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“Not you,” Scylla cried She raised her hands, her tentacles following suit, each horrible, glistening appendage poised to strike The waters around her roiled and frothed, stirred into a frenzy by her anger

I whirled in the water, searching for the object of her ire, and found hi waist-deep in the sea It was a man I could have only described as statuesque, his silver hair slick with seawater, his tanned,waves Scylla was sending forth

“Get the hell out of there, Dust!”

Again I turned to look, catching the glint of light against Herald’s glasses as he stood on the shore The others were clustered around hiathered in the water, considering her next step Arte calamari out of a bowl she’d carried all the way froh He was staring at the man in the water, this brazen, bronzed new distraction

“Uh-oh,” Apollo said

Uh-oh was right

Chapter 3

I stared out at the water, specifically at the fact that both the silver-haired e I couldn’t understand Their fingers pointed threateningly at each other That was a language I nize: soic I was just going to haul ass when a pair of strong arms hoistedand thrashing

“Will you settle down?” Gil growled, throwing me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes Really cute, dumb potatoes that never knehen to turn tail and run Gil’s legs powered us through the water, and within seconds he had us back on dry land He dropped hness, but hey, I’d be mad at me, too

I recognized Herald’s sandals before he even started accosting me I looked up sheepishly into his furious face, damp with sweat as he scolded me “But do you ever listen?” was the only bit of his lecture that I caught I pushed s closer and clutchingand,in the water

It started aves,ones that ran perpendicular to the natural flow of the ocean, alternately following theto Scylla’s will, like the push and pull of tides Civilians screamed as they rushed for the shore The spectacle wasn’t so exciting any was so near

“Welp, I’ers around Arte her away from the shore Artemis waved at me, too focused on her calamari to be upset by whatever had Apollo so scared Daod’s help in this – two of them, even

The waves turned into bizarre shapes as they roared at each other – fists, at first, then huge, galloping horses, as the two tried to either drown their opponent or pulverize them in the terrible crush of so much water Then Scylla ith a different approach, directing the floater into slender, pinpoint jets that sliced across the waves with so much force that they pierced the tanned man’s skin He recoiled as the first streams of his blood poured into the water

“Holy shit,” I ? Holy shit” Around us the norh of the around to record the battle with their devices Fucking typical

“Don’t et involved,” he said, even as he stepped forward, dangerously close to the water