A Storm of Blood and Stone (Myths of Stone Book 3)

by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

  “More important things?”

  Euryale nodded and loosened her hold. “Much more important.”

  “Fine,” Stheno said with a huff. She then shot Euryale a half grin. “Medusa was right about you, you know.”

  “How’s that?”

  “She always said leave it to you to spoil a good time.”

  Chapter Whale Riding

  “She doesn’t look very scary,” Cassandra said, bumping her brother with her shoulder after introductions had been made.

  “Not scary at all,” Aison replied with a nod. Though his mother had promised them all that Stheno was the most vicious of the gorgons, he was having a hard time believing it. No one, he knew, could possibly be more frightful than his mother, especially after he tested some of his homemade Greek fire in his bedroom a couple of months ago and got caught. Besides, Aunt Stheno was rather naked, too, which for the twins meant funny and not at all deadly.

  “You don’t think I’m scary?” Stheno asked, cutting into the twin’s thoughts.

  Aison shook his head. “Nope.”

  His aunt’s fiery eyes gleamed and turned predatory. She flashed a demonic grin and beckoned them both over with the curling of a single claw. “Come here, if you would,” she purred.

  “Why?” they asked in unison, eyeing her skeptically. Fear didn’t grip them, but they weren’t fond of tricks, either, which is what both thought they were being set up for.

  “I have a secret to tell you,” she whispered.

  The twins shrugged and took a few steps forward. Stheno held her smile as they came, and when they were within arm’s reach, she lunged at them with her face twisted, fangs barred, and a primal scream.

  Neither of the children jumped, but Aison did place his hands on his hips and gave an approving nod. “The important thing is you tried,” he said. “Right, Mommy?”

  Euryale burst into laughter. She put a hand on her son’s head and toyed with his serpents. “That’s right. You should always try.”

  Stheno dropped to a squat and rested her arms casually on her knees. “I guess I’m not as terrifying as I’d thought.”

  “Mommy’s way worse,” Aison said. “Don’t feel bad.”

  “Especially when you play rodeo with the chimera in the kitchen,” Cassandra added. “Don’t do that.”

  “Or make a mud fort in the living room.”

  “Or reenact the Trojan War in the wine cellar.”

  “I’ll remember all of that,” Stheno replied, rising. She then directed her attention back to her sister. “I can’t believe I’m an aunt,” she said. “Who would’ve thought? I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do. Take them on their first pillage? Show them which bones break best? Finer points to dismemberment? Archery? Spear work? What?”

  “No, no, none of that will be necessary,” Euryale said, chuckling nervously, as she wasn’t sure if her sister was joking or not. “I need your help with something other than the children.”

  “Ruining Athena? Toppling Olympus? Gutting all of mankind?” Stheno said with eager anticipation. She rubbed her hands together and sucked in a quick breath, clearly excited at the possibilities of any of those and more. “I’m ready to get started on all of that.”

  “No, well…” Euryale sighed, and her shoulders fell. Aison wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was one of those mommy-daddy conversations he and Cassandra were often not allowed to listen to. That feeling turned to reality when his mother gave him and Cassandra a shooing of the hand. “You two go play quietly somewhere else,” she said. “We need to talk in private.”

  “But—”

  “Now!” she barked.

  Aison jumped and scampered back. When his heart slowed to a mere thousand beats a minute, he glanced at Stheno with eyes as wide the Mediterranean Sea. “Told you she was scarier.”

  Cassandra grabbed him by the arm and tugged. “Come on,” she said, “I’ve got an idea what we can do.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll tell you in a second,” she said as they hurried off.

  “And stay where your father and I can see you!” Euryale called after them.

  “We will!” Aison promised while simultaneously crossing a few serpents on his head. The Fates wouldn’t punish you for breaking a promise with your vipers crossed. Everyone knew that. And while he didn’t intend on running off, there was no harm in edging his nets. No, that wasn’t it. Edging his…bets, that was it. Edging his bets, which is what Daddy would say when he’d behave a certain way to keep Mommy happy, like making sure he cleaned the kitchen when he wasn’t sure whose turn it was.

  After Cassandra had led him to the other end of the holding tank, she stopped and glanced back the way they’d come. Euryale, Stheno, and Alex stood in a tight group, having a quiet and hushed conversation. Aison could only pick up on some of it, and it sounded as if Euryale was telling his new aunt the story of how she met Alex, which Aison was now glad to be free of.

  He really didn’t want to hear all the mushy, gushy, kissy parts, anyway. He’d heard it once already, which, as far as he was concerned, was more than enough to last the rest of his life.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Cassandra said, raising a pair of excited fists. “Remember those pictures we saw coming up here?”

  “With the penguins?”

  “No, the whales, silly,” she said. “There aren’t any penguins here.”

  “We could go grab some,” Aison replied, thinking his penguin suggestion was already much better.

  “And do what with them?” she asked. “They’re way too small to ride.”

  Aison perked, immediately tossing his let’s-see-if-we-can-feed-one-to-the-whale idea. “Wait. You want to ride the whale?”

  Cassandra’s face brightened, and she started to bounce on the balls of her feet. “Yes!”

  “Mom will never let us, and she’s right there,” Aison rightfully pointed out.

  “She’s not even paying attention,” Cassandra replied. “Watch.”

  Aison bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing, as his sister first started making faces at their parents and ended up with faking a heart attack (a world-class performance as far as Aison was concerned), all of which elicited exactly zero response from any of the adults.

  “We should get a rope,” Aison said, helping his sister to her feet. “But it’ll have to be like …four feet long to lasso him with.”

  “I bet we need at least eleven.”

  Aison’s eyes bulged. He’d never heard of such a monstrous piece of rope before. “Eleven?”

  Cassandra nodded. “And we’ll probably have to bribe him, too, so he gets close enough.”

  Aison’s eyes darted around backstage. There wasn’t much to work with, aside from a few empty buckets and a mop someone had left propped up against the corner. “I’m not giving him my cotton candy,” he said, clutching the last bit he had left close to his chest.

  “He probably doesn’t even know what it is.”

  “Maybe we could get some fish. They eat fish, right?”

  Cassandra nodded again. “Yeah, but it probably can’t be cooked.”

  “They eat sushi?” Aison asked, proud of himself he knew what that word meant, and just as smug that his sister probably didn’t.

  “No, tapioca head,” she replied. “I mean like, they have to eat it whole. Like, right from the tank.”

  Aison huffed, slightly irritated that apparently Cassandra did in fact know what sushi was, and thus his one-up on her turned out to be a big nothing. But as quick as that came, he turned his attention back to figuring out how to capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and ride the killer whale. “I bet they have some fish around here somewhere we could use,” he said. “You watch Mom. I’ll get the snacks.”

  “Okay. Hurry.”

  Aison watched his parents for a few seconds to be sure that they were indeed still busy talking adulty stuff before ducking out of the backstage area. Once t
hrough the door that led to the hall they’d initially come through, he continued down it until he reached a side passage which he promptly took.

  This short stint led him to another door, which in turn led him to a storeroom full of cleaning supplies as well as an entire wall full of gadgets and tools that looked like they’d be really, really fun to test on all sorts of things. The one with the big jagged blade definitely had promise, and he wondered how fast it could chop through the coffee table in their living room. He figured maybe to the count of five. Three, if Cassandra was counting and cheating by going fast. Regardless, there was only one way to find out.

  He started to reach for it when the vipers atop his head grew uneasy. Since his mother had always told them never to ignore a nervous snake, he instinctively crouched. There was an odd taste to the air. It tasted like…like when he’d have nightmares about their room being messy and no matter how much he and Cassandra tried to clean it before their parents got home, it only got worse.

  “Cass?” he said, hunching down even further before darting to the corner. His stomach knotted as the taste grew stronger. If he had a tail as Mommy did, he was sure it would’ve been rattling now, but alas, he wasn’t as awesome or strong as she. One day, he thought. Maybe he could get one from the big fat guy that came around in the winter giving presents. Sparta? Spanta? He decided he should probably learn the guy’s name before putting in a request for a tail.

  Aison refocused on the there and then. What would his mother do with this situation? Not hide in a storage closet, that was for sure. She conquered titans! She pitted herself against the gods! She insisted Dad take Tickles for a walk every night! And if she could do all that, he could face whatever silly taste was in the air, with or without a tail.

  The little gorgon eased toward the door with unparalleled determination before cracking it open. He only moved it an inch, enough so he could see what was going on down the hall. At first, there was nothing but an empty corridor to look at. He was going to press forward when the snakes atop his head grew even more agitated, so he kept still, not out of fear, he told himself, but out of necessity.

  Not even two heartbeats later, a cloaked figure slipped by his vantage point, heading toward the backstage where everyone else was. Though Aison only saw him for a fleeting second due to being down a side hall, he was certain he saw whoever it was carrying a bow and arrow.

  Quietly, Aison eased from his hiding spot and trotted lightly down the hall, making less noise than a feather dropping onto a pillow. He reached the corner to the main hall, and practicing his stealth skills (something his dad had impressed upon him as necessary if he ever wanted to join a monster hunt when he grew up), he dared a quick, silent peek.

  At the end of the hall, maybe twenty yards away, the figure stood crouched near the door. Aison watched him carefully open the door a few inches. At first, he didn’t know why, but all that changed the moment the figure raised his bow.

  Aison dashed forward, operating on pure instinct, as the figure drew back the arrow. Aison screamed, trying to sound as fearsome as his mother, and launched himself at whoever this bad, bad person was.

  Right as he hit, the arrow flew.

  Chapter The Trial

  She felt the air grow warmer a split second before Aison screamed.

  Euryale twisted, half expecting to see one of her children missing an arm. Or worse, holding onto someone else’s missing arm. Instead, what she saw was her son firmly latched onto the back of a cloaked figure, and what she heard right after was the whizz of an arrow as it zipped by.

  Aison fought valiantly, his tiny fangs and claws tearing into the attacker, but in the end, clearly, he was no match for his opponent. The assassin reached back and grabbed him by the neck and threw him over his shoulder. Aison slammed into the ground, and the air blew from his lungs when he hit.

  Euryale, already charging the attacker, bellowed. The assassin staggered away, clutching his ears with both hands. Before the gorgon could take advantage of the situation and pounce, her sister, Stheno, beat her to it. Claws flew, and fangs ripped. Before five seconds had passed, Euryale had scooped Aison up in her arms while his aunt gleefully ripped the last appendage from the man’s bloody stump of a body.

  “Are you okay?” Euryale asked.

  Aison nodded. “I’m okay.”

  “And why wouldn’t he be?” Stheno said, panting, smiling, and covered in blood and gore. She then reached down and lifted the corpse by the head and tossed it to their feet the same way a cat would when bringing home a present. “I left the head intact, so you could bring it home.”

  “Stheno!” Euryale chided.

  “What?” she replied, genuinely shocked. “I know as far as the rules go, he was my kill, but I think we can let that slide. Your son did all the work, flushing him out like that.”

  “We’re not collecting heads.”

  “It’s a head,” she pointed out. “Singular. And he has to start sometime. Might as well be now.”

  “I said no.”

  Stheno shrugged. “Tell you what,” she said. “I’ll hold on to it for now so that when you change your mind, you won’t feel bad about leaving it behind.”

  “I’m not changing my mind.”

  Stheno laughed. “You always say that.”

  At that point, Alex, who’d been off to the side of the exchange, suddenly snapped to attention as if a thought he should’ve had long ago struck him. He looked over his shoulder, and his face drained of color. “Cassandra?”

  The unsettling tremor in her husband’s voice put the fear of Chaos in her heart, and that fear only doubled when he broke into a full sprint. She spun around to see where he was going, and it only took an instant to realize what had happened. At the other end of the pool, Cassandra lay sprawled out on her side, mouth open, with an arrow sticking out of her back.

  * * *

  Athena trotted up the steps to the acropolis, and though she felt in her heart of hearts that what she was doing was right, she hated how uncertain she was of the outcome. Merely thinking about her father’s actions made her queasy. For centuries, if not millennia, she’d wished he’d rein in his lust and decide to live by a moral code that wasn’t simply might is right.

  Sadly, she knew—or rather, now decided to admit—he would never change. Not unless he faced serious consequences and not merely a beratement by his wife, which clearly never did a damn thing. And if he wasn’t reined in now, he likely never would be, and then things would only grow worse.

  Would Euryale be the last he’d defile if nothing changed? Athena snorted. She’d sooner bet on Ares trading spears for flowers or the Fates burning their tapestry than bet on that. Who’d be next, she wondered. Artemis? Aphrodite? Demeter?

  Athena paused, halfway up the marble steps to the acropolis. Would it be her? The Goddess of Wisdom shook her head, trying to tell herself that would never be, but a week ago, the thought of Zeus forcing himself upon a gorgon would’ve seemed so laughable, she’d never have thought it to be true even if Apollo had given the prophecy himself.

  Athena shook her head and cursed. Life would be a thousand times easier for everyone if Zeus would stop dropping his robes at every opportunity. At the very least, perhaps Hera wouldn’t have tried to usurp the throne, and they could’ve avoided everything with Typhon that followed.

  Hopefully, the others would see it this way. Athena figured she at least had Artemis and Apollo on her side, even if she hadn’t spoken with the God of the Sun yet. A few others she could likely persuade, but would Zeus’s brothers, Poseidon and Hades, condemn his actions? Or would they side with their brother out of a sense of loyalty no matter what? Or simply out of a guilty conscience? It wasn’t as if either of those two hadn’t done the same.

  In the end, however, Athena knew if she couldn’t sway at least one of the two, all of her efforts would likely be in vain. Worse, even if she was Zeus’s favored daughter, there would be repercussions, swift and severe, for dragging her father through a pu
blic trial.

  As such, for the first time in…well, forever, Athena doubted not only her abilities but her wisdom. Was this a hill she was ready to die on? To protect a monster of her own making?

  She didn’t get a chance to consider every facet of the question, sadly. By the time she’d passed through the giant colonnades of the acropolis, she’d only considered twelve dozen serious consequences that would befall her should she fail, all of which would make life painful for the next eon.

  Athena stopped a few paces inside the massive structure as the chatter she’d heard on the way up the hill gave way to an uncomfortable silence. Eight sets of eyes belonging to eight other Olympians stared back at her, and the expression each god wore was one of ambivalence.

  The Goddess of Wisdom spent half an instant to recount those attending, and to her dismay, there were indeed eight gods and goddesses, and not a single one of them was Euryale.

  “Athena!” Zeus boomed with life and energy, jumping up from a bench and beckoning her over with a giant wave of his hand. “Come. Join us. You’ll be glad to know that this matter of yours is settled, and we’ve decided on a course of action to prevent any of your admittedly justifiable concerns to rest.”

  Athena tilted her head at the unexpected declaration. “Did I miss something?” she asked. “Surely, you’re not talking about what you did to Euryale.”

  “What other matter would I be talking about?” he replied, waving her over yet again. “Now come. Sit.”

  Athena made her way over to the group and sat on a marble bench next to Dionysus, who, predictably, offered her a full goblet of wine. She hesitated in taking it, but given the looks of apathy on everyone’s face, save Artemis who seemed pained, Athena accepted the drink. She had a distinct feeling she was going to want it. Or need it. Probably both.

  “What did you tell them?” she asked after taking a sip. “I doubt it was the truth.”