The Runner

I woke up to the reek of dead fish. My stomach lurched and I scrambled for a railing to hold onto as I retched water and bile over the side of the boat.

"She lives!" A man cheered in a voce shaky with age. I peered up between the dizzying light that consumed the sky at a man with an unruly salt-and-pepper beard and heavy laughter lines pulling at his eyes. He sat on a deck chair with a fishing rod in his hands, the line sunken in the water.

"Where are my friends?" I demanded, ice in my voice.

"They're inside, plotting. You should go and join them." He peered at the horizon. "By my mark there's only a few hours until we arrive at camp."

I frowned at him. "Who are you?"

He chuckled, "I have many names, but the one you'll know me as is Poseidon."

My jaw dropped.
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I walked into the cabin, "Did you guys know that the crazy guy out there is god of the sea?"

Jasmine shrugged, "Yeah."

"He's also the only reason we didn't drown in the ocean. Kaia softened our fall as best she could but after that she blacked out and we all woke up on this boat. He saved us all." Lizzie said, glaring at me in accusation. "Of course, he wouldn't have to have saved us if you'd just stayed awake."

"I tried, I swear!" I protested.

She shrugged it off. "Whatever."

"We've got a plan." Alyssa changed the subject. "A plan for when we get to camp."

I nodded, "Show me."

Notes