someday. Iâm going to get myself smoted.
âI mean, I was wondering if thereâs any way I couldââ
He holds up his hand and I stop midsentence. He looks so much like Zeus right now itâs easy to see that theyâre brothers. Same square face, flowing gray hair, and intense stare. Except where Zeusâs eyes are stormy gray, Poseidonâs are deep sea blue.
âIf you seek such a gift,â he finally says, âyou must give a gift in return.â
A gift? I didnât think to bring anything with me. Iâm lucky I even thought enough ahead to leave my phone in my room. I tend to act first and figure it out laterâshocking, I know.
âIâm sorry,â I admit. âI donât have anything.â
He smiles. âBut of course you do.â
Now why is the hair on the back of my neck standing up again?
He waves me closer to his desk. I inch forward, more than a little nervous to find out what he has in mind. Iâve heard plenty of stories from the old daysâthe really old daysâwhen the gods were pretty much full-time hound dogs. How do you think we got so many hematheos in the first place? If he tries something, Iâll have to break out some long-lost martial arts moves.
But when I approach, he does nothing more than pull a silver seashell from his drawer and set it on his desk. I stare at the shell, seriously calculating the odds of grabbing it and getting out of the palace before he can stop me.
Very, very low.
âI have a daughter,â he begins, then laughs. âI have many daughters, but there is one.â
His eyes get this far-off, dreamy look, and I can tell that he loves this daughter more than all the others combined. Kinda sucks for the rest of the family, but she must be one special girl.
âShe is an angel,â he continues. âSees no evil in men.â
And by men he means one man in particular.
I get it. Naive daughter of one of the most powerful gods who ever lived. Less-than-naive guy who wants her for less-than-honorable reasons.
âYou think sheâs being conned?â I suggest.
âIââ Poseidon smiles and shakes his head. âYes, that is it precisely.â
I watch him, waiting for him to explain what this has to do with me getting the seashell. What this has to do with my forgetting a gift.
He doesnât speak, just sits there staring at the shell like he expects it to start talking to him.
âIâm sorry,â I finally say, âbut I donât get what that has to do with me. How can I possibly help?â
I have a sudden image of being asked to play cheat-catcher, acting as bait to lure the suspected con artist into hitting on me. So not my area of expertise. Iâm better at scaring boys away.
âI would like you to tell me her future,â he says.
I twist my head sideways. Tell him her future? What am I, a fortune-teller?
âYouâve made a mistake,â I explain, backing away a step. âI canât see the future.â
No, Iâm trying to go back and fix the past.
âYou have powers you do not yet realize.â
Poseidon reaches out and takes my hand, stopping my retreat. The moment his fingers touch me, my brain explodes with an intense image. I see a girlâa breathtakingly beautiful girl who could only be the daughter of a godâwalking on a beach. As the image focuses in my mind, I see that she is walking hand in hand with a boy.
âWhat do you see?â Poseidon asks softly.
I donât stop to ask how he knows Iâm seeing something.
âA girl with pale blond hair and pretty green eyes,â I describe.
âMy daughter,â Poseidon confirms. âWhat else?â
âSheâs walking on the beach with a boy.â I squint my eyes, as if that will make the mental picture clearer. âHe has dark blond hair andââthe image zooms in on his faceââa tattoo on the back of his
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