And I want to hear what happened to them.' He looked pointedly at Hailey, Demi, and Jayden.

'Our story totally trumps yours,' Demi said with a boastful smile. She launched into the details about their sleepover in the forest, telling him and Alec about their encounter with the dryads, naiads, and knoxen before jumping to their battle with the griffin.

Alec's eyes were wide again. 'Dryads and naiads. I can't believe I missed all of that. Although I'm glad I wasn't there for the knoxen. Did you know they kill by lying on their victims and crushing them-and that's after they've given them a few good gashes with their claws.'

'I wish you hadn't told me that.' Hailey shuddered at the thought of her bones shattering under the weight of the terrifying monster she'd barely survived last night.

'I know how to get us home,' Kendra announced.

'How?' Jayden asked.

'The sea-horses know how to find the palace.'

'What's everyone waiting for?' Demi said incredulously. 'Let's get the horses.'

Hailey and her friends mounted the horses, eager to get the Tartarus off the island before something else tried to kill them. She didn't bother looking back as the horses trotted into the sea. She never wanted to see this place again-or any other island, for that matter.