“Does Hades hope for the sea or the underworld?” Poseidon wondered. “If he wants the underworld then I want that too, just to infuriate him.” Hades thought along the same lines. “Whichever I choose,” he said to himself, “I will shout in triumph, just to annoy that prick Poseidon.” In each of Zeus’s outstretched fists lay concealed a precious stone: a sapphire as blue as the sea in one and a piece of jet as black as Erebus in the other. Poseidon did a jig of delight when he touched the back of Zeus’s right hand and saw it open to reveal the winking blue sapphire. “The oceans are mine!” he
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