Elementals 3: The Head of Medusa (15 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“Two apple ciders,” Ethan ordered once it was our turn at the bar.

“Are you sure you don’t want something stronger?” the bartender asked him. “It’s a private event, so no one’s watching to see if we ID…”

“Nothing stronger,” I said, not wanting to give Ethan a chance to answer. We couldn’t risk doing
anything
that might mess up our focus tonight—especially something as stupid as drinking.

The bartender poured the cider, and Ethan took both flutes, handing one of them to me. “You actually think I would drink alcohol tonight?” he asked me. “What kind of idiot do you think I am?”

“One who still hasn’t told me why he needed to talk to me alone,” I said. “So… what’s up?”

He glanced at the floor, shuffling his feet. If I didn’t know him better, I might think he was nervous. “I just wanted to apologize again,” he said, lifting his gaze to meet mine. “I know that what I said to you in the limo might have come off wrong, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since we got here.”

“I don’t know how you intended it to come off,” I said. “But it seemed like you doubted my ability to shoot.”

“I don’t,” he said. “I’ve seen you shoot enough to know that your aim is almost perfect. All I was doing was trying to be safe—for the same reason why you all decided against guns.” He lowered his voice when he said that last part, and I was glad he did, because I wouldn’t want anyone overhearing. “Trust me—I want us to succeed tonight more than anyone. If it weren’t for these monsters, my sister would still be alive. They deserve what’s coming for them.”

“They do,” I agreed, and I looked around the room, searching for Blake. He was back at the hors d'oeuvres bar, chatting with Chris and Kate. His eyes met mine, and since Ethan wasn’t doing anything wrong, I nodded to let Blake know that everything was fine.

“That’s not all,” Ethan said, and I shifted my focus back to him. “I keep thinking about how I blamed you for what happened to Rachael. And before we go into this fight tonight, I wanted to clear that up with you. Because it’s not you that I’m angry with. It’s them. The monsters. If it hadn’t been for them, Rachael would still be alive. And I’m grateful that you’re letting me fight with your group, because there’s
nothing
I want more than to get revenge for my sister’s death.”

“And we will,” I said, clinking my glass with his and taking a sip. “Starting tonight, with Medusa.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

I rejoined the others, and the rest of the evening passed quickly—probably because I was nervous about the upcoming fight with Medusa. Once the guests started trickling out, I was so anxious that I could barely focus. I wasn’t sure why I felt worse now than I had before fighting the hydra. Maybe after seeing Rachael die, I better understood the consequences of what would happen if we failed.

Finally, Jason and Hypatia approached us, with Ethan on their tails. Each of them held two drinks in their hands.

“Cider full of orange energy,” Jason said, handing one to me. “To give you strength in the upcoming fight.”

“Thanks.” I took it from him and took a long drink, needing as much strength as possible.

“We’ve talked to the others who had golden tickets,” Hypatia said. “There were only four of them, and they’ve been compelled to leave. The security guards as well. Once more people head out, Jason and I will leave too, since we’ll only be a detriment in a fight. We’ll be waiting in the limo for you to call us once everything in here is clear.”

“It’s too bad your powers don’t work on monsters,” Chris said. “Then you could just compel Medusa to turn Typhon to stone herself.”

“You know our powers only work on humans and witches,” she said. “Anyone more powerful than us is immune. Now… the bag with your weapons has been placed under the hors d'oeuvres bar. You may retrieve them once everyone has left.”

“And I know we’ve told you this already,” Jason said. “But good luck.”

We all raised our glasses, clinked them together, and finished the rest of our drinks.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Once everyone else had left, Blake and Chris dragged the bag out from under the bar. Danielle was the first to reach inside it, and she pulled out the Golden Sword, holding it up in the air and admiring it. The rest of us grabbed our weapons—I had my bow and arrows, Chris had his knives, and Blake, Kate, and Chris all had sword
s
. Our weapons wouldn’t be able to slice through Medusa’s diamond hard skin, but we could still use them defensively.

We also all put on our hats, with the mirrors that would eventually be in front of our eyes flipped up. Once Medusa came out, we would flip them down, which would keep her out of our direct line of sight.

As we waited for her to make her appearance, I looked around the empty gallery. The peaceful garden setup with flowers and trees hardly matched the agonizing pain across the faces of the statues. The lively chatter from earlier was gone, replaced with an eerie silence, making the room feel creepier than ever. I must have been more anxious than I realized, because the room spun around me, and I had to reach for Blake’s arm to steady myself.

“Are you okay?” he asked me, his voice full of concern.

“Yeah.” I stood straighter and tried to blink away the dizziness, but I still felt off. Fuzzy. And since we were about to go into a dangerous fight, it wouldn’t do anyone any good to lie. “Actually… I feel kind of dizzy,” I said. “Are you sure there wasn’t any alcohol in those drinks?”

“Not in the one I got you,” he said. “Or in the ones Jason got us, either.” He whipped his head to look at Ethan, his eyes narrowed. “You didn’t get her something alcoholic, did you?” he asked.

“No,” I answered before Ethan had a chance. “I ordered that drink myself. It was cider—I saw the bartender pour it.”

“Then that can’t be it,” Blake said. “Could you be getting sick?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think—”

Before I could finish, a woman walked into the room—Medusa. She wore the exact same sunglasses that I’d seen in her interviews, but the head wrap had been replaced with a huge green-feathered derby hat that left no strand of hair showing. I reached for my visor and flicked it into the down position. The others did the same. Now that our vision was blocked, we turned around, looking at Medusa in our mirrors.

“Well.” She chuckled and brought her hands together. “I see there’s no need to introduce myself.”

“No,” I said. “We know who you are. And we know that these ‘statues’ are far from the work of a talented artist.”

“What a sharp tongue you have!” Medusa laughed. “But how wrong you are. These statues are wonderful art, created by my very own, god-given talent!”

“God-given, yes,” Danielle muttered. “Talent? That’s questionable.”

“I heard that, dear,” Medusa said. Then she took a few sniffs of the air, and smiled. “I smell witch blood… and demigod blood. And given the Golden Sword that I see in your possession, I assume you’re not here to discuss art.”

Why wasn’t she fighting us? I shifted in place, my hand on my bow. Most monsters would have already gone in for the kill. The only reason I could think of for her holding off was that she was scared. Six against one, with us having the Golden Sword, wasn’t in her favor. Or maybe she wasn’t a good fighter. Why would she need to fight when she could turn any living thing to stone with a single glance?

“No,” Kate spoke up. “We’re not. We’re here to discuss Typhon. He’s almost risen, and the only way to stop him is to turn him to stone when his soul rejoins his body.”

“And you’re asking for my help?” Medusa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Kate said. “This would be much easier for all of us if you came with us willingly.”

“Are you
crazy
?” Blake asked, glaring at Kate. “We already discussed this. She can turn any of us to stone with a single glance. We’ll never be able to trust her.”

I was confused, because Kate had been the most adamant about not trusting Medusa when we’d discussed it at Darius’s, but I stayed quiet. Knowing Kate, this was some elaborate plan to catch Medusa unaware. Our best bet was to go along with it.

“The handsome one is right,” Medusa said. “If you know your history, you’ll know that I always support the winning side of any war—even though last time, that meant making a deal with the goddess who turned me into a monster. But these past few centuries, after my deal with Athena to not turn anyone into stone, have been so
boring
.”

“Judging from the looks of this gallery, you haven’t exactly stuck to that deal,” Ethan pointed out.

“I did until recently,” she said. “Once that portal weakened, the Olympians were so busy preparing for war that I knew they wouldn’t notice if I turned a few people to stone. One glance here, one glance there… they were completely oblivious! Putting my power to use again was so much fun. I’m sick of abiding by the Olympians stupid rules. Once Typhon rises, he’ll open the portal to Kerberos and let all the Titans free. When the Titans take back their throne,
I’ll
be able to do whatever I please. So no—while it was considerate of you to ask, I won’t be willing to assist you in turning Typhon to stone.”

“All right, then,” Blake said, raising his sword. “Then I guess your head will have to do.”

Medusa took off her hat and threw it to the ground, revealing hissing, slithering green snakes where her hair should be. Next off were the sunglasses, and I gasped when I saw her eyes in the mirror—they were completely white, with no irises at all.

“What fools you are!” She cackled and brought her fingers together. “Did you think I didn’t already know that the Golden Sword had been retrieved, which meant the infamous ‘Elementals’ would be coming my way?”

“Who told you?” I asked. “Chione?”

“The stupid snow goddess?” Medusa sneered. “No. But
who
told me doesn’t matter. What matters is that I knew better than to come here tonight unprepared. Stheno? Euryale?” she called over her shoulder. “You can both come out now.”

With that, two women stepped to Medusa’s sides, and judging by their matching heads full of snakes and the way they looked at us as if they wanted to kill us, I could only guess that they were her sisters.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

“Your sisters?” Blake asked, and Medusa nodded, the grin still on her face. “Aren’t they supposed to be in Kerberos?”

“We
were
in Kerberos,” the thin sister with red snakes for hair said. “But after our parents heard that you received guidance from Nyx, they decided to even the playing field by helping us out.” 

“How could they…?” I asked, confused. As far as I was aware, there was no other way out of Kerberos besides the portal.

“Their parents are primordial deities of the sea,” Kate explained. “Like all primordial deities, they’re part of all realms. And in case you were wondering, Stheno and Euryale
can’t
turn people to stone. Medusa’s the only one who can do that. But they’re immortal… which means they can’t be killed by mortal weapons. Including the Golden Sword.”

“Got it,” I said, understanding the message she was trying to get across. If we wanted to kill Medusa’s sisters, I needed to use my power on them—just like I’d done to the immortal hydra head.

I would feel more confident if my head wasn’t still spinning. It didn’t make sense. The last thing I drank was the cider infused with orange energy, and that was supposed to give me strength—not make me feel weaker than ever.

Unless… Jason wouldn’t have put gray energy in my drink, would he have?

“Bravo.” Medusa clapped. “Someone knows their history. And luckily for me, my parents also gave me this.” She held up a sword, its blade black as night. “An onyx sword crafted by the Titan Iapetus himself. It’s the only weapon on Earth that can stand up against the Golden Sword of Athena.”

“Are we just going to stand here chatting?” the other sister—the shorter one—hissed. “Or are we going to kill them?”

“They
did
come here to get my head,” Medusa said, passing her onyx sword from one hand to another. “And we can’t very well have them running around freely, and risk them sealing the portal to Kerberos. So yes—let’s kill them. But remember not to harm them too much. I want them intact for my collection.”

All three gorgons hissed and ran towards us, but they didn’t get far before Chris threw a gust of wind at them, pushing them back to the wall. Their legs dangled above the floor, and they reached out for us, the snakes on their heads more crazed than ever. Medusa still held onto her sword, refusing to let go.

“There’s three of them and six of us,” Blake said, readying his lighter. He spoke quietly enough that only we could hear him. “Two of us for each of them. Nicole—we’ll take the tall one with red snakes. We need to get you close enough to kill her. Chris and Kate can hold off the short one until Nicole’s ready to get to her next. And Danielle and Ethan—”

“We’ll go for Medusa,” Danielle finished his sentence, doing a practice swish with the Golden Sword. “I’ll take the first chance for her head that I get.”

Blake flicked his lighter on and sent two fireballs flying over his shoulder, straight for the snakes on Stheno and Euryale’s heads. They both wailed, the tops of their heads ablaze, the snakes trying and failing to escape.

“Don’t do that to Medusa,” Kate said. “We can’t risk damaging her head.”

“This is too easy.” Ethan laughed. “They had no idea what they were up against.”

But then the gorgons slipped slightly, their feet nearly reaching the floor.

“Chris?” I said, concerned. I’d never seen him lose energy this early in the fight. “What’s going on?”

“Whatever you said earlier about your head being fuzzy is hitting me too,” he said, his voice strained. “I can’t hold them up for much longer. When I let them down, we run for them and fight, got it?”

“Got it,” I repeated. I worried about whatever was affecting our powers, but with the gorgons ready to kill us, there was nothing we could do about it now. All we could do was fight the best that we could.

We held our weapons ready, and the moment Chris dropped his hold on the gorgons, we ran toward our assigned sister. I looked down at my feet as I ran, unable to see past the visor guarding my eyes. I wanted to flick the visor away—I hated going into this blind—but the risk of meeting Medusa’s eyes was too great.

I centered in on the red snaked sister’s throat, aimed an arrow over my shoulder with my back facing my target, and sent the arrow flying in her direction.

It missed her throat, embedding itself in the wall.

I gasped, shocked that I’d missed. In practice, I’d mastered shooting arrows over my shoulder. Blake must have been surprised too, because he paused while running for the gorgon, but only for a second. She hissed and reached for his sword, but he sliced her in half before she had a chance.

“Kill her—quickly,” Blake told me. “Before she regenerates.”

I focused on gathering black energy, but it felt far away—distant. Whatever was going on with me wasn’t just affecting my aim, but apparently my ability to channel my power, too. If my original thought
was
correct, and it
was
gray energy, then I should be able to use white energy to push it out of my system
, l
ike I’d done when Danielle had put gray energy into my tennis racket during try-outs. I tried to call on the white energy, but just like the black energy, it was barely there. I was blocked from fully reaching it.

There was only one explanation—if this was gray energy, then whoever had used it on me was
strong.
Either as strong as I was, or stronger.

The bottom half of the sister’s body skittered towards her top half, but Blake cut it again, and set both pieces ablaze. The gorgon lay helplessly on the floor, and she screamed, as if she could feel the unattached part of her body burning.

“Kill her now,” Blake said. “What are you waiting for?”

“My head… it’s fuzzy,” I explained, rubbing my temples. “I can’t focus.”

“You have to fight through it.” He flicked on his lighter and threw a fireball at the gorgon’s face, but it fizzled out before reaching her. He flexed his hand—had he not let the fire go out on purpose?—and shoved his lighter into his pocket. “I would do this for you if I could, but I can’t. You’re the only one who can use black energy.”

In the mirror, I saw the gorgon’s bottom half weld with her top half again. All of the fire around her was out, her skin healed. Before she could stand, Blake swung his sword at her and chopped her in half again. I heard the sounds of the others fighting—I had no idea what was going on with them, and I couldn’t risk taking my eyes away from our gorgon to check. But I knew one thing—we couldn’t hold the three of them off forever. I
needed
to kill her. Otherwise, we would have no choice but to run. If we left without Medusa’s head, we wouldn’t be able to stop Typhon, and this would all have been for nothing.

“Okay.” I took a deep breath, trying to focus. “I’ll try.”

I reached for the black energy again, and even though it fought me, I managed to grasp some of it and absorb it into my palms. The smoky tendrils hovered below the surface of my skin, threatening to escape at any moment. I couldn’t hold onto it much longer, so I dove toward the gorgon, placed my hand on her chest, and shoved the small amount of black energy into her body, hoping it would be enough.  

She let out a long breath, and then she was still. I looked down at her past my mirror—her eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling. Dead.

“She’s dead,” Blake confirmed. He leaned forward, balancing his hands on his legs and taking a few deep breaths.

“Are you okay?” I asked, reaching for his hand.

“Just dizzy,” he said, and then he straightened, steadying his breathing. “It’s nothing. It’ll pass.”

“Whatever’s affecting Chris and
me
is affecting you, too, isn’t it?”

“If it is, there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said, holding his sword up higher. “Other than finish this fight as fast as we can. And as much as I want to stick together, it’ll be best if we split up, to add numbers to both of the other groups.”

“I don’t want to split up, either,” I said. “But you’re right. It makes the most sense.”

“Of course I’m right.” He smirked, and if I hadn’t seen him falter earlier, I would have had no idea he was affected by the gray energy, too. “You go take care of the other sister—you’re the only one who can kill her. I’ll help Danielle and Ethan with Medusa.”