by Kate Nova
Liam pondered this. “Maybe he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty.”
I scoffed at this. “Come on, Liam, he wouldn’t care about that. We know he’s killed people before. And I’ll bet he didn’t lose a single night’s sleep over it. No, there’s something about Medusa … something special. Can’t you feel it?”
I pictured her mouth on mine … The very memory of it made my body ache with desire.
And just like that, I’d made up my mind.
I wasn’t going to help Orcus anymore until I had some answers.
And I wasn’t going to do anything else until I’d found out where he was keeping Medusa and set her free.
She was a monster too. At least partly. She deserved to have a voice in this.
And if my hunches were right, there was something Orcus wasn’t telling us about Medusa—some reason why he couldn’t just reach out and destroy her himself. I wasn’t about to get involved in something that could, potentially, be bigger than this original plot. That wasn’t the deal.
She was special.
And I was going to make sure I found out why Orcus wanted her gone so badly.
“Come on,” I said, leaping down from the cypress tree trunk and onto the grass. “We’re going to find Griffin. And then we’re going to figure this out once and for all.”
Chapter 23
Medusa
All day long, I was kept locked in that office.
I thought about climbing out the window, but even if the window hadn’t been latched from the outside, the office was on the second story and the bricks had a slick finish which made them impossible to grip.
I screamed and pounded on the door, but no one seemed to hear me. Who knew what kind of charms had been put on the door to soundproof it? And when I lifted the phone on the desk to call someone, anyone, I found nothing more than a dead line. I searched through the office, tearing drawers open, searching through countless files and paperwork, only to come up short.
Thousands of years stuck in a sea cave and I’d been released to be stuck in an academy administrator’s office all day, helpless. Unable to do anything but wait.
I knew what would happen to me when Orcus was finished pretending to be headmaster for the day. He’d send me back to my sea cave, or worse.
Maybe he’d hand me over to whatever horrible thing he had housed in the student center. All my chances of redemption, gone. All my dreams of revenge against Poseidon, gone.
“Do something,” my hair hissed collectively, but I was suddenly exhausted.
All the past weeks of homework, of pretending I was a normal human, of raging against Griffin, Liam and Callan for their bullying while fighting against my attraction to them—it all piled on my shoulders at once.
I slumped against the wall of Orcus’s pretend office, sliding down, holding my head in my arms.
It was over.
There was nothing I could do now.
And to think I’d thought I might have some sort of second chance. But I would never be anything but a monster.
I was human once and my heart was still human. My heart, which had ached for more when Griffin’s mouth pressed against mine and when Callan had squeezed my thigh and whenever Liam and I had exchanged looks …
My heart was useless.
I would only ever be the ugliest creature in the world.
Orcus had won.
And so had the three monsters disguised as beautiful human men. They could be satisfied now that they’d gotten me out of their way.
All I could do now was wait until Orcus came back then see what would happen to me—
Tap, tap, tap.
I glanced up at the door, waiting for it to open, but there was no one behind it, no feet under the door.
Tap, tap.
My head swiveled to the window. There, beyond the ledge, a white owl beat its wings against the glass.
Athena.
Heart pounding, I scrambled to my feet and ran to the window, trying to see if I could force it open somehow and let my rescuer inside. But instead, the owl landed on the ledge outside the window and unlatched the window with its beak.
Open the window, escape down the side of the building, stop Orcus.
I didn’t know what his plans were, but I knew that I’d do anything to stop whatever it was from happening.
Katie and Laura … Two girls had already gone missing, thanks to Orcus, and if I didn’t find out what was going on, there might be more.
Human girls.
Girls like me.
I wasn’t going to leave them alone. I’d been left to fend for myself for thousands of years.
I wouldn’t do that to them.
They didn’t deserve it. They’d been so nice to me, without asking for anything in return. Katie and Laura were so kind to the monstrous transfer girl who everyone thought had murdered her own mother. I would not leave them to rot in whatever hell Orcus had put them into.
I’d face down whatever monster Orcus had brought into this school and then I would bring him down.
After that I’d make my way back to Mount Olympus and Athena. Once there, I’d get my revenge on Poseidon.
Yes, I certainly had. I’d been alone for thousands of years, no one to rescue me. And I wouldn’t leave those girls without their own rescuer.
Opening the window on its hinges quietly, so no one outside of the room would hear me, I held my breath. Waiting. When no one rushed inside, I stacked books beneath the sill so I could climb up and peer outside.
Oh, god, that was a long way down. There was nothing to hold onto, no crooked bricks, no flagpole to shimmy down, no one waiting below to catch me.
But I’d have to do it.
I would have to be brave.
I’d survived worse than this. I’d survived heartache and loneliness. I’d lived for thousands of years, terrified to even look at my own reflection. I could certainly handle climbing down from a two-story window, especially if it meant I could save someone else.
I hadn’t been able to save myself, after all.
Slowly, measuring every step, I squeezed myself out the window. My sandals held fast against the brick, and my arms held onto the ledge. I glanced below me—it was only about a three-foot reach to the next ledge down.
So, I’d have to dangle uncomfortably for a moment. But after that, there was a brick jutting out, which I hadn’t been able to see from Orcus’s office. I could step on that and then it was a simple hop down onto the grass.
A leap of faith.
Carefully, I reached for the other ledge, trying not to lose my mind when my entire body whipped downwards, somewhat violently, and my hands caught my weight. My foot found the brick. When I jumped down and rolled, safe and clear except for a jolt of pain through my system that lasted for a breath, I couldn’t help but grin.
I was free.
I’d done it.
Scurrying behind the hedges, I made sure no one saw my escape from the office. Then I found someplace to stay until it was time.
Time to go looking for the missing girls—and Orcus would be looking for me. I knew this without a shadow of a doubt.
Luckily, there was a Halloween masquerade happening tonight.
Plenty of masks, plenty of disguises.
Plenty of opportunity for the ugliest creature in existence to slip past unseen.
Chapter 24
Medusa
I had absolutely nothing to wear.
I mean, I had the school uniform and the hoodie and jeans I was given before I arrived at school. But when it came to an actual costume for a Halloween masquerade? Of course, I had nothing.
“Go as yourself,” my hair collectively suggested. “Halloween is supposed to be frightening.”
It was tempting to show these humans exactly what the meaning of fear was just with my own face. But I needed to be disguised.
The whole point of going to this masquerade was so I could spy on Orcus and find out exactly what he was up to—and where thos
e girls had gone.
So, the regular clothes wouldn’t cut it.
I sighed, sitting on my bed, contemplating my options.
There’s no way I would be able to get into that party as myself. Orcus himself was probably searching for me, since I’d disappeared from his office. And he’d likely have guards everywhere—possibly even the jerks who had apparently been assigned to single me out and make my life hell so I would leave the academy.
My heart panged at the thought of them.
A part of me had been hoping I’d be able to clear things up with them and find a way to befriend them for real. A part of me had been hoping they’d give up their plans with Orcus and help me instead, but I’d been wrong.
I didn’t totally know what they’d been talking about on the roof that night at Eric’s party. Liam had seemed concerned, Griffin had not and later when I’d been trying to leave, Callan had warned me against something he thought was dangerous.
So clearly they were struggling with their own roles in all of this, at least on some level.
But they’d apparently made their choices.
None of them had stood up for me in the assembly earlier, and none of them had found me in Orcus’s office to rescue me.
A line in the sand had been drawn. I was on one side while they were on the other.
A memory flashed to me then, of the first time I’d met Griffin. How handsome I’d thought he was and later how confused I’d been when he kissed me outside the auditorium after he’d threatened me.
The very thought of it sent hot shivers down my spine.
Callan too—he’d stolen my mother’s journal, ruined it and then kissed me the night of the party. No, first, he’d tried to apologize, that day in the cafeteria when I was doing my penance for blowing up the food carts. And I’d almost believed him.
He’d almost believed himself, too, but then he’d barely spoken to me again until we were outside the pool party. Then his tongue was halfway in my mouth and his strong, muscular arms were lifting me off the ground. I thought of his hardness pressing against my thigh and felt myself grow hot. If only we were ordinary humans attending an ordinary college …
But we weren’t.
I straightened, getting a grip. We were more than just college students; we were all monsters. And we were embroiled in something far bigger than any of us.
I thought about what I’d overheard that night on the roof when Griffin and Liam were talking. “He’s using us …all he cares about is getting himself there. He doesn’t care about us.”
That’s what Liam had said …but what did it mean?
I wracked my brain, trying to put the pieces together. Orcus had made a deal with Zeus to allow the monsters to be placed in different colleges around the world to prove ourselves worthy—that we could be tamed and controlled. Well, except for me. Athena had petitioned on my behalf.
But why did Orcus care so much about the others? Why would he work so hard to free his beasts?
Then it hit me and the moment it did I felt incredibly stupid. Of course. How had I not thought about this before? It was all so obvious.
This was all about a battle for Mount Olympus. One that had been raging even before my time. Orcus the beast keeper and his bitterness towards Zeus and the rest of the pantheon was well-known.
So, he wanted his monsters ultimately placed on Mount Olympus, but why? How would that help him win the battle?
And why were there only a few of his beasts here at this college? Where were the other monsters? Were they placed at different academies around the world?
That would make sense because placing an army of monsters in one school would likely have ended in devastation.
Army …
Is that what was Orcus was doing? Building his army?
I knew I may never get answers, but I also knew that I had a chance to put a stop to his mutiny. I at least had to try.
And while I did it, I’d rescue the two girls who’d been so kind to me, even when there was nothing in it for them—
Like a lightbulb, the idea came into my brain.
I needed to ask another girl for help.
Before I’d come to Terras, I never would’ve thought this was possible, that a human girl—a popular, normal girl—would ever want to be nice to me. But since I’d arrived at college, I’d learned that not only were such girls willing to be nice, they went out of their way to do so. Even though I was Medusa, the new girl with a thousand rumors flying around about me. Even though I had snakes for hair and a face that could turn people to stone.
Even though I’d never looked for opportunities to be nice to them. Human girls were not the backstabbing bitches everyone liked to make them out to be.
They were supportive. Encouraging. Helpful.
Hell, even Athena had surprised me, hadn’t she?
And there was a girl in the dorm next to me who’d always given me a smile every morning as we left for classes.
Natalie was her name. Maybe.
I’d go see if she had anything I could borrow for the masquerade. Just one girl reaching out to another one for help.
But when I knocked on her door, trying to hide myself in the doorway in case Orcus or any spies or cronies of his were looking for me, someone else answered the door.
Griffin.
Chapter 25
Medusa
My body was instantly at war.
Part of me wanted to immediately find the sunlight, glare at him and turn him to stone.
For all the trouble he’d caused me already and all the trouble he’d likely cause me now. For his bullying, his threats. For dangling me off a roof, making me come to terms with my own death and then refusing to grant it.
But another part of me saw the muss of his hair and the wildness in his eyes, the way he panted, like he’d been running through the hallways.
And I remembered kissing him outside the auditorium that night, when he’d looked just as frenzied, just as wild.
Part of me wanted to kiss him again. My legs inched forward, closing the gap between us and my lips tingled, imagining my mouth on his.
But I managed to compose myself, crossing my arms. “Where’s Natalie?”
“She’s not here,” Griffin answered.
A sinking feeling suddenly buried itself in my stomach. Was Griffin here in Natalie’s room because …
He must have read the look on my face, because he rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I’m not with Natalie.”
“I don’t care.” A lie—I did care. But nothing would be more embarrassing or infuriating than admitting it. Better to let it burn me up inside. “Why the hell would I care who you’re with?”
“Fine,” Griffin replied. “But either way, I’m not with her. I don’t even know her.”
Nope, there was something more embarrassing than admitting I cared whether Griffin was fucking Natalie—the sheer relief I felt when he disclosed he didn’t know her. I had to work extra hard to make sure it didn’t show in my eyes, so I narrowed them. “Then why are you in her room?”
“Because …” Griffin looked above my head, glancing back and forth down the hallway. “She’s missing.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Missing?” I repeated. “As in—”
“As in gone like Katie, gone like Laura.” Griffin kept scanning the hallway beyond me, like he was expecting us to be caught, and the thought of Orcus rushing up behind me filled me with sudden adrenaline.
I pushed Griffin into the doorway, my hands clenching his collar with all my strength. “You know what’s going on here,” I hissed, barely restraining my anger. “And you’re going to tell me. All of it. Now.” Another girl missing—another decent, kind, human girl just vanished. And while I knew Orcus was behind this, I didn’t know the details.
I needed specifics.
I needed Griffin to reveal what he knew so I could race out and try to save these girls. After a second, Griffin’s face softened.
“All right, all ri
ght,” he said, putting up his hands up. “I’ll tell you what I know. But come inside so no one sees us.”
“Don’t want anyone seeing you with the freak, new girl?” I couldn’t help it—even as I said it, I knew it was cold and rude and ultimately not true. He wanted us to come inside Natalie’s room because otherwise, Orcus might see us and then everything would be lost.
But Griffin stood up straight, grabbing my own hands with his, which were still holding his collar, and pushed me back against the other side of the door. His sheer power was nothing I could hope to match and I worried for a second that he was going to actually hurt me.
But he leaned his face close to mine, so close I could see the thousand hues of blue in his eyes, touched by storm clouds. “You have three monsters completely bewildered by you. You have the beast keeper of the gods so worried, he’s practically chewing off his own face. When is it going to be enough for you? When are you going to realize that you’re special?”
My cheeks flushed with heat. I felt like I could feel every word he spoke, not just the breath of them on my skin, but I could feel them in my body—each word, creeping up my back, nestling in my hair, ringing in my ears.
“Special, huh? Is that what you call it? Dangling me from a roof, treating me like dirt? And I guess that’s why Poseidon chose to attack the temple where I worked all those years ago,” I choked out. “And why Athena cursed me. Because I’m special.” I spat out the word like it was bitter, but inside me, something was breaking.
No, it was already broken—and Griffin’s words were attempting to stitch it back up.
But I wouldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t heal me so easily.
“Medusa— “
I shook my head. “No, you don’t get to do this. You don’t get to act hot one minute, cold the next. I’m done with you and your games. Do you really think it’s okay to treat someone like this? To toy with my emotions? If so, then you truly are a monster.”