Chapter Thirty-Five

It was morning when I woke up. Jason was still in my arms, reminding me that he had died. Carefully, I pulled him from my lap so that he fully laid on the ice. The rain had stopped but there were still dark clouds stretched across the sky. I was numb to the pain I experienced yesterday, but I knew it was there knocking at my heart. My clothes had burn holes in them from when the lightning stuck me, and when I studied Jason, his shirt also had holes. I turned to see the otter. She hadn't left.

"What is your name?" My voice was raspy as I questioned her.

"Lilah, Princess." She stood from her laying position.

"Lilah, please make sure Jason gets back to my aunt and uncle." I slid into the water slowly. "I'll have others help you." Ducking into the water, I looked around. I could see little ripples in the water that projected from my body. Within moments, sad looking fish, dolphins, sharks, and turtles swam to me. There were so many of them.

"I need all of you to take Jason back to my family. You know where I live. Please protect him." I instructed. "He isn't coming back and when I return home, I will expect to see him prepared for his funeral."

"Where are you going, Princess?" A female shark watched me.

"I'm going to get Poseidon's Trident." I touched the half melted circle of ice that floated above me. It broke into pieces, letting Jason's body fall into the water. I caught him, bringing him to a leatherback turtle and placed him on the shell. "Thank you. Now go." Lilah lead them towards my home and I watched them until they were out of my sight. Turning, I swam towards land.

*~~*~~*~~*

Finding a phone booth was hard in Japan. I had to collect several large shells to pawn then spent almost an hour trying to find a booth. It was made of metal with a thick black phone attached to a short cord. I put in the coins I had received then dialed my aunt's number.

"Hello?" Her voice answered. It felt so good to hear a familiar voice.

"Auntie...." The pain began to return.

"Blake?"

"Auntie.... Jason died." I tried to keep myself calm. She was silent. "I-I sent him home. You'll see a lot of marine life in about a day. Please...." I couldn't finish.

"Oh, Honey.... Don't worry about it. We will do everything we can." She replied. "Where are you? Come home."

"I can't. I have to get the Trident and my mom. I'll be home soon."

"No, Blake! Come-!"

"I love you and uncle." I hung up quickly then took a deep breath. I felt my pocket for the bottle and realized that it was gone. "Damn it!" Gazing around, I saw a stand with maps and books. I went to it and grabbed a map. Studying it, I found Japan. South of Japan about two thousand miles was a dark strip. Mariana Trench. I put the map down, running to the water's edge. "I'm gonna do this. I have to get that Trident." I looked down into the water for a long moment.

"Princess!" A man called. My head snapped to look over the source of the voice. Jordan. A frown scrunched up my face deeply as he approached me.

"You got your blood. What do you want?" I crossed my arms over my chest. He looked at me like he didn't understand what I had just said.

"He's dead?" Glee lite up his eyes.

"You killed my fiancé. My best friend." I replied bitterly. The happiness left his eyes.

"I am sorry."

"No you're not. You wanted this. Now you've ruined my life. You took away the plans I had for our future. You didn't just take one life. You took my life as well." I shifted on the rock ledge. "I don't have time to talk to you right now. If I find that you put someone else's life in danger, I will come back for you." I dove into the water, my tail forming. I swam quickly towards the Mariana Trench. I didn't know how I was going to get past the creatures of the deep, but I was going to try. By the time I got close, I was so deep in the water that no sunlight reached me. I could smell rotting fish. The smell was so strong that it made my stomach hurt. My plan was to stay quiet and slip past the creatures. When I reached the edge of the trench, I looked down into the darkness. Silver eyes blinked and shifted. When a pair of eyes landed on me, their owner let out a deafening shriek. Millions of eyes looked to me before orbiting me, creating a wall of boney, scaly, half decayed, humanoid, fish. They looked like zombie fish just like in the first dream I had of my mother. Swiftly, I moved the water around them with my hands, creating a path through the wall. Boosting myself with the water, I shot down into the trench. These creatures were everywhere and when they saw me passing, they followed. They acted like feral animals, following something that could be their next meal. I concentrated on looking for a cave as I reached the bottom, swimming along the bottom. The creatures were getting closer, darker than the darkness around me. Pulling my hand up past my head with my palm out to where I was going, the water shoved me faster.

"Where is it?!" I hissed as I came up on a wall. Inside the wall was a crack, where I could see a white light inside. Sharp pain entered my side as a creature clawed me. I had passed it too closely, narrowly avoiding crashing into it. Holding my side, I turned and slipped into the crack. These creatures lived in darkness and hated light so they wouldn't follow me. That didn't make me slow down, however. I went for the light at such a speed that by the time I realized that it was like a storm cloud, -with silver bands of lightning and white foam- it was too late. The gravity of the gyrating storm pulled me in and spun me about until a bright light blinded me. I couldn't get out of the rotating motion as it sucked me into it's center. My mind immediately went to Jason as I tried to get out. The bright light flashed, disorienting me. I shielded my face with my arms, letting myself be spun. A scream left my body as fear and pain consumed me. Was this storm going to rip me into pieces?