#shaylan

“How could you have done that to such a precious book!” 

I jump with a startle and look upwards to where the voice came from. I relax when I see the fear-stricken face of the Athena kid, Shaylan. To his left, I hear someone burst out in laughter. It was the Artemis kid, Makya.

“You have to admit Shaylan, it is a smart way to hide notebooks that would get you into a lot of trouble,” Makya pointed out after a few slaps from Shaylan for laughing. “ Besides Deyanira, we will give you a 10-second head start before we try to take that notebook away.” 

“ You guys are so annoying,” I rolled my eyes at them before jumping down into the water with my book and notebook in hand. I can hear Shaylan’s terrified shrieks even this far underwater. when my head broke the surface I could hear the Poseidon boys cheering me on. I look up to see Makya jumping into the water after me, leaving the terrified Shaylan in the tree. Swimming to shore was my only option since the forcefield was right next to me. The only problem was avoiding Makya. He is a great swimmer, or at least way better than me. I don’t stand a chance in the water. His body hit the water and created the biggest splash everyone had seen all summer. I have to start swimming away. Now! I stop treading water and head straight for the shore. I had my books in my left hand, making my right arm do all the work. I have gone maybe 10 feet from where I first hit the water. I look behind me and Makya is nowhere to be seen. I go to start swimming again when I felt something grab my left leg.

“ Hey, don-” I am cut off by my whole body being dragged under. Makya has a firm grip on my leg and is dragging me farther down. I can’t kick his arm to loosen his grip, my right leg doesn’t reach. I can’t bend down to use my hand to free myself, I will get kicked. I can kick him in the stomach. He might drown if I do that. That would be a very low chance though. I have to act fast, I don’t know how much longer I can hold my breath and I'm running very low on oxygen. I’m kicking him. My right foot hit his stomach quite hard. I didn’t mean to kick him that hard. I will say sorry after he says sorry for trying to drown me. I resurface after about what felt like 10 seconds of swimming upward. I stayed there just breathing for 3 seconds before I feel him grab my right wrist.

“What? you can’t hold your breath that long?” Makya taunted the moment he surfaced. 

“ Of course not!” Is he really asking if I can hold my breath like a whale? “We are humans! We don’t have that kind of lung capacity.” I can not believe this kid.

“ Well sure but, wouldn’t a follower of Poseidon have some kind of,” he paused to try and find the right words. I know this cause he isn’t the brightest kid out there. “Well, you know privilege in water?” There is no way he said that.