by Kate Nova
A threat—but she knew she couldn’t turn me to stone. Not without causing serious trouble for herself.
“Brownies?” I repeated. Everything had changed since before we beasts were contained on Sicidonia Island—new clothing, new music, all of it. The world was utterly different, and if I wasn’t careful, I’d get whiplash from the changes—best to just stick to Orcus’s assignment and keep my tunnel vision focused on getting the Gorgon out of this school.
“It’s the only thing that’ll make me feel better after talking to you,” Medusa spat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me …”
“Wait.” I lunged forward and grabbed her hand. She immediately pulled free from my grasp, but the feel of her skin on mine was enough to send fire jetting up my arm.
“Cut the shit, Griffin.” Medusa’s eyes were cold as she glanced up at me. The sunlight was tantalizingly close to hitting them, but she let her hood slide back just a hair, just to tease. “I get it. You want me gone. I really don’t know why you feel the need to repeat it every other day.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what the hell do you want?”
“I want you to come to a party with me.”
She looked me up and down, like she was waiting for me to break out in laughter, confirming it was just a cruel joke. I didn’t break eye contact.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“So you’re not saying no?”
“I didn’t say that.” Her snake-like hair had recoiled into tendrils which framed her face. I wondered if she had to get hair like that trimmed regularly, or if she could just let it do its own thing. “But you can understand why I’m suspicious that Griffin Hayes is asking me to a party when just the other day you wanted nothing more than for me to disappear.”
“I get it,” I replied, nodding. “I’ve been a jackass, I know. And I don’t blame you if you never want to talk to me again, but …”
“But, what?”
“A guy on the football team is having a party tonight.” I hesitated, suddenly realizing how stupid I sounded. I’d done everything I could to make this girl’s life a living hell and here I was expecting her to fall for such a wild invitation.
“What is this, Griffin?” She lifted her hands out to the side and shook her head in disbelief as though she was trying to make sense of it all.
“I just thought we could go together. Maybe call a truce, you know? We’re both the same in many ways and—”
“We are nothing alike.” The bite of her tone made me wince.
“Okay, so I have an ulterior motive.”
“Ahh, there we go. Finally, the truth.” She narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down as though she could read my mind. And for a minute I wondered if possibly she could. But then I caught it, just a glimmer of a smile curving the side of her mouth and I knew I had at least piqued her interest if nothing else. Time to move in for the kill.
I shrugged, letting my gaze shift from her face down to her chest to the curve of her hips, then back up again. Her face blushed, but she kept that stern, don’t-fuck-with-me expression on her face. “I just wanted to get you drunk and convince you to skinny dip in the pool with me.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“Well, not exactly.” I tilted my head to the side, analyzing her. Damn, she was so interesting. So different from any woman I’d ever met before. But she was my enemy and I couldn’t forget it. “I would’ve hidden your clothes so you’d be forced to climb out of the water naked … in front of everyone.”
“Are you kidding?” She raised an eyebrow and sighed. “How childish can you be?”
“Would it have been enough to get you to leave this school?”
I held my breath. I was playing a dangerous game. Of course, I wanted to figure out a way to get rid of Medusa. And getting Medusa to strip down in front of everyone was an idea, but it wasn’t strong enough.
But we could both keep dancing around the fact that I wanted her out of the school, or I could just come forward with it and see if she’d treat it like some sort of game.
Get your head in the game, Griffin.
“So, back to this again, huh?” she replied with a wry grin. “It might be humiliating enough …but then again, I spent all those years in a sea cave without any clothes. I’m pretty comfortable being naked.”
I swallowed hard, shaking off the vision of her curvy, wet body in my hands. “So, is that a yes, then? You’ll come with me to the party?”
She studied me, and above us, the wind blew hard through the trees as though to warn me that this woman wasn’t one to be played with.
I hoped this would work, because if it didn’t, I needed to figure out another plan to force Medusa out—
But to my surprise, she nodded. “All right, Griffin, I’ll come with you. But just because I’m bored and have nothing better to do. You won’t get me naked, though.”
A challenge I was more than willing to accept.
We made arrangements for where to meet and when, and as she walked back to her dorm room—to, presumably, devour an entire tray of brownies—I almost felt sorry for her.
She’d fallen for it—hook, line, and sinker.
She really thought the worst I would do was to try to strip her down in front of everyone else.
Skinny dipping was a great idea if I wanted to fuck her—and a big of part of me certainly did, there was no denying that—but that wasn’t on the agenda and I had to let go of that fantasy.
There were bigger, more important things on the line and she needed to go. For that to happen, I needed her to let her guard down, to believe I was no longer serious about getting rid of her. That there was hope for us. That this was all some kind of flirty game, a chase that would lead to more.
I’d been the perfect bait.
And tonight, we’d set the perfect trap for the snake girl.
She had no idea what was coming.
Chapter 17
Medusa
“I have nothing to wear,” I muttered as I stared into my closet.
My hair, exasperated, hissed collectively, “That’s what you’re worried about? What you’ll wear?”
“Everyone in this school already thinks I’m the trashy transfer student who still carries the blood stains of her murder victims on her gross old jeans,” I responded, shoving clothes aside. “It would be nice to just fit in for once.”
If only I had something like a little black dress that I could wear. My long legs would peek out and I’d pile my hair on top of my head. But if I had the dress, I’d need some shoes to go with it and the whole thing would just unravel.
I wasn’t meant to wear extravagant things for a fancy party.
Not anymore.
Besides, it wasn’t a fancy party. It was an excuse for a bunch of students to get drunk and rub up against each other.
And no matter what I wore, they’d only look at me as a monster.
I told Griffin I’d meet him out at the cypress tree on the quad at eight. It seemed like a late time to be going out, but as he explained, college parties often didn’t even start until midnight or so. The thought had me exhausted already. Hopefully, I’d be back in my own room by then.
And hopefully, whatever damage Griffin and his friends would try to inflict would fail. I knew he was plotting something. He’d tried to coyly make a joke out of it when he’d mentioned stealing my clothes while I was skinny dipping, but we both knew he was plotting something bigger, something far worse.
And here I was, willingly going to the party with him.
Why?
Because I’d rather face whatever he had up his sleeve then sit in my dorm room worrying about what he was up to and when it would happen.
At least this way, I knew the when and where. I just didn’t know the how.
Still, despite how terrible he’d been, I couldn’t forget about how it felt to kiss him and I didn’t think he’d forgotten either. There’d been a sort of sadness in his eyes when he’d invited
me to this party, almost like he wished he didn’t have to torture me. Like he wished he was just genuinely asking me out and that the two of us would have an evening alone. No threats. No coercion. No bullying.
Just us.
And maybe there was a tiny part of me that wished for that too. But just like he was being falsely coy about what this night entailed, I was being falsely friendly by agreeing to come in the first place. I knew what he was doing. He’d be looking for any opportunity to force me out of this school, so I’d have to keep my eyes open. And I’d have to stay friendly, no matter what shit he tried to pull.
And I shouldn’t kiss him again. I knew that. I’d lose my head if our lips touched, so in order to keep a straight mind, I’d do my best to be cordial and bubbly. No matter what kinds of threats he threw at me … but I would never kiss him again.
There was a knock at my door.
I cracked it open and found Laura, the girl who’d loaned me her sunglasses my first day of gym class at the pool.
“Medusa?” she said, her eyes gleaming as much as her smile. “Sorry to bother you. I wondered if you had any hairspray I could borrow?”
I nearly cackled at the thought of spraying my hair with anything of the sort. “No, I don’t use it. Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” She peered at me up and down and I knew she was assessing my outfit. She herself was in a gorgeous, bright yellow dress which brought all attention up to her beaming face. It was the perfect party garb—too loud for school, too impractical to wear anywhere else. Beneath it, I could see the strings of her bikini tied around her neck and I was reminded again that this was a pool party.
My run-of-the-mill sports swimsuit seemed suddenly very boring.
“You’re going to Eric’s party, too, right?” Laura asked tentatively. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
My face burned red, embarrassed. “No. I mean, Griffin invited me, but I don’t know if I’ll go. I was thinking about cancelling. I’ve got a lot of homework.”
Why on Earth did I think this party was a good idea? I’d stick out like a sore thumb. There was no way to hide behind Griffin the whole night, since he was the one who had his sights set on ruining me. I wouldn’t blend in like the other students. I wouldn’t come home after the party and think, “Wow, what a great time that was. Glad I made a bunch of new friends.”
I’d be lucky to come home intact at all.
And all for what? To present myself as friendly enough so that Griffin would spill all his secrets?
No. If I was being honest with myself, I knew that I was hoping to give Athena the information she needed while also maybe seeing what would happen with Griffin. And that both excited me and pissed me off. I should know better. What kind of woman was I if I melted into a pool of goo from just one kiss?
“No, please come! Besides, we’re officially on fall break, so you have lots of time to do homework.” Laura said, as she reached out and grabbed my hand. “Please! I know you transferred after the semester had already started, but I’m a new girl too. I hardly know anyone at this school. Come on, I’ve got the perfect dress you can borrow. It’s not even packed in my suitcase to take home.”
And before I could say no, Laura had dragged me back to her room, squeezed me into one of her dresses and made up my face with strange substances from her countertop. Then we were walking down to the cypress tree to meet Griffin.
“Gorgeous,” Griffin had practically growled when I met him in the designated spot. He seemed to be in a hurry as he led us down the path towards the party.
“I think you mean Gorgon,” I joked, but my stomach was full of butterflies. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually tried to look pretty. What was the point in dressing up when I lived in a sea cave alone and was cursed to be the foulest person alive? Not a whole lot I could do to clean up a curse like that.
But it was more than just the black mascara on my eyelashes and pink lips to enhance the paleness of my skin, or even the dress—a small, hunter green affair which clung to my waist and hips while still allowing room for movement and brought out the color in my eyes. It was the way Griffin looked at me now from across the patio.
Like I was the only person in the room.
Like I was on fire.
It was a modestly-sized party, maybe thirty people in attendance, though I instantly recognized all of them as the brightest and most beautiful that Terras Academy had to offer—Griffin, of course, as student body president, but also all the guys from the football team, their cheerleader and lacrosse team girlfriends, plus Liam and Callan, each with a bored-looking brunette on their arms.
In other words, it was very obvious that the cursed snake-girl didn’t belong.
But it was also obvious that this was the exact kind of gathering that would’ve included Katie. I could almost imagine her here, flitting around the room like a hummingbird, happily greeting me the same way she had my first day of school when I was utterly lost.
And now Laura was being so kind to me, loaning me her dress, making me feel like more than just the awkward, hated new girl. I hadn’t had such supportive girls in my life in years. Not since my mother.
And now Athena, too, was trying to turn over a new leaf and make things right. I was suddenly surrounded by strong, encouraging women.
Well, not surrounded, Katie was still missing. And I still wanted to find out what had happened to her. But first I had to deal with Griffin, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me once all night.
“What?” I said when he brought me a drink. “Is there something wrong with my dress?”
“You know exactly what’s wrong with that dress,” he murmured. “It’s doing what you were hoping it would do.”
“It’s too short, isn’t it?” I replied and Griffin’s eyes traced along my legs, a hunger on his face that made my skin heat with desire.
“Not short enough,” he concluded. “I could do without it entirely.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s borrowed and I seem to remember something about you stealing my clothes if I so much as dared to take them off.”
“That was if I could trick you into skinny-dipping,” Griffin said quietly. His hand suddenly gripped the small of my back possessively. “If I’m lucky enough to get you naked tonight, stealing your clothes will be the last thing I’ll worry about.”
A shiver went up my spine. God, I wanted Griffin, wanted to push him up against the wall that surrounded Eric’s million-dollar mansion and kiss him, but a tangle of fear stopped me.
“I know you’re up to something,” I said with a smirk. “You’ve been nothing but cruel to me ever since I arrived. Do you really think I’d believe you had such a quick change of heart?”
“Last night, outside the auditorium …” Griffin’s voice rumbled against my ear. “Was that cruel?”
In that moment, I felt nothing but his hand on my back and his lips grazing my skin, his breath hot like a summer breeze. I was breathless by the heat of him, searing my flesh, branding me as his girl. Nothing else mattered—not the nearby splashes from the pool or the soft wind that blew through Eric’s parents’ yard. Nothing but Griffin’s scorching touch and it was everything I could do to not lose myself to him. It would’ve been so easy to step forward and stretch up, to let my lips brush over his again. But I knew if I let him kiss me again, I’d never want to stop.
“You know,” Griffin said, his eyes burning into mine, “the house is empty. We could skip the party and just …”
He trailed off, letting my imagination fill in the blanks.
How long had it been since I’d enjoyed a man’s company in bed?
Never. The answer was never.
I’d given myself to Athena’s temple—body, heart and soul. I’d been a committed priestess, ready to serve Athena for my entire life, letting no man ever touch me. But when Poseidon and his men burned down Athena’s temple, they’d destroyed that life for me. They’d given Athena a reason to curse me, and for the longest
time, I thought they’d destroyed the parts of me which could feel any passion at all.
Anyone I lured into my lair after Athena’s curse, I didn’t use for my own carnal pleasures, but for revenge. I treated all those men like stand-ins for Poseidon, tricking them into coming close enough to kiss me. Then I stared at them with my treacherous eyes, stripping them of the life they knew, turning them into nothing but stone.
But this was completely different.
I wanted Griffin.
I wanted him more than I wanted anyone.
Maybe this was the way he intended to torture me—make me delirious with my own desire, weakened by my longing for him, willing to do anything, anything at all to have him, even leave the school. How cruel to use my attraction to him against me.
But if he destroyed me, it would be my own fault. I couldn’t say I didn’t see it coming.
“You’re supposed to be threatening me,” I murmured. “I’m rather used to it. Comfortable, even.”
“And you’re supposed to be monstrous.” He smiled at me then, a teasing smile curving his sexy lips … a playful smile which told me it was pointless to resist.
I could do this, if it meant getting information for Athena.
I could do this, if it meant finally quenching my hunger for Griffin. So, when he didn’t hesitate to close the distance and pulled me into his arms, I let myself go. I felt weightless in his strong embrace—as though for just a few minutes, nothing could touch me …or hurt me ever again. But to my disappointment, he didn’t kiss me. Instead, he brushed his fingers along my collarbone, both hands gently cradling my neck, drawing soft lines over my skin, as though he were a sculptor and I was his muse.
“What do you want from me?” My words were nothing more than a broken whisper, lost in the roar of passion and the beating of my heart, but I had to try … I had to know where this was going.
He brushed his fingertips across my neck once again, analyzing my features, before drawing his fingers across my cheek then up to cup my chin.