Chapter 10: Glitching

"POSEIDON WILL see you in a minute," an Icon wearing a similar dress to the one that'd been made for me informed me as I stood in the grand atrium, feeling lost and miniscule among the dark shadow of the surrounding ocean waves and leering columns and steps.

...My wrists still in these stupid, gold cuffs...

I nodded at her, but I couldn't make any words exit my mouth.

They were stuck there, in my throat, from everything I wanted to say and couldn't.

The Icon turned and left, robotic-like.

And silence blanketed over me again.

Like a suffocating friend.

Right up in my personal space.

Staring at me.

I realized with alarm that I was shaking, my hands jittering next to my sides like something had grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't stop the movement.

Was I going crazy? Was it just nerves from meeting with the god again or that unsettling dream I'd had, remembering that night so long ago?

I grabbed ahold of my hand, trying to still the movement.

But a figure's shadow darted across the floor, and I looked up to catch the offender slide behind a pillar. It was—

The Mediator?

The man who'd chosen me?

Assigned me here as an Icon?

...What was he doing in Poseidon's domain?

Amid the Demure girls' gossip back at the town temple, there'd been nuggets of truth. I'd learned that the man was said to be the only communication between the gods and humans, besides, of course, getting reprimanded directly by them—like I was going to be today. He was revered for his ability to decipher gods' blood in humans, and was the only one with this ability. They said he lived in an in-between place, somewhere between the god and human realms and that Zeus, himself, had gifted him with immortality.

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...So, why was he here?

Brief hope swam through my veins at the thought that maybe Poseidon had called him to discuss my appointment as an Icon. Maybe they had listened to me after all—

"Priscilla! Approach!"

The roar of the male voice nearly bowled me over.

My chins snapped up.

—To recognize Poseidon's threatening form filling the top of the stairs again.

This was a hellish repeat of presentation day...

He wanted me to climb all these steps again? If only I'd gotten more sleep last night...

My nerves froze in my arms and legs as I tugged the hem of my dress up, away from my feet on the cold stairs, and started the ascent.

And the man watched me.

Blazing blue eyes over a long, combed beard.

And the closer I got to him, the closer I came to throwing up.

Gods help me keep breakfast down, I prayed, rather irreverently. Of course, there was very little my prayer to the gods could do...since I was, in fact, facing one, head on.

I stopped long enough to tumble into a clumsy bow at the top of the stairs.

The god watched me through narrowed eyes.

While I...died inside.

"I would like to see your face," Poseidon rumbled, "Look at me, daughter."

And one can't really disobey a god.

Lifting my eyes to his wasn't natural; they'd taught me at temple to look down at the floor—to "avert my eyes to greatness that wasn't mine."

And, yet, I really wanted to peek.

To fully see the god.

And, just maybe, he wanted to see me too.

My gaze darted upward.

And Poseidon locked eyes with me.

Blazing.

Brilliant blue.

A glowing that snagged the breath right out of me.

I struggled to find air.

And something happened then.

Fire.

On my skin.

Crawling up from my toes and fingers!

I screamed.

Poseidon, stood, his hands flurrying in front of him as though he was trying to save me, "Daughter, don't be alarmed—"

"I'm burning!" I shrieked, "Please! Please help me!"

And my vision creased with snaking glitches.

Pink.

Gray.

Green.

Purple.

My magic?

—But the cuffs?

The zig-zagging colors.

Tearing the image in front of my eyes apart.

Making it flash.

And fade.

...And, in between the flashes, I could have sworn I saw the thing of my nightmares.

...A corn-stuffed doll.

This time, tan.

This time, bigger.

I fell to the floor, all my strength exhausted.

And my world pitched into black as flames I couldn't see devoured my limbs.