by Kate Nova
Exactly what we beasts were used to.
Callan was already there, propped up on the largest boulder, leaning back against the tree trunk which looked like a matchstick in comparison to his massive body. He yawned when he saw me and frowned. “The sun wasn’t even up yet.” The bags beneath his eyes were dark and obvious, but I ignored them.
He could do all the sleeping he wanted when he was back on Mount Olympus.
“It couldn’t wait,” I replied.
Liam, too, was yawning. Even his customary pre-dawn swim couldn’t turn him into a morning creature. The eagle in me still lived for sunrise. “We have to do something about her.”
Liam cocked an eyebrow. “Medusa?”
“Who else?” I held out my secret weapon—the college handbook. “This spells out all the guidelines for expelling a student. We’ve got to figure out something to pin on her so that idiot Headmaster Armstrong will kick her out.”
I passed the book to Liam, who flipped through the pages. I’d already scanned its contents three times and couldn’t find anything worthy. But maybe another pair of eyes on it would do the trick.
“As far as I can tell,” I went on, “we’ve got to do something crazy and blame it on her. Plant a weapon, or else start some sort of student protest that goes awry.”
“A weapon?” Liam shook his head. “A kid in my sociology class yesterday used a six-inch blade to cut open a new pack of pencils. No one at this school will even blink an eye.”
How humans had changed, I thought. The appearance of a knife in a classroom setting would, once upon a time, cause a proper uproar. But now the humans seemed to arm themselves left and right, trying to make up for their stupid, wimpy mortal existence.
The humans had teeth now. Not just the monsters.
“Plus,” Callan added, rubbing his eyes. “What will Zeus say if we’re sabotaging another student? We’re supposed to be acting good here.”
Good … What a word. What a concept. Orcus’s entire deal with the king of the gods had hinged on this idea of monsters being good, reformed, changed and Zeus had bought it.
Zeus, who’d fucked everything remotely alive and vaguely female for hundreds of years, who likely had scores of illegitimate children, who let his own dick make the decisions on his lightning-bolt throne … Zeus would be judging us on whether we were “good” or not.
Callan was right, though. We had to act the part. We couldn’t conspire on this grand scale. There’d be paperwork filed, fingers pointed, so we had to fly under the radar.
No, it’d be best if we got the snake-eyed creature to leave on her own, which meant we had to push harder.
“We threatened her yesterday,” I said, flinging myself down onto a boulder. “And she didn’t even blink. I don’t think it scared her one bit. Ten to one says, she’ll show up to her classes today. We’ve got to do something bigger, but what?” Part of me wished I could shed my human skin and become the griffin inside once more. One snarl from me and my enemies usually ran away screaming.
Though, I wasn’t sure the legendary Medusa, who’d done things so terrible Athena herself had cursed her into that sea cave, would fear me.
The notion both unsettled me and sent waves of pleasure pulsing through my body.
“I bumped into her last night,” Callan murmured. “She didn’t seem bothered by whatever little threats you two handed out—”
“Easy,” I said, baring my teeth. Griffin Hayes, the human student, would never growl or rip another student to shreds with his bare hands. But me, the griffin … I was just waiting for a chance to attack.
“You made the threat,” Callan went on. “You told her that something would happen if she didn’t leave. You told her she’d be sorry. So … how are you going to make her sorry?”
“Fight her,” Liam said at once.
Callan shook his head. “You can’t fight her. Too many witnesses. Besides, fight a girl? Really?”
“You seem to forget that she isn’t a girl; she’s a monster.” I growled.
“So are we, dude,” Liam replied with a smirk. “Then what?” I pounded against the rock with my fist. “We’re monsters, aren’t we? I don’t know how to do this without, without attacking!” All my life, my time as a griffin, my days were spent hunting and killing … If only I could attack like the monster I was.
But Callan stood up from his rock, his head nearly grazing the lowest branch of the cypress tree. “Listen,” he scolded, looking at each of us. “We’ve got to stop thinking like monsters and start thinking like humans. We’re here to pass a test, to prove we can live as mortals, so let’s do it. Let’s use the biggest weapon mortals have in their arsenal—humiliation.”
He whipped something out from behind his back and gave it to me.
I glanced at the nondescript cover of a simple black book then flipped through its pages.
“Where did you get this?” I demanded.
Callan shrugged. “I told you, I bumped into Medusa last night. And when I did, I knocked her books to the floor. If she didn’t notice when I accidentally pocketed one as I was helping her pick them up, well … Then maybe she’s already as dumb as a human.”
“Is this …” I scanned the words on one page then grinned. “This is perfect. This will work.”
I looked at Liam, who nodded in approval.
“Well done, giant.”
Callan frowned then grabbed my shirt by the collar. He lifted me up so my feet dangled inches above the grass and brought me close to his face. Even with his human form, I could still smell the territorial giant on him, the whiff of battle, the heat of his blood.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m beneath you, Eagle Beak,” he said. “It sounds like you should be thanking me. Medusa saw right through your weak little threats. You needed a real monster to get the job done.”
My muscles tensed and my pulse spiked, ready to attack. “Thank you,” I spat. “For proving to me yet again that giants are nothing but—”
At that moment, a group of cheerleaders heading to an early-morning practice swung open the doors to the school, giggling and talking. Callan quickly set me down on the ground.
We nodded as the girls passed. When we were alone again, I stood at my tallest, my shoulders broad, my face stern. My gaze darted to Callan, to his stony expression, to his set jaw and clenched fists.
“Don’t ever come at me again,” I growled. “Or Zeus or no Zeus, I’ll claw you into pieces so small, the wind will scatter them like dust.”
“Then quit being so soft and get rid of her already. We can’t have her nosing around when we don’t even know why she’s here. I mean, Orcus told us she wasn’t part of the deal with Zeus. So, why is she here? She’ll ruin everything.”
“Who knows?” Liam replied as he stretched out his legs. “Maybe she was given the same deal that we were. Problem is, what are the chances she won’t do something stupid to one of the humans and screw it up for the rest of us? If any one of us makes a mistake, Zeus will send us back to the island faster than we can growl. No matter why she’s here, we need to get rid of her.”
I glanced back down at the notebook in my hands, the one Callan had swiped from Medusa when she wasn’t suspecting.
Yes, we’d be able to use this and we had to go for the jugular. Humiliation.
Otherwise, Medusa might prove strong enough to stick around, then all of our plans to finally be allowed to live on Mount Olympus would be ruined.
“Let’s send the snake back to the sea cave where she belongs.” I smirked and Liam and Callan followed me into the student center, where we made quick use of the copy machine and borrowed a projector.
Then we set up in the cafeteria and waited for our prey.
Our sensual, dangerous prey.
Chapter 7
Medusa
I woke early the next morning, feeling surprisingly energetic and optimistic. I’d forgotten what it was like to sleep on a bed. My sea cave didn’t come furnished with such luxuries as a mattress or even a light
. So, to be able to switch the lamp on and enjoy a glass of water from my dresser, then plunge the room into darkness and roll over under the covers? It felt like heaven, and I didn’t want to crawl out from my fortress of blankets.
But when the sunlight poured in through the threadbare curtains of my dorm room, I woke up feeling grateful. Yes, the room was small and my first day of playing at being human hadn’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped, but today was a brand-new day.
Today, Griffin and Liam would see that they hadn’t scared me away. Griffin would have to swallow his threats and relinquish victory to me or else double down even harder.
And I guaranteed that in such a fight, I’d always win.
I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But I would if I had to.
Terras Academy may not have been the ideal place for a monster like me, but it was all a means to the end. I wanted to get back to Mount Olympus, just like I’d been promised.
I’d put up with whatever Griffin and his friends wanted to dish out at me.
At least I had Callan on my side, I thought as I dressed and left for the cafeteria to eat breakfast before class. And Katie. And that other girl who lent me her sunglasses at the pool—Laura.
I spared a smile before I turned down the hallway where all the students were slouching against the wall, holding bagels and coffee. Without meaning to, I’d made some friends, or at least had some friendly interactions with some fellow students. Two of them were humans and one was even a monster. It was beyond anything I’d expected.
After thousands of years trapped in a sea cave, I didn’t think I’d retained the ability to make friends.
And yet here it was, the second day and I had three.
I passed Sonya, who gave me a nod that was part acknowledgement, part warning—she didn’t need to. I’d made the commitment to blend in as much as possible, so I’d chosen to wear the school uniform which had been waiting for me when I entered my dorm. At first, I was certain there was no way I’d ever put it on. I mean, let’s be real, I wasn’t exactly the skirt-wearing type. Besides, what were the odds they’d chosen the right size? But when I put it on, I was surprised to see it fit perfectly. Better yet, it was actually comfortable, consisting of a button-down, white blouse, a navy blue, pleated skirt and a matching tie.
I continued walking down the hallway until I reached my destination. The cafeteria was enclosed inside the school except for a little peephole at the very top of the ceiling, not unlike an oculus window at the top of an ancient temple. I’d stay extra careful and not cross into the direct sunlight.
As I wound my way through the tables and chairs of students munching on their breakfasts, the smell of bacon on the nearby food carts made my mouth water, I had a fleeting thought.
I was … not happy, but something close to it. Yesterday, I’d felt nervous, uneasy, but today, I felt capable.
I felt free.
I was going to make it through today and then through the rest of the school year. And at the end, I’d make it back to Mount Olympus.
And there was nothing Griffin or Liam could throw at me that would slow me down.
I picked out my food, deciding on a glass of orange juice, a bowl of oatmeal and a few slices of bacon, then I glanced around the cafeteria. I was partly searching for an empty seat, but also hoping I’d spot either Katie or Laura and that one of them would flag me down and ask me to sit with them.
I had no trouble being alone, but now that I had friends, or something close to it, I wanted to indulge.
I quickly spotted Laura. She was all the way across the cafeteria, laughing with a group of her friends Just when I was about to make my way to her table, she stood up, dumped her tray into the garbage, then migrated out of the cafeteria with her group.
All right. So, not Laura.
And Katie was nowhere to be found.
She probably took off as soon as she saw me come in the room. She probably felt like she’d already had enough conversations with the creepy new girl and was worried if she wasn’t careful, I’d start following her around like a puppy.
Katie probably didn’t think of me as her friend. It was her job to be friendly to me, I reminded myself. She was in the student council, after all. She hadn’t helped me because she wanted to be nice to me.
She helped me because she had to.
Like a dark spiral, my mood slowly plummeted. I no longer felt like yet another college student. Or that I was doing my best to blend in as a human.
It was clear now that I’d only ever stand out as the beast I was.
To avoid drawing attention to the snake-like girl with more rumors flying around her than there were stars in the sky, I chose a table at random, sitting and picking at my breakfast.
“Serves you right,” my hair collectively hissed. “For thinking you could act human.”
“That’s exactly what I’m supposed to be doing,” I murmured under my breath, pretending I was sipping my orange juice.
“But you’re not human,” my hair said. “No matter where you are, you’ll always only ever be—”
“Well, well.” Griffin, Liam and Callan hovered at the far end of my table with their trays, and for a moment, I nearly bowed my head in fealty. They looked like absolute royalty. “If it isn’t the new girl.”
All three of them stood taller than everything around us, especially Callan, and they gleamed like kings—no, they gleamed like gods.
They looked like they belonged on Mount Olympus, and I … I knew what I looked like.
“What do you want?” I snapped. I narrowed my eyes, so they focused on Griffin’s face, waiting for the flinch.
They always flinched.
Griffin, for his part, managed to maneuver his own flinch into a nice, smooth movement into the chair across from me. “We thought we’d sit and eat with the academy’s newest student.”
The other two followed suit and my cheeks burned. The last thing I wanted to do was share a table with Griffin and Liam. Callan could stay as far as I was concerned, since he was the only one who’d been semi-decent to me.
My heart hammered as Liam glanced up at me and we locked eyes. He took a bite of his cereal and chewed, never once breaking eye contact. I remembered how it was to swim alongside the sea monster within him yesterday. I recalled his gracefulness in the water and the ripples of muscles which lined his human body as he pulled himself out of the pool.
Of course, I also recollected the way he’d tried to drown me and then with a scowl, I bent over my tray and nibbled at my bacon.
“So …” Griffin murmured between bites of pancake.
I caught the way his gaze flicked to Liam and back again.
“Your second day at Terras. How are you liking it so far?”
He was baiting me for something. I couldn’t tell what his game was, but it wasn’t a secret among the four of us, sitting here at the table, that we weren’t regular students. We weren’t here for an education or socialization or job training, or any of the other reasons humans put themselves through school. We were simply here to prove ourselves worthy to Zeus.
“It’s better than a sea cave,” I answered. I wasn’t going to give him anything more than that. The less I spoke to Griffin and Liam, the better.
Griffin nodded as if he were in the middle of a deep conversation with someone he greatly respected. “That’s right, this must be quite a shock to you. Fresh air. Food. Sunlight.”
If only I could get over to the sunlight, I thought, and turn you and your aquatic crony into stone. If I could get away with it, I’d do it.
“I can’t imagine there were many sweets in that sea cave, either,” Griffin continued. “Like syrup. Did you have syrup for your pancakes while you were imprisoned? Did you even have pancakes?” He took another bite of his breakfast, then held up one finger as he reached for his napkin. “Sorry, syrup can be so messy. Let me just … Oh, wait, what’s this?” He glanced down at his napkin, which I could see now was actually a piece of paper, covered in bla
ck script.
“‘A glance down into the sea so deep, too late to fall straight in …’” Liam read from his own paper and my heart skipped.
I knew those words.
“Where did you get that?” I demanded and pushed out of my own seat, but Griffin and Liam each held their papers out of my reach.
“You have your own napkin, don’t you?” Griffin pointed, and I seized the paper which was folded around the silverware on my tray.
Yes, I knew these words. I knew them very well.
My eyes were seeing red. I could barely read the script, but I didn’t need to see much of it to know it was mine.
My handwriting.
From my own journal.
“I have to say,” Callan added, holding his own copy up so he could read the words. “You’re not much of a poet.” His dark eyes glistened as they looked me up and down and the realization sunk into me like an anchor. He took it. Yesterday, when he’d knocked my books out of my arms, he’d stolen my journal.
He seemed pleased that I’d finally put it together and now that pleasant-seeming smile he kept on his face had a gleam of malice. How could I have been so naïve? To trust a giant?
Giant or not, I was going to murder him.
“It’s pretty awful, isn’t it?” Griffin leaned forward to nod at Callan. “And rather pathetic.”
“You fucking bastards,” I hissed, circling the table. I reached out and grabbed the pages from their fingers, but Griffin chuckled.
“Hey, don’t stress. That’s only our interpretation, snake eyes.” His lips curved into a smirk. “Perhaps you’d like more feedback? You never know, maybe we’ve got it all wrong.” He gestured to the cafeteria around us. Everywhere students were unfurling their silverware, finding their own copies of my private journal pages.
They were everywhere. Copies and copies of my journal—private thoughts that were never meant for anyone else’s eyes but mine. As the cafeteria noise grew in mutterings, gasps and giggles, I focused my sight on the three faces at my table. Griffin. Liam. Callan.
“Oh, but that one there.” Griffin pointed behind me, to the wall of the cafeteria above the carts of breakfast food.