She swung with all her strength. There was a sickening crunch, and the blade came to a sudden stop that jarred and vibrated up her arms and into her shoulders. There was a gurgling noise, a sudden thump, then nothing.
I did it. Didn’t I?
Megan tried to pull the sword back, but it was stuck. She opened one eye to look at the shield. It was no longer there, and neither was Rachel. She laid on the floor, unconscious, the shield on top of her. It looked like she had fainted.
“Rachel.” Megan pulled on the sword. “Rachel, are you okay?”
Rachel moaned. She shifted on the floor, opened her eyes and sat up. The shield dropped to the floor with a rattle.
“What happened?”
“Medusa was sleeping. I think I cut off her head, but I’m not sure. She’s not snoring anymore, so I guess she’s dead. When I tried to look in the shield and see, you were on the floor.”
“Sorry about that.” She picked up the shield and held it in front of her again. “How’s that?”
Megan now had a good view of what she had done. It wasn’t pretty. Medusa’s head was severed at the neck, and the sword imbedded in the chaise. The wound gaped at Megan like a sick smile. Blood oozed out onto the floor. A sizzling sound, like meat grilling, came from the cut. Another tug and the sword pulled free. Megan landed on her backside with a curse and the sword’s hilt in her hand. That was all that was left. The blade had been almost completely eaten away.
She looked at what remained of the blade. There was a thick green substance on the broken end.
“Gross, it’s eating through everything, like acid.” She threw the hilt away and jumped back from the body as the blood pooled on the floor. “Ick.”
She tried not to think about what had just happened. They needed to get back to Claire and Harriet and get out of this book. She wouldn’t feel better until they were all home safe. Her stomach rolled, and she pushed it away. There would be time to be sick later. Now she needed to keep it together. Rachel was counting on her.
“Throw me the bag,” Megan said.
Rachel pulled the bag from under her arm and tossed it underhand to Megan.
“Don’t look at her, Megan. I think her gaze can turn you to stone even when she’s dead.”
“Now you tell me.” Megan shut her eyes again. She fumbled with the drawstrings on the bag and finally got them loose. She reached out and grasped Medusa’s hair. The snakes were still, their smooth, scaly hides cold. She lifted it slowly. It was surprisingly heavy, like a bowling ball. She slipped it into the bag and cinched it up tight.
“It’s okay,” Megan said with a sigh of relief. She didn’t think her heart would ever beat normally again. “You can look now.”
Rachel opened her eyes and pointed to the bag. “It’s in there, is it?”
Megan nodded.
“Then let’s get out of here.” Rachel dropped the shield.
“I’m for that.” A smile crept into the corners of Megan’s mouth. She couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t funny, exactly, to have just chopped off a monster’s head, but the relief that it was over made Megan smile just the same. They walked together toward the exit.
“Why do we have to take this thing with us?” Megan asked.
“If I recall correctly, the book said that Perseus had to bring the head to some king, I forget his name, so that he would leave Perseus’ mother alone. I don’t know how much of the story we have to follow, so we might as well take it. We can ditch it later.”
Megan slung her arm around Rachel’s shoulders. “What would I do without you?”
“You’d be stuck in this book all by yourself. Or stuck with…Harriet.”
“Thanks.”
A noise behind them made Megan stop. A wet, sticky, gurgling sound. She gripped Rachel’s shoulder and pulled her close.
“Do you hear that?” Megan didn’t turn around.
“Uh huh.” Rachel’s wide eyes were also still forward.
Megan swallowed hard. “Do we look?”
Rachel shook her head fiercely. “Probably shouldn’t. I’m not going to.”
“All right, I’ll do it.” Megan swore under her breath; they had left the shield on the floor back by Medusa’s body. She would have to turn around to see what it was. At least the body couldn’t turn her to stone. The sound turned into a steady slurping—suck, plop, suck, plop.
Megan handed the bag to Rachel. “If something bad happens, you take the head and run back to the boat. Get back to Harriet and Claire. Find your way home.”
Rachel nodded. Megan took two deep breaths and turned on her heel. Medusa’s headless body still lay on the chaise. The blood from her wound had started to coagulate, forming dark, lumpy pools on the floor. Megan couldn’t tell where the sound came from. She took a step closer, then another.
Blood bubbled and foamed slowly in the stump of Medusa’s neck. The sucking sound was the bubbles pulling to the surface.
Megan grimaced. “Ew—gross.”
“What’s gross?”
“Turn around and see for yourself. It’s okay.”
Rachel pivoted around and stood next to Megan. She wrinkled her nose. “That is gross. And what’s that smell?”
Megan sniffed. She smelled it too; the sharp odor of a freshly lit match, mixed with the coppery smell of blood. The bubbling sped up. Blood spilled over the edge of the cut and ran down Medusa’s neck in dark rivulets.
“Perhaps we should back up,” Rachel said. She took three large steps backward.
“Good idea.” Megan followed. The bubbling was now a furious boiling, and the sulphur smell almost overpowered her.
“I think it’s going to blow!” Rachel ran for the door. Megan had only taken a few steps when the explosion came.
Medusa’s neck blew outward. It split like an overripe melon, sending poisonous blood spraying outward in all directions. Megan ducked, her arms over her head, and ran behind the nearest statue. Dark green blood spattered across the floor, eating away at the tiles with a hiss.
The slurping sound stopped, but had been replaced with a new one. It sounded like horses’ hooves clomping on stone. Megan took a cautious look around the statue.
Getting to its feet in the center of the floor was a large, white, winged horse. It extended its four legs and two wings slowly, stretching them. Megan walked toward it, enthralled by its beauty. She held out her hand to the animal, palm flat, the way that Stephan had taught her.
The horse gazed at her with eyes like liquid sapphires; its nostrils flared to get her scent. He nuzzled Megan’s hand gently. She ran her hands over his nose; it was velvety soft. She stroked his head and neck, feeling his muscles, the raw power that lay just beneath the snow white hair. “Rachel, come here. It’s amazing.”
Rachel’s head appeared through the door. “What on earth…”
“It’s Pegasus, of course.” Megan laughed, still rubbing the horse’s neck. “I kind of remember that from my old school. Pegasus was born from Medusa’s severed neck.”
Rachel came warily forward and, like Megan had done, put her hand out toward the great beast. Pegasus sniffed her briefly and snorted out a puff of air that blew her hair into the air.
“Does that mean he likes me?” As if in answer, Pegasus moved his head close to her hand again, extended his large pink tongue and licked it, leaving a glistening trail of saliva across her palm.
“Eww.” Rachel wiped her hand on the front of her chiton.
Megan laughed. “I guess he does like you.” She gazed into his eyes. They looked so intelligent; she wondered if he understood every word she and Rachel said.
I don’t mind this part of the story, Megan thought. It almost makes up for having to decapitate that thing. “I wish I had a carrot or sugar cube for you.” She leaned her cheek against his nose.
“What do we do with him?” Rachel said. “Do you think he’s part of whatever it is we’re supposed to do next?”
Megan shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess now we hav
e to find the next clue. I don’t see it here, so let’s look outside.” She didn’t want to leave the beautiful animal behind, but she had to be practical. They needed to move on. She gave Pegasus’s neck one last reluctant pat, picked up the bag with Medusa’s head and walked out with Rachel.
The sunlight blinded them after being inside Medusa’s dim lair; both girls flung a hand over their eyes as they stepped outside. Blinking rapidly, Megan turned her face back toward the darkness of the inside. Pegasus stood in the doorway.
“Maybe he wants to come with us?” Megan said.
But he walked right past the girls, into the garden, and straight to a patch of honeysuckle. He curled his lips back, cropped off a mouthful, and chewed it slowly.
“Let’s get back to the boat,” Rachel said. “Harriet and Claire are probably going crazy. We can always come back and find the clue after we tell them we’re okay. We’ll make them come over here and look for it.”
“Okay.” Megan glanced at Pegasus, content with his meal, and wished she could take him with her. Rachel was right—Harriet and Claire would be worried. She and Rachel set off down the path toward the water. The woods seemed different now, brighter. Megan heard birds sing, and small animals scurry through the underbrush. It was as if they knew that Medusa was gone.
The girls stepped onto the beach. Rachel groaned. “Oh, no! The boat’s gone!” She grabbed the rope, still wrapped around the rock, and pulled the other end out of the water. “The knot must have slipped.”
Megan shaded her eyes with her hand and looked toward the opposite shore. “I can’t see Claire and Harriet. Do you see them?”
Rachel squinted. “No, I don’t. But they’re probably sitting on a rock or something, or they went somewhere to get out of the sun. Harriet doesn’t like to get too much sun, she’s afraid it’ll wrinkle her skin and she hates to sweat.” She looked at Megan, one hand on her hip. “So, how do you propose we get back over there? Do you think we can swim it?”
“No, the current’s too rough. It would pull us right under.” Megan was a good swimmer, but even she knew better than to risk it. She gave Rachel a mischievous smile. Her wish had been granted. “I guess we’re going to have to fly Pegasus Air.”
Rachel’s face paled. “Are you serious? You want me to climb aboard that thing?”
“What’s the matter?” Megan walked back to the path. “You ride horses, don’t you? You rode at my house, you did great.”
Rachel hesitated. “Y-yes. It’s not the riding that bothers me. Most horses don’t fly. Flying, I am afraid of.”
Megan stopped where the beach ended and the woods began. She turned and gave Rachel a sympathetic look. “I understand, Rache. But we don’t have much choice; we can’t swim and the boat’s gone. So you’re just going to have to suck it up.”
Megan walked up the path quickly, feeling terrible about forcing Rachel to do something she didn’t want to do, but also fighting the urge to just run as fast as she could. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder.
Rachel sighed deeply, looked toward the opposite shore, and trudged after her.
Pegasus was right where they had left him, grazing in Medusa’s garden. Megan walked up to him, not bothering to hold out her hand this time. She patted one flank, and his head swung around. He gave her a vaguely interested look.
“C’mon, boy,” Megan said softly, and ran her hands over his back. “We need a ride, okay?”
Pegasus seemed to understand. He walked away from Megan and stood next to the garden wall. She grabbed Rachel’s hand and pulled her over to it.
“Climb aboard. I’ll hold him steady.”
Rachel, her face pale and her hands shaking, climbed on the wall’s top rail. She gripped Pegasus’s mane and jumped up across his broad back.
Megan helped her to swing one leg over and sit up. “Now scoot back, and hold this for a minute.” She pushed the bag holding Medusa’s head into Rachel’s hands.
Rachel made a disgusted face, but pushed herself toward the horse’s rump. Megan clambered on top of the wall, and like Rachel had done, hoisted herself onto the horse’s back. When she was settled, she took the bag from Rachel, put her wrist through the drawstring and set the bulk of it in front of her. She gently hooked her knees behind Pegasus’s wing joints.
“Ready?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess.”
“Wrap your arms around my waist,” Megan instructed. “And hold on.” Once Rachel was secure, Megan wound her hands in Pegasus’s thick mane.
She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Okay, boy. Take us up, nice and easy.” She squeezed his sides with her knees and gave him a light kick in the ribs.
Pegasus whinnied; he reared a little before he took off running. Megan’s heart jumped into her throat, it beat wildly. She tried not to hold her breath.
“I told you this was a bad ideaaaaaa…” Rachel screamed.
His wings unfolded as the trees rushed toward them. Megan felt a gust of warm air over her face as the ground fell away—they were airborne.
“How are you doing?” Megan shouted over the sound of the air in their ears and the steady beat of Pegasus’s wings.
Rachel’s face was glued to Megan’s back. “Fine, I guess. Just tell me when we land.”
They circled the island, soaring. Megan looked below at Medusa’s island, a collage of brown and green with the gray building in the center. The water surrounding it sparkled like a bright blue jewel.
“This is amazing!” Megan threw her head back and let the sun warm her face. The wind smelled of the sea, and she felt energized, alive. Free. She forgot, for just a minute, the terrible situation they were all in, stuck in a book, and the horrible thing she had just done; it was washed away in a puff of fresh sea air.
She pushed her left leg against the horse’s side and gently tugged his mane to the left to steer the big animal toward the mainland. He flew in a graceful arc, wings spread, and glided to the shore. They made a soft, perfect landing near the spot where they last saw Claire and Harriet.
Rachel’s arms were still clamped around Megan’s midsection, her fingers stiff, the knuckles white. Megan pried them apart. “We’re on the ground, Rache. You can get down.”
Rachel lifted her head and pushed her windblown hair out of her face. “Thank goodness.” She slid off of Pegasus’s back and nearly fell to the ground. Her legs shook, and her face was ashen. Megan felt bad for her, but it took a great deal of restraint to stop herself laughing—she just felt so good.
She dismounted smoothly and gave the horse a grateful pat. “Thank you. It was wonderful.”
“So, where are they?” Rachel asked.
“They’re not here?” Megan looked up and down the shoreline. Claire and Harriet were gone.
Chapter Eight: Cassio-Who?
Megan spun, searching for any sign of their friends. Rachel cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to them. No answer.
She slapped her hands against her legs. “Where could they have gone? They wouldn’t have just wandered off, would they?”
“I don’t think so.” Megan sat on a nearby rock. The elation she felt just a moment ago was gone, replaced with anxiety. If they were going somewhere, they would have left Megan and Rachel some sign—written in the sand, or made an arrow of pebbles, something. They wouldn’t have wondered off by themselves. “Unless they thought something happened to us and went for help. Or something scared them off.”
“How are we going to find them?” Rachel gave up her search and sat beside Megan. Megan watched Pegasus, who had found himself a clump of long, sweet grass to chew on. She looked at Rachel, one eyebrow raised.
Rachel shook her head. “Oh, no. There is no way on this earth you are getting me back on that bloody beast.”
Megan laughed. “Okay, okay. Only as a last resort.”
“A very last resort.”
“All right then, I guess we walk.” Megan stood and looked at the sand. If Claire and Harriet had left any footprints,
they were gone now. “We came from that way.” She pointed toward the farm and the hill. “So let’s try the other way.”
“Maybe they went back to the farm when we didn’t come back right away,” Rachel said.
“Good point. Should we split up? I’ll go this way, and you go back to the farm?”
Rachel looked in both directions. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She tilted her head to one side. “Hey, what’s that over there?”
“What?” Megan tried to see what Rachel was looking at.
“There’s a bit of something stuck to that tree.” Rachel pointed to a single small, bare tree that stood on the edge of the sand. Something was stuck to it, fluttering in the wind.
“I’ll get it.” Megan pulled something out of the tree’s trunk. “It’s a note.” She showed Rachel a yellowed piece of parchment paper. “It was stuck to the tree with this.” She held out a small, shiny gold dagger.
Rachel looked from the dagger to the note; her brow had a deep crease. “What does it say?”
Megan tucked the dagger in her waistband and sat back down next to Rachel. “I think it’s the next clue. Listen to this—‘A mother’s pride seals daughters’ fate. The sea-king’s wrath you must abate.’”
“Could that be any more cryptic?” Rachel flipped off her sandals and brushed the sand from her feet. “Any ideas?”
Megan read the note over again. She tapped a fingernail on her teeth, searching her memory. Nothing came. She shook her head, and then lowered it. “I’ve got no idea. I’m sorry.” She was frustrated—things weren’t getting better, they were getting worse. And she was angry at Sir Gregory. This game of his was going to get them all hurt or worse.
And he pretty much ruined my sleepover. Stupid dead guy.
Rachel put a hand on Megan’s shoulder. “It’s all right, Megan. We’ll work it out.” She looked around again. “Staying here isn’t going to help, I suppose. I guess we need to go and search for them. We’ll worry about that clue later.” She put her shoes back on. “So what do we do?”
LA01. The Crown of Zeus Page 10