“Do it”, Zeus said, his anger transforming his face into a horrible mask of hatred.
“Fine, father”, Charlie cried. “As you wish. Now look what freedom of choice in all your children looks like.”
And with that he started running towards Scylla. The creature, noting the difference in the air, reared her ugly head as if sniffing for something. With a swish of her lower body, she turned towards Charlie and opened her mouth so wide spittle flew everywhere. Charlie, who was growing even taller, had grapevines sprouting from his hands, mouth and head and was slashing at the creature’s tentacles, cutting through them like butter. Scylla, hurt, confused and angry, roared so loudly the earth shook and the god that had once been Charlie catapulted himself straight up in the air and into the huge gaping hole of Scylla’s mouth. The force of his impact threw the creature backwards and made her hurtle over the rim. Once again she fell towards the ocean and Cassandra hoped that this time there would be no return.
She wanted to go over to Ben and Alexander but there was still the problem of Mia. The girl’s face had distorted into an ugly mask of frustration when Scylla fell and seemed to only hesitate for a second before she started blowing the Pipe again. Or would have if Arissa hadn’t raised her head for a fraction and let go of Mia. Mia, surprised by the sudden change, stopped the Pipe midway to her mouth and then looked at it curiously as if she saw it for the first time.
Arissa, who still looked like a shrunken mummy, took a step back. Running towards her, Cassandra saw that her eyes turned back to a normal color for a moment. Except that they weren’t Arissa’s ice-blue color but chocolate brown ones. It was over so quick that Cassandra couldn’t be sure, not from a distance, but something strange was going on. She slipped and was momentarily distracted and when she looked up again, Arissa had reached into her dress and taken out a sharp knife. Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed the hair on Mia’s head from behind and cut Mia’s throat.
Then, as if awaking from a dream, she threw away the knife and started screaming uncontrollably. Mia, who had been looking in wonder at her hands and the chaos surrounding her, seemed to want to scream, too but couldn’t. She let go of the Pipe and reached for her throat with both hands. Blood was spurting through her fingers and the girl slowly crumbled to her knees, an expression of mild confusion written all over her face.
Heracles, who had come running, took the hysterically screaming and biting Arissa into his arms and tried to soothe her while Hippolyta, who looked like she could barely hold herself upright anymore, ripped off a piece off of her shirt and pressed it on to Mia’s throat.
Again, Cassandra wondered whether it had really been Mia who had been controlling Scylla or whether it had been Arissa and whoever was lurking behind those chocolate brown eyes after all. But she could also see that Arissa had paid dearly for whatever had been going on. The daughter of Zeus was shaking from head to toe and her once beautiful face was lined and haggard, like that of an old woman. But when their eyes met, Cassandra knew that she was still the same. Cold and taxing, sly and mean.
Mia, who still seemed utterly confused by what was happening to her, tried to stop Hippolyta from helping her and desperately attempted to get a view of Alexander. When she finally did, she tried to say something but there was only a gurgle coming from her mouth. With a strength no one would have expected from her, Mia pushed against Hippolyta and Cassandra had to step in to stop her teacher from falling while Mia scrambled towards Alexander who was guarded by a Ben that looked even paler than his dead friend.
Ben waited until Mia was close enough, then he slapped her so hard she fell to the ground at Alexander’s feet. After everything that had happened today Cassandra still thought this was cruel but when she came closer and saw Alexander’s beautiful face devoid of all life, she understood why he had done it. He held Mia responsible for calling Scylla and for bringing death and destruction to them that day but she was also clearly destroyed by Alexander’s death.
Cassandra made Hippolyta, who was breathing in ragged, labored breaths, sit down against a rock and waited until Heracles brought a distraught Arissa before them. Arissa, seeing what had happened to her brother, fell to her knees crying.
“What is going on? What is wrong with my brother?” she asked stammering and for a moment Cassandra almost believed her.
Ben looked down at Arissa but there was no softness in his eyes. She looked up at him in pleading but when she saw the expression in his face, she shrank back. Ben took a step towards her as if he wanted to slap her too. The band on his wrist started glowing like crazy and he winced but instead of drawing back, he took yet another step towards Arissa who looked at him in shock.
“It’s not my fault”, she stammered and tried to hide behind Heracles. “I have no idea what happened. It was all her fault.”
She held out her hands towards Ben, begging.
“Look at me”, she said, tears streaming down her face. “Do you really think I would have done that to myself?”
Heracles, leaning against the rocks, tired and worn and beaten, contemplated the object he had taken from Mia’s hands. He looked from Mia to Arissa.
“She had the Pipe”, he said musingly. “I have no idea how she got it but there is no way she could have done this all by herself.”
He didn’t look at Arissa directly when he said it but it was clear what he meant. Cassandra thought that this was a dangerous path to follow. Heracles looked up at Zeus and Hera who hadn’t interfered or spoken since the huge creature had gone over the edge. Zeus was looking at his son, desperate and broken.
When Heracles held up the Pipe to them, Zeus pressed his lips together while Hera’s expression remained carefully neutral.
“The Pipe should have never left Mount Olympus”, Zeus said, pulling himself together. “We knew it had to be somewhere here on earth but we had no idea where it was until today.”
Hera stiffened beside him but still wouldn’t say anything.
“You weren’t made to fight each other”, Zeus said quietly. “This should have never happened.”
Arissa looked at her brother.
“Is he… dead?” she said with just the right amount of tremble in her voice, Cassandra thought.
To their surprise, Ben shook his head. Arissa’s eyes widened and Cassandra was sure that was not the answer she had expected.
“He is alive?” Heracles asked incredulously. “Are you sure?”
Ben nodded.
“We need to get him to Ms. Nightingale”, Heracles said and freed himself from Arissa’s clutches to approach Alexander but Ben stopped him.
“You need to let us help you”, Cassandra said but Ben was looking right through her as if she didn’t exist anymore.
“We can’t move him”, Ben said to Heracles. “If we remove the knife, he’ll bleed out.”
Hippolyta coughed and when she spit, there was blood. She fell to the side and was caught by Medusa, who had appeared beside them in her human form, drew her on her lap so that Hippolyta could breathe more easily.
“Relaxxx, dear”, she said, her voice shaking.
The fight was showing on her mutilated body that was even more terrible to behold in her human form. Her empty eye sockets looked like they were inflamed and there were oozing wounds where her hair had been shorn to the skull. But she sat there with her back straight and her head held high and Cassandra wished Pandora could see her grandmother like that. And she knew that Medusa hadn’t been punished for what had happened to River but that she had paid a price for being able to turn into a human again. And she had done it for her grandchild. Medusa bent her head like she could hear Cassandra’s thoughts and Cassandra nodded back to her but didn’t say anything.
“If he is still alive, there is hope”, Cassandra heard herself say and Ben was on her in an instant. He pushed her against the rocks and Cassandra let him.
“What are you talking about?” Ben hissed in white-hot anger. “Haven’t you done enough today?”
She looked at Alexander, whose shirt was covered in blood and who was barely breathing anymore. She had assumed that there was a way that he would survive this day because she had had that vision of him standing. Then she remembered the slight tingling feeling when she had touched the Minotaur on their way up and knew she was right.
“The Minotaur is wearing the Golden Fleece”, Cassandra said and Heracles frowned.
Then he nodded slowly.
“Of course”, he said, standing up and going over to the big beast that still lay lifeless at the spot where just a few moments ago Arissa and Mia had been standing. “He must have stolen it. He has an unnatural attachment to the Fleece.”
He bent down and after a bit of struggling, he managed to detach it from the Minotaur’s body.
“And if you are wondering”, he said, returning with the stinking piece of sheep skin that had been dyed black. “He is still alive. Or will be in a few hours.”
He held out the Fleece towards Ben who was staring at it in disbelief.
“Are you sure it is the Fleece?” the son of Hades said and then Alexander coughed and puked blood.
Ben was beside him in an instant, withdrawing the knife while Cassandra and Heracles put the Fleece on the floor, waiting for Ben to put Alexander on it before they wrapped the son of Zeus into it.
They covered him as much as possible but nothing happened. Alexander lay there like the dead and when Cassandra bent down to hear whether he was still breathing, there was nothing. Cassandra wanted to turn away but Ben held on tightly.
“No”, he said and she thought she had never felt so cold in her life. “Stay. Look at what you have done.”
He released her and bent down to remove the Fleece from his dead friend. Just then, Alexander’s eyelids fluttered and Ben gave a small cry. Before they could stop him, Alexander propped himself up and ripped off his shirt with both hands. He seemed slightly confused at first but then he looked down on his chest to see the last of his wound close again without a trace. Color returned to his cheeks and there was a magic current running through his body starting from his heart and then spreading to his torso, arms and even to his legs. He was definitely alive and the Fleece was doing its job and more. For a moment it looked as if it would heal his legs, too, but when Alexander tried to stand up, he couldn’t.
Cassandra remembered that she had read somewhere that the Fleece was a dangerous thing to use. It was the only thing that could return the almost dead back to life but it always took something from you in exchange.
“Son”, Zeus said and there was relief in his voice.
Alexander nodded at him but before Zeus could say anything, Hera took her husband’s hand and told him it was time to leave. Zeus threw one last look at his son and then they disappeared.
For a moment no one said a thing. Then Hippolyta coughed and Medusa grabbed the Golden Fleece.
“Why don’t you let it heal you, too?” Medusa suggested quietly to Hippolyta who was breathing in slow, ragged breaths.
The Amazon shook her head but when her breathing stopped, Medusa simply pressed it on the Amazon warrior’s body. After a few moments, Hippolyta opened her eyes and nodded. She shoved the Fleece away and there was quiet desperation in her eyes, telling them that the price the Fleece had asked in exchange for her life had indeed been high. Maybe too high.
“Arissa is hurt as well”, Cassandra said.
To everyone’s surprise, the daughter of Zeus looked almost back to normal though. Except for her hair that was still as white as snow, she was looking the same as before. If possible, the white hair made her even more beautiful.
“How did you do that?” Ben asked sharply and Arissa’s looks were daggers.
“What?” the daughter of Zeus snapped. “I am a demigod, too. I regenerate quickly.”
She reached for Ben’s hand but he drew back from her as if she was poisonous and Cassandra knew that he had made a mistake. But that wasn’t her problem anymore.
Hippolyta went checking whether there was something she could do for Bear but came back shaking her head. He was gone and no Golden Fleece would ever bring him back.
They heard shuffling behind them and whipped around in unison. For the first time that day, Ben’s face lit up when he saw his brother making his way towards them. There was a thin red line where the silver knife drenched in holy water had cut him but he seemed fine otherwise.
“Yup, made it”, he said and slumped down beside them. “I would have expected a little more enthusiasm now that Alexander is alive and safe but I guess that would be asking too much, given the circumstances. I’ll take a hello then. No, not even that? Fine, suit yourselves.”
With that he let himself fall to the side and curled into a ball. He started snoring heavily almost immediately. At the same time, there was a loud roar down at the shore, then there was the sound of an explosion and several big chunks hit the water. Charlie had done his job, Scylla was dead. At least for the time being.
The vision hit Cassandra out of nowhere. It was the familiar one where she had seen Alexander standing with her at his side. But something had changed: it was still Alexander standing before a window looking out but he wasn’t standing independently anymore but was resting against some kind of chair that supported him. And the girl beside him wasn’t her any more, if it had ever been. When the girl turned around to look up at him, Cassandra realized that even though the girl was almost as tall as her and had the same color hair, it was someone else entirely. That girl was no one Cassandra had ever seen. She was pretty, of course she was, and obviously very much in love with Alexander. Cassandra felt a stab. When he bent down to kiss the girl, the vision vanished.
She shook her head to get rid of the dizzy feeling she always had after a vision and saw Alexander waving her to come over. Cassandra took a deep breath and approached him until they finally stood face to face. She wanted to say she was sorry, that she was glad that he was alive and that she wished they could stay friends. But when she saw the coldness in his eyes, all words died in her throat. He stretched out his hand as if wanting to touch her face but then withdrew it again.
“I always knew how you felt”, he said quietly and Ben turned away to hide his emotions. “I thought that maybe… Never mind.”
Then he turned away from her, asking Ben to take him away from there.
No forgiveness. Of course not. How would he understand that she had never, not for a second, wanted to sacrifice him for Ben but had felt that she had no other choice than to save him.
Tears were burning in her eyes when she watched Ben and Alexander leave together. Medusa, Hippolyta and, after hesitating for a moment, Arissa left too.
And suddenly Cassandra was alone with Heracles and Mia. Mia, who with her last breaths, was watching Alexander leave and tried to follow him, crawling on her stomach with blood pooling around her. Cassandra guessed that only her deep and desperate love for Alexander had kept her alive that long and that she, too, had been hoping for a sign of his forgiveness. But he had never even looked at her.
“Mia isn’t the strongest of girls”, Heracles said quietly as if to himself. “Nor did she ever seem to be the brightest.”
Instead of answering, Cassandra bent down to look Mia in the eye.
“Why did you do this?” she murmured but Mia didn’t see her.
When Alexander disappeared from their view, something within Mia broke for good and she laid her head to the side, beaten.
“You would have never hurt him”, Cassandra said, stroking the poor girl’s hair. “Yet you used the Pipe to call out to those monsters. You almost destroyed us all today. Why? Why would you do that?”
Mia’s eyes rolled back into he
r skull and her breathing became ragged.
“We should let her go”, Heracles said and Cassandra bit her lip. “It would be… merciful.”
Their eyes met and they knew they couldn’t do it.
“She is our only connection to what really happened”, Cassandra said quietly and reached for the Golden Fleece. They would never let Mia see the light of day again, not after what she had done today but Cassandra felt she had no choice. Arissa would simply deny that she had been involved in any way. She would point out her suffering that day, say that she had been terribly used by Mia and that would be that. If Mia died, there was no one to prove any different.
Cassandra placed the Fleece on Mia and together with Heracles she watched it do its work. It took a while for the magic to take effect, but finally Mia rose just like Alexander. Her moves were clumsy and robotic and when she realized that she was still alive she gave a guttural cry. She was desperately looking about for something and when she found it, Cassandra needed every ounce of strength left in her to prevent Mia from killing herself with the knife that had almost ended Alexander’s life. Heracles, taking pity on the girl, took her into an iron grip and then whispered something into her ear. Mia stopped struggling almost immediately.
“It seems like the Fleece took her voice”, Heracles said quietly and Cassandra thought that nothing the Fleece could take from Mia would be worse than the realization that Alexander hadn’t even cared enough for her to say good-bye.
When Heracles bound her hands together with a leather strap from his shirt, she didn’t fight him. Mia followed him like a puppy but when Cassandra bent down to pick up the Fleece, she almost fainted and fell to the floor panting from the sudden pain that had caught up to her after everything that had happened. Heracles was beside her in an instant.
“What is wrong with you, child?” he asked and suddenly Cassandra knew that he knew.
She started crying and after a moment, Heracles drew her to himself and started rocking her like a baby.
The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) Page 31