From Titans (Book 4) (14 page)

Dionysus jumped out of his throne and
stumbled back. The well broke his fall. “No, not my wine.” His eyes
rounded in shock.

Nick
’
s eyes sparkled, and
he loosened his grip. “
Oops,
my bad.
”

The jug bounced instead of breaking into
pieces, but red liquid poured out. Nick grabbed another one from
the shelf and dropped it.

“
Stop!” Dionysus cupped
his face with his hands in disbelief.

Nick ignored him and
grabbed another one. “Where
’
s the bottle, Dio?”

“
Stop, stop, stop!”
Dionysus stuck out his hands, as if he could stop Nick. “My name
isn
’
t Dio. It
’
s right here.”

“
Where?”
I barked.

Dionysus reached into the
well and magically pulled out the bottle. “
See.
” He handed it to me. The
clear bottle glittered with gold. The liquid swished beautifully
inside. “You must be careful. Anything that water touches will
turn. If you dip it twice, you can
’
t ever undo it, even at the
river.”

“
How much of it is in the
well?” Zeus took a closer look at my bottle.

“
There
’
s only water in the
well. I must pull it out to make it magically. I gave Midas the
gift by sprinkling the gold water on his hand. If I had done it
twice, he could have never reversed it.”

Hades
’
s brow furrowed. Flame flickered
in his hands, threatening Dionysus. “Take us back to the Land of
Reverse.”

The wine god curled his lips mischievously.
“But you are here.”

Hades gripped Dionysus by the throat. “I
could make a torch out of you.”

Dionysus
’
s feet dangled in the air while
his hands smacked Hades
’
s arm. He must have weighed like
feathers to Hades.

“
Hades,
that
’
s enough,”
Zeus
snapped. He
’
d run out of patience too. I was
surprised they lasted that long. “Put him down so we can get out of
here. Maybe he would rather be electrocuted.”

Dionysus coughed relentlessly when Hades let
go. He lost his footing and dropped to the ground by the tipped
vase. Like a dog, he crouched and lapped at the spilled wine.

“
For the love of gods,
Dio, stay on track.” Nick rolled his eyes. “Get us out of
here.”

When Dionysus
didn
’
t say a word, but kept licking, Nick zapped him.

Dionysus jerked and screamed. “That
hurt.”

“
It will hurt ten times
more if you don
’
t send us back to the river.”
Nick
’
s fingertips sizzled and crackled to show he meant
business.

“
Very well.
Don
’
t ever come back.” Anchoring his hands against the wall,
Dionysus stood. “None of you come back. I won
’
t ever give you gold
water again.” His lips slowly spread wickedly. “Have a safe
trip.”

I didn
’
t like the sound of
his tone nor the expression on his face.

Chapter
13

Skylar

The ground shook. Then tiny long lines
appeared on the ground, getting longer, and then finally…

“
Watch
out!
” Noah pushed Amanda away from the
splitting ground that had cracked opened.

Nick held onto the statue of Everett.

Hermes picked up Zeus, but
he couldn
’
t pick up all of us.

“
What did you do?” Hades
roared.

Dionysus wiggled his
fingers while his other hand held a wine jug, smirking.
“
Bye-bye. Have a fun
ride.
”

Every inch of the ground
beside where Dionysus stood by the well tilted to the open hole. We
had nowhere to stabilize ourselves and no choice but to drop.
Amanda
’
s scream vibrated through the air. Poseidon used his power
and created a water slide, but there were too many of us, dropping
every which way. My stomach dropped as I plummeted with my back
facing down. The cold air slapped my body, throwing me into a
whirling spin. The dirt, pebbles, and boulders plunged too. I
pictured them falling on top of us when we landed on solid ground,
if we landed on solid ground. While nothing but darkness engulfed
us, I prayed there would be an end. However, that
wasn
’
t the case.

The Land of Reverse amazed me. As we
continued to fall, the dirt, pebbles, and the boulders flew back
up, as if someone had pressed a rewind button. Just before the
ground sealed itself back up, I used the ice slide Poseidon had
created and made a bubble around us, but it did little to help.

“
We
’
re not stopping.”
Hermes pointed out.

“
Skylar, do something.”
Nick
’
s bolt crackled around the protection. One of his hands
sizzled while the other arm held steadfast to Everett.

“
I
don’
t know what to do,” I stammered as I
zapped out my bolts.

The gods exerted their
powers, too. I didn
’
t know if it was from
Hades
’
s flames, but light replaced darkness. The grass came to
view. Then, bam! Like a marble being thrown across space and
landing in sand—dead stop. We collided with the ground.

“
Ugh,” I
moaned.

“
I
’
m tired of being thrown
around,” Amanda complained as usual, but she took the words right
out of my mouth.

“
Get Everett into the
water,” Zeus said.

Everyone got up, except
for me. I needed a second. With my back pressed to the ground, I
watched Nick and Noah submerge Everett in the river, again, and
again until the gold completely washed off him. Gold from Everett
flowed down the stream like a long, slithering snake. When Nick
washed his hair, I took the time to fill the second bottle with the
water washed from Nick
’
s hair with a thought in mind.
Though it was gold, it wouldn
’
t have the same effect as the
pure gold water.

Everett gasped and breathed hard. “What
happened?”

“
Let
’
s get you out first,
and then I
’
ll
explain,
” Nick said, as Noah assisted with
helping Everett out. Drenched, the three of them left wet trails
behind them on the sand.

“
How do we get back to
Eris?” I asked Hermes, since he seemed to know the location and
direction to everyone and everywhere.

Hermes frowned and rubbed
the back of his neck. “You
’
re not going to like
it.”

I groaned and sighed in
agitation. “
I
don’
t care. Just get me there.” I turned
to the others. “You don
’
t have to come with me.
I
’
m
going to take this to Eris and bring Mason back if
it
’
s
the last thing I do.”

“
Of course
we
’
ll come.”
Hades
’s tone softened.
“You
’
ve done so much for me. We owe you our lives, at least the
gods do. Mason means the world to you, as he does to
us.”

Zeus and Poseidon nodded in agreement.

“
Don
’
t you even think about
going alone, Skylar,” Nick scolded. “Mason is our family and so are
you. We stick together come what may.”

“
You should take Everett
home. He
’
s shivering, and he isn
’
t well.” I pointed
out.

“
I
’
m fine.”
Everett
’
s teeth chattered, his arms wrapped around himself.
“I
’
m
just freezing from the wet clothes.”

“
I can fix that.” Hades
placed his hands on Everett
’
s shoulders. Dim light
intensified from Everett
’
s chest and traveled down to his
leg.

Everett sighed as the
warmth spread, dropping his hands to relax. He gazed down his body
and touched his shirt and pants. “Now I
’
m ready. Hermes, lead the
way.”

Zeus scowled. “Everett, only I get to tell
Hermes what to do.”

“
My bad, sorry.” Everett
shrugged, arching his eyebrows.

“
Hermes, lead the way,”
Zeus said.

“
Zeus has one hell of an
ego,” Hades whispered so only I could hear.

I nodded, thinking they
all did. Letting out a soft giggle, I humored him. “Right, and you
don
’
t.”

Hades tilted his head and
rolled back his shoulders. “Of course I do. With a handsome face
and body like mine, it
’
s only natural.”

I would never admit it to him, but he was so
right—the handsome face and a body only gods could possibly
have.

Hermes looked up. I
didn
’
t know why that made me nervous. “Ready?” he asked. “Hold
tight.”

“
Hold tight to wh—?” I
never got to finish.

A tunnel of clouds swarmed
around us, spinning like a tornado, faster and faster. We spun with
the wind, until everyone blended into one, making me dizzy. Hermes
was right. His words rang in my mind.
You
’
re not going to like it.
I wished
portal traveling happened with a snap of a finger and something
less dramatic.

“
Zeus, do your thing,”
Hermes hollered over the loud noise of the wind.
Lightning struck, followed by thunder, and then we
disappeared.

“
Oh, thank God.” Amada
sounded relieved. “
We
weren
’
t dropped this time. We
’
re actually standing.” She
slapped Hermes’s back. “Thank you. You
’
re awesome.”

“
It
’
s, ‘Oh, thank
Zeus,
’”
Zeus corrected. “And you
’
re welcome. Since I had control,
I brought us here. Landing on your hands and knees like an animal
is not my style.”

I bit my tongue to hold my
laugh, and it looked like everyone else was, too. Every time Amanda
would mention God, Zeus corrected her. I hoped he
didn
’
t correct the humans whenever he heard that
phrase.

“
So, looks like
you
’
re back in one piece.”

That awful squeaky tone
shot to my ears. As I wondered how we would get
Eris
’
s attention, she appeared. But of course she would know we
were there. It was her world.