Curse of the Sphinx (3 page)

“A monster is a mixed breed created by a god.”

Candy flew through the air.

“And what was the Sphinx?” His eyes roamed the room. “Alani.”

“Lion and eagle.”

He tilted his head and pursed his lips. “What else?”

The room was silent.

“Human.” She said it. She didn’t even know why. She’d gone the entire semester without saying much of anything. And she didn’t even like chocolate.

Mr. Burton nodded his approval and tossed another silver wrapper.

“You going to eat that?” Caidyn whispered.

She held the candy out, and he took it. “Thanks.”

Their eyes locked, and she had the distinct feeling that precipitated the change into her other form. Excitement. Trepidation. Shuddering, she forced her attention back on her instructor.

“There is significant debate regarding the Sphinx,” Mr. Burton continued. “Some say she was born of monsters: Orthrus, Chimera, Typhon, or Echidna.” He wrote the names on the board.

Her heart beat faster and her palms began to tingle with the desire to hit something. “Maybe the Sphinx was human,” she blurted. “Maybe she was cursed.”

“Maybe.” Mr. Burton tossed more candy at her, but she slumped back into her seat and made no move to catch the treats.

As Mr. Burton’s Q&A continued, Hope tuned out. She knew her history. How her grandmother sat outside of Thebes questioning every man who wanted to enter the city. She asked the same riddle to each, and when they couldn’t answer, she strangled them.

What the myth lost through time was how her grandmother, who was actually the granddaughter of Hera, was hiding in Thebes from a son of Apollo who was determined to kill her. While she was there, she fell in love. But her lover was killed as she tried to defend the city. Mad with grief, and attempting to protect Thebes, she wouldn’t let strangers into the city. The myth told nothing of her pain.

And Oedipus? Sure, he came to free the city from the monster, but the myth was wrong, like so many others. The very morning he showed up, Phaidra had killed the demigod who’d been after her. She wasn’t interested in fighting Oedipus. Instead of solving the riddle, he struck a deal with her. She fled, and he got all the glory.

“HOPE?”

Her name brought her back to Mr. Burton’s class, and the now almost-empty classroom. She focused on the glittery pencil drumming on the edge of her desk.

“Hey. Did you want your pencil back?” Caidyn held it out.

She shrugged. “If you want it, you can have it.”

“You sure?” He waved it in front of her as if it were a prize.

She relented with a smile. “Uh-huh. You can keep it.”

It was the longest conversation she’d had in several months at Kentwood.

When her sophomore year started, Hope had been the new pretty girl in school. New and pretty sparked curiosity. But her lack of social skills, and her mom’s insistence that she keep to herself, were a block of concrete in the ocean of interest. Within a few weeks, she was invisible. Again.

And then two weeks ago, Caidyn moved from Atlanta. Attractive, athletic, and friendly, he persisted in talking to her, even when she put her foot in her mouth.

They walked out of the classroom together and toward her locker.

“So, I was just thinking,” he started.

Her cheeks tinged with warmth.

“You’re pretty smart, and I’m pretty smart. Maybe we could get together and study sometime?”

“Um, I’m not allowed to have study groups.” The warmth in her cheeks turned to fire. “I mean, I’m not allowed to go to study groups.”

“Why not? Is your mom the Wicked Witch or something?”

“No.” Maybe.

“Whatever. Tell her it’s a class assignment. I’ll be on my bestest behavior, a real prince.” He waggled his brows.

She blushed and stuttered. “I . . . I don’t think that would help any.”

He stepped closer and whispered, “What if you told her you were studying with a demigod? We could sort through the monsters and devise the best way to destroy each one.”

Her heart stopped. A lump of terror exploded in her chest. “Are you . . . are you kidding me?” The words tripped out of her mouth.

“Will it convince your mom to let us hang out?” He smiled, and a glint of amusement shone from his dark eyes. “If I told you my dad was Hedylogos, would it make any difference?”

Zeus Almighty! “Is he really your dad?” Her voice dropped to a whisper.

Caidyn shrugged. “Would it matter?” He leaned toward her. “You know who Hedylogos is?”

She nodded. “God of flattery.” Of course she knew. She knew them all.

Caidyn’s fingers brushed her hair away from her face.

She flinched. Her heart beat a rhythm of fear.

His eyes went from her lips to her eyes. “And sweet talk.” He straightened back up. “Maybe you shouldn’t tell her that part, though.” He took a step back. “I can come over to your house; that way your mom can supervise. Do you think that will work?”

She shook her head. “Um, I better check with her first.” Her cold, clammy hands were shaking. She gripped her backpack to make them stop.

The bell rang.

“I’ll . . . I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Caidyn winked at her. “Perfect. Hey, why don’t you come eat lunch with me today?” He started walking backward.

She shrugged.

“I’ll find you!” Caidyn waved, then turned and sprinted down the hall.

She stood alone in the hall, panic racing through her veins. Caidyn was a demigod? Could that even be? Gods! Caidyn was a demigod! She needed to tell her mom. She needed to tell her mom right now.

Sixty-two days since the last move

HOPE SLAMMED THE
door and stood in the entryway. Her backpack slid from her shoulder as she surveyed the apartment. All around her were moving boxes. Stacks and stacks of them.

“Oh. I’m so glad you’re here.” Her mom came out of the kitchen and pulled her into a hug. “I was just hunting for my keys so I could come get you.”

“But I ride the bus.” As soon as it left her mouth, she knew this wasn’t about the bus.

Only two months ago, they’d left Kent and moved to Mount Vernon. Two months! It seemed like a blink and—

“I know you do. But we need to get going. It’s time.”

“What happened?” Her voice shrunk as she faced her mom.

“Baby, we’ve gone over this a million times.”

“But you said a year—”

“No. I said a year, at most. We agreed when I told you it was time to go, we would go. No arguments.”

“Please, Mom?” Hope weaved her way through the boxes to the couch and collapsed into the overstuffed cushions, her wet coat dripping onto the leather. “It just . . . I . . .” She dropped her head into her hands.

She could feel the couch dip next to her. Her mom’s arm circled her shoulders. “I thought you’d be ready for a change.”

She met her mother’s eyes. “I just want a friend. I just want—”

A knock at the door interrupted them. As Leto got up to answer it, the knock became a pounding.

“
Skata!
Open this door!”

The voice of her aunt Priska cut through the air, and seconds later the petite woman came through the door.

Hope stood to greet her aunt.

Priska Metcalf wasn’t really her aunt, but she was the closest thing to extended family they had. She looked the same age as her mom, perhaps even a few years younger, but Hope knew she’d helped raise her grandmother, the first Sphinx, thousands of years ago.

Where Hope and her mom were gold and honey, Priska was onyx and ivory, not only in physical appearance but emotionally as well. She was calculated, decisive, and fearless. She didn’t mince words, or blow smoke.

“Are you almost ready to go?” Her aunt’s angular features were pulled into a scowl. “I followed him to Pine Square, but all those shadows around Demeter’s temple—”

“Stop!” Leto’s eyes darted to Hope.

The dark-haired woman looked at her, then back to her mother. “What? You haven’t told her?”

The silence that settled between them was thick with tension.

“Are you still trying to protect her?” Priska’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t hide her from the world. She needs to know.”

The pressure in the room rose. Hope’s eyes went back and forth from her mother to her aunt. “What’s going on?”

Priska shook her head and turned to face Hope. “Skia.”

The word was like a bomb. “Skia?” Her heart stuttered with fear. “Here?”

“Maybe. I think . . . I went shopping this morning . . .” Leto paused.

“Just tell her.” Priska’s angular features accentuated the harshness of her words.

Leto’s shoulders slumped. “This morning. I don’t think he saw me, but we can’t take any chances. We need to move.”

Skia. Shadow monsters. Her mother incessantly worried about
them
—demigods and Skia, the two immortal races that could kill them.

Hope was stunned. “Are you sure?”

Priska nodded. “I chased him off, made sure he saw me. I promise, he won’t be looking for you two.” She sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. “You’ll be fine.”

“So we’re safe?” Hope looked back and forth between the two women.

Leto shook her head. “I’m going to go finish packing the kitchen. We’ll leave in an hour.”

Hope’s aunt produced a wan smile. “Safe is a relative term.” She pulled a pillow into her lap. “How was school today?”

Fear and confusion made it impossible to focus. She sat on the edge of the couch and stumbled over the words, the classes she was taking, what they were studying.

“Have you made any friends?”

Priska’s stare settled on Hope’s shoulders, and she shrugged as if to dislodge the weight. “It’s hard to make friends when you move all the time.”

“Yes. That’s a challenge. But not impossible. Maybe you should put some effort into it.”

Really? She rolled her eyes. “Hades in—”

“Speaking of Hades,” Priska cut her off and changed the subject. “How much do you know about Skia?”

“Don’t you do it!” Leto appeared in the doorway.

Hope drew back into the couch, her mother’s words stinging the very air.

Priska’s face was granite. “If you will not tell her, I will. Her life is in danger, too. You’ve shared only the barest of information with her. It is not enough to keep her safe.”

Safe. It was like a mantra in their home—elusive, and yet the prize they constantly searched for. Is it safe? Are we safe? Trying to keep us safe. All the effort, and it was never, ever enough.

“Tell me.” Hope sat up. “I want to know. I… I need to know.”

Priska appraised her, then turned back to Leto. “It’s your choice. You can tell her, or I will.”

Her mother shook her head. “Fine.” She looked at her watch. “Twenty minutes.”

Priska nodded, her focus shifting back to Hope. “What do you know about Skia?”

“They’re Hades’s minions, shadow monsters that kill immortals.”

“Well, that’s a start.” Priska took a deep breath. “When the elements were divided, Zeus and his offspring got the earth and sky and all living things therein. Poseidon received the water with its creatures and inhabitants. Hades got the underworld, and the dead became his domain.”

Hope nodded. This was basic mythology.

Priska continued, “The gods could produce, with those beings of their realms, half breeds, and these half mortal-half god beings are invincible. Only another immortal, or an immortal weapon, can kill those of . . . mixed blood.”

Her mother had explained this, too. “Immortal” didn’t mean they would live forever, a common misconception of the human realm. Only the gods were eternal and everlasting.

“So if a god and human . . . hooked up, their offspring would be a demigod. The water gods have their creatures: merfolk, water nymphs, and sirens. And Hades . . .” There was a sudden weight to the words. “In bitter jealousy, Hades found that he could fuse a part of his spirit with those in his dominion and create immortal beings, too. These creatures are Skia.”

“So they are human?” In her mind, a monster meant a creature like her.

“Skia are human in appearance. Sort of.” She paused, as if weighing her words. “More of a shadow of their previous human form.”

Hope grimaced, her mind trying to put together the puzzle.

Priska explained, “It’s like the color of life has been leached from their bodies. They can only be seen by other immortals, and their only purpose is death. Usually they go after demigods, but . . . they will kill any immortal.”

Hope understood the implication.

Priska grabbed her phone and pulled up a photo of a man. Using an app, she washed out the color of his skin, making him appear sickly, she darkened his eyes until the entire orbs were black, his cheeks sunken . . .

“They look like this.”

Hope looked at the morphed image. He didn’t look scary, just ill.

Priska held the phone back and looked at her artwork. “If you ever see black eyes like that, run.”

Hope nodded. “So how does Hecate keep us safe?” She pointed at the three sided statue of the goddess. One figure held knives, another torches, and the third a set of keys.

“The primordial goddess holds power over the crossroads of life and death. That sacred shrine was given to my mother from Hecate herself.” She pointed to the marble figurine, “It’s what keeps Skia from entering your home, from crossing through your doorways.”

“It’s time to go.” Leto came out of the kitchen with her purse. “The movers are on their way; they’ll put the stuff in storage. Go grab your suitcase, Hope.”

She exhaled as she stood up. “It’s not fair. I just want to be normal.”

Priska laughed. “You’ll never be normal. You’d better get used to change.” She scooted to the edge of the couch, stood, and turned to Leto. “Do you have the
Book of the Fates
?”

Leto nodded, wisps of blond hair brushing her cheeks. “It’s in my bag.” She held up a worn leather messenger bag.

“Good.” Her aunt turned back to Hope. “Make sure you have everything, and don’t forget to grab Hecate. We’ll meet you at the car.”