by Kate O'Hearn
The sudden pain brought back all the terrible memories of what Agent J and O had done to him at the Governors Island facility. Then he remembered they’d done the same to Joel. Those memories turned to rage.
‘Sandals,’ he shouted, ‘get me to Agent O!’
The CRU agent heard Paelen’s order. His eyes flew wide in fear as he struggled to run away. But the thick bandages on his legs wouldn’t let him move very fast. Paelen was on him in an instant, unleashing all the pent-up anger he felt towards the evil government agent.
Paelen was unaware of anything else. It was just him and Agent O. He couldn’t see Cupid gaining control over the soldiers, nor did he see the other agents moving in to pull him off. All he knew was fury.
A loud shattering of glass finally caught his attention. Paelen lifted his head to see Cupid flying full speed though a picture glass window at the front of the store. That sound brought him back. He looked down. Agent O was unconscious and his men were trying to drag him off.
‘This is for Joel!’ Paelen shouted as he gave Agent O a final jaw-cracking punch. ‘Sandals,’ he shouted, ‘follow Cupid!’
The sandals reacted immediately. Despite all the men crushing down on him, Paelen was lifted in the air. With several soldiers dangling from his legs, he flew towards the large broken window. Just as the last man released him, he passed through the opening and up into the night sky.
The urgent popping of gunfire followed Paelen as he searched the air for Cupid. From above him arrived the heavy thumping sounds of military helicopters giving chase. Paelen looked back and saw the terrifying machines gaining on him. ‘Faster!’ he cried to the sandals. ‘Fly faster!’
Ahead of him, two other helicopters cut through the night sky. They were moving away from him, so he knew they were chasing Cupid. He saw the lightning fire of their weapons sparking in the dark sky as they opened fire on the winged Olympian.
Paelen had little time to worry about Cupid as the other military helicopters were right behind him and getting closer. He turned back. ‘Let me see how high you can go. Sandals, take me up!’
With a sudden change of direction, the sandals shot Paelen straight up in the night sky. Beneath him, the helicopters tried to follow, but he was moving too quickly.
‘Higher!’ Paelen ordered. ‘Take me higher!’
The air became painfully thin. Paelen felt his breathing become more laboured, but not so that he couldn’t breathe. As he looked down, he saw the helicopters struggling to follow him. Eventually they gave up and flew away from the area.
‘Yes!’ he cried, punching the air in celebration. He looked down and followed the trail of the fleeing helicopters. They were joining the others chasing Cupid. But the first two weren’t moving any more. They were hovering in one position in the sky over the trees. Paelen suddenly had a very bad feeling. The two helicopters that had chased him also stopped and were hovering above one area. Their searchlights burst to life and started to scan the trees and snowy ground below. They were looking for Cupid.
‘Sandals, be very careful, but get me to Cupid.’
The sandals lowered Paelen down out of the sky. Well away from the probing helicopter’s lights, he entered the trees. Hovering just above ground level, they carried him over the undisturbed snow towards the area where searchlights were looking for Cupid.
Up ahead, he saw a large dark shape in the snow. Even before he arrived, Paelen’s heart pounded and his mouth went dry. It was Cupid. The winged Olympian had been shot out of the sky and crashed to the ground. He lay unmoving, in a broken heap. One wing was fanned out behind him, while the other was trapped beneath his unconscious form. The snow around Cupid was turning red from his blood.
Above him, the searchlights continued to pan around the area. For the moment they couldn’t see him or Cupid. But it was only a matter of time. Paelen felt nervously at Cupid’s neck. There was still a pulse and he was breathing. As the ceaseless searchlights drew closer, Paelen hoisted Cupid up in his arms.
‘Get me back to Olympus,’ he ordered the sandals, ‘quickly!’
19
Paelen cradled Cupid in his arms as the sandals flew towards an opening in the trees and climbed higher in the dark sky. They tried to gain enough speed to enter the Solar Stream, but the combined weight of the two Olympians was too much for them to bear.
After several failed attempts, Paelen was forced to give up. He ordered the sandals to take them back to the cabin. When he touched down on the porch, Paelen carried Cupid forward and kicked open the door. ‘Agent T,’ he called, ‘Cupid has been hurt!’
‘Cupid!’ Agent T screeched as he ran forward. His face was twisted in pain. ‘What happened?’
‘There were these flying machines,’ Paelen explained. ‘They had large weapons. They were chasing us. When they realized they couldn’t catch us, they shot Cupid out of the sky. He hit the ground hard. I think he has broken a wing.’
Agent T ran ahead and cleared the coffee table. ‘Put him here,’ he said shakily. ‘When is the doctor coming?’
‘We could not reach him,’ Paelen explained as he carried Cupid to the table. ‘It is just us.’
Paelen settled Cupid down and together he and Agent T inspected his wounds. His back and wings were covered in blood. They found multiple deep and weeping bullet holes. Paelen had been right. Cupid’s left wing was badly broken from the fall.
‘Smaller weapons do not hurt us,’ Paelen mused as he lifted Cupid’s unbroken wing to peer beneath it. ‘But look what those flying machines did to him. He has been torn to pieces.’
‘He needs a doctor!’ Agent T insisted as he gathered together bandages and antiseptic for Cupid. ‘He is bleeding and is going to die without one. I can try to slow the blood loss, but I don’t have the skills to help him.’
‘I cannot reach the doctor,’ Paelen insisted. ‘And a human doctor could not help him anyway. I tried to carry him back to Olympus, but my sandals could not bear the weight of the two of us …’ Paelen paused. Finally his eyes went wide. ‘Wait a moment – ambrosia! Cupid needs ambrosia. It is what keeps us healthy and strong in Olympus. It will help him heal.’ He looked back at Emily’s father on the sofa and Earl on the stretcher. ‘Ambrosia will help everyone here heal.’
‘Then why the hell are you just standing there?’ Agent T shot furiously. He shoved Paelen towards the door. ‘Get out of here! Go! Fly back to Olympus and get some ambrosia. Save my Cupid!’
20
Emily couldn’t stop screaming. The screams just kept on coming, even after Tange put a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with terror and locked on the two creatures sitting in a set of thrones on a raised dais. She tried to look away, but couldn’t. They were worse than anything she could ever imagine and more horrible than any of the creatures from the most terrifying movies she and her father used to watch together.
They were two women. But nothing like anything she’d ever seen before. Their skin was covered in green and gold snake scales. They had small golden wings that constantly fluttered on their backs like hummingbirds. Their arms ended in hands of bronze and their legs were long and bony and had lizard-like feet with long sharp claws.
But most terrifying of all were their heads. Their faces were green and scaly. They had no noses, just two breathing holes like a snake. They had no lips to speak of, but slits that opened when they let out their squeals. In place of hair, hundreds of green snakes grew out of the tops of their heads, all writhing around as their forked tongues spat and hissed.
As Tange carried her forward, Emily spotted more statues gathered around the dais. This time they weren’t adult Nirads, but children. As she looked closer, her screams found renewed energy as a realization overtook her. The Nirad statues – they hadn’t been carved. They were real Nirads that had somehow been turned to stone! Every single Nirad no longer had marblecoloured skin, but was marble. Their terrified faces revealed the final torturous moments of unbearable pain as their living tissue had turned to stone.
Behind her, Pegasus was going mad. He reared and whinnied furiously as they were led forward, until he broke free of the Nirads surrounding him and charged ahead.
The stallion stopped just before the thrones. He reared up high and opened his burned wings. His head was thrown back in fury as he faced the two snake-women. The winged boar was seated between the two thrones and rose on his haunches and squealed loudly at the stallion.
‘Calm down, Chrysaor,’ one of the monstrous women said, stroking the furious boar’s head.
‘Listen to Euryale,’ said the other. ‘This is a time of celebration. We have the Flame of Olympus in our midst. We must not have her thinking ill of us, or that we do not welcome her visit.’ She turned to Pegasus. ‘So say what you will, Pegasus,’ she hissed through her thin snake-like mouth, ‘it will change nothing. The time of retribution has finally arrived. We will finally have justice. Jupiter and all Olympus will pay for the murder of your mother. Our beloved sister, Medusa, will be avenged!’
Emily had stopped screaming. But she trembled in terror as she looked at the two hideous women. Fear was making it hard to think clearly. But part of her almost remembered the name.
Medusa was a … a … Emily strained to recall what Joel had told her about Pegasus’s mother. Gorgon! She finally remembered. His mother, Medusa, and her two sisters, Stheno and Euryale were gorgons. Pegasus was born when Jupiter’s son, Perseus, cut off Medusa’s head. Joel had told her that the stallion supposedly sprang from the blood at her neck. But Emily had never believed him. She suddenly remembered that one look at a gorgon was meant to turn you instantly to stone.
Emily looked at all the stone statues in the room and realized at least that part of the myth was true. But if one look at a gorgon could turn someone to stone, why hadn’t she been turned? Or Pegasus and all the living Nirads in the hall?
With Pegasus locked in a loud, furious fight with the two gorgons, Emily took a longer look around the throne room. Her eyes fell on a large cage set up directly behind the repulsive snake-women’s thrones. It was made entirely of gold, with fine narrow braided bars that Emily knew even she could break out of. On the roof of the cage was a huge stack of more gold. The only part of the large cage that wasn’t gold was the single black stone chair that sat in the very middle.
Seated in the chair was a female Nirad. She was the smallest Nirad Emily had ever seen. She was certain if they stood together, they would have been the same size. She looked very young, with fine, gentle features that were almost pretty. And although she still had four arms, she was a lovely shade of dark pink with darker pink marbling. Instead of wearing rags like all the other Nirads, she was wearing a gown of the palest pink, which made her skin even prettier.
Emily sensed something special about this young Nirad. But one thing was certain, whoever she was, she was by far the saddest creature Emily had ever laid eyes upon. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were downcast as they lingered on all the stone children gathered around the thrones. When she finally raised her pale grey eyes, Emily’s heart nearly broke. The pain they held was unbearable.
Emily glanced away from the sad, pink Nirad, and continued to investigate the throne room. To her right, she saw part of another large cage. Unlike the braided gold bars of the cage at the front of the room, this one had thick, solid black bars. As Emily strained to peer around Tange to get a better look at it, her eyes settled on the occupant lying on the floor of the cage. She gasped.
It was Joel.
If Joel was here, were the others too? Emily desperately searched the room for signs of her father, Paelen and Cupid. But she could only see was Joel. She tried to call to him, but Tange was still covering her mouth. Her hands flew up and tried to drag his away as she renewed her struggle in his arms. Yet the harder she fought, the firmer he held her.
Tange was shaking his head, trying his best to get her to stop.
But her squeals and struggle did not go unnoticed. As Pegasus stood before the gorgons, he turned back to Emily. It was only then that the stallion also noticed Joel. He whinnied loudly and trotted over to the cage. Pegasus reared and tried to kick the large lock off the door. But even after several vicious blows, the lock remained undamaged.
‘You will not break it, Pegasus,’ Stheno hissed. ‘That lock is secure. But do not fear, the human boy inside is unharmed. For now …’
There was no mistaking the threat in the gorgon’s voice. Pegasus trotted back up to the dais and continued to protest loudly. But the louder the stallion became, the softer the snake-women spoke. Emily strained to hear what was being said, but she couldn’t.
Joel’s back was to her. She was relieved to see his sides moving with steady breathing. From what little she could see, he looked all right. Emily finally gazed back up into the face of Tange. She nodded her head, trying to tell him she wouldn’t scream or fight any more.
Tange removed his hand from her mouth. His eyes were locked on the stone children standing before the thrones. As her initial terror finally faded into a steady fear, another feeling started in the pit of Emily’s stomach. She recalled the pained expression on Tange’s face when she’d asked if he had any children. ‘Are those your children?’ she asked him.
Tange didn’t move for a long time and she wondered if he’d even heard her. Finally he looked down on her and nodded.
Emily’s eyes flashed back to the stone children. Her throat tightened when she saw the terror on their young faces. It looked like they were running away from the throne when they were turned to marble. Suddenly, a crucial piece of the strange puzzle fell into place.
‘You invaded Olympus and came to New York because those gorgons were threatening your children, right?’
Tange nodded.
‘And if you didn’t cooperate, they turned them to stone?’
Once again Tange gave a slight nod.
Emily looked away, too stunned to speak. She had become so accustomed to hating and dreading the Nirads that it was hard to imagine that these fearsome, powerful creatures were actually a conquered race of slaves. They deserved her pity and compassion, not fear and hatred! The Nirads were being forced to serve the cruel gorgons or face the destruction of their children.
As she looked, she saw some of the child statues had been smashed and the pieces scattered around the room. It was bad enough that the gorgons had turned them to stone. But to smash them as well was just too cruel.
Her eyes drifted back to the pink Nirad in the cage. ‘Is she important to you?’
Tange looked up to the cage. She watched his eyes grow even sadder. He nodded his head slowly.
Before Emily could guess who the pink Nirad was, the conversation between Pegasus and the two gorgons ended. The stallion turned away from the throne and tried to come back to her. But Chrysaor sprang forward and blocked his path.
Pegasus reared again and faced the boar. Chrysaor rose on his stubby legs and challenged the stallion. But before their fight resumed, the two gorgons started to scream. The sound was loud and shrill and caused everyone in the throne room to cry out in pain and put their hands over their ears.
Emily had never experienced anything like it in her life. Even Tange reacted to the horrible sounds and covered his ears. His other arms gripped her tighter and quivered. When the sounds finally stopped, Emily removed her own hands from her ears and expected to find blood.
‘Pegasus, enough!’ screeched Euryale. She rose from the throne and stepped down from the dais, kicking aside a child statue as she went. The statue spun and fell over, breaking one of its tiny arms. In the cage, the pink Nirad howled in pain.
‘Silence!’ Euryale warned. ‘Or I will destroy more.’ She turned and looked on the boar, ‘Chrysaor, we will have no more fighting between you two.’
Emily tensed as the snake-woman drew near. She could feel Tange actually start to tremble. But was it fear or rage? Looking at Tange’s face she couldn’t tell.
‘So,’ said the gorgon, ‘this child is the
Flame of Olympus?’
The closer she got, the more Emily could hear the living snakes on her head hissing and spitting. She stood before Emily. ‘A human child? Vesta was a fool to hide the heart of the Flame in a human.’ She reached forward and stroked Emily’s cheek with her cold bronze finger. ‘Humans are all so – delicate. What could she have been thinking?’
Emily felt sick at the touch. She couldn’t look at the gorgon. She kept her eyes locked on Pegasus. The stallion was pawing the marble floor and trying to get closer, but the boar squealed again.
‘I told you to stop, Chrysaor,’ Euryale spat. ‘Leave your brother alone.’
Emily’s eyes flashed open as she looked at the winged boar. That was Pegasus’s brother? She was far too stunned to be repulsed by the closeness of the snake-woman.
‘What is this?’ the gorgon said as she studied Emily’s face. ‘Did you not know that Pegasus had a twin brother? They were born when the murderous Perseus cut off our dear sister’s head.’ She let out a horrible, harsh laugh. ‘See, Pegasus? See how ignorant the humans are? Is it any wonder that we used to feed on their flesh? Why you should choose to give your loyalty and time to this one is well beyond my comprehension.’
Stheno flew down from the throne and approached her. Emily had to fight to hold back more screams. Her eyes were drawn to the snakes that covered the tops of their heads as the hideous creatures squirmed around and hissed at her.
As Stheno reached for Emily, Pegasus whinnied and charged forward, trying to put himself between the gorgons and Emily.
‘Hold your tongue, nephew,’ Stheno hissed as she smacked the stallion’s muzzle. ‘You know we have killed for less. You will have her back. But not until she has done what we brought her here to do.’
Emily grew cold. These horrible child-killers expected her to do something for them? ‘I don’t know why you brought us here. But whatever it is you want me to do, forget it. I won’t do it!’