Elementals 3: The Head of Medusa

by Michelle Madow

  “Maybe I should just get Darius to come over here,” I said, since we clearly weren’t getting anywhere. “He can use gray energy on you to make you forget about everything I just told you. It would be easier that way.”

  “So you can go on lying to us?” my mom asked, her voice cracking. “From what you said, I know we probably wouldn’t be able to fight Darius’s magic, but I hope you wouldn’t do something like that to us. We’re your family, and we love you. We deserve to know the truth.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself and sank into my seat. She was right. They did deserve to know the truth—that was why I’d insisted we delay the mission until tomorrow morning. So that I could come clean to my family.

  I just hadn’t thought they would try to forbid me from going. After all, I hadn’t come here to ask for their permission. I’d come here so I could be upfront and honest with them—so that if anything happened to me while I was gone, they would know the truth of what I was fighting for. Completing this mission was my destiny. No one could stop me, not even my parents. I just wished they could understand and accept that.

  I ran my fingers over my necklace, tracing the details of the sun charm given to me by Apollo. What if I called for his help right now? I doubted he would come—he never did. But if he did come, maybe he could convince my parents how important it is that I do my part to stop the return of the Titans. He was a god—they would have to listen to him.

  But I dropped my hand back to my side, letting the pendant fall back onto my neck. Because as much as I wanted to meet him, I didn’t need Apollo to swoop in here and stand up for me. This was my problem. I had to be the one to solve it.

  “I didn’t tell you all of this to ask for permission,” I said, keeping my voice calm and steady—like an adult. “I told you this because I want you to know the truth. Because I don’t want to keep on lying to you. We—me, Blake, Kate, Chris, and Danielle—are the only ones who can stop the Titans from returning to Earth. After being locked in Kerberos for so long, the Titans aren’t in their right minds anymore. If they return, make no mistake—they will destroy our planet. And I will not allow that to happen.”

  No one said anything for a few seconds. Was I wrong in coming to my parents at all? Maybe my initial concerns were right, and this was too much for them. Maybe it would be best if I called Darius over here and asked him to wipe their memories of the past few hours. He could explain my upcoming absence by telling them that there was another school trip. It had worked when we went to Greece, so it should work again.

  Just as I was about to text Darius to ask for his help, my mom broke the silence. “I need to talk with your dad about this privately,” she said. “We’ll come back here to talk to you once we’ve figured out our thoughts.”

  The two of them went to their room to talk, leaving me in the living room with Becca. At first, she continued to stare at me, shocked. But then the floodgates opened, and she couldn’t stop talking. She had lots of questions—mainly about magic and how it worked—and I happily answered them. Surprisingly enough, she was actually glad that she didn’t have magic. She said that everything I had to do sounded scary to her, and she was glad not to be responsible for fighting monsters.

  Even though Darius had made her forget about being kidnapped and almost killed by the harpy, did the experience still remain in her subconscious? If it did, I was glad. Because Becca was right to want to stay away from danger. I’d never felt so powerless as when I’d seen her bound to the chair in that cave. I didn’t want her involved in any of this ever again.

  When my parents came back in, I watched them, looking for some clue about their decision. But their expressions gave away nothing. I hoped they’d decided they were okay with me going on this mission. Because if they weren’t, it wasn’t going to stop me. Saving the world from the Titans was my purpose in life. The gods had gifted me with these powers, and I wasn’t going to let them—and the rest of the world—down. I was going to do everything I could to succeed, no matter what.

  I just hoped my parents could support me in that.

  “Your father and I talked, and we decided that you will be allowed to go to Darius’s tomorrow morning,” my mom finally said. “On one condition.”

  Despite the fact that I hadn’t been asking for their permission to begin with, I was glad that I had it. “What condition?” I asked, curious about what it would be.

  “We’ll be driving you there, and will go inside to meet him,” my dad said. “We do not doubt everything that you’ve told us, but it will make us more confident if we were to hear it all from him directly. Once we hear from him, then we’ll decide if you’re allowed to go, or if you’ll come home with us.”

  My heart dropped at their words. They still thought they could stop me from going. I didn’t want to have to go against them… but at least this was a step in the right direction.

  “Of course,” I said, confident that Darius would back me up on this. If speaking with him didn’t convince my parents to let me go, then I didn’t know what would.

  “And one more thing,” my mom said. “No matter what happens, we don’t want Darius to wipe our memories of what you told us here tonight. We don’t want you to go back to keeping this secret from us. Can you promise us that you won’t let him do that?”

  I almost told them that I promised, but I held my tongue. Because the last time I promised someone something—when I told Ethan and Rachael that I wouldn’t let anything happen to them during our journey through Greece—I hadn’t been able to keep it. And while Ethan had said that he understood my decision to save Blake before his sister, he never said that he’d forgiven me for it.

  I no longer wanted to make promises that I wasn’t sure I could keep.

  “If Darius wipes your memories, I won’t be able to stop him,” I said. “But I’ll promise you this—I’ll ask him not to. Because I don’t want to continue lying to you, either. And if he doesn’t listen to me, then I’ll tell you the truth again when I return.”

  If I return, I thought, thinking of Rachael’s lifeless body in the hydra’s cave. The memory of it made me shudder. Because I didn’t want to die. Not anytime soon. I’d always thought of death as being something that I would worry about as an old woman—not something that I would have to think about now.

  But if I didn’t go on this mission, then we would all surely die when the Titans returned to Earth. The best way for me to try to make sure that I would live to an old age was to do everything I could to seal the portal forever.

  My dad looked at my mom, as if asking her if my answer was acceptable.

  “I suppose that will have to do,” she said. “We’ll drive you over to Darius’s first thing in the morning. I’m very much looking forward to meeting him.”

  With that, we said goodnight and went to bed.

  I thought I would have trouble falling asleep, but that wasn’t the case. I texted Blake to let him know that I was too tired to stay awake any longer and that I would tell him about what happened in the morning, and then I fell into bed, zonking out the moment my head hit the pillow.

  Which was a good thing, because I needed all the rest I could get before the journey tomorrow.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Hypatia, the Head Elder of Greece, was already at Darius’s when my parents and I got there, so they were able to meet her as well. Once introduced, they went upstairs to speak with her and Darius privately. I waited downstairs with the others and updated them on what had happened last night.

  My parents only talked with Darius and Hypatia for about ten minutes. I paced around the living room the entire time, too anxious to sit still. I was afraid that when they came back downstairs, they were going to grab me and try to force me to move far away from here.

  Instead, they simply hugged me goodbye, wished me luck, and headed out the door. I watched their car back out of the driveway, suspicious that they’d left so quickly, and with so little fuss.

  “You didn’t wipe their memor
ies, did you?” I asked Darius and Hypatia once their car was gone.

  “Of course not,” Darius said. “You asked us not to, and I respect that.”

  “Hmm,” I said. “Then how’d you convince them to let me go so easily?”

  “You never asked us not to use gray energy on them at all,” Hypatia said. “So we reinforced everything you told them last night, and helped them accept your decision to do what is right. They now fully understand how important it is for you to complete your mission, and will respect and support all of your future decisions on the matter.”

  I thanked them, grateful that they’d respected my wishes. But I wasn’t sure how I felt about what they had done. Because on one hand, I wanted my parents to respect my decision by their own free will. On the other hand, it made everything easier to know that I wouldn’t have to fight them on this any further, and that I could be honest with them while focusing on what was important—making sure this mission was a success.

  It was a lot to think about, but since there was nothing I could do about it now, I did my best to brush it aside. I could worry about it later. Right now, we had more important matters to deal with. Mainly—going to Antarctica, entering Chione’s ice palace, and acquiring the Golden Sword.

  “Now, I trust that you all are dressed properly, in multiple layers to guard against the cold?” Hypatia asked. “Even though Chris will be able to control the temperature around you, you still must be prepared for anything.”

  “Yes,” I said, since last night we’d all looked up what to wear for such extreme temperatures. The others nodded as well. Luckily, since we lived in Massachusetts, we owned enough winter clothes that we were able to layer properly. My wardrobe that I’d had in Georgia would never have been up for the task. It was sweltering inside, and all the clothing made me feel clunky and less nimble, but we would be grateful for the layers once we stepped through the portal.

  “Good.” Hypatia nodded. “Since you won’t have cell phone service to let me know when to open the portal for your return, and I can’t go with you since I would be a burden during your fight with the ice nymphs, I’ve devised a plan. I will open the portal in intervals after your arrival. The first interval will be after five minutes. That is your emergency portal back home, in case something goes wrong immediately after your arrival. The second interval is after one hour. If you’re unable to win against the ice nymphs, this is your chance to return. I’ll open it again two hours after that, just in case the fight takes longer. After that, I’ll assume that you’ve won against the ice nymphs and are in Chione’s ice palace, or have found cover in the nearby South Pole station. There’s a witch who works at the South Pole station—his name is Jeffrey Feldman, and he’s the breakfast chef there. He’s been alerted that you might arrive and seek him out. If you end up in the South Pole station, find him and he’ll contact me so I can send a portal to you there.”

  “And if we’re in Chione’s ice palace?” I asked.

  “Then Chione will be able to create a portal leading back here,” she said. “Now, are you ready?”

  We told her that yes, we were.

  “Take note of the time when the last person comes through,” she said. “I’ll create the interval portals according to that time.”

  With that, she held her hands out and created the swirling portal on the wall of Darius’s living room. Portals were always foggy, making it difficult to see what was on the other side of them. This one was cloudier than usual—as if all that waited on the other side was ice, as far as the eye could see. Which, I supposed, it was.

  Chris walked through first, because he would be heating the air for when the rest of us arrived. Kate followed him, and Danielle went after her. Which left only Blake and me.

  “Together?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  “Together,” I repeated, placing my hand in his. His eyes met mine, he gave my hand a squeeze, and together, we stepped through the portal.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  My stomach dropped with the roller coaster sensation that I had every time I walked through a portal. I would never get used to it. Which was saying a lot, because I loved roller coasters. But there was something terrifying about it when you weren’t strapped into anything, and felt like you were free-falling into nothingness.

  At least, this time, I had Blake’s hand to hold me steady.

  My feet touched solid ground, and icy wind cut into my face. It was freezing—all the way down to my bones. I wanted to get inside and enjoy a steaming mug of hot chocolate. But I opened my eyes, and in front of me, as far as I could see, was a flat, endless expanse of white snow. There were no mountains, no buildings—nothing. It was like a desert, but with snow instead of sand. The sun hung low in the sky, as if preparing to set. But I knew from reading an article last night about Antarctica that the sun wouldn’t set until two weeks from now, on the spring equinox. In Antarctica, the sun rose on the fall equinox, and stayed up until setting on the spring equinox. They had two seasons—day, which was summer, and night, which was winter. I was glad that our trip here was during their day, and not during their night.

  “Welcome to the South Pole!” Chris said with a huge smile, as if he owned the place. “Turn around and check out the sign.”

  I turned around, and sure enough, there was a big white sign that said “Geographic South Pole” with a map of where we were. Next to it was an American Flag, and far behind it was a cluster of industrial-looking buildings that I assumed made up the station where we would find the witch who could contact Hypatia in case of an emergency.

  I rubbed my hands over my arms, trying to keep warm. “I thought you were going to warm it up for us before we got here?” I asked Chris.

  “Trust me—I did warm it up.” He laughed. “By about forty degrees. I would guess that right now it feels like zero degrees Fahrenheit. It’ll take too much energy to warm it up much more, and I figured that this was tolerable.”

  “Barely,” I muttered, my teeth chattering.

  “Spoken like a southerner.” Danielle rolled her eyes. “This feels fine to me.”

  Blake wrapped his arms around me, and I sunk into his embrace, letting him attempt to warm me up. It helped, but it didn’t change the fact that it was freezing out here. Literally. I couldn’t imagine what it would have felt like if Chris hadn’t been warming it up for us. Negative forty degrees was beyond my comprehension. The people who voluntarily worked on this frozen continent must be out of their minds.

  “So… any idea where the ice palace is?” Kate asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Danielle said, looking out into the open plain of snow. “It’s right there.”

  I squinted at where she was looking, just in case I was missing something. But there was nothing there. Only untouched snow that went on for miles and miles, until it disappeared into the clear blue sky of the horizon.

  “Right where?” Blake asked. “All I see is snow.”

  “Right. There.” She pointed where we were all already looking, but as hard as I strained, I couldn’t see anything resembling a palace.

  “Is it really far in the distance or something?” I’d always had perfect vision, but maybe it was time to get my eyes checked again.

  Danielle glared at us and crossed her arms, although she didn’t look very intimidating, given all the layers of padding she was wearing. “Now isn’t the time to try being funny,” she said.

  “Cool it, Ice Princess.” Chris held his hands out, as if trying to stop her from lashing out. “I don’t see anything either.”

  Danielle stared him down, like she was waiting for him to say that he was kidding. When it was clear that he wasn’t taking it back, and that none of us were sticking up for her, she dropped her arms to her sides in defeat. “Seriously?” she asked, looking around at each of us. “None of you can see that huge ice palace out there?”

  “Nope,” Blake said. “We aren’t just saying that we can’t see it for the hell of it.”

  “Well,
this is just great.” Danielle huffed. “How are any of you supposed to be helpful in getting into the palace when you can’t even see that it exists?”

  “Let’s calm down and think this through logically,” Kate said. “The gods can create shields around anything magical—that’s why the Islands of Old Mythology appear deserted to humans. But anyone who has magic—witches, demigods, or gods—can see through the shields to the Islands. We know that the ice palace is heavily guarded because the Sword of Athena is kept there. The gods don’t want anyone getting their hands on that sword. Is it too out there to think that they might create a shield around the ice palace so that no one—except for other gods, perhaps—can see it at all?”

  “It would make sense,” I said. “No one would be able to steal the sword if they can’t see where it’s kept.”

  “So why can I see it?” Danielle asked. “I’m not a god, or even a demigod.”

  “Because of your element,” Blake said smoothly. “If there’s fire anywhere near me, I can always feel its presence. Like it’s a part of me. It’s the same for you with water, right?”

  “Yeah,” Danielle said. “Of course.”

  “So because the palace is made of ice—Danielle’s element—she’s able to see it through the shield,” Kate said.

  “Got it,” I said. “But if only Danielle can see the palace, then what are we supposed to do?”

  “Easy,” Blake answered. “We need to pass through the shield. Once we’re through the perimeter, we’ll be able to see what’s behind it.”

  Before anyone could respond, the sign that marked the location of the Geographic South Pole rippled and shimmered. A swirling circle was now in the place where the writing had been before.

  “The first portal,” I said, looking into it. As always, the portal was foggy, but I could vaguely make out of the warm browns of Darius’s living room.