by Joan Holub
The clacking sound had grown louder. Strange. Zeus tipped his head to the other side in case the water was in his other ear.
“I wonder if Oceanus also has horns on top of his head,” Poseidon went on. “Horns that look like crab claws.”
“Horns like crab claws?” Zeus laughed at the idea.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT CRAB CLAW HORNS?” boomed a voice.
Zeus whirled around so fast, he nearly toppled over. There, swimming beyond Poseidon, was a muscular, bearded giant. One with claw hands, who also had two big crab claws growing from the top of his head! The claws were all angrily clacking together.
“Oceanus?” Zeus squeaked the question.
“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out,” the Titan declared. His skin was golden, and his long, thick serpentine tail floated behind him in a loose coil.
“Uh, okay,” Zeus said.
“Well? State your business!” Oceanus commanded. Clack, clack, clackety-clack! went his claws, like he was just itching to pinch somebody.
Zeus wished Poseidon would speak up. Why should he have to do all the talking? He glanced toward the end of the boat, where Poseidon had been. He’d disappeared! That coward. Was he hiding under the boat?
“Well?” Oceanus prodded. He glided closer.
“Pythia sent us,” Zeus explained, paddling faster. If he could get to the island and find Bolt, he’d have a weapon to use against this crazy claw guy. “She’s this oracle in Delphi. And according to her prophecy—”
Oceanus frowned, his bushy green eyebrows forming a V. Slowly he rose from the sea until he rode the water with his tail.
“I’m supposed to find a magical trident,” Zeus rushed on. “If you’d let me borrow yours, maybe I could use it to calm the sea, and—”
“WHAT?” The Titan’s golden face turned purple with rage. “HOW DARE YOU! I made these seas furious—and furious they will stay.”
Rearing back, he uncoiled his tail. It whipped toward Zeus, ready to lash him. Zeus ducked, sure he was a goner.
But before the Titan’s tail could strike, Poseidon popped up in the water. Right between Oceanus and Zeus. Reaching up with one hand, Poseidon knocked the tail away. It seemed to cost him little more effort than swatting a fly.
Zeus stared in amazement. Oceanus’s tail had to weigh a ton!
As Oceanus tried to right himself, Poseidon swam to Zeus. “I’ve seen it!” he exclaimed in hushed excitement.
“Seen what?” asked Zeus. He was still thinking about what had just happened. Did being in water somehow give Poseidon superstrength?
“The trident,” Poseidon said. “He’s got it strapped to his side like a sword. It’s all gold and glittery. Way more magnificent than that merman’s trident.”
All too quickly Oceanus recovered from the shock of having his tail shoved aside by a puny Olympian. He gave chase, zooming smoothly through the water toward them. Since his back was to the Titan, Poseidon didn’t notice.
“Watch out!” Zeus warned.
Poseidon whirled to face Oceanus. “Give me the trident, you overgrown snaky crustacean,” the boy commanded. “It’s mine!”
“Shh! Are you crazy?” Zeus hissed. “Oceanus will send us both to a watery grave! Besides, what makes you think the trident is meant for you?”
Before Poseidon could reply, Oceanus bellowed at them. “Overgrown snaky crustacean, am I?” Whap! His powerful tail uncoiled and smacked the water.
“Nyah, nyah. Missed me!” Poseidon yelled back. “You don’t deserve that trident. You’ve been using it for evil instead of for good.”
Suddenly Zeus caught on. Poseidon was trying to goad Oceanus into using his trident. Because until it was freed from his side, they had no hope of grabbing it away from him.
“Hey, Fishbreath!” Zeus called out to Oceanus. “I bet your trident is only a fake. I bet it doesn’t have any powers at all. It’s probably not even real gold!”
“Fake? I’ll show you how not fake it is!” Oceanus roared. All at once the trident flashed golden in his fist. He pointed its three-pronged tip at the water. As he drew the trident upward, the water followed. It was like he’d raked the ocean into a towering wave!
Uh-oh, thought Zeus. But it was too late to take back his taunts.
Just before the wave crashed down, Zeus saw Poseidon dive beneath the water. Then the wave hit, and Zeus was lost in a swirling whirlpool.
CHAPTER SEVEN
On the Island
LUCKILY, THE GIGANTIC WAVE DIDN’T do Zeus in. But it did wash him and the Stinker all the way to the shore of a nearby island.
Standing on the beach, he looked out to sea. Thunderation! Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything through the rising steam. He could hear Oceanus and Poseidon battling it out, though. Splash!
“Ow!”
“Take that!”
He wanted to be out there too! At the Delphi temple in Greece, Pythia had called him a hero in training. But a true hero would be in the sea right now, helping Poseidon fight Oceanus.
Zeus righted the boat. Then he pushed it back into the water and hopped in. P.U.! It stunk inside. Clumps of rotting seaweed had gotten twisted around its broken mast. “Stinker” really was a good name for the boat now.
Its sail was in rags, and its broken mast was useless. He started to paddle, but soon the boat began leaking. It had a hole in the bottom the size of his fist! No way would he make it without repairs. He turned around and dragged the Stinker back onto the beach.
Then he rushed inland to look for something to plug the hole. Up ahead in an out-cropping of rock, he saw something sparking.
“Bolt! Is that you?” he called. The sparking grew brighter and more frantic. Running over, Zeus found the thunderbolt stuck in a boulder, tip first.
“Calm down,” he soothed. He grabbed it with both hands and wrenched it out of the rock. It was easy—like pulling a knife from a block of cheese.
“If I can do this so easily, why couldn’t you get loose on your own?” he wondered aloud. “For the same reason you couldn’t get out of that cone-stone back in Pythia’s temple? Maybe certain kinds of rock are like thunderbolt traps, huh?”
The thunderbolt didn’t answer, of course. But once it was free, it darted here and there. It did flips and pinwheels in the air around him, glowing and sparking.
“Happy to see me?” Zeus asked, laughing. He tugged his belt away from his waist, making a space. “Small!” he instructed. Instantly Bolt shrank to dagger size, dove for his belt, and slid under it. Then the thunderbolt went still.
Zeus got back to business, hunting for sap, reeds, and bits of wood. His thoughts were racing. Now that he had Bolt, he could use it to fight Oceanus. But though his aim was improving with every throw, he couldn’t risk hurling Bolt over the water. He might electrocute every creature in the whole sea. Including Poseidon.
Swimming was out too. He wasn’t that good at it. Not like Poseidon had turned out to be. No, his only hope was to fix the boat. And fast!
He ran back to the Stinker and flipped it over. Then he plugged the hole in its bottom with the stuff he’d collected.
Out at sea the battle raged on. Clack-clack! Splash! “Ow!” Now and then Zeus caught flashes of the golden trident through the steam.
Minutes later the boat was ready. By rocking it back and forth, Zeus managed to turn it upright again.
Just as he launched, the entire sea quieted. The steam began to clear. Was the battle over? Where were Oceanus and Poseidon? Who had won?
Zeus paddled out in the boat, his heart pounding with worry. He gazed in all directions across the water. It was eerily calm and empty.
“Poseidon!” he called. No answer. His panic multiplied. What if Poseidon was dead?
But then, not more than twenty yards away, Poseidon’s head popped up out of the water. Another head popped up too. It wasn’t Oceanus’s, though. It was another boy’s. Poseidon held the golden trident high in triumph. Its glittery length flashed in the sunlight. �
�Yes! I beat him!”
Then he pushed the trident underwater. The two boys straddled its long handle. Suddenly they were zooming across the sea toward Zeus fifty times faster than he could paddle. Whoa!
Poseidon drew up beside the boat. “Zeus, meet Hades,” he said, idling the trident just enough to keep it afloat. “Found him at the bottom of the sea. Oceanus was under orders from Cronus to keep Hades prisoner there.”
The new boy shook the water from his dark, curly hair, then stared at Zeus. “I remember you. You’re the one who freed us from Cronus’s belly, right? Thanks for nothing,” he said in a gloomy-sounding voice.
“Hey!” Zeus protested. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I liked it in that belly,” Hades informed him. “It was better than being held captive undersea. It’s cold down there!”
“Sorry,” Zeus said, feeling kind of annoyed. Talk about ungrateful!
“Oceanus had Hades locked inside a big air bubble so he could breathe. He couldn’t escape it without drowning,” Poseidon explained. He did a few fancy zigzag turns on the trident. One hard turn sent a fan of water spraying over Zeus. “Oops. Sorry.” Poseidon came to an abrupt stop.
“Watch it!” Zeus protested, brushing sea-water from his eyes.
“Yeah. This trident is magic, you know,” Hades warned Poseidon. “Be careful.”
Poseidon just shrugged, acting cool. Winning a battle against a sea god had made him a little bit full of himself. Zeus couldn’t blame him, though. It was a pretty epic victory.
“You wouldn’t believe the great palace Oceanus has got,” Poseidon told Zeus. “It’s way down deep. Tons of rooms. All carved out of coral. Shells and pearls everywhere. The guy is rich!” He was zooming around the boat in tight circles now.
Zeus stared at him, a little jealous. “You got all the way down to the bottom of the sea?” There was no way he could ever swim deep enough to see this fabulous palace. “How did you hold your breath for so long?”
“I don’t know,” said Poseidon. “It was like I didn’t need to breathe. Weird, huh?”
I’ll say, thought Zeus. Suddenly it all clicked together. Poseidon’s not needing to breathe in water. His new strength and swimming ability. Fish giving themselves up whenever he was hungry. The way the sea serpents, merpeople, and that dolphin had stared at him.
The creatures of the sea had recognized Poseidon as their leader! The trident really was intended for him. Poseidon’s hands were the right hands.
“Um, can we go? Oceanus is still down there,” Hades said nervously. “Caught in his own net, thanks to Poseidon. But I doubt it’ll hold him for long. We should scram, and quick.”
Zeus shuddered at the thought of Oceanus escaping again. Those claws of his looked sharp. “Once he does get free, he’ll come after his trident,” Zeus said. “And us. I say we take him captive now, while we have the upper hand.”
Hades went pale at the suggestion.
“No way! Are you bonkers?” asked Poseidon.
“He’s a Titan, isn’t he?” Zeus argued. “If he gets out of that net, he’ll go right back to helping King Cronus again. Wouldn’t it be smarter to find some kind of prison and take him there while he’s tied up?”
Honestly, thought Zeus, didn’t they get it? The trident might be rightfully Poseidon’s. And Poseidon could swim ten times better than him. But Zeus had ten times more brains.
“I don’t want to be anywhere around him if he gets loose from that net,” Hades warned. “One flip of his tail, and—” He drew a finger across his throat.
“Anyway, how would we carry him to a prison?” Poseidon added. “He’s too big to fit in the boat or on the trident.”
“Well, what do you guys suggest, then?” Zeus asked.
“Run!” yelled Hades. He was staring at something in the distance, his eyes wide.
Zeus shook his head. “That won’t help.” But then he stopped talking as he heard an all-too-familiar sound.
Clackety-clack-clack!
CHAPTER EIGHT
Titan Transport
OCEANUS WAS ON THE LOOSE AGAIN! HE was still mostly trapped in the net, but he’d poked his head and tail free. And now he was zooming toward them, muscles bulging and claws clacking.
Poseidon spun the trident so Zeus could climb onto the end of its handle behind Hades. “Hurry! Get on!”
Once all three boys were atop the trident, Poseidon cut across the water. Instead of fleeing, though, he headed straight for Oceanus!
“Turn! Turn!” Zeus and Hades begged.
Poseidon ignored them. They got closer and closer to the Titan. It looked like they were going to ram him!
At the last minute Zeus ripped the thunderbolt from his belt and tossed it high. “Hover!” he commanded, hoping it would obey.
Fearing for their lives, he and Hades both jumped off the trident. Splash! Splash!
As Zeus watched Poseidon ride onward, he saw that Oceanus had slowed his approach. The Titan began to back away. Something had scared him. Was it Poseidon? Suddenly Oceanus turned tail and dove, making a break for it.
Poseidon leaped from the trident, still clutching it in one fist. As his feet hit the water, they turned scaly. So did his legs. He’d sprouted a fish tail! “Wa-hoo!” he shouted. “Is this the coolest, or what?”
He slapped the surface of the water with his new tail. He twirled the tip of it overhead. Slick rainbow-colored scales glittered in the sunlight.
Zeus and Hades swam in closer. “Awesome tail!” Hades called out.
“Admire it later!” Zeus hollered. “What about Oceanus?”
“Chill out,” Poseidon said. “I’m going fishing. I’ll snag that Titan in no time. Just watch me.” Balancing his new tail on the surface of the water, he poked the three-pronged end of the trident into the sea. In the exact spot where Oceanus had disappeared.
“Long!” he commanded. Instantly the trident began to lengthen in the water. It extended deeper and deeper. It could change size like Bolt! Speaking of Bolt, Zeus looked up. The thunderbolt had obeyed him and was hovering high overhead. Phew.
Poseidon began raking the trident back and forth. Minutes later he smiled big. “Gotcha!”
As Poseidon reeled Oceanus in, Zeus and Hades treaded water nearby. By the time the Titan reached the surface, the trident’s handle had shortened itself again.
Oceanus glowered at the boys as he tried to wriggle loose from the net. But though his head and tail were free, his arms and torso were still tangled in it. The net was made of tough stuff. Though Oceanus tried to cut through it with his claws, he couldn’t do it. “RELEASE ME AT ONCE!” he demanded.
“Not gonna happen,” said Poseidon. He sprang from the sea and landed on Oceanus’s back. The instant Poseidon left the water, his tail turned back into legs. He scrambled upward, scaling the sturdy net.
The Titan twisted around. His claws reached for Poseidon, trying to pinch him through the net. But Poseidon dodged them. When he reached Oceanus’s shoulder, he touched the sharp tips of the trident to the back of Oceanus’s neck. “You’re our prisoner now.”
The claws went still. Oceanus turned his head, glancing fearfully at the trident. Whatever magic powers it had, he seemed scared of them. Of course, he would know just how powerful the trident was!
“C’mon!” Poseidon called to Zeus and Hades. The boys swam closer and grabbed on to the net. They climbed higher up Oceanus’s back until they were alongside Poseidon. Now far above the water, Zeus summoned Bolt with a wave of his hand. Instantly the thunderbolt zoomed down and slid back under his belt.
“Onward!” Poseidon commanded Oceanus. “Take us to—um, land. Back to the dock we started from.”
“You want me to give you a ride?” Oceanus laughed slyly. “Be glad to. But first you’ll have to free me from this net.”
“No way. How dumb do you think we are?” Hades shot back.
Oceanus pretended to think. “Well, on a scale of dumbness from one to ten, I’d s
ay— Ow!”
Poseidon had interrupted him with a nudge from the sharp end of the golden trident. “Get moving!” he told the Titan.
Zeus could hardly believe it when Oceanus obeyed. But then again, the Titan didn’t have much choice. Now that the magical trident was in Poseidon’s hands, he was quickly learning how to use it.
The wind whistled in the boys’ ears as Oceanus plowed across the sea toward Greece. They were moving faster than the seagulls flying overhead!
“What’ll we do with him after we’re back in Greece?” Hades shouted over the roar of the wind. “He’ll be a danger to all Olympians if we let him go free.”
“You got that right,” Oceanus agreed before Zeus could reply.
“Stop listening!” Poseidon commanded. The boys huddled closer together, talking more quietly so the Titan wouldn’t hear.
“We have to keep him tied up in this net,” Zeus told his companions. “Until we can imprison him.”
“But where’ll we find a prison strong enough to hold him?” asked Hades.
Zeus’s amulet twitched against his chest. He jerked in surprise, almost losing his grip on the net.
“Ake-tip itan-Tip oo-tip artarus-Tip,” the chip squeaked in its tiny voice.
Hades’s dark eyes widened in surprise.
“Take Titan to Tartarus,” Poseidon translated slowly. “Where’s that?”
Zeus shrugged. “No clue.” As Poseidon explained about Chip to Hades, Zeus lifted the amulet. He watched its black symbols rearrange themselves into squiggly lines and arrows.
“A map!” he said at last. “It must be showing us the route to Tartarus. And the dock’s on the way.”
The boys traveled on, following the map and giving Oceanus directions. They kept an eye out for Hera but didn’t see her on land or sea. Zeus figured she’d be waiting for them. But when they reached the dock, she wasn’t there.
“Do you think King Cronus captured her again?” Poseidon asked anxiously.
