by Kate Nova
“Go ahead, then,” she said. “Drop me. Let me die.” She peered up at the swirl of stars, the streak of the Milky Way. “Give me what I’ve been wanting for so long.”
“No,” I whispered. I took a step towards Griffin and put my hand on his shoulder. “Put her down. Don’t do this.”
“Not until she agrees to leave the school!” Griffin didn’t sound like himself—or, he didn’t sound like his human self. His growl was more monstrous than I’d ever heard him. “I won’t let her stick around for what’s about to happen. I won’t let him hurt her!”
“What are you talking about?” Medusa gasped. “You’ve wanted me dead since I got here. Go ahead and do it! Drop me!”
“We don’t want you dead!” My temper snapped like a twig. “If we wanted you dead, we would’ve done it the first day we saw you. We’ve been trying to keep you alive, dammit!” I pulled Griffin back from the ledge with all my might.
He toppled backwards, his wings folding into his shoulders and vanishing. He pulled Medusa back with him. She fell on top of him but quickly pushed herself back, scrambling away from us.
“We had a plan!” Griffin barked at me and my head swam.
“Fuck our plans,” I told him. “And fuck Orcus. I didn’t sign up for this.”
“We’re supposed to get rid of her,” Griffin countered. “Any way necessary.”
“We’re supposed to be proving our worthiness for Olympus!” I exploded. “You think we’ll get there by dropping her to her death?”
“I don’t know,” Griffin growled, but his voice had softened. “Orcus is the only reason we’re off that island. Don’t we owe him some loyalty?”
I shook my head in frustration. “If we did what he wanted, we’d never be allowed on Mount Olympus. He’s using us …all he cares about is getting himself there. He doesn’t care about us.” My mind flashed again to the fear in Medusa’s eyes as she dangled helplessly above the drop, the way she’d so easily surrendered to her impending death.
I didn’t ever want to see that look on her face again. “I can’t do this anymore,” I muttered and by the look on Griffin’s face, he was near the edge too. “No matter what happens to me for disobeying Orcus, I just can’t do this.”
It was so much easier before we talked to her. So much easier before I saw her as an actual person—not a monster, like us, but someone who’d been wronged and imprisoned and cursed.
Someone who deserved to have people fighting for her, not against her.
“Do what?” Medusa had her hands wrapped around her, rubbing the sore skin under her arms where Griffin had held her aloft. “What are you guys involved in? What is Orcus planning?”
I held my mouth closed. To my right, Griffin, too, pressed his lips shut and Medusa, enraged, got to her feet.
“Fuck both of you,” she spat and as she opened the door to the attic and climbed back down through the house, I turned to Griffin, expecting him to punch me for ruining the threat.
But instead he simply shrugged and shook his head in frustration. “What the hell do we do now?”
Orcus had been counting on us to get rid of the Gorgon. Now that seemed impossible to imagine. If she wouldn’t leave on her own accord, I wasn’t going to continue threatening her and bullying her until she did.
We’d have to figure out another way around things.
“First things first. We’ve got to tell Callan what’s going on. And then … I don’t know. We might have to tell her,” I said, nodding in the direction Medusa had gone.
“Orcus will be furious,” Griffin pointed out. “And it might put her in even more danger.”
“It’s either that or hope that she stays out of the way on her own,” I said and a small grin tugged at my mouth. Medusa was far too stubborn to keep out of our business. I knew that unless we brought her in on our secrets, she wouldn’t stop until she uncovered everything.
There was only one problem—once Medusa found out what Orcus was up to, I knew she’d want us to shut it down.
We didn’t know everything Orcus was planning, only that he wanted to overthrow Zeus so we could all share the glory of Mount Olympus. He said it was the only way; that as long as Zeus was in power he’d rule as a tyrant, controlling our fate.
If Orcus found out we’d disobeyed him, there was no doubt in my mind he’d kill us all.
Chapter 19
Medusa
I’m such an idiot.
Griffin and Liam had tricked me into going up onto that roof and I knew I’d never forget the feeling of my feet dangling with nothing but air beneath me.
God, I had been so stupid, so naive.
My heart had hardened out there on that ledge.
Any feelings of friendship or desire I’d felt towards those guys was now rescinded.
They’d almost killed me.
Liam, for some reason, was the sole voice of mercy. If it wasn’t for him, I had no doubt that Griffin would’ve let me fall.
Again, they were pushing me out—but I had reasons to stay.
Athena. Mount Olympus. My chance at revenge.
I was through being friendly. I didn’t care if that was the tactful way to get information from them and I didn’t care that together, the four of us were monsters in a sea of human students.
I’d find out about Orcus’s scheme some other way. Griffin, Liam and Callan, who hadn’t directly participated in tonight’s proceedings but who was probably hidden away somewhere with a club waiting to finish me off if I didn’t properly die from the fall … They could all go to hell.
I stalked out of Eric’s parents’ yard, making my way back to the campus and realized after a few minutes that not only was I just in my swimming suit, but I’d also left Laura’s dress back at the pool.
Laura, who’d been so kind to me on multiple occasions. I couldn’t tell her I’d just lost her dress, so I spun around and charged back to the house …
And ran straight into Callan.
He wasn’t dressed to swim and that was probably a good thing. This giant would likely overflow the pool with his massive size and his thick, muscular arms.
I shook my head to get rid of the image. I wasn’t supposed to be so affected by any of these guys anymore. Griffin had shown their hand. They would do literally anything to get rid of me, and the last time I checked, I wasn’t supposed to lust after people who wanted to cause me harm.
“Move,” I snarled, pushing him aside.
“Whoa, whoa,” he said as he stepped in front of me. He even grabbed my wrists to keep me in place. “What’s going on? I thought you were with Griffin.”
“No, I left when he and Liam tried to drop me from the roof. Oh, you can cut the bullshit with that shocked look on your face,” I snapped. “I know you’re all clamoring for me to get out of your way, no matter what it takes. If I would’ve died, my blood would be on your hands too.”
“Then maybe you should leave already.” Callan leaned over me, his eyes blazing. It was the complete opposite to how he’d looked when he was talking to me in the lunchroom not too long ago. He’d been friendly when he’d apologized about the journal, almost … nice. But this was a completely different version of Callan.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said with gritted teeth. “Whatever plans you guys have with Orcus, you’ll have to just work around me. I’m going to get Laura’s dress so I can give it back to her before she leaves for fall break, then I’m heading back to the school.”
“Laura Worthington?” Callan asked, frowning. “She was there at the party tonight?”
The conversation had taken such a sharp turn down an unexpected path, I had whiplash. It was all I could do to answer. “Yes,” I said slowly. “At least she was earlier.” I pointed at the fence that surrounded Eric’s pool. “You’re tall as a tree. Why don’t you just look for yourself?”
Again, I started to move around him, but he stopped me cold on the sidewalk again and the feel of his massive hands on my bare arms set my skin on fire.
“You can’t go back in the school tonight.”
“Are you fucking kidding? Let go of me so I can get that dress to Laura and get home—”
“You can’t go back in the school!” Callan insisted once again, his voice tinged with that fierce baritone rumble that set my heart aflame. The pool party quieted for a moment, then started back up with a fervor. I, on the other hand, glared at him and tried to wrench myself free from his grip.
“Why not?” I demanded. “Is this part of Orcus’s big plan? You’ve got a guillotine waiting inside to chop off my head if I dare to step foot past the foyer—”
“Because if you go back in that school tonight, you won’t come out.” Callan held me steady, his sparkling eyes studying my face.
My stomach was in knots. Griffin and Liam had hinted at some sort of scheme when we were up on the roof up and Callan had just confirmed it. Orcus wasn’t waiting until Mount Olympus to set up his big takeover. He was doing something here. Now, at this school.
And judging by the way Callan asked about Laura and given the fact that one human girl had already disappeared without a trace, Orcus’s scheme involved humans.
An enraged heat spread across my chest. I’d only known some of these humans for a couple of weeks, but somehow I felt protective of them. Certainly, I didn’t want them to be caught up in some twisted game set up by the evil beast keeper. “What is Orcus trying to do?” I asked Callan uneasily.
He didn’t reply right away. The wind blowing through the leaves in the gutter sounded like old bones rattling. The noise of the party just beyond the fence, the lights, the smell of the alcohol—all of it seemed wrong. Garish and frivolous in the face of imminent danger.
“Just make sure you don’t go back in the school until dawn,” he whispered. He held both my shoulders steady. “And since I know you’re going to ignore me and go back into the school anyway, at least stay away from the student center. Go straight to your dorm. Please,” he added and his voice broke slightly. “Please listen to me.”
My pulse spiked with every word. A thousand questions came to mind with everything he said, mystery after mystery bubbling up. But the way he was looking at me … That was the Callan I’d seen in the cafeteria. Those were the eyes I’d recognized and it made me want to punch him for making me feel this way. And then punch myself.
“Why should I?” I folded my arms defiantly. “Why should I listen to anything you say?”
His gaze locked on mine and somewhere behind us, the campus clock chimed midnight. Then, with a furrowed brow, he reached out and tenderly lifted a lock of my hair. “Because if you don’t, you won’t survive the night. I’m serious.” Despite his dark warning, his voice somehow calmed me, quieted my fears and I took a few deep breaths alongside him.
He studied me for a moment. While he appeared perfectly still, not even his eyes so much as flickering, I could see that brain of his churning.
“What are you looking at?” I should’ve been terrified by this man, but oddly, I wasn’t. Instead, I felt my heart beat faster and my pulse raced at the thought of those perfect lips on mine.
His brow quirked slightly, lips twisted into a wicked smirk and I knew he was daring me to look down.
If I did, my gaze was bound to wander across the gorgeous muscular bounty of his body, over the hard planes and edges, right down to … Well, it.
“Fuck it,” he replied, his voice low. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the day I first saw you.”
He swallowed any chance of a reply with a kiss—one I fell into too willingly, considering I had just been attacked by his friends. Eyes fluttering closed, I let him pull me in, our lips finding each other like long lost lovers. The faint prickle of heat within me blossomed to something more scorching. My core tightened with desire when Callan nipped gently at my lower lip. Despite his intimidating stature and even though his kiss was fiery, somehow I felt safe in his arms. The words ‘gentle giant’ raced through my mind.
I pressed into his huge, muscled body, letting him hold me up as my legs dissolved into jelly. His lips were hot, but soft, and every time I thought about pulling away and demanding an answer to the many questions that burned in my mind, he kissed me harder.
My fingers threaded through his hair as our lips parted, opening to one another. He groaned in surprise when my tongue swept over his first and he held me tighter. I felt weightless, like I was floating above the clouds.
The truth was, his kiss sparked something inside me, something I didn't know I'd been missing, been longing for. A feeling of protection, as though I was precious, cherished. It made no sense to me, especially with all that he and his friends had done to make my life a living hell. Yet there I was, snuggled in the arms of a giant and feeling as though he would go to the ends of the Earth to protect me. Even from his friends.
Finally, he set me down gently, pulling away for only a second before pressing heated kisses along my neck and jaw.
“Are you cold?” he murmured against my skin, running his fingers along my goose bumped flesh.
“My swimsuit is still damp,” I reminded him.
He growled in response as he kissed me again.
I melted into his embrace as he skimmed my body, his tongue now feverishly running along my lips and pressing into my mouth. I knew I should be furious he was even touching me. He was one in a trio of guys who’d sooner hurl me off a roof than suffer me to stay here at Terras.
I couldn’t seem to make up my mind about him, about any of them. How messed up could I be to feel so much for men who treated me like I were nothing more than an annoyance that wouldn’t go away?
“But Callan wasn’t on that roof,” my snakes reminded me. “And he was just telling you information that could save your life—"
I moaned as a sharp tingle of pleasure surged from the crest of my thighs when he bucked against me. Our eyes met again when we broke apart, breaths coming hard and fast, and I knew if I let myself, I could get lost in those storm clouds forever. Every inch of me burned at the slightest touch—yet the raging heat excited me, enticed me, had me desperate for more.
More kissing. More touching. More skin to skin—right here, right now, beneath a muddled sky with an out-of-control party only a few yards away.
But I couldn’t do it. Not like this. Not with so much at stake. Not until I knew his true intentions.
“Wait …” I angled my face away when he tried to claim my lips once more. He pressed his lips to my cheek instead.
“Callan? What the hell?”
The sound of Griffin’s voice broke the spell and Callan set me down quickly, though he kept his arms wrapped around me protectively.
I shook my head, my face heating at having been caught kissing Callan. Grasping his arms, I managed to untangle my body from his, stumbling over the even ground as I put some distance between us.
“I … uh … I’ve gotta go,” I stammered, unable to look either of them in the eye.
“Medusa, remember what I said,” Callan warned softly.
I glanced up at him to see if I was only imagining the torment in his voice.
“Please, don’t go in the school,” his voice was stern but tender.
Griffin looked at him oddly.
“Why? Why should I listen to you? Why should I trust any of you? You’re all just a bunch of guys who’ve been monstrous to me. I’m over this.”
I launched myself across the grounds, into the shadows and away from the men who’d, so far, made my life so complicated. Their voices called my name as I slipped farther away. But I tuned them out. The only thing I heard was Callan’s warning.
You won’t survive the night.
That’s what Callan had said, but did I trust him? Part of me wanted to go through the student center just to prove that he was wrong. Just to prove I wasn’t going to obey him, no matter how desperate he made it sound.
But when I reached the student center, its halls were dark and my own reflection gleamed back at me aga
inst the closed glass doors.
Me, in my swimsuit.
Me, almost looking human again. My hair tousled, my eyes gleaming with righteous fury. Patches of skin darkening into bruises where Griffin had held me off the roof.
If anyone looked at me at the right angle, with enough shadows to hide the worst of my ugliness, I almost looked …
No. I couldn’t say it.
Too impossible.
But something changed among us. The guys had decided to be merciful— Liam first, and then Griffin. Callan, too, had said he was only trying to protect me … But from what?
What was going on at Terras Academy?
What was happening inside the student center?
And if these guys were the ones who were trying to protect me, who wanted me dead?
Chapter 20
Medusa
Halloween.
It was a Friday, the last day of the term and the school had been decked out in celebration. I got the feeling the over-the-top, black crepe draperies and carved, lit Jack-o-Lanterns that grinned along every hallway were to commemorate the end of the term, not just the holiday.
But everyone seemed to be in a cheery mood, despite the plastic skulls and deep red and black rosettes.
“Humans are so strange,” my hair hissed collectively as we passed through a foyer rigged with strobe lights, creepy ghosts made of gauze and thunderstorm sounds.
“I think it’s fun,” I admitted. I liked the way they turned the macabre into something worth celebrating.
Sometimes it was cathartic to treat tragedy as just another part of life.
In honor of the holiday, there was a huge Halloween party happening tonight in the student center ballroom—a masquerade. Before fall break, girls in my classes had been chatting about their costume ideas. And ever since everyone had returned from fall break the dorm had been filled with talk of dresses and masks—how much money they’d spent, how much glitter they’d used on their masks, how they were all looking for that perfect balance between sweet and slutty.